The Sky Dance

The sun rose in the east brightening the night sky from the vast black void of space sprinkled with stars and slowly transitioning it to dark indigo. As the stars winked out the sky brightened and the clouds and the land turned a dark purple. Purple became red. Red became pink. Pink became orange, and above it all, the sky, low on the horizon, turned green.

I watched it all, as the sun rose and the land was bathed in light, from thirty thousand feet. Light shimmered off of golden wheat-colored feathers that covered my hybrid-eagle face and a mane of feathered hair. My shoulders, wing-arms, and halfway down my back were covered with white feathers. My skin was the same chestnut color. Sprouting from between my buttocks, just below the sacral promontory of my pelvis, was a short bird-like tail covered in long white tail feathers. And lastly, my feet were an eagle's sharp talons.

With eagle's eyes, I soared above the Dragon's Spine Mountains and searched for my mates. I spotted Burza two thousand feet below me and I dived…

——(!)——

In the predawn darkness the camp stirred as Glenna, Huxian, Usagi, and Tsukino marshaled the rest of my wives and me out of sound sleep beneath the roadside trees. Laying across me, small and warm, was Bastet. Her black fur was so soft as I ran my hand down her back and cupped her bottom. I was still inside her, and last night Quebracho had been as vigorous in my dreams as Bastet had been before we fell asleep, and so, now, we were a mess.

I was rewarded though with a satisfied smile from Bastet as she carefully lifted herself off of me.

"Thank you, my love," Was all she purred before she left.

By the time I caught up, even Matron Forelain, Sinaan, Ra'Shaal, Fjallindae, and the housemaid honor guard were present. Bartlett and Maha were there. Gregr and the village council of Moonlight Burrow were present. Tanaya and Chenoa of the Howling Forde Lupus stood together looking nervous. Juno and Koda of Earthmother's Den both stood at relaxed attention. Lastly, Elders Poeal and Yawel both shuffled up looking aged and tired.

Once everyone was gathered, I nodded to Bartlett and raised my voice, "Bartlett. Maha. Warriors of Earthmother's Den. Mayor Gregr. Wolf-mother Tanaya. Elder Poeal. Bartlett and Maha are in command of the march to Sequoia's Grove. They know where to go. Listen to them. Lastly, I wish for all of you to find safety beneath Sequoia's boughs. Safe travels."

I passed the maps from Moonlight Burrow to Bartlett and the group broke up. They all knew what to do, and left to go do it. As they departed to start rousing the refugees Burza approached.

"Husband," Burza said as she caught my elbow with the thumb of her wing.

"Yes, wife?" I replied as she pulled me off to the side of camp and up the road a ways.

Once Burza was satisfied with our distance from the camp she turned to me. She gave me a brief smile. She was thrilled by Glenna's announcement that she no longer needed to refer to herself as my mate. Nor was she to refer to herself as a concubine which she already is. Rather, she was to think and act as my wife. A true wife. But, Burza was also shrewd enough to not be overexcited and understand that, despite Glenna's desire and effort to honor her and my other mates, the claim to wifely rights was simply just not true.

Not yet at least and maybe not ever.

Burza could call herself and think of herself as my wife, but that was all it was, a word. Wife. Concubine. Mate. Slightly different words that hinted at rights and privileges she supposedly didn't have and should want. Mate. That was what she was and all she needed to be. She had all she needed and wanted from me in that one word.

"Husband," Burza began again, "It is time for us to fly our mating flight."

"Okay," I replied as I looked from her to her daughters who were intently watching from a few paces off.

Burza's aves-alfari features were beautiful and exotic. Her face and body were free of feathers exposing skin that was a pale white. Her long feather-like hair reached the bottoms of her buttocks, and it was as white as her flesh. She wore a single tribal medallion around her neck with a large ruby stone and a long purple feather that dangled between her small sleek breasts. Her only other clothing, or rather, ornamentation, were six hip chains starting at her natural waist. Each one was a slightly different length so that they rode further and further down her waist and hips while being separated by at least two fingers' width of space. The last hip chain rode low on her hips and was connected to a four-inch silver plate that rested on her lower belly just above her sex.

For the most part, Burza and her daughters, like all aves-alfari, appeared beautiful and mostly alfari in form and figure. Which meant that her face, body, upper arms, and legs were for the most part humanoid. Each aves-alfari subspecies varied a little, and so, being an accipitridae-alfari, Burza's wing feathers started just below her thickly muscled, very humanoid, shoulders. As for her lower legs and feet, they were humanoid while her toes were longer than normal and taloned, and dexterous enough that they could grab prey or throw spears or rocks with surprising accuracy.

"Are you sure now is the time for this?" I asked as I searched Burza's golden eyes.

"Now is the only time for this," She replied before turning to look at her daughters, "We go into battle, possibly today, tomorrow, or the day after. It is the habit of our people that all mated warriors have relations with their mates, and all the unmated warriors are brought before the Mother and are given a mate to procreate with. Usually from her own daughters. In this way should the warriors not return, then we continue their line and we continue as a flock."

"How often are harpies at war?" I asked since I hadn't ever heard of any large-scale wars between the aves-alfari and the Prime races.

"Nothing so large as war, my husband," Burza admitted, "But, the wilds are dangerous. Flocks, prides, packs, herds, tribes, and clans have all waged vicious battles. Even massacres over water, land, territory, and breeding stock."

"Yes," I agreed as I nodded along, thinking of my previous life's world history, "That does make sense."

"What of your daughters then," I asked changing the topic, "I mated with you Burza, not them."

"To be mated to the Mother of the Flock is to be mated to all of the females of her flock," She replied, "This is not usually our way, but extreme circumstances push us to this. It must be our way now since neither I nor my daughters will mate with my sons."

"I thought you passed your leadership—to another," I said as I cut my eyes to Burza's eldest daughter.

"Her name is Arden," Burza said.

Arden was a little shorter than her mother, which is to say she was only a head taller than me. She also had the coloring of a golden eagle. Her skin was still the same pale white, but her eyes were a brilliant hazel gold and green and her feather-like hair, wings, and tail were all a golden brown.

Being avians meant that Burza and her daughters were all thickly muscled through their chest, back, and shoulders. They all had slim waists, and their hips were narrower than their shoulders. Though, after having nested thirteen times and laid over thirty eggs which produced six sons and nineteen daughters, Burza's hips were much broader than normal for a virgin aves-alfari. Still, despite the norm, and being a virgin, Arden's hips were almost as broad as her mother's.

Another alluring aberration that Arden and seven of her sisters' shared was that they were endowed with breasts much larger than Burza's. Not that it mattered to me, but I was surprised. After meeting Burza I had thought that most, if not all, aves-alfari were small bosomed on account of the vigorous exercise of their upper bodies, but, apparently, that is not the case.

"How should this proceed then," I asked as I cut my eyes to Burza.

"I will lead the flock in the Sky Dance," Burza replied, "Each of my daughters will follow me in succession by age. We will soar as high as we can. We will dance among the clouds. You will follow us. You must perform feats of aerial agility and grace, then you must fly as high as you can. This is our tradition so we are sure we are mating with the strongest male. Once you are higher than us you must choose whom you will mate with first and give chase."

I nodded and she continued, "You must dive down and capture all of us and then we will mate with you as we plummet towards the earth. The longer you mate with us. The longer you can hold out before pulling out of the fall. The more eggs my daughters will produce and you will fertilize."

"We," I said with more than a little surprise in my voice, "Didn't do any of this our first time."

"No," Burza whispered as she shook her head, "You are a Prime. I am an animal. I never expected to nest or lay again. Besides, you were also flightless…"

She ended her explanation with a matter-of-fact shrug. I could almost feel her disappointment at not having been mated by the traditions of her species, but I could also see her excitement at being pregnant too. She was in fact pregnant. Harpies. Avians. Aves-alfari. It didn't matter what name they were called, they were all a peculiar subspecies of animalae-alfari. As hybrids, their reproductive systems also were an amalgam of avian and homosapien. Unlike the alfar, aves-alfari do not produce eggs on a monthly cycle. At least accipitridae-alfari, or eagle-alfari, don't. Burza herself, having nested and laid before, produced a set of eggs twice a year. However, her daughters needed a male to breed with before they would start producing eggs.

"Be careful that you do not become too greedy or fall too deeply into your breeding thrall," Burza warned, "Many harpies have died because they failed to pull out of their free fall in time. Better for you, since this is your first time, that you pull out early and not seed them until later."

"Later?" I asked.

Her face scrunched up in amusement as she replied, "You should know that we are not opposed to breeding in other—more intimate—ways…"

"How many eggs can a harpy produce in a single mating," I asked in mild curiosity.

"Only once, mind," Burza replied in a low stern whisper, "I heard of a harpy having a clutch of six eggs from a single mating. Fear of the fall and the excitement of our breeding stimulates our ovaries to produce more eggs. But still, six eggs is highly irregular. I myself have only had clutches of four eggs twice, and clutches of three five times. All the others were clutches of two eggs."

Burza took a breath to focus her thoughts and then continued, "Putting the eggs aside, what you need to focus on is that gravity and velocity are hard foes to overcome once you reach terminal speeds. You only have so much strength in your wings. If you descend too fast you'll break your wings or tear your shoulder muscles, then you die on impact—if you're fortunate."

"I see," I mumbled as I looked up into the still-dark sky and wondered what it was going to feel like to fly.

After Burza's daughters' potential eggs are fertilized, the magical bio-engineers that created all animalae-alfari, in their great wisdom, tweaked the development and laying process of their eggs. Since aves-alfari are not capable of sitting on their eggs without crushing them or incubating them like normal birds. Those—engineers—instead made it so that avian females had to have sex to fertilize their eggs, then the shell would remain soft and inside the female harpy uterus for thirty days while the embryo incubated, after which they then lay their eggs.

The egg-laying is drawn out over two or three days. The shells are soft and translucent allowing the mother to inspect her offspring, but it quickly hardens upon contacting the air. Afterward, another five days pass as the fetus inside grows and reaches full maturity. Over those five days, the shell dries out and becomes increasingly brittle allowing the chick within to scratch its way out with special thumb talons on its wing arms.

"Well then," I purred as I mentally reached inward, within my inner realm, and grasped the Tome of the Moon Beast. I found the page I wanted and focused on the contract for power which was the transformation spell, "Let's go sky dancing!"

Burza's eyes lit up and her plump mouth spread into an eager smile as, for the first time ever, she watched me grow head and shoulders taller than her. My feet transformed into large eagle's claws and talons, legs lengthening. My waist remained almost the same—very slim for my new height and breadth of shoulder. Ribs, chest, back, and shoulders grew on new muscle. The muscles in my arms lengthened and slimmed down into sinewy tendons.

I gasped as my fused sacrum and coccyx bones broke apart, slimmed down, and lengthened, then reformed into a short tail layer thickly with new muscle. But, it was when my hands and fingers fused into a bird's metacarpals and phalanges that I cried out in pain!

Burza, and her daughters, gasped as my scream became an eagle's screech as my hair changed into long golden wheat-colored plumage that covered my shoulders and grew halfway down my back. My head and face changed as a large beak grew from where my nose and mouth had once been. Feathers grew rapidly from my wing-arms and from my tail. And, through it all, Quebracho whispered sweet reassurances from just behind my shoulder, like a ghost I never could quite catch a glimpse of, while she made sure to modify my clothing through the whole of my transformation. Only at the end did I realize what I had done.

Turning and looking around I realized I had an audience. Glenna and Hlina were standing together watching me. Glenna was emotionless while Hlina appeared concerned. Bastet, Huxian, Leandra, and all the others seemed to somehow be arrayed around me and annoyed that I had interrupted them in the middle of their tasks and chores. And then, I saw Sinaan, Forelain, and all of her entourage.

Dark-skinned Sinaan was blatantly excited though he did a good job of keeping a cool demeanor. Forelain's eyes and mouth were wide open in shock, and her daughters and personal guard weren't much better off. Without thinking of where I was, or who I was accompanied by, I had just given away our one singularly most powerful advantage against the coming Svartalf army!

Shit!

Turning to Burza I growled, "Go!"

She leaped twenty feet straight into the air. Her wings unfurled, and with a mighty downward stroke, she shot up higher. With another beat of her wings and she was soaring. Arden leaped into the air only a second behind her mother. Her large rounded breasts pulled, surged, and bounced when she jumped into the sky and then with every flap of her wings. Then, she too was gone in seconds. One after another Burza's daughters leaped into the air and flew away high into the dark sky. Then, there was only me. I didn't look around. I knew. I could feel it. Everyone was watching me, and so, I leaped!

——(!)——

Those first few wing strokes—those first few minutes—were by far the most frightening of my lives. Both of them!

I looked like a fledgling flying for the first time as I slowly climbed into the sky. My only redemption was the fact that I was old enough to be able to apply what I've seen both from the birds in my original earth and what I have observed of Burza and her daughters. At a thousand feet I was seriously questioning my life choices. By two thousand feet I figured out the rhythm of flapping my wings. By three thousand feet I started experimenting with using my tail feathers. By five thousand feet I could feel the taxation on my energy and stamina as I tried to climb higher. A quick look-up told me all I needed to know about my predicament. Burza and her daughters were tens of thousands of feet above me, soaring lazily as they watched me struggle. Then, there would be a burst of energy as they dived and swooped and barrel rolled before leveling out and catching thermals to lift them back up to where they were previously.

Thermals!

Why hadn't I thought of it sooner?

I remembered a documentary on birds—eagles I think—it mentioned them being able to see air currents. Just the thought about it and specialized eyelids slide down over my eyes and the world burst into vivid life!

The sky was an ocean of wind currents! There was an ebbing and flowing with jet streams high above that were like massive rivers running through that ocean of wind. There were streams and eddies. There was cold air high above and hot air below struggling to rise, and where the two met—thermals!

Then, I saw everything else.

The blue sky was even more so. The clouds seemed to shimmer with silver. The forest below seemed to pop with colors. Greens. Yellows. Oranges. Reds. A kaleidoscope of wondrous colors!

Where the Tunglvatn was I no longer saw water. Instead, I saw small and large fish folk that seemed to be hovering or flying through the air. My eyes adjusted and my binocular vision activated. The fish went from being tiny specs thousands of feet away to me being able to see the green, red, yellow, and silver patterns of their scaly lower bodies. There were thousands upon thousands of them swimming at different depths. Some swam in schools of families. Others were solitary creatures. And down deep, at the very bottom of the lake, was a small but vast city.

Something large and black crossed the periphery of my vision and my eyes adjusted to the much larger size of a huge—at least fifty feet long—serpentes-alfari. She glided through the water with a sleekness born from long years of hunting. She had a humanoid torso and long raven-black hair that was dirty and unkempt. I couldn't see her face or belly, but her arms and back were covered in glistening black scales. Her hips were exotically broad. Much wider than her shoulders, and she had the defined swells of well-rounded buttocks, but that was as far as it went in appearing humanoid, at least from the back. Below her buttocks was a long serpent's tail that appeared to be extremely thick and strong.

I was intrigued but realized that I had been staring for far too long. I had other business to attend to. Finding a thermal, I rotated my wings and tail to turn in that direction. As I rode the hot air up I experimented. Diving and stalling and rolling. I watched the women above me. I saw their dance, and I tried to mimic their moves. The first attempt was always the scariest, but then I figured it out. Before long I felt like I had been flying for—well, not years, but I was feeling much more confident. I caught another thermal and I shot up as high as I could climb before I started feeling the effects of thin air.

——(!)——

Burza saw me diving at her from thirty thousand feet and she folded her wings and twisted in the air as I streaked past her. I pulled out my dive and used my momentum to give chase. She twisted and turned and performed complex aerial maneuvers like they were nothing at all. Only sheer determination and maybe a little sympathy on Burza's part for the new guy just learning to fly allowed me to catch her. She soared up to twenty-eight thousand feet. It was as high as she could fly when I caught her.

I wrapped my wings around her waist. Burza wrapped her legs around my hips, and somehow, I managed to thrust myself deep inside her. We were in free fall for two and a half minutes and all I could think and feel was Burza's taut and tender body against me.

The climb to our climaxes was fast and explosive. There were screams from the ground. There were shrieks from the heavens. The wind whistled in our ears, and then suddenly Burza threw out her wings and released me from the tight grip of her legs.

I fell away…

I came out of her a second before my wings caught the air.

I caught sight of Burza. My seed was dribbling out of her as she caught a thermal and rode it back up to her daughters. I twisted and turned just in time to skim the treetops, follow the land as the mountains rose around me, and found a thermal that I could use to ride up to thirty thousand feet.

Looking around, I found Arden. She was my next target…

——(!)——

"I have never seen such a display of strength, stamina, and agility," Sinaan said by way of introduction as he sauntered over to Glenna and Hlina.

"Yes," Glenna replied, "My husband is more than remarkable."

"He is our champion," Hlina added.

Sinaan nodded. Forelain joined him and signed. He nodded again before interpreting, "My lady, Matron Forelain, wants to know what he is."

"He is a lord," Hlina replied matter of factly.

"He is a druid," Glenna added and then fell silent.

"I have never heard of a druid with his—ability," Sinaan said, his tone musing, prompting for more information.

"He is the blessed champion of two goddesses," Glenna said, "That is all I will say about it for now. Our alliance is tenuous—convenient at best. We may share more once this current crisis is resolved."

"Crisis?" Sinaan asked skeptically, "Wouldn't it be more appropriate to call this an opportunity?"

"An opportunity for whom?" Hlina replied.

"For both of our peoples," Sinaan purred charmingly.

"An opportunity is when two peoples come to the table as equals," Glenna said shrewdly, "Without a sword to one of their throats."

Glenna and Hlina's breath caught when they saw Viridian and Burza collide and start falling towards the ground. As they closer Huxian and Bastet took notice, then the others saw. They were falling so fast. They were only a few thousand feet off the ground when Glenna, Hlina, Huxian, and all the others started screaming.

Sinaan stood in stunned silence.

Viridian and Burza broke away and Bastet fainted when Viridian disappeared behind the tree line. Glenna and Hlina took several steps in the direction they were sure Viridian's dead body must lay. They were starting to run when Viridian suddenly shot up into the sky again.

"I'm going to kill him!" Hlina gasped.

"I'll resurrect him and then I'm going to kill him again!" Glenna added.

"You'll have your work cut out for you today," Leandra growled, "Because I think we all want to kill him right now."

Glenna turned around and saw Bastet passed out while Leandra, Huxian, Coella, Orsa, and Tampa were all shaking. Shahad was the only one that seemed unperturbed.

Glenna stared at her until Shahad finally replied via pheromone sending, "My king has flown before. He will successfully mate with the harpy queen and her heirs."

Glenna had no reply for her. It was true though. Burza was a queen of sorts, and this—aerial display—was their mating custom. Still, he could be more careful!

——(!)——

The Sky Dance lasted half the morning. Our flight ranged from above our camp to Valeheim and then to the northeast to Sequoia's Grove. A village of centaurs watched our final mating plummets, and then Burza led me to their roost high in the boughs of Sequoia's tree.

"Welcome home, my Raptor King," Burza purred as she led me to her nest.

For the rest of the morning, I visited each of Burza's daughters in the more intimate settings of their private nests. By age, I learned their names. Arden. Saar. Bonaria. Rakia. Moe. Tufani. Arashi. Zeferina. Sora. Arn. Skye. Fei. Ciel. Arkell. Coro. Orel. Peta. Ari. Wayra.

The morning passed by in a flash and I knew I needed to return to camp soon before the others started to worry. I was pulling away from Wayra as she laid delicate kisses on my chest when Sequoia approached, walking on the thick limb of her tree with such ease that it might as well have been a paved pathway.

"Shoo, girl," Sequoia commanded as she closed in on me.

Wayra gave Sequoia a single squawking gasp and an angry glare before stepping out of her nest and leaping to another limb.

Sequoia watched me watch her leave before saying, "Don't worry, she'll go gossip with her sisters and recount their time with you."

"Okay," I replied as I turned to Sequoia.

She smiled up at me. Her leafy green hair seemed especially vibrant. Her golden sequoia seed eyes seemed to glint and shine. And her red and golden wood grain body seemed especially lustrous and healthy. She appeared thicker in the bottom, a little broader in the hips, and marginally thicker in her thighs. It was all cosmetic I knew, Sequoia didn't grow with pregnancy as alfari did. She carried my seed to her womb which was in the tree itself and the tree produced new seedlings within a cone very much like an egg. Once the seedlings matured the cone dropped to the ground and Sequoia would help them come into the world.

"So," Quebracho whispered with a voice that was something close to awe, "This is Sequoia. Oh, but she is beautiful!"

I could feel her eagerness all around me and I almost didn't hear what Sequoia said next.

"How goes your quest?" She asked in a voice laced with arousal.

"I was hoping to see you," I replied as I released my hybrid-eagle form and caressed her cheek. Now, she could look me straight in the eyes, "Could you contact the chieftain of the centaurs' village and have a scouting party sent toward the pass? I have a large number of refugees coming toward your grove."

"Of course," Sequoia whispered as she leaned in and kissed my neck before continuing, "But, what of the mission? The svartalf army?"

"We are as prepared as we can be," I answered, "I've—acquired—more wives. One is the Oracle of Gaia. Her name is Hlina."

Sequoia audibly sighed with relief, "Thank goodness, I was hoping you would find her in time."

I was surprised that she knew about Hlina. Grabbing her shoulders, I pushed back so that I could look at her as I asked, "So, you knew about Hlina?"

"Yes," She purred, but then quickly explained, "If I told you, I foresaw that you would not find her and save her in time. But, if I remained silent then there was a fifty-fifty chance that you would."

The explanation for her caution made sense to me, so I didn't press it.

"So you know who she is to me," I asked.

Sequoia looked at me for a minute as if she were searching my soul, and then she smiled as she answered, "I didn't, but now I do!"

I sighed. She read my mind.

She laughed and it was like music and bells singing out in a beautiful melody before she purred, "Don't be vexed, I am happy for you!"

"Thank you," I replied grudgingly.

I could feel Sequoia rummaging through my memories, and then, as if hitting a brick wall, I winced in pain as Sequoia came right up against Quebracho. In my mind, it was as if they had come together and were rubbing their bodies against each other. They pushed and pulled and intertwined, then as suddenly as it began it ended and Sequoia blinked at me in startlement. I think it was the first time I ever saw her visibly rattled.

"You—you've bonded with another elm'drya!" Sequoia gasped as she stepped back and looked me up and down.

Her eyes fell on the bracer on my left arm. Stepping forward again she placed her left hand on my waist and her right on the bracer.

"I want to meet her," Quebracho whispered just behind my ear.

"Okay," I replied mentally.

The leaves and limbs of the tree of the bracers seemed to shake and move, then vines shot up and up my forearm to my elbow. From there Quebracho created a replica of herself. Sequoia's golden seed-like eyes opened wide with surprise as Quebracho materialized in front of her.

Like Sequoia, Quebracho appeared as a highly polished wood carving of an incredibly beautiful Alfari woman. But, where Sequoia had deep green hair and her wood grain skin was a bloody red that covered her head and the trunk of her body while her arms and legs were golden, Quebracho had very dark green hair and her whole body was a dark burgundy-brown wood grain skin.

Hesitantly, Sequoia reached for Quebracho who responded by quickly taking her hands and pulling Sequoia in for a tight hug.

"Thank you!" Quebracho whispered fiercely, "Thank you so much!"

I gave Sequoia a reassuring smile when her wide eyes found mine amidst Quebracho's intense hug.

"I—don't understand," Sequoia said as she wrapped her arms around this new—sister—of sorts.

Quebracho was eager to explain, "What you see of me is but a shadow of who I once was. All that remains of me is my core now sealed within this bracer. But once, I was a breastplate once worn by Summerset Vale."

"I saw that breastplate," Sequoia gasped, "That was you?"

"Because of you," Quebracho purred, "I'm alive!"

Over the next few minutes, she told her story. Of her loneliness and Summerset's request. Of her instant attraction to him and of her gamble to go with him. Of Summerset's failure to cleanse another elm'drya and her subsequent imprisonment for a hundred years within a breastplate.

"You poor thing," Sequoia said finally as she caressed Quebracho's cheek, "But, I am happy to know he has you there with him—at least."

"He has many companions," Quebracho reassured, "And, like you, we all love him."

Finally, Sequoia turned to me and held out her hands in the direction of my bracer. I held out my arm and she slowly ran her fingers over it, touching the gems that represented each wife, concubine, and mate. Her fingers brushed over Silvain's sapphire medallion, Huxian's emerald tear, and Bastet's citrine claw. She traced the roots of the tree made up of wood from Quebracho and Sequoia. She paused at the trunk of the great tree.

"I—want to be with you too," Sequoia whispered.

Quebracho smiled empathetically and placed her hand on Sequoia's, "You can."

Sequoia looked at her then back at her tree and the new cones forming at the tips of new growth.

Quebracho's smirk broadened to a grin, "Don't worry, you will not endanger yourself, your tree, or your seedlings."

Sequoia took a deep breath and released a deep reassured sigh before asking, "How?"

"When I made my breastplate for Summerset," Quebracho explained as she rested her hand over Sequoia's, "I used my core and my womb and sacrificed everything else. For you to put your essences into the piece of wood you gave Viridian before all you need to do is give him a tiny sliver of your core. Then, your consciousness will inhabit this bracer just like I do, and you will always be with Viridian like I am."

"I see," Sequoia mumbled as she weighed her decision. Finally, she nodded and stepped back to leave, "I will be right back, do not leave."

Quebracho stood there for several long minutes before she finally looked up at me and smiled, "It's always so good to see you in the real world like this, my love. But, I am going to leave this moment to you and Sequoia. All she needs to do is touch the sliver of her core to the tree on the bracer and the magic Seline instilled in it will do the rest."

Quebracho leaned in and we kissed, long and tenderly until she let her conjured body dissolve and float away. When Sequoia returned she held something cupped very tenderly in her hands. She stopped in front of me and looked up so that our eyes met.

"I am giving you a piece of my heart, and womb," She whispered, "Just as Quebracho has. That way, should something ever happen to me, you will always have a remnant of me with you always. Hold out your arm."

I did as she asked and once I brought my arm up Sequoia moved her hands over the bracer and the ornate tree decorating it. Then, she parted her palms just a little which allows a deep red bloody sap, or ichor, to dibble onto the bracer. Magic flared to life and the tree seemed to rustle and tremble my arm as it absorbed the bloody sap. It continued until all the ichor collected in her palms was gone and what remained were two slivers of bloody redwood.

"This is my heart," Sequoia whispered as she to the first sliver and touched it to the tree on my bracer, "I give you my heart freely. Please don't break it."

"I promise," I said.

Next, she took the second splinter and touched it to the miniature tree as she said, "I give a sliver of my womb so that I will always be a part of you in body and soul. What Quebracho can do, now, so will I."

She paused after the tree absorbed her slivers and then she continued, "I will always be with you and in your dreams. Where she was able to reproduce for you, I am able to as well, but I would much rather you come home and pollinate me in person."

"I will," I promised.

She smiled at me then and caressed my cheek.

"Good," She whispered, "Then go and save us all, and then return to me on wings of love."

"I will," I promised a third time.

She was still standing there when I leaped from Wayra's nest. As soon as I took wing and Burza and her daughter saw me, they joined me and we all flew back toward the Dragon's Spine Mountains.

——(!)——

The afternoon sun was still high in the western sky by the time we returned, and Glenna and Hlina were not happy.

"Do you have any idea how badly you scared me?" Glenna hissed.

"Us?" Hlina added in nearly a shriek I hadn't heard since I was a child in my first life.

"I'm sorry," I apologized then made the mistake of trying to explain, "It was an aerial mating ritual, and the air currents carried us a long way by the time we were done."

Glenna and Hlina just stared at me with expressive expressions that said it all. They were furious and they didn't care what the excuses were. With a resigned sigh I lamented, "I am sorry that I frightened you—all of you…"

Glenna and Hlina glared at me for several more seconds as they looked at each other then Hlina replied, "You had better apologize to the others too. You scared us all."

I nodded in agreement and spent the rest of the evening consoling Bastet and Leandra, and then the others. It seemed like Orsa and Tampa were perfectly willing to share time with me during their weeks as my brides with everyone. As it turned out Huxian and Coella were the most prickly and demanding. The evening ended with me laying between Glenna and Hlina with Glenna's fleece-lined cloak draped over us.

——(!)——

"How should we proceed?" Sinaan asked as he stared up at his very pregnant wife.

Forelain sat in their tent, her belly overshadowing her feminine form, as she straddled across Sinaan's hips. He was her husband now. A young man little more than a child. Eighteen years old physically, and yet, for some reason, she could sense that he was an old soul.

Ra'Shaal and Fjallindae lay to each side of Sinaan. Each of them kissed his shoulder or his chest allowing Forelain access to his mouth if she so desired a kiss. Each of his hands was buried between their thighs, satisfying them manually until it was their turn while he was deep inside her. As Sinaan's wife, she hated to share him—with his aunts. Biologically, that's what they were even if they were now adopted into her house as her daughters. Still, her house was too broken. There were too few males. She would have to share him with more than just Ra'Shaal and Fjallindae if she planned to rebuild her House within her lifetime.

"We proceed cautiously," She signed, "We do not know the full extent of Lord Viridian's power. We got a foregleam of the Oracles' powers and I am certain they were holding back."

"Those three together may be as powerful as our army," Ra'Shaal purred as she moved in to kiss Sinaan's jaw.

"More powerful," Fjallindae added, "Just that young lord's presence on the field of battle will incapacitate the majority of our priestesses."

"Yes," Forelain agreed, "Even I feel it. Most of the young will fight among themself rather than against him, in hopes of gaining his approval and breeding rights."

"Is that truly how you all feel about him," Sinaan asked, his tone betraying how disturbed and challenged he felt.

"The further away he is the easier it is to resist," Fjallindae murmured, "But when he is nearby. My thoughts are a haze. My whole body feels like it is burning up, and all my thoughts are of incomparable joy I will receive from breeding with him."

"For any unseasoned priestesses," Forelain finished, "Viridian Vale will either incapacitate them or overwhelm them. They will fight just to breed with him—they will fight against each other—they may even against our own men to protect him if need be."

Sinaan let out a long low whistle before saying, "Then he is even more formidable than I imagined. Maybe we should bring Sulabha back?"

"No," Forelain signed in very sharp, very determined gestures, "She would only be fuel thrown onto an already very incendiary problem. Besides, if only half of what the Oracles of Seline and Gaia are correct, then we are fighting without Arachne's favor. If we have angered our goddess, then surely we do not want to anger two more by assaulting their favored disciples."

"So then," Sinaan asked in a musing tone and a grunt and Forelain ground herself on him aggressively, "How do we proceed?"

"I believe you should make first contact," Forelain signed, "Aalyn Abendroth will be relieved to have you returned to her, then you must tell her what has happened to House Faline, and that we are not her enemies. Then, tell her that we are in the company of Oracles of two goddesses and explain that they have come to parlay."

Sinaan nodded along. Everything Forelain had said made sense. The only reservation he had was of how Lord Viridian Vale would take having to put his safety in Sinaan's hands.

"The plan is sound," Sinaan agreed as he looked up and locked gazes with Forelain's reflective red eyes. He knew his own eyes appeared pink in the infrared spectrum. Not something he was overjoyed about, but the ladies loved it, "I will approach Viridian in the morning with the plan."

Forelain nodded her agreement, and then she really got down to the business of bringing herself pleasure. Sinaan's pleasure was just a happy byproduct.