Dawn waved her arms, lightning crackling and trailing her fingers.

"Doff your armor." She ordered the knights.

Sora had already collected their weapons and was aiming her bow at them. Lola was holding Cythrel back while the elf girl screamed murder at the knights. Deb was running back with a vial, red liquid sloshing inside.

Pearl took the vial and slowly poured the potion over Aidan's torn left cheek. The flesh bubbled and slowly closed like a zipper. Some of the potions fell in the mouth and healed the other wounds from the duel. She pinched the cheek in place to help the potion heal properly. After it was mostly closed, she signaled to Lola and she released Cythrel.

"Please hold him still, my dear," Pearl asked her.

The elf knelt next to Aidan and held him sideways, left side up. Pearl then stoppered the flash with her thumb and released droplets of potion over the places that needed more healing. These potions only worked when they entered the body, either through a wound or orally.

Dawn relaxed a bit when she saw her body heal. But she kept the lightning bolt ready.

Clattering metal sounds and crackling ever-burning fire were all that one could hear on that hilltop while the knights removed their armor and two of them burned.

After making sure the rest of the potion went down Aidan's throat, Pearl left him in Cythrel's care and got up.

"Let me deal with them, will you?" She winked at Cythrel. "Speaking of dealing with them, I have a plan, Cythrel. Listen up..."

The Princess and the elf talked and giggled a little.

Pearl looked back at Dawn but from her expression, she knew the boy in princess clothing was unable to do anything, still disturbed by what almost happened to him. She took the lead and walked near the knights, an accusatory finger pointed at them.

"You! Wretched oathbreakers! Cursed be you, your names, and your houses! Honorless scum! I've seen vultures worth of more respect than you lot. How dare you raise arms against your own royalty? Murder and treason! A thousand deaths would not be enough punishment. I shall see you live long enough to be dragged in front of the whole realm, your former peers, and the King."

There were three bodies burning on that hilltop, one from fire magic, one from Dragonfire and one from indignation. Pearl was shaking, fuming. Had she her magic back, these former knights would be already boiling too.

"Sir Gurf, bind those criminals with a single roll of rope and tie them at the back of the carriage. Gather the gear and stow it on the horses."

"As you will Your Highness."

"And cut off a foot of anyone that resists. I want to see them walk to the capital hopping. Lady Sora, please look after Lord Aidan."

The princess and the squirrel-kin looked at each other. Pearl forced a smile but not out of sympathy. The situation didn't afford smiles. As they passed each other, they stopped and exchanged whispered words.

"Thank you, Pearl."

"Cherish your champion, milady. Today your honor was upheld even in defeat. Make sure to bestow him your favor."

Dawn watched as Gurf finished tying up the last of the four knights. They would be running behind the carriage, or they would be dragged to the capital.

"Skippy, that is enough. You can stop the fire now." She told the dragon and jumped down from the driver's seat. She approached Cythrel and Sora and found her own body lying down between them.

"Healing Light"

She used the mid-tier healing spell on him. It finished healing the gash along the left cheek of the boy, leaving a faint white scar. Unless a high tier regeneration magic was used, it would stay there. She found she didn't mind having that scar.

"I'm sorry." It was all she could tell the girls near her. "I think it is time to wake up."

Dawn channeled her will. Part of her consciousness traveled through their tether and Aidan woke up. The pain of the wounds and the irritation of the healing magic hit them hard for a moment. Sora supported Dawn and after a few moments they were all standing up.

"Sora, I..." Aidan looked at her and he felt an urge to hide. Embarrassment, shame. He couldn't look at her the same way. But what good would be everything if he had not the courage to take this step?

He barely had the mental strength to keep moving and acting like two people.

"Come. You must be tired. Let's go in the carriage and sit down for a while." Sora invited.

Aidan held her hand and they went inside the carriage. He pulled the curtains over the windows. Outside, Cythrel took Dawn away from the carriage to look down the other side of the hill at the forest they were supposed to cross.

Dawn sat and placed Cythrel on her lap.

"Stupid Aidan." The elf spoke as if it was about another person. "To think that boy would go and challenge a knight captain. That is stupid beyond belief, Lumina."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"He had to fight. That man insulted Sora." Dawn decided to play along. Cythrel slid a hand beneath her arm and rested her head against Dawn.

"Still stupid. But speaking of her, how are things between the two of them in the carriage?" her mischievous smile had no innocence.

"Are you trying to make me spy on myself?"

"Yes, I am. Did you bring me here so I couldn't hear Sora's moans?"

"We are just talking, for crying out loud."

"Oh, thank you." Cythrel smiled and turned to look at the forest. She caught Dawn red-handed.

--------------------

"I want to hit you!" Sora told Aidan as soon as they were alone in the carriage. "Why did you go and pick a fight."

"On the right side, please." He offered his face. Sora just let herself fall on the bench opposite to Aidan.

"Stupid, stupid. You were this close to dying! I can fight my own battles!"

"I'm sorry. But my blood boiled when he insulted you. Out of contempt. Just because he thought he could get away with it."

Sora looked at him in the eyes. "Why did your blood boil? Why an insult made you so angry?"

Aidan paused. He paused there, gaze locked with Sora for a while and he suddenly blushed.

"We are just talking, for crying..." Sora blinked and became a little confused. "Oh, Sorry. Cythrel is teasing the other me."

He didn't want the subject to change. He had to speak. But after figuring out his feelings, he felt he was stuck. He could joke and tease with Sora normally, but now it was awkward. He was afraid. He wanted to hold her hand but he couldn't move. His arm won't move. He couldn't even speak. Aidan was pretty sure Sora had romantic feelings for him. And he understood his own very clearly now. So why he couldn't speak?

"Is something wrong, Aidan?" Sora leaned forward. "You seem afraid. Is it Lumina stirring again?"

"No. She surfaced to warn me of the captain's intentions but I don't think she has enough strength to act again." It was easy to speak if the subject was not his feelings. Why?

"You did freeze for a moment several times during the fight. Was it all Lumina's doing?"

"No. I've realized I was denying a truth. Refusing to believe." His chest was rising and falling. He was sweating too.

"Believe in what?" Sora asked.

The carriage's door swung wide open and Pearl popped a head inside.

"YAY! Time is up! Did the two of you have fun?"

She waved a hand and Cythrel abandoned Dawn to run back to the carriage.

"You set me up you little pipsqueak!" Dawn cursed at the elf running away.

--------------------------------------------------

They decided to spend the rest of the day at the hilltop. Deb and Lola were setting up camp with the driver and Gurf's help, the four knights were tied up beneath a tree and Dawn was under a parasol alone in the driver's bench keeping watch with Skippy.

Because the other three girls were debriefing Aidan on his duel, his life choices, and his combat skills or lack thereof.

"As much as I am delighted to see a dashing young man rising up to the challenge and defending his woman's honor, I must say and I hope you forgive my honesty that you are stupid, Aidan." Pearl started.

"Yes, that knight captain was very skilled. Think of it he trained the sword for two decades. You had what? three years? I'm grateful to you for standing up to me, but I feared for your life." Sora added.

"Aidan, you are a genius with spellcraft and magic in general. But this same genius makes you overthink things. I bet your mind was racing everywhere during that fight. No wonder even your opponent stopped to chastise you." It was Cythrel's turn.

"I bet you were overthinking things when the goblin stabbed you in the shoulder," Sora remembered. Aidan flinched, and she smiled knowing she'd hit the bullseye.

"And who drops their weapon during a fight? That was beyond stupid, it was as if you were asking him to put you out of your misery," Pearl continued. "Oh, it might be that. The contempt in that man's eyes was overwhelming."

"I sensed something strange in Aidan's fighting style, but I can't pin it." Cythrel mused. "Sora, when you sparred with him, was he like that?"

"No. Before the accident, he was better. I think he is not entirely restored."

"Even more reasons to revert this unholy union between you and Lumina. Who knows what awaits you at the end of this dark path?" Pearl looked at Aidan, "Oh, don't make that face. We are best friends, remember? I am quite fond of you, Lord.. no, Aidan. Nothing would bring me more joy than to see you healthy, sane and separated from Lumina. After all, you did propose to me. I like to keep my prospective suitors alive."

Sora turned her head mechanically to face Pearl. "He did what?" And then she glared at Aidan.

"My, my. Me and my long tongue. It slipped." She lied. Pearl's words were measured to cause the exact reaction she wanted. "You see, Dawn and I had a little... altercation during our bath in the dungeon."

"I am aware of that. Dawn came out of the bath with the scent your sex all over her."

Aidan hung his head down.

"And I supposed I came out with hers as well."

"Indeed."

"I think it wasn't a little altercation after all." Cythrel teased. "And I wish you'd taken me to that dungeon."

"Girls, should you be talking about this with me here?" Aidan tried to excuse himself.

"Why not?" Cythrel asked.

"Yeah, why not. You are half-girl anyway. Or maybe three-fourths if we count Lumina's soul inside of you." Pearl concluded.

Sora declined to comment. Instead, she steered the conversation back to the good part.

"And then you were discussing the bath back in the Mayor's house..."

"Oh, yes. I was delighted to hear Aidan coming clean about his status and the true identity of Dawn as he wearing Lumina's body. And I got just a little bit angry."

"Because of the bath."

"Because of the bath, exactly. I thought I was with Lumina, but instead, I exposed my whole self to him." Pearl pointed at Aidan. "Or his female half anyway. And we started to discuss if it counted or not as doing it with a man."

"It doesn't," Sora answered immediately.

"Yes, unless you put their boy inside your girl it doesn't count," Cythrel explained.

"We reached the same conclusion but without these rather graphical terms. Anyway, to appease my anger during our conversation, Lord Aidan proposed to me. I was really upset and he hugged me from behind and whispered in my ear, 'Pearl is mine'."

"That wasn't what he said." Cythrel protested. I think it was 'I'll marry you but please don't bleed'."

"Why would he want to stop Pearl from bleeding?"

"I have no Idea, no idea whatsoever. I wanted to have him kill himself, but do you know what was his final play?"

Cythrel laughed with the memory. "I remember now, he said 'but please don't spill blood.'"

"Entertain me, Pearl," Sora asked.

"I learned my boobs hurt from sleeping on my stomach, I fear being groped by drunks in the tavern, I got the moon-blood cramps..." She forced her memory, "And then Dawn tapped her chest and spoke in a pose, 'My name is Dawn and I am a girl. A woman' " Pearl tried to impersonate Dawn.

The three girls laughed until they got tired. If Aidan had a skill system like the otherworlders he would be leveling [Furniture emulation] like crazy.

"But I think you are remembering it wrong, Pearl," Sora pointed out. "Lumina's body is barren since the accident, she doesn't get the moon-blood much less the cramps."

Pearl's head twisted until she found Aidan. She touched below her stomach.

"Lucky girl." She spoke with a reasonable amount of envy.