Seed Of Speed

The trio hopped off onto a platform that connected to eight bridges in one of the large clusters of the woven-branch, sphere-buildings. There were all sorts of beastmen walking across the bridges, going about their day, and even children running around, playing.

They drew a number of looks by riding in on the branch of Zivot Tree, but everyone recognized Zedava and Celita. Nearly every group of kids, if not all of them, stopped their games and took off running towards the platform they were on. Celita sigh, but Zedava just giggled while Diego looked around with a light smile on his face.

"Zedava!" several of the kids yelled as they approached.

Within a few minutes, over thirty kids had gathered around the trio on the platform. Each of them had questions about Diego, but Zedava made them wait until everyone gathered.

"Everyone," Zedava said and instantly the children fell silent, as if under a spell, "this is Diego! He's going to be staying with us for some time and help me be like Grand Mother Rozama with her gold flower!"

"How can he do that?"

"Is he a human?"

"But your flower is white!"

And a dozen questions and statements came flooding in at once, but Zedava responded to each one in turn. She only had general answers to most of their questions, but it was clear that the children all looked up to her by how they listened to her intently. She would be a good leader for her people one day with the patience and care she was already showing at this age.

"So, who wants to go to the lake?!?" Zedava yelled excitedly with a fist in the air after the kids settled down again.

The children busted out with cheers, and the silver branch hanging next to the platform bloomed to make a basket big enough to hold everyone. Diego, Celita, Zedava, and all the kids climbed in and started the ride down. They passed through an empty zone where no hanging sphere or bridge existed, and it stretched nearly three hundred meters down to the jungle floor.

The bottom of the Zivot Tree was submerged in the middle of a large lake. Although none of the residents made their home on the divine tree, the tangled roots of the hutia trees were game. Unlike the homes above, the walls of the structures were all mud and tightly clustered to save room. Instead of bridges between the different areas, rows of lily pads had been arranged to form the walkways, though most of the residents would prefer to swim as they were almost entirely amphibians.

The basket dipped into the water next to a large lily pad, but surprisingly, it kept out the water. The kids all jumped out, but most headed straight into the water, laughing.

"Diego, can you fly me up, so I can jump in?" Zedava asked batting her eyelashes.

"As you command, princess!" Diego said, falling to a knee dramatically as he held her hand. "Give me a second first though," he chuckled.

He pulled off the shirt that the harpies had shredded and stored it away before he activated his [Speed Clone]. One of his favorite benefits of his [Speed Clones] was that they could meditate to refill his chi and mana while his true body could keep working. The clone hopped onto the lily pad to meditate while Diego picked up Zedava and carried her up into the air. He tossed her up higher as he dove into the water with a laugh.

Once the clone had restored a majority of his mana, he stood up and walked next to Celita. "Not going to swim?"

"Someone has to keep an eye on you," Celita replied, crossing her arms.

"Where's the fun in that?" Diego asked with a chuckle.

Celita rolled her eyes and chose not to comment further. The clone gave her a toothy grin then his attention to the lake. Instead of forming a specific spell, Diego used a general Water spell to manipulate the water around his body in the lake. A spout of water erupted around him and Zedava, who had been swimming close by, shooting them up in the air. Then, with a sweep of his hand, the stream with Zedava and him inside corkscrewed through the air.

"Go on, I'll keep it going for anyone who wants to try," the Diego on the lily pad said to the children who looked on with excitement.

The was a chorus of cheers from the kids and they made their way over. Diego split into six bodies, leaving one to swim, another to refill his mana, and the rest to make different water rides for the kids, and himself, to enjoy. For the next few hours, the children swam and played until all had retired to the lily pad, exhausted.

Zedava called down a branch of the Zivot Tree and carried everyone back up to the hanging village. The children thanked Zedava and Diego before they left to make their way home. Grabbing his hand, Zedava started pulling Diego down one of the bridges with Celita following behind. She would stop and introduce him to everyone they passed who would then give him a tentative greeting after giving a glance to Celita first.

After a series of bridges, Diego had the distinct feeling he knew where they were headed, and it worried him. There was a sphere twice the size of the rest around it where beastmen could be seen walking in or out of regularly. The worrying part was the elaborate web that stretched out of the top to the surrounding buildings.

Diego walked in after Zedava, and found pretty much what he had expected, only not as bad as he thought. There was no giant spider with human-like intelligence, but three Arachne Brood Mothers. All three had six spider legs and abdomen connected to the upper body of a of woman with long hair and four eyes. Each had their own color, one black with red eyes, another white with blue eyes, and the last brown with green eyes.

(They won't be like the harpies... right?) Diego asked, a little worried when he saw the white which normally represented a Light affinity. He deadpanned when his mind was filled with laughter once again.

::No, Arachne don't rely on their elemental affinity like harpies, so you're safe::

(I still hate you!)

::And?::

Diego mentally sighed and let himself be dragged over to the brown arachne by Zedava.

"Auntie Lachesis! This is Diego, the one Rozama told you about!" Zedava said as ran and jumped into the brown arachne's arms.

"My, my," the woman said with a measuring grin, "you have the teka surrounding you. The Grand Mother said you would be staying with us for time and asked that my sisters and I make you some clothing. How are you liking our little village?"

"It's breath-taking," Diego replied with a smile.

She chuckled with a "shishishi" manner and set Zedava back down on the ground. She walked away to the far wall and retrieved a measuring tape hanging on a hook; her six legs moving in a gentle rhythm. By the time she returned, the other two arachnes had walked over and given Zedava a hug before eyeing Diego with amused smiles.

"Well, step forward," Lachesis said.

Unable to escape his fate, Diego stepped forward and was surrounded by the three women. Although Lachesis was the only one with a measuring tape in her hands, the other two seemed to be taking their own measurements with a silver thread.

"With his skin tone, the color should be smoky gray and black," the black arachne said.

"Navy blue and crystal blue," the white one retorted.

"I'm sorry, Atropos, but I have to agree with Clotho. Gray and black will look best without having him stand out too much," Lachesis said, breaking the tie, as she tucked away her tape. "Give us two days and your new clothes will be ready."

"If it's not too much trouble, could you repair this as well?" Diego asked, retrieving his shredded robe top.

"The color is awful! Why would you want to save this?" Atropos, the white arachne, asked as she turned her nose up at it.

"It's the uniform of my sect for my position. It may not be the nicest, but it has sentimental value to me."

"I'll fix it for you," Clotho said with an outstretched hand.

"Thank you," he replied and passed it over to her.

"Now that we have everything handled, I'm afraid it's getting late. You need to return Zedava," Celita said.

Zedava made a pouty face but did not argue. She had slowed down throughout the day, and even Diego had noticed her drooping eyelids.

"Can Diego come over for a while?" Zedava asked.

"We can," Celita replied.

"Yay! Bye Aunt Lachesis, Aunt Clotho, and Aunt Atropos," Zedava said excitedly as she waved.

"Good bye, sweetie," the sisters said in unison.

Zedava led Diego and Celita out of the room. A silver branch was waiting for them then they exited and, this time, they were heading straight up into the upper branches of the Zivot Tree. Once they broke through the canopy of the hutia trees, Diego found himself among the clouds with the sun setting on the horizon. The Zivot Tree continued to stretch impossibly high into the sky, making him wonder if the top was truly in outer space. The tree, however, did not take them to the top and instead, brought them to another hollow within the main trunk of the tree similar to Rozama.

"This is my home," Zedava said as she tugged Diego off the branch.

Diego chuckled and let himself be dragged into the hollow. Unlike Celita's home, the 'furniture' was exclusively made out of leaves, vines, and branches. There were some clothes thrown about the place as well as some toys, reminding Diego much of his sister's old room.

Zedava ran ahead and picked up a doll that was clearly designed to look like her, with green hair, monkey ears, and a long tail. "This is Zami! She's my favorite!" Zedava said as she held up the doll for him to see.

"It's nice to meet you, Zami," Diego replied with a smile as he patted the doll's head.

"You're silly," Zedava giggled.

"Bedtime, little one," Celita reminded.

"Fine," Zedava pouted.

Diego scooped her up like he would his sister and carried her over to the pile of leaves that had a strange 'bed' shape to them. She giggled some more as she was held, and he placed her down carefully. "I'll see you tomorrow, Zedava," Diego said.

"Bye, Diego," Zedava replied with a yawn.

Diego patted her head softly then walked over to Celita and the waiting branch of the Zivot Tree. With a final wave, the pair rode the branch back down to the hanging village below.

"You aren't bad with kids," Celita remarked as they descended.

"I had to raise my little sister for a few years before I came to this world," he replied.

She only gave a grunt and a nod in response.

"So, now that we are away from her… Is there somewhere I can practice my martial arts, or at least, can I get something to keep my thoughts a blur?" Diego asked as his happy front that he had been showing all day melted away.

"I've got a place you can train, away from the village," Celita said.

"Then lead on, oh mighty village protector."

Celita delivered an elbow to his gut, knocking him back off the branch, but instead of falling, the edge of a leather whip wrapped around his ankle. "Enjoy the ride, jackass," she called down to him as he hung upside down.