Rain was lashing down outside the cave. The three of us sheltered around a small fire while the pegasus quietly nibbled on a bit of grass. We’d found the small rocky island just as the thunder had started, with barely enough space for us to land outside the cave. I worried as to whether or not this tiny rock could survive the crashing waves, but I supposed there were enough birds’ nests (and layers of said birds’ poop) on the other parts of it to show it had survived for a while.

Being stopped by a storm struck me as at least mildly embarrassing, though. I was a goddess. Surely I could part a few clouds for safe travel? But, no. Aara had explained that there was another deity who handled storms and my wanting to control their element made as much sense as the goddess of winter wanting to control fire. That only did so much to help with the frustration, though.

So we ate a light meal and then we waited. And waited a bit more. And found little sign the storm was planning to stop anytime soon.

In the end, I realised, we had to address the elephant in the room. 

“So, umm… do, um… do you two have any interest in each other, or, uh… just in me?” I asked, feeling obnoxious asking it.

I surely wasn’t worth the complete devotion of both wonderful and kind girls.

“Aara is a bit on the fuzzy side for me,” Sukura said with a small shrug. “No offense.”

“None taken. After all, I, in return, seem to have inherited my father’s tastes and have little interest in humans in general,” Aara replied.

“Little—but I’m human?” I said.

Which led to both of them staring at me. Their eyes then drifted up, before down and behind me a bit. I looked up as well, and felt embarrassed at what I saw.

“Right. The horns… and wings… because I’m not… I’m still not used to the whole ‘goddess’ thing… I mean, heck, it took me long enough to get used to the ‘girl’ thing,” I mumbled.

“Girl… thing?” Sukura asked.

“Uh, well… I’m… how to explain transness,” I said, sliding into little more than a mumble as I began thinking aloud more than anything.

I’d been stealthing pretty well with this new body, so it hadn’t come up, but… I probably should have said something about it earlier.

“Transness? I—I know about that?” Sukura replied, seeming confused by my earlier tone. “I had a girlfriend for a bit who was saving up to buy a potion to change her body.”

I blinked. That was—well, that was not the response I expected. But it was a good one to get. Also, it was nice to learn that this world had something for trans folks, since it wasn’t like we’d just not exist without hormones. 

“I haven’t known people who’ve done it, but I’ve known many an animal that has,” Aara added. “There was a frog I met who thought it was a sure sign of the superiority of frogs that she could do it on her own while people need magic to help.”

“Huh…” was the best I could manage. How was one supposed to respond to that? “Well… so, yeah. My human form was assigned male, and I’d actually only figured out that wasn’t for me about… eight months ago, now? I’d also only just started to take medication for it when I was pulled into this world.”

“I’m sure Yabri will be thrilled to find out there’s a trans goddess now, then next time I see her,” Sukura said, nodding slightly.

Hearing that filled me with a sense of warmth. I was going to be a role model. Good representation.

… If I actually managed to save the world, like I was supposed to. Otherwise I was going to be rather terrible representation.

“Alright, but, well, getting back on the original topic,” I said, once I remembered it, “for romance… I… I do feel a little weird about having a relationship with the both of you if you’re only dating me. It just… it doesn’t feel fair.”

“You’re literally a goddess?” Aara replied, to which Sukura nodded.

“I didn’t do anything to earn that. It just got tossed in my lap. I’m a second year art student at college who’s never even had a full time job. I’m not anything special or amazing.”

“The fact you’ve been given godly powers and remained so humble seems a sign of you being something special to me,” Sukura said.

“Probably need to actually figure out how to use them before they can go to my head,” I muttered. “But… either way, I want to make it clear that I don’t expect either of you to be exclusive to me.”

The two of them both nodded.

“So, does… does this mean we are a thing now?” Aara asked.

“Um… I guess? If you… if you want to be,” I mumbled.

Both of them smiled, before then shifting a little to lean against my sides. I tried to bury my worries that starting things off while thunder was rumbling outside was a bad omen. It was kind of silly to worry about that. Probably.

“We should let you reach out to your other girlfriend at home, though,” Aara said, sitting up.

She dug around in her bags, before producing the drum that the centaur druid had given her. Laying down, I closed my eyes, waiting for her drumming to begin. All the while hoping the occasional crack of thunder wouldn’t mess with the process too much.

I soon found myself in what was either an underground garage or a parkade. Things got hazy towards the walls. Two people were running this way, though I recognised neither of them. 

Was I in the wrong person’s dream? That did seem possible. I didn’t really know what I was doing with this dream hopping stuff anyhow. I was fairly certain that the druid had said the connection between realms was built on love, but… I could probably miss. Maybe?

Before I could try to figure a way out, however, a third figure appeared. A lumbering hulk of a—well, maybe not a man. It seemed a bit like an alien? Though it also seemed to shift in details whenever I looked at it. 

The two figures from before began arguing about how the figure had found them, diving behind a van for safety. The one pulled out a gun and began firing, though it didn’t seem to do much. 

Fairly certain the giant monster was the figment of a nightmare, I figured I could at least be polite and help out. I launched myself through the air and punched the monster in the face, sending it flying into a wall. It had been like punching a foam cut out, the thing launching off into nothingness.

“Are you two ok?” I asked.

The two people from before nodded, seeming a bit nervous. One seemed to be a woman, while the other… I couldn’t really begin to guess.

“W—wait,” the woman said. “Emily?”

“Yes?” I replied, a bit hesitantly.

“Oh gosh,” she said, hurrying over. “Lena had said you’d been in her dream, but… I hadn’t been sure I believed it.”

“Wait… Krys? That’s you?” I replied. “You look—you sort of look like that one actress. Jennifer… uh… it starts with a G…”

“Jennifer Greyson? I guess that makes sense. I think this dream was kind of inspired by the movie with her I watched before bed,” Krys said, before hopping over and pulling me into a hug. “But that doesn’t matter right now. It’s you. You’re here… you’re alive… right?”

“As far as I can understand it, yes.”

She squeezed her hug tighter, whispering something I didn’t quite catch. It sounded happy and full of relief, though.

“We are going to have to figure something out when I finish this, though. Since I have sort of accidentally ended up dating two more girlfriends here,” I mumbled.

“Really?”

I paused a moment, realising that question hadn’t come from the one hugging me, but rather the androgynous figure a couple metres away. And the woman hugging me had stopped, looking at me with confusion.

“Wait. Did…” I muttered, pointing back and forth between both of them.

“Did… oh. I switched characters… that’s dreams for you,” Krys said with a shrug, still the androgynous figure.

“That—I… I have not had that happen in a dream myself,” I replied, mildly confused.

But she seemed unperturbed, so I accepted it. Unfortunately, my connection to the dream was weakening by that point, so I had to say farewell, before reawakening in the cave.

I felt tears of happiness in my eyes as I pulled Aara over into a hug. Thanking her for letting me see Krys again. Letting me tell her I was still alive.

---

The storm ended by the next morning. The sunrise from our perch on the small rocky island was beautiful, and we all took a bit of time to enjoy it. Taking in the beauty of the world felt right. It was a reminder of what we were defending… and a good moment to wake up before Sukura had to mount up on the pegasus.

Setting off to the north again, I hoped it wasn’t too much further to reach the small continent of Chuu-la. 

As we flew, my mind was on the new romance situation. And… having no idea what to do with it. It was hard to find time to set aside for romance when we had a world to save. At least it provided us with the opportunity to be more emotionally open while struggling through the stress of what was ahead of us. (Having Aara nuzzle against me as I carried her through the air certainly wasn’t anything to complain about either.)

The ocean winds were generous to us. Flying took minimal effort and we made good progress. By the late afternoon a mountainous coast began to fill the horizon. 

By the time we crossed over the shore it was starting to get dark, and we saw small fires spread out all around a town on the coast. We wondered if it was an army amassing. It seemed the most obvious reason for what seemed to be a tent city around the port town.

We landed in the foothills that evening. There was a bit of debate about whether we should go and contact the town, but we ended up deciding against it. We were in a hurry and knew where we were going. If we’d needed food or other supplies we might have chosen differently, but we didn’t. And, as we thought there was an army camped outside the city, it seemed likely we’d get dragged into something we weren’t ready for yet.

I knew I didn’t want to be out there spreading false hope before I was actually able to make a difference. 

Not to mention the risk of spies who might lead to more demonic servants of Nemza finding out about our location. It was probably best for everyone if I kept under the radar as long as possible.

In hindsight it may have been better if we’d made a different decision, but, at the time, it seemed well thought out. 

Setting out the next morning, after a few drills on my combat skills, we found we could only fly for so long. Eventually the air currents off the mountains grew too unsteady and we had to land again, travelling on foot. I suspected I could have gone higher easily enough, but the others likely had a stronger need for oxygen than I did. 

There were a few small valleys here and there that we risked gliding across. It went well enough, at least. After most of a day we seemed out of the roughest portion of the mountains and into the start of the plateau behind. We found somewhere to rest for the night, the pegasus taking the time to graze some more. It struck me that we were probably going to feed it something better than grass soon, but I hoped to reach our destination by then.

I made another attempt to ask what Aara and Sukura knew about the city of Tenzo as they competed over cooking, but neither were overly familiar with it. They knew it contained one of the great magical academies of the world and that it was a very old city. Sukura was fairly certain it had been built by Dwarves, which Aara hadn’t heard. Aara had heard, though, that the city was quite beautiful. A number of birds that wintered in her jungle migrated past it, and had told her it was one of their favourite things. There were whole towers of lapis lazuli, and much of the city was painted in strikingly vibrant colours. She was rather excited to see it.

“Even if it probably won’t be as beautiful for me as it will be for you two… let alone as beautiful as it is for birds,” she muttered, leaning against a rock.

“Why not?” I asked.

She let out a sigh, staring down at her hands. Her palms were free of fuzz and looked quite human (if a bit darker than human palms tended to be), but the backs had that short fuzz that covered most of her body. Aara looked up at me, before giving another sigh.

“Gnolls don’t see colour quite as well as we do,” Sukura said, after realising Aara didn’t seem to want to have to put it into words.

“Not just us. Most beast folk… It has advantages,” Aara added. “I see movement better. Also, I can handle darkness well. Certain illusions don’t quite work right on me either. But… there’s still times I do wish I could see the full depth of a work of art or the like.”

After another moment staring at her hands, she then looked up with a slightly more mischievous grin. “Of course, humans don’t either. Birds and elves see more colours than even you lot.”

“And mantis shrimp probably beat them,” I added, trying to lighten the mood.

“Mantis shrimp?” Sukura asked.

“Strange little sea creatures. While most mammals have two types of… um, I can’t remember if it’s rods or cones that see colour, but… most mammals have two of them. Humans and other primates have three, which helps us see fruit better. Birds have four, which I guess elves might too… and,” I paused, trying to remember, “I think mantis shrimp have fourteen? Or sixteen? Something like that.”

“That sounds like too much,” Aara said, sticking her tongue out. “I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.”

---

It got cold that night. Very cold indeed. It was a good thing we’d worked out our romantic situation, so that there was no hesitation over huddling together under a single bed roll, my wings draped over both Aara and Sukura to provide them extra insulation.