Umeko landed smoothly after countless attempts. Arlie smiled at her and congratulated her. Moments later she was greeted with a lovely blue box that she quickly dismissed, and then three perfect little fishies materialized in her hands. She immediately started to devour one and listened to Arlie.

“I need to go home and feed Ren now. Why don’t you come with me. That way I can get started on teaching you Solean martial arts,” said Arlie.

“Solean martial arts? I thought you were going to be teaching me how to use my new natural weapons?” asked Umeko. Arlie chuckled before replying, “Did you think you could just adapt a human-style art to work with those new weapons? It is far better if you just learn a style that was naturally designed to use your natural weapons. Our two races have most of our muscle strength in our legs, and wings. The Solean style of arts focuses on our natural weapons, and places a strong emphasis on kicking attacks, but I also know a few styles that make fair use of our wings.”

“Wait! I can use my wings as a weapon?” asked Umeko wide-eyed. Arlie prodded her to get moving towards town, and answered, “anything can be a weapon. Even things not intended to be a weapon can kill. I have seen people killed with things like books, pillows, a blanket, and in a more interesting case a feather.”

Incredulous she asked, “A feather? How do you kill someone with a feather?” Only to receive a vague statement about letting her figure it out. The rest of the walk back to town was silent. As soon as the entered the town, Arlie made for the dungeon square, where the dungeon entrance was located.

“Are we heading for the dungeon?” asked Umeko while staring at her now empty hands. Those fishies hadn’t lasted her long, and now she was feeling disappointed that they were gone. Arlie gave her a gentle smile and replied, “We are. Misaki built a gate in her halls that links this world with mine. If I wanted to waste my energy, I could open a path directly to my home, but a proper gate is far more efficient.”

“I thought goddesses didn’t have to worry about energy,” commented Umeko. Arlie giggled, and replied, “No, we have a lot more mana than any mortal, but we still have limitations. Although in my case that mana has been refined into its more powerful and primal variant Makaiju.”

“That’s interesting! Care to share more about this Makaiju?” asked Umeko with a gleam in her eyes. Arlie shook her head, and said, “Not yet. I will cover that later when we get to your magic lessons.”

Umeko was a bit disappointed, and then suddenly she had thought. “What is my son going to think when he sees me like this?” However, she didn’t realize she said it aloud. Arlie’s eyes glowed blue, and then she answered, “He will be a little surprised, but should accept it. I can do you a favor, and make him a daughter for you. He is young enough not to care, and it will save you a lot of trouble in the future.”

Umeko’s face darkened, and she asked suspiciously, “Did you have trouble with a son of yours in the past?”

Arlie sighed, and replied, “Frankly yes. I had a son once. His name was Markus, and he was a talented young man with a lot of promise. I had high expectations for him, but you know how children are. They always find ways to disappoint you.”

Now very curious, as they closed on the square, Umeko asked, “What happened?”

Arlie with a sad look replied, “He picked up a rather odd hobby, and well it ballooned out of control. Getting him into a lot of trouble. It put me in an awkward position and forced me to exile my own son. It was meant to teach him a lesson, and the exile was only to last about four thousand years. Enough time for me to fix his mess, and heads to cool.”

Seeing where this was going she said, “He never returned, did he?”

Staring at her feet, Arlie answered, “No he did not. He continued his hobby in exile, and made some powerful enemies. Ultimately he got himself killed.”

Umeko didn’t know what to say, and was regretting that she asked in the first place. It took her a couple of moments to find her voice and by then they were entering the dungeon. Passing the threshold she was greeted with a blue box. It was telling her that she was allowed to visit, but she wasn’t allowed to challenge the mobs. “Sorry to hear that,” replied Umeko, the regret plastered all over her face.

With a surge of anger, Arlie replied, “Don’t be. It seems Misaki has expanded, but I made arrangements. This way.” then Arlie pointed down a path. The trip through the dungeon was done in silence, and while Umeko wondered what his crimes were she sensed that the topic was sensitive. A fact that led her to hold her tongue, and not ask the question.

Umeko starred at the arch. A glowing portal of blue and green lazily swirled within the confines of the portal. She didn’t quite know what to think of it, but she didn’t have long to think before she was dragged through by Arlie. It took her moment after being dragged through to take in her surroundings. Instead of a lovely castle garden on the final floor of a dungeon, she was in a dark stone room. Dimly lit by a pair of glowing stripes on the ceiling. The room was not a square, but instead, it was an octagon. Behind her was a glowing arch, and each side had an arch except the side opposite her location.

In the middle of the room was a pedestal with a glowing sapphire blue gem prominently placed on the top. She looked around for a moment, and then Arlie started pulling her towards the doors embedded in the only side without an arch while saying, “Welcome to Valiere. This is my gate nexus, and this door leads to my backyard garden.”

She nodded silently, and paid attention to the tunnel they entered. It wasn’t long, and they passed through an old gate at the end to step into a garden. A path through the garden led to a lovely stone and wood house with blue clay roof tiles. Not far from the house was a separate building. It didn’t take her long to note the stone fence around the property, but what really drew her attention were the high walls in the distance. She barely noticed the pair of twins sitting in the flowers playing with a baby spider girl. “Those are some high walls. The town guard must be happy with them,” she commented.

Arlie glanced at them, and replied, “Voros isn’t a town. It's a large village, and everyone pretty much knows everyone else. Those walls exist because Varixyies isn’t the safest region in the world. My clan enchanted those walls to repel monsters, and most importantly to keep Spinebacks from eating our buildings.”

“So this is a high-level region? What is the average level? 200? 300?” asked Umeko, curious.

Arlie directed her towards the others, and replied, “No level. The system doesn’t exist here.”

Umeko was shocked to hear that, and it took her a while to find her voice. In a shaky voice, she said, “No system? How does that work?”

Arlie picked up Ren, and cooed to her for a bit, and moved her clothing to the side, and gave the girl access to a teat before saying, “I will answer that later,” then she turned to the twins. “How was little Ren today?”

Umeko looked the two twin over. They were very similar girls. Umeko was smaller than Arlie, and these two while on the shorter side for humans were still taller than both of them. They were both lightly dressed, but given the warmth in the air, she wasn’t surprised. They had a modest chest, and curves in all the right places. They both had long red hair that they kept in a braid, and she was hard-pressed to notice a difference between them. Then she notice a small, almost unnoticeable, heartshaped birthmark under the left eye of the girl on the right.

The girl with the birthmark, smiled and stepped forward, “She was a sweet little angel the entire time,” and then suddenly she kissed Arlie full on the mouth. Who then returned the kiss, as the other twin came from the other angle. As soon as they broke the kiss, the second twin kissed her in a similar fashion.

Umeko was red, not sure what she had seen. Then Arlie said, “Let me introduce my bondmates, Rose and Lily.” As she named them she gestured to each individual in question. Umeko recalled hearing the term earlier, and asked, “I have heard you use the term before but what exactly does it mean”

Lily giggled, and said, “She means we are married. Well the Skylord equivalent to it anyway”

Rose glanced down, and said, “Yeah, High gods don’t marry, but we would have liked to have a choice in the matter.”

Confused Umeko replied, “Wait! This was forced on you three? How?”

Arlie absently replied, “A certain meddling dragon decided to help me out, and made the choice for me. The bond is sacred, and a choice that only happens once. As a single born lord, I had the honor of being able to choose who my lifelong partner would be. I came close to making that choice once, but I lost her in a war before I could. In the end, it was made for me.”

Incredulous she replied, “Someone made the choice for you! How? You are an all-powerful goddess, and I’m pretty sure you are as powerful as all the other gods combined.”

Arlie smiled, and said, “Not quite that powerful, and Aurora is a First Dragon. Only a mere seven thousand years younger than I am. That means she is just as powerful as I am, not to mention my own power and memories were still sealed at the time.”

Umeko slumped to the ground, and asked, “Just as powerful as you are? I don’t think I want to imagine what would happen if you two fought.”

Arlie’s face took on a distant expression, and replied, “We have been good friends for most of our lives. Though we have butted heads from time to time, and we have fought each other in friendly matches as well. I have won just as many fights as I have lost with her. However, if we fought seriously it would be an apocalyptic event.”

Umeko settled herself more comfortably on the ground and looked around the garden. Letting the other three to start talking with each other. Sometime later, after Ren was done eating she was given a crash course in Solean Martial Arts. Fortunately, the training had included having her put on an enchanted bracelet that prevented her from taking damage, but she still felt the full pain of any hit. She quickly became familiar with what it felt like to be ripped apart and eviscerated by Arlie’s talons. At some point during the training, while she was on her ass after taking a kick to the stomach, she asked about the egg-laying thing Arlie’s message had told her about.

Arlie’s face softened, and took a gentle reassuring look, “It won’t be that bad, and you will get used to it.”

She still wasn’t sure about it, and replied, “I don’t know. I’m just now comfortable with the idea.”

Arlie looking thoughtful replied, “maybe it would help if you knew more about it. Unlike human girls, you don’t get pregnant, but sex is still mostly the same. At regular intervals, you produce a few proto-eggs, which are fertilized during sex. The eggs will then swell and mature in your womb. Your body provides them with the nutrients they will need, and once the egg is ready you will instinctively lay them in a nest you prepared. The maturation process takes a week, and because of the shape laying your clutch will be easier than giving birth. In fact, many human women will be jealous as you won’t have to deal with many of the inconveniences that come with pregnancy. Anyway, after being laid you can expect the clutch which should be between one to four eggs to hatch in about eight to twelve weeks. While you don’t need to you can nurse them after hatching until their teeth come in. Instinctively you will either nurse them or feed them food you chewed for them. Draviri children mature quickly, and you can expect your children to be fully grown in about five years.”

Umeko had listened, but now she had even more questions. She had not heard of an egg-laying species that nursed their young. Her curiosity on this outweighed her discomfort with the topic, and she asked about that. Arlie settled onto the ground, and in a lecturing tone replied, “That is because we designed your race that way or to be more accurate I designed your race that way. I alongside a number of other First Lords created the Draviri. We made you in our image as a warrior race. As for why, well we are immensely powerful, but it takes us a long time to mature to adulthood and even longer to master our abilities. We nurse our children, and as such, that trait remained in your root code.”

Umeko was getting a picture, and flushed said, “So my children won’t be able to care for themselves immediately after hatching, like birds and dragons?”

Arlie was clearly surprised about something, and then replied, “That is the case yes, but how do you know that Dragon pups can’t care for themselves? Dragons are extremely protective of their nests and don’t reveal that fact to outsiders.”

Umeko glanced down, and fidgeted a bit, “I learned that by actually going to a nest. A dragon had attacked a local resort village, and taken the daughter of a high priest. I and a number of others were sent to retrieve her...”

“That likely didn’t go well. She wasn’t in danger of being eaten as you humans seem to think, but if the eggs had hatched she would like not want to leave,” interrupted Arlie. Umeko nodded, and said, “No she didn’t, and I barely made it out of the nest alive. Even stranger was that she didn’t care that she was naked and refused clothing.”

Arlie stretched her wings, and replied, “All perfectly normal. Dragon’s don’t understand the human concept of clothing, and have a natural affinity for mind magic. So they return humans to their natural state before you invented clothes. As for the not wanting to leave part, that comes from the fact that dragon’s reverse imprint as we call it. Dragon pups have this mesmerizing property that causes any female present during the hatching to imprint on the hatchling. They will be compelled to care for it as if it was their child, and this is a trait most dragon females take full advantage of. Given their clutch sizes, I don’t blame them.”

Feeling curious and wanting to prolong the break, but change the subject a bit, she asked, “What about you? How do your kind raise your young?”

Arlie shifted, and in a lecture tone replied, “Well first you need to understand a few other things. First is the bond. As my bondmates told you we don’t marry, that is a human concept. Our closest equivalent is the bond. It is something we share with our lifelong partner, and that partner is usually our closest sibling, and more often then not they are of the same gender as us. I ended up in a rare bonded trio which is something most Soleans would be jealous of. We often form what we call mating circles. Often composed of five to ten bonded pairs, and a circle can’t have more than one pair containing a male. We have a strong male rivalry in our race, and males only share mates with another if they are bonded to said male.

When we reproduce the members of the circle all cooperate with each other, and help raise the children. Like dragons, our young also possess a reverse imprinting ability, but we don’t take advantage of it.”

Umeko her skin flushed red thanks to her imagination, replied, “A harem? You natural seek to create harems, and you willingly mate with siblings? Isn’t incest wrong?”

With a sigh, she answered, “Incest is quite common among Soleans, and no there is nothing morally wrong with incest. The reason it is frowned on in human society, is because children born from it are often disabled in one fashion or another. Especially so in multi-generation cases. However your noble families actually practice it regularly, and have developed spells to protect against the downsides. This allows them to keep their bloodlines pure as they put it.”

With a frown, she asked, “if incest harms the child why do you practice it?”

Arlie stood up, and said, “It does that for humans, but my kind don’t have to worry about that. Anyway, let's get back to training.”

Umeko groaned but stood up. Quickly taking the stance Arlie had taught her. Well tried to anyway, she hadn’t quite gotten it right yet, and Arlie was quick to point out the flaws in her stance.

JCountry

As a bit of trivia when I started writting this chapter, I thought this extra would be around 1500 words, but it just kept growing until it was a full chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and please do answer the poll