It only took a moment to clean up the mess I made, and get the three of us dressed. My clothes already fit a little tighter than before. Not enough that I need to let them out just yet, but I'm getting there.

"Amelia." The pixie gets shakily to her feet. "Sorrel's being mean."

"Mmm. If that was him being mean, I'm not sure we would survive him being nice." She lets out a dark laugh at the pouting expression on Apricot's face. "I'm still not sure I agree with all this exercise, but if this is one of the side benefits. Well, I think I can get used to it."

"Huh?" I tilt my head to one side. "I don't know if the exercise is responsible. I was a teenager the last time I worked out regularly, so everything made me horny. I wish I hadn't stopped though, that way I wouldn't have gotten fat and subsequently wouldn't have made myself overly skinny when given the chance."

"Maybe, but that way we wouldn't get to enjoy the benefits." Amelia chortles when the pixie's pout turns into a full-on glare.

"You can set the pace next time, okay." I pull the winged woman to me. "But, I still say you deserve it for teasing me last night. Now, come here." I pick her up and start for the horse pen to get Flicker hitched up.

"Not this again." She whines, but has a wide smile on her face.

"Yes, this again." I stick my tongue out at her. "You only had me set you down for sex, that doesn't count."

"..." Her lips purse, but she doesn't make me set her down. "Hey, what's that?" She just caught sight of the little playground I made for the girls.

"Oh, Myra and Willow were climbing all over the gym equipment when I went out for my run." I explain. "I didn't want them to get hurt, so I made something a little safer for them to play in."

"Aww." Amelia hugs me on my free side. "You are such a softie."

"I know." I let out a deep, put-upon sigh. "And, don't worry. I'll make you something fun to play in later." I say to the puppy dog eyes Apricot has focused on me.

"How is it that I'm the youngest one here, yet you two constantly act like children?" Amelia lets out a sigh of her own.

"I don't know about Sorrel, but it's hard to reach a few hundred years of age without realizing that kids usually have the right approach."

"I'm just happy to be alive." I prove it by kissing her full on the lips. "I'm not going to waste it by worrying about how I 'should' act."

"Wait, what?" The blonde stops in her tracks. "Sorrel did you know about this?"

"Huh? Oh, her age?" I shrug. "Not exactly, but the Fae are magic. Barring accidents or violence, they live as long as they want." I only know this because I read up on them when VeeGee gave me the chance to pick my race. I didn't check out every race, but pixies and their cousins were right at the top when I sorted by average lifetime.

"Wow, I thought you were my age." She looks her lover up and down speculatively. "You're not bad looking for someone old enough to be my great-however-many-times grandmother."

"I am nobody's grandmother." The winged woman huffs. "I'm not even anyone's mother. I love kids, but... I don't know. It just never felt like the right time."

"Oh, Sweetie." I kiss away the shadow that covers her expression. "You'll know when the time is right, and then you'll tell me and I will pump as many babies into you as you want." I smile and kiss her again when she starts giggling.

"Isn't it a bit early to be talking babies?" The two of us start laughing harder at Amelia's worried expression.

"Don't worry, Baby." I pull her close and kiss the worry off of her face. "We aren't going to do anything until all of us are ready."

I know I'm over-compensating for losing everything by diving into such a deep relationship so quickly. But, even I know that just two weeks in is a bit fucking early to be thinking about kids.

"Good." Her head bobs up and down fervently. "Because I'm not."

"Me either, honestly." Apricot agrees.

"I know it's still early." I say with a hint of gravitas. "And, that we need to make sure we all get along in the long term, but I do want a big family. Eventually. But, we have plenty of time for that."

"He's right." Apricot nods. "Since you're sharing my magic, you're probably sharing my lifespan too."

"Even if you aren't." My voice turns even more serious. "I have more than enough magic to keep you at whatever age you want for as long as you want."

"Is that even possible?" His eyes go wide.

"If I want it to be possible, then it will be." My words come out as a growl. "Sorry, that's my darker side speaking." I take a deep breath and hold it for a moment.

"It’s okay, Babe." Her tight hug helps me relax. "I can't know how it feels to go through what you did, but I think I understand what you're feeling."

"Thank you. I'll try to work on my issues some more." My words come out in a shuddering breath. "But, I'm also serious about what I said. You've seen how skilled I am with nature magic, how I've improved over just a couple weeks, and what I can do after just a single lesson on healing magics. I'm not going to lose anyone else, not if it is even remotely within my power to save them."

"Is everything alright out here?" Melanie pokes her head out of the workshop.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Yeah, I'm just being dramatic." I laugh at myself, ignoring the twin looks the girls send my way. "You ready to head into town?"

"Uh. Yeah?" She seems hesitant until Amelia smiles at her.

"Everything is fine, we just touched on one of those heavy relationship topics." She reassures the alchemist. "I'm sure you and Ed will be having a few conversations like this soon enough... Well, maybe not exactly like this. Heheheh." She then starts giggling at the embarrassed look on Melanie's face.

"Does everyone know?" The poor woman practically whines out her question.

"Oh, girl." Apricot tugs on my collar until I move closer so she can hug her. "It's pretty obvious."

"But, he's almost ten years older than me." She whines again and glares at us when we just start snickering.

"Sorry, sorry." I hold up a hand in surrender. "But, Amelia just found out that our little pixie is a few hundred years older than we are."

"What, seriously?" Her eyes get so wide that they almost look like they're going to pop out of her face.

"Makes a mere decade seem insignificant." Amelia offers her a 'what can you do?' type of shrug. "Come on, you can tell me all about him on the ride into town." She takes Mel’s hand and pulls her into the carriage.

"Yeah." Melanie nods with a little sigh before leaner closer to her and whispering. "But, uh, why is he carrying her around?"

"Because he's a pest." - "Because I can." Apricot and I talk over each other.

"That sounds about right." Amelia smirks back at us.

...

We drop Melanie off at the guild a few minutes later, and I'm glad to see that the street sweepers seem to have recovered enough to get back to work. I've already gotten into the habit of cleaning up after Flicker, though; no need to make more work for anyone when I can easily take care of it with a bit of magic.

"So, where to first?" That simple question led to a whirlwind day of shopping.

I lost track of all the shops we visited, especially with Apricot making us stop at every place that even looked like it might have sweets. But, at least I was able to get a complete kitchen set, no more using wooden plates and the same set of utensils for every meal.

Amelia also showed me a couple of craft/fabric supply stores where I was able to pick up a bunch of beads and buttons. The stuff I can make now is good, but I can't do much with metal and stone just yet.

"Alright." I say after visiting the N'th furniture maker. "I think I've got a good idea of how I want to decorate now. There's still one place I want to visit, but it's on the way to your parents. Do you want to head there for dinner, maybe tease your brother about Ashley for a bit?"

"Heheheh. Yeah, that sounds good." Amelia and Apricot each found a few knickknacks while we were shopping, though I think Amelia mostly picked hers just so she would have the chance to haggle.

"I'm always up for more food." Apricot nods in my arms, I still haven't set her down. "But, where do you want to go?"

"Oh, I saw a temple earlier and I still haven't thanked Temmie properly for backing me up the other day." I smile at her and Amelia, glad that they understood why I didn't tell the whole truth right away. "I'd like to do something special for her, but aside from her sense of humor, I don't really know much about her."

"I don't think any lunker does, not really." The pixie says in a hushed tone. "Let me tell you about the Goddess of Discord and what she did for all the dungeon Fae."

"But, there is no goddess of discord." Amelia looks perplexed.

"Heh! That's her biggest joke." Apricot snorts. "She disagreed with her sphere of influence so much that she changed it, made it so that no other god or goddess could embody it either."

"Oh, that's awesome!" I laugh. "She was so discordant that she disagreed with herself."

"Pretty much." Apricot's smiles a fond smile for the goddess. "She couldn't change herself completely though. That's why she chose lewd jokes; they annoy as many people as they please." A happy smile gets directed toward Amelia at that. "But, she was able to free the dungeon Fae; pixies, fairies, and wisps, we all owe our lives to her. She gave up control of dungeons to Bill the god of magic, but not before freeing all of us."

"Oh, sweetie." I hug her tight when a single tear leaks down her cheek.

"I'm alright." She pats me on the arm. "It was long, long before even my time, but it's sort of a racial memory. We all know deep in our hearts what it was like before our chains were broken."

Amelia latches onto her from the other side and we just hold her like that for a moment. I know almost immediately what I want to do for the goddess, but hide the image in my mind behind a wall of funny cat pictures. 'No peeking Temmie. I want it to be a surprise.' In response, I get the feeling that she's sticking her tongue out at me.

"I really am okay." Apricot laughs and tries, futilely, to squirm out of our grasp. "Fine, don't let me go. But, I recognize that twinkle in your eyes. You've already thought up something good."

"Maybe." I grin and start guiding Flicker to the temple I spotted earlier. "You'll just have to wait and see."

Once, there I pull out every bit of chocolate I have in storage out and see that it's not going to be enough. Fortunately, the sun is still up, so I bring out the potted cacao tree and, as quickly as I can, make hundreds of kilograms of dark chocolate.

"Remind me to talk to some dairy farmers." I say while holding the pixie back from the mountain of candy. "We're going to need a steady source if we want to produce milk chocolate commercially."

"Alright." Amelia nods. "But you'd better finish whatever it is you're doing. Apricot looks like she's about to snap."

"Sorry, Sweetie." I chuckle. "But, all this is for Temmie. I'll make you some more later."

We've started to gather a small crowd, so I raise the table I'm working on up, so everyone can see. Not that they can see much just yet, I'm hiding the actual sculpture I'm making under a thin barrier of chocolate.

I work as fast as I can; the magic guided by my memories, will, and intent. And, just as the first of the crowd are starting to look bored, I raise my voice, to call out. "An offering for the great goddess Temmie." The thin shell shatters to reveal my work.

And, what an offering it is too; a nearly two meter-high, chocolate sculpture. Dark chocolate makes up most of it, but I used the lighter candies to add details and contrast.

The first thing to draw the eye is Temmie riding a big black cock. Now, admittedly, the rooster itself does have something of a phallic look to it, but it is clearly just a cock. And sure, she may be stroking its head somewhat suggestively, but that's just to encourage it.

That's far from the whole of the sculpture, though. In it, she and her mount are shattering a cage to free a flock of other birds. Peacocks, cockatoos, cockatiels, cockerels, cocks of the rock, snowcocks, woodcocks, woodpeckers, dickcissels, nuthatches, sapsuckers, shags, boobies, one mighty looking mustached flowerpiercer, and tits, oh-so-many tits. You know, just normal, every day, birds. No limpkins though, not in this group.

The crowd's reaction is a fairly even split between confusion, groans, and laughter. Though, the goddesses booming laughter makes everyone stand up a bit straighter.

*Thank you Sorrel, I love it.* A large bite goes missing from the cock's head before the whole sculpture vanishes into the aether.

"Hahahah!" I can't help but laugh, though most of the men in the crowd groan and wince at her little joke.

"Were those all..." Amelia's question trails off.

"Every single one." I laugh even harder at the look on her face. "Not all of them translate properly, but at least half of them had the word cock in their name."

"Why did I have to hook up with followers of Temmie?" She looks to the heavens as though expecting another god to answer her. "How do you even know that many birds? I thought plants were your thing."

"Oh, plants would be too easy." I shake my head, just thinking about all the plants that look like or are named after genitals. "But, to answer your question, I was a bored teenager with nearly all the world's knowledge at my fingertips. What else would I look up?"

"Can we just go to my parents now?" She walks back to the carriage, several people in the crowd commiserating with her as she passes. Several more pat me on the back when I follow after her.

...