The silence after Ron’s stomach growl still lingered in the icy air, curling around the corners of the cave like invisible fog. It wasn’t awkward anymore.. if anything, it was almost comforting. A shared quiet that didn’t need to be broken.
Seeing the rumbling stomach of Ron... Jett stood up from her spot near the cave entrance, where a sliver of wind curled through the cracks, she stood up with a subtle push of her hands on her knees. Her movement drew everyone's attention, not because it was loud or sudden, but because of how naturally she stepped into the center of their gathered group, like she belonged there.
Without saying a word, she lowered herself to a squat, one knee pressed lightly against the frozen stone floor. The sound of her breath was soft, focused. Her pale gray eyes shut halfway, and slowly... gently... a faint radiance began to seep out from around her. At first, it was hardly more than a glimmer, like moonlight caught in frost, but it grew brighter, warmer, and more vibrant with each passing second.
Tiny pink particles shimmered around her like floating petals caught in a breeze. They danced in the air, flickering as they hovered, and then before anyone could even ask what they were.. they began to gather in one spot before her open palm. The particles swirled, thickened, condensed.
A soft pulse of light followed.
Then, with a quiet shimmer, the glow faded down into form, and from it, a small creature emerged.
It had pink fluffy fur that seemed impossibly clean and warm in the cold world around them. Its ears flopped gently on either side of its head like silk scarves caught in a breeze. Its eyes were large, round, and glowing with a soft light blue hue that wasn't just light, it was warmth, comfort, presence. The illumination from its eyes spread out faintly across the cave walls, brushing against the frost and dulling the sharp edge of the cold stone. The whole space felt... less harsh, if only slightly.
Emma blinked, leaning forward instinctively. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes widened in awe. “...Wow,” she whispered, the word escaping without her permission. It was quiet, but it echoed like truth through the cave.
She wasn’t the only one captivated.
Liz, who had just moments ago been glaring eyes at Dan, suddenly paused mid-thought. Her emerald eyes sparkled, reflecting the creature’s glow, and her entire expression softened with a gasp. She stepped forward unconsciously, a smile pulling at her lips.
“What is that?” Liz finally asked, her voice a mix of wonder and a slight excitement.
Jett’s lips curled faintly, her eyes calm as she gently ran her hand over the creature’s small, warm back.
“It’s a Bunny Heart Jenka,” she answered, her voice steady. “It’s one of my Heart Jenka... at least, the ones I currently have.”
The name felt soft, yet important. Something ancient, even if the creature looked like it belonged in a child’s fairy tale.
Liz nodded slowly, still entranced. “It’s so... cute,” she murmured, as if that were a sacred truth she needed to say aloud.
Dan, of course, couldn't help himself.
He scoffed. Lightly. Just a sharp breath through his nose and the faintest roll of his eyes.
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He didn’t get far.
Thwack!
A quick, practiced knock to the side of his head. Liz didn’t even look at him this time.
“Ow! What now?” Dan winced, rubbing the spot, more out of habit than pain.
“You know what you did,” Liz replied without missing a beat, arms now folded as she turned back to admire the bunny again.
Emma watched it all unfold with a quiet smile tugging at the corners of her lips. The tension from before had all but vanished. The cave atmosphere once cold and heavy with the scent of silence, now held a flicker of something alive. Something glowing and faintly kind.
But while she watched the others laugh and chatter, her mind lingered elsewhere, stuck on a word that had slipped from Jett’s mouth earlier.
Heart Jenka...
She repeated it inwardly, rolling the term around in her thoughts like a stone in her palm. There was something delicate about it. Something that sounded important, bigger than just a magical bunny. She had never heard the term before. It was new. Strange. And yet oddly familiar, like a phrase embedded deep within her, like something she’d once read in a story lost in the whisper of pages..
A part of her wanted to ask badly. She wanted to understand what a Heart Jenka was, where it came from, how it was created, and why Jett had more than one. Her fingers twitched slightly on her lap, betraying the hesitation her face did not.
But...
She held back.
She didn’t want to be annoying. She had already asked too many questions today. So instead, she lowered her gaze slightly and folded her hands together over her skirt, deciding to let the curiosity sit quietly in her chest, at least for now.
Still...
But unfortunately...
She exhaled through her nose, slow and reluctant.
She still decided to ask just one question.
Just one, this time.
"Uhm... Jett?" Emma’s soft voice drifted across the cave, carried by the gentle flicker of light that glowed from the tiny pink particles beginning to form around Jett’s hand. The shimmering dust fluttered like snowflakes suspended mid-fall, swirling slowly in the cold air before drawing back into her palm like embers returning to a flame.
Jett turned her head quietly, her expression still calm, still wrapped in the magic she was weaving. Her pale gray eyes locked with Emma’s unique white ones. There was no annoyance in her gaze, only patience, and perhaps a hint of curiosity at what Emma would say.
Emma hesitated a little, shifting slightly where she sat atop the raised slab of frozen rock, her legs still crossed comfortably beneath her skirt. Her breath came out in a small cloud, white against the soft pink hue that now faintly lit the inside of the icy cave.
“So… what exactly does this bunny... uh, no, the Bunny Heart Jenka, what does it do? And…” she paused, scratching the back of her head lightly with an awkward smile, “…what’s a Heart Jenka, anyway?” She let out a small laugh, her voice dipping into a sheepish tone. “Sorry for asking too many questions… I guess I’m just a little too curious.”
Jett’s lips curled into a light smile, the corner of her mouth twitching up as she let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh.
“No problem,” she said softly. The warm glow from the bunny’s body cast her face in a soft pink hue, making her look gentler than usual. “But heh… if you want a full explanation, I’d really recommend you ask Grandma Yu when we get to Xin. She’s the one who knows all about Heart Jenka. Because…” Her voice trailed off as she looked down briefly, the pink particles briefly flaring brighter in her hand. “I don’t really know that much about it myself either.”
Emma nodded slowly, tucking that name, Grandma Yu.. deep into her mind. “Alright. I’ll keep that in mind…”
She let her gaze drift back toward the bunny, who was now comfortably curled up next to Jett’s knee, its soft pink fur rising and falling gently with its tiny breaths.
Jett looked back up. “As for what this one does,” she continued, gesturing toward the bunny with a tilt of her head, “it’s simple. I use it to access something called Ash of Creation. Or maybe, it’s more accurate to say, I gained Ash of Creation from my Bunny Heart Jenka.”
Emma tilted her head slightly. Her brows furrowed in thought, repeating the phrase in her mind: Ash of Creation. There was something ancient about the way those words felt, something deep and far-reaching. She’d heard of creation magic before, especially in the fruit she was reborn from… but this didn’t sound quite the same. More layered. More foundational.
She was about to hold the thought back, to bury the question like she had done before.. but it slipped past her lips before she could stop it.
“So… what exactly is Ash of Creation?”
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