Chloe and Steph, with Blu's help, began working on the polar biome of their dreams. Giving the reins to their favorite parakeet, Blu used the environmental magic the couple had amassed in the area to create a massive, raging blizzard that turned the vicinity into a frozen torrent of snow.

  “By the way, how does this place get its supplies?” The cats and the wolves were still in the oasis city and had just finished their dinner in the tavern when Anna got curious about how the place operated and looked at Doma, the native, who had been with them most of the time so far. "I think you mentioned something about a trade hub, where you also got that rope to measure the lake, but where is it?"

  “Oh, that’s a great question!” Sophia also wanted to know more about that. “This place should be green enough to have a little farm somewhere, as well as fish from the lake and coconuts for drinks and probably some other dishes, but I doubt that’s enough for a whole village. Not to mention that I had pasta last night, and I have a feeling that it wasn’t locally produced.”

  “Yes, we try to produce locally what we can, but oasis or not, being in the middle of a desert is severely limiting in what is possible.” Doma nodded. “The trade hub I mentioned is in Barak, a city at the edge of the desert, roughly a night's walk away from here. Once a week, two of us head over there after sundown, get every necessity needed, and then return on the following night. Doing it during the day would be suicide for most, after all.”

  “That sounds like one of the most massive pains I’ve ever heard of!” Sophia, who was a big fan of convenience, hated everything about that.

  “It’s a price we gladly pay for being truly on our own.” The horned man shrugged. “We have nothing against visitors, but everyone in this town enjoys the fact that we don’t have to deal with too much civilization.”

  “I respect that.” Fen, who was also with them, nodded a few times. “Very relatable.”

  “Not surprised about that one.” Sophia smiled at him. “Not that it’s not understandable.”

  “How is that understandable for you?!” Ari raised her voice. “You live for being in the center of everyone’s attention! There’s no way you’d survive without enough civilization around you.”

  “…” The blonde stared back at her, but she was unable to say anything. It’s not like she was ever going to admit it, but there was some truth to it.

  “Anyway,” Doma got back to the topic. “Yes, it’s not convenient and even dangerous at times because the desert is a fickle beast, and you never know what it has in store when you try to cross it. Even so, there’s nothing that can be done about it.” He just shrugged. “It’s something we have to arrange ourselves with in order to keep our preferred way of living going.”

  “Mhmm.” Sophia paused for a moment while seemingly thinking about something. “Well, I wouldn’t be able to function like that, and I’m happy I don’t have to. Still, I respect the choice of not wanting to deal with the outside world.” As someone who was literally in the middle of creating her own world, she could respect their choice and way of living.

  “I guess that means we’re headed to Barak next, huh?” Maya, having had a feeling about what the blonde was thinking about, tried to guess their next destination. “Barak is the trade city Doma mentioned two minutes ago, by the way.” She made sure Sophia understood what she meant.

  “Yeah, I wanna see it!” She reacted with a big nod.

  “Oh, speaking of, the prince and his friends also headed to Barak after leaving here.” The horned man looked at Anna. “Well, they also came from there because that’s the only real connection from this place out of the desert, but that’s beside the point. You might be able to learn more about their travel route there.”

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  “Ohh!” Hearing that, the princess got excited. “Sophia, I know we already roughly decided on our route alongside the coast for a while, but if we get a hint about my brother, can we try and follow it?”

  “Sure!” She smiled at her. “I’d like to get to our destination sooner rather than later, but some detours are totally fine. I also want to meet them, too!” The short tiger gave the tall one a thumbs up. “I have yet to see Ari’s sister, after all!” She didn’t care about the prince in the slightest. “You can never go wrong with knowing more cute girls!”

  “Absolutely!” Maya reacted with an energetic nod. “The more cute girls, the better!” She felt the exact same.

  “How are you so sure that my sister is cute?” Ari tilted her head.

  “Because she’s your sister.” The couple had an easy explanation for their assessment.

  “T-Thank you…” The jaguar got embarrassed.

  “You girls can’t function without flirting with each other for five minutes, huh?” Doma lightly rolled his eyes.

  “More like one minute at best.” Fen corrected him while sounding slightly tired.

  “…” The girls in question had nothing to say in their defense.

  ----------------

  The group chatted for a little longer, but once the sun was the highest and hottest above the oasis, the girls thought it was the perfect time to return to the desert and head for the trade hub. Naturally, Doma tried his best to stop them from killing themselves because doing something like that would be a suicide commando for everyday people. Not wanting to worry him, as she had taken a liking to him, Sophia showed him how she was able to regulate the temperature around them with magic. She even created artificial shade above them to really get the point across. Shocked at first, for many reasons, the horned man then let out a sigh before wishing them well and an enjoyable journey.

  “Why are we stopping here?” The group had just gotten out of sight of the city when Anna addressed her fellow tiger as they stopped at a small green patch with a few palm trees still fed by the oasis water.

  “There’s a little something I want to do~.” Sophia smiled at her in return.

  “Let me guess, a portal?” Maya had a feeling that she already knew the answer.

  “Exactly!” She nodded.

  “Good idea!” The princess clapped her hands. “I’d love to return here one day, too!”

  “To be precise, I’ll be making two portals here!”

  “Why two?” Ari looked confused.

  “One will lead to my domain for us to take for future visits. Also, Steph would kill me if she didn't have a way to see the oasis city. If we survive the part where we forgot to get them for a visit last night when it cooled down.”

  “Ahaha.” The girls let out a small chuckle, albeit sounding ever-so-slightly awkward while doing so.

  “The other one will be for the city.” The blonde smiled at them. "I'm not going to link it to the capital because it makes no sense, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't even want it because it would end their secluded lifestyle. Still, I want to make it easier for them to get to the trade hub, so I’ll make another portal at the edge of the desert near the place.”

  “Aww, that’s so sweet!” The jaguar liked her idea. “Why didn’t you put it right in the city and Barak, though?”

  “Same reason.” Sophia shrugged. “If it’s in the trade place, more people would want to take it to see the oasis, and it might not be the best for everyone in the oasis to know about it.”

  “Wow, reasonable and responsible Sophia is making me feel things!”

  “I like how you were the one trying to explain to Doma that we weren’t one big happy poly family while also being the one who hinted at it the most.” Maya rolled her eyes at the jaguar’s usual ambiguity.

  “I meant that I feel proud!” Ari glared at her. “Don’t make it sound weird!”

  “No, that one’s on you.” Everyone disagreed with her.

  “…” She didn’t like that.

  “Anyway, once we’re close enough to the trade place, I’ll place another portal, link then, and then show it to Doma.” The blonde got back to the topic. "Whether or not he uses it or tells the others will be up to him.”

  “Fair enough.” Anna nodded. “How will you prevent others from finding and using it, though? You always bury your own portals to the domain and do some magic thing around it so only you can open it, but that won’t work here, will it?”

  “Well, as long as I don’t seal it, something similar would work nicely. I was thinking about something similar to the hidden entrance to the portal room in our mansion in the capital. The one behind the stairs that opens once you pour a little magic into it. You'd never accidentally open it if you don't know about it."

  “That sounds like it could work!”

  Afterward, Sophia did just that. She dug two holes under the palm trees of the little green patch and put a portal leading to her domain in one of them. Then, she closed the hole again and made sure that no one besides her could ever reach it by making the soil around it impassable with even the most advanced magic. The second hole got a portal that wasn’t linked to anything yet and simply closed it with a top layer of regular soil that would move and form a little staircase when activated with magic.

  unintenional flirtyness, I have a quite fitting illustration to offer~

  the cat lingerie, so it's a bit spicy. That's why it's locked behind the spoiler tag~

  Also, it comes as an animation, as well!

  Click me!

  As usual, a massive thanks to the supporters on Patreon to make those illustrations and animations possible!

  (Which I gave in for way too often already)