Honey : The Empire's Treasure 149 Companions...

Prince Ailwin drove a strict steady pace across the Steppes. Mika thought it would take at least five days to reach the Udava clan, but under Ailwin's direction, they would make it in three.

On the second night, they stop to set up camp. Mika pulled Kaze away from Saavi and Jonas to speak with him privately. At the edges of their tents, she told Kaze he will be staying with Prince Ailwin, to learn from him and to be their middle man.

"Miss Mikaela, are you doing this because I let you get kidnapped by Lord Kendel?" Kaze has never been relieved of his duties in his life. To know that Mikaela felt the need to send him away for training, took a hit to his pride.

"Yes." Mika didn't try to hide nor denied her actions. Kaze made mistakes the only way for him to overcome them, were to learn from them.

Kaze stared into Mika's eyes, seeing the resolution there he didn't question her further and agreed to leave with Prince Ailwin after he escorts her back to the Udava clan.

After Kaze left to finish helping Saavi and Jonas with the sleeping arrangments, Mika sat on the ground by herself.

Looking up at the darkening sky, enjoying the stars appearing here and there, Mika laid back to relax her mind and body.

Thinking of everything that has happened between leaving the Amara clan and now returning to the Udava clan, Mika sighed with the heavyweight of exhaustion as her thoughts began to wander.

Looking back a the three people who have attached themselves to her life, Mika laughed at the scene.

Saavi was yelling at Jonas as he dropped the cooking utensils, and Kaze was trying to be the peacemaker.

Why did she pick these people to be her companions? They are the most lacking people that would probably cause more harm than good. Mika laughed when Saavi to turned her anger at Kaze for taking Jonas' side and not her's.

*Sigh*

Yup, definitely will cause more harm than good.

Mika turned back around, escaping from the noise that they were producing.

Casting protection charms out around her, Mika prepared herself to sink in her mind's space.

"Drako?"

"Here."

"Yumsa?"

"...Here." The duplicate of Yumsa showed herself in front of Mika.

"Good. Is there any change in the tree so far?" The real Yumsa has been staying inside the cavern ever since Mika appointed her to the task on safeguarding the tree.

Yumsa flew around the tree, scrutinizing the tree carefully before sending her conclusions back to her duplicate.

Mika waited for the Yumsa in front of her to start speaking, when she did what she said surprised her.

"The tree is producing fruit..."

"Fruit?" In all of Analise's writings, Mika never saw an instant where the honey trees started to produce fruit.

Looking over at Drako, Mika wanted to know if he knew anything about the honey trees bearing fruit.

"I have never seen the honey trees yielding fruit before..." Drako shook his tiny head.

Mika thought for a few moments before asking Yumsa for more details.

"Mikaela, they are definitely fruit, though they look a little weird..."

"How so?"

"Well...usually the fruit that grows on trees is one color, but these fruits are quite kaleidoscopic."

Worried that might have to find a way to get back to Ash City and that cavern to get samples. Mika moved away from the fruits and asked for more information about the tree, itself.

"Is there any problem other problem with the tree?"

"....Yes."

"What?" Mika expected to here that the tree was polluting the water again or that it was shedding it's bark again. Yet, what Yumsa told her once again perplexed her.

"It's not producing honey."

"Not producing honey...?" Thinking back to when they first found the tree in its sickly state, it was still able to provide honey. Why is it now unable to?

She only left the tree for five days, and in those five days, it stopped making honey and instead bore fruit. Did her nanobots cause a change in the tree when she burned off the virus?

"Okay, Yumsa...thank you. Keep up the good work and let me know if you see any other changes. Also, don't touch the fruit."

"Okay...bye." Yumsa duplicate disappeared.

Mika turned to Darko.

"What do you think? When I left the tree, honey was still flowing out of it. I even got samples..."

"This might have something to do with the way to treated it..." Darko thought back to Mika's nanobots.

When Mika first showed him the bots, he was astounded by her adaption of Analise's spirits. As she showed him how she was going to be using them to help the trees, he felt a little sorry towards the little things.

"En..your right, I think the nanobots might have changed the tree's species. Instead of being a sap tree, they might have helped it to become a fruit tree."

"Will this harm the tree?" Like Yumsa, Drako was ecstatic in the progress Mika was making and didn't want to see any drawbacks.

"I'm not sure...I don't have any samples, nor can I see it for myself because I closed off the entrance..ugh!" She thought she was being smart by sealing off the entrance, but she realized now she might have stepped on her own foot.

"The only other choice I have to is to heal another tree..."

"Do you know where more of Analise's trees are?" Drako knew she and Yumsa had a difficult time finding the one in Ash City.

"No, but we are heading back to the Udava clan. So, even if the trees Analise individually planted are not there, I'm sure I'll be able to find their offsprings."

In the meantime, Ailwin was looking for Mika with Braedn tagging along behind him.

When he reached the location where her tent was placed, they only found Saavi, Jonas, and Kaze fixing dinner.

"Where is your young miss?" Ailwin asked Saavi, who stood up to greet Ailwin when he walked in.

"Young miss is having some along time in the field." Saavi pointed to Mika's location.

Ailwin excused himself and made his way over to Mika who's body was still lying in the tall grass.

Waiting for Braeden to follow him, they were amazed when he sat down in Saavi's empty spot.

"What for dinner?" Braeden looked at the pot in the fire cooking.

"Smells good."

Chapter end