When I wake for the second time, I’m still being held in Trigger’s arms, and Twila is curled up against me. I cuddle close to both of them, glancing up to see that Trigger is awake. Of course he is. He doesn’t need sleep like I do. But even more than that, I like being able to sleep in without anyone calling me lazy. That was something my parents never grasped. No matter how late I went to bed or how productive I was in the evening, they expected me to wake up at the crack of dawn just because it’s what’s done. I tried more than once to explain to them that I sleep the same amount they do, just offset by a few hours, but they never really listened. I feel a twinge of guilt for thinking of my parents like that when they think I’m dead, but really what does it matter? It’s the truth, and it’s not like anyone is going to tell them what I'm thinking. My thoughts are private, thanks to my new gifts. I shake off the thoughts, refocusing on the pleasant warmth of the sun through the windows. I can tell it’s quite late in the morning already, and Trigger doesn’t seem in the least bit impatient with Twila and me for still sleeping. Of course, the nightmare last night doesn’t help matters. We were all up for a while discussing what it might mean. But now, in the bright sunshine with my two lovers cuddled up with me, it doesn’t seem nearly so scary. In fact, I’m almost ready to dismiss it as just a dream, or at least, if it is a memory, it’s not one that I'm going to worry about. I kiss Trigger’s cheek, and he smiles at me.

“Good morning, Sleepyhead,” he says as he nuzzles me. “Now that you’re up, I’m going to go find some blood. I’ll be back soon, but I didn’t want you to worry.” I nod and cuddle into Twila as he unwinds himself from around me. She doesn’t even wake up as he leaves, and I lay my head on her chest as I think about the day to come. What do I want to do? Ada insisted that we not try to find her; instead letting her come to us. She said that if her uncles found out we knew her, she’d be in major trouble. I sigh and cuddle closer to Twila. At least I have her and Trigger, even if I never see Ada again. We could go find more local food to try. We could train more, of course. Or… I pause, thinking back to when Trigger created the house on Nymbis. He was able to shape clay and stone and stuff I think. I wonder if I can do that? I know I can’t create it like he can, but would my elemental power be enough that I could create a sculpture out of stone? Or do pottery? My excitement quickly mounts and I'm getting quite excited for Trigger to return. I can’t wait to go out and see what I can do! I imagine all the different things I can do and grow more and more eager. I consider simply going to find Trigger, but quickly disregard it as a bad idea. After all, I don’t know where he would have gone, he can fly much faster than me, so he could be quite a ways away, and what if I interrupted him in the middle of his… feeding? I push the thought away. No, I’ll wait here for him, but I still reach out with my mind.

‘Trigger?’ I ask, waiting eagerly for his response.

‘Hmm?’ It comes back in a few seconds, though he sounds distracted.

‘I just had a great idea for what we could do today!’ I tell him, quickly explaining it to him. His voice perks up when he responds, sounding less distracted.

‘That does sound fun. I’m almost done here, so I’ll be back soon. Want to wake up Twila and see if she wants to come with us?’

‘How do you know she’s not up already?’ I tease, knowing he already knows how sleepy Twila is in the morning after the time we’ve spent together. His chuckle comes back through the bond.

‘You know as well as I do that she won’t be up before noon if you don’t wake her.’ I giggle and send him a mental image of Twila and I lying together.

‘You’re right, of course. We’re here all cuddled up, missing you.’ He sends back a quiet groan.

I thought you wanted to go make statues and pots, not fuck for the rest of the day.’ I giggle again, then close the link with a goodbye. I roll onto my stomach, propping myself up on one elbow as I trace Twila’s cheek with my fingertips.

“Good morning sleepyhead,” I say, repeating Trigger’s greeting to me earlier. She moans and flops an arm over her face. I giggle and lean down to kiss her exposed face, enjoying the way she tries ineffectively to keep her eyes covered while letting me kiss everywhere else. I pull back a bit and poke her side.

“You know, if we’re kissing, my face will block out the sunshine too.” I point out, and she grins, her eyes still covered by her elbow.

“Come down here and kiss me then.” She says, uncovering her eyes to grab me and gently tug me down. I smile and then melt as our lips touch softly. I pepper kisses on her cheeks and around her lips again before returning and giving her another gentle kiss. I stroke her hair as we kiss, and I can feel her hands around me too, one in my hair and the other stroking up and down my back.

We kiss for a few more minutes, her body slowly waking up, before I finally pull away. I quickly explain my plan with Trigger today, and invite her along. She considers, then gives a lazy, rippling shrug.

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

“Nah, there wouldn't be much for me to do without powers like you guys. I think I’ll stay here and go find Gertruse again later on. Don’t worry about me, I can always flash back to the pact dimension if something happens,” she adds when she sees my worried look. “Go have fun, I promise I’ll be fine.” I nod and kiss her cheek again.

“I’ll bring you back a sculpture of some kind,” I promise with a grin. She smiles back.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

We cuddle for a while longer before Trigger returns, my hands sweeping along her sides. I even dare to cup her butt for a few seconds before shyly pulling back, which sends her into fits of giggles.

“You’ve touched me a lot more than that,” she points out, which makes me turn even redder.

“I know, but like, it's, you know, we’re just…..” I give up when she just keeps laughing.

“It’s just that you’re embarrassed because it’s my butt? Or because we weren’t frantically moaning as you touched me?” She teases, but relents when she sees my face. “Oh, come on, it’s not like I mind.” She leans in and kisses me again. “Besides, I know you like it too.” She whispers, just a breath away from my mouth. I suck in a breath and bite my lip as her hand strokes down my back and cups my butt in return, squeezing it playfully. I sigh happily and cuddle closer to her, pulling her against me with my arms around her. Neither of us are wearing anything, and yet she’s right, it's just touching her butt that makes me shy.

After a bit, Trigger walks in, and I look up at him in contentment, my body draped partly over Twila’s. I raise my arms and make grabby hands in his direction. He laughs and comes over, lying next to us.

“And from the way you were talking earlier, I thought you’d be at the door bouncing with impatience for me to get back. Here I see you didn’t need me at all.” I smile back at him, his eyes shining with amusement and love.

“Nah, we still need you. Who else would just get in random fights to keep us safe?” I tease, and he hugs Twila and me in a crushing embrace, his laugh vibrating through my body. We lay there for a while, the three of us simply enjoying each other’s company, before I truly did start to get antsy to go. They both picked up on it pretty quickly. Though I suppose it would be hard not to, with the way I was wiggling and bouncing once I got free. I pull on my morphing belt and choose a simple tunic outfit in sky blue. Trigger also sits up, kisses Twila on the forehead, then grabs my hand.

“Staying behind?” He checks, and Twila nods, stretching out like a cat on the bed. I blow her a playful kiss as Trigger and I leave.

It doesn’t take long for Trigger to bring me to a spot a ways outside the city. It's a green grassy hill with a little stream at the bottom of it. We make our way down the slope, and Trigger focuses for a few minutes before some wet clay makes its way to the top of the grass immediately in front of where I had taken a seat. I gasp in pleasure and surprise, then reach out to grab a few handfuls of the clay. It’s an interesting process, working with both my hands and my mind as I try to shape it. I haven't decided what it will be yet, but I'm thinking something vaguely floral. Maybe a rose? Or a lily? I start with a thick disk-like shape, then begin slowly working it into petals. It seems to want to be a rose, I decide. I focus, fascinated by the process as my hands start a motion and my mind puts the finer details in place. It requires so much more concentration than simply making Trigger sink into the ground or for the ground to harden around his legs. That just required an overflowing of power, and that's something I have in abundance. This though, this requires so much more finesse. When I look up, satisfied with my finished product, it’s much later than I had realized. I wouldn’t have guessed we’d been here more than 15 or 20 minutes, but already the sun was burning down on my shoulders. I glance over at Trigger, only to find him as absorbed as I just was in a creation of his own. I stand, stretch, and walk over, carefully setting my rose on the ground once I reach him.

“Whatcha making?” I ask, studying his sculpture. He looks up and smiles.

“I was trying to replicate a dragon miniature. I used to play DnD back on Earth, and there were these cool figurines that I saw online, but I never had any myself. I thought it might be something fun to do, now that, well, now that we’re more or less living a DnD adventure ourselves.” He says, and I grin at his enthusiasm.

“Can I see?” I ask, and he hands over his miniature rock dragon. I study it, turning it over in my hands.

“Wow. You’re a lot better at this than me.” I admit, motioning to my clay rose that seems entirely too simplistic after such workmanship. He chuckles and shrugs.

“I've had a lot of practice with the coins and the house and such. This is just pushing it a little further.” I nod, handing his dragon back. He looks back at my rose. “Want me to dry that out for you? I think I could make it a solid stone structure if you want. Otherwise, we could try firing the clay. I don’t know anything about that process personally, but I’m sure something I grabbed from the Web on Earth would have details.” I shrug.

“Stone works for me. We can try firing clay some other time though. That sounds cool.” He nods and reaches over, gently laying a finger on the tip of one of the rose petals. After a few seconds, the entire thing turned a grayish color, quickly solidifying into solid stone. I smile and kiss him, then return to the clay pile he provided. I want to try making more things, and he seems happily occupied with his dragon.

We stay there the rest of the afternoon, and I quickly accumulate both a pile of sculptures and a growing skill with my shaping ability. By the time the sun starts to touch the horizon, I've eaten a "picnic lunch" provided by my food replicator, and picked out a beautiful, dainty flower for Twila that I shaped and then Trigger transmuted into a gem-like stone. Quartz maybe? it isn't quite see-through, more of a cloudy, colored rock, but it's pretty all the same. I beg Trigger to shape a necklace for it, letting me string it as a pendant. He quickly agrees, and I put it in my pocket, excited to get back and give Twila my gift. We collect our various creations, then begin the flight back to the city. Not long now. I can't wait to see Twila's reaction.