Bery finished her painting, and an image of the far off castle was displayed on her canvas. The white stone blocks of all of the buildings came out looking fantastic, and she was so in the zone that she didn't notice the crowd of elves that had come to watch her.

Aqua placed her hand on her chin. "5,000 pieces. That is how much I will pay you for this."

Bery narrowed her eyes towards the elven empress. "The paint has not even fully dried yet, and don't you think that's a lot? What is the equivalent in those human gold pieces?"

Aqua shrugged. "Our pieces are worth more than those humans. Even one of them would be able to buy you a week long stay at our inns."

Bery waved her hands. "There is no way I can accept that."

Aqua frowned and placed a hand on her chin once more, and then she put both of her palms out, stretching all of her fingers. "10,000 water coins. I will not go any higher than that."

Bery looked towards her dragoness to save her.

Valerie sighed at the elven empress. "My kitten has not even said whether she wants to sell it. If she did, there is no way she would take that much. The initial offering would have been sufficient."

Bery nodded emphatically, her fluffy ears bouncing, and her tail waving behind her uncomfortably.

The empress walked up to the canvas and looked it over. "Seriously, I thought Valerie was simply exaggerating. This is beyond the pale."

Elody zipped in front of the empress and nodded in agreement. "It's true, you know? These structures are so immaculate. You even got their little details right." The fairy pointed at a nearby building that was reflected in the painting. "Even the pieces of wood on that one have the little marks here. How are you able to do that on such a small canvas?"

Bery looked at the canvas with a tilt of her head. To her, it was not very small. It was half the size of her body. She looked at the tiny, fine brush in her hand. "This thing is really handy. Valerie got it for me, and the size allows me to work with finer details."

Aqua looked at Bery with a face of disbelief. "You do know this is not something that normal artists can do, right? I am scared to see what you would do with a pencil and a piece of paper."

"A pencil?" Bery asked, her eyes glittering.

"You never used one? You would be great at portraits. We have ore that we collect around here, and it's great for drawing. The problem is that it fades away over time."

"I know of pencils. I was wondering if you had any of them."

Aqua grinned slyly. "Of course, we have tons of them. However, I won't be able to give them to you unfortunately. You would have to pay for them…"

Valerie sighed and took out several gold pieces, but the empress stopped the dragon with her arm.

"I will not be accepting gold. You will need to pay with our own currency."

"You little…"

Bery stopped the dragoness with her hand. The kitten found herself laughing at Aqua's scheme. "The painting behind me will be completely dried soon. If you want to pay for it, then I will accept the first offer."

Aqua extended her hand, and Bery shook it. The group waited for the paint to dry before Aqua picked up the canvas by the edges carefully. "I will need to get this framed rather quickly. I don't suppose you have the ability to do that as well?"

Bery shook her head. "I never framed any of them on my own. There was a certain elven princess that…"

Aqua grinned. "It seems that Emary did a lot of good, then? Hopefully she gave you a fair deal on them."

"She gave me enough for my continued existence. I wasn't always very good at painting, so the prices got better over time. Originally, I would have to paint a lot more in order to survive, but that only made me better."

"And it shows," the empress said, "anyone that comes into my castle would ask who is the painter of this. If you ever go back to see that girl, you should tell her to visit me sometime."

Bery grinned. "I will. This world is really small in some ways."

Aqua shrugged. "It's more like the duties of royals that bring us together. This world is rather huge. From what I can gather, you've not seen very much of it. It makes sense you came from the south. The enchanted forest is only one small part of the world, and we are all even smaller."

Valerie nodded. "Which is why I aim to see Bery in all parts of the world. Speaking of which, you need to give her the coins and pencils already, so that we can find a tailor."

"A tailor?" Aqua asked with a raised eyebrow.

Bery blushed and gestured towards Aqua's outfit. "She wants to see me in what you are wearing."

"In that case, you don't need to look for a tailor. You can simply use my tailor. I am sure she will accommodate you."

Valerie sighed and crossed her arms. "Where is the adventure in that? If you solve all of our problems while we're here than we would not have had a proper tourist adventure. Those sentimental things are everything that my kitten wants. You would take that from her?"

Bery would have answered Valerie's teasing, but a completely different thought crossed her mind. She stared at Aqua with uncertainty.

The empress raised an eyebrow. "Is something the matter?"

"Yes, Lady Aqua…"

Aqua wrinkled her brow and stopped the kitten with her finger. "Aqua is fine. There is no need to act so coy now…"

"Yes, Aqua, do you have any tips for using water magic?"

"What brought this on all of the sudden?"

Bery shook her head. "It was not sudden. I thought about this ever since I saw you use magic." Bery put out her palm and channeled her own magic power. Droplets of water formed and dripped to the white stone below. "I haven't been able to do much more than this."

Aqua formed a bubble of water in her hand, much like the dragon's from before. "Hold onto this. It might help you. Unfortunately, I do not think it will be possible for me to help you any further."

Bery caught the bubble in her hands as it floated to her. It was much denser than she expected. She imagined that it would pop, but no such thing happened. She felt the mana swirling inside of the bubble, and she could see it as well. The water spun at the center like a vortex.

The kitten tilted her head. "I don't know how this will help me."

"Close your eyes and use your mana to grasp mine. Maybe something will make sense to you then."

Bery felt a sense of frustration building. Working with magic didn't make sense at all, yet she obediently closed her eyes. She channeled mana into her palms, and felt the bubble.

A new sensation washed over her. Rather than the spinning feeling she often got in her gut, there was an entirely new feeling. It was like a storm raging in front of her, and it felt like she was free falling into a watery abyss. It took all of her will to not open her eyes and ground herself in reality.

The violent twisting of her stomach manifested again as if she was a passenger of a storm. Weightlessness attacked her, and she finally opened her eyes.

When she did, the bubble in her hand popped, and water poured onto the ground below. The kitten nearly dropped to her knees, but the arms of her dragon caught her.

Bery felt as if she would vomit. She watched the buildings on the horizon spin and double.

Valerie patted her back. "Take it easy, kitten. This is something hard to get used to."

The kitten nodded and took several deep breaths. "Why is magic so hard to use?"

Aqua sighed. "It is harder for some than others. Based off your reaction, you have very little magical talent."

Bery felt the frustration coming back. She grit her teeth, and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes.

The empress frowned and touched the kitten's forehead with her fan. "I said you have very little magical talent. I did not say you have no magical talent. Remember what you told me before? You kept making paintings to get better at them. Do the same with magic, and you will be fine. Try that thing you did earlier."

Bery sniffled and nodded, choking down her tears. "What thing?"

"Make some droplets of water."

Bery closed her eyes once again and sighed. She pulled on her well of mana, expecting the world to start spinning again, but no such feeling came. Instead, when she opened her eyes, she saw a faucet of water pouring down onto the ground below.

Aqua grinned and closed her opened fan. "See, you do have very little magical talent."

Valerie glared at the empress. "Maybe you should phrase such a thing better."

Aqua shook her head. "No, I will not. For these types of matters, it is better to be completely honest."

Bery stopped her magic once she felt that feeling returning, and her little fountain stopped. She grabbed onto Valerie's arm and smiled. "It's okay. I understand that Aqua is just trying to help me." The kitten gestured at her own outfit and winked at the dragoness. "Rather than that, you promised you would see me in all kinds of clothes."

The kitten pointed at Aqua. "It's time to make good on our deal."

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