“Okay, so we have the what and the where…sort of,” Baekhyun mused, “but we don’t have the how.”

“How what?” Vasilisa asked, walking up to the group.

“Uh…how…um…” The guardian of light fumbled, looking to the others for assistance.

“How to get to their tree of life now that they’ve decoded the map,” Manfred explained simply.

“Oh, you guys finally decoded it? That’s great!” Vasilisa smiled at the gape mouthed guardians. She turned to Dahlia, swatting her shoulder, “Also, thanks for not telling me about meeting your of a mom.”

“Sorry, I kind of passed out from mental overload,” Dahlia replied blankly. “Also, how do you know about all this?”

“This one has some weird pillow talk,” Vasilisa remarked, jutting a thumb over to a sheepish Manfred.

“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him,” Xiumin growled.

“Wait a minute,” Dahlia interjected. “Pillow talk? You mean you two had…you guys….together?”

“You didn’t tell her about us?” Vasilisa accused.

“How was supposed to spring this on her?” Manfred defended. “I mean, she’s taking care of twelve magically gifted aliens who are lusting after her!”

“We’re not lusting!” Chen argued.

“Can it, bedroom eyes,” Manfred drawled. “I can see right through you.”

“Hold on, hold on,” Kris snapped. “One thing at a time! Manfred – have you told anyone else about us, despite the fact that you’ve already broken your vow of secrecy?”

Manfred shook his head fervently, “Nope, just her.”

“Vasilisa,” Kris continued, turning to the acrobat. “have you told anyone.”

“I haven’t,” Vasilisa replied. “I don’t really fancy being carted off to the loony bin. Plus, as long as you guys are good to Dahlia, you’re alright in my book. I see no reason to out you guys.”

“I can’t even with you two,” Dahlia muttered, putting her head in her hands.

She felt arms circle around her and looked up to see Chanyeol smiling warmly down at her.  “Don’t stress,” he told her. “It’ll give you wrinkles.”

“What, and you won’t find me pretty anymore?” She asked jokingly.

“Don’t make her think that!” Baekhyun swatted at the taller guardian, gently disentangling Dahlia from Chanyeol’s arms and wrapping his own around her. “We’ll never think that you aren’t pretty,” he cooed, bringing a blush to Dahlia’s cheeks.

“This is so weird,” Vasilisa breathed. “I’ve never seen her not flinch away from someone’s touch.”

“We taught her how to block off her mind,” Tao stated proudly.

“You taught me?” Dahlia questioned. “I figured out how to do it on my own.”

“Yeah, but we encouraged it!”

“As adorable as this is, I am still confused as what you meant by ‘the how’,” Vasilisa interjected, looking warmly at her friend. “I mean, isn’t one of you a teleporter? Can you just woosh over to wherever you need to go?”

There was silence from the group, and Dahlia could feel Baekhyun tense beside her.

“I think they don’t want to teleport,” Manfred assumed. “Then they’d get to their tree too quickly and have to leave Dahlia behind.”

Vasilisa hummed in thought, “Where did the map point you?”

“Neptune’s Fountain in Berlin,” Kyungsoo answered.

“Do you think your mom will let us take a day off?” Vasilisa asked Manfred. “That’s not too far off from our next stop.”

“Whoa, whoa…us?” Xiumin repeated. “And what makes you think that you two can come with us?”

“Because Dahlia’s my friend, and while she’s supporting you all she needs someone to support her,” Vasilisa poked Xiumin roughly in the chest. “I don’t care what power you have; just try to stop me.”

“She’s scary,” Dahlia heard Baekhyun whisper.

“You have no idea,” Dahlia replied softly.

“So, you propose we stay with the carnival until it reaches Berlin?” Lay asked, with Vasilisa nodding in response.

“How long will that be?” Dahlia asked.

“Dude, we’re in Germany now,” Manfred informed her.

“Seriously?” She whined. “I knew the accent sounded odd for Austria. Man, I keep missing all these travel days.”

“And you keep missing work,” Vasilisa added. “You’re lucky you have dimples here to fill in for you.”

“Dimples?” Lay repeated.

Vasilisa shrugged, “You’ve got cute dimples.”

“Can you not flirt with him,” Manfred huffed.

“I second that,” Dahlia nodded.

“Aw, you’re cute when you’re jealous,” Sehun cooed, reaching over to pinch Dahlia’s cheeks, which she promptly swatted away.

“I’m not jealous,” Dahlia countered. “I just think that we should get back to the main point of this conversation.”

“She’s so jealous,” Luhan sniggered.

***

It was the day before they’d reach Berlin. The guardians were excited, though they were trying to keep their excitement as low key as possible. It was a widespread opinion that they shouldn’t let their eagerness to get to their Tree show since it could potentially ruin Dahlia’s mood.

She was being more accommodating about physical affection, and they weren’t going to do anything to jeopardize that.

Dahlia was having a hard time with the impending daytrip as well – she had just come to terms with the fact that she was developing a deep affection for the twelve guardians. She wasn’t sure if it had yet progressed into romance, fully aware that her understanding of the deeper emotions was stunted after years of self-inflicted reclusiveness.

But now was not the time to sink into an emotional stupor, contemplating the state of her love life – or somewhat lack thereof.

Now was time to work, and as she was returning from her lunch break she noticed she already had a customer waiting at her tent.

“I’m sorry; my lunch break went a bit longer than expected.” She apologized, taking the sign off the hook by her tent’s