Our return flight to the Crystal Orchid was filled with bitter and sweet. On the one hand, I’d saved Yierie, but on the other her whole hunting group had fallen. I could feel the pain rolling off of her as we sailed on Olerandera’s back. The pink dragon detected our sorrow and made her flight as slow and comfortable as she could make it.

Balimazer carried Garaghan and the three Maidens up to the ship ahead of us. He was less conscientious of our pain, so he whirled and barrel-rolled through the air as he climbed. Yierie and I were silent for the whole trip. The people she’d lost were friends, and I could tell something more.

As soon as our feet touched down in the Aerie, she clasped my hand and pulled me forward. Garaghan and Alaric stopped Tia from following us. Yierie’s pace grew to a sprint and I struggled to keep up with her as she tried to outrun whatever darkness chased her. I could only imagine what her void presence looked like then. Her other hand clutched a small sack, which contained pieces of Jarahn and Sharla’s bodies.

The moment she reached her room, she mis-cast the runes to let her in and screamed at her door with rage. I cast the runes as fast as I could and our positions reversed, with me pulling her in. She took two steps through the room and collapsed onto the floor, cradling the sack of body parts before her as tears decorated the leather surface.

“Why? Why didn’t you just trust me?” She looked up at me. “It should have been me…”

I dropped to my knees and took her cheeks in my hands. “No, it should not. I’m sorry about Sharla and the others.” I laid kisses on her forehead and cheeks. “But I’m glad you’re safe and I won’t be sorry for that.” Yeirie sniffled at me and shook her head. Rather than let her continue, I pulled her up and took the pouch from her. “Why don’t we hit the baths. I can still smell the Wrym on both of us.? And it’s disgusting.”

Yierie bit her lip, sniffled again and nodded. Now that I knew the runes to open the baths, I didn’t need to wait for her. I carved the words in the air and the wall parted for me. Deep in the baths I found an isolated pool where the hottest and coldest waters mixed. Knowing this, we could sit in the middle of the flows and stay perfectly warm.

Yierie collapsed onto my shoulder then and cried. I had nothing to say to her, nothing that I felt confident would make up for the loss of friends she’d known for centuries. So I kept my mouth shut and just hugged her.

When our skin had wrinkled and the risk of overheating became a real one, I pulled her out of the bath. She only made me hook my hands under her armpits for a little bit before she climbed out under her own power. My breath caught at the naked beauty of her. I’d thought I would lose her. At the end there, I might have lost her. But the grace of the Gods and the power of my previous incarnation preserved us. I would have to find a way to thank them both sooner rather than later.

Once Yierie was dressed and dry, she collected the pouch. “I need a private moment, I am sorry, Harriet.”

“Do you need to take them to the Pillar of the Ancestors?”

Her head tilted at my question and she sucked in air. “You know?”

“I got to participate in Fasinmas while you were gone. Your dad was Raggle.”

Yierie covered her mouth and tittered behind her hand. “I wish I’d been there.” At the comment, she dropped her gaze along with her back to her pouch and sighed. What mirth had appeared on her face disappeared with the shift. “I wish I’d been here.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” I forced my own hand to hang from my side and not reach out to her. I felt like an intruder here despite how welcome Yierie and even Garaghan had made me feel.

Yierie held herself still and turned to look at me. “You don’t mind?”

In truth, the Pillar of the Ancestors freaked me out. At the same time, I had no intention of letting Yierie mourn alone. “I don’t mind at all.”

Yierie wiped her eyes and sniffled. “Then yes, please come with?”

The Pillar of the Ancestors didn’t communicate with me this time. I kept my eyes out of the void and tried not to focus on the pillar as we approached. A few other elves lingered about the stone, but none of them chased us off or flashed us a grumpy side-eye.

Yierie processed several times around the pillar, after the fifth circumambulation, she dropped the leather pouch into the small pool at the pillar’s base. “Farewell my friends.”

Tears dripped from Yierie’s eyes as she leaned over the pool and sobbed. Crouched as she was, all I could do was drape an arm over her back and pat her while she wept.

We left the pillar and the small grove and Yierie seemed to reassemble herself as we walked away.

“Is there anything else I can do for you today?” I turned and faced her as we walked down the hallway.

“Can we go see my dad maybe?”

“Sure, hon. Right now?” I hugged Yierie and held her in the stillness of the Crystal Orchid’s halls.

“Yes, please.”

We walked hand in hand down to Garaghan’s apartments. “So what’s this beef you have with your dad?”

“Beef?” Yierie tendered me with a wry smile. Clearly, my metaphor failed to translate.

“I mean what’s the conflict between you and your dad?”

“How does beef become conflict? Is it because you are a vegetarian?”

I laughed into my palm. “No sweetie…” I thought about it and couldn’t tell her what the source of the idiom was when asked. “I actually have no idea what it’s supposed to refer to.” I pointed at her. “Why do I get the feeling you’re avoiding my question.”

Yierie laughed at that. “Because you are quite astute.” She took a deep breath and said, “My father is very famous among the People. The way he raised me…” Yierie bit her lip and tapped her finger into her open palm. “It’s hard to say exactly what the problem is when you ask like that.”

“I thought my parents were insane for most of my life,” I checked Yierie’s face and she had the look of suspicion on it that suggested she thought I was being hyperbolic. “I mean literally insane. As in we had them sent to an institution crazy.”

“Why?”

“They were convinced magic would return one day along with the dragons, monsters, and other beings out of legend like Elves.”

“Oh.”

“Right? If they’d lived, I’d want to apologize. I guess it’s too late now.”

“Are you saying I should make up with my dad?”

I raised my hands. “Yierie, I don’t have any kind of subtleties in my heart. All of the cards you see are the only ones I’m holding.”

“I don’t understand.”

I brushed my hand across her cheek. “I mean I’m not hiding anything and I’m not speaking with some kind of subtext. I was just sharing family history to make you feel more comfortable.”

“That sounds like subtext.” She brushed her fingers across my cheek and I rolled my eyes.

“It wasn’t supposed to.” I stopped in front of Garaghan’s all-black door. “Now are you ready to face your dad?”

“Yes. Let’s get this over with.”

I opened the door while Yierie was in mid-position to knock. I gave her the side-eye and winked. “I’ve been practically living here for the last month.” Pushing the door out of the way gave me a view of the interior of Garaghan’s home.

All three of the Maidens ran about the circuit of the room, followed by Garaghan and his training staff. Its butt aimed for feet, but missed its mark more than two in three tries. I didn’t remember the Maidens ever getting the chance to be the targets of the stave’s attacks. It looked like it was good for them, aside from the fact that I was no longer the center of attention.

“Is he training them?” Yierie held her hand up to her face as if to hide her frown.

“It sure looks like he is…”

Before I could finish, Garaghan turned back to the door and gave us both the once over. “You’re not in your training robes, either of you.” He nodded his head to the back of the room. “The closet is in the same place it always is.”

Yierie opened her mouth with a frown, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her deeper into the room. “It will make the time pass and clear our minds, right?”

Her frown faltered at my words and she shrugged at me. “You don’t mind having your feet slammed by the staff?”

I snorted. “It sucks, especially when all three of them are trying to hit me.”

“Are those… Ualno?” Yierie looked at the three runners and their shorn heads, taking her attention from her dad for the first time. “Are they his?”

I swallowed and shook my head. “It’s complicated. Let’s get dressed to train and I will fill you in on what happened.”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Over the course of disrobing and donning her training garb, I told Yierie what had happened in her absence. At the mention of Lord Elerren she said, “You mean you managed to put Faralel Elerren under your service?’

“I can only guess at who that is. But let’s go with yes. And now I have to duel him.”

The look of amusement on Yierie’s face vanished like the last bit of dew in the desert sun. “The Thorn himself? No.”

“I don’t want to eith…”

Yierie leaned down to bring her eyes in line with mine. “He’ll kill you, Harriet. You have no chance.”

Garaghan jogged up to us. “She’ll live, if she stays with her training and continues to work as hard as she has in the last few weeks.”

“You’re allowing this?” Yierie folded her arms over her chest.

Garaghan snorted and shook his head. “I could no more stop it than take her place in the duel. Harriet came to me, asked for my help, and I’ve given it.”

“This is…” Yierie turned to me and said, “show me.”

“You want me to show you how I fight?” I thought she already knew that my style involved almost no actual fighting, all that I had learned so far required me dancing away from anyone who tried to hit me. “I don’t…”

Garaghan tossed a staff to her and cut me off. “Don’t aim higher than her ankle. Go!”

I wanted to complain or at least ask a few questions, but neither Yierie nor her father gave me time for it. They pounded the floor where my feet had been with vigor. As they pounded and laid into me, Yierie’s face grew to match her fathers: a mischievous grin spread over both as they pressed me.

My feet flew away from my mentor and my girlfriend’s attempts to impale them. As I danced, I heard a pair of footsteps behind me and spun away from One and Three’s attacks only to find Two waiting for me in the only opening away from the group pursuing me.

Two winked as she brought her staff down hard on my big toe. I yelped and fell into the void as I shoved her over. Magic drifted to my feet by instinct as I healed myself and checked Two for injuries at the same time.

Too much for my mind to handle at once, the other four attacking me converged and overwhelmed me, driving me atop Two as she struggled to rise. At once, the whole group fell into a heap, laughing and gently mocking me for falling for their ambush.

“Until you were surrounded, I was impressed, student.” Garaghan offered me and Two a hand. He made a point of looking between us. “Both of you impressed me today.”

I blushed while Two bowed respectfully. Yierie’s face turned red as she helped One and Three up. With her skin almost scarlet, she faced me and said, “I don’t get the impression these are really Ualno. What’s going on?”

Garaghan made Yierie’s embarrassment worse by laughing at her, so I closed the gap between us and said, “I ended their service when we went to look for you. I can’t take Ualno into danger, right?”

Two raised her hand and nodded. “And you can’t bed them.”

Shit you’re not helping.

Yierie narrowed her eyes at Two, completely forgetting the real reason I’d released the three women from my service. “Indeed. Usually Ualno do not remain with those they’ve served. Why are you still here?”

Two puffed out her chest and I groaned inwardly. “Harriet has always treated us like friends, like companions, even though we did not deserve it. And your father has been more than generous with his lessons.”

“That is very… kind of him.” Yierie’s hesitation said more about how she felt than her words. The thin lines of her lips spoke volumes as she stared at Two. “So the three of you are what now, hangers on?”

Oh double shit.

If I were wiser and less of an outsider, I might have stepped in between them and broken this up before it escalated into something bad. But I had no idea what I would say or how I could smooth the way between the Maidens and my lover.

One’s smile shifted from broad and welcoming to something darker and almost threatening. “I would say we are her hunter pack. We protected each other and worked together to rescue you.” The emphasis in One’s voice might as well have accompanied a prod to the chest as she blinked her eyes at Yierie.

Garaghan came to my rescue before the ladies came to blows. “Now that we’ve all met each other, let’s return to sparring.”

“I don’t feel like hefting the spears today father…” Yierie swished her hair out of her eyes and started to walk away to the exit.

Garaghan grabbed her upper arm and lowered his voice. “I’ve never met a foe who’d accept that excuse. Neither will I.”

Yierie pulled her arm out of her father’s grip and hissed at him. “Be that as it may, I am not sparring right now, father.”

I could see Garaghan cursing under his breath as Yierie stomped out of his room. Looking between him and Yierie, I worried over my choices, neither of them good.

Garaghan shook his head. “Go after her, come back alone or together when she’s calmed down.”

I didn’t need further leave to race out of the training room. Yierie didn’t run at her full speed or I would not have been able to catch up to her in the first place. She slowed when she heard me running anyway. “You don’t want to stay back with your new friends, your hunting group?” the way she spoke those last words ran a chill down my spine.

“It wasn’t right of One to speak to you like that.” I put my hand at the base of her spine and she slowed further. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“Sorry I met your new… harem or sorry I didn’t jump in among them?”

I blinked as Yierie turned her tear-strewn eyes back on me. Raising my hands I took a step away from her, as far as the walls of the leaf-carved hallway would permit. “I’ve not bedded any of them, nor would I while I was looking for you.”

“But you might after you’ve found me?”

I looked back and forth through the hallway. “I feel like you’re accusing me of something I haven’t done or given much thought to.”

“Much?” She spat the word out as if to slap me with it.

“Look, I like you a lot. I think I’m in love with you. But that doesn’t change the tune of my heart, right? I’d be lying if I told you I’m not attracted to them. But you’re not being fair to me for something I have no control over.”

Yierie nodded and swallowed. “You’re right…” She wiped her eyes and turned those crimson hued orbs on me with a ferocity. “Who’s Malia?”

“Let’s talk in your room.”

Yierie slid away from my attempts to touch her on the way back to her room. I couldn’t really blame her for that. In her place, I would have been more than a little suspicious of me.

She clutched her shoulders as she paced the side of her bed. I sat atop the soft covers with their brightly colored nature scenes and felt oddly out of place, as if we should have switched positions as I spoke.

“…and so I haven’t seen her since I awoke upon the Crystal Orchid.”

Yierie sat down next to me, not quite close enough to touch comfortably. “And you were told by the Ancestors to seek her out?”

“Yes. And to find you.”

“Do you love her?” Yierie’s gaze drifted off of my face.

“I don’t know. I wish I could answer that question simply.” I sat forward and let my face fall into my hands. “I had a crush on her, I thought she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. But I don’t think she would ever return my feelings. And after I met you, and we grew closer…” My words failed me. I didn’t forget Malia, but I had no way to find her, no way to even start looking other than to start where I last saw her.

“Do you want to get her back?” Yierie shifted toward me, which I took as a good sign. “I mean without the Ancestors’ prompting. Would you seek her out then?”

I nodded, hanging my head. “She’s my friend. I might not be in love with her the way I am with you, but I still care for her. I still miss her.”

“Then your course is clear. You have to go after her.” Yierie took my hands in her own.

“What about you. What about us?”

Yierie eyed the door. “I’m…” she searched her mind with her eyeballs raised in their sockets. “Not a fan of your new friends. Perhaps I will like the old ones better.”

“Thanks, you’ll come with?”

Yierie took a deep breath. “You’re bringing the three of them and my father?”

“And Olerandera and Balminazer if I can, yes.”

“Then I will have to think on it.” She nodded and wiped her eyes before the tears could start flowing.

“Do you mind if I ask why?” There it was again, my mouth asking questions my brain would have preferred remain unanswered.

Yierie snorted and covered her mouth in surprise at the sound. “You truly do not know?”

I shook my head. “I wouldn’t ask otherwise.”

She smiled and ran her fingers down my thigh. “I adore this about you… the apparent innocence.” Yierie brought her face closer to my own and whispered. “Any one of those three women would throw you back onto our bed and make love to you until you begged them to stop. I can smell it on them.” I cleared my throat and felt my skin flush. “The thought excites you, doesn’t it?”

I wouldn’t lie to her, not now. Even if I would have been better off lying. “A little, yeah.”

Yierie turned to me, facing me fully and put her hands on my shoulders. “Then I suppose I should get to you first.” She pushed me back onto her bed and pressed her soft lips into mine. Brushing Roo’s fabric away, she caressed my chest and belly. Her hand drifted down toward the center of my hips and stopped before it crossed a line of no return.

Yierie bit her lip as she pulled herself away. “Would you consider me a tease if I wanted to stop before…”

I ran my fingers through her hair. Parts of me ached for her, ached to know her touch within and without. But I shook my head and said, “I already consider you a tease. But I’m not in any great hurry to make love to you, especially if you’re not ready.”

Yierie quaked and gave a little half cough as if she couldn’t believe me, or my answer surprised her. “Thank you.” She lowered herself next to me and nuzzled her face into the crook of my neck as she pulled me closer with her free arm. “I am not sure I want to make love to you so soon… after.” After she lost so many people close to her. I understood. I opened my mouth to reassure her, but she continued to speak. “Maybe this is a terrible time, but I loved Jarahn and Sharla both once, long ago.”

The words punched me in the gut, tried to take my breath away. But I reminded myself that as human as Yierie acted most of the time, she was still Elven, and therefore several degrees removed from me culturally. When I could breathe again, I said, “How long?”

“Almost two centuries for Jarahn and half that for Sharla.”

“That’s a long time ago.” What else was I supposed to say?

“Indeed.” Yierie pulled herself away. “Does it bother you?”

In a different life, when I wore the wrong skin for my gender, I would have lied and said no. But here with Yierie in her own bed sharing our secrets as we were, the lie felt wrong somehow. “About as much as the thought of me with One or Two bothers you.”

I turned to meet her gaze and she’d adopted a quixotic smile. “That much then?”

I shrugged and kissed her on the nose. “Maybe less. It’s hard to say.”

Yierie kissed me back, her mouth finding mine. “I’m a shameless hypocrite, aren’t I?”

I turned my hand in a Elven way, suggesting uncertainty. “That’s for you to decide.” I ran my hand down her shoulder and screwed up my courage. “You have to remember, I’m human. Or I was. And it will help me to understand the terms of our… courtship.”

“Courtship?” Yierie’s eyes swirled with barely concealed mirth. “Do you intent to petition my father for my hand?”

I stuck my tongue out at her. “You know I don’t understand how this works. You are definitely teasing me now.”

Yierie shrugged. “I am. And since you asked so nicely, I will do my best to explain. But you should ask your questions directly.”

“Okay, then my first is what are we doing? Is this… dating. I mean are we exclusive?”

Yierie said, “I’ve told you this before, but the People live too long to bind each others’ hearts for all time. I think you’re asking if we’re allowed to sleep with others, yes?”

“Right.”

“Then the answer is yes and no. By tradition, Elves don’t sleep around like the younger races. In other words, it’s considered gauche to… court someone while courting another. But once we’ve agreed to be with each other, then we have to agree on any others we bring into our bed.”

“So we both have veto powers then?”

Yierie snickered, “correct. But only once we have consummated our union.”

“That sounds so formal.”

Yierie laughed again. “To hear the elders tell it, the younger generations have shattered our ancient traditions by abandoning the oath letters and swearing ceremonies.” Raising her eyes to look at me, Yierie laughed with an explosive outburst. “If you could see your face right now!”

“Oath letters and swearing ceremonies, really?”

“Oh yes, I’ve read that the elders had great vaults erected to the hold the vast sexual paperwork of some of the more lascivious of the People.”

“You’re definitely teasing me now.”

Yierie kissed me again, longer and more passionately this time. “I am. But I am also speaking the truth. If you want, we can go and visit the archives. You can read well enough to understand the sexual exploits of some of my direct ancestors.”

“That sounds like a date. Anything would be better than wandering through a Bedrock Wyrm’s intestines.”

Yierie laughed with a short bark, but her face darkened as she nodded. “It would indeed be better, wouldn’t it?”

Rather than continue speaking, I pulled her into my embrace. We fell asleep with our bodies interlocked. Jealousy, sharing, all of the problems that we’d invented in the night, we could worry about them in the morning.