Zephyra's eyes opened wide in surprise. "M-my first kiss…", she mumbled, quietly enough that only Ted heard her.

 

"H-her first kiss? Wow, her lips were so soft." Ted leaned back a bit and smiled at her. He gently touched his lips, as if to remind himself that they had really kissed. 

 

Zephyra's body began to tense. Her hands clenched. Her stomach churned in waves.

 

"Y-you're so beautiful." Ted whispered, oblivious to her change in body language.

 

"No! Get back!" Zephyra pushed him away from her. Her breathing became harder and faster. Her eyes began to glance around nervously in a panic.

 

"W-whats wrong?" Ted stuttered.

 

"You're what's wrong, Ted!" Karen marched over to him and slapped him across the back of the head. 

 

"I didn't mean to kiss her. It was an accident!" He cried. 

 

Zephyra shakily stepped away from them. She leaned against the wall. "I'm going to be sick."

 

"S-she's going to be sick?" Ted froze aghast on the spot. "I'm not that bad. … am I?"

 

 Phil approached and spoke gently to her. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "Zephyra? Are you alright?"

 

Zephyra paled at the contact and shrugged his hand off of her. Her stomach heaved and…

 

Well, we'll just say that rainbows came pouring out of her mouth. Absolutely no one requested a description, or front row view, of her stomach contents.

 

Phil subconsciously took a step back. Karen rushed forward and pulled Phil away. Then, she pushed him and Ted away from her. 

 

"Alright. You two need to leave her alone." Karen scolded them. 

 

"Ugh, so gross." Zephyra groaned.

 

Ted paled. His masculinity and his pride as a bard had just taken a huge hit. "I-I'm gross? N-no, surely not. She must mean that throwing up is gross."

 

"Ah, sorry. I was trying to help." Phil muttered. He allowed himself to be pushed away by Karen. 

 

"Seriously. You two need to leave. Even if just for a bit. Go." Karen continued shooing them away.

 

"Ugh, kissing is gross." Zephyra continued to mutter and heave.

 

Phil sighed. "Alright. Come on Ted. We'll scout ahead."

 

"So, I am gross." Ted felt a little bit like throwing up himself.

 

Phil handed Karen a small brilliantly colored stone. It was a signal stone. If mana was fed into it would cause another connected signal stone to glow. They were useful for brief  communication over long distances. "Call if you need us."

 

Karen clutched the stone tightly, "I will. Call us if you need anything as well."

 

Phil nodded. He picked up a very flustered and stammering Ted and walked away.

 

Karen slowly approached Zephyra, "Zephyra?"

 

No answer, just heavy breathing. However, she had stopped throwing up, which was a good sign.

 

"Zephyra, are you alright?"

 

"Ugh. It was gross."

 

"Yeah... Ted can be a bit slimy. He uses too much grease in his hair."

 

"No, not Ted." Zephyra straightened up and wobbled a bit, clutching her stomach. She frowned and studied the ground. "Kissing is gross."

 

"Kissing?"

 

Zephyra nodded. "Absolutely disgusting."

 

"There's no excuse for his behavior." Karen muttered darkly. 

 

Zephyra's hand glowed green and she brought it up to her mouth. 

 

"Woah, woah! What are you doing?" Karen panicked and grabbed a hold of her wrist.

 

Zephyra just stared blankly at Karen.

 

"You can't just wash your mouth out with necrotic mana!" She hissed.  "I get that it's disgusting for you. But, it'll kill you. Or, at least, cause some serious problems for you."

 

"Huh? But, I wash my mouth with it every morning?"

 

"You… what?" Karen paled.

 

"What?" Zephyra tilted her head confused.

 

"How do you still have teeth? Or a mouth? Or, how are you even alive still?" 

 

"Oh. Well, Daddy explained it to me once. It was something about necrotic energy not hurting me because I'm special?"

 

"That's not an explanation!" Karen screamed in her head and stared at her. "Special? My ass. That's incredibly dangerous!"

 

A staring contest ensued and neither one of them knew what to say. Eventually, Karen sighed and looked away. 

 

"Fine, disregarding your weirdness, you had a pretty extreme reaction. Are you alright?"

 

Zephyra shook her head. "N-no."

 

"I'm here, if you need to talk about it."

 

Zephyra looked to the side. Her expression seemed uneasy and uncomfortable."I-i just thought that kissing would be different…"

 

Karen just nodded and sat down next to her. 

 

"I've seen people kiss before and I wasn't really interested. I mean, um, I thought about what it would feel like, or why people would want to connect their mouths, but I just didn't get it." All of her words began to spill out all at once. It only took a moment for her to decide to trust her devoted servant. 

 

Er, she meant her devoted friend, of course.

 

"My Daddy explained it all to me. He told me about kissing…"

 

"Oh, it seems like she was properly informed then."

 

"... And how it can make people pregnant."

 

"Wait, no that's not-"

 

"So, I was pretty shocked when I later learned all about it in my medical studies. It wasn't like that at all."

 

"Oh thank the gods."

 

"I've wondered what it would be like to have children. But, I also read that some people, um, well they just have fun. I just never understood it. Why would anyone want to do something like that?"

 

"Ted has a long road ahead of him… Tch, not that the jackass deserves her. It would be nice if I had a princess though, we could get really close together and..." Karen may, or may not have indulged and been distracted by a few "Princess love" [Fantasies] longer than she should have while she listened. 

 

"I don't know, maybe I'd just need to be a girl, or a boy, to understand it."

 

"Huh?" Her mouth echoed and parroted her thoughts. Or, at least, it attempted to repeat her thought, but it ended up as a garbled mess. "Gheha?"

 

Zephyra blinked. "Are you alright?"

 

"I'm fine!" Karen snapped back to reality. Her head felt a bit foggy and confused. "Er, um, what do you mean though?"

 

"What do you mean, "what do I mean"?"

 

"I mean… you said that you'd need to be a girl... or a boy?" Karen prodded.

 

"Yes?"

 

Karen could hear the short circuit in her head as she tried to put the pieces together. "You mean, you're not a girl?"

 

Zephyra nodded.

 

"And… you're not a boy?" 

 

Zephyra nodded. 

 

Awkward silence reigned supreme. 

 

"Karen? Hello?" Zephyra waved her hand in front of the girls face. "Are you there? Your soul didn't slip out, did it? I had the same problem when I was first made."

 

Her eyes glowed green and she looked around. "No, it seems that it's still inside you. Hmm, hello, Karen?"

 

Karen barely heard herself whisper, "Made?".

 

"Yeah. My daddy made me. I'm neither a girl, nor a boy. I'm just Zephyra. I'm a [Homunculus]."