By The Stream

Azalea wiggled her fingers tentatively, made a fist, then released it. Satisfied, she tried standing up without her sister, took a wobbly step or two...and decided to sit back down. Azalea watched from the ground as Remi transformed, her only reaction to the change being a warm smile, it was nice to see a new friend already acting so comfortably around her.

Rose, meanwhile, wandered to the tree where both their bags had been left, and came back a minute later with a brown paper bag and a pair of reusable colored-glass water bottles, which were naturally color coded bluish-green and red like so many other things the twins owned. Rose tossed Azalea the bluish bottle, to which Azalea gratefully popped open the lid and started gulping, and offered her own bottle to Remi.

"Want some water Remi? You need this more than me at the moment. Got food here too if you want anything other than tree branches." There was notably no confusion or surprise at Remi eating branches in Rose's voice; she responded as if eating bits of trees made perfect sense and was simply offering other options should they be desired.

Rose sat down by Azalea and reached into the bag, pulling out a small cake made from nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and honey, then placing the bag between the three of them so anyone could grab from it. "Our mothers sent us a care package. Mom's trail cakes are to die for."

Rose smiled. "Of course, I offered, didn't I? And you don't have to repay us, though if you choose to share your pastries we will be glad to try them."

Azalea nodded in agreement, but was too busy reaching for a seed cake of her own, which she then quietly chewed with a contended but tired look on her face.

After finishing a mouthful, Azalea looked at Remi with a warm smile, "In fact, you should come over and hang out in our apartment sometime, I'll cook us dinner or something." Azalea's shyness was mostly gone somehow. The sparring match was energizing and something about Remi was vaguely comforting to Azalea, though they couldn't put their finger on it.

"Certainly! We would be honored to be welcomed to your home." Azalea smiled at Remi before taking more gulps from the water bottle.

Rose took a bite of her seedcake. "Aren't they? Both our mothers and Azalea are all somewhat culinarily inclined, and the rest of us certainly don't complain about the lovely food. Oh, and the cold won't be a problem. Our species...or sub-species at least, is pretty accustomed to cold."

Azalea finally stopped gulping down water and took a cake of her own, grinning stupidly with water dripping down her chin. "I have to drink more water than the average person because of the water elemental inheritance. Have to soak in it an hour every day too. Not that I really mind...I love water."

Azalea nodded sympathetically and giggled a little. "It can be a little inconvenient, yes. And Rosie here has her own unique needs tied to her elemental form."

"I gotta go walking or jogging for an hour every day, and specifically have to be in constant motion for the duration, no stopping or standing still at all. Just like an electrical current." Rose flexed her hand a bit. It sparked with electrical energy slightly as she did, indicating she needed to do just that pretty soon. She'd let Azalea take the duel first because she seemed to be really bonding with Remi, but in truth Rose could have used the adrenaline. She grimaced a little and went about finishing her seedcake.

"We get by just fine though, we've always got each other. Rose bathes with me every day and I walk or run with her." The two exchanged fond smiles for a moment before turning their attention back to their new friend.

The twins both smiled at being called cute. Rose stood up and reached her arms into the sky, stretching.

"It's fine, really, gotta go jog now anyway...and if Azalea's not too tuckered out from your duel I might even get comp--OW!" An arcing tendril of energy flickered a moment across Rose's torso, and she clutched her side in pain, grimacing.

Azalea looked to her sister, notably only seeming mildly concerned, as if this was normal. "Let's go sis, just...make it a slow jog for my sake."

Before they left, Azalea fished a scrap of paper and a pen from her bag, quickly scribbling her and Rose's cell phone numbers, and then handed it, along with another seedcake, to Remi.

"Take one more for the road...so to speak. And here, so we can keep in contact."