Aki left the capital with two tails, one official travel seal, seven emergency charms, three lunches, and enough determination to make poor decisions feel disciplined.
They also had an audience.
The moment they crossed the eastern bridge, three children spotted them.
“The new Guardian!”
“Guardian-in-training,” Aki corrected automatically.
One child stared at their tails.
“Do they both do magic?”
Aki kept walking.
“The tails do not do magic. I do magic.”
“Can you make a dragon?”
“Yes.”
“Can you make a giant dragon?”
“Yes.”
“Can it breathe fire?”
Aki hesitated.
“Decorative fire.”
“Can it carry us?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because illusions are intangible.”
The child frowned.
“What good is a dragon you can’t ride?”
Aki stopped.
They had no answer.
A tiny turquoise dragon appeared over their shoulder.
It stuck its tongue out at the child and flew backward.
The children shrieked happily.
Aki continued down the road.
The dragon followed.
They looked back.
It remained.
Stable.
Aki smiled despite themself.
Their second tail swayed.
Then they remembered the instructions.
No unnecessary magic had been forbidden.
Excellent.
The dragon flew beside them all the way to the Lantern Road.
◆ ◆ ◆
Gossamer Wood began without a gate.
That bothered Aki.
Forbidden places should have gates.
Preferably enormous ones.
Black iron.
Warning charms.
Possibly a skull.
Instead, the Lantern Road simply narrowed until golden paving stones disappeared beneath green moss.
Silver-barked trees leaned over the trail.
Fern fronds unfurled in the shade.
Flowers crowded every root and branch: bells, trumpets, stars, cups, spirals, blossoms with translucent petals and blossoms with tiny glowing centers like sleeping lanterns.
Sunlight entered the Wood and immediately became several different colors.
Aki stopped at the boundary.
Their dragon landed on their shoulder.
The instruction sheet emerged from their sleeve.
“Remain on the silver-marked path.”
Ahead, small silver stones formed a clear trail.
Good.
“Do not answer voices speaking from flowers.”
The nearest cluster of pink blossoms opened.
A woman’s voice came from them.
“I promise I will return before the first frost.”
Aki jumped.
The dragon fell through their shoulder.
The flowers closed.
Another bloom opened farther away.
A child’s voice whispered:
“You can have half if you stop crying.”
A yellow flower answered in an old man’s voice.
“No bridge shall belong to one bank alone.”
Aki slowly folded the instruction sheet.
“That is unsettling.”
The path split into two.
Aki looked at the silver stones.
They continued left.
Simple.
Aki went left.
The dragon flew ahead.
“This,” Aki told it, “is why instructions exist.”
The dragon nodded.
Aki had not told it to do that.
They frowned.
“You are getting too convincing.”
The dragon nodded again.
“Stop agreeing with me.”
It shook its head.
Aki dismissed it.
The trail wound between silver trees.
Nothing attacked.
Nothing screamed.
Nothing attempted marriage.
Aki began to relax.
“This is forbidden?”
A flower beside the path opened.
Tsukine’s voice emerged.
“Do not show us what you can do. Show us what you notice.”
Aki stopped.
The flower closed.
They stared at it.
“That was yesterday.”