The moonlight shimmered off the surface of the water as they walked through the pink sands of the shore. As Mirio gazed upon her in the moonlight he realised that the only beastfolk quality she had was her ears, everything else could have been entirely human, or even elven by the glow of her skin in the light.

She turned towards him with a bashful smile and stopped walking so that they would collide.

“I had to wait all night for this” she said as she gripped her hands around either side of his jawline and lingered forwards with her lips.

Mirio didn’t stop her, yet as her lips touched his, he felt nothing. It was almost as though a wet piece of paper was brushed along his mouth, leaving him to wonder why it hadn’t felt anything like when Kabi had planted her lips on him.

The girl’s animation grew, as she tightly tugged on his shirt and moaned.

*What the hell is this, why is she excited, there isn’t even any spark between us?*

The girl stepped her foot behind his and pushed him over into the sand, and climbed on top of him,pulling up the base of her skirt to reveal her underwear, and pressed them tight up against his thigh. Mirio didn’t resist but was perplexed as her weight pushed down upon him, and she gyrated her hips.

She let out a moan and gripped the strap of her bra as she pushed back and forth on his leg.

*Maybe it’s the moonflower wine? It’s like she’s in her own little world, and I’m drifting far away from it*

Mirio gently traced his finger tips around the glittering moonlight as it cast across her shoulders and along her cleavage. Then followed the light along her thighs up towards her inner thighs.

She looked down grumpily and swatted away his hand, and continued to gyrate and moan.

Mirio squinted at her, and tried to determine if it would even be worth it to experiment with her.

*No, maybe the reason I can’t feel anything is because my memories are a mess? Or because of my enlightenment? Surely anyone else would feel something by now...*

She gripped his lips with her teeth and let out a moan through her breath as she moved back and forth, now starting and stopping in choppy motions as she filled from within with an eruption of pleasure.

As Mirio’s lip pulled free, he pulled it into his mouth to suck on, because she had bit on it too hard. He looked at her as she breathed out a sigh and looked at the reflection on the ocean.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home,” Mirio said warmly.

“No, I’m fine,” she said while shaking her head.

“Okay, if you say so”

“But let’s meet here tomorrow at noon, promise me”

“Uh…” Mirio hesitated, “Well I guess we can do that, sure, I’ll meet you before my shift”

She stood to her feet and shimmied her dress back over her butt and stepped out of the sand onto the footpath before heading off. Mirio turned towards the lake and gazed up at the stars as they twinkled above.

“What the hell is wrong with me…”

…

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Silvia shouted at Yuta as they stepped out of the boat onto dry land.

“What, come on now, stop going crazy, I just thought you wanted to kiss me is all”

“Why the hell would you think that?”

“Well, you came out all this way, spent all of your money just for me. I was putting two and two together”

“And you didn’t think that two and two doesn’t equal she wants my dick, fuck you. You know what, you are an asshole, I should have left you there to rot with the rest of them”

“Why would you say that, you’ve turned so nasty all of a sudden, look I’m just tired and traumatised okay. I thought we were having a moment, and I guess I was wrong, why do you have to be mad?”

“Do you know at all how much I sacrificed just to find you? And instead of a thanks, I get my efforts boiled down to a desperate act of love of a helpless girl. What about, hey Silvia, wow, I couldn’t have done that, how impressive. You know, gratitude like a normal person, not whatever the hell that was”

“Okay I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, if anything you should be flattered, that I was willing to go there for you, just in case it was where you wanted to go”

“Why would I want to go anywhere with you… I don’t even know why I left the vale with you anymore. I suppose in my mind I delusionally thought you could change, make something of yourself and become a good adventurer. But no, you are still just, the same old Yuta, just Yuta’ing up everything”

“Hey! Don’t use my name like it’s a verb!”

“Why not, when it is so clear the definition could never, ever, in a million years change. Heck I travelled so far to save you, and even then, you don’t get it. Even after someone tries that hard just for you”

Silvia’s eyes were red as tears dripped down her cheeks. Yuta tried to reach for her but she stepped back.

“What is it you are trying to tell me to change, maybe it is because I am a guy, but I just don’t get it”

Silvia sniffed and wiped away a tear with the palm of her hand.

“To not make everything about you, like everyone else is just a pawn in some game that you aren’t even good at playing. To realise you actually kind of suck and to be earnest for once”

“I am earnest, really”

“No… You aren’t, not even a little bit. You are actually really cold, and heartless, and only care about sounding good to yourself”

*Pfft, now I know she’s full of it, how dare she pull this on me. As if what I did was even slightly over the line. No fuck this, I have to stand my ground*

“Now I know you are lying, calm down”

“Oh I’ll be calm, after I tell you to fuck off and make your way on your own from now, I’m done with you” she said as throwing her hand up and walking up towards lights in the distance.

The cloaked men hauled the boat up the beach to a rocky outcrop and tipped it over, attaching it to a chain and then covering it with some dark rags.

“Right miss, that should be all of it, do you need us for anything else?”

“No, I’m fine thanks”

Yuta stood on the beach with jaw dropped as she walked away.

*She’ll be back after she calms down*

…

Mirio passed through the lakeside gates and made his way down to the shoreline where he had kissed the bunny girl the night before. He saw a girl in a pink satin dress sitting on a rock by the water, her blonde hair flowing in the breeze as she waited. Her bunny ears perked straight up as she turned around and set her eyes upon him.

“Hey there, I never got your name before,” Mirio said with a nervous chuckle.

“I’m Kassie”

“Oh cool, I’m Mirio”

“Like a mirror in a cape?”

“Haha… Say what? A cape?”

“Yeah, and you speak all flowery too, ah yes madam, shall I help you home, haha”

“Right, so did you wanna go somewhere or just chill here?”

“I’m fine with whatever, we could go by the wyvern races on the other side, you aren’t really dressed for it but with me you’ll be fine”

“Wait, they have those here?”

The two walked along the shoreline until they were at the very far end. At the edge of the lake was a forest, and within it an archway that led into a passage beyond. The passage was lined with well maintained flower patches and the branches from the forest carefully cleared in a perfect shape of the archway.

The forest opened up into an enormous grassy field. Several wyverns and their noble handlers were in midfield, going through saddling and preflight procedures like combing the scales of any dirt, and filing down any rough patches that might hinder airflow.

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“Look, over there, its Lord Sectus and his ride Drakon, see how the scales are red different from all the others with green. I hear it’s from a magic paint job, but he tells everyone it’s from real dragon blood, haha, he is so full of shit”

“Oh right, yeah that one over there, I see it. So is this just for nobles or something?”

“Well, not technically, rules are open so anyone can fly. But you have to have your own mount, and have to pay for special observation fees, to make sure your ride isn’t boosted by illegal magics. So in the end only nobility can afford it”

“Got you, that sucks, I’d totally be eager to give it a go”

“Really?” she said with a sparkle in her eye, before rushing off to one of the riders close by.

The man tended to his boots, brushing each with rapid motions.

“Guess who?” she said as covering his eyes.

“Umm, with that flowery perfume, it has to be… Kass!”

“Yay! You guessed it!” she said as jumping all over him.

“Good to see you here” he said while slowly tracking his eyeline over to Mirio, “Who’s the guy?”

“Nevermind that, you know how you were always saying you want to see me ride!”

“Yeah?!”

“I mean, you don’t need to fly today right, cuz you fly all the time. It isn’t like you need the money from prizes”

“No of course not, you wanna ride?”

“Yeah! I wanna pick a rider, can I? Please”

The man looked over at Mirio with a puzzled look, trying to figure out if he put her up to it or not, and decide whether he should be pissed off or amused. Mirio looked suitably out of place so he decided on the latter, and let out a hearty chuckle.

“Yeah, you know what, fuck it, pick your rider”

“Oh Mirio, my sweet Mirio!!!” she yelled out while waving her hands, “Hurry up and come over”

Mirio walked up much like a child who was embarrassed to be seen with their mother, hands in his pockets and looking every which way but at the man.

“So you are the rider she was talking about” he said with a grin.

“If you are uncomfortable with it, I’m really cool with just watching, I mean I don’t even know how this works”

“Nah, I’d do anything for my Kass, hop on up on little Serion here, and I’ll show you the ropes”

“He doesn’t look that little” Mirio joked.

Serion turned her head towards him, and let out a gutteral clicking sound before a gentle screech. Her third eyelids blinked a few times before she leaned forwards and moved her head inches from Mirio’s. With a few short sharp sniffs she blew back his hair, and brought down her eye to look into his. The giant orange iris cut in half by a slit pupil stared right at him. Satisfied, it drew its head back to the front to be pet by her owner.

The man petted her with a few hearty rubs, “Go on, don’t be shy”.

The great beast lowered its wing and waited for Mirio to step up.

“This is fucking crazy” he said as he hoisted himself onto the saddle, “So does it ride like a horse or what? What do I do?”

“Best way to learn the ropes is to jump in the deep end” he said with a click of his tongue to Serion.

She reared back on her hind legs, and dived into the sky, blasting her wings and sending both her and Mirio high into the air.

Kassie jumped up and down in delight, her bosom jiggling between the cleavage window of her tightly fit dress.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!” Mirio screamed out as his gut dropped out from underneath him. He frantically gripped onto the reins with one hand while putting the other hand tightly into the saddle. He looked over to the right side of the saddle for any other way to secure himself, and saw a second set of footholds. He swung the loose footholds into their place inside the rigid one and pulled his knees up to lock himself tight to the seat.

*This is not safe at all*

The wind smashed into his face at incredible speed, forcing him to dip his head low, and pull himself flush with the saddle. As he did so he noticed that the front of the saddle wasn’t a hand hold, but large enough to slip his forearms through, so switching reins between hands he slotted one arm after the other through the front slot of the saddle.

*Ah, this is better*

He glanced down over Serion’s wings down at the fields below as the people were now only tiny dots, and gently tugged on the reins. Serion tucked both her wings back tight to her side, and after reaching the arch of their flight, they began to shoot downwards. Mirio pulled a little more on the right of the rein, and noticed Serion slightly extend her left wing to send them into a swooping right hand turn.

Mirio was jammed tight to the saddle, as the G forces pressed hard against him, forcing the blood in his body to suddenly shoot down to his legs. He began to wobble as he became light headed. Trying to think of something he pulled back on the reins yet again, causing Serion to level out.

*Fuck, alright but I think I get it now. If in a fall it will turn tight, but if level it will turn wide*

He pulled on the reins once more and watched as Serion lifted one wing above the other and arched around in a wide turn. Mirio couldn’t wipe the smile off his face as the feeling of handling the great beast washed over him. He pulled out one of his arms and pet the side of her neck.

“Awesome stuff Serion!”

REEEEIIIK

She called back.

Kassie looked up as tightly clutched to the noble’s arm.

“Look, he’s riding it now!”

“Woohoo!” Mirio screamed out.

“Haha, he doesn’t realise everyone can hear him” she continued, “What do you think, did I pick a fun rider”

“I have to admit, I half expected him to fall, but you win some and you lose some. He might have some talent for it”

Mirio spied over the grounds below looking for the racetrack, and saw a series of large hoops tracing along the tree tops, and then around and over the mountains. He pulled Serion into a dive, and then levelled her out before making a wide turn through the hoops, and then around the forests to along the mountain side, where he then caused her to drop before tightly pulling up to shoot through the vertical hoops and launch over the top of the mountain into the wastes.

Carefully spotting each of the hoops, he felt like an eagle, soaring above it all, and started to lose all fear of leaning into the turns. Even as the wind fluttered violently under Serion’s wing he instinctively knew to pull the reins to adjust and even her back out.

WHOOSH

He shot back out over the city and then turned sharply back towards the fields.

*Screw the racetrack*

Mirio pulled Serion into a tight turn towards the lake, dropping like a stone, with wind ripping through his hair. He tugged on the reins to level her out, leaving her to trail just above the water.

“Yeah!” he screamed in joy before tugging up and jetting over the treetops.

*Wait, how the fuck do I stop?*

He pulled his feet out from the rigid foot holds and pressed them once to Serion’s side, and without that working tapped them twice. To his relief, her wings turned upwards, as she pulled her head up.

Mirio hung on tight to the saddle as all his weight swung onto the moving foot holds. It was like standing on a plank and a piece of rope as Serion made her way down, before landing on her hind legs and settling forwards. As the footholds swung back forwards and he felt the thrum of impact with the ground he sighed with relief before quickly hopping off.

Kassie came running from across the field along with the nobleman.

“You did it! Wow”

“Haha, yeah, holy crap that was amazing. She’s so fast I was about to pass out at one point, but I figured it out, you have to turn level to prevent that, and only hold sharp turns for a short amount of time when you absolutely need to. Wow, man, thankyou that was fun, even though secretly I feel like you were trying to kill me with the best way to learn shit”

“I was only kinda trying to stamp you out, but fair play to you, you have the blood of a real rider in you, I even saw you take the course over the mountain. Beautiful ain’t it?”

“Yeah man, I was screaming the whole way”

“I know”

“Wait, you could hear it? Ah shit”

“It’s all good man, thanks for warming up Serion for me, saves me from having to do it for the race. You gonna stay and watch?”

Kassie jumped in with a frown, “Sorry babe, but we have to go, I’ll watch you next time”

“Sure sure, see you at home then”

“Yup see you later baby”

Mirio looked over his shoulder as he left with Kass back out the passage to the pond.

“Is it okay to use the guy like that?”

“Yeah yeah, he’s my hubby its fine”

“Your husband, oh shit, then is it okay we are on a date?”

“Listen to you, all pretending to be noble, aren’t you supposed to be mister badass guard with a chiselled jawline, come on, you are ruining my fantasy here”

“Right, I’m just checking”

“Yes, it is fine, he has three concubines already its fine that you are out with me”

She stopped by the side of the lake and scrunched her brow, “Actually, nah I think I’m done with you now”

“You what?”

“Yeah, you are just nicer than I thought, almost like a puppy, it just isn’t as fun talking to you anymore, hope I’m not offending you”

“Nah, it is alright, I got to have a fast ride and all”

She flicked back her hair, “Stop, flattery won’t get you anywhere, I made up my mind. And yes you are lucky, very few men get to be with a girl as pretty as me”

She said it all without a hint or irony, leaving Mirio to nod agreeably just to leave things on a pleasant note.

“Well, see ya round I guess” he said with a wave

“Bye” she said with a forced smile.

Mirio walked back to the guard quarters and signed in for his shift. The master at arms nodded up at the sky, “Races today, you just might see some wyvern riders pass by when you look up”.

“Yeah I heard something about that”

“You know if you stay with us long enough you can get promoted to a rider, though it technically means you become part of the royal knight core”

“I’m good on the ground I think, for now at least”

“Yeah me too mate me too”

“Oh just a random question, but what do you think it means when a woman says you didn’t live up to her fantasy of you?”

“Ah, simple enough isn’t it, she thought you were one thing, and when she saw you act another way it broke the spell”

“The spell?”

“You know, whatever it was drawing her to you”

“Ah right, guess I don’t know shit all about that kind of thing”

“Yeah, me either, I’m mostly just talking out my ass to be fair. But are you ready for patrol?”

“All good to go”

“Speaking of the royal knight core, here is one now. Hey Dasha, what can I do for you”

“Ah Mirio, good to see you finally joined the guard, good for you. Duke wants me on patrol again so, stopping by for a guard to play tag along”

“I see, just take the new recruit here”

“Nice! I like this guy anyway” she said as slapping him on the shoulder, “Right, c’mon let’s go”