“Queenie, are you alright?!” Chrys asked, rushing over to Lia. “You’re limping!”

I’ll be fine once my next level up hits. Lia said. Don’t worry about it. That snake’s conversion should do the trick.

“Oh, good. Um…what was the last boss?”

The mage that ended my life before. Lia said. The cocoon he’s in is headed to the same place we sent the harpy cocoon.

“What are we going to do with him?” Chrys asked. “Like…obviously we’re gonna convert him, but do you have any specific plans?”

I was thinking of combining his cocoon with the harpy’s and a rat and seeing what we get. Unless Rose has any better ideas, that is.

“I don’t see why not.” Rose said, shrugging. “We don’t have any strong fliers yet, so making the harpy as strong as possible is a fair course of action.”

Good. We’ll do that, then. In the meantime, Chrys, we discovered Bella’s identity.

“Already? Do tell.”

She’s…my mom. Lia said. And she’s chosen to use her old name again, so she’ll be going by Mia from now on.

“Oh.” Chrys said. “Um…uh…it’s nice to meet you as…well, you?” Chrys said. “Sorry, I don’t know how to react to this.”

“It’s fine.” Mia said. “Please treat me as you always have.”

I’m seriously over the moon about it. Lia said. I’m super pumped to get everyone back together, it’ll be the first time in like…years that we’ll all be in one place again!

“I’m excited as well.” Mia said, bending down and petting Lia gently. “When are you planning on getting them?”

Now that I know you’re here, I’m moving the schedule up. Lia said. The moment the dorm building we’ve conquered stops spawning monsters, I’m going to get them.

“Would you like me to go check on the progress?” Mia offered. “I’m not doing anything else, and it has been a while since we cleared the area, it might have stopped spawning by now.”

Might as well. Lia said. Thanks, mom.

“Don’t mention it, my Q- kitten. You have your talk with Rose, and I’ll hear all about it when I get back, alright?” Mia straightened back up and gave the group a wave before striding purposefully towards the edge of camp.

Ah, right. I…forgot about that, in the midst of everything that happened.

“I’ll give you two some space.” Chrys said. “Do you wanna rest on the bed while you talk or…?”

No, you can use it. Lia said. I’ll be fine as I am.

“Are you sure about that?” Rose asked, concerned. “You don’t have to put on a brave face in front of us.”

I’m fine. Lia said. Again, I’m expecting this to all go away in an hour or two, or…well, however long it takes for that snake to finish converting. It’s not the end of the world. I’ve dealt with worse for longer.

“I don’t think you should get in the habit of treating your injuries like this, though.” Rose said worriedly. “Eventually we’re going to reach a point where leveling up isn’t easy, and you can’t just use that as a way to heal yourself whenever. We made Chrys rest while injured, it’s only fair we treat you the same.”

Fine. Lia groaned. I’ll rest on the bed.

“Good. Sorry Chrys, we’ll be using the bed for the next while. Why don’t you go grab your books while we make our way over? I’m sure you’ll make faster time than us.”

“It’s cool, I would rather it’s used by someone who actually needs it, and it’s not even my bed, so…yeah. I’ll go grab those books and read them…well, here, I guess. Come let me know when Queenie’s feeling better, alright?”

“We’ll do that. Thanks, Chrys.”

Chrys gave them a little wave and scampered off in the direction of the bed.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to carry you there?” Rose asked. “It’s not like I haven’t carried you before.”

This is different. I’m a lot more awkward to carry now and I’m perfectly capable of walking there. I walked all the way here, didn’t I?

Rose sighed. “I’m just worried about you.” She said. “Those were a nasty couple of blows you took.”

Lia was silent for a moment. Sorry. She said. I just feel bad imposing on everyone when I’m not completely indisposed.

“It’s fine.” Rose said. “You did well, you can afford to take it easy for a little bit.”

Then…would you carry me back to the bed? Lia asked. Just for now?

“Of course.” Rose replied, bending down and picking Lia up.

They made their way over to where the bed was, and by the looks of it Chrys had already been there and taken her things. Rose gently laid Lia down on the bed, then sat down beside her. “So…um…what now?”

Well…I guess…first things first, I…think I like you, romantically speaking. Do you feel the same?

Rose paused. “I…I’m unsure.” She admitted. “I hold a lot of affection for you, but…I don’t know if it is romantic or not. I’m rather inexperienced in this regard, and I have a hard time making sense of my feelings. I’m afraid of committing to a relationship when I don’t even know if that’s what my feelings are telling me. I don’t want to hurt you by breaking things off later down the line because I realize it’s not what I was looking for.”

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Lia was silent for a moment. Do you want to talk through it? Sometimes that helps me sort myself out.

“I think that might be nice, yeah.” She paused, and when Lia didn’t say anything, continued. “I just…I don’t know, when I look at you my heart starts beating faster, and I get happy whenever I’m around you, and I want to spend a lot of time with you, but I don’t know what to call that feeling. I’ve…never felt like this before, I don’t think.

“With my old wife, I feel…well…things were different back then. And not because of the whole arranged marriage thing, I don’t think. I wasn’t…I wasn’t free to feel like I am now.”

Free to feel? Because of your station?

Rose frowned, shaking her head. “No…yes…I don’t know. I just know that back then my emotions weren’t as…sharp as they are now.”

Do you think that’s a side-effect of the reincarnation? That it makes everything from your past seem like that?

“No. I talked with Chrys about it, and she didn’t feel anything like that. She said she feels things just as much now as she did before. I…I’m pretty sure it was something about me. I just…this is new territory for me, and I’m trying to figure it out.”

Lia was silent for a moment. How did your wife make you feel?

“Much the same as I felt with Chrys. Or…well, that’s the way I felt when I had grown used to her. Just…the desire to protect and make sure she was happy. It’s…not quite the same as what I’m feeling now, sorry.”

And what you’re feeling now, do you like it, or is it…bad?

“Not in the slightest!” Rose said hurriedly. “I enjoy it a lot, and want to feel it more, I just…it’s so different from what I’m used to.”

Lia was silent for a moment, then sighed. I’m sorry. She said. This isn’t exactly my forte, but…I think what you’re feeling now, that’s love. Or, at least, the beginnings of it. That’s how I feel now, and it’s how I always felt in the early stages of a relationship. It’s normal to be unsure of things, especially if you haven’t dated before.

“It…is?”

It is. Lia confirmed. But I understand if you don’t want to commit until you’re more sure of yourself. We can just keep going the way we have been until you sort things out, and then we can visit this topic again.

“No.” Rose said. “I don’t want to just hide from things and stay stuck in this gray area forever. You said…you said this is how you’re feeling yourself?”

I can’t be totally sure, but from the way you’ve described it, yes.

“Then I say let’s make things official, at least for now.”

Alright. We’re…dating then. We’ll take it slow at first, and when we’re both comfortable we can take things further.

“Start…slow? What do you mean?”

Wait…were you expecting to start as if we had been in a long time relationship?”

“I was not aware there was a different way to do things.” Rose admitted, blushing. “Explain.”

You know…just start with hanging out and getting to know each other better, we can do things like kissing and…sex whenever we’re ready. We don’t have to start with that.

“Oh. That…does make things quite a bit easier.” Rose admitted. “Yes, let’s start slow. I think I would like that.”

Then…we’re girlfriends, then. Lia said.

“I suppose we are.” Rose said, smiling. “What now?”

Honestly? I think I want a nap after all of this. I must admit I’m more than a little tired.

“Go on, then, you deserve it.” Rose said. “I’ll watch over you, just as I did for Chrys.”

Thank you, Rose. Lia said, yawning. When I wake up, let’s get that mage converting, okay?

“I’ll have it ready for you, then.” Rose replied. “Sweet dreams.”

And with that, Lia closed her eyes, and nodded off to sleep.

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

When she woke, Lia felt much better. And, as her status was telling her, she was almost level twenty-five. She supposed she had converted two of the dungeon’s bosses, and her subordinates had killed quite a few other monsters, almost as many as they had during the entire time she was a rat queen, but it was still surprising her just how fast her growth was, even if this new race wasn’t that much harder to level than her old one.

Though…she supposed she had Favored of the Gods to thank for that. Doubling all experience gain was nothing to sneeze at. Still…that meant that, after she converted Skarde and the harpy, she’d likely be able to evolve again. It was an exciting prospect, as with it would likely come the ability to maintain her humanoid form for even longer.

“Oh, Lia, you’re awake!” Rose said, standing up excitedly. “I noticed your breathing became less…taxed midway through your nap, did you level up?!”

Yep. Lia said. I’m level twenty-four, almost level twenty-five. I’m hoping Skarde and the harpy will push me to level thirty and evolution.

“That’s excellent news!” Rose said enthusiastically. “A lot happened while you were asleep, want me to catch you up?”

Please do.

“Well, first of all, Bella has confirmed that the dorm building has stopped spawning monsters. It’s a bit faster than dungeons normally do things, but I suppose this isn’t exactly a normal dungeon.

“Following that, Amelia sent a note that said she will be picking you up to go grab your family as soon as you get Skarde converting.”

But my Skill is still on cooldown. Lia said. I can’t well convince them if I can’t talk to them!

“She said not to worry about it, she has a cooldown negater or two she’s been saving for situations like this.”

Those are like…really rare, right? Well, whatever, I’m not going to complain. Is the cocoon ready?

“Yes. I had Bella put the harpy and a rat in as you wished, and I had Lily assemble a small group of items that might be beneficial to put into the cocoon as well.”

You’re the best, Rose. Lia said. Thanks a million.

“It’s just my job.” Rose said, blushing. “No need to exaggerate like that.”

It was a sincere complement. Lia said smugly. Now, would my favorite girlfriend care to walk down there with me?

Rose, blushing even fiercer, nodded, so Lia hopped down from the bed, and the two walked down to where they had left the cocoons.

“So, all of what I have here is magic based,” Rose said, “since that’s what Skarde was good with. It’s…mostly just staves that we’ve scavenged from around, though I’m not sure how much help those will be, seeing as how Skarde already had one. I also have some magic theory books, and some of the same type of stuff we used to give options to our rat mages.”

I see. Go ahead and put in the books and the rat mage stuff, ignore the staves. I highly doubt the sort of low-tier stuff we get around here will be better than what he had.

Rose nodded. “I thought you might say that.” She said, walking over to a group of small cocoons. She picked up the cocoons and then brought them over to the nearby person-sized cocoon, and carefully added each of them.

Once she finished, Lia walked up and began to look over her options. There were the standard drone and foot soldier options, but those were unimportant. What was more interesting was the pair of “Thundercaller” options, which, apparently, had been Skarde’s Job before. For one of them, the sort of…sub-race it had listed was pigeonkin, and, curiously, that seemed to fall under the umbrella of rat-like; the option that had human as the sub-race was marked Lesser, yet the pigeonkin option lacked that, indicating that it was a step up. That was all well and good, but one option really drew her attention.

Lesser Swarm Stormcaller (Pigeonkin):

The Swarm Stormcaller is an upgraded version of the Swarm Thundercaller. Where the Swarm Thundercaller has easy access to sound and lightning magic, the Swarm Stormcaller has access to those as well as water, air, and storm magic.

She only briefly looked over her other options before picking that one. Nothing else was really impressive, and each one of the five magic types it had listed was something that she hadn’t yet made a rat mage for, so they would be granted to her as well.

All done. She said, looking up at Rose. He’s going to be an upgraded version of the Thundercaller called a Stormcaller, and will be granting me access to sound, lightning, water, air, and storm magic to boot.

“Sounds like a good pick.” Rose said. “Have you received word from Amelia?”

Consider this the word. Amelia’s voice rang out in Lia’s mind. I’ll be taking her with me for now, expect her back in a couple of hours.

Then, there was a lurching in Lia’s stomach, and she found herself back in Amelia’s lab. Before Lia even really got her bearings, Amelia rolled a luminescent stone over to her. “There’s your cooldown negater.” She said. “Go ahead and transform back into your foxkin form, we need to talk.”