Another Journey

“So, you can't come with me?” Mac asked, stroking his fingers though Melissandra's hair. They were sitting in the gardens, under their favorite tree, cuddled together. Melissandra raised her head from it's current position of lying on Mac's chest, “Marie and Tillie said it's too risky to have me traveling, even this early on.” While she wasn't showing at all, she rubbed her stomach, where their child was growing inside. “Although I'm pretty sure they just don't want to pose any risk to the heir...”

“Well, I don't want to risk it either, although that sorta throws our plan up in the air.”

Melissandra nodded and looked up, thinking. “Maybe one of the others can fill in?”

During dinner that day, Melissandra brought up the issue with the others.

“Hmm...I think I still need time for my lessons,” Emma said, pouting.

“I wouldn't mind coming, but I'm a little worried about my siblings still...” Felicia shrugged.

“Oh, take me! Take me!” Kay said, jumping out of her chair.

“Don't you need to prepare for your wedding?” Melissandra asked.

“The Gascon estate is partway between here and the elven forest anyway, so I could just stop there, prepare while you visit the elf queen, and then you can pick me up on the way back!” Kay explained.

Mac tapped his head, “That sounds fine, but it doesn't solve the issue of having someone with me when I visit the elf Queen.”

Marie, who was talking with Eleanor in the corner over some papers, jumped in. “I believe you should take Eleanor with you. I think Sophia may lose her nerve seeing the...current version of her.”

Everyone turned to look at Eleanor. While she had always been beautiful, she had recently undergone a...transformation. Namely, a loss of excess weight. Her stomach was flatter, her face was sharper, and even her breasts had become perkier.

“Stop that! I can't help it!” Eleanor said, pouting and putting her hands on her cheeks (although it had less affect now that her face wasn't bubbly).

“Elly, like we said, you look more beautiful now” Emma explained.

“Besides, has Mac treated you any differently?” Felicia asked with a smirk.

“Well, no...” Eleanor replied, with a blush.

This was true. Mac didn't say anything, but he was pretty sure it was their nighttime escapades that had led to this change in the first place. Eleanor was relentless when they had sex, and it was routine for them to go at it multiple times, every time. It was so much that bathing afterwards was now a normal part of the routine, assuming they both weren't too exhausted to get out of bed and over to the tub.

Marie continued her explanation, “Of all of you, Eleanor's body type is the closest to Sophia. I don't think it would be a stretch to say Eleanor now surpasses even the legendary elven Queen in beauty. It would be sure to land a serious blow to her confidence if this Eleanor showed up next to you.”

Eleanor was now back to holding both her hands on her cheeks, burning bright red. “Stop it...”

Mac, sensing an opening, walked over and wrapped his arm around her, “I think she's right, and I'd honestly feel a lot better with you there.”

After a moment of surprise, Eleanor grabbed Mac closely and lifted him off the ground, giving him a kiss.

“You really don't care who's around...” Marie sighed, taking a step back from them.

Thankfully, Mac's other wife and fiance's weren't prone to jealousy, especially when it came to Eleanor.

That night, Mac was due to spend with Emma. Walking into her room, Emma was looking over some dress designs that she had drawn.

“Did you decide on one?” Mac asked, walking over and planting a kiss on her cheek.

“Not yet,” Emma replied, sighing and putting the one she was holding back on the table.

Mac sat down and poured himself some water.

Emma looked out the window, over the surroundings, past the capital. “Do you ever miss your world?”

Mac sat his water down. “Sometimes.”

Emma smiled, “I was missing the farm a bit today, but then I remembered 'Well, at least I can go visit, Mac can't even do that'”.

Mac shook his head, “I'd miss you all more if I had gone back.”

Emma sat down perpendicular on Mac's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, her favorite position for making out with him.

After a couple minutes of doing just that, she let go, jumping off Mac. “You better be ready for more than that once you get back,” she said, doing her best to look seductive. “I promise I'll be ready for our wedding by then!”

Mac wrapped his arms back around her, “I'll look forward to it.”

A couple more days passed, and their departure time had arrived.

As the girls were talking while the wagons were loaded, Marie pulled Mac aside. “Be careful out there. And make sure you take care of the girls.”

“Of course, I won't let anything happen to them.”

Marie nodded, “Of course, we can't afford to lose you either.”

Mac remembering the bandit attack from the last trip, grimaced and nodded.

Sensing his thoughts, Marie continued, “I'm not so much worried about bandits this time, but opportunists. I don't think any of the nobles would be mad enough to try and assassinate you, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't watch out.”

Mac gulped.

This time, since they were taking an official trip, they were using the royal carriage. Isn't this a bit too huge? It's basically the size of my old apartment. Actually, it might be larger. Inside, there was a bed, a table with chairs, and even a washbasin with cabinets. It was immediately apparent to Mac as soon as they set off that the suspension on this carriage was much more robust than the one they previously used (which this time was being used for its intended purpose, transporting the small maid retinue accompanying them). Along with them came a full company of guards and enough wagons to support them all.

The only planned stop on this trip was at the Gascon estate to drop off Kay, so they traveled straight through the day. Mac was reading his textbooks again, mostly to pass the time. Eleanor and Kay, despite their differing personalities, had a surprising amount in common, having both grown up in noble Houses.

“I'm surprised your dad never took any concubines after your mother passed. My dad has taken so many we lost count! Although I guess he can afford it.”

Eleanor nodded, “We could have as well. I told my dad I didn't mind, but he was dead set on me, and whoever I married, inheriting the estate. I do think he enjoyed the company of some of the older maids from time to time though.”

The old Mac probably would have felt embarrassed at this type of talk, but now it doesn't even phase me.

“I'm surprised you're waiting until after the wedding to start trying for a child. I wanted to as soon as Mel let me!” Eleanor responded.

“Nyahaha, I'm not surprised by that. Mel said it was worth waiting, and I don't mind building up some anticipation...” Kay laughed, shooting a glance at Mac.

Okay, even this makes me a little embarrassed.

Eleanor started explaining, “Well, just you know, he really likes playing with breasts. If you sit with your back to him...”

Mac slammed his book shut. “Hey! I'm right here you know!” blushing in embarrassment.

They both looked at him confused. “What's wrong? Do you want to explain it yourself?” Eleanor asked.

Kay nodded vigorously, tail wagging behind her.

Mac didn't know what to say. Feeling more embarrassed now than he did before, he murmured, “Sorry, go ahead...”

Eleanor nodded, and went back to explaining the finer points of lovemaking with Mac.

“This is good, Mel never went into this much detail...” Kay responded as Eleanor finished her lesson.

Eleanor nodded, “I talked with Marie a bit beforehand, and a lot of the tips she gave me worked.”

“Ohhh, I better talk with her too...”

After traveling for the day, once dusk neared, they stopped at the designated inn. Unlike last time, the inn knew they were coming, and had prepared for the King's arrival ahead of time, being paid generously for renting out the whole inn. While Mac had initially balked at the payment, he had been convinced when explaining the alternative was camping out by the side of the road.

While the girls had received their own rooms, Eleanor had told Kay to spend the night with Mac (he knew beforehand, of course, having been their in the carriage when they discussed as much).

Mac sat in his room, waiting, until the expected knock came.

Kay came in, wearing a pink negligee, which did little to conceal her also pink lingerie underneath.

“Nyahaha, you like it?” she said, giving a twirl.

“Yeah, you look pretty cute.”

“Hmm, when the others said they first slept with you, you did all sorts of things to them, but only after prodding...” Kay said, smiling mischievously.

“Well, since you're already telling me you want too, I think we're past that. I mean, I can still stop myself if I want...”

“But you won't,” Kay said, walking over and sitting in Mac's lap. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she leaned up and started to make out with him.

After a minute of this, she unlatched herself, breathing heavily. Turning to have her back to him, she grabbed Mac's hands, and slipped them under her negligee and onto her breasts. “Elly taught me this.”

“I thought you wanted to wait,” Mac said, but massaged her breasts gently anyway.

Kay purred slightly. “I...do. But I wanted to give you a little taste to look forward too.”

Mac gave her a kiss on the cheek, “Well, I'm definitely looking forward to it.”

Kay's tail perked up, as she felt a bump underneath her. “You're already that excited!?”

“Yeah, what did you expect...”

“They did say you get aroused pretty easily. I'm glad it's the same for me.”

Mac chuckled, “Of course you would be.” He stopped massaging her and wrapped his arms around her, giving her another kiss.

Kay blushed, “Now I'm regretting waiting...No! No! We just have to stop there!” she exclaimed, pushing Mac away playfully.

Mac, deciding he really should stop there for both their sake's, crawled under the covers and invited Kay to join him.

Kay crawled in, wrapping her arms around him and snuggled her nose into his chest.

Putting one arm around her and one holding her head (so he could scratch her ears), Kay purred slightly in appreciation.

“I'm really glad things turned out like this. Even if it's just because of my dad” Kay said, grabbing Mac tighter.

“Me too. Although I had a feeling things would turn out like this regardless...”

“Nyahaha, of course, you can't resist my charms,” she laughed, reaching up and giving him another kiss.

Holding onto each other tightly, they fell into a slumber.

The next morning, during breakfast, Eleanor interrogated Kay. “How did it go? Did you do what I said?” she whispered.

Kay nodded, blushing slightly, “It worked exactly like you said it would!” she whispered back.

Mac couldn't hear what they were saying, but presumed (correctly) they were talking about him.

At least they whisper when people besides me are around.

Traveling that day, they made it to the Gascon manor during the afternoon.

“Sire, Dame, good to see you again,” Lord Gascon greeted them with a bow.

“You as well,” Mac said, nodding back.

Looking around the estate, Mac was astounded. He knew, of course, that Lord Gascon had a penchant for cat-human's, but this surpassed even what he had imagined. It was hard to find anyone there that wasn't a cat-human. The woman around him, the children playing in the yard, even the maids and butlers, all cat-humans.

“Father!” Kay said, running over and hugging Lord Gascon.

“Kay, my girl!” he said, smiling and hugging her back. “Your mother and I are going to have our ceremony soon, I'm glad you could make it.”

“Of course! I need to prepare mine too...” she said, giving a sly smile to Mac.

Before they left, Kay came back over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “Seeya soon,” she added with a wink.

Lord Gascon gave a hearty laugh, “I'm glad to see you getting along so well!”

After that, trying to stay on schedule, they headed off again.

Maybe because they were alone now, but Eleanor kept herself glued to Mac in the carriage, even getting handsy while they were on the road.

“Elly, what's wrong? You know we're still traveling right?”

Eleanor looked a bit sad, “We've been doing it so much but I'm still not with child. I'm happy for Mel, but I'm a bit jealous...”

Mac sighed, “Look, just wait until tonight, okay?”

Eleanor nodded, but still seemed worried. Mac grabbed her and held her close, which seemed to comfort her for the time being.

That night, at the next inn they stopped at, Eleanor immediately started undressing as soon as she and Mac got to their room.

Mac stopped her, “Hold on, hold on.”

Eleanor looked like she was going to cry, “You don't want too?”

“I do, but I wanted to talk first,” he said, patting the bed next to him.

Eleanor sat down, looking at the ground.

“I'm not going to love you less just because you're not pregnant yet.”

“Really?”

Mac shook his head emphatically, “Of course not! I'm sure you will eventually. And besides, it just means we get to do it more in the mean time, right?”

Eleanor blushed, and Mac gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“Although, Mel said you were still doing it even after she got pregnant. Won't you with me too?”

“Of course, although I think we'll need to...scale back a bit on the intensity.” While Mac was saying this, Eleanor had already resumed pulling off her dress.

Taking off her undergarments while Mac also undressed, she laid down on the bed and pulled Mac on top of her.

Wasting no time, he started thrusting inside repeatedly, passionately kissing her to reinforce his words from earlier. Eleanor started moaning loudly.

“Shh...” Mac tried to calm her, “We're not in the palace anymore.”

Eleanor gasped, “Sorry, it just feels too good...”

After an hour of intensive lovemaking, Mac slid over to the now-lukewarm bath, washing himself off. Despite barely fitting, Eleanor slid in opposite him.

Washing her sweat-drenched hair, Eleanor said, “I'm sorry for earlier, I just worry sometimes...”

Mac shook his head, “It's okay, just remember you can always talk to me. Or your sisters.”

Eleanor smiled, “Of course. I actually feel a bit bad that I get you to myself for a while...”

“I'm a bit sad not seeing them too, but I'm glad you're here with me,” Mac smiled, grabbing her hand.

Eleanor, overcome with intense feelings, grabbed Mac in the tub and pulled him close, onto her breasts. “I love you so much...”

“I love you too Elly” Mac said, giving her a kiss.

“Oh...even after all that?” Eleanor said, looking down at Mac's shaft, which had stood up again.

“Do you...-” Mac started, but before he could ask, Eleanor had grabbed his erection and put it back inside her.

While not having a lot of room to maneuver, Mac successfully made love to her in the tub as well.

After re-washing themselves, they went to bed still naked, holding each other close. Hopefully she gets pregnant after all that...

Luckily, in the morning, no one was giving them any weird looks. Or at least, none that Mac could notice. Maybe they're trying their best not to look like they heard anything?

Shaking off his paranoia, as Mac ate his breakfast in silence, Captain La Hire came up to him.

“Sire,” he said with a bow, “We have an issue.”

Mac raised an eyebrow.

“The inn we were supposed to be staying at tonight...burned down.”

Mac wasn't sure how to react. “Oh that's...unfortunate. Is everyone okay?”

“Surprisingly, yes, the fire spread really slowly, so everyone had time to evacuate.”
“But they couldn't put it out?”

La Hire shook his head, “No. According to the report, the flames resisted being put out, almost as if by magic.”

Eleanor jumped in, “Do you think we were targeted? And they just were misinformed by a day?”

La Hire nodded with a grimace, “We believe that may be the case.”

Something didn't sit right with Mac though, “Are you sure? It's not like we're hiding, it should have been obvious we weren't there?”

La Hire shrugged, “Assassin's aren't always the most intelligent.”

“Maybe...” Mac replied, not convinced.

Eleanor held onto him tightly.

Mac put his hand on her head, “We'll be fine.”

La Hire nodded, “Yes, the guard will lay down their....we'll make sure to protect you no matter what!”

Mac nodded, glad La Hire remembered his prior request.

The day passed quietly, Eleanor seeming to have been relieved by the prior night, and only sometimes tried to get intimate with Mac in the carriage instead today.

Eventually, the uneventful day passed, and they made their way to the inn they were supposed to sleep at. The entire structure had been burned down, with only piles of ashes remaining.

A man in a soot-stained suit came over to greet them.

“My liege, I'm terribly sorry about the circumstances” he said, signifying himself as the innkeeper.

Mac shook his hands to stop him, “No, no, I'm just glad no one was hurt. La Hire, make sure he still gets paid.”

The innkeepers's eyes lit up, “My liege, that's not...”

“It's fine, it's fine. Just think of it as an investment, I look forward to staying once it's been rebuilt.”

Tears in his eyes, the innkeeper accepted the small bag of coins from La Hire.

Once he had paid the innkeeper, La Hire turned to Mac. “It's getting dark. Should we continue on? I'm not sure about setting up camp here after what happened...”

Mac thought for a moment, but was overcome with the urge to stay. “We should be fine. I think?”

“You...think?” La Hire repeated, raising an eyebrow.

Eleanor stepped in. “I think Mac is just really tired...” she trailed off.

Is she insinuating 'after last night?

The entourage made camp in the front yard of the burned down inn. Sitting around a campfire, the innkeeper, now with a couple drinks in him, was talking about the situation. “I wonder if it wasn't some ghost that burned it down.”

“Wait, does this world have ghosts?” Mac asked, eyes wide.

Eleanor shook her head, “No, they're just a legend. At least, as far as I know.”

“I'd like to hope not, but that's what the legends tell live in this forest, that they all died in some huge battle an age ago. People say they hear voices coming from the trees. I feel like I heard them sometimes, myself...”

Mac shook his head. Something about the tale bothered him. What is with my thoughts today?

Eleanor, noticing, patted his shoulder, “You don't need to pay it any heed. Come on, lets go to bed.”

In the carriage, Mac successfully convinced Eleanor that it was too embarrassing to have sex in the carriage, surrounded by all their entourage merely feet away. Promising to cuddle her close, they fell asleep huddled under the covers.

Mac woke up, surrounded by trees.

Wait, when did I go in the forest. Actually, wait, isn't this...

Mac felt an intense sense of deja-vu. Looking around, he could see light streaming through the leaves, a muffled voice calling out to him.

I've definitely been here before, right?

Following the voice, which sounded like it was underwater, Mac eventually came upon a clearing, with a pool in the middle. Walking up to the pool, he could hear the voice screaming in his ear. As he reached into the pool, something pulled him in...

Mac woke up, drenched in sweat, sitting bolt upright. That dream, why do I keep having it? He shook his head. Wait, aren't I actually in a forest now?

He looked down at Eleanor, who was still sleeping and brushed her cheek. At least I didn't wake her.

Mac carefully got out of bed to grab a glass of water. What was that dream about? And that voice? I feel like I can still hear it crying for help...wait...

He actually could still hear the voice.

Except, it wasn't in his head now. It sounded like it was outside the carriage.

Hold on, hold on, what's going on. Am I crazy?

Mac, in his tracksuit (which were now only on pajamas duty) quietly opened the door. The voice became noticeably louder, sounding like it was coming from the woods behind the burned down inn. Taking a look back at the sleeping Eleanor, he quickly decided he needed to go investigate. It'll drive me insane if I don't, even if this is probably a bad idea. He grabbed his phone from his bag, thinking the flashlight might come in handy.

Quietly walking past the guard tents, he saluted the guards on watch, who he assumed must think he was going out to relieve himself.

Once in the forest, the voice got noticeably louder again. In the distance through the trees, he thought he saw a glint of light.

Turning on his phone's flashlight, he started tiptoeing his way towards the glow in the distance

After a while, he didn't know how long, he realized he wasn't sure which way back the caravan was. Urgghhh, that's not good... The light seemed to be growing closer, so he decided to continue making his way towards it.

After a while longer, he came upon a clearing, the voice now sounding like it was screaming in his head. The light was so bright, it lit up the immediate area. As he entered the clearing, the light shot down into a pool of water in the center..

This is definitely the place from the dream...Mac thought, inching his way toward the light. As he got next to the pool, he knelt down over it, and looked down to see the light now emanating from within.

Realizing he had only one thing to do, he slowly reached his arm into the pool and...nothing happened. In fact, he reached down as far as he could go, and still nothing happened, the light just shone below, as if beckoning him further in.

Wait...did I get pulled in during my dream, or did I jump in?

Mac was an okay swimmer, but wasn't sure how deep the pool was. Deciding again he had come too far to not see this through to the end, he stripped off his tracksuit top, put his phone on top, and jumped into the pool.

Underwater, he could see the sides of the pool, the light illuminating everything within. As he got level with the light, it slowly drifted down, until it came upon a metal square at the bottom of the pool. The square was shiny, and the surface didn't look like anything he had seen in this world before. As Mac got next to it, he realized the square was actually a metal box in the dirt of the pool. He grabbed the box, and pulled it out of the dirt, as it was surprisingly light, and only the size and dimensions of a jewelry box.

Taking the box, he swam back up to the top of the pool, this time the light now following him. As he clambered out, the light danced around him excitedly.

What's even going on...Mac thought, looking at the light. He examined the rectangular box. Five sides were smooth and shiny, but on one of the short sides, their was weird etchings that Mac didn't recognize. He grabbed his phone and shone it to examine the etchings more closely (which caused the floating light to start dancing like crazy). As he shone the flashlight on them, he realized they went very deep into the box. Looking down into them, he saw what he thought looked like copper inside.

Hold on, hold on, is this...? Mac was almost incredulous as he realized what he might be holding. This has to be set up, right? According to Marie I'm the only one who can use electric magic that she knows of in the entire continent. Although, maybe there could be ones she doesn't know about? Still...

The floating light continually danced around him still. I guess I just need to go for it. Even if it's a trap...

Mac laid his palm on the etchings, or as he thought they might be, the electrical socket, and directed some of his electrical magic inside.

Immediately, he heard clicking come from the box, and it started vibrating so hard it flew out of his hands. The light went inside the box, as the clicking got louder and louder. Finally, he heard one more loud click and the box burst open, the light reappearing.

“Wahaha, after thousands of years, I'm finally free!” he heard a high-pitched voice coming from the light.

Oh god, what did I do!?

The light flew right in front of his face, “Thanks for rescuing me!” it exclaimed.

Mac shielded his eyes, “Uh, you're...you're welcome?”

“Oh sorry, I was so excited I didn't realize how bright I was shining.” The light started to dim, until Mac was able to make out a figure in the light. Floating inches from his face, a small figure, purple with green wings almost the size of it's tiny body, was there giving him a huge (relative to it's actual size) grin. It also had glowing, bright yellow eyes.

“Uh, thanks,” Mac said. Sitting and crossing his legs, trying to metabolize everything that just happened.

The figure flew over and sat on his knee, sitting cross legged like he was. He was able to to see under whatever it was wearing (which looked like a rolled-up leaf) although, maybe because it was so small, he couldn't actually make anything out.

Deciding he was focusing on something weird, Mac shook his head and looked at its face. It's hair was a slightly darker shade of purple than it's skin. “Um, can you...”

“Oh, of course! I'm sure your curious how this came about. See, I use to be friends with an Otherworlder...I'm assuming you're also an Otherworlder too, right? I first sensed you a few months ago.”

Mac nodded.

“Okay, I don't need to explain that then. So, I don't know why, or maybe I did and forgot, but anyways, he locked me up in there and threw me down into the pool! The nerve! I tried to get out, but I eventually gave up and went to sleep, waking myself up when someone who could rescue me emerged. I was hoping it wouldn't take so long, but you're the first one who's come along that had the right magic to open it!” The figure flew up and hugged him, which for it was wrapping both its arms around his cheeks.

Mac put the tip of his index finger and touched its back, “I'm glad I could help, but...”

The figure flew back a bit, “What's wrong?”

“What...er, sorry, who, are you?”

The figure let out a high pitched giggle, before flying up above him a ways. “I! Am the great primordial spirit, Arborhea! Mother of the forests of this world!” she proclaimed, light strobing with each emphatic syllable of her proclamation.

Arborhea then flew back down in front of his face. “You can just call me Rhea for short though, all my friends do.”

Mac thought back to his lessons, Marie floating above his head. “Our legends say our world was first created by primordial spirits, many different ones, who each created different parts of the world. Now, they are said to guard them in secret, only interacting with mortals when they get bored. Of course, they're most likely just stories made up to explain how everything came into being.”

This sure doesn't seem like a made up to me... he thought, snapping back to the present. Mac looked at Arborhea, or Rhea as she instructed him to call her, who had alighted on his knee again, and seemed intent to fill him in on her entire life's story, or at least the parts she remembered.

“I use to be friend's with an elf, but I eventually left her because she was too uptight about the trees. It's okay if they get cut down! They'll regrow! It'd be worse if people froze to death if they didn't...”

Mac held up his hand, causing her (while Mac couldn't tell, she had called herself a mother, so presumed it was a she) to stop talking. “Um, not that I'm not interested, but can we go back to how you got in there? Why did your friend do something like that!?”

She shrugged, “I don't know. Honestly, I don't care anymore. No sense crying over a bit of lost time.”

“You said it was thousands of years!” Mac said, incredulous.

“Well, yes, but to me that's not very long. I mean, it was very annoying, but if you were stuck inside for a few days, would you eventually get over it?”

Mac's eyes widened, the extent of what she was saying sinking in. This is incredible! This is definitely something you'd see in a fantasy world!

“Okay, so I won't worry about that. But, how did I get here? Did you call me?”

She nodded, “I said I first sensed you a few months ago, right? Once I knew you would probably help me, I tried calling you here in your dreams. Luckily, you started coming closer a few days ago, finally, so I burned down that building so you would know where I was at.”

“That was you!? You didn't need to burn it down!” Mac explained, eyes going wide.

“Yeah, how else was I supposed to get you to stop here?” Arborhea asked, like it was the most obvious thing.

“We were going to stop there anyway...” Mac said, putting his palm to his forehead.

“Oh...haha! So you were destined to find me regardless!” she laughed, her high pitched voice ringing aloud.

Suddenly, from the woods, Mac heard shouting. “Maaaaac!”

Ah shoot...

“I sense some others over there. Are they looking for you? That's your name, right?” Arborhea asked.

“Maaaaac!” the voice sounded closer.

I think that's Eleanor.

“Elly! I'm fine, I'm over here!” Mac shouted back.

“Mac!?” the voice sounded back. Suddenly Eleanor, still in her nightgown, rushed into the clearing throwing her arms around him.

“I thought I heard you! What are you doing!? No one could find you, I thought maybe something happened” she sobbed into his shoulder.

“Err, I'm really sorry for worrying you, but I...actually I don't even know where to begin,” Mac said, motioning to the spirit sitting on his knee.

Eleanor turned her head to look at Arborhea. Arborhea jovially waved back, causing Eleanor to fall over on her butt next to Mac.

Arborhea flew over to Eleanor, “Oooooohhh! A kindred!” she proclaimed. Flying to either side of her, she sniffed a few times. “Yeah, you definitely smell like Celestina. Are you her daughter?”

Eleanor, despite the situation, responded, “Celestina? You mean the moon spirit?”

Arborhea nodded.

“No...my mother passed away a while back. And she definitely wasn't the moon spirit.”

Arborhea narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure? You definitely smell like her. Maybe you're just a descendant with strong blood ties? You kind of look like her too, although,” she floated down to look at her breasts, “I guess not exactly alike.”

Eleanor looked at Mac, who shrugged. Standing up and dusting herself off, Eleanor looked at Arborhea. “I'm...really confused. Are you trying to say I'm related to a spirit. Wait, are you a spirit?”

“Well, yeah, of course. I mean, you got the eye too, don't you?” Arborhea replied, pointing to Eleanor's yellow eye, then pointing to her own eyes.

Eleanor stared for a few moments, before her eyebrows raised in surprise, as the revelation sunk in.

Mac also realized what Arborhea was implying. They're not curse eyes, they're spirit eyes!

Eleanor, for her part, had trouble taking it in. “You can't be serious...”

“I mean, it's a spirit telling you, so you should probably believe it, right? We could even go ask Celestina if you want, although the trip takes awhile. I'm guessing she got lonely at some point, and came down and had some kids. Maybe even took them back with her! Well, not all of them, if you're here.”

Mac shook his head, “Could they even live on the moon?”

“Well, Celestina does, so why couldn't they?”

“We're not spirits though, we also couldn't live in a box for thousands of years.”

Arborhea's eyes narrowed, “That's true...you children can be really fragile sometimes...”

Eleanor, having finally acclimated to everything, took a few deep breaths. After focusing, she asked, “So...assuming this is true...how exactly did you meet one of the primordial spirits?”

Arborhea was more than happy to explain the whole situation again, even exaggerating some of Mac's feats to make him sound more heroic.

After the story, Eleanor leaned over and hugged him. “Dearest, you're so wonderful, you're even rescuing spirits now!”

Arborhea crossed her arms and nodded in agreement, reminiscent of what he'd seen his fiance's and wives do countless times.

“Look, I'm just glad I could help. And not have those dreams anymore...” Mac shook his head. “Anyways, uh...what are you going to do now?”

“What do you mean? Don't you want me to stick around?” Arborhea asked, pouting.

“You...you wanna stick around...me? I figured you'd want to visit around after you'd been locked up for so long.”

“Nah, you seem interesting. Plus, I figure I should at least serve you for as long as I was trapped, since you're my rescuer...” Arborhea explained.

“I won't even live that long....”

“Well, you're children too. This spirit child here is one of your Queens, right?” she flew over to Eleanor, and knocked a couple times below her stomach. “Hmm, I think it's gonna be a girl,” she said, looking up at Eleanor.

Eleanor didn't react at first, then held her stomach. “You...you can tell...?”

“Yeah, you still got a ways to go though. Ah, you probably didn't realize yet since it was so early. Congrats!” she added, patting Eleanor on the shoulder and giving a thumbs up.

Mac looked at Eleanor, and gave a nervous smile. “We...did it?”

Eleanor walked over and hugged Mac, who was still wet from his dunk in the pool. “Elly...”

“I'm so glad...this is so amazing, “ she said, before giving Mac a passionate kiss.

“Ahaha, you two are great. It's nice to see children in love” she laughed.

Eleanor, snapping back to the situation at hand, looked at Mac. “Mac, if she really is a spirit, and she really wants to join us....”

Arborhea flew down next to them again. “Yeah! Yeah! Let me come! Here...” she flew up again and proclaimed, “I, Arborhea, swear fealty to Mac and his kindred for ten thousand years!”

Mac didn't even know how to respond. Even in this fantasy world, the whole situation had become too crazy.

“Sire! Sire! Are you over there?” they heard in the distance.

Eleanor reacted first, “We should probably hide her. This is too much to explain to everyone...”

“If that's what you wish,” Arborhea said with a smile, before turning out her light and flying into the chest pocket of Mac's tracksuit. Now, the only lights were from Mac's phone, and a lantern light coming toward them.

At the edge of the clearing, La Hire appeared, “Sire!, I...” he started, before seeing that Mac was hurriedly putting his clothes back on, causing him to turn red and looking away.

He can clearly see Eleanor has hers on though, so why get embarrassed!?

“Sorry, I was relieving myself and got a bit lost, but Eleanor found me.”

Eleanor nodded at La Hire to confirm the story.

La Hire sighed in relief. “Sire, I implore you to be more careful in the future. Please, follow me back.”

Mac, having finished getting dressed, nodded. As they started, Mac stopped for a second, turned around, and grabbed the box Arborhea had been in.

“Sire?” La Hire asked.

“Just an interesting rock I found,” he said, slipping it into his pocket.

Back at camp, they came out of the forest. Some of the guards, seeing Mac and Eleanor hand in hand, got the wrong idea and gave a cheer. One even shouted, “Another heir on the way?”

Well, maybe...

By the time they got back into the carriage, the sun was coming up, and the camp started cleaning and preparing to head out. Mac privately told La Hire to have the royal family fund the rebuilding of the inn, since, even if indirectly and it not being his fault, he felt somewhat responsible for the inn being burned down. La Hire gave a questioning glance, but said he would write a letter and instruct the funds to be distributed.

As they got dressed in the carriage, Arborhea flew back out. “I hope you aren't going to keep me cooped up in there all the time.”

Eleanor looked up at her. “It's an issue if people know a spirit is traveling with us though...”

“So it's fine if they can't see me?” Arhorhea asked.

Eleanor nodded.

“Okay, I'll make it so only you two can see me!” she said, snapping her fingers.

“What? Just like that?” Mac asked.

“Yeah of course, I'm a spirit! I mean, I'm not all-powerful, but I can at least control everything about myself, including who is aware of me.”

“Oh, we should include all of Mac's wives and fiance's too, otherwise it would be a bit awkward at home,” Eleanor added, tapping her cheek.

“Haha, how many you got? I'll make so any children you have are aware of me too” she added, snapping her fingers again.

“Um...five including Eleanor,” Mac said, a bit embarrassed. Six, if I can figure out how to smith a dagger...

“Haha, wow, you've only been here a few months and you've got that many!”

“Yeah, I know...” Mac said, although Eleanor grabbed him close and hugged him.

“Well, I for one, am glad,” she added, with a 'hmph'”

“Yeah, I'm glad I found you too,” Mac said, patting Eleanor to reassure her.

As they traveled that day, Eleanor drilled Arborhea.

“So, are the stories true? You and your kind created the world?”

Arborhea smiled in an exaggeratedly haughty fashion. “Yes, it was a while ago, even for me, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. Honestly I was so busy creating the forests that I lost track of time. I haven't even seen many of my siblings since then. I occasionally visited some of them, although a lot of them slept a lot, so I started talking to mortals more.”

Eleanor shook her head, “This is too incredible. So, what can you all do?”

Arborhea crossed her arms, floating around, “Hmm...well I can sense children like you. Although the farther away the less I can tell about them.”

“Okay, can we test it?”

Arborhea nodded.

“What can you tell me about Mac's other wife, Melissandra?”

Closing her eyes and thinking, Arborhea returned, “Well, she seems fine, although a bit worried maybe?”

Eleanor sighed, “That sounds like Mel...”

“Oh, she's got a little girl inside her too! A bit bigger than yours.”

Eleanor rubbed her stomach and smiled.

Arborhea continued, “I can also grow trees and other plants too. Although if I do it too much, I have to go rest for a while to recharge.”

Eleanor nodded, “Hmmm, that could be useful...”

“You can also talk to people in their dreams, right?” Mac added.

“Well, sort of. I wasn't fully consciously doing that. It was more like....my feelings were reaching out to you.”

“Your...feelings?”

Arborhea nodded vigorously. “Yeah! You were the first one in forever who could activate the box I was in, so they reached out to you.”

“That's...a bit confusing.”

“More confusing than anything else about me? Hahaha...”

“...Fair point.”

They eventually reached the next inn, this one thankfully fully intact. It took them a bit to get used to Arbhorhea floating around them while everyone else didn't notice.

Going up to their room, Eleanor started undressing, before abruptly stopping, looking at the floating spirit.

“Umm...”

“What's wrong?” Arborhea asked. “Oh, you wanna make love with your husband? That's fine, I don't mind.”

“No, I mean yes, I do, it's just...are you going to watch?” Eleanor asked.

“Do you not want me to? I mean, I can sense it if I pay attention, even if I'm not here.”

“Well, it's more the principle...” Eleanor explained, Mac nodding.

“Hmm, okay, okay, I don't want to be a bother. I'll go take a nap in the nearest tree when I sense you're going to get started, and then I'll come back when I sense you're done.”

Eleanor smiled, “Thank you,” and delicately hugged Arborhea with her fingers.

Arborhea seemed delighted, “Of course, um...I guess you're basically my niece, I'll call you that, if that's okay.”

Eleanor nodded, “Of course, or you can call me Elly like my sisters.”

“Then you can call me Aunt Rhea,” she said, giving Eleanor a hug on the cheek. She then flew over and gave Mac a hug too, before flying out the window.

Eleanor commenced undressing.

Mac, also undressing, sighed, “I'm glad she's so understanding.”

Eleanor shrugged as she unhooked her bra. “She's a woman, too, so I figured she would.”

The next morning, Mac woke up, the naked Eleanor still clutched to him. He slowly stroked her hair. I hope Rhea is right, and you can be a mother soon...

“Of course I'm right!” a voice whispered in his ear. Mac did a double take, as he noticed Arborhea sitting on his shoulder, leaning on his ear.

“You...” he started, before lowering his voice to not wake Eleanor, “You can read my mind?”

“Only if you're thinking about me,” she responded.

“Oh, I guess I'll remember that,” Mac responded, slightly worried.

“Haha, don't worry, I won't be mad if you occasionally think something weird about me” she giggled.

Eleanor was stirring, and Arborhea flew out the window again.

Sitting up, Eleanor rubbed her eyes. “What's wrong, dear?”

“Nothing, just looking at my beautiful wife,” Mac said, going back to stroking her hair.

Eleanor grabbed his hand and put it against her cheek, her disheveled hair pushed aside.

Since the sun wasn't fully up yet, Mac decided to take the initiative, grabbed one of Eleanor's breasts with his free hand, and started squeezing.

Eleanor started moaning, immediately waking up and and going for a kiss on Mac, while grabbing his crotch.

After a few rubs, Mac was ready to go, and pounced on top of Eleanor, who giggled. “Oh dear...even after last night you still want more?”

“Of course,” Mac simply replied, before thrusting deep into her. Reaching over and kissing her with each push, he quickly came as Eleanor clamped down on him.

Eleanor squeezed him tight as he finished, holding him inside, as they both breathed heavily.

After a few moments, they both realized they needed to get going, so they got up and wiped down, quickly dressing and leaving.

Arborhea laughed as they got in the carriage. “Haha, you two did it again?”

Eleanor stared at her, “How did you know!?”

“I told you I can sense it right?”

Eleanor just shook her head, before deciding to interrogate Arborhea again that day.

“What can you tell me about my...ancestor, the moon spirit?” she asked.

Arborhea scrunched her face. “Errr, usually we aren't supposed to talk about one another too much. Or at least, that was the case a while ago. Well, I mostly just know she created the moon, and she was a bit lonely up there by herself.”

“Would it...be possible to talk to her?”

“Probably not, unless she comes down again. I might go visit her once more at some point...”

Eleanor looked a bit sad at the response.

Arborhea, trying to comfort her, responded, “Well, she should be able to sense you at least, since you're related to her. If you think really hard about something you want to say to her, she should probably get the message!”

Eleanor smiled and nodded. “What to say though...”

Meeting the Elf Queen

After a bit of traveling, Arborhea suddenly flew out the window. “Oh, those are some nice trees. They're a lot taller than I remember!”

Sticking his head out the window, Mac looked to see what Arborhea was talking about. In the distance, Mac could see huge trees. Judging off distance, some were probably as tall as skyscrapers.

“I'm assuming that's the elven forest?” Mac asked.

Eleanor, who also stuck her head out, nodded. “Yes, it's quite amazing. I've been here once before for a nobles wedding. Elves don't have the same superstition about my eyes as humans do.”

Arborhea, ducking back into the carriage, seemed confused. “Your eyes? What superstition?”

Eleanor explained the legend behind her different colored eyes, and how they were said to be a curse.

Arborhea just shook her head. “Children are really dumb sometimes.”

Eleanor sighed, “It's caused me no end of trouble.”

Arborhea flew over and hugged her cheeks, “There, there, Aunty Rhea will tell everyone it's the exact opposite!”

“Well, you probably shouldn't...” Mac said.

“I know, I know. Well, unless you tell me not to hide anymore.”

I can't even begin to think of the hysteria caused by one of their gods suddenly showing up like that. Although at the least, I guess they would have to listen to her, right?

As they approached the forest, there was a single elf guard. Mac had seen a few elves before now, both at his Introduction Ceremony and his weddings, but this was his first time seeing one geared for battle. As he had expected, it was wearing some light leather armor, with browns and greens to help blend into the forest. On his back was a bow and quiver of arrows.

The guard, seeing them approaching, saluted Captain La Hire, who saluted him back, and the caravan continued without stopping.

Inside the forest, it was brighter than he expected, giant holes in the canopy were letting enough light in to keep the forest reasonably lit despite the tree growth.

Arborhea narrowed her eyes as she examined them, “Hmm, yes, they've been doing a good job. I recognize some of these trees from the last time I was here.”

“You mean, from thousands of years ago!?” Mac asked, incredulous.

Arbhorhea nodded, “Of course! If the tender does well, the tree can live almost forever!”

A couple hours into the forest, Mac noticed a tree, large enough around it looked like a city block, springing up from around the trees around it.

“Oh, there you are!” Arborhea said, racing out of the carriage towards the tree.

Mac looked at Eleanor, who just shrugged back at him.

As they approached, a contingent of elves on horses came to greet them. Mac exited the carriage, while Eleanor said she needed to change first.

The knights, who were wearing metal armor similar to his royal guard, all bowed deeply. One stepped forward, addressing him, “Sire, thank you for coming. It is my understanding one of your Queen's joined you?”

“Yes, she just...ah, here she is,” Mac stopped as the door opened.

Eleanor came out, wearing a silver dress that matched her hair, with traces of blue along the edges. The top of the chest was cut out, which for Eleanor meant you could see a large amount of cleavage.

Oh yeah...this was part of Marie's strategy, right?

Mac, realizing he was staring, looked away. Eleanor came down the steps, and grabbed his arm in hers, before whispering, “It's okay, you're allowed to stare,” along with a giggle.

The elven guard captain coughed, trying not appear flustered, “Please...if you could follow me. Queen Sophia would like to see you right away, if that is acceptable.”

Mac nodded, and they followed him in. Captain La Hire also followed in after them.

As they approached the giant tree, Mac could see the little ball of light that was Arborhea, flying around the trunk every which way. I guess she's enjoying herself.

Inside, the room they entered into looked completely hollowed out. Or at least, he could see what he thought was the outside of the tree, and then a roof of wood above them. A spiral staircase along the outside of the room seemed cut into the tree. Leading them up the stairs, they passed through several rooms, each one seeming to be for a different use. A kitchen, a storage room, one that looked like a maid quarters...

After a dozen, they got to a floor that had a door next to the staircase. The guard opened the door and bade them to walk inside.

This room, Mac felt a sense of familiarity with. It looked not too different from his own throne room, with painted glass windows and draperies on the walls.

At the end of the room sat a throne, from which rose a figure. Tall, buxom, and outrageously sensual, Mac could understand why people said she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Of course, in his arm was Eleanor, who thanks to their nightly escapades, still retained the sharp and slimmer figure she had gained after shedding some excess weight since their wedding. Eleanor mk. 2...he thought of her now, as he looked at his wife. Although sometimes I miss the bubbly cheeks...

It was actually a bit scary how similar they looked, as they got closer together. She was the same height, same figure...the main difference seemed to be that Sophia's hair was a darker gold, and of course, she had pointy elven ears.

But as they drew closer, Mac started to change his mind. Eleanor's face glowed a bit more. Her hair was prettier. Her breasts, perkier. He felt like he might be biased, but he thought his wife was a tad more beautiful than the elf Queen was.

Of course, all this analysis ran through Mac's head in the few seconds it took to meet the Queen halfway through the room.

“My, it's so good to finally meet you, King Mac,” she said in a seductive voice, bowing deeply so that her ample cleavage was in full view. He thought Eleanor might react, but he sensed no movement from her.

Mac nodded back at Sophia, “It's nice to meet you too, Sophia.”

Sophia turned to Eleanor, her smile looking a bit more forced, before giving her a slight nod, “And you must be Eleanor.”

“Sophia,” Eleanor replied, keeping her normal smile.

Sophia quickly turned back to Mac. “I heard one of the inn's you stayed at burned down. I trust you made it here without too much trouble?”

“Yes, we made it here just fine,” Mac responded, emphasizing the 'we'.

Sophia's smiled slipped slightly, before continuing, “Like my letter said, I invited you here to discuss the relationship between the elves and the country, but I think that can wait. Would you like to have dinner, and then you can rest before the discussions tomorrow?”

Mac nodded, “That sounds excellent.”

They were led up a few more flights, until they reached a large dining area. After a few minutes of waiting, it started to fill with people. The royal guards and the elven guards were chatting amicably, seeming to get along well due to their similar occupations.

Mac and Eleanor sat down next to Sophia, who introduced them to the men sitting next to her.

“These are my husbands,” she said, before sitting back down.

Mac looked at the four elven men. You're not even going to tell me their names!? He smiled and nodded at them, and they seemed taken aback at first, before smiling and nodding in kind.

The queen stood up to give a simple toast, “To Ositania!”

Receiving a loud cheer, she sat back down smiling, giving a sideways glance to Mac, who nodded in approval.

During dinner, Sophia kept giving sideways glances at Mac. He focused on the food, a rabbit stew with sides of many different fruits.

After dinner, they were led to their rooms. Sophia seemed to be staring a hole through Mac as they left.

Mac and Eleanor were shown to a private room, which he assumed had to be relatively high based on the number of steps they had climbed. Once inside, Eleanor quickly sat down, taking off her shoes and rubbing her feet, “Ugh, they put us so high up on purpose!”

Mac shrugged, “Maybe, the room is pretty nice though, look at this,” he said, opening their window. Up as high as they were, they could see the canopies of trees below them, and the sky soaring above them.

Reminds me of that time on the mountain...hopefully Emma's lessons are going well.

Eleanor came over, also in awe of the scene before them.

Mac grabbed his phone and took a picture of Eleanor and him with the scene in the background (his wives and fiance's always got excited when he took a picture with them).

After enjoying for a bit, Eleanor leaned out the window and called “Aunty Rhea!”

They heard a whoosh as a purple streak appeared in their eyes.

“Sorry, me and this tree go way back, so we were catching up,” Arborhea explained, now sitting on Eleanor's shoulder.

Eleanor shook her head, “No, I understand. Anyone would do the same with a friend they haven't seen in a while.”

Arborhea smiled, “Yeah! You get it! So, what's up? You were meeting with some elf queen, right?”

Eleanor nodded, “Actually, I was hoping maybe you could keep an eye on her, and report back if she does anything suspicious.”

Arborhea stood at attention and saluted, “Aye, aye!” and flew back out the window.

Eleanor sighed, “I feel much better now.” Turning around and looking at Mac, she went to the door and opened it up. Kelly was there, standing ready. “Kelly, make sure no one bothers us.”

Kelly curtsied, “Of course. Although the sounds will probably keep them away...”

Eleanor shook her head, “No, we're not doing that...right now. We're discussing something important.”

After closing the door, she beckoned Mac over to the table. At least in this world we don't have to worry about our room being bugged, he thought, as he sat down across from her.

Eleanor had a serious look on her face. “I think the first part was successful. I sent Rhea just in case, but I doubt she will try and seduce you tonight.”

Mac smiled, “Yes, you did an excellent job, especially with that dress.”

Eleanor blushed slightly, “Thank you, although you did well too not falling for her wiles. I think she really got thrown off right away in the throne room. My guess is she was going to try and have you send me away, but since you were staying stuck to me she decided to just go to dinner instead and try again later.”

Mac leaned back in his chair, deep in thought, “You think she will try again tomorrow?”

Eleanor nodded, “I'd be quite surprised if she gave up that easily. Her strategy will probably change though. I believe she now thinks that I am the one who is actually running things.”

Mac raised his eyebrows, “I mean, you sort of are...”

Eleanor shook her head. “No. We're a team, right?”

Mac nodded, “Oh...you mean she thinks you're like, controlling me and I have no say?”

“Yes. That's probably how Sophia runs the elves. Her husbands are probably just there for kids and social events. Sophia is the only one who has any say.”

“I mean, she's successfully been the Queen of elves for hundreds of years, right?”

Eleanor shrugged, “Just because it's worked for her, doesn't mean our way isn't better. After working with you, Marie, and Mel, I'm convinced having multiple people running something as large as a kingdom is correct.”

Mac smiled, glad he had such capable women around him. “Definitely. So what do you think she'll do tomorrow?”

“She'll probably try to gauge if she is correct during discussions. If I do all the talking, she will think she is correct, and devise a plan to get me away.”

“So basically, we just need to stick together?”

“Yes, but we need to make sure they don't have a valid reason for us not to be together. If only one of us is taking part in the discussions, they could use that to try and separate us.”

Mac was a bit confused, “Couldn't we just say no?”

“We could, and would, but it would look poorly on us denying a reasonable request. If we are both needed for discussions, then instead it would be unreasonable to separate us.”

Mac's face lit up, as it clicked in his head.

Eleanor smiled as she could see Mac understood.

“Okay, so regardless of what they bring up, we both need to talk?”

“Exactly. Now...”

They continued talking as darkness fell, planning out what they might say depending on Sophia's requests, and trying to plan for any eventuality.

After lengthy pre-discussion discussions, they decided to turn in for the night. “Elly, are you sure? It's gonna be a long day...” Mac said, as Eleanor held him tight, kissing his neck.

“Are you sure? You're really excited down there...” she said, reaching around and grabbing his crotch.

“Alright, but just once, okay? I feel like tomorrow is going to be exhausting...”

Suddenly the window rattled open and a purple streak stopped in front of them.

“Aunty Rhea reporting in! I sensed you were about to get busy with each other but I figured you would want me to report in anyway!”

Eleanor snapped back into business mode, hand still on Mac's member. “Is Sophia doing something?”

“Yes! She put on a sexy outfit and is walking down the stairs. I followed for a bit, but when it was obvious she was heading here, I came to let you know!” Arborhea recited, as if a soldier giving a scouting report.

“That...bitch!” Eleanor growled.

Mac was speechless. He had never seen Eleanor this angry before. Actually, he had never even seen Eleanor angry before at all, that he could remember. Now, she was positively seething.

“I'll show her...coming here while I'm with my husband...” Eleanor said, standing up and undressing.

“Elly, it's okay, we can send her away...”

“Oh, I'll send her away!” Eleanor said, grabbing Mac's shirt and ripping it off.

Sophia walked down the stairs of her tree palace, wearing only a black, shear robe. She occasionally passed servants, who curtsied, used to seeing her walking about in such an outfit.

There's no way he'll resist me in this, she thought, smiling to herself as she continued down the steps. I'll just ask to speak with him alone and lure him to my room...

As she neared the room the King was staying in, she thought she heard a sound emanating from the floor. Walking down the steps to the door, she finally was able to make out what it was. Moaning.

Slowing her walk in surprise, she caught sight of a cat-human maid, who stood silently in front of the room.

As she stopped in front of the door, the catgirl maid curtsied. “Can I do something for you?”

Standing right in front of the door, the moaning was obnoxiously loud. How can the maid stand this!?

Trying to ignore the sounds emanating from the room, Sophia asked, “I'd like to...speak with the King...regarding when we would start discussions tomorrow.”

“They asked not to be disturbed,” the maid said, motioning towards the door with her head. “But I can pass along your message once they finish, if you'd like.”

Sophia closed her eyes, still trying to ignore the sounds. No it's okay...even if they are doing this, I'll just ensnare him after he finishes. Actually, he'll already be in the mood, so it can play to my benefit!

As if to answer her thoughts, the sounds coming through the door suddenly stopped.

“Could you see if he is available now?”

“Oh, he won't be. That was only the first time. They will go at least a few more.”

As if on queue, more moaning started coming through the door.

Sophia started quivering, trying to hold back her rage, before turning around and heading back.

This woman! She's obviously controlling him. Did she guess I would try to come here tonight? I can't take her lightly...

As she stomped up the stairs, one of her husbands passed her.

“Sophia, dear, wha-...” he started to say, looking concerned, before he was grabbed by the cuff and dragged upstairs by his wife.

In the morning, Mac woke up, predictably tired. He had been exhausted the night before already, but Eleanor had been so upset, he put aside his exhaustion and comforted her as best he could.

Well, I think it worked, considering how well she's sleeping. Mac thought, looking down at his wife.

As he tried to sit up, Eleanor's arms pulled him back to her.

“No...with me...” she mumbled, still seemingly asleep.

“Haha, you two are great. It was definitely worth following you!” he heard from behind him.

Arborhea was floating there, arm's behind her head, laughing at the two of them.

“Um...thanks for last night...” Mac said, unwinding himself from Eleanor.

“Of course. I did swear fealty to you after all! Well, I'd help out one of my kindred even if I didn't...” she trailed off. “But, I didn't expect her to get so mad!”

“Yeah, I've never seen Eleanor look like that before...”

“Oh, well me neither, but I meant that elf queen. She was pretty livid...” she explained, laughing again. “She dragged up one of her husbands and forced him to have sex all night! Well, not that that's much different than you two...” she added with a smirk.

Probably due to the talking, Eleanor rubbed her eyes and sat up. “Good morning,” she said, giving Mac a kiss and getting out of bed.

“You...good?” Mac asked tentatively.

Eleanor smiled, “Of course. Now come get dressed dear, we've got a long day ahead of us.”

A Chance Meeting

At breakfast, despite what he heard from Arborhea, Sophia seemed to be the same as yesterday. Maybe she cooled down after being with her husband?

“I hope you slept well,” Sophia asked.

“We did, thank you. I hope you did as well,” Eleanor replied.

Sophia smiled, “I did, indeed.”

Mac felt the tension in the air, and decided to not say a thing. After eating in relative silence, they were shown to a council chamber to talk.

“Before we begin, I'd just like to state, that I have no intention of changing the elves status in Ositania from the status quo,” Mac stated as they sat down, a pre-rehearsed line.

Currently, the elves of Ositania were given a great deal of autonomy, including being able to have their own ruler (Sophia), and in return, they gave access to their forest to everyone in the Kingdom, and would send soldiers if the kingdom was under attack. Otherwise, they were mostly left alone, and kept to themselves, rarely dealing with the Kingdom besides the occasional marriage.

Sophia gave a devious smile. “About that...I was discussing with my husband last night, and we were considering giving up our special status. I've been doing some thinking since the last war, and I don't think we elves can hide in our forest anymore. We need to take a more active part in the Kingdom.”

Eleanor thought for a few moments. “You'd get to participate in politics with the other nobles, although you'd have to pay taxes going forward,” she stated.

Sophia nodded, “Yes. I'd also like to request the elven forest as my domain.”

“I'm assuming you would want to impose tolls on merchants?” Eleanor asked.

“Yes, although we would most likely continue to allow regular travelers free passage, as long as they don't cause issues.”

Eleanor tapped her cheek, deep in thought. “What do you think, dearest?”

Sophia visibly flinched, although Mac wasn't sure if it was because Eleanor asked his opinion, or if it was because she called him 'dearest'.

Mac, maybe because he thought this was too good of a deal, asked, “I'm assuming there is something you'd like in return, otherwise this seems weighted more in our favor.”

Sophia nodded, “You are correct. While there are a few elves in some of the existing noble houses, I would like to integrate us more into the Kingdom. As such, as part of the agreement, I would have you take one of my daughters as a Queen. I have three unmarried daughters that I think may be to your liking.”

I should have guessed. So if she can't get it herself, she'll have her daughter have my child.

“I actually had the three preparing, in hopes you would be interested in the offer. You could go talk with them while I discuss the specifics with Eleanor.”

Ugh, and she's trying to separate us just like Elly said she would!

However, Mac was surprised, as Eleanor put her hand on his arm. “Go ahead, dearest, if you end up not liking any of them, we don't have to agree.”

Sophia visibly flinched again. “I'm sure you'll find at least one to your liking, but we can always negotiate more if you do not. Please rest in your room, one of my maids will come get you when their ready.”

Are these two going to be okay together? Mac thought, sighing and standing up. Giving a kiss to Eleanor's cheek, he followed Kelly as they made their way back to the room he and Eleanor had slept in last night.

As they walked back up, Mac thought about the situation. Is this good enough I should just agree to a diplomatic marriage regardless? he thought. Although, if they caused issues with my existing fiances and wives, that could cause bigger issues...

When they were just reaching the room, Mac ran into a familiar face heading down the stairs. “Hello Charlotte, good to see you again.”

Charlotte, with the same nervous face she had had at his wedding, gave a slight bow, “Sire.”

“Thanks again for coming to Mel and I's wedding,” he said.

“Of course. I enjoyed Eleanor's wedding more though, since there was less people,” she replied.

“Oh, sorry, I guess I didn't see you there.”

“Yes, I hid in the back most of the time. I...don't like big gatherings.”

Well, that's explains it... “May I ask why you decided to go then?”

She looked down, visibly looking a bit nervous, “Since Mother was...busy, she asked me to go on her behalf, since I'm unmarried, in case a noble took an interest in me.”

Mac winced a bit, before having a realization.

“Oh! So you're one of Sophia's unmarried daughters?” Charlotte seems very low-key, so maybe she'd be a good fit? Or at least, wouldn't be likely to butt heads with anyone.

Charlotte nodded.

“Well, do you want to just spend time together now? Assuming you're ready, of course.”

Charlotte seemed unsure at first, but then after thinking for a few moments, nodded again. “Do you want to go to my room?”

Mac blinked a couple times. Well, that's surprisingly forward. Maybe despite her demeanor she's like her mother, too? Maybe I'm just bad at reading people. I guess I'll just shut her down if and when she starts anything.

Charlotte's eyes darted back and forth between Kelly and the ground.

“Kelly, do you wanna get some rest? I'm assuming you...didn't get a ton of sleep,” Mac asked. Of course, that's partly my fault.

Kelly curtsied. “Thank your, sire,” she replied, before heading into the room.

Mac must have guessed correctly, as Charlotte turned and headed back up the stairs.

As they walked, Charlotte asked, “You...really are an Otherworlder, right?”

“Yup. Not that it means much now...”

Charlotte acted like she was going to respond, but didn't say anything and kept walking.

Eventually, they stopped at a room. Charlotte opened the door and slipped in quickly.

“Um....” Mac started.

“One moment,” he heard from inside.

Mac heard some rustling from inside. And some...clanking? He was a bit confused. After a minute or so, the door opened again.

The room looked like a disaster area. What was she even cleaning just now!? Did it look worse before? It was dark, the window curtains pulled shut, and a myriad of lanterns lit, while the room itself was filled with various mechanical contraptions, as if this was a shop classroom where kids had been tinkering and putting together whatever contraption they could imagine. On the floor were various parchments, with an even larger multitude of designs on them. On the ceiling to one side was a pulley, bringing back scary memories of the elevator in Stromvurk. And, most glaringly, there was a patched over hole in the far wall.

“Um, could you take a look at this,” she asked, walking over to one of the contraptions.

It looked like a wood stove, since there was some already-burned wood in it, but there was some tubes attached behind it, and the rope from the pulley was tied off behind it. At the other end of the rope a small rock was wrapped on.

“Did you have something like this in your old world?” Charlotte asked.

“We had stoves, but I...don't think we had anything like this. Or, I don't remember anything like that, at least.

Charlotte looked down, a barely perceptible amount of sadness on her face.

Mac, however, had had his interest piqued.

“Hold on, hold on, how exactly does it work? Just because it doesn't look familiar doesn't mean it isn't.”

Charlotte nodded, before pouring some lantern oil onto the wood, and lighting it with a match, before closing the stove door. She then sat in silence.

Ummm...is something supposed to happen? Mac thought, as he looked around. The various other contraptions around the room seemed haphazardly strewn about, as if the creator would work on one, then set it aside mid-build to work on something else.

After a few minutes of silence, Mac heard a slight whistle. It brought him memories of his old teapot from his world. “Is that...steam?”

Charlotte nodded, “Yes, I learned you need to have a way to let out some of the pressure from the pipes, or they might explode.”

Oh...that explains the hole.

After a couple more minutes, the rope started to move, as a plug in one of the pipes started to get pushed out, picking up the rock a few centimeters off the ground. Eventually the plug popped out, and the rock fell back down, pulling the plug up to swing back and forth.

“I've been stuck here a while. It doesn't explode anymore, but if I wanted to pull something up this high on the tree, I'd need to have a pipe just as long. And I'd need a way for it to not fall back down right away.”

Mac realized at that point what he was looking at. It was the beginning's of a steam engine. She was trying to find a way to power a pulley to pull things up the tree.

“Yeah...we did have something like this in my world.”

Charlotte's eyes lit up. “Are...are you serious!?”

Mac was taken aback, Charlotte's normally stoic face was now showing before-unseen excitement. “Ye...yes, although I think it didn't have a plug at the end. I think it was some sort of wheel...” Mac said, trying to wrack his brain.

Charlotte looked at him expectantly, hanging on his every word.

Shoot, I feel like she's really close, but I can't remember how it works exactly. I wish I could look it up... Mac thought, lamenting the lack of an internet. Wait!

Mac grabbed Charlotte's hand, and pulled her out and down the flights of stairs to his room. “Sire?” she asked. Several of the servants looked on in astonishment as they passed.

Mac burst open the door and went to his chest of belongings he had brought.

“Nyuhhh, what's wrong,” Kelly asked from the bed, lifting up her head and rubbing her eyes.

“Sorry Kelly, you can still sleep.”

“Hokay,” she sleepily replied, head going back to the bed.

Mac rummaged through his chest until he found his bag he had had with him when he was first teleported to this world. Rifling through the textbooks he had with him, he found the one he was looking for. Scanning the table of contents, he flipped to the correct page.

Showing Charlotte, he pointed to the diagram on the page. “This is what you were making, right? Well, this is a combustion engine, not a steam engine, but I think you need this part, the piston.”

Charlotte grabbed the book. “What...is this?”

“It's a textbook from my world. I was actually a student before I got teleported here.”

Charlotte's jaw dropped. “This...this is an Otherworlder book!?”

“Yes. Actually, you might enjoy the rest of it, too.”

Charlotte started flipping through the book, getting more and more excited with every page.

Mac pulled out the rest. “Here, I have some more too.”

Charlotte put the book down and started paging through the others quickly, looking at what they contained. She seemed most taken in whenever their was detailed diagrams on the page.

As he saw her murmuring to herself while examining the pages, Mac started to realize the situation he had before him. This girl is probably the closest thing I've met to an actual inventor here. She created the beginnings of a steam engine by herself with no help. If she can actually get a working steam engine made... Mac thought how important a development that would be. He had always been thinking on the tech level the world was currently operating at, which was relatively low comparative to his old one. If they could get even basic steam technology working, that opened up a lot of possibilities. That's such a huge deal, I feel like even gambling on the possibility is worth it.

“How would you like to keep those?” Mac asked.

Charlotte put the book down. “You'd let me keep these? Really?”

“Yes, on the condition you marry me and keep working on your steam engine.”

Charlotte's face went back to the nervous face he was used too. “You...want to marry me?”

“Yes, I think you're invention might be extremely valuable for the Kingdom. And since your mother wants me to marry one of her daughters, it's a win-win. Assuming you agree of course.”

“Yes,” she instantly replied, before going back to reading the book.

“You...you're agreeing already? It's okay if you want to think about it...”

“N...no, it sounds great. You're the first person to ever tell me my work might be valuable.” She pulled the book down slightly, revealing half her face, which was blushing slightly, “At the weddings, you seem like your treat your wives well, too, so I think it's a good deal for me, too.”

Mac scratched his cheek, “Well, I try my best. You will need to get my wives approval though, but I'm sure that won't be an issue.”

Charlotte nodded. “Can I...?” she said, motioning to the books.

“Of course, just be careful...I can't replace those.”

“I'm actually going to copy them before I do anything else,” she explained, stacking them up.

“Oh, good idea.” I should have thought of that before now!

Charlotte left in a hurry.

Mac sighed, I guess I have another now...maybe I'm getting too used to this, but I feel like it would have been a huge mistake to let her slip through my fingers.

Looking at Kelly, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully, he tip-toed out of the room and silently closed the door after himself.

He walked back into the room where Eleanor and Sophia were still talking.

“Yes, we already have a couple planned, but we can have the wedding-” Eleanor stopped as Mac came back into the room. Giving him a big smile, she “Did you make a decision?”

Sophia smirked, “Already? It's not even lunch yet.”

Mac nodded, “Yes, I talked with Charlotte and decided on her. She agreed as well.”

Eleanor nodded, keeping her smile, while Sophia's eyes went wide.

“Charlotte!? She wasn't even...wait, she agreed!? I didn't-...” Sophia started, before coughing and calming herself. “You really want to marry Charlotte? May I ask why?”

I have a feeling I shouldn't mention the actual reason. “We talked for a bit, and I became quite enamored with her. And, I have to say, I find her quite attractive.”

Thankfully, he guessed correctly, and Sophia gave him an odd look, before sighing.

“If you want to marry Charlotte to complete our agreement, then I would be more than happy to let you have her. Just make sure she...takes all of her things with her.”

Yeah, that was the plan.

Mac stayed mostly silent as Eleanor and Sophia finished the negotiations, now that they knew the agreement would come to fruition.

After finishing, they went and ate lunch, before going their separate ways for the afternoon.

Once in their room, Eleanor said, “I figured you would be fine one way or another, but I didn't actually expect you to agree on one...”

Mac explained the situation he had gone through with Charlotte, including his thought process in deciding to propose to her.

“So...this steam engine? Is it just for pulling lifts?”

Mac shook his head, “No, many things besides that. In my world, we had something called 'trains' and they had giant steam engines that could pull a mile's worth of carts by itself, while going as fast as a horse running.”

Eleanor's eyes went wide. “A...a mile of wagons? As fast as a horse running? That sounds...ridiculous.”

“Well, they do need special tracks to operate, but yes, they're quite useful.” Actually, by my time we had electric magnet rails, but I don't think I wanna even try explaining that. Not like we could build it anyway, unless I wanna sit there powering trains all day by myself...

After that Mac explained the various uses of trains to satisfy Eleanor's curiosity.

“Was what you told Sophia true? Or were you just lying to cover up the real reason?” Eleanor asked, sitting down and grabbing some tea Kelly had brought (refreshed now from her nap).

“Uh, sort of both? I do think she's attractive, and...enamored might be a stretch, but I was definitely interested. And yes, I didn't want to let Sophia know the real reason, lest she try to grab more concessions.”

“I got the feeling she didn't see marrying Charlotte off as a loss.”

“Yeah, Charlotte agreed basically instantly when I proposed the arrangement. I don't think she particularly likes it here.”

Eleanor smiled, “I'm glad you understand how politicking works now, arranging a marriage for our benefit.”

“Well...I do feel bad using Charlotte, but if she's okay with it, then I won't feel bad.”

Eleanor tapped her mouth in thought, “I think I'll go converse with my future sister...”

Charlotte was sitting in her room, reading a book by lantern light (despite it being the middle of the day, she had the window curtains pulled), trying to understand what she was reading.

Of course, she could read the book just fine, but she kept coming across words that she didn't recognize. Because of this, she much preferred the diagrams she found scattered throughout the book, as she could see the object, and try to infer it's use.

Hmm...this is going to take some time, but maybe Mac can help explain... Charlotte blushed slightly. She hadn't taken much interest in men in her one-hundred and twenty years since being born in the forest, but this one had taken an interest in her. She wasn't entirely sure what she thought of him yet, but marrying him and leaving this place would be a dream come true. Her mother, the Queen, wished she had taken up more normal elven pursuits like archery or tree-tending, and had never cared for her research and inventions, making her keep them in her room. She sometimes forced her to participate in events (like the royal wedding), and she did dutifully, but always dreaded anything involving court politics.

Drawing the diagram, she stopped, as she had conflicted thoughts about what she had just stumbled upon. Is this basically cheating? she thought, second-guessing reading through the book. No, it's just research, like reading any other book! she rationalized to herself. Plus, if it's something that can benefit everyone, or even save lives, I shouldn't avoid it just because I want to discover it myself.

She shook her head, No, I'm getting ahead of myself. Reading the book, some of the stuff she didn't understand on a basic level, as they must be concepts that didn't even exist in their world. Magnets? How do they work? They stick to things like glue? Additionally, while some of the other books were interesting, like the one that talked about mixing different concoctions together, or the one explaining physics concepts, there was one that just talked about math, and a really confusing one that talked about something called 'programming' on a 'computer'. She gave up on that on the first page, as there so many Otherworlder words that she figured that one might be too advanced for her.

Turning back to the one she was on, which talked about an Otherworlder subject called 'engineering', she found the most enticing. Some of the things she was reading about were concepts she had thought of before herself, and some of the items in it were similar to ones she had built (or at least tried to build) already.

As she was contemplating, a knock came at the door. Oh, is Mac coming to visit me again!? Or maybe Mom has come to talk to me about it...walking over to the door, she slowly opened it.

On the other side was a tall, elegant woman. Maybe because they were eye-height for her, but the first thing she noticed was the woman's large, protruding breasts. Maybe even larger than her mother's!

“Hello Charlotte, may I come in?” the woman asked.

“Um...who are you?”

The woman looked astonished. “What, you don't recognize me!? You were at my wedding! It's me, Eleanor...”

Charlotte scrunched her face up a bit. The Eleanor she remembered was more...bubbly, with rounded features, and a bit more weight on her. This woman was more thin, with no excess fat, especially around the face. “Are you really?”

Eleanor flashed up her hand, showing a ring with the bright yellow stone on it.

Oh, yeah I remember that. “Sorry, I didn't recognize you,” she blushed before opening the door all the way.

Eleanor giggled, “It's okay, I've lost some weight recently.”

Charlotte went over to a table and cleared everything off of it so they could sit at it. As they sat down, Charlotte grew nervous. “Umm....I...”

Eleanor smiled, “It's okay, you don't need to be nervous.”

Charlotte took a deep breath, before bowing and asking, “Please let me marry King Mac.”

Eleanor got up and hugged Charlotte, “Of course!”

“Wuhhh...it was that easy!? I don't have to convince you?” Charlotte asked, surprised.

“Of course not. Mac already told me about this...steam engine?...you were building, and I agreed with his decision. Plus, I always want more cute little sisters!” Eleanor explained, rubbing her cheek on Charlotte's.

Charlotte sighed, Phew, I'm glad that was easy. She tentatively hugged Eleanor back.

Sitting back down, Eleanor asked, “So, what did you think of Mac? Do you think you'll get along?”

Charlotte blushed, looking down, murmuring, “I don't know. He seems nice. And he likes my inventions...Actually, wasn't your marriage political too?”

Eleanor nodded, “Yes, I 'won' the Introduction Ceremony when Mac got summoned. Of course, I would have probably been happy with anyone, but...” Eleanor, stopping to think, blushed slightly, “Mac is so nice to me. And the others, too. I....couldn't help but fall in love with him.”

Charlotte's blushing grew even stronger. “I was always told...”

Eleanor shook her head, “I was too, but just because it's arranged doesn't mean you can't.”

Charlotte tapped her index fingers together, and asked “Can you...help me?”

Eleanor smiled, a bit deviously. “Of course, that's why I came here.”

Mac sat in his room, drinking some tea as he took in the dusk sky over the forest canopy. An elven maid had stopped by earlier with dinner, saying that Sophia was going to be busy the rest of the day, and they would talk more tomorrow regarding he and Charlotte's marriage.

Eleanor had gone to visit Charlotte earlier and hadn't returned. Kelly had left a bit ago, saying she was going to go check on Eleanor.

Well, hopefully this means they are getting along well, at least.

A knock came at the door. Mac didn't get up, expecting Eleanor to just come in. However, no one did, and after a bit he heard a knock again. Maybe its another servant?

This time getting up, he walked over pulled open the door. Instead of Eleanor, or a servant, he saw none other than Charlotte. Oh...I should have guessed this.

Charlotte was wearing a golden robe that matched her hair, and was looking down at the ground, Mac able to see she was blushing heavily.

“Ermmm...” was all she said.

“Come in, come in,” Mac said, ushering her in.

Mac went and sat on the bed, but Charlotte didn't move from near the door. It was obvious she had cleaned up before coming, some makeup that he was pretty sure looked like Eleanor's on her face, and her hair was brushed and straight.

“Are you...okay?...Charlotte?” Mac asked.

“Eep!” Charlotte let out, getting scared out of her own thoughts she had been in.

“You don't need to force yourself, or if Eleanor is forcing you...”

Charlotte shook her head, before slowly walking over to him. “I want to be a proper wife too,” she said, although her body language was not matching her words, as she seemed to be nervously quivering.

Mac wasn't sure what to do. He was comfortable around women now and wasn't flustered by this situation, but he was a bit uneasy here. Of course, he also didn't want to just shut down his new fiance who seemed to be trying to overcome her own embarrassment.

Deciding to just let her do what she wanted for now, he watched as she slowly crept closer.

As she stood in front of him, she reached out her hand slowly and...grabbed his hand.

Mac looked up to see her face growing dark red, steam coming out of her ears. Just from holding hands? No, I shouldn't be judging considering how I used to be...

Mac gave her hand a little squeeze in return, which caused Charlotte to somehow blush even harder.

As she stood there for a minute, she murmured, “What's next?”

I guess she wants me to take the lead now? “Well, do you want to hug?” he asked, standing up and wrapping his arms around her.

Mac could see she was growing redder and redder still, until going limp in his arms.

“Charlotte?” he asked, worried. I didn't hug you that hard! He held her up, and saw that her eyes had closed. Holding his hand to her mouth, he could tell she was still breathing fine. Did she...faint?

Mac carried her over to the bed, and laid her on it. I'm not really sure what the proper procedure is here. She should just wake up eventually, right?

Pulling up a chair, he sat down next to the bed and waited.

Charlotte opened her eyes. Where am I? Who opened the curtains? she thought, looking up at an an unfamiliar ceiling, in a too-well lit room. Turning her head, she saw Mac sitting on a chair with his head lying on the bed next to her, presumably sleeping.

The events of last night came back into her mind. He hugged me and then....after some thinking, she realized she must have fainted, as it wasn't the first time that had happened. Now blushing at her own embarrassment, she pulled the covers over her head.

This, however, awakened Mac, due to the sheets under him suddenly shifting. Rubbing his eyes, he asked “Errr, are you feeling better?”

Charlotte pulled the sheets down enough to reveal half her face, and nodded.

“Why don't you head back to your room?” Mac suggested.

Charlotte looked down, “I'm...sorry...I just...”

Mac shook his head, “Don't be sorry. You don't need to be like Eleanor, you can just take things at your own pace. We can take things at our own pace,” he added, smiling to try and reassure her.

Charlotte slowly nodded. I'm glad he's so understanding. I can tell I'm not ready for anything beyond hugging yet. Actually, I failed even that, didn't I?

As she was thinking this, she noticed a lantern that seemed to be floating behind Mac. Actually, not only was it floating, but it seemed to be flying around in a circle.

Mac noticed Charlotte was staring at something behind him, and looked around, before facepalming and shaking his head, “Oh, shoot, I guess she qualifies now, right?”

Charlotte looked at him confused, as the lantern started to fly over to her. As it got closer, it looked like the lantern giving off the light was actually a purple doll.

“Hi there! I'm Arborhea! Nice to meet you! You must be Mac's newest fiance if you can see me, right?”

Um...it's talking? And it's claiming it's the Primordial Spirit of the Forests?

“Um, is this some sort of Otherworlder technology? You can make dolls talk? Although having it impersonate a spirit seems a little sacrilegious...”

“No, I know it's hard to believe, but it's actually the spirit Arborhea,” Mac tried to convince her.

“You can just call me Aunty Rhea though! Elly does, at least. She's my niece. Well, there's probably a few 'grand's' before the niece part, but that's too much to to say,” Arborhea explained.

Charlotte shook her head in disbelief.

“Here, watch this!” Arborhea said, holding her hand to the wall, she expanded the wall out, adding an extra half a meter to the room.

Charlotte's eyes widened. Even the strongest tree-mages couldn't manipulate that much wood in that manner so quickly. “This is incredible! We have tales of you appearing before elves before, but I didn't think they were actually true.”

“Yeah, it's a bit of a story....” Mac said, before Rhea jumped in to explain the series of events that led to her joining them. After finishing, Charlotte was astounded.

“That's incredible! To have a spirit as a companion!” Charlotte exclaimed.

Mac scratched his head, “Well, she didn't have too...”

Arborhea laughed, “Haha, I told you, I needed to repay you, and I thought it would be fun. I was right too!” She turned to Charlotte, “That room was yours right? Those were really cool, I haven't seen contraptions like that in a long time.”

Charlotte blushed at the compliment, but Mac did a double take. “Wait, so you have seen similar stuff before?”

“Of course! You children used to use a lot more stuff like that, but I think at some point you all stopped. I wasn't paying that close of attention though.”

Mac seemed deep in thought. “Well, I won't worry about that for now...”

Suddenly the door opened, and Eleanor came in. Looking at the scene, she stopped in her tracks, confused as to what was going on.

Charlotte murmured, “Sorry...”

The Beast

After lunch that day, Mac and Eleanor sat across from Sophia and Charlotte in their council room.

While the other three were calm, Charlotte had her head down, staring at the table.

“I asked yesterday...but are you sure you want to marry Charlotte? She wasn't even one of the daughters I was talking about...”

Mac raised his eyebrow, “Really? When I talked to Charlotte, she agreed to spend time with me.”

Charlotte cowered down as Sophia glared at her. “I...wanted to show him my inventions...since I didn't know when I'd get to talk to an Otherworlder again...”

Sophia looked at Mac. “Are you sure you don't want to see my other daughters? They're quite attractive, and-”

Mac tersely cut her off, “I told you, I think Charlotte is plenty attractive.”

Charlotte blushed even further, tensing up in her chair.

Sophia sighed. “Well, I didn't plan on offering Charlotte, but if you really are that enamored with her then it's fine. I'm assuming you have no objections, Charlotte?”

Charlotte shook her head. Not only do I not object, but I want to go! she thought, but didn't voice out loud based on Mac and Eleanor's coaching. They had told her to to pretend like she wanted to go, but not too strongly, lest it make Sophia suspicious.

Sophia seemed satisfied, nodding in tacit approval. “Well, if that's settled, I had another issue I wanted to speak to you about.” She put her elbows on the table and hands together, face serious. “It pains me to admit, but we need the Kingdom's help. A legendary beast has been running amok in our forest for a few months now.”

“A legendary...beast? You mean it's not a normal animal or beast?” Mac asked.

Sophia nodded, “Yes. It appears to be a large, white, translucent monster cat. It has been raiding villages around the forest, and unfortunately there's been several casualties.”

Mac winced. “We need to...wait, did you say it was 'translucent'?”

“Yes. I saw it for myself once when we were trying to hunt it down. It's as if you can see through it. When we shoot our arrows, they also appear to fly right through the creature. And when it starts to run away, even our best scouts lose sight of it in moments.”

Wait...this sounds kind of familiar, actually...

“The arrows were definitely going through it right? They weren't just missing?”

Sophia seemed somewhat offended, “There's no way my archers would miss a target standing still at that range.”

Mac closed his eyes, deep in thought.

“Do you have an idea?” Eleanor asked, able to understand her husband's mannerisms.

“Maybe. This sounds...similar to a legendary beast from my world as well.”

Sophia's eyes raised, while Charlotte looked up, hanging on Mac's words.

“If I remember correctly, it...refracts light with its coat, to make itself appear in a different spot than it's actually in.”

“Re-refract?” Sophia asked, confused.

“Do you mean like when you shoot light through glass?” Charlotte asked.

Mac nodded, “Yes, although I'm sure there's some magical element when it comes to this creature.”

Sophia looked over at Charlotte, before going back to Mac, “So, do you have an idea on how to defeat it?”

“We could try peppering all around it with arrows. If we can hit, we should notice the arrows sticking out. It might even affect its ability to project itself and allow us to see it properly.”

Sophia nodded, “I guess that's a better strategy than we've had. I'll start the preparations.”

At dinner that day, the engagement of Mac and Charlotte was announced to the gathered crowd. The elves in attendance had a mixture of confusion and smirking while clapping, while the guards from the capital shouted and cheered uproariously, used to their King constantly acquiring new marriage partners.

At night, Mac and Eleanor were talking about the legendary beast subjugation.

“Why do you need to go? There's nothing wrong with staying back while your soldiers fight,” Eleanor explained.

“Well, I'm worried there might be issues. And if there are, I'm the plan B,” Mac responded.

“Plan B?”

Mac responded by shooting a small amount of electricity out of his finger. “I'll try and stun it. If I can stop it from moving, even temporarily, that should give enough time for the archers to shoot it.”

“Fine, I'm coming with you then.”

Mac sat down next to Eleanor on the bed and wrapped his arm around her. “Elly, I want you there too, but it's too much to risk,” he explained, putting his hand on her stomach.

Eleanor smiled, “That's...true, I need to think about both of us now. But you need to be careful,” she implored.

Mac gave her a kiss. “I know. I don't wanna die before meeting our child, at least.”

Suddenly, a purple streak popped out of Mac's pocket. “Haha, guess I better leave now!” Arborhea laughed.

“Hold on Rhea, I wanted to ask something first.”

Rhea stopped abruptly mid-flight and hovered there. “If it's about that legendary beast, I don't know anything about it.”

Eleanor asked, “Really? It's okay if you don't, but I'm surprised...”

Rhea crossed her arms and nodded, “Yes, normally I would. Even if it's something created by one of my siblings, I should normally know at least something, right? So it's probably not of this world.”

“What!?” Mac exclaimed, momentarily forgetting how he himself got there. “Oh...I guess that's normal here, isn't it?”

Rhea shook her head, “No. I mean, it happens, as I'm sure you know, but it's not normal. Either something powerful summoned it here, or it's really powerful and transported itself here.”

That would be pretty terrifying Mac thought about the prospect of a dimension-traveling beast. Eleanor seemed to be thinking the same thing, as she gripped him tightly.

“Well, it was probably summoned here. If it was powerful enough to transport itself, I don't think it would be just attacking some villages.”

“How would they summon it though? Some sort of magic?” Eleanor asked.

Rhea pointed at Mac, “Same way he was, the Summoning Stones.”

Eleanor's eyes went wide. “But...only humans are summoned...or at least, that's all I've ever heard...”

Rhea shrugged, “I wish I knew more, but I didn't have anything to do with them. I just know they summon things from other worlds.”

Why would someone summon that to this world? Either it was an accident, or they were purposefully trying to cause a commotion.

Rhea started whistling and slowly floating to the window. “Well, I don't wanna bother you two...” and flew out.

Mac watched as she flew out.

“Is something wrong?” Eleanor asked.

“I...no it's fine,” he said, before turning back to her.

“Good. Now, since you'll be leaving tomorrow....” she smiled seductively, before leaning in kissing him passionately.

“You read my mind,” he replied, as Eleanor ripped off his shirt.

The next day, the subjugation mission left the castle. It comprised of Mac, Sophia, a guard consisting of Mac's royal guards and Sophia's guards, and a large number of elven archers.

“The last sighting was a few hours from here. It usually stays in the same area for a while, until we track it down and attack it. Then it runs away and reappears elsewhere later,” Sophia explained, as they sat in her carriage.

Unlike his, Sophia's carriage was open-aired, made of interwoven branches in a circular pattern, with two small benches on either side.

“How do you track it if you can't see it?” Mac asked.

Sophia smirked, “Even if we have trouble seeing it, the beast still leaves tracks, and...we can follow the blood it's victims leave behind as it carries them away.”

Mac grimaced.

The plan they had come up with was to hunt it down, then have a formation of guards protecting the archers, while they shoot according to his strategy.

La Hire, who was riding nearby, jumped in. “Sire, if I may...”

Mac nodded at him.

“Please stay in the carriage, we can't have you risking yourself.”

Mac shook his head, “I understand your concern, but I can't stay back. I might be needed if the first plan fails.”

“Are you sure your magic will work?” Sophia asked, skeptical as she hadn't seen it before.

La Hire, who had seen Mac use his magic a couple times, answered, “It would probably kill most creatures. With a legendary beast...it should at least take some damage.”

“My goal is to to paralyze it, or at least slow it down, so it can be shot,” Mac explained.

“Why don't you just use it right away? It sounds powerful,” Sophia asked.

“Well, I only get one shot, then I'm probably out.”

“Oh...of course,” Sophia nodded, understanding the magic fatigue issue. “We'll just have to do our best then.”

While they were heading to their destination, Sophia took the opportunity to interrogate Mac about his world.

“Does your world have anything as amazing as our tree?” she asked with a smirk.

“Not exactly. We had really tall buildings of metal and glass instead of wood...or a tree.”

Sophia's eyes went wide. “Metal? Not stone?”

“Yep. We figured out at some point that metal is the most stable when you build that high.”

Sophia looked deep in thought.

“Well, we also didn't have magic to shape wood with...”

“Did you have elves in your world, or was it just humans like you?” she asked next.

“Well, sort of. Elves were a part of fiction, like they were in our stories, but everyone knew they didn't exist, it was just us humans in the world.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow. “So, you knew of us, even though we didn't exist?”

Mac nodded, “Yes. Actually the elves of this world are mostly similar to our stories of elves. Living in trees, being good archers, even the pointy ears.”

Sophia seemed deep in thought. “Is it possible our worlds are connected somehow?”

Mac shrugged, “I've wondered that before too. I mean, since I was summoned here, there has to be at least a minimal connection, right?”

Sophia nodded, still deep in thought “That's true. Very interesting...”

After a few hours, they reached the village the most recent attack had been reported at. The village had a wooden palisade constructed around it, which he could see a section of had been torn up.

An elf scout came up as they stopped.

“Sire, we've found the tracks and are currently pursuing,” she said.

Following the scout, they walked into the forest, as the scout pointed out soft imprints in the ground every so often. There was also drops of dried blood on some of the leaves.

The guards formed a defensive box around them, with the archers and Mac and Sophia inside. They followed the trail for a while. So long, that Mac was beginning to worry.

Evidently, so was Sophia. “Do we still have the track?” she asked to a guard, who relayed it up to the scouts. After a few moments, they gave an affirmative response. “What do you think sire? Should we keep going?”

Mac thought about it for a moment, before nodding. “If we can, I'd like to take care of it now before anyone else gets attacked.”

Sophia nodded, before signaling to the scouts to continue.

They continued on for a while longer, until it eventually started to grow dark. Isn't this kinda bad? Well I guess the elves are used to the forest. “Excuse my ignorance, but how well can elves see in the dark?”

Sophia smiled, “Better than most, except maybe dwarves, who are used to being in their dark tunnels all the time. If you're worried about tracking it, we should still be able to as long as theirs a trail.”

As if on queue, a scout appeared in front of them. “Lady Sophia,” he said, holding out his hand. In it were tattered bits of cloth soaked in blood. “This is all we found.”

Sophia looked down, shaking her head. “Damnable monster. Anything else?”

The scout shook his head, “No, it ended here.”

“It just disappeared?” Sophia asked.

“Could it...have teleported back?” Mac asked.

“I certainly hope not. We'll never catch it if it can teleport at will.”

As they were discussing, some of the guards started shouting. “Over there!”

Mac tensed up. He looked in the direction they were pointing, but...couldn't see anything. He felt Rhea rustling in his pocket, until she flew out and into his shirt. Peeking out his collar, she whispered, “I can sense it over there. It's so...awful...I wish I could ignore it. That thing wasn't created by one of us,” she said, presumably referring to her spirit siblings.

'Where'd it go?', 'What's going on?', 'Come 'ere ya bastard!' were some of the shouts he could make out from the guards. Suddenly, a guard cried out, as he was sent skyward.

While the guards formed a defensive wall, the archers started loosing arrows where the guard had been knocked from.

Mac started to panic. This isn't good. I can't see! How am I supposed to hit it with my lighting.

While he was thinking, two more guards were knocked away. This isn't like the bandit attack, am I going to actually die? I knew this was dangerous, but I just thought I'd zap it and...

As Mac was having an existential crisis, Sophia on his right started barking orders to the soldiers, “Keep the wall tight! Keep shooting arrows!”

Mac shook his head. No, I'm the King, I can't falter like this. Think...think...maybe I could use my magic to try and brighten up the area? As Mac put his arms up, he remembered he had someone next to him (well, on him) that could also illuminate.

“Rhea, light!” he shouted.

Mac felt a whoosh by his neck as Rhea flew up above them. A moment later, the area around them was bathed in light.. Considering they were under the forest canopy, it was far brighter that the forest floor would get even during the middle of the day.

And there it was, probably twenty meters away. A huge, long, cat-like creature, with three odd-looking tails twirling behind it. It seemed to almost shimmer in place, as if he could see the forest behind it as well.

The soldiers all momentarily froze at the sight before them, but then gave a loud roar. The archers started shooting, but the arrows seemed to go through it.

“No, remember the plan, spread out your arrows! Look for its blood!” Sophia yelled.

The archers began spreading out their arrows in the vicinity around it. This caused the creature to start darting about, sometimes even seeming to phase several feet away from where it was previously.

Yup, looks like I gotta do it, Mac thought. He readied himself, and imagined lightning pouring out of the sky and enveloping the clearing around the creature. As he did, bolts of lighting rained down around it. Mac stumbled to one knee, but kept himself from falling. Guess I can handle it a bit better now...

The creature gave a bloodcurdling scream, and disappeared, as at the same time it reappeared ten feet away, writhing in agony. This time, it was no longer translucent, and they could clearly see it's shimmering coat, looking like every strand of fur was an individual prism. It had been directly struck by one of the lightning strikes.

The archers immediately unleashed their arrows. This time, they didn't go through, but instead, seemed to glance off its shimmering coat. “Spirits curse you! Guards, stab the damn thing!” Sophia shouted.

The guards rushed the creature. As they got near, the creature stumbled to its feet, and took a huge swipe, knocking several of the lead guards back and into the guards behind them.

No, we can't let it get away, not when we've got it cornered! Mac thought. Getting back to his feet, he held out his hand and imagined a single bolt of lightning arcing over his guards' shoulders, and right into the face of the creature. He saw it make contact with the creature, and then immediately fainted as he heard shouting around him.

Opening his eyes, Mac was confused to see a roof above him. Weren't we in the forest? I probably fainted from magic fatigue again, but how did I end up here?

Turning his head, he saw Eleanor laying next to him (fully clothed), seemingly fast asleep. Behind her, Charlotte was sitting at a table, reading one of his books. Well, at least they're okay. Did they successfully kill the creature then? Or did it run away?

He started to sit up, which caused Eleanor to wake up. Realizing he was awake, she jumped on him, “Mac! You idiot, making me worry so much!” she shouted, crying. Charlotte got up and walked over, although didn't say anything.

Mac wrapped his arms around her. “I'm sorry, but I had too...”

Eventually, Eleanor stopped crying. “I know, but you need to think about everyone else too!”

Charlotte chimed in, “Um...I'm glad you're okay.”

Mac smiled as he patted Eleanor, “Thank you.”

Charlotte blushed in return. “I'll go let mother know you're awake,” she murmured, before leaving the room.

Mac eventually loosened himself from Eleanor's clutches and drank some water.

“I can't believe you and the soldiers faced that thing. I would have run away in terror,” Eleanor said.

Mac almost choked on his water, “What!? They brought it here?”

Eleanor nodded, “Yes, it...well, I'll let Sophia explain it once she gets here.”

They didn't need to wait long, as Charlotte arrived back a minute later with Sophia in tow.

Sophia immediately got down on one knee before him. “Sire, you have my eternal thanks. You are already marrying one of my daughters, but if there's anything else...” she started.

“Hold on, hold on, what's going on?” Mac asked, holding up his hands to stop her.

Sophia stood back up. “Do you...not remember? I know you fainted from magic exhaustion, but...”

Mac shook his head. “No, I don't remember anything after I shot that last bolt at it.”

“You must have expended quite a bit of magic then...” Sophia replied, causing Eleanor to give a 'hmpf'. “Well, whatever you did...killed it.”

Mac nodded, “Good, so we were able to break it's hide after all?”

Sophia shook her head, “No, even now we can't. Your magic, it...cooked it, from the inside. It's coat was untouched, but when you hit it, it started convulsing for a few moments, before blood started spurting out of it's mouth, and then it just fell over limply. Our guards rushed it, but it was clear it was already dead. It also smelled...like roasted meat.”

Mac grimaced as he imagined the gruesome scene. “So you brought the carcass back?”

Sophia nodded, “Yes. You killed it, so your entitled to the creatures pelt and meat, although I don't think I'd want to eat that creature...”

Mac vigorously shook his head, “Neither would I.”

“That pelt though, it would probably be worth quite a lot, if you can manage to get it off...” Sophia trailed off, before getting to one knee again. “As I was saying, if there's anything you want...”

Charlotte seemed unsure what to do seeing her mother like this. Eleanor seemed to have no reaction.

Mac thought for a bit. He was marrying Charlotte, so he already had set up good relations with the elves. Of course, if he had the elves fully on his side...

“I don't have anything else I want right now. But, I do have some policies and actions that I will be implementing in the future. Some of them might not go over well with the nobility, but I think will be best for the country as a whole. If I have the elves support on these matters...”

Sophia seemed a bit surprised, but then smiled, before standing back up. “I can't speak for all elves, but those under my domain will do everything in their power to help,” she responded. She then turned to her daughter. “Charlotte?”

Charlotte let out a little 'yip' before standing up straight.

Sophia smiled and gave her a hug. “You're going to be the new Elven Queen now, make sure you set a good example for our people.”

Charlotte, gave a small smile before hugging her mother back. “I'll do my best.”

That night, they held a grand feast to celebrate the slaying of the creature. Luckily, due partly to Mac's magic, none of their subjugation squad had been killed, just a few bruises and broken ribs from the guards who had been hit by the creatures swipes, so everyone was in good spirits.

As they ate, Mac sat at the front table, with Eleanor on one side and Charlotte on the other. He noticed Eleanor seemed to be nodding off.

“Elly...do you wanna go to bed?”

She turned to him and nodded, “Yes, but you stay here. Keep Charlotte company.”

Mac nodded.

As she got up, she leaned in closer, whispering, “If you want to spend the night in Charlotte's room, go ahead,” before giving him a peck on the cheek and walking away.

Mac blushed a bit, before shaking his head. She's ridiculous...although I guess if Charlotte wants too...he looked over at his elven fiance, who seemed intensely focused on the mug of drink in front of her. Well, it depends on how Charlotte's feeling I guess.

On his other side, the chair formerly occupied by Eleanor was pulled out, and Sophia sat down. “Is Eleanor okay? She seemed a bit tired.”

“Yeah, she's just going to bed early.”

Sophia gave a knowing smile, but didn't comment further on Eleanor. She was, however, curious regarding a different topic. “Sire, when the beast first attacked us...I thought I heard you shout the name of the primordial spirit of the forest. Are you familiar with the spirits?”

Mac felt a rustle in his pocket. He tried to remain calm, “Yes, Marie taught me a bit about them. You're speaking of Arborhea?”

Sophia nodded. “Was that part of your magic? Some of the guards heard you and are saying Arborhea answered your call and aided us in battle.”

Mac felt a cold sweat coming on. I want to say yes, but I can't replicate that with my magic. Should I just...play along? “No, I must confess, I panicked a bit while we were under attack, and I decided to pray to Arborhea for divine intervention. It was a common thing to do in a crisis in my world, so I tried it here. Maybe she did favor us?”

Sophia looked away, before nodding. “That may be. Even the Spirits must have wanted that abomination dead.”

Mac nodded in agreement. That she did.

Sophia smiled, “Well, I'll leave you and Charlotte alone,” she said, giving another knowing smile and walking over to one of her husbands.

Well, I wanted to spend more time with her anyway...Mac thought, as he turned to Charlotte. As he looked over at her, he flinched slightly as Charlotte was staring at him. He could see she was red in the cheeks.

“Mac...” she said.

Taken aback, Mac simply replied, “...yes?”

Charlotte reached over and wrapped her arms around him, before forcefully shoving her lips onto his and sloppily making out with him. Her tongue tasted of some sort of sweet alcohol.

Since they were on the head table, everyone in the room had a clear view. Since the occupants were all drinking, everyone started pointing this out to their table-mates, and soon a loud cheer was echoing in the dining hall.

After a few moments of some cheer-fueled making out, she let go, and the cheer died down. “Did you like that?” Charlotte asked, a bit slurred.

Ummm...I think she's drunk. “Yeah, of course. I mean we are engaged, right?”

Charlotte smiled, swaying a bit. She then looked down at her breasts, “Sorry they're nah like yur other wifes...”

Mac shook his head, “No, don't worry about it. You haven't met them, but I have other fiance's that are your size,” Mac explained, deciding it would be easier to just go along.

Charlotte stopped swaying, “How many you have?”

Mac, taking a second to make sure he didn't miss one, “Um, officially six now, including you.”

Charlotte closed her eyes as she swayed a bit back and forth again, “Well, my mom had a lah more than tha', buh she's pretty old...” she explained, before grinning and leaning over again. “You wanna go back to my room?”

Not waiting for an answer, she stood up and started dragging Mac away. Mercifully, Sophia was nowhere to be found, so he wasn't subjected to...whatever face she might have given at this scene.

Mac was conflicted. She's obviously a lot bolder when she's drunk, but this doesn't really sit right with me. Maybe I can put her off until she sobers up some... he thought, as they walked through the empty stairs.

Reaching her room, it had now been cleaned up of all the contraptions, including the almost-steam engine, and only a bed and table with chairs remained. The hole had been grown back together, as Arborhea had said.

Charlotte let go of his hand as they entered the room. Mac was thinking of how to react based on what she did, but Charlotte went straight over to the bed and...fell asleep.

Mac just stood there for a moment, before walking over. “Charlotte?” he whispered. He could see her breath going in and out as she blew the hair that had gone over her face. He gently brushed her hair out of the way, thinking Well, I guess this is fine.

As he did, a purple streak shot out of his pocket. Silently giggling, Rhea sat on his shoulder, “Hehe, I guess she wanted to try and get closer to you.”

Mac nodded, “Yeah, but I'd rather it be without alcohol. Or at least, a little less than whatever she drank...”

Rhea giggled again. “Well, that means I get some alone time with you now!” she exclaimed, rubbing her face on Mac's cheek.

I guess we don't get a lot of time alone, if that's what she wants. “Well, what do you think of traveling with me so far?” he asked, sitting at the table and pouring himself some water. “Still enjoying it?”

Rhea sat down on the table, crossing her arms and nodding her head. “Yes. Seeing you interact with your partners, outwitting the elf Queen, and taking on some inter-dimensional beast! This is the most fun I've had in a long time!”

Knowing how long Rhea had been alive, that really meant something.

“Oh, I didn't get a chance yet, but thanks for your help during the fight. It would have been impossible without your light.”

“Hehe, I'm just glad I could help. It would be a shame for you to die so soon! You children barely get enough time as it is,” Rhea explained.

“So you definitely think it wasn't from this world?”

Rhea nodded, “Definitely. It doesn't have the smell of your world, either, based on how you smell. It's something much different.”

That doesn't sound good. We can't be sure more creatures won't come in the future, whether it's something summoning them or if they are coming themselves, it's an issue either way.

As he was thinking, Rhea gave an exaggerated yawn.

“Are you tired!? Don't you just sleep in my pocket all day!?” Mac asked, incredulous.

“Hey! I don't sleep, I'm constantly looking out for more inter-dimensional creatures that might attack!” she explained, pretending to scout around the room.

“Oh...sorry, I guess that's pretty helpful actually.”

“So....why don't you reward me?” she asked, flying up to his face and fluttering her eyelashes.

“Ummm...well if I can, I don't mind.”

Rhea grabbed his hand, and curled up inside it. “Yes, this is much better than your pocket...”

“So you are sleeping in my pocket!” Mac replied. Rhea, however, already seemed to be asleep, a cartoon bubble inflating and deflating as she breathed.

Mac shook his head, Oh well, if that's all she wants that's a small price to pay for her help. Closing his eyes, Mac tried to fall asleep, as all the events of the past few days ran through his head.

Journey Home

The next day, the wagons were assembled. They had several more than they had arrived with, thanks to Charlotte's belongings and the monster corpse, which had been wrapped up so as to not scare any local populace, and placed on two wagons lashed together.

Sitting in the carriage as they started out, Eleanor was inspecting Charlotte. Hmmm...Mac says they didn't really do anything, last night. Is she just shy around him, or is she not interested in sex? No, she has to be just shy... Eleanor thought, shaking her head, as the thought of someone not wanting to make love with Mac was too foreign for her to comprehend.

She walked over and sat at the table next to Charlotte, who was sitting at the table reading one of Mac's Otherworlder books. Mac himself was standing at the window, Rhea on his shoulder, watching the scenery roll by.

“Charlotte. Can I call you Charrel? Or Charchar?”

Charlotte, blushed, “Um...sure...”she murmured, looking over the book.

“Charchar...what do you think of Mac so far?” Eleanor asked.

Charlotte blushed a deeper shade of red, while Mac turned and looked at Eleanor, but just sighed and looked back out the window.

“Um...he's very nice.”

Eleanor looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue.

“Um...and he likes my inventions...”

Eleanor nodded, smiling, “Go on, go on...”

“Umm...”

“Elly, don't push her so hard. We've only known each other a few days” Mac said from the window.

“He's very considerate of me,” Charlotte added.

Eleanor giggled, “Yes he is, isn't he?”

That night, at the inn they were staying at, Charlotte joined Mac in his bedroom.

“Um...hey...” she asked shyly.

Mac smiled and patted the bed next to him.

Charlotte sat down and grabbed his hand. “Can...I lead this time?”

Mac was confused, “You di-...” she stopped, realizing she must not be remembering the previous night at all. He decided to just pretend nothing happened and nodded.

Charlotte awkwardly hugged him from the side, quivering a bit. Mac slowly put his arms around her so as to not be a surprise, and lightly clasped her back.

Charlotte shivered a bit, but then smiled.

“Are you just nervous around me? I promise I won't do anything you don't want.”

Charlotte shook her head. “It's not you...” she looked down at the floor, “I just don't have a lot of experience with this kind of thing...”

Mac chuckled, “Well, I didn't either until recently.”

“Really? From what Eleanor said, you're very...”

Mac stopped her, “Don't worry about Eleanor, just be you.”

Charlotte smiled. “Okay!” she replied, and went to hug him again. After a few minutes, she asked, “Can we sleep just like this? I think I'll feel better that way.”

“Um, sure, just don't squeeze me too tight...” Mac asked, having been suffocated on more than one occasion.

Charlotte nodded vigorously, and she crawled under the covers with him before wrapping her arms around his chest.

Mac gently stroked her hair as they lay there, causing her to smile, before inevitably falling asleep.

Hopefully she takes that to heart. And hopefully none of the others put weird thoughts in her head...

The next couple days went by mercifully smoothly, until they reached the Gacson estate again. As they stopped in the front yard, Mac went to open the door, but the door instead opened from the outside before he could reach it.

Kay jumped in, and pounced on Mac, rubbing her cheek on him as she wrapped her arms around him tight. “Nyahaha, did you miss me!?” she asked, looking at him, wanting a kiss.

Mac gave her one, before adding “Of course, no one can replace my cute catgirl fiance.”

Kay grabbed her cheeks and flailed her tail, wiggling back and forth, before stopping dead in her tracks as she caught sight of something. Her eyes went wide, asking “What is that!?”

Charlotte stood up, and gave a small bow, “Sorry, I'm also Mac's fiance, Charlotte. I hope we can get along.”

Kay briefly went back to normal and gave a small bow back, before shaking her head going back to being scared, “No, what is that on your head!?” she pointed. Rhea was there, sitting on Charlotte's head the whole time.

When pointed at too, she gave Kay a wave. “So she's one too!? Hehe, she's a cutie just like you said!”

Mac facepalmed, Shoot, I completely forgot about this again...

There was a crowd gathering outside now, since they hadn't come out yet.

Mac leaned over and whispered, “I'll explain later, but don't worry too much.”

Kay looked at him, then back at Rhea, before nodding and shaking her head, going back to cheery Kay mode. “Well, fine, come here!” she said, wrapping her arm around Mac and dragging him out of the carriage.

After introducing everyone to Charlotte, Lord Gascon invited him to his and Kay's mom's wedding.

“Oh, I thought you would have already had it, of course I'd be honored to attend.”

Kay's mom smiled, “We were going to, but Kay insisted she wanted you to be here too...”

Kay laughed, “Nyahaha, it's not often you get to sit in the audience for one, right?”

Mac blushed and scratched his cheek, “Yeah, that's true...”

And so, later that day, Mac and his partners attended the wedding. It was (relatively) small, with only them and the residents of the Gascon manor attending.

Kay was being the bridesmaid for her mother, and one of the Lord Gascon's cat-human butlers was his groomsman. I guess they liked that Otherworlder tradition then? Oh, that one too... he thought, as Lord Gascon put a large-jeweled ring on her finger.

As they kissed, the crowd gave a polite applause, and they then walked over to the dinner that had been prepared. Mac had a place of honor next to Lord Gascon.

“A lovely wedding. I appreciate you incorporating my worlds traditions,” Mac said.

Lord Gascon gave a hearty laugh, “Well, she insisted...” he said, grabbing his new wife's hand and smiling at her. “I imagine many upcoming weddings will be utilizing them as well.” He then looked at him with a more serious tone, “How went your discussions with the elves?”

Is he trying to get information out of me at his own wedding? Well, I guess it's to be expected. “Yes, we...” he paused for a second, not sure how much he should tell Lord Gascon. Well, he is going to be my father-in-law, and I want him on my side... he thought, deciding to tell him just enough to earn his trust. “Mind you, nothing is official yet, but we had negotiations regarding their special status.”

Lord Gascon's eye's widened. “Oh, really now? Is that where your new fiance comes in?”

Mac nodded, “Yes, that was part of the arrangement.”

Lord Gascon nodded back in approval, “Well, she's no cat-human, but she's quite pretty.”

Mac awkwardly laughed, He really is a catgirl maniac.

During the after-party, Mac was pulled away by Kay to a bedroom.

“Hey, we should at least-”

Kay interrupted him, “I already told the others, and they were fine with it.”

“Okay...” Mac said. Thinking she would want to kiss or do some such other intimate action, he braced himself.

Kay, however, turned around with a serious expression on her face. “What did you all say to my father?”

Mac, confused, repeated what he had said.

Kay nodded, “Okay, that's fine, since that would all be public soon anyway. He'll just see that as you giving him an early peek.”

“Is it an issue talking with your dad?”

Kay shook her head, “I think we can trust my father, but we can't tell him too much. Even if we want to keep him as an ally, we can't tell him everything.”

Mac, still confused, asked “Are you sure? I mean, he's your father.”

Kay smiled, grabbing his shirt, “I'm not part of his family anymore, I'm part of yours,” she explained, pulling him down and giving him a kiss. “Well, I will be, once we're hitched. But I'm already acting like I am. You need to make sure you're putting the royal family first.”

Mac nodded.

“Good. Information can be just as valuable as money. You don't want to give it out for free unless you have too.”

“Even something like that?” Mac asked.

“Definitely something like that, it was an official visit! Even simple things like your favorite drink or color can be useful if someone's trying to bribe you. Don't you remember when I was trying to figure out your taste in women?”

Mac grimaced, as he did indeed remember the rumors that circulated when he first arrived.

“Okay, I'll be more careful in the future.”

Kay nodded. “Good now...what was that thing earlier?” she asked, changing into a serious tone, her tail standing on end.

A purple streak jumped out of Mac's pocket. “Hehe! The great Arborhea at your service,” Rhea said with a flourish.

“Nya-...wait, did you say Arborhea?” she asked, leaning in to look at the spirit.

Mac let Arborhea tell the tale of their meeting again, as she seemed to always enjoy doing, occasionally downplaying some of Rhea's embellishments, and nodding occasionally when Kay looked at him to verify what she was saying.

Luckily, Kay seemed to take in all in stride. “Wow, that's pretty amazing. I didn't think spirits were so common...”

Rhea laughed, “Hehe, I don't think my siblings show up that often, I'm just an exception.”

After some basic introduction talk, Rhea took her leave, “Well, I bet you two want to get to it, so I'll leave you for now!” she said, before flying out of the room.

Kay blushed a bit, asking “How did she know?” before leaning up and kissing him.

“Well, Eleanor was quite...aggressive this trip,” he said between kisses.

“Nyahaha, I can't fall behind then...” she said, grabbing his hand and putting it on her ears.

Mac diligently petted, indulging himself in the soft fur.

Kay grabbed his other hand, “I want you to pet me here too...” and moved it to her chest. “I know you don't mind if their small,” she added with a giggle.

“I won't deny that,” Mac said, gently squeezing and caressing her breasts. Even through her clothes, it was causing Kay to moan (instead of her usual purring).

“Mac...” she said, grabbing his arms, “Um...”

Mac was concerned, “What's wrong? Do you wanna stop?”

Kay shook her head, “No, it's the opposite...I don't wanna wait anymore,” she said, gently rubbing Mac's crotch to make her intentions clear.

Mac gulped. “Are you sure? I thought...”

“I did! But now...I just can't take it anymore. After last time, while you were gone, it was all I could think about. I just want to hold each other, and....”

Mac wrapped his arms around her. “If you're really sure, I don't mind...”

Kay nodded, and walked over to the bed, turning to show him the zipper of her pink dress. Mac slowly unzipped it, revealing her black lingerie underneath.

Turning around, Kay showed herself off.

“I see you were prepared,” Mac said, grabbing her breasts again.

“Hey! You get undressed too!” Kay said, pulling his shirt up and over his head, before pulling down his pants. “Oh...you're ready to go,” she said, blushing.

“What did you expect acting like that!” Mac said, feeling this reaction was way too common.

Kay pulled off her bra, revealing her small breasts underneath. Mac put her onto his lap, massaging her breasts from behind as she alternated between moaning and giggling.

“Why are you laughing?” Mac said, although laughing himself.

“It feels nice, but it also tickles,” she said, before turning around and making out with him again. “Um...are you gonna keep poking me? Or we gonna do this?”

Kay jumped up and pulled her panties off.

“I see you're ready to go, too,” he chuckled.

“Nyahaha, I told you this was all I could think about!” she laughed back, sliding onto Mac's lap.

Mac gently slid Kay onto his erect member. Kay visibly winced in pain, before gasping for air.

“Are you okay?”

Kay wrapped her arms around him, “Yes, I knew it would hurt, but still...”

“Do you wanna stop?”

Kay started making out with him again. “No, let's do this,” she asserted confidently.

Mac nodded, and started slowly thrusting his way in and out. Kay was breathing so heavily she couldn't kiss properly, so Mac just held her close.

“I'm almost there Kay...”

Kay nodded, head bobbing up and down, “I'm ready...”

Mac moved his hips quicker and quicker, until finally he released, pushing up into Kay multiple times. After he finished, they fell over on the bed holding each other.

“Yeah, that was amazing,” Kay described, pulling herself up to be face to face and kissing him.

“I'm glad,” Mac said, still gasping for air. “I'm always worried one of you will be disappointed.”

“Nyahaha, don't worry too much. You've had enough practice now, you should be fine.”

Mac slowly slid his hand down her body, glistening with sweat. “Do you want to wash off, or...?”

Kay looked down at Mac's loins. “I think I know what your answer is, nyahaha...” she laughed. “I actually was going to try something to get you excited, but you didn't even need it...”

Mac shrugged, “You still can if you want...”

Kay sat up before going on all fours, “My mom said this was the best position for cat-human's,” as she rubbed her butt on Mac's crotch, with her tail tickling his chest.

Mac covered his face, which was growing red, “Yeah, I'm not surprised.”

“Soo...” Kay said, giving her rear another wiggle.

Mac grabbed her hips and started pounding hard, Kay letting out a small 'nyah!' in surprise. He reached around and grabbed the small breasts he could see hanging down. This time, Kay was quivering in pleasure, failing to stifle her moans as Mac held her up.

Before he could say anything, Mac released inside her again.

Kay collapsed on the bed. “I can...see why...she said...” Kay got out between gasps of air.

Mac fell down next to her, brushing her sweaty hair out of her face, and giving her another kiss.

“Okay, now we should probably wash up.”

After washing in the now-lukewarm water and drying off, they slid under the covers of the bed, holding each other tightly, Kay nuzzling into his chest. “I'm jealous Mel got to do this with you all the time...”

“We can too now, right?” Mac said, rubbing her head, causing Kay to purr in appreciation.

“Maybe I can get Mel to give me extra days with you...” Kay said, thinking intensely.

“Hey, I told you I want to be fair, I can't favor one of you more than the others,” Mac protested.

“Yes, but shouldn't I get some catch up time since we got engaged later?” Kay asked, smiling seductively.

“Um, I guess that does make sense...” Mac said, caving at the logic.

“Nyahaha, you might be too considerate sometimes,” she said, scooching her body over to tightly hold him. “But I guess that's fine.”

Mac didn't have a response to that, so he simply stroked her hair until they fell asleep.

The following day, they said their goodbyes to the Gascon estate and continued back to the palace.

“Nyahaha, you're so cute,” Kay said, as she poked Charlotte's cheek.

“Right? I can't get enough of this,” said Eleanor, poking her other cheek.

Charlotte continued to blush at the attention she was receiving, although didn't seem to mind it too much.

Rhea, who was sitting on Mac's shoulder as he watched through the window again, asked, “Do all your partners get along this well?”

Mac nodded, “Mostly.”

“Hehe, I guess you picked well!”

“I feel like usually they're picking me.”

Rhea seemed thoughtful, “Hmmm, maybe you're just easy to get along with.”

His three fiance's turned from what they were doing, and nodded in agreement.

“Mac accepted me when no one else would,” Eleanor explained.

“He...thought my inventions were interesting,” Charlotte murmured, poking her fingers together.

“Every lord needs a cute cat-human concubine. Or wife,” Kay said, crossing her arms and nodding.

“The other two said something nice and you make me sound like a catgirl maniac like your father,” Mac said, sighing.

“I could have mistaken you for one last night! Nyahaha...” Kay responded, laughing.

Eleanor smiled while Charlotte looked down and blushed. Mac just facepalmed and shook his head.

After another night at an inn (this time Eleanor taking a turn, more lustful than usual after a few nights off), they were on their way home again. A few hours into traveling that day, and the capital came into sight.

“Ohhh, that's a pretty big town. There's a lot of children living there I bet,” Rhea said, a bit in awe, which Mac was surprised at.

“There's a couple larger, although not many,” Eleanor explained.

“Is that where we're going?” Rhea said, pointing to the palace that overlooked the city.

“Mhm. Oh, that reminds me, can you hide for a bit once we arrive?” Mac asked

Rhea pouted in an exaggerated fashion, “What, you don't want to introduce me?”

“No no, I definitely do, but remember what happened with Charlotte and Kay? I want to wait and introduce you in a controlled fashion. You can even strike a fancy pose after I set you up,” Mac explained.

This seemed to win Rhea over, as she was nodding in agreement. “Yes, that sounds good. I'll hide out until you're ready,” she said, slipping into his chest pocket.

Passing into the city, they heard a myriad of different conversations as they rolled along the streets.

“This is ridiculous, I'm not going there.”

“Haha, you got rejected again?”

“The Gold Fairy visited us! We'll be set for a while.”

“How many more weddings is the King gonna have? He'll be married to half the country by year-end.”

Mac winced at the last one, before closing the shutters of the wagon, instead focusing on the conversation his partners were having.

“There's a really nice cafe in town, you can go talk with him there,” Eleanor explained.

“Oh, if you prefer being surrounded trees, we do have a gardens too,” Kay said.

“I might like that more, if there's less people,” Charlotte murmured.

“By the way Charlotte, I planned on getting you a separate room for your inventions, I'd rather you not have them in your bedroom, mostly for the maids' sake” Mac explained as he sat next to them.

“Um...” Charlotte poked her fingers together, “...sometimes I fall asleep while I'm working.”

“Hmm...I guess we can put a bed in your work room too, if you want.”

Charlotte smiled and nodded.

Always nice to get a smile out of her.

Eleanor couldn't contain herself “Oh, you're so cute, everyone's going to love you!” and reached over to hug her.

“Well, there's someone I think you'll really get along with...”

Arriving at the palace, there was a small crowd to greet them.

Mac was immediately jumped by Emma, who swung around his neck in a comedic fashion. “Mac! I did it!” she said, jumping up and kissing him. “Marie said I passed! I'm a proper noblewoman now!”

Marie, who was standing off to the side, nodded in approval.

“You better be excited for our wedding! We already sent the invites out.”

Mac gave her a grin, “You know I am.”

Emma blushed a bit, knowing what he was implying.

Felicia came up next. She gave him a hug and leaned up into his ear, whispering, “Since Mel is getting farther along, you wanna start trying soon? I was low on contraceptive medicine anyway...”

Mac blushed a bit, and nodded.

Felicia smiled, leaning up and giving him a kiss.

Melissandra, who had been excitedly whispering with Kay, came over after Felicia.

“Hmm, I thought you might be showing by now,” Mac asked, putting his hand on her stomach. “Have you been okay?”

Melissandra giggled, “I'm not that far in. And yes, luckily my symptoms haven't been that bad, at least so far.”

Mac gave her a hug, whispering into her ear, “I missed you.”

Melissandra smiled, “I missed you too,” she added, hugging him back. “Oh, I received a letter about...”

She stopped as she saw Charlotte, who was hiding in the back, trying to blend into the background.

Urk, I was so happy to see everyone, I completely forgot...

Mac walked over and wrapped an arm around Charlotte, causing her to give a small 'Eep!'. “Everyone, this is Charlotte. She's one of my fiance's too now, so please get along with her.”

Everyone mobbed Charlotte now, causing her to grow red in embarrassment.

Melissandra gave her a hug, “It's so nice to meet you.”

Charlotte gave a small smile as Melissandra grabbed her hands.

Emma crossed her arms and nodded in approval. “Yes, very pretty. She'll fit right in.”

Is she just glad to have another small breasted compatriot? Mac thought, shaking his head.

After reuniting, everyone gathered in the Royal dining room for dinner. As they were waiting for the food to come out, Mac realized Now is probably a good time while we have everyone gathered.

“Hey, um, everyone,” Mac said to get everyone's attention. “I actually have someone else to introduce.”

The three partners who hadn't been on the trip looked at Mac confused. Eleanor smiled while Kay giggled softly.

“You can came out now Rhea.”

Rhea, taking her cue, zipped out of Mac's pocket in a purple flash, flying up above the table and striking a pose. “Hehehe, it is I! The great spirit Arborhea! Mother of the forest, and now also loyal servant of King Mac!”

“Wha-...what?” Melissandra said, confused.

“Ummmoooo....” said Emma as she narrowed her eyes at the spirit.

Felicia, who generally wasn't surprised by anything, had a look of genuine shock on her face.

“Nyahaha, they're more surprised than I was,” Kay laughed.

Melissandra looked at her, “This isn't...some sort of joke?”

Mac shook his head, “Look, I know it's a little weird, but she's the real deal. Or at least, as far as I can tell she is.”

“Umm...what are you all talking about? Is that light some part of your magic?”

Mac looked over at the owner of the voice. It belonged to Marie, who had been standing along the wall talking with Eleanor.

Ah, shoot, I completely forgot, she doesn't fit the criteria. “Rhea, you can let Marie see you too, she's our Magistrate so it's fine.”

Rhea nodded, and snapped her fingers.

Marie's eyes went wide. “Is that...is that a spirit? It's exactly like the tales say.”

“Hehehe, in the flesh!” Rhea said, flying over and hovering in Marie's face.

“Um...Mac, how exactly did you get a spirit as a servant!?” Emma asked, incredulous.

Rhea, who seemed to never tire of telling the tale, again explained the story of her rescue to the gathered crowd, from the dreams to Mac freeing her from the box.

Marie was murmuring to herself, “This is astounding! I need to scribe this into the Records...”

“And it was really nice seeing one of my niece's! I could tell Mac had good tastes,” Rhea said, hugging Eleanor's cheek.

“Niece...?” Marie said, looking over at her, before an epiphany coming across her face. “Wait, you mean, the eyes?”

Eleanor nodded, “According to her, this shows I have a spirit ancestor.”

“Hey, not just any spirit, it's definitely Celestina! You smell like her,” Rhea explained.

Marie held her forehead, before starting to laugh. “Haha. Hahaha. Those idiots, it was never a curse,” she turned to Eleanor. “I'm sorry Eleanor, because of some historical misunderstanding, everyone wrongly thinks you have a curse.”

Eleanor shook her head. “It doesn't matter to me anymore. I have Mac, and all of you, and that's all that matters,” she explained with a smile.

After dinner, Marie pulled Mac into the council chamber while the girls helped set Charlotte up with a room.

“I heard from Eleanor regarding Queen...well, Lady Sophia's offer. It'll require a lot of paperwork, but I think it will be to our advantage. I was also surprised you accepted one of her daughters so readily, I would-...”

Mac stopped her, “Charlotte might be a genius. If she can complete some of the stuff she is working on, it's fair to say she is more important to the kingdom than me or anyone else.”

Marie looked at the serious face he was making. “Well, I will take you at your word on that. Now, about this...spirit thing...” Marie trailed off, holding her scrunched up forehead. “Did she really swear fealty to you? I don't understand...”

Mac shrugged, “I don't either. It's not like I forced her too, she did it of her own volition.”

Marie shook her head, “If she's a spirit, it's not like you could force her to anyway...” she trailed off. “We need to keep her a secret, at least for now.”

Mac nodded, “Yes, she has enchanted herself to only be visible to me and my partners. And you now, obviously.”

Marie smirked, “Yeah, that was quite a surprise.” She seemed like she was going to say something after that, but then stopped.

Mac, seeing this, asked, “Is there something else?”

Marie smiled, “No, just...um, good work on this one.”

Mac nodded in recognition, as Marie quickly left the room. I wonder if she's worried about something? I guess she'll talk to me if she needs too...

During the Trip – Side Stories

The Gold Fairy

While Mac was gone, Emma had acquired a penchant for going into town when she wasn't busy with lessons. Today, she crept along an alleyway, listening for the sound she was seeking. While she had grown accustomed to wearing noblewoman dresses, today she was in her normal shirt and overalls, to blend in better with the area of the city she was visiting.

As she started down a new alley, she heard the sound she was searching for, a soft crying coming from a window. As she approached the source of the sound, she saw the window was cracked only slightly. Well, I guess that's enough, she thought, taking out a coin and slipping it through the window. There was no reaction inside, so she slowly crept back out of the alleyway and headed towards the main thoroughfare leading back to the palace.

Emma had gained a reputation lately, albeit of her exploits and not attached to herself, as 'The Gold Fairy'. Once a week, she would take a gold coin from her royal stipend and find a baby to bestow her donation on. She had heard about the reputation one day while at the cafe with Felicia, and decided to make it a regular thing.

It sounds like people appreciate it, so hopefully it's being put to good use! she thought, slowing her pace as she walked the street, watching a couple kids playing Rocks. This caused her to think of the currently-absent Mac, and about their future children. Grabbing her cheeks, she looked down at her body. While she wanted several, she was concerned with how many children her smaller frame would be able to have.

She shook her head to dispel the thought, and pumped her fist. No, Ma had a bunch, so I can too!

A Dwarf in waiting

Daisy was in her hut that day, sitting at her crafting table, working on a ring. This one would be for Emma, who's marriage would be occurring shortly after Mac returned. Not that I'm in any rush, but it'd be nice to have ours soon too...

A knock came at the door. Used to getting the occasional visitor, she got up and went to the door. Outside, Melissandra was standing with a smile, “Hello Daisy, can I come in?”

“Oh...of course!” Daisy replied, opening the door for her. Melissandra wasn't one of her normal visitors, although she got along with her well enough.

Offering some tea (heated by the forge) Daisy sat down next to Melissandra. “Err, did you need something?”

“What, can't I just come visit you?” Melissandra said with a giggle. “Although I did have something to talk about...”

“Is it another project? I got a couple rings to do, but I can-”

Melissandra held up a hand, “No, it's about Mac.”

“Oh...” Daisy responded, not sure what to say.

Melissandra continued, “Mac told me you slept together.”

Daisy blushed, looking down. “I'm sorry...”

Melissandra shook her head, “You don't need to be sorry, Mac wouldn't have done so if it would have gotten you in trouble. Or him, for that matter...”

Daisy smiled, still blushing, and scratched her cheek.

“That said, I'd like you to reconsider marriage. I know you said before you weren't ready before, but having a Dwarf Queen would greatly improve our relations with-”

This time it was Daisy's turn to hold her up hand. “I know, I already changed my mind.”

Melissandra's face froze, not sure what to say. Eventually, she said “But...Mac said he hadn't tried to propose to you yet.”

Daisy nodded. “Yes, I asked him to propose to me in traditional dwarven fashion.”

Melissandra connected the dots in her head, “Ahhh, I'm sorry, I thought...” and shook her head.

“No, don't be.”

“Well, I'm glad to have you!” she said, standing up and hugging Daisy. “I'll make sure Mac works on it as soon as he's back!”

Sewing together

Felicia and Bella sat across from each other, sewing together the latest order of dresses. They had co-opted a room in the palace to use as their dedicated sewing room, different cloths and dresses in various states of construction strewn about.

They had gotten fairly well acquainted in their time together, and could speak frankly amongst themselves.

“So, how are you feeling?” Felicia asked, smiling as she looked at Bella's stomach. She was still fairly early on, but just showing a tad in her normal clothes.

Bella smiled, “So far so good. It's, um, nice that King Mac is letting me use the royal midwife for my checkups.”

Felicia nodded, “Tillie is supposed to be the best in the Kingdom.”

After a few moments, Bella asked, “Well, what about you? Have you and Mac decided to have one?”

“Since I'll be in charge of nursing and raising, I'm waiting until the others are a bit along. Although, that time might be coming close...” she added with a smile.

Bella nodded, “What about your wedding? You said you were waiting.”

“I...” Felicia trailed off.

Bella stopped sewing, before leaning in and whispering, “Are you having second thoughts?”

Felicia shook her head, “It's not that, I want to marry him. I'm just worried my past might cause problems...”

Bella didn't know how to respond. She knew that Felicia used to work as a prostitute before becoming one of King Mac's fiances. “I don't think you need to worry about that...”

“I wish I didn't, but...I'm worried one of the nobles may recognize me. It wasn't uncommon to have them as customers...”

Bella frowned, “You're worried they'll start rumors about you? Damnable nobles. No offense ot you and Mac, of course...”

Felicia giggled, “Well, I'm technically not one yet...”

Bella crossed her arms. “You should talk with Mac about it.”

“I know what he's gonna say though... 'it doesn't matter'.”

“Well, isn't that fine then? If you and Mac love each other, that's all you need,” Bella explained with a smile.

Felicia looked down and blushed, before nodding.

More Magic

On a different day, Marie had asked Felicia to come with her.

“If you're okay with it, I'd like to test you for magic,” Marie explained.

Felicia seemed confused. “I don't have an issue with it, but is there any point? I didn't think commoners had magic usually.”

Marie nodded. “Generally, yes, but after Emma turned out to have the ability, I wanted to test you as well.”

Felicia smirked, “What, do you think Mac is somehow pulling in all the commoners with magic potential?”

Marie stopped for a moment, before turning to look at her, and nodded, “Yes, actually, or at least that's one of my theories.”

Taken aback, Felicia nodded back and continued following her.

As they got to the room with the Drain Stone, Marie showed Felicia how to use it, putting her hand up to the glass orb, showing her fire magic get absorbed into the black inner stone.

Felicia followed suit, putting her hand up to the orb. Her eyes went wide, “my hand is...tingling.”

Marie's eyes narrowed. “So you do have magic...but I don't see anything.” As she waited, she heard a 'crack' as a small fracture appeared in the pillar supporting the Magic Stone.

Felicia leaped back in surprise.

Marie looked between her and the cracked pillar.

“Um...did I do that?” Felicia asked.

Marie nodded. “I think so. Well, your magic did.”

Felicia, calming down, asked, “So...do you know what my magic is?”

Marie thought for a moment, but then shook her head. “No, whatever it is isn't obvious. I'll need to see if we have records of anything similar happening...”

Side story - La Hire's Surprise

Captain La Hire had just gotten back to the palace with the the rest of the entourage. After the fight with the legendary beast, he realized life was too short to hesitate, and had made a decision. I can't wait any longer, I must propose!

He had thought often of the apple of his eye during the trip. Walking through the palace, he quickly got to the room he was looking for.

Knocking on the door, a little bunny-human girl opened it. Looking up at La Hire, she jumped up on his leg. “Fiona!”

La Hire heard a few steps, and then the door opened all the way, a bunny-human girl in a maid outfit appearing before him. “Captain La Hire, it's good to see you,” she said, giving a curtsy.

“Um, Fiona...could we talk in private?”

Fiona nodded, grabbing the little girl off his leg and setting her back in the room, before closing the door.

La Hire led her part-ways down the hall, until they reached an alcove. As he stopped, he looked at her silently. She was looking down, but when he didn't say anything for a few moments, she looked up into his eyes.

La Hire got more nervous at this, but resolved himself. Getting to one knee with a 'clank' of his armor, he grabbed her hand. “Fiona...I realized during the trip that I missed you terribly, and-”

“Yes,” Fiona said, showing no change in emotion.

“I...ummm....yes?” La Hire asked.

“You're going to ask me to marry you right? I thought you might soon, and already decided I would accept.”

La Hire stood back up, still holding her hand. “Oh, well, I'm glad you...wait, so you're fine with it?”

Fiona nodded, “Yes. I...was actually a bit worried you had changed your mind about pursuing me...” she said, blushing a bit and looking to the side.

La Hire gave a giddy smile, happy things how managed to turn out well so easily.

“Oh, I have one condition though,” Fiona added.

La Hire froze. Oh shoot...no, whatever it is, I'll do it!

“We need a house large enough to take in my siblings. I'm grateful King Mac took us in, but I don't want them growing up in the palace. They need to be out in the world to experience things properly.”

La Hire was mentally counting them. “All...of them?”

Fiona nodded, “Yes. Well, besides Felicia of course. Preferably in town, since that's what we're used too, and you and I can walk to work together.”

While La Hire liked the sound of that, he was also internally panicking. He made a good wage, being the captain of the guard, but he was still young, and hadn't saved up enough money to buy a house that large. Of course, he wasn't going to let that stop him now.

“Of course, I'll make it work,” he said, forcing a smile.

He was rewarded with a precious smile from Fiona. She leaned up and whispered in his ear “We'll need room for our own children, too, of course,” and gave him a peck on the cheek, before turning and briskly walking back to the room with her siblings.

La Hire blushed like the sun, feeling his cheeks physically burning as he remembered the feeling of her lips on his cheek as she retreated down the hallway.

Standing for a moment in bliss, it quickly came crashing down as he remembered her condition. No, what do I do! Can I ask Marie for an advance on my salary? How much would I need? Probably a few years, unless we want to starve...La Hire grabbed his head in despair.

“Nyahaha, you look a little distraught their captain,” a voice from the shadows laughed.

La Hire quickly turned around. A cat-human maid stepped out, walking over to him.

Recognizing her, La Hire calmed down. “You're Kelly, right? Eleanor's maid?”

Kelly curtsied as her name was called. “Nyahaha, you remembered me from Eleanor's wedding?”

La Hire, still suspicious, nodded.

“It seems like you're in a bit of a...situation. From what I gather, you probably can't afford a house large enough for all Fiona's siblings, right?”

La Hire nodded again, “Yes, unfortunately I don't...wait, were you listening to us!?”

Kelly giggled, “Nyahaha, sorry, but I had the same idea, I was just waiting my turn.”

La Hire was confused, “Your...turn?”

“I'm already twenty, and having been in the capital now, I quite like it here, so I'd like to settle down. My dad would probably be willing to pay a moderate sum to any noble that might marry me. And I quite like the serious, earnest type of man.”

La Hire's eyes went wide as she realized what she was getting at. “You...want to marry me? But I just...”

Kelly, who was a tad taller than him, leaned down, “What? Am I not cute enough?”

La Hire blushed, “No, you're quite pretty, I just...”

Kelly giggled again, “Nyahaha, I'm just teasing. I don't mean to jump in front of Fiona, but I think we can both benefit from this arrangement, right?”

La Hire scrunched his face in thought. This would help out a lot if it can help pay for the house. And...he looked at Kelly again...she is very pretty. No, I just got engaged to Fiona! But, I guess if she's fine with it....wait, that's what Mac's wives do, right?

Deciding on a course of action, La Hire nodded, “Okay, as long as Fiona approves.”

Kelly giggled once more, “Nyahaha, she already did. I asked her a while ago since I thought you two already were engaged!”

La Hire's mouth went open in surprise. How far ahead of me are they...? he thought. Kelly leaned in and gave him a kiss on the opposite cheek that Fiona had. “I know you won't think of me as much as Fiona yet, but I'll try and change that in the future,” she added with a sly smile, before turning around and walking off.

La Hire stood there, feeling his cheeks. What did I get myself into?