When the Flying Vessel was slowing down to a full stop high in the sky above the City, Meryda and her father bided their farewells to their voyage companions, wishing them good luck on their work, going to get the Drakes, and preparing everything to leave.

After tying up the Black Shucks, Meryda looked while the two Drakes were exiting the vessel with their two scary dark passengers and a Fae, and as they spread their wings and went to the sky, she and her father climbed the other Drakes, and with the Salamander, the Slime, and the two Sub-Monsters, they waited for the small dark fog to exit first, and they followed it right after.

They dived to the City, and made a few laps in the City’s sky, looking down and waving at the people who were looking up at them, darting to their farm next.

At that speed, it didn’t take long for Meryda to arrive, and she smiled when she saw the small, dark fog joining the big one, which was peacefully patrolling her farm.

The Drakes landed in front of the house in a cloud of dust, and the moment Craydon’s feet touched the soil, a cheerful scream made him look back, only to be tackled to the ground by a very happy Demi-Cat woman.

“You came back! You took forever to come home! I was starting to think you would never return until a Fae told us you were coming soon!”

She kissed him over and over, with a very happy Craydon hugging her tightly and returning the kisses. At least, until a certain girl complained, “Yuck!… Get a room already! I don’t need to see all that smoochy!”

The happy Rusha Banei got up in a single jump and raised Meryda high in the air while saying, “And you, my cute little girl! Tell me everything you did and don’t hide anything from me! How were things in the Alliance? What happened in the Demons’ country? No, wait, Demois country! Tell me already!”

“Stop shaking me! I am getting dizzy!”

Rusha lowered the complaining girl and hugged her tightly while whispering, “I thought you would never return! I was so sad! You said everything was going to be alright with the Alliance, but I was so worried!”

“I missed you too, Rusha.”

It was then that Meryda looked around and asked, “Where are my friends? They are not here?”

“Only a few female Bone Boars and their calves. The rest went with the Demi-Centaur siblings and Tetil Stog to a farm nearby to build a water mill and a water canal.”

“Pof is not with them?”

“Lately, he is spending a lot of time with one of your spiders in his new shop in the City.”

“He is what?”

With a smile, Rusha explained, “He became quite a businessman. He took care of that idea for an outdoor shower with snakeskin and the crossbow. He is making a bunch of those every day, with the spider’s help, and selling them. At first, he was doing that on the back porch of this house and keeping the finished products in the barn, but then the orders were piling up, and he needed more space. So he spoke with the others. They took their shares of all the sales in the market and the construction of watermills and canals and rented a shop in the City. It is more like an enormous warehouse, actually, with a room for him and the spider and a big open space for the others to prepare the pieces for the watermill and the water canals. He is also accepting orders to change the baths of whoever hires him, to make that sort of heated bath your father designed, with the exit pipe to water canals to irrigate fields or gardens.”

“No way!”

“Yes, and when they have some spare time, the spiders, and the Bone Boars go hunting in the forests for the kids to sell the meat and all the materials from the prey. And I am in charge of things here, and when it is harvesting time, they all come here to help, and they take the stuff to the market. I had to build a safe in the cellar to keep all your money!” It was then that Rusha noticed there were more Monsters that weren’t with Meryda when she left, and she asked, puzzled, “More Drakes? And what are those dark beasts on them?”

Craydon answered as he was untying the Black Shucks with the Fae and the two Sub-Monsters’ help, “Meryda kind of robbed these two from two Monster Tamers that were in the Alliance. They mocked her, and she took their Monsters to teach them not to mess with her.”

“Oh, nice! What happened to those Monster Tamers?”

“They were captured on the same night the High Demon Manananggal came to save us from the Alliance. She… also wanted me to ask you something, but it’s probably better if we go inside so that we can tell everything that happened.”

As they were entering the house, Rusha said with a grin, “You seemed strangely worried when you said that name. Who is that woman?”

“A member of the Dark Eight, the rulers of the Demois country. And she… kind of took a strange interest in me…”

“And you?”

“Not sure. She annoyed me way too much with her insistence, so I didn’t think about her offer properly. But she was very serious when we left that country.”

While putting a pot over the stove to boil water for tea, Rusha Banei said, “Well, first, you guys tell me everything that happened. Then Meryda can go introduce her new Monsters to the others, and we can talk alone. Deal?”

Meryda and Craydon recalled everything that had happened ever since they left for the Alliance while drinking tea and eating some biscuits. The visit to Oka’s castle, the arrival at the front lines, the conversation with the soldiers and Monster Tamers of the Alliance, and the meeting in the Dark Eight’s castle. Everything.

Even Manananggal’s relentless attacks on Craydon, trying to seduce him. Those recalls were what caused Rusha to snort, annoyed by the audacity of some woman, no matter how beautiful or how much power she had, to go after her man.

When Meryda left with the Fae to take her new Monsters to meet the others, it was when Craydon told Rusha about Manananggal’s proposal, making her go silent for a while. She then sighed and asked, “You want to?”

“I want to what?”

“For you to tell me that, it’s because you were considering it, so I just made an honest question. Do you want to? To be with me and her?”

“No… I mean, she is absurdly beautiful, but I have you, and I love you. Why would I want another woman? I just thought it would be best to tell you everything instead of hiding it and you finding out one day and getting mad.”

Rusha shrugged and said, “You know, it is not unheard of among Demis. You could have two women, and I could have two men.”

“I… don’t think I like the idea of sharing you with another guy…”

“Now you know what I think of that. If you want me and her, I also want you and some guy of my choosing. Wait… did you just say you loved me?”

“I… might have said something along those lines…”

Rusha jumped on him, making him fall from his chair and land on the floor, with her kissing him. She then pulled him up and literally dragged him to his room, closing the door right after.

Outside, Meryda was walking among the fields with her new Sub-Monsters and the Black Shucks, after warning them they couldn’t fight with any of her Monsters if they wanted to live there.

She had arrived for nearly two hours when the noise of hoes and shouts called her attention to the front of the house.

As soon as she recognized the voices, she ran around the house, just in time to serve as a landing cushion for a very happy Demi-Dog, who jumped from Hazer Cemim’s back the moment he stopped running.

Meryda and the happy Pof Grinun rolled on the floor, and he hugged her tightly while saying, “You came back! I missed you so much! Don’t you ever leave me behind, you hear me? I won’t ever let you get away from me! Ever!”

“I didn’t leave you because I wanted to! I had to go; you know that! But I am back, my dear, sweet Pof. I am back.”

** This story and others are for sale in Amazon and Smashwords sites. Search for the nick "krushandkill" and also my friend, "Aniya Rossi" **