The next morning, Van, Luna and Agnès talked about what was discussed last night.

“How'd you sleep?” Van asked as he noticed Agnès’s tired eyes.

“How do you think?” Agnès replied, rubbing her temple with bagged eyes. “I couldn’t stop thinking about how I’m supposedly a dragon all night long… I wonder if my mother might know anything about this…” she wondered quietly to herself.

“Perhaps we should ask her?” Luna suggested. “Even if she didn’t know, we probably should tell her…”

“...no… let’s not get her more worried than necessary” Agnès said.

“But Luna does have a point, she could know something, or at least have connections with those who know something.” Van said. “There’s nothing wrong with telling your mother that you have dragon blood inside of you. I mean… What is she going to do? You're a grown woman, married and everything, are you afraid she’s going to ground you?” joking a little at the end there.

“No but…” Agnès sighed, “I just… I’ve always been somewhat of a burden to mom… and with this… she’s going to just worry even more and I don’t want her to blame herself for not figuring this out or thinking she has to do more then she already has. Besides… you all know how she can get right? Put it in her mind, and she will start putting potions into everything! Thinking that it would help.” sounding like she was whining a bit near the end, but for some reason with a wry smile.

“I suppose that’s true…” Van said. “And I suppose that it’s your decision in the end, and who you tell is up to you… just make sure you don’t keep this little secret forever…”

“You don’t want things coming in between you and your mom, trust me…” Luna added.

“Thanks guys…” Agnès said thankfully, her shoulders relaxing. “And I will tell her soon, I promise, once I figure all this… dragon thing… out.”

“Good!” Van nodded, happy they came to a resolution. “And now that that’s out of the way…” his eyes narrowed. “You two left me out of last night's honeymoon!” sounding like he was complaining but in actuality was just teasing Agnès.

Agnès blushed embarrassed but Luna smiled wide.

“Oh, you were a part of it.” Luna said with a wink. “We made sure to give you a nice view of what we were doing, even if you actually couldn’t see due to your eyes being closed.” finishing with a knowing smirk. Making Agnès blush even redder.

“Oh yes… that makes it so much better…” Van said somewhat sarcastically, but still in good humor.

“You know…” Luna began. “If you want… we can… reenact… what we did last night for your… pleasure…” Luna said seductively.

“Oh? Now that’s something I would like to see…” he said, giving a leery look in Agnès’s direction.

Agnès for her part was becoming so red, smoke was beginning to form on the top of her head.

When Luna and Van saw that, they both shared a look and began to chuckle a bit at Agnès’s embarrassed expression. Enjoying teasing the mostly innocent girl and newest addition to their family. But also deciding to stop for now since they didn’t actually want her to catch on fire, even if it seemed she was immune to it.

“Joking aside…” Van said, moving the conversation along. “I was given the go ahead to scout around the fort for a bit. Does either one of you want to come with me?”

“Who said I was joking?” Luna chuckled. “But sure, I just have to check up with my girls first and a few other things. Just tell me when you're about to leave and I'll tag along.” the girls she was referring to, being the queens of the forest she has tamed so far.

Van then turned towards Agnès, waiting for her response.

“Umm… I don’t mind going, but first I have to help Gwen make potions, so that might take a while.” she said, a little apologetically. Though in actuality she really enjoyed helping and talking with Gwen about potion making and magic.

Van nodded, knowing how much Agnès actually enjoyed her free time and keeping the fact he already helped Gwen out to himself. “Alright then, you take care of that.” then getting up. “I’m going to look for Lyn and see if she wants to come with us as well, let’s meet up later, say… noonish and go from there. That's fine with you two?”

Agnès and Luna nodded.

“Great, see you then.” then walked out of the tent to look for Lyn. who it turned out was also looking for him.

“Hey Van!” she said, zipping over. “How was the honeymoon?” she asked with a knowing smirk. “Wish I could have been there, but I’ve been so busy lately…” complaining about the unfairness of it all.

“You didn’t miss much.” Van replied, “I actually was in my soul realm the entire time so even I missed out.” he chuckled. “Anyway… I was just looking for you. Do you want to come with me for a small scouting trip?”

“Oh… I would love to… but I can’t…” Lyn said sadly. “I was just about to tell you myself that I got called over by the council to discuss our future military actions. I wanted to tell you before I left that I may be gone for a while… sorry…” a sad expression on her face at not being able to spend more time with her beloved.

“Oh well… nothing you can do there…” Van said, now also a little sad hearing Lyn was leaving. “But hey… if you're there helping them out, then this war will finish that much sooner and we can spend more time with each other when it’s done.” trying to sound encouraging for his little wife's sake.

Lyn gave an appreciative smile. “Ya, don’t you worry, I’ll finish this war in no time!” doing her best to be positive about this as well.

After that, they gave a small kiss goodbye to each other, Van asking her to stay safe and Lyn promising she will. After one more hug, they parted and Van watched Lyn fly away with a small posse of insect kin with Amie tagging along for the ride.

Van sighed, sad to see her go and also a little worried. He knew she could take care of herself but that still didn’t mean he had to like it. He absently wondered if this wasn’t what wives felt when they saw their husband go out and do something dangerous…

Shaking his head he went to look for Kella to talk about where he should scout. He knew it probably wasn’t going to be anywhere dangerous, especially if she was the one choosing the area. But he also believed that she wouldn’t just send him out for no reason and that anywhere he was ordered to go would in some way be important for them and the fort.

He also wanted to talk about their logistical supply lines and the future and what their plans were going to be moving forward. He had a feeling things were only going to get harder from here on out so figured they prepare for any eventuality that might crop up.

Entering the command tent he greeted Kella who was hard at work drawing up plans and issuing orders, looking over a map of the area. She was so busy she did not first realize he was there until he made his presence known. When she did, she gave a welcoming smile and motioned him over.

“Morning Van, how did you sleep? Or should I even ask…” she joked, though her eyes looked a little tired.

“Is something the matter?” Van asked in return, seeing through her attempt to be chipper and still full of energy. “You look like you were up all night…”

Kella sighed. “Everything is going well, we could probably last another month… the problem lies after that…” She shook her head and motioned at the map drawing him in and then pointed at a few places of concern.

“We have a pretty good image of the surrounding area, but the problem lies in how much that area is changing due to the giant bugs rampaging around… not to mention we still have two area’s still left un-scouted, we don’t know what's there…” she sighed again. “And finally we may be able to last another month, but the attacks are just getting fiercer… we don’t have the firepower to stay here indefinitely, or the numbers… and if we did, we wouldn’t have the resources… it’s just not looking good for us in the long term.” She admitted.

Which got even Van worried. Kella was a person who would always do her duty no matter how bad it was without complaint. But now it seems she has finally met her match when it comes to the situation they were dealing with right now.

“I know it’s bad…” Van said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “But we are not done yet, I know we have so much more to give. We’ll figure something out, I promise…”

“...I hope you're right,” Kella replied, looking back at the map with worried eyes.

Van tried to move the conversation along to something else. “Why don’t you tell me what kind of scouting mission you have up for me today? Anything important that we should worry about?”

Kella gathered her notes and quickly gave one last look at them. “Yes… I was planning to send you on a scouting mission southward in hopes of finding some more resources… but… there has been some activity in the northwest that needs to be checked out. And while I don’t like it, our current soldiers don't have the firepower to deal with anything that might prove to be dangerous…”

She then turned to him. “So I'll be trusting you to go in, take a look around for any enemy activity and get out with whatever information you gather. Can I trust you with this?” looking him seriously in the eye.

Van nodded. “Don’t worry,” returning her own serious look. “I promise not to do anything foolish, and I promise Luna wouldn’t too.”

Kella then muttered something under her breath. “She’s the one I’m most worried about…”

Then she gave a polite cough. “Right…” pretending like she said nothing at all. “You have one hour to prepare before your departure. Take what you need and whoever you want so long as your group total doesn’t exceed ten. Even with the new influx of people, we are still shorthanded.”

“Also, Gwen was asking for you, so you should probably go see her before you leave. And finally…” She turned to look him in the eye one last time. “When are we going to fuck again? It’s been a while and I could really use one right now.” asking in a tired voice.

“We can do it right now if you want?” Van replied with some thought, realizing he was backed up since it has been a while since he last did it and he missed out on the honeymoon. It was also weird, he realized, how casually he was taking this. Or for that matter, how bluntly Kella asked him, perhaps far more tired than even she realized to break decorum like that. Still… out of the blue or not, he couldn’t help his heart racing at the prospect of doing it…

“I would appreciate that, thanks…” Kella replied with a thankful smile, as she got ready for the fun to come.

---sex scene---

---end of sex scene---

“Thanks Van… I really needed that.” Kella said with a pleased smile and putting her clothes back on, some of her earlier lethargy banished from both her mind and body.

“My pleasure, ever since I became a… you know what… I’ve also been having troubles dealing with my newfound… desires, so having you girls help out is appreciated. And if I can make you happy on top of that, then I just consider it a bonus.” Van replied with his own smile.

Kella then gave a more mischievous smirk, “Well… if you ever need anyone…”

“I’ll know who to call.” Van finished for her.

Kella then gave an appreciative smile, then leaned in to give a kiss to which Van accepted, linking their tongues together before parting. She then blinked and gave a quick glance downward, then looked back at him with an arched brow to which he gave a sheepish grin in reply.

“I’ll take care of this,” she said, getting on her knees. “Needed to clean this up anyway…”

And in a few minutes, she was done, but not before getting an early lunch out of the deal.

“Thanks for that.” Van said, “I guess I’ll be going now. Take care Kella.”

Kella swallowed the last of what she had in her mouth. “No problem, you take care as well,” she said as she wiped her lips. “And don’t forget to check in on Gwen, and prepare for your trip, you're still slated to leave in half an hour.”

“Will do,” he replied. Then left the tent to look for Gwen in her usual place. Though not before arching his brow at the few goblins nearby the tent who were for some reason holding their hands between their legs and looking like they just got caught doing something they shouldn’t.

Leaving that mystery to be solved another day. He walked over to where Gwen usually was, at her potion-making station.

Once there, he greeted her. “Hey Gwen, I heard from Kella you needed something from me.”

“Hey, Van.” Gwen replied happily. “Yes, I actually wanted to talk about your scouting mission.” she began. “Would it be fine with you if I come with you? I’ve been wanting to leave myself because I’ve been a bit too cooped up for my own good and at the same time would like an idea of the surrounding vegetation in the hopes of finding new herbs to use.”

“Couldn’t you ask some of the goblin and kobold scouts for that?” He asked.

She sighed. “Yes but they don’t really know what they are looking for, but If I could see the plants for myself and describe it to them, then perhaps that would make it easier on all involved.'' She then looked at him with puppy eyes. “Pleeeeeeease Van, I really want to get out of this fort,” she begged.

Van thought about it for a bit, then nodded. “Sure, we have half an hour, just make sure you're ready by then.

“Thanks, Van,” Gwen replied. “Really…” and with that, she quickly and happily prepared for the journey.

Van smiled at her improved mood and left to do his own things, getting ready for his time out back in the woods.