If Lotus's nighttime arrival in Equestria gave her a false impression of how different it could be from Earth, her first hoofsteps into Hono restored some of that initial sense of wonder.
Its many houses and buildings were constructed in a rough semicircle around a large central square, stretching from one side of the village to the other. Though very few were built to any sane engineering standard she had ever seen. Most of those were in the center of the village, where a large wooden temple and various market stalls were scattered.
Towering trees ringed it on all sides, as dense and mighty as any of the wilderness they had trekked through to get this far.
But her second look was enough to reveal the error in that assumption. Somehow, the Kirin had built their homes into the wood, with doors and windows emerging from the thickest trunks. The trees above lived on, even thriving, with some of the richest leaves in their canopies.
Following those mighty trunks to their tops, some had large structures resting on them just before they narrowed. Others had balconies, walkways, and bridges suspended between them, forming an elevated walkway around the village.
Smaller buildings tucked between them were built in much the same way, though they used living turf as their roofs instead of some other magical construction technique.
Their escorts hadn't been lying about an upcoming festival either, judging by the decorations. Whole sections of the clearing were covered by strings of paper lanterns, all printed in intricate designs. A wooden dance floor and circles of chairs surrounded the outside, with a few large drums waiting in the middle.
There were few kirin lingering around it now, though. Instead, she saw many through the huge open doors to the temple, along with the twang of Eastern-sounding stringed instruments that Eric couldn't name if he tried.
"You two will be guests at the compound there," said the male, pointing towards a nearby stone building. It was one of a very small number of such buildings, located near the gate. Dense block walls ringed it on all sides, with metal bars on the door. "It's the safest place for strangers. Rain Shine will judge what to do with you tomorrow, when the festivities are over."
"There's no need to lock me up," Gus said hastily, turning his camera on Pumpkin Smoke. "I won't go anywhere without Lotus. If she's here, I'll stay. I'd rather watch your festival if it's okay. No one has ever had the chance to study an alien religion up close!"
The kirin shared a look, attention gradually drifting to Iron. "What about you?" Pumpkin Smoke asked. "Will you swear on your princess that you won't try to run?"
In answer, Iron took one step towards the compound. "I'm no danger to any of you, so long as you aren't a danger to Equestria. But I won't swear on my princess."
"That settles that. Uh... Calming Ember, keep an eye on the bird. Take his bag, he seemed to care about that a lot. Stick that in the compound with the pony." Gus protested, but in vain.
Lotus did catch him palming a few extra batteries before he handed it over. The kirin didn't seem to mind if he kept the GoPro he was using to film them with.
"The mare. Someone should prepare her for the festival. Many will want to meet her. Are there any—"
"Me!" Autumn Blaze practically shouted. "I mean, me. She's about my size." She approached, touching one hoof on Lotus's neck, then another on her rump. "Hmm. Almost. Might be a little loose, but I can make it work. She's about my amount of stink, too. How do you feel about a bath, Lotus no-family-name?"
“Can I vouch for Iron Feather?” she asked. “I don’t know what you want from me, but I’ll be happier if he isn’t locked up.”
The kirin shared a look, confused and annoyed with her question. Their leader shook his head once. “Make him swear. Otherwise, he stays until tomorrow morning.”
Lotus looked to him, pleading. But Iron turned away. “I will wait for judgment. You go, Lotus. Keep your friend out of trouble.”
She shifted uneasily on her hooves, a dozen different arguments rising briefly to her mind—only to fade again just as quickly. The village wouldn’t lock him away forever, just one night. Maybe by cooperating, she could make a good impression on whoever “Rain Shine” was.
“Fine.” She looked away from him, ears folding flat. “I guess he doesn’t want to promise.”
“So you’re with me!” Autumn Blaze exclaimed, stepping between them. “We have a festival to prepare for!”
"Excellent! Perfect! She's your responsibility until she meets with Rain Shine tomorrow. Don't mess this up." He levitated the satchel off Autumn's shoulder, securing it around his neck. "I'll hold onto this. If you're watching her, you wouldn't want it to be too close. Rain Shine will decide whether to give it back."
Autumn touched her chest with one hoof. "She's an ambassador. I'll make sure her festival experience is unforgettable."
The other kirin didn't just agree, they scattered. Lotus had a few seconds to watch them drag Iron away towards the compound—then she was alone in the path, with only this stranger for company.
"Just wait until you get to see Hono," she said, nudging Lotus forward. "I mean, you can already see Hono. But like, see it in a spiritual sense. It's the most amazing place I've ever lived."
Lotus trailed along just a little bit behind her. They passed over a few wooden bridges over the streams, wove through gardens of flowers, towards a single towering tree among the many.
"It is pretty," Lotus admitted. "I've seen tree houses before, but never anyone building inside the tree. I assume that's magic?"
There were all kinds of spells in that book, maybe even some for construction. That was hardly the subject that interested her most when she dug through the tome.
"Oh, yeah." Autumn shrugged her shoulder. "Everyone lives in those. You wouldn't think they were a good idea, given... what we are. But living in something made of wood teaches discipline. Every time you look up you can see green, and you're reminded of what will happen if you lose control of your emotions. Fire is an amazing friend, but a terrible master."
They didn't walk into one of the treehouses, but another stone building. This had no walls or fences, just two separate doors. Each had a horn carved into its surface, slightly different in shape and branch. Autumn took them through one, into what was unmistakably a locker room. There was no way to secure one's possessions, just a row of identically sized wooden boxes.
Autumn hung up her saddlebags, then urged Lotus forward into a smaller room with a few seats in the center of a metal grate. Shelves on the wall held various colored bottles, each with little writing she couldn't read.
Her companion knocked her hoof up against a large metal container on the opposite wall, removing the lid. Clear water frothed inside. "It's a little chilly, but that's okay. We're just trying to keep dirt out of the spring."
Lotus stood stupidly in place, watching the mare. What was she even doing here?
Bathing, apparently. Autumn used a ladle of water along with soap and a brush, each one held in her magic with relative ease. She barely even glanced at Lotus, just scrubbed away as quick as she could, obviously eager to get clean.
Lotus flushed bright red, turning her back on the mare. With how little they cared about nudity, she was surprised they even separated bathrooms by sex. A part of Eric was still there deep down, subtly uncomfortable.
Physical discomfort over the disgusting state of her body won in the end, and Lotus cleaned herself off.
Her magic had recovered somewhat after the last night, enough that she could levitate one object at once without losing concentration and dropping it. But she lacked the skill to carry everything at once, the way her partner could. The mare's description of the water wasn't just accurate, it was understated. Every ladle of it was downright freezing, sending another wave of shivers through her.
Autumn waited by a door on the opposite side of the room for a minute or two, dripping wet with cold water. Eventually she made her way over, ignoring Lotus's obvious embarrassment. "I'm taking a shot in the dark here—this isn't how kirin wash where you come from."
She nodded, no longer making eye contact. She wasn't any more naked than she'd been five minutes ago, but something about the bathroom made it impossible not to feel self-conscious. "Mostly I use a shower. Water comes out of the ceiling then you turn it off again. You don't have to worry about all these steps..."
"Really? Sounds interesting. Give me that soap, hold still."
Lotus could no more resist her than she had fought for the satchel earlier in the morning. The other kirin worked quickly, without any particular gentleness. The soap stung, but she did start feeling clean.
A minute later she was done, and she tossed the brush into a bucket of other dirty tools. "Around here, we take our time on the relaxing part, not the one where we're gonna turn into ice cubes. Metaphorically. I've never seen a kirin freeze before."
They walked together through another set of doors, into a manicured garden of stones surrounding several rocky crags, widened into spas. Here the water bubbled with heat, a steady cloud of steam that settled on the spring as constant fog.
"Stallions on that side of the fence, mares on this. And that spring around the corner is coed, so you can guess what happens there." She nudged Lotus's shoulder again, leering. "You can guess, right?"
Lotus groaned. "Yes. People have sex in my world too. I don't exactly know—" She trailed off, looking suddenly away from her companion. Moisture caught in her coat soon joined the steam rising all around her.
"Adults only through the gate," Autumn continued, pretending not to notice. "Set a rock by the door if you go through with someone. Anyway, this is our side." They descended a little ramp, into a spa large enough for a dozen or so kirin Lotus's size.
In that moment, the discomfort of her embarrassment boiled away to nothing. Her fears went with it. Lotus settled down into a comfortable spot, sinking all the way down to her neck in the bubbling pool. She closed her eyes, resting her head against the rocks.
Heat washed over her, until at last the inferno inside her finally approached the temperature of her surroundings. Her breathing slowed, and she closed her eyes, barely thinking at all.
I'm not a prisoner. They think they rescued me. Besides, did it even matter if she was a prisoner somewhere if she didn't want to leave?
"Usually, it would be pretty packed in here," Autumn said, interrupting her quiet contemplation. "But everyone's already at the festival. There's a ton of food in the temple, more than the whole village could eat. But we'll have to make it there before it all gets cold."
Lotus opened one eye. She was smiling now, entirely against her will. Iron was imprisoned, and the kirin had taken Gale's book. Making it to Equestria was only the beginning—the nation wouldn't be safe until Searing was locked away for good.
It took effort to focus on much of anything right then. The heat didn't wake her up, it might rock her to sleep if she wasn't careful. "Don't suppose you have anything with caffeine around here? Coffee? Energy drinks? Tea?"
"Oh, we have that last one!" Autumn drifted closer to her, taking the seat beside her in the water. "And more interesting stuff. If you've never had sake before, go easy until you know how much you can handle. It's way stronger than it looks."
"I didn't come to your world to drink," Lotus said, speaking slowly. She shouldn't be saying anything, not until her meeting with the mysterious leader Rain Shine. Maybe it was something in the water. "This world is in danger. I'm here to help save it."
"Really? I'm sure that's a really interesting story! How much can you tell me in the next five minutes?"
"Five..." She closed her eyes again, letting the water surround her. With this much heat, it didn't matter how much chaos she faced in the world outside. "That isn't very long."
"Unfortunately not. Should've come to our world on a better day. Without the festival, you could've spent as long in here as you wanted. But that's okay, there will be another chance. There's nowhere else in the whole world safe for kirin. You'll get to know the village so well you're sick of it!"
She splashed the water towards her, sending a little wave across the liquid in Lotus's direction. She sniffed, coughing and spluttering under the moisture.
Lotus straightened, rising into a proper sitting position in the water. She spat out a mouthful of slightly mineral-tasting spa, breathing heavily. "I've heard a lot about what Equestria was like from Iron Feather—the pegasus with me. I don't think he would lie."
Autumn shrugged in the water, spreading to float there. Lotus might've done that, but not if she had to get out in just five minutes. She had to mentally prepare to leave behind such a nice place, otherwise she might not be able to muster the willpower.
"We haven't had a pony in the village in a long time. Who knows what Equestria is like these days. Can't be all good though. We've got telescopes." She splashed over to Lotus, wrapping her foreleg around her neck. "We've seen things. Magic sucked away. A night without a sunrise. Hear rumors too. The animals hear things from the towns, and sometimes share with us. If we ask nicely. Can you talk to animals, Lotus?"
"No. I didn't know animals were smart enough to have anything to say."
Autumn let go, groaning loudly. "Well there goes that theory! Thanks for nothing!" She pushed away again, and floated across the warm water to the opposite side to sulk.
"Theory for what?" Lotus sat up, sliding a little higher in the water. The heat was fantastically comfortable, but also slowed her thoughts. She didn't have to think if she stayed here.
"Your family name. Nope, don't say anything. I know you don't have one. That's just not gonna work here. You can't honestly tell me that nobody else has the name Lotus where you come from. How do you tell each other apart? I mean, how do other kirin tell you apart when you're not around. Obviously you know which one's you, since you're... you."
Lotus reached up with her magic, brushing it through her mane. She felt like a new creature now, transformed by salty water and soap. When was the last time she'd ever really felt comfortable?
Too bad they couldn't let her sleep for a few hours before the festival. "There weren't a lot of other kirin where I came from. I had to make things up as I went along."
"That's... so sad. How about Solitary Lotus? That sounds like a name!"
"Absolutely not." She splashed the other kirin, pushing the water into a flat wave with her magic. She would've done the same with her hands, but of course she didn't have those anymore. "I'm not solitary. I had friends. Like Gus—the griffon. And Iron." She trailed off, sinking back into the water.
If she couldn't get a few hours of sleep before the festival, she would settle for having his company in here. He must need it even more than she did, after fighting half a dozen kirin by himself.
If custom forced them into the other hot tub, that wouldn't be the end of the world. She already knew how to discourage others from going in.
"Oooooh. I see how it is. No wonder he's so nice to you. You're together!"
"We're not—" She stopped abruptly, avoiding her eyes. "We could be. But I'm not sure it's a good idea."
"Definitely not." Autumn wrapped a foreleg around her neck again, pulling her in close. "Terrible idea. Kirin is always dominant, or there'd be none of us left by now. Just look at what happened when Lord Tidefall saw Searing's firstborn..." She trailed off, breaking into energetic giggling.
Lotus’s ears perked at that mention. Did Autumn know about the one she was hunting after all? Unfortunately, the other Kirin pressed on so quickly that her question was lost.
"Tell me everything! You want my help setting you up? I could probably get him out of the compound if I asked the right kirin. Best time to ask is under the lanterns tonight. Lots of new lovers make promises to each other. Just make sure you call me over when the fireworks start in a year or two. And the fire brigade, obviously..."
She kept going like that, speaking so fast now that Lotus lost track of exactly what she was saying. The general theme was obvious though, enough for her to finally stand up.
As it turned out, there was something that would pressure her out of the wonderful hot water. "I thought you said it was a bad idea! Why would you want to set us up?" She shook her head. "Wait, it doesn't matter. I'm not afraid of him being a pony. I don't care about that part."
Autumn bounded out behind her, shaking the moisture out of her coat with every step. "If that doesn't bother you, then I don't know what the problem could be. Nothing two mature adults can't work out together. Unless—is he not old enough? I don't know anything about how old ponies are before they—"
"Yes," Lotus said, so loud it was almost a shout. "I don't know if I'm going to go home!"
That finally silenced her. Autumn's mane deflated, and she dripped out onto the wooden mat. Finally she was quiet enough to let Lotus speak.
"Back to my world," she continued. "Changed back into... how I used to look. This is the first time I've ever felt anything for a stallion. I've turned him away twice. It wouldn't be fair to him. To... let him fall in love with me, then leave. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go back."
The silence persisted for a few more seconds. Then Autumn wrapped something around her—a huge, fluffy towel. There must be a rack behind her, but now Lotus couldn't turn to look.
"That is not what I was expecting, Lotus. Just hold that thought—we have to get you dressed for the festival!"
