The Ice Empress's mind raced. "That's different. That fellow wanted to trample all over me. This human cub... he gave me pills."
"Pills?" The Snow Empress tilted her head slightly, a glimmer of interest finally appearing in her sky-blue eyes. "What kind of pills?"
"These!" Jiang Lan took out the pills to show her.
The Snow Empress leaned closer for a sniff, her ethereal eyes narrowing slightly.
"Good stuff." The Snow Empress straightened and looked at Jiang Lan again. "You refined these?"
"Yep!" Jiang Lan nodded and patted his chest. "I refined them. If you want some, big sister, I can give you some too."
"First, tell me why you wanted to ride her," the Snow Empress asked.
"Because she runs fast," Jiang Lan answered without a shred of hesitation. "My legs are short, and the snow's too deep for me to walk through. Big Sister Ice Empress runs fast and steady, and the view from up there is really nice. Besides, her shell feels really comfortable, cool and smooth. Doro likes it too."
The Snow Empress fell silent for a moment. She looked down at the Ice Empress's still-pink shell, then at Jiang Lan's chubby little face, brimming with sincerity, and finally at Doro's soft, squishy form.
"Ice Empress." The Snow Empress turned toward her. "If you're being threatened, give your tail a blink."
The Ice Empress's tail shot up, then snapped down, swishing back and forth twice.
"I'm not being threatened!" the Ice Empress practically said through gritted teeth. "I just... just think he refines good pills. What's wrong with helping him? Since when did the Far North have a rule against Ice Jade Scorpions carrying people? I want to!"
"You want to," the Snow Empress repeated.
The Ice Empress's shell turned even pinker.
"All right." The Snow