"Stepping down as Ivy-Mother... What has got into you, Rose'Ihia!?" the Gilded-Bark tries to flash in a fit of uproarious confusion. Keeping quiet and blacked-out for the moment, I carry on packing my things. Clothes, tools, memorabilia that I can get away with taking. All items fit for a petal of my supreme, full-name status.

But, the feeling at the back of my mind continues to nag me, "I told you before that I am stepping down."

"And we agreed it would be when we returned to the Garden-Mont!" he reminds me and I spin to face him, my tubes tapping sharply on the fixed marble. The repairs to our flower were finished a few days ago. Well, the Petal's platform, anyway. Rather, the platform to his flower was finished shortly before today. I'm now leaving its comfort to live a life with a lover of another species.

I am to become the very kind of aelenvari I've scorned for some time. So many foul words and flaring displays of my true-voice. And now, I am on the receiving end of it all. Gods and goddesses help me forget all about my life as an ivy-mother, I suppose.

While I cannot truly say I understand the position of those who live among the humans and more. I am wiser to their thoughts now that I am to become one of them. To have a love who could provide you with a son more so than any males of the home flower. Much as I do not want to give credit to the idea, we should spread ourselves out for other species. Past evil does not mutate them.

Besides, it's such a thrilling and interesting experience!

"I don't understand, Rose'lhia. I've known you for some time. You are giving up all the luxury, love, and respect that comes with being who you have been. Ivy-Mother! It's a role you've chased since we were little. You understood the destiny that came with your name from such a young age... And now, you are throwing it aside to live with an abomination so abominable it found no home in the putrid mess it crawled from!" Oak'endoor rants with almost clawing motions.

"Do not speak about my love in such a way, Oak." I sneer, rubbing my departure in by referring to him as what he is without the title. I won't even emulate the respect of the wind-people. This is all he is to me right now. Son of the Oak.

"Your love? It's an osibindah! There's not a shred of proof it's a human in any capacity. The one we once called Champion is gone. Only his feats remain in our memory," he insists, his finger stoking the fires burning away under my blood.

"Of course there is. Open your eyes! That is the light of a human you see. Not an osibindah... And even then. You know firsthand what osibindah do to vulnerable women they can get their hands on. If my love were anything like one of those creatures, he'd have kidnapped me at the first chance. My gifts to the world would become a curse and I'd be melded to what these disgusting creatures call 'queens.' He has done nothing that defines the osibindah and has been entirely cooperative with even the lowliest of thorns!"

"And what about your duties!? The gods will not forgive this!" he dares to guilt trip me over.

"Then you are nothing more than an idiot of the foulest kind, Oak. Can you not see that this is the gods and goddesses rewarding me for my piety? Bringing back someone, one so tightly involved with my loving heart. There is no other explanation!"

"Listen to yourself, you've gone mad! We have no idea in the slightest as to how to explain this!" he growls, his body seemingly growing before me. Despite my wounds, I stand firm and let the strength of a woman's body keep him at bay. The divine may swell their muscles more, but women were the first spell casters for a reason. Witches, we are the reason all magicians are known by that name!

Spearing around, I snatch up the artefact I took off of my love earlier, "Then explain this!"

"Jewellery bearing Motrtha's symbology. A bracelet made in the Goddess of Mothers image, from -your- collection proves nothing." he lies.

"Except!... It isn't from the collection belonging to the ivy-mother. Nor is it a piece I have ever personally owned!" I point out, twisting the holy pearls about to show off the lack of my name. With a name as pure and full as mine, to mark my property with it is only natural. If this is mine, where is my name? Where is the engraving saying 'Rose'lhia,' where!?

Smug confidence settles into my expression, and he steps back slightly. His face twitches and he thinks about what he has been told. I won't bother explaining other details. He knows full well my jewellery collection honours Aahtha, mostly. He doesn't know the reasons why, but they do not matter any more. My precious love is not him.

"This isn't adding up." is all Oak manages to get out and while I won't say it, I understand his annoyance. There is so little we know about how my love is back. However, I do not intend to let such a miracle go to waste. The gods and goddesses have returned him to my arms for a reason beyond any of our understandings.

Sighing and letting some of my frustrations out, I turn to him with neutral posture, "If you want more proof. Go to your thorns, ask them about that mysterious object we found at the site of my love's revival. The wild-seers are in tears at the sight of it. Joyful tears, I add. That object is holy, holier than anything we've encountered before."

"I've felt it, held it. It has the texture of a porcelain plate!" Oak barks with the swift click of one hand's fingers. Almost like he's trying to burn off the memory of such a 'mundane' object. I start to shake my head.

"No... I'm done wasting my time here. Leave me be. Do not worry, I have already returned all that belongs to the ivy-mother personally for whoever will take up my old mantle. You will not have to fear me taking it for the sake of clinging onto memories." I tell him, my hand grasping the staff I had collected earlier. My magic flows through the conduit and it finishes packing my supplies, then it carries them. I move past Oak'endoor with a huff and knock the staff against his arm.

I watch his narrowing eyes for not a moment longer than I have to. Making my way across the width of the flower, I go to my precious love. No need for my memory to find him, his power is so grand that I am but a moth to its flame. I hope he is done finding what he said he wanted to find. That conversation has left me sick of my former home.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Nin's former reaction to having just the limb of an osibindah is enlightening, to say the least...

Arriving into the bulb, I frown at what was entirely to be expected. He turns to me, shuffling nervously under the watch of the thorns armed with as much as they can carry. Gilded-Bark's word, my love is to be nowhere without a means to kill him present. If my eyes go away for too long, they will try.

"Are we leaving now...? I don't want to spend any more time than I need to here." my love tells me despite what he proved the night we reunited. He has nothing to fear and has already defeated death once yet...

Approaching him, I cup his chittering jaw and smile, "We will be soon, do not worry."

Slipping his bracelet back on, my heart shudders and melts. I don't know how to describe it, he just seems so much more beautiful with it on. A strong, reliable handsomeness that I can only feel. The lack of anything from the thorns, though, grounds my reaction to a simple blush.

"Come, let's finish getting you dressed." I tell him and I let my staff end the grip I have on my stuff. Giving my love my full focus, I dismiss the thorns out of my presence with what remains of my authority. Even a former ivy-mother holds sway, thankfully. It becomes far easier to move my love as the bulb empties.

"Nothing here fits me, I've already tried. What's the point...?" he sighs, his noises warping to the sounds of his insectish chitters. His frustrations display themselves and he throws many of the used piles about. As he stands up straight to heave the energy out through his breathing, I note his size. Before he died, he was not much taller, but now, he might as well be a giant.

"I assumed you would be thinking more along the lines of what we did before." I comment, finding a box full of bandages. I had some brought here before he died in the event he wanted cleaner ones before... My head shakes the memory away. There's no need to remember it now. He is back and I can hold him once again.

Moving my mind away from it, I take up the lengthy black cloak this storage bulb has in stock. We can wrap his body in one layer and then cover it in another one. We will hide his form, though his magic won't be. Not that I mind, I love being so close to such... Powerful flesh.

It makes me feel hot.

Squirming the sensation away, he takes the items into his hands, "Just like before, then...?"

"Would you like me to help?" I ask, offering my slimmer fingers to the solemn man as he flexes his six digits. His face contorts at what must be a heated memory.

"You're going to need to... Even one hand... Claw... Was difficult enough." my love grumbles as he makes a point of overshadowing my delicate digits with his armoured, bulky ones. Even putting my fingers together in pairs is not enough. They're that thick.

I do not mind, however, this is what lovers are meant to do for one another. We complement each other, make the other stronger. Through thick or thin, grand or miniscule. Besides, a chance to slip a fleeting touch on the cracks to his muscles...

Between the shel-

Huffing the lustful amusement away, I get to work. Rolling the bandages around his limbs and torso, I cover up each speck of carapace while keeping it loose enough for movement. He flexes his arms and forces some bandages around, and I top the spots off. Yet, as I reach his head, I become baffled as to how I might handle it.

The cloak has a collar, but the bandages won't fit around without... What a conundrum. Tutting, I look back and spot a display for some masks. Perhaps?

"Hold on, my love. We might have something, I am sure we do." I begin to mutter and I go deeper into the storage bulb until I find something elongated. Finding what I need, I return to present a long, elongated mask with a beak-like shape. Rather oddly as well, I swear I saw it sparkle.

If I remember correctly, this mask was carved from a mysterious beast's tusk. Precious ivory we never found a use for, but we traded for it when we last came into contact with a wind-people flower. I suppose it's divine providence we never found a use for this natural beauty. But, now I have a use for it.

"Mar Cro's..." my love lets out and I blink at the slip in his voice. It changes to something I am unfamiliar with. It is the tongue of his people? His actual people?

Moving around to his back, I help him slip the straps around his head. Unsure at first, I find what appears to be a good natural hook in his shell. The lack of complaints from him makes me leave it as is. And, refreshing my memory, I return to his front with a slight pose to accent my beauty.

"What was that you said?" I ask, flicking my tail with a whip's speed near his closest finger.

"The man who founded my old home city of Tobaballe, he wore a mask like this." Nin explains, his voice muffled slightly by the mask. Rather amusingly, unlike before, the mask is creating an artificial means for him to have an exotic accent. The ivory is thick enough to keep the chitters hidden from my ears and it adds to his voice.

"Are you going to take me there?" I ask, resting my front on some nearby silks while my rear sways. Oh, to make love in the splendours of his homeland. Tobaballe, what a wondrous place it must be to have a son like Nin come from it. What a son we could have within its walls.

"No... No... I can't go back, not like this," Nin is quick to put a halt to, "I am going to head to the place I talked to Vapooliar about... Suh..."

"Suhurlodst?" I ask, interrupting his clueless tongue to get our conversation moving.

"Yeah, some school or something... Maybe they have a means to get me back to normal. Vapooliar spoke a lot about how impressive this place is." Nin tells me, the optimism affecting his new habits as well as his old. Nodding in understanding, I slip in close to help him one more time. I make a point of using my aid with his cloak as a means to hug him. To press my honey-filled chest up against his strong, magic-rich back.

He need only desire it and I will give him all my passion...

My precious love starts to move away, his legs taking him to the nearest mirror in a few steps. He seems to like how he finds his appearance to be now. Or not, his twists before the glass come to an abrupt end. He starts to dig through the clothes, throwing them about without a care while one hand rubs his scalp.

"Do you need any help?" I ask, otherwise content to watch the amusing sight.

"Hat... I need a..." he mutters and the gods and goddesses grant him his desire. A wide-brimmed one that matches clashes not one bit with his already black and white scheme. A tight enough fit as well to not slip away easily. Only when he tries more than simple shakes does it finally fall.

A small smile comes to my face and for a moment, a flash of pride overtakes his emotions. His mind, however, is quick to remind him of why he feels the need to be like this. It slumps his shoulders and drains the joy from his breath. I sigh quietly and cross my arms, my body resting on a tower of cushions.

I only wish I can do more to help my precious love.

"Are you ready to go now? If we are going to Suhurlodst. Then I can go and get us a map as well?" I ask and offer as, while I am familiar with the esteemed locale, the path is not something that is.

"What happened to my plate? Did one of your thorns take it?" he asks and I move back slightly at the confirmation. I shake my last conversation with Oak out of my head.

"The thorns retrieved it, yes. Nothing has happened to it, I can assure you of that much." I tell him, and he shakes with excitement. He dashes towards me- and catches my falling body. Laughing the fright out of my system, he pulls me back up. I guess I have to get used to his larger size... His osibindah form...

He catches onto my expression-!

"I'm sorry, Nin... I didn't mean to..." I say, going up to him as he backs away with a timid display. I stop him and he lets me take both of his hands into mine. I need to work on this, I do. My heart loves him unconditionally, but parts of my mind and most certainly my body need to learn. Much as I abhor Oak right now, he is right. This is an osibindah before me.

"Can we go and get it?" Nin asks, taking our minds off of the reaction. Nodding, I pick my staff back up and put my magic into an aura around my stuff.

I smile and take his hand into my free one, "Come on then, let me take you to it and we can be on our way, my love!"