One of the greatest effects otherworlders had in our world was in female apparel and accessories. Born from the princesses need to appease and entice their summoned heroes, they introduced several things like stilletto heels, brassieres, garter belts, and the infamous sailor uniform for example.

Some objects, however, were beyond our capacity to copy, but others were outright rejected. Two-piece swimsuits, leotards, and the impractical bikini armor fall into this category.

Excerpt from Understanding Otherworlders and their Impact on Society.

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

The legendary moment every person in a relationship dreads descended upon them. It was time for 'The Talk'. Aidan crossed around the bed and stopped before Cythrel. Ignoring the throbbing headache irradiating from Dawn, he asked anyway.

"Cythrel, I need to talk with Sora for a while, could you wait outside for a few minutes?"

He completely fumbled at trying to speak casually. His own fears and indecision leaked in his tone of voice.

"I'm sorry for joking, Dawn is recovering, I know you won't do anything. Are you mad at me?"

She reacted just like she always did when one of her teasing sessions went bad. That was typical Cythrel. After they reached Yutis she let her facade fall and would taunt and tease until she hit some boundary, then quickly retract, apologize, and move on as nothing happened. It might work in Elven society, but the lesser races are creatures of grudge.

"No. I am not mad and I doubt you would do something to make me mad," he answered with a hand on his temples without noticing that she thought she was the reason for his unease. "I just need to discuss some things with Sora."

Those words caused an interesting effect in the people currently inside the room, disregarding the one lying down whose brain was frantically trying to build up synapses. They were all afraid. It was palpable. They were afraid of getting hurt, they were afraid of hurting each other, they were afraid of being replaced. Everyone felt like walking with steel greaves on an autumn pine forest hiding from a rampaging chimera.

"I – I know what you are going to – to talk about. Can't I stay and listen? Please. I'll be quiet, not a single word." Cythrel was stuttering as she lied and started to hyperventilate. "If I go outside now, I know I'll run away."

The last part was truthful. She couldn't cope with rejection right now. Cythrel needed reassurance, she yearned for being loved and cared. She'd rather die than be turned away. It would be so easy for Aidan to just give in and make her his. But the big question, the one he needed to answer now else nobody would move forward was, did he love her? He felt torn inside. He liked her. He wanted to protect her. He was working hard to find a way to make her whole again. The broken elf. But back to the question. Did he love her? Not as a ward, not as a friend, but in the same way a man loves a woman. He had to make a call, but that call was not only his to make. Beastkin society did not frown on polyamorous relationships. Strong warriors often had their own group of mates. Chieftains with almost ten mates were not unheard of, either male or female or some combination in between. Was that a rabbit hole he wanted to dive in? Was he already tumbling inside?

"you can stay," he broke off from his soul-searching to tell the elf.

Aidan felt like an idiot for bringing this up while they were recovering. He should just have laughed and shrugged her teasing off. But now it was too late, he would see through what he started even if the end result was a chasm big enough to split a continent.  They had all the time in the world anyway. It is not like some pompous idiot was days away from getting here and trying to rape his female half. Worse yet, he needed Dawn battle-ready before he arrived if their plan to counter the pompous idiot was to move ahead. He had a throng of spells to research. The hydra just grew more heads.

He turned around and found Sora looking at him. What followed was a long pregnant silence. They looked into each other's eyes. After all these years living together every single day, they could understand each other without words. Aidan could see the fear in the eyes of his mate. He had to make a call. Something had to give in. But rather than break any of these girls, he felt that his stubbornness was the path of least hurt. He could even pin the blame on the headache of Dawn's recovery, but it would be only a temporary patch.

Oblivious to the world around him, Aidan gazed into Sora's almond-shaped caramel-rimmed pupils too large to be human. The eyes wavered for a split second. The fear was still clouding her thoughts. He could even picture what she was trying to ask him. 'Do you love her, Aidan?' Sora's unspoken question felt like a boulder from a catapult.

Pain Resistance – He silently used the spell on both him and Dawn. the headache didn't dim even slightly as he was hit by a harsh reality. Brains don't feel pain. What they were feeling was the discomfort from having every single part of Dawn's brain reshape itself to rewire her prioceptive and proprioceptive channels. There was nothing he could do but endure the process until the end. With both bodies awake. They didn't have an entire year to allow Dawn to learn to walk and speak on her own. He dismissed the spell.

Cythrel held an arm in front of him and broke the awkward silence.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"It is okay. You don't have to answer. I know it is bad timing, and we talked about waiting. I'm sorry for pressuring you."

Aidan knew that moment he was committing the same mistake he did with Sora. Lying to himself. Before their trip, he thought he had no lust for Sora. Because he had not only lust for her. It was a different feeling than when he looked at a scantly-clad whore offering her body in front of a brothel. Or one of the village girls flipping their skirts right on his face. The feeling he had was of a higher sphere, a sublime feeling that included lust but so many other basic feelings as well. He was once again lying to himself that he had no such feelings for Cythrel. Because of her underdeveloped body. Because of her circumstances. Because he was afraid it would be mistaken for pity.

His feelings for Cythrel were different than what he felt for Sora. But he found it was pointless to compare them. It was like asking if you liked your left hand better than your right hand. You would be incomplete with either, even more so without any of them. Even his metaphors brought him back to one of the biggest problems. He could not figure out if he had lust for Cythrel in his heart. Even if he had, it would be mixed with everything else. The wish to protect, to nurture, to heal her. To make her happy. To hear her laughter.

He closed his eyes and made a mental exercise. He imagined Cythrel with another man. Make it a nice guy for a change. Dancing with some stranger in the royal gala. Kissing him. Flames rose and darkened his mind. He felt a touch on his arm, a tug. He opened his eyes and found a scared Sora talking to him. Awareness returning to himself, he found his fists clenched and the room unusually warm. Sora was next to him, urging him back to his senses.

"Aidan, what is wrong? You lost control of your magic for a moment. Talk to us."

He made a quick mental check and yes, he did lose control of his magic. At least his aunt didn't become a balloon, like some story he heard. "And the Headmaster took my bracelets with him. Great." He mumbled as he sat on the bed and clutched his head.

"I'm sorry." He spoke without raising his head after a while. "I'm a mess," he continued.

"My head feels like dripping tar. Truth is I was never fully healed since the accident. you saw it, almost a quarter of my current Soul is inert because it is Lumina. Healing me means finishing the fusion, and then I won't be either Aidan or Lumina, but someone in between and entirely different. I was using Dawn as an anchor, a safe harbor, a crutch. Now it is her that needs me to make herself whole again. I can't even know if I'll restore the same Dawn as before.

"Come here, you two." He waved his arms and soon he held a girl in each one. "Sit next to me, Sora." It left him free to put Cythrel square in front of him.

Staring into her viridian eyes he almost lost himself for a while. After a moment to recompose himself, he spoke his mind, "I'm sorry I can't give you an answer now. There's just too much going on and I can't make heads or tails of my feelings. I don't want to —"

Cythrel lunged and seized his lips. She just pressed them together and held it for a while. "I know. Shh. It is my time to speak." She separated her mouth to speak but kept the tip of their noses touching.

"You humans overthink things too much. I love you and I am yours. That is as true as the stars sparkling at night. To know that I hold a special place in your heart is already enough to make me happy for now. I can read you. You spent time thinking back and forth, speaking to yourself, and even getting angry at some mental image you pictured. Was it about me?" He frowned like a kid caught stealing cookies from the jar, causing her to squeal, "So cute."

Cythrel leaned her head on his shoulder, facing his neck. Her arms were at his sides. Aidan didn't know what to do, so he gave in and hugged her back.

"Got you." She whispered. "You are mine now. Or should I say ours? Right, Sora?"

The beastkin girl stood up, glared at her immobile mate, still hugging the elf. "We are stopping at two, right?"

Aidan pushed Cythrel away to massage his temples. "Are you okay with this?"

"No, I'm not, who would want to share a mate?" Sora answered with unabated honesty. She huffed to clear her chest and opened a smile, "But this little scheming mynx earned her keep. I tried but I can't hate her. So this is it. Welcome to the family."

The last word rang through Cythrel like a brass gong going off next to her. "Thank you, Sora."

"You need to stop picking up strays," Sora told Aidan with a hint of mirth in the corner of her eyes.

He raised a hand and placed the other on his heart, "I promise I'll stop before the tenth princess."

Sora shook her head at his cringe-worthy joke as she walked around the bed and to the door, "I'm going to run some errands and when I'm coming back I'll get us food and something to drink. You three behave while I am out."

She left and Cythrel was rocking herself back and forth, waiting to break the silence.

"I believe you were going to undress, weren't you?"

In for a copper coin, in for a gold coin, he thought. And she was right, he had to undress. Better explain in detail before this airhead fills her imagination with lewd stuff.

"Let me explain it to you, Cythrel. When one of us, either Dawn or me are weakened, we can speed up our recovery by keeping physical contact. The more the better. I'm going to undress, lie down right next to my girl self there and I won't do anything else. We are having a mild to moderate headache. I think Dawn's brain is adapting to work with her new body. I'm going to lie down there and wait for the headache to pass. Am I clear?"

She fidgetted a little before asking with doe eyes, "Can I stay with you?"

"If you just want to get under the duvet with us it is fine. But don't get any hopes, we are not doing anything."

Cythrel raised her arms, "Disrobe me too. I'd ask Dawn normally, but I don't trust her not to poop herself right now."

Aidan deadpanned. "I am in control now. I am pretty sure I can keep her continent," He hesitated for a bit, "or at least know in advance it is coming."

"Great. Because I'm not too confident to try and change her diapers with Sylph's Hand yet. Now, if you would be so kind as to unbutton my blouse..."

He undressed her without showing any reaction. It should be the hundredth-something time he would see her naked and Dawn was helping her with her needs since they defeated Kazuya. Speaking of which...

"You should hire a personal maid. Let's ask Claire's mother, she is a governess at the castle. You have a stipend, better make use of it, Lady Cythrel."

He tucked her in the bed next to Dawn and picked up her clothes and a spare pillow. She sighed and snuggled her head on Dawn's shoulder, turning to face Aidan.

"I had one, but she was chopped off, turned into a baby, and became my wife. What a waste! Your turn now, make a nice show."

Aidan went behind a screen and removed his clothes, folding both sets and placing them inside a drawer of the dresser. He returned to the bed covering himself with the pillow.

After getting under the duvet on the other side of Dawn, Cythrel put her tongue out and pouted. "Spoilsport."