"And then you asked me to catch you up on what had occurred so you could determine whether to kill me or not."

Max stood before Orange with her trench coat wrapped tightly around herself since the entire right half of her body was now covered in a layer of frost. Shivering in a mixture of fear and cold, Max looked down at her feet where a pile of shattered breaths sat. It had managed to reach just above her knees by the time her vivid recounting of everything that had happened since meeting Herah ( only giving a very abridged version of her backstory and power explanation) had finished. Now Max was just waiting for Orange to give her his response. The father in question stood before Max clad in his partially unbuttoned white polo and khaki slacks, now rubbing his forehead with his tail while muttering to himself. After a few seconds of this, Orange took his tail from his head and lessened the weight of his Presence around Max.

Max let out an unfreezing sigh of relief as the frost that covered her began to recede and disappear alongside the pile of frozen air in front of her. No longer cold, Max lessened her grip on her coat and gave Orange a thankful smile. Orange let out another sigh before backing a bit away from Max and bowing deeply to her, his tail rigid and pointing upright.

"I thank you for saving my daughter and myself, and I apologize for the fear I've caused you." Orange returned to a proper standing position and gave Max a small smile, "Alongside my daughter, I owe you a great debt and hope to repay it in any way I can."

Max nervously chuckled at Orange before shaking her head and saying,

"Don't worry about it, lava tits is being a big enough help already and-" Max gasped and put a hand to her mouth while staring back at Orange with an apologetic look. Bringing her hand down to reveal an awkward smile, Max offered up a small apology to Orange. The father just waved her off, before putting both of his hands behind his head while also allowing for his tail to wave lazily behind him.

"I have no problem with the nickname you have for my daughter," Orange responded, before performing a deadpan stare, "It's better than the one Iesha gave me at least."

"Who is Iesha?", Max asked with a puzzled look.

"A human friend of mine.", Was Oranges quick reply.

This got a few surprised blinks from Max, which caused Orange to let out another chuckle before answering her unasked question.

"Yeah, I know what a human is and have met my fair share."

"How?" Max asked, sounding surprised and curious.

Orange took his right hand from behind his head and placed it upon Max's left shoulder. Giving Max a small kind smile, Orange tilted his head and told Max,

"Don't worry about my past, just know that I've traveled my fair share of universes and met my fair share of humans."

Max gave Orange a prying stare for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and asking,

"So, what happens next?"

Orange's smile morphed into a serious stare as he took his hand from Max's shoulder and shoved both it and its partner into his slack's pockets. The Cendruex then told Max,

"Now I'm gonna tell you the bit about courting a Cendruex that Herah forgot to mention."

Max's eyes widened, with a question drenched in worry leaving her mouth soon afterward.

"What did she forget to tell me?"

"One thing my daughter forgot to tell you, was that once the courting begins a tattoo representing either of you will appear somewhere on both of your bodies and sear into your skin."

"Sear into my skin?" Max asked, touching at her face with a wince at the thought.

Orange nodded yes before saying,

"Don't worry, it'll only hurt for a moment then the pain will fade as if it was never there."

"Ok, so what will the tattoo be?" Max asked, putting her hand down in the process.

Orange just shrugged his shoulders and told her,

"It's different for everyone, when my wife and I began courting," Orange pointed behind him towards the still frozen Herah and Rouge "Rouge got a frosty doll on the palm of her left hand with my name on it while I got a partly assembled rifle that spelled out my wife's name on my right arm."

"Oh, okay, that doesn't sound too bad." Max told herself with a few nods of her head.

"Well that's great, because the next thing might just be a deal breaker for you."

Max gave Orange a narrowed stare, not even bothering to ask the obvious question.

"As time progresses, you two will begin to gain the other's memories."

"WHA-" Max stopped herself mid-shout and shook her head, before taking several deep breaths. After five breaths, Max nodded to herself and calmly asked, "How does this work exactly?"

This got a raised brow from Orange, followed by a small smile and an answer.

"Depending on how long you've been alive and how quickly you grow closer to each other, memories will begin to manifest. The more personal and deeply rooted the memory the longer it will take to show up and more vivid it will be when it does, though most will be insignificant and you won't really be able to make much sense of them.."

Max began running her hands through her still unkept hair with a thoughtful frown on her face as she looked down. After a few seconds, Max looked back up but not at Orange and made an ah-hah noise.

"That means Herah won't learn any more of my secrets unless I'm ready," Max told herself in a whisper (Orange heard her nonetheless) while nodding her head before looking directly at Orange with a calm and collected expression and saying, "Okay, is that all I need to know?

Orange's smile widened at Max's words before he let out a hearty laugh that caught Maxto jolt in surprise.

"Why are you laughing?" Max asked, looking at the Cendreux in front of her with a tilt of her head and a befuddled look.

"Ahahahaha! It's just," Orange made a humph sound with tears of laughter pouring from his eyes, "It's not very common that a non-Cendreux, especially a human, sticks around after hearing about the memory part of courting us."

Hearing Orange's words, Max allowed a small chuckle to leave her with a small smile following afterward.

"Orange, Herah," Max tilted her head towards the still frozen youngling that was behind her father, "Has already done a lot for me." Max put her hands to her chest, "She offered me an ear when I needed one and helped me get back some of my power by allowing me to take her virginity." Max's trailed down and looked through Orange and towards where Herah's mirror sat while she subconsciously added, "Which also got me some pretty good sex, so it was a double win."

"Max," The human in question quickly looked back up at a visibly uncomfortable Orange, who had a pained smile on his face and spoke with clear discomfort and held back anger, "Please don't remind me of the acts you recently committed with my daughter. The remnants of your scents on each other, the smell from that spot, and your very, very, detailed recount of the experience are good enough for my imagination..... And sanity."

"Sorry," Max apologized with a nervous chuckle and rub of her shoulder. "Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that Herah has already gone that extra mile for me, and I would have to be a real ungrateful bitch to just bow out now. Plus," Max looked around Orange and towards Herah with a smile, "I've already trusted lava tits with a few secrets, a few more over time isn't that bad." Max's smile transformed into a small frown as she pointed at Herah, "But will she be okay with all of that?"

Orange turned back to look at Herah before moving next to Max and telling her,

"While I know for sure that she is perfectly fine with it, it never hurts to get verbal confirmation."

And with those words, all the frost that had previously covered the clearing began to recede as Orange reigned his Presence back in completely. This left everything and everyone previously covered in frost free of it, including Herah and Rouge.

Rouge looked around in confusion for a few moments before turning her attention to her daughter (who she was still strangling) and giving her a few confused blinks.

"Herah why am I-" Rouge's eyes widened as a scent hit her nose which was quickly followed by her remembering her reasoning for the choking of her daughter, "OH YEAH! That's why I'm doing this."

These words were soon followed by a snarl from Rouge and renewed strength and vigor in her strangling of Herah. Herah, unable to speak due to her mother's hands, began the futile process of patting Rouge's shoulders for mercy once again. Orange shook his head at his wife's and daughter's antics before letting out a whistle which caught Rouge's attention.

"Sweety," Orange began, his voice calm and smooth, "Please let go of Herah?"

Rouge turned to Orange with a smile of her own and told him with a surprisingly cheery voice,

"Sure thing sweety," Rouge turned back to Herah (who's cheeks had gained a purple tint at this point) with an unhinged smile and said with a sinisterly sweet voice, "Just as soon as she goes limp."

"Rouge, please?" Orange asked in a slightly pleading voice with an equally pleading look.

Rouge took in Orange's expression and words before closing her eyes and dropping Herah, who after falling to her knees, thankfully took in as many breaths as possible while muttering thanks to her father and La Flamme.

"Thanks sweety." Orange told Rouge with a smile and wink.

Rouge let out a huff and rolled her eyes before walking over to Orange and Max. Stopping in front of the two, Rouge took a whiff of Max and glared at her with a disgusted look.

"So you're the bitch who seduced and fucked my daughter, huh?" The mother asked in disgust.

"Rouge," Orange sternly responded before Max could say a word. "Would you lower the hostility please?"

"Why should I?" Rouge demanded, turning to and looking down at Orange with a glare as she pointed at Max, "She not only screwed my daughter and took her virginity in one fell swoop, in addition to that, she seems about ready to begin courting my, no, OUR daughter." Rouge lowered her head until she was next to Orange's ear and furiously whispered, "You know how much those things mean to Herah."

"Yes I know how much they mean to Herah," Orange replied, turning to look at his wife with narrowed eyes and a stare, "Our daughter does as well, Herah chose to do all of this herself after all."

"I know that," Rouge said, her glare deepening as she grew steadily angrier, "But as a week ago shows us, Herah isn't necessarily good at thinking her actions through! Why would she even do this, what about this human makes Herah want to do any of that!?"

"The human you speak of saved the life of both our daughter and myself. Herah is merely trying to pay her debt back," Orange told Rouge, still maintaining his stern tone of voice.

"But do you really think that everything Herah is doing is equal in worth to that?"

"It does not matter what either of us thinks is equivalent to Herah's debt, only she can determine the truth of that."

Rouge let out a frustrated growl as she backed away from Orange and shoved both of her hands into her hair and began rubbing it frantically. After a few rubs, Rouge dragged her hands down her face and looked back at Orange while speaking with barely restrained anger.

"Orange if what Herah is doing goes wrong, she will be screwed! That facet of her life will go nowhere and she might never get over it." Rouge put one hand to her chest while pointing the other at Orange, "One of our jobs as her parents is to help make sure she lives a fulfilling life and to help prevent her from ruining it or ending it short."

Orange nodded at Rouge's words with a straight face before letting out his own breath and calmly telling her,

"Another job we have, is to allow for her to make mistakes and grow from them. Rouge, that's why we help and don't actually do everything or make all of her decisions for her. In the end, it's all up to her what she does."

This seemed to not be the right choice of words, since Rouge's response to this was jets of indigo flames shooting from her mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. These indigo flames began shrouding her head in the same vein that Herah's fire had earlier. Rouge shouting at her husband,

"You don't seem to get it Orange! She," Rouge pointed at Max, "Is an unknown! Neither you or I know who she is. And Herah doesn't either! And our daughter has not only given her her innocence, but she now plans on giving this human she barely knows her one chance at a true life partner!"

"Wait, wha-" Max began but a glare from Rouge immediately silenced her up.

"Sweety, I kno-" Orange tried to begin, but Rouge cut him off with her own words.

"Don't you dare sweety me right now!"

This caused Orange to let out an annoyed sigh before he began opening his mouth again to calm his wife down only to pause when he saw what Herah was doing behind Rouge.

"I refuse to- What the ash!?" This time Rouge found herself caught off by the act of Herah reaching around the back of her mother and giving her a hug from behind.

Herah, at this point, had just finished catching her breath and offering her thanks to the proper individuals. Though Herah had most of her focus on doing the aforementioned activities, she had been listening to everything her mother and father said and had finally decided to add her own thoughts to the mix.

"Mom, I have something to say." Herah said, uncharacteristically quiet and calm.

Rouge seemed to calm down just a bit at Herah's words and almost calmed down enough to listen to her daughter.

Emphasize almost.

"Herah save your breath, nothing you say will change my mind." Rouge told Herah shrugging her off, only to have her daughter hug her from behind once again.

"Herah sto-"

"Rouge!" Max called out to the mother, causing Rouge to direct her rage towards her.

"What do you want, you fuc-" Rouge paused in her shouting as soon as Max smiled at her and said, "You should listen to your daughter."

The indigo fire that shrouded Rouge's head dissipated almost instantly as her anger suddenly left her. Rouge then let out a tired sigh and allowed an apologetic look to come to her face before she said,

"Sorry my little flame. What did you have to say?"

This threw Orange and Herah for a loop, causing Herah to look around her mother and towards Max while Orange just turned towards the human.

"What?" Max asked, rubbing her shoulders at the looks from the pair.

"Don't worry about it Max," Herah said, before redirecting her attention to her mother who was looking down at her with a small frown. This caused Herah's nostrils to flare as twin puffs of smoke left her nose. "I wanted to tell you that yeah, I know that what I'm doing could end up with me incapable of having a love life of any kind. But this could really help Max, and I owe her at least that much."

Rouge broke away from her daughter's hug and turned around to face her, crouching just enough that they were the same height. Emerald stared into emerald as Rouge sadly asked Herah,

"Do you really think you owe this girl Max so much from yourself?"

Herah allowed a chuckle to leave her as she smiled at her mother while happily stating,

"Yep."

"Why?"

Herah leaned forward until her noticeably scaleless forehead touched her mother's scaled one and their horns touched tips before closing her eyes and whispering to Rouge,

"Because in my eyes, you, dad, and La Flamme are worth all of me and then some. And even if our courting ends with us not married, I'll still have the three of you. And that's all good enough for me"

Hearing Herah's words, Rouge let out another sigh before leaning away from her daughter and rising back up to full height.

"You do realize that if you begin courting each other, she will gain your memories and you hers."

Herah looked shocked for a moment before a thoughtful expression came over her. Herah shook her head from side to side for a few moments before looking up to Rouge with a completely straight and serious face and saying,

"Fine by me."

Rouge's eyes gave Herah a scrutinizing stare for a few moments before she let out another sigh and stated,

"Fine, I'll let you do this."

"Great!" Orange cheerfully stated clapping his hands together while still staring at Max, "But before anything else happens, what the fuck did you do to my wife?"

"Oh the smile thing," Max said before shrugging her shoulders, "I've always been able to calm females just by smiling at them," Max offhandedly added, "As long as its authentic I think."

"Why only females?" Orange inquired with a tilt of his head.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Probably because I'm a lesbian." Max nonchalantly responded looking Orange dead in the eye.

"Fair enough." Orange replied with a nod of his head.

"Are you two done?" Rouge asked both Orange and Max with a glare, having turned to face the pair. Both nodded yes, causing Rouge to gesture for Max while saying, "Good. Now come with me Voleur de flamme, I have to tell you your trials out of earshot of my daughter."

"Rouge!"

"Mom!"

"What did she just call me?"

Orange shook his head and used his tail to rub his brow before looking back down at Max and telling her, "Don't worry about it, just," Orange closed his eyes and let out a sigh before reopening them and pointing towards Rouge, "Just go with her real quick." Orange turned to look at Herah with a small grin and said, "I want to talk with Herah one on one anyway."

Max looked over to Herah, who was standing next to her mother shifting uncomfortably as her gaze was focused on her father. Noticing Max looking at her, Herah just waved her off and nodded for the human to go with Rouge. So Max walked over to the mother who quickly snatched her up by the wrist and dragged her out of the clearing into a more private area.

As soon as Orange was sure Max was out of earshot, he walked up to Herah, picked her up, and wrapped her up in a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're alive." Orange said to Herah with his chin on her shoulder and a wide smile on his face.

"I'm glad you're alive as well." Herah responded with a slight wince of discomfort and a smile of her own as she buried her face into her father's shoulder. Orange felt a bit of wetness spread into his white polo as Herah allowed her silent tears to seep out of her eyes and into his shirt.

After a few more moments of the two hugging each other, Orange set Herah down on her feet and then sat down before her. Herah joined her father on the ground right after wiping away her tears and drying her face with a quick breath of flames.

"So sweety," Orange began, still smiling at Herah, "I heard from Max what happened, but why don't you give me your own account of everything that's gone on since I last saw you?"

And Herah did exactly that, giving her father her own recount of the last day (or week in his case). Herah told Orange everything, except for Max's history and the finer details of the "battle" between the two afterward.

"Did you just call sex a "battle"?" Orange asked with a barely restrained laugh, giving Herah an amused smile.

"Ye-Yeah! What if I did?" Herah replied defensively giving her father a glare with a small blush on her cheeks.

"Was that an attempt to censor yourself?" Orange asked, his smile widening as tears began to pool in the corner of his eyes with the Cendruex clearly on the edge of erupting into laughter.

Herah didn't reply to her father's question, instead, she looked to the side with her cheeks reddening even more. This sight proved to be the breaking point for Orange, as his body became racked with laughter and tears began pouring from his eyes as he bent over and held his stomach as tightly as possible. Blushing even harder, Herah glared at her father and crossed her arms.

"Fuck you." Herah told her father, causing him to laugh even harder.

"Didn't you tell Max that after your 3rd, 17th, and 25th orgasm?" Orange asked with laughter breaking up his speech regularly, as he returned to his sitting position

Herah's eyes widened in shock as she stared her father down, her expression portraying shame as a realization hit her.

"How detailed was Max in her descriptions?" Herah asked, clearly knowing the answer and hating it.

"Glad you finally got to explore those fetishes you told me and your mother about when you were twelve," Orange cringed as Max's description came to mind, "Could've done without the play-by-play recount of your exploration though."

"Flammedammit! You remember that!?" Herah shouted at her father blushing even harder at the memory of that specific conversation.

"Your mother has a recording of it that we sometimes listen to for shits and giggles. You sounded so proud when you told us."

"I feel even worse about the fact that they're now confirmed for you."

"Don't worry about it sweety, I still love you same. I mean, you share two of them with me."

"Really whi- AAHH! AMMIT!" Herah shouted, as a searing pain suddenly appeared on her tongue and caused the youngling to stick it out. The pain lasted for a brief moment before completely disappearing without a trace.

"What the fuck was that!?" Herah asked as she stood up and ran a claw over her tongue.

"Oh yeah, forgot you forgot that part." Orange said as he rose up and caught Herah's extended tongue between the claw on his thumb and middle finger. Paying no mind to Herah's bemused moan, Orange got a look at the tattoo that now sat on his daughter's tongue.

The tattoo was that of a joker card, with a skull in the make-up and hat of a jester in the center of Herah's tongue with Max's name upside down at the right tip of Herah's tongue and right-side up at the back left of Herah's tongue.

Orange nodded in satisfaction at what he saw and let go of Herah's tongue.

"What the ash was that for dad!?" Herah asked with an annoyed look on her face, before also asking," And what the ash did I forget?"

"I'll answer in that order, I wanted to see what your tattoo would be on your tongue and you forgot that when courting begins you both get tattoos somewhere on your body marking you as such.

Herah faced palmed at Oranges words, cursing herself for forgetting about that part of courting.

"Dammit! I forgot that and the memory swapping thing. Uuuhh! I'm a fucking idiot." Herah shook her head, "I should've brought this up with you before even offering courting as an option to help Max, since the last time we talked about it was three years ago."

This caused Orange to look at his daughter with a curious expression and ask her,

"Are you regretting your decision to court her already Herah?"

This got a grunt and puff of smoke from Herah.

"Of course not, even with those new things added on I'm still willing to go through with it."

"But what do you think of Max, do you think you might've courted her if you weren't trying to help her?"

This caused Herah to gain a pensive expression as she began rubbing her chin while looking towards where her courting partner and mother went. After a few moments, Herah found her answer and turned back to Orange to deliver it.

"No, not now anyway. But if Max kept showing me what she already has without too much deviation or issue, I probably would've asked her to court me after a month or so."

"Why is that?"

This solicited a smirk from Herah, which the youngling followed up by offering her father her answer.

"Her clear admiration of my body really works to boost my ego, and the "battle" we had was absolutely wonderful, if a bit pride shattering."

"That sounds rather shallow," Orange said with a shiver at Herah's last words.

"I know, but it is a something I like about her. I also find her vast power and ability to calm me done extremely attractive. Especially because Max doesn't really flex either of them," Herah made a sound of musing, "Maybe I find her humility more attractive."

"That's something you're sorely lacking in for sure." Orange responded in amusement.

"Shut up!" Herah told her father with a flare of her nostrils and twin puffs of smoke. This got her a snicker in response. Narrowing her eyes at her father, Herah continued, "Max is also one of the nicest beings I've met and her empathy is something I quite like."

"You always were a big softy inside."

"Will you shut up!?" Herah shouted at her father with a blush.

Orange put his hands up with a small grin on his face clearly having fun messing with his daughter.

"Max is also pretty funny and has shown respect for La Flamme, something uncommon for the average Cendreux in our current day and age." Herah let a growl rumble deep within her throat.

"Herah, not now." Orange said with a knowing look and sigh.

"Sorry," Herah responded closing her eyes and taking a few calming breaths. Once done, Orange asked Herah a question.

"Is that all?"

Herah shook her head no, before taking a deep breath and saying,

"To be honest, the reasons I just gave you are just sprinkles compared to my main two."

"And those are?"

"Will and faith." Herah said looking down, each word carrying a significant weight to it.

"Oh really," Orange said in surprise, before tilting his head and asking, "How so?"

Herah looked back up at her father with a smile of admiration on her face as she spoke.

"Max has shown greats amounts of both. I mean, nuking a population to save her brother from being erased is pretty hardcore and something I can respect. And what makes me respect her all the more is the fact that Max clearly knew it would cause her so much pain and suffering, Max felt that her actions were a grave evil that the Oni didn't deserve. But even with all of that, Max nuked them anyway. Max committed a grand atrocity just to save her brother. Max knew that this would make her hate herself and weaken her severely, yet did it anyway because he meant that much to her."

"What Max did reminds you of what La Flamme did for you, doesn't it?" Orange asked his daughter, having noticed the tears that had begun dragging down her face as she spoke.

"Yeah," Herah said nodding to herself while sucking in her bottom lip, "It does." Herah then wiped away her tears and continued on, "On the topic of faith, well, Max entrusted me with a secret that her brother doesn't even know. Max trusted me enough to hand me the truth to her gift and tell me a bit about her past. Ash, Max trusted me enough to began courting me even though this might now work to fully help her." Herah let out a breath while smiling a wide smile and crying even harder than before. Herah then told Orange, sounding a bit delirious, "Dad, I think I just might have a crush."

This got a pleasantly surprised chuckle from Orange, that he followed up on by patting his daughter on the head and saying,

"Well if you really feel that way, then I can only wish you two the best."

"Thanks." Herah said wiping away her tears once again and rubbing them out of her eyes.

"While still on the topic on how you feel about others, what do you think of your other two comrades?"

"Hmmm," Herah said while rubbing her chin before telling Orange, "Owen is fairly interesting with his personality and work as a blacksmith, though useless in a fight by his own words and what I've seen from him. I'll reserve my judgment on him for a bit more, but I do think Owen is a friend. Alex, on the other hand," Herah let out a sigh before gaining a slightly worried look on her face that cause Orange a bit of worry.

"What's wrong sweety?"

"Dad, I already know your answer but would you please just answer a question for me?" Herah asked with her eyes closed.

"Sure thing." Orange said, sounding even more worried.

"Will you not look down on me for saying that Alex honestly scares the shit out of me?"

"I would never look down on you Herah, but why does Alex scare you so much? I thought you two reached an understanding with each other."

"We did, and it's thanks to the conversation where I reached this understanding and established this bond with Alex that I developed my fear of him." Herah looked down at her left hand, the one she had used to shake Alex's.

"Why is that?"

"I get the impression that Alex views me the same way the general populous views the Nettoyants." Herah looked back up to Orange, "I get the impression that Alex sees me as a very, very, useful tool that is ultimately disposable."

"And since you will obey all of his order's no matter what for now, you're afraid he might dispose of you if a situation calls for it as the best option." Orange finished for Herah with a frown before putting his hands behind his head and looking up to the sky as his tail rubbed his chin. After a few seconds of this, Orange looked back at Herah and told her, " If you're truly that afraid of that outcome, then become his friend."

"What?" Herah asked with a few surprised blinks. "Why?"

"Because that way he'll see you as worth keeping around even after Recompense ends, which will lower your chance of being disposed of as you so believe." Orange responded, before continuing, "Get to know each other better, find something you have in common, just do what you can to become his friend. I know you have some anger towards him and this fear, but becoming his friend won't just improve your standing in his mind but also your team's dynamic. But that's merely what I suggest, it's up to you to follow through with it."

Herah thought over what Orange told her for a few moments before telling him,

"I'll try."

Orange gave Herah thankful nod before telling her,

"Your mother is on her way by herself, she wants to talk to you alone so I'm gonna go speak to Max for a bit. And you won't have long with her since Norwe told us we can only stay for two hours here and I wasted most of it having Max recount what had already happened." Orange moved to leave, but a hurried "Wait!" from Herah stopped him in his tracks.

"Yes, Herah?" Orange asked.

"How do you know Norwe?"

"They're an old acquaintance."

And with those words, Orange's image distorted and bent as he disappeared at relativistic speeds, leaving Herah frowning at the information given to her by her father.

A few seconds afterward, Rouge reentered the clearing and walked up to Herah. Herah looked at her blue tunic wearing mother and smiled getting a smile in response before any words were said.

"How have you been and what's happened since I've left?" Herah asked breaking the silence between the two.

"Firstly would've been nice to hear about the rotting smell before I left, nearly passed out when I caught the whiff of one of those destroyed clearings." Rouge scolded Herah before answering her daughter's question sounding a bit more caring, "I've been worried sick about you and since you've been kidnapped I got a raise, two Nettoyants have conquered an entire solar system with over four inhabitable planets, and you've had two visitors."

"Glad you're getting paid more money, fuck yeah, and who wanted to visit me?"

"You got a visit from that bitch Rose, almost choked the shit out of her when I saw her."

"What did Rose want?"

"Your ex-teacher wanted to thank you for finally telling her you respected her and to offer an apology for being partially the reason you got expelled."

"Oh," Herah said, sounding a bit surprised, "That's cool, who was the other one that visited?"

This caused Rouge's eyes to narrow as twin jets of indigo fire shot from her nostrils as she begrudgingly stated,

"La Flamme."

Immediately Herah's breath caught in her throat, as she began slapping her breast with the palm of right hand. Euphoria flooded Herah as her breath left her and she dropped to her knees in excitement. Looking up to her mother with a look of zealous glee, Herah breathlessly asked,

"Mistress p-p-paid a v-v-visit to o-o-our house for m-m-me?"

"Yes," Rouge grunted out with a frown, "Apparently, La Flamme knew immediately after you were whisked away what had occurred and ended up dropping by an entire 28 cycles early to give me something for you."

Herah immediately jumped up and shouted in fanatical joy, dancing around her mother while singing in her ancient tongue about the wonders of La Flamme before Rouge put a brutal stop to it by slamming her fist into the stomach of her daughter before she could react.

"Ooowwww." Herah groaned out on her knees before her mother, "That hurt."

"Don't care." Rouge replied with a twitch in her eye and two more twin jets of indigo flames. "Now get up, I want to give you what La Flamme left for you."

Herah immediately rose with a giddy smile on her face that got a disgusted snort from her mother before the elder Cendreux held out the palm of her hand. Not a second after doing so, a small pearl-sized rock with a surface that showed raging flames emerged from Rouge's hand.

"Is that a-"

"Yes."

"Did our mistress really-"

"Yup."

Herah stared at the rock in silence for a few seconds with wide eyes and a dopey look on her face. That was until Rouge shoved it towards her causing Herah to look back up at her mother in disbelief and ask,

"Is this-"

"Yes it is, now take the stupid rock and put it into the front of your throat for me. Don't ask why and tell no one where you put it." Rouge said, sounding extremely pissed off.

Herah paid no mind to her mother's ire, and simply took the signal de fumée from her mother's hands and placed it on her throat. The signal de fumée sunk in without issue and made it seem as if Herah's thyroid was now more pronounced.

Herah let a happy sigh leave her before quickly wrapping her angry mother in a hug that surprised the elder Cendreux while joyfully saying,

"Thanks mom. I know how much you hate La Flamme, and I'm happy you were able to set aside this hate and give this to me."

This caused Rouge to let out a sigh before hugging her daughter back and telling her in a ,

"I might hate La Flamme's guts but your mistress has done right by you, so I can't ever just turn down doing something La Flamme wants me to do for you."

"Thanks again mom."

"No problem."

After that, not a word was traded between the two as they just stood in silence hugging each other until Orange and Max arrived.

"Aaaah! That's so beautiful." Max said in adoration right after entering the clearing alongside a smiling Orange.

As soon as Max's voice hit Herah's ears, the youngling turned away from her mother to face her courting partner only to be hit by a wave of foreign emotions once her eyes landed on Max.

Rage, guilt, self-loathing, fear, inadequacy, and gratitude mentally slammed into Herah in massive waves that caused her knees to buckle and for her vision to blur. Herah knew that Max's knees had buckled as well since panic soon joined and quickly overtook the numerous other waves that battered at the minds of Herah and Max. Both began to drown in the panic that flooded their minds and would've passed out if not for the quick actions of both Rouge and Orange.

SMACK!

"Max! Get a grip of yourself!"

Both Herah and Max were quickly snapped out of the flood of emotions that had nearly overwhelmed them and shakily rose back up to their feet. Herah felt the same emotions from before come into her mind, this time much weaker and more diluted with the exception of gratitude which was felt rather strongly by both Herah and Max. There were a few other very insignificant emotions that Herah felt from Max but ultimately found indecipherable. Blinking her eyes a few times, Herah's vision cleared and revealed the worried face of her mother and the sensation of a stinging cheek.

"Mom, d-did you slap me?" Herah asked with a wince.

"Sorry, I freaked out." Rouge said with a wince of her own.

"What just happened to the two of us?" Max asked, sounding immensely perplexed since both Herah and Max shared a sense of confusion.

"When the courting starts, your empathetic and memory link is established through one of you laying their eyes on the other." Orange began explaining, "Once that is done, you will both feel a sudden rush of the other's emotions (which you just did) which are amplified to a crazy degree before the link stabilizes and works as it is supposed to."

"Why did you not tell us this?" Herah asked with an angry jet of green fire, the feeling of annoyance felt by both herself and Max being amplified.

"Forgot." Rouge and Orange replied simultaneously with shrugs of their shoulders.

Herah and Max both let out an annoyed huff before curiosity overtook the emotion for both of them and Max asked,

"How did you forget that?"

"It's been a couple of thousand years since Rouge courted me, so I think that might've been a thought that faded to the back of both of our minds after all these years." Orange said with a shrug.

Herah felt a foreign feeling of weak surprise invade her mine as Max let out a surprised mmph.

"Oh yeah," Rouge said, as a memory popped into her head, "That reminds me after the link stabilizes won't they have several random nights where they enter what amounts to a heat?"

Orange thought to himself for a few moments before saying,

"Yep."

Herah made sure to file that away before turning to her father, who now stood to Herah's left, and asking,

"Is it time for you two to go yet?"

Orange nodded yes and walked up to his wife and Herah and wrapped them both up in a bone-crushing hug for a few seconds before setting both down and walking towards the mirror that had allowed both him and Rouge to meet his daughter. Rouge gave her daughter a quick peck on the cheek and joined her husband in front of the mirror soon afterward.

Before either stepped through, Orange turned back to Herah and asked,

"By the way, did you already do your morning prayers?"

"Yep, right before I met up with Max today."

Orange turned to Max and told her,

"I'll have your clothes repaired soon enough so you can finally wear something other than that trench coat, and I will add a few improvements."

Orange then turned back to Herah and asked another question.

"What gave you the idea of courting to help Max anyway?"

"Norwe gave me the stone tablet on which you carved mom's wedding vows as a reward for succeeding in entertaining him in my fight with Moon, and I got the idea from that."

This got a narrowing of Oranges eyes and a few slow nods of his head from before he stepped into the mirror and back into his home universe.

Rouge turned to face both Herah and Max before focusing a glare on Max and saying,

"Remember the words I told you when you're ready to progress to the next level of your courtship of my daughter and don't fuck around with her emotions, or I'll kill you."

Herah felt a foreign feeling of terror enter her mind, that even after being weakened was still rather strong, signaling Max's receiving of her mother's threat very well.

Rouge then turned to Herah, who her glared softened upon and told her,

"Don't die dumbass, and I'll have some food made for you and your teammates soon. It'll be in your room when you need it."

Max's stomach grumbled at Rouge's words which got a bit of laughter out of Herah and Max and a glare from Rouge. Shaking her head, Rouge stepped into the mirror and back into her world leaving an empty clearing sans Herah, Max, a mirror that now just showed reflections, and four silver swords.

After a few seconds of silence between the two, Max walked up to Herah and wrapped her up in a hug while telling her,

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your help Herah. I already feel a better already, but you should know this since you can feel all of my emotions anyway."

And Max was right, Herah could feel all of her gratitude and joy through their link together and since these emotions were mirrored by Herah they ended up getting amplified as well. So Herah didn't say a word and just hugged Max back.

After a few minutes of this, however, Herah decided to ask Max a question.

"Hey Max," Max looked up to Herah with a pleasant smile, "Why exactly did you not want your brother to hear any of what you told me, have you never talked about that day with him?"

"Yeah." Max told Herah in shame. Though the emotion was diluted between the two, it was still quite strong so there was no mistaking it.

"Why?"

"Herah, what emotions did you first feel when we established our connection to each other?"

"Rage, guilt, self-loathing, fear, inadequacy, and gratitude." Herah listed without thought.

"That rage you felt is directed at Alex."

This shocked Herah and caused her to unwrap herself from Max and put her at arm's length so as to see the ashamed look on her face.

"Why?"

"Because even though it's irrational for me, I blame my brother partly for what I did on both occasions. And for that reason, and that reason alone, I've never spoken about what happened that fateful day. Because I fear that I'll begin to take that rage that I've hidden away for nearly a decade now and direct it towards him unfiltered and without mercy. And I fear that might ruin the relationship I've already built up with him. That's why I've never talked about that day or of the following ones with bro."

With those words, Max's self-loathing and guilt returned as a few tears ran down her cheeks causing Herah to bring Max back in for a hug and give her a kiss on her forehead.

"Well, you at least have me to share this with."

This got a chuckle and a bit of happiness from Max which Herah quickly added to with her own, amplifying the emotion and drowning out all others.

"Thanks Herah," Max told the youngling before snuggling her head into Herah's chest and letting out a few chuckles in between Herah's breast which ended up with Herah letting out a few chuckles of her own.

After a minute or two of them hugging, Herah felt a new emotion come from Max which was quickly mirrored by the youngling, lust. Max backed up and away from Herah with a lecherous grin on her face and asked her,

"So Herah, want to go for a round two before we head back to my bro?"

This caused Herah to lose her own lust and groan externally and internally at the thought of having to deal with Alex after what had been done.

"Your brother is not going to be happy with me after learning what I did to help you." Herah said looking towards their base clearing with a grimace.

"So, why not have a bit more fun before we go?" Max asked walking up to Herah and running a few of her fingers up the youngling's arms.

"Uhh. I don't know, maybe we should just get this out of the way and deal with Alex already." Herah said, not sounding too into another "battle" with Max at the moment. "Why do you even want to go another round?"

Max let out a sigh before her expression scrunched up in concentration as one of her hands ran through her hair.

"What're you thinking about Max?" Herah asked feeling Max's confusion through their link.

"Just trying to figure out how to best explain, ah-hah!" Max shouted before saying, "So you know how right after surviving what you thought to be an inevitable death, you get this sudden rush and a greater appreciation for being alive?"

"Yeah," Herah said dryly, recalling her own brush with death from the night before, "I know what you mean."

"Well, I get that exact same feeling and a bit horny after my own near misses which I just had with your parents."

"Oh," Herah responded in understanding, "I guess that makes sense."

"So," Max began sounding immensely hopeful, "Can we go another round?"

Herah rubbed her chin for a few moments before smiling and telling Max,

"Only if we can do it on fire the entire time and I get to lick your armpits again."

"...."

"...."

"...."

Max's trench coat was discarded once again for the day.

"Deal."