The tavern is alive with friendly faces as I step into the dining hall. It’s not that their presence is unwanted. I’m just a little curious how they found me so quickly.

"Shiroihana, Meredith, Veneficus, what are you all doing here?" I ask

Vene walks over to me and punches my shoulder.

"You left me with these two beautiful women, and they promised they wouldn't kill me if I brought them back to you,” he says with a smile.

"How did you find me?" I ask.

Shiroi stands, "Shiroi followed the trail of destruction."

Meredith walks over to me looking down. She hands me Umbra and walks away without saying anything.

"Meredith wait," I yell.

She looks back and half smiles with a pitiful look in her sapphire eyes before exiting the tavern. Puppy lust, it's gotten the better of her. Or maybe, no, it's too early for that.

Tiru sits at a table wrapped in a pelt. Shiroi steps over to me and squints her eyes angrily. Her rough scaly palm slams against my face with much force. She goes to slap me again and I grab her wrist.

"I expected more trust from you Shiroihana, you know I would never touch her."

Shiroi looks ashamed having been drawn to the rash conclusion that I had abandoned them to lie with kittens. She embraces me trying to be apologetic in my culture.

"Shiroi was afraid, you left Shiroi, you could have died, Shiroi cares for you."

I wrap join her embrace wrapping my large muscular arms around her soft linen blouse. Her blouse, dark shades of green with accents of white does a very poor job of covering her large scaly breasts which press against me firmly. Vene steps over to us quickly, a look of jealousy on his soft calico cheeks. The jealousy shifts to curiosity as he notices my new half feline companion.

"You saved a Neko, I wasn't sure you cared for such creatures, I felt so much rage and pain in your heart, perhaps I have misjudged you for a blundering barbarian, my apologies."

“No apologies needed, we are all friends here,” I reply.

Tiru tugs on my pants.

"I’m cold."

I look over at Vene.

"Can you talk to Meredith, I need to take care of two Nekos,” I say still embracing Shiroi.

“Two neckos?” Vene says seeming more curious than before.

“Her brother was injured, I liberated him from some unusually cruel circumstances for which an unusually cruel punishment was bestowed,” I reply leaning back slightly as to signal Shiroi to release me from her awkwardly long embrace.

Shiroi releases me from her embrace. I carry Tiru back upstairs laying her by Gatz. She rolls him over onto her then cuddles up against me. Her little nose rubs against my arm as I pet her soft ears. A strange emotion washes over me, compassion perhaps. It’s certainly different from the rage I’ve been feeling. The rage I unleashed when I found out about the children.

Tiru reminds me of myself when I was younger. She’s scared, but I feel she's full of fight. I'll train her if she asks. I have a feeling she will. She too carries a rage inside her. Glowing embers waiting to be fanned into a hellish flame that blazes its way through anything and everything in its path. Gatz on the other hand seems a gentler soul. Even the calmest of waters can turn into a raging torrent without warning though.

Morning breaks and we take our leave of the tavern. The sun crawls a good distance across the sky before we stop to set up camp. I keep a close eye on Vene around the kittens. I don't think he would do anything, but he's more perverted than the damn dragons.

A gentle breeze blows the blades of grass around. The leaves flutter freely before falling to the ground. Sunlight warms my bare skin as I lean over Meredith's shoulder.

"Take deep breathes before you release and remember, feel the shot," I say holding Meredith's arm. She releases and the shot misses. "It's fine, ready another arrow."

She tosses the bow on the ground.

"It's not fine, the only thing I feel is you, I throw myself at you and you hardly notice, but some shadow whore or furry eared kitten," she starts to tear up, "I, I loved you first, why can't it be me?"

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She runs back to her tent, and I just stand there. Tiru walks up to me and hugs me. I pat her head, and she looks up.

"She didn't mean it, she's upset,” Tiru says.

I lean down and hold her.

“Dirk, are you ok?" She asks.

"No Tiru, none of us are ok."

Night falls and Shiroi joins me in my tent. I pet Tiru's head as Gatz cuddles up at her feet.

"Shiroi thinks you treat the girl like she's your own, Shiroi admires this." She moves closer to me. "May Shiroi touch the child, she seems most comforting." I move my hand and Shiroi runs her scaly hand across Tiru's head. "She is precious."

"I'm sorry I left Shiroi, I just needed to be on my own for a moment, to escape from reality, I didn’t mean to seem abandon you and the others, there was a weight on me that I felt I couldn’t bare to put you all under.”

“Shiroi is not here to observe you bear the weight of your challenges alone, Shiroi is here to help you lift them, we all are,” Shiroi replies.

She lays her head against my shoulder as Tiru curls up against my chest and starts to purr. Gatz wraps himself around my arm. I stare up at the ceiling of the tent. Maybe this is what love truly is. Not some physical expression of intimacy but being there for each other. Maybe this is the purpose I so desire.

Tiru moves in her sleep slightly digging her claws into my chest. I don’t move her though. Her night terrors won’t go away if I wake her from them. She has to face them again and again. Until she overcomes them.

"Please don't hurt him, he's just a boy," Tiru yells.

A man grabs Gatz up by the back of his neck and throws him into a cage.

"Please stop, he can't even hear!"

The man hits Tiru across the face and she falls to the ground.

"These slaves sure don't know when to shut up do they?" The man says looking at his partner.

"Piss on one of them, then maybe they'll shut their mouths," he replies. He laughs and grabs a drink. "I'm serious, piss on that one with the big mouth, she'll be quiet then and if she's not her brother won't hear it anyway."

"What are you doing, no please," Tiru moves to the back of her cage and curls up in a ball.

"Yeah, keep your mouth shut you little cunt!"

Tiru wakes violently and I run my hand over her soft ears down the back of her neck stopping at her shoulders. She clings to me tighter closing her eyes again afraid to let go. She’s not showing vulnerability by confiding in me for comfort. It’s something more, trust.

"Are you awake?" I hear in my ear. I look over and Shiroi is still asleep. "It's me Umbra dumbass, do you not remember my voice?"

I close my eyes and sigh.

“Don't tell me you're mad at me."

"I'm a little busy sword devil,” I say angrily trying not to wake Tiru or Shiroi.

"Well, when you get done playing daddy we need to talk, actually if you want you can play daddy with me, oh I could be your naughty little girl." I sigh loudly in disagreement. "I know I'm broken but you can still use me, wait that didn't sound right, we can still fight."

Tiru looks up again rubbing her eyes, "who are you talking too?"

I look around but can't see Umbra.

Tiru looks in the corner, "is it that girl hiding in the shadows over there, she's pretty, is she your girlfriend, is that why the other girls are mad at you?"

"No, she's not my girlfriend Tiru, we are, It’s complicated, I do need to confront her though,” I say sitting up.

I climb out of bed and Tiru reaches for me a sad expression on her face before she rolls over holding her brother Gatz. Shiroi, locked in a deep slumber, doesn’t notice my departure from bed. She doesn’t look fairly enticing in that silk night gown. I didn’t notice it before.

You can hardly see the stars, or the moons for that matter. Dark clouds form a veil hiding the night sky from the prying eyes of men and monsters alike. At least the air is cool. I step into a clearing behind the tents. Umbra joins me stepping out of the shadows. Her slender ivory fingers brush her long midnight hair behind her ear nervously.

"Hey, I'm sorry about breaking on you," she says with a half smile.

I look toward the woods unable to bring words to speech. She failed me at a critical moment, but I can hardly blame her. We were facing the destroyer.

"How was I supposed to know he would show up, it's not my fault!" Umbra yells.

I turn my crimson eyes starring into sparkling oceans of gold as her face fills with remorse.

"Golden eyes, I know golden eyes, the eyes of a harpy, so, you and him, what happened?"

"We were, we were close, but then his Amare came back, and he cast me aside." She looks over at me with a tear running down her cheek. "Dirk, do you know what love is?"

"I’m not sure, anymore."

"I was hoping for a different answer, I was hoping you could show me,” she says twirling her hair with her finger.

I step over to her and run my fingers across soft cheeks of ivory. Her long dark hair drapes down her back stopping just above her firm buttocks. The dress that adorns her is open at the back showing off the dimples at the small of it. It splits at the thigh displaying her firm slender legs. She is by no means an undesirable woman.

"Drako said the bond was a matrimony, a ritual, it is isn't it, a ritual of blood, and you performed it in the field when we slaughtered those fifty men, we are bound, that's why I struggle to feel for the companions I should truly love, but it's so easy for me to bed you."

She grabs my hand.

"Please, they would have killed you, and your mother's death-."

"Say it would have meant nothing you devil bitch, fucking say it to my face!" I yell.

Umbra looks down at her feet as I feel a tug on my trousers. She disappears, her golden eyes filled with a woeful sorrow. Perhaps I was too harsh on her. I’ll think it over and apologize if I deem it necessary.

"Dirk it's late come back to bed, don't stay out yelling at shadows all night,” Tiru says tugging on my trousers.

“Ok Tiru, I’ll come back to bed,” I say lifting her into my arms.

Her teal eyes light up and she rubs her soft little nose agains my bare chest.

"You love her don't you, Amare, I've stuck by you, do you not love me too?"

"I'm sorry Umbra, you're but a shadow to me."

"Zurko please, I love you, don't toss me aside like I'm nothing."

"You aren't nothing, your sister is nothing, you are a shadow, and I banish you to walk as a shadow."

"No, please, don't do this to me, I Lo-."

A long slender blade clanks against the ground shrouded in an ominous violet glow before being tucked safely away in a chest. The Destroyer abandons his quest to obliterate the realm traveling to another to enjoy time with his Amare leaving his Sinn to be wielded in the shadow of another.