“I’d hate for them to have ended up in a fight ring,” he confessed, the brindled warg leaning against him and panting happily. Every now and then he champed his teeth before going back to an excited canine grin. The dark female was more refined in her mannerisms, still leaning against his other side, but with little more than a lifted chin as Olvar rubbed her nape. “I think those are fitting names,” he agreed, then looked again to the brindle. He had a gleam in his eye that made him seem just a bit off, but it reminded him of a sellsword he’d worked with during his first few years of mercenary work. A lanky lad by the name of Forrest, who had just enough crazy in a glance to make you wonder if he’d turn on you. “Forrest for you then,” he told the pup, rubbing his ears.

He grunted in agreement with Toya. “We’ll figure something out.” He gave each of the wargs a rub on the neck before standing, fingers naturally fanning when at rest should one of the pups push their head under his hand for attention. As Tempest worked, he watched, keeping a curious eye on the forming blade as it was crafted. Her skill was obvious, as well as her passion for the work. At this pace, she could surpass even a master smith in just a few years. The girl had a few tricks of her own too apparently. Olvar startled back a step at the sudden breath of flame, Lofe falling over in the process and going to hide behind Gaea. He let out a tiny bark.

With the blade properly tempered, he waited eagerly as it was sharpened, and finally declared finished. It hadn’t taken as long as expected, but the wait was still difficult to bear. The lycan accepted the newly forged blade with an appreciative smirk. It was simple and sturdy with a new hidden perk, perfectly balanced, yet the shape and size of the blade was almost identical to it predecessor. An easy transition. A few test swings turned his smirk into a smile. “Beautiful work,” he complimented.

His attention shifted once again as Toya spoke to him. Wyvern bone? He’d heard of weapons made from the coveted commodity, but he’d never expected to see one, let alone have it handed to him free of charge. He sheathed his improved shortsword, then gingerly accepted the bone sword.

The blade was perfection in almost every way. Solid and strong, with a clean edge and ambitious elegance. His eyes traveled the length of the weapon, then back, admiring the detail worked into it, from the maker’s signature to the gemstones expertly laid into the hilt. “Amazing, Tempest,” he appraised honestly. “I’ll wield it proudly. And should it be admired, I’ll send them your way.”

“Lofe, Forrest, and Shade?” Gaea smiled a bit as she pet all three pups. “The names fit you all so well. I’m sure Ojuk will only hate me for a little while.” She sat there thinking for a bit on Toya’s advice and looked up. “There’s a cottage in the highlands that Basselina was living in… Since she moved in with Lokir it’s been sitting empty… I could try and see if she would allow us to stay there until the pups were ready to travel?” It was just a thought on her end, of course, she was hardly expecting Olvar to agree to live with her even after everything.

“Thank you Olvar!” Tempest bounced excitedly. “I’ve been working really hard and watching all the masters! Each one has their own style so I wanted to make my own. I watched how they smelted things to how they hammered… EVERYTHING!” She bounced more. “And Mama made me the sigil for our work. Both my twin brother and I put it on all of our crafts.”

Toya rubbed Tempest’s head and looked up at Olvar and Gaea. “Go enjoy Arri… I’ll watch the pups.” The queen sighed a bit. “I’ll stick them in a room they can tear up or something… Like the enclosed courtyard. Tempest could play with them while you are gone.”

“You would do that?” Gaea tilted her head a bit as she looked up at Olvar to get an approving glance. With the arrangements made she took his arm and led him out the door. “I want to show you the district I am from.” They walked for a long while before they got to a bridge that went over a river of glistening water. “This water is brought up from the lakes underground.” She pointed to the water towers of the castle. “The water is pulled with magic up the towers and they waterfall out into the passages.”

Across the bridge, the pathway design changed and she pointed to it out to him. “See this is how you know you are in my district now.” She pulled him along to a tall building along a stretch of clinics. “This is where I learned how to do medicine. My teacher before me lives in one of these houses… Or used to. It’s been a long time since I was a student in the Red Court District. I could become a mentor myself if I wanted.” She blushed a bit and looked away. “I don’t think I’m a good teacher though.” She pointed to a large white mansion with gold design. “That is home for me. I grew up in that house with Ma whenever she was here. I attended school at the Academy like all healers but I also did field work with my mother whenever she went out.”

They were walking through one of the many rose gardens when a scrawny looking noble walked up to her. Obviously disregarding her arm around Olvar’s the man held out a bunch of flowers. “Princess Gaea, I would like to ask you to be mine for this Ignis season!” It was… cheesy to say the least. Gaea caught off guard had no words as she shook her head and looked up at Olvar.

“Just give me the time of day I’m sure you could be happy.” Again… cheesy. It was catching her off guard. This was why she didn’t come home during this time of the year.

A cottage in the highlands… Isolated, plenty of space to run, and with all of its distractions it would be a good place to begin training with the pups once they were old enough. It was a good idea to be sure. “Sounds like a plan. Fewer people out in the highlands as well. It’ll keep them from getting into too much trouble.” Moving in with Gaea would certainly be interesting, but it would be best for the pups. He hadn’t shared proper quarters with anyone since he was around Tempest’s age. Already he could feel a squabble brewing.

“Watching and doing is the best way to learn,” he agreed, giving the young half-lycan another appreciative nod. “I’ll come here when I end up needing repairs again.” It was bound to happen. It always did.

With Toya watching the pups, an offer that caught Olvar off guard, he was able to go and enjoy the city with Gaea. She held his arm as they walked, the shifter taking in the sweeping architecture and grandiose streets. Everything about this city seemed refined, with Gaea’s childhood home coming in at the top of the list. “You grew up there?” One room of the mansion was likely large enough to fit his entire childhood home inside, but land had been his family’s strong point. For a horse ranch, plenty was need. Still, nothing they’d had could even compare to that. “What was it like growing up in the city? Going to school whenever you wanted?”

Their conversations carried them lazily through the district, Olvar standing a little taller every time someone glanced their way. It wasn’t long before one approached, apparently prepared with gifts and lines to pitch. Blunt lines to boot. The lycan frowned, tilting his head slightly as the man pushed, flower bouquet once again thrust out toward Gaea. “You want what?” he asked, stepping forward to half block the suitor from the princess. The man blinked, as if he genuinely hadn’t seen Olvar standing there.

“Gaea’s mate? … Please?”

“You’re speaking to him,” Olvar answered with a growl, forcing the man back a step by taking another one towards him. “Take a walk while you still can.”

He blinked again, then took a steadying breath and shifted forward to meet Olvar’s posturing. “I demand to speak with–” The noble yelped, stumbling back and falling on his arse. The bristling shifter had knocked a single strong fist against the pompous prat’s nose, hard enough to make a very clear point.

Olvar stood over him as he snatched up his fallen flowers, scooting back a few feet before he rose. The noble was clearly flustered, but he retreated without further fuss. With a slow breath, the young knight relaxed, shoulders easing back to where they had been before the interruption.

A half-amused huff. “I hope the whole of the city has a bit more to them, otherwise your army is doomed.”

“YES!” Tempest threw her arms up in the air. “I GOT A LIFETIME CUSTOMER I DID IT!” She did a hop, jump, and skip before she hugged her grandmother. The pup’s energy looks to drain on her grandmother just being around her but Toya patted her head again.

Gaea tilted her head and looked up at Olvar. “It wasn’t like that. At six I knew I was useless with my nymph craft. You must have noticed by now. I’m not strong like Gemma. My magical abilities are just about useless. I was seven when my father disowned me. I was eight when I took up my craft. Day in and day out. No rest. From reading the manuals to doing the actual medicine. To watching my mentor, to performing my first tasks. It wasn’t whenever I wanted. It was what I had to do. I was thirty when I finally mastered my craft.”

She looked up at the city for a moment. “I didn’t get to play outside with the other kids. If I wanted to be better than Gemma I would have to train that much harder. It wasn’t easy and it took a ton of discipline. Most of the time I was in a stuffy little room with a mortar and pestle wondering where I went wrong.” She chuckled a bit and shrugged. “And training under my mother wasn’t any better. She was a hundred times harder on me. I learned to value life.”

Once the suitor had startled Gaea there were, even more, looks their way from other females. Gaea was unsure what they would do. She was almost glad when Olvar blocked the man but his words brought a blush across her cheeks. Those were big words.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that jackass,” it was one of the women. Some more women crowded and grabbed him. “You are lucky you lost… There are laws against being so pushy.” They picked him up and threw him into the water fountain in the center of the garden. “Better find some humans because that’s about it for who would mate with a weak moron like you.” It stung a bit as Gaea winced. This was how Arri was. Even if he was a rare Rosenite male… He was weak. He would give bad offspring.

Gaea took Olvar’s hand and pulled him into the Yellow Court. She wanted to get out of there and so she took him to the last place she thought there would be a lot of people. The sun was setting and she found herself standing on the beach with Olvar. She could hear the gulls. The smell of salt water was somewhat comforting for her. “We’ll need to get a hold of Basse before we do anything… but I’ll send a bird her way and we can get started on that. I would prefer not to stay in Sularia long this time of year.”

Her toes felt the sand beneath her and she appeared pleased with it as she watched the waves roll. “It’s nice out here… You know this is my favorite spot in all of Sularia? Because people rarely come here this time of day. I would get out of class… or whatever I was doing and I would come to the beach to hide out for a while. Gemma was a lot busier by herself back when we were younger.” She chuckled at the memory. “And on clear nights in Glaciem… You can see the auroras from Horae Island.” She pointed off in the direction of the island even though she couldn’t see it.

She pulled up her dress and tied it up as she moved into the water. She looked at Olvar with a smile. “Take off your shoes and roll up your pants farm boy.”

As they talked, Olvar gave small nods here and there, but much of what he heard was a surprise to him. The way Simon had talked, education was a great thing, something to be treasured and taken full advantage of. But then again, he hadn’t very well enjoyed his own tutoring, and his mentor did have a tendency to exaggerate on the perks of nobility. “It sounds like you worked hard to get where you are, and your skill is incredible,” he complimented, thinking back to when she’d healed her leg, then to the ambush. “Gemma seems to admire you for it too.” The younger of the twins had only sealed his arrow wounds by luck and logic, something he was grateful for to be certain, but also a fine difference between the women. Gaea knew healing, and she knew it well. “And you were able to spend time with your mother as well,” he added as a positive note.

Once the suitor was dealt with, he watched curiously as the women of the city tossed him into the water with a barrage of harsh words. If he hadn’t come on to Gaea, he might have felt bad for the poor sap. It seemed his mistake had cost him any chance of getting laid in Sularia, if not all of Arri.

He gave Gaea his hand as she led him along, following wherever she led and taking in the city as they went. Crowds thinned the farther they walked, and it wasn’t long before the pair stood alone on quiet sands, the waves washing gently against the shore. The tang of salt in the air sent his mind back to the pirate city where he’d first started his new life, hiding from his roots and getting lost in crowds of missing people. Hungry days and cold nights. He gripped Gaea’s hand a little tighter. “I don’t blame you. It seems tense, what with the dragons running loose, and people being thrown into fountains.”

Hazel eyes wandered the sands as she described her hiding place, and the memories she’d made there. Horae was nowhere in sight, but he didn’t doubt the beauty of its light in the distant night, like a beacon of color. His gaze returned to Gaea as she tied her dress and left him for the water, a smile touching his face at the nickname. The shifter balanced on one leg at a time as he pulled his boots off of his feet, then rolled his pant legs to follow her. “We didn’t live near enough to the ocean to visit it when I was young, but we had a pond not far into the woods where we would swim. Seawater feels different though. Bigger, somehow.”

“When did you and Gemma decide to leave home?” he asked, searching out a smooth stone from the sand between his toes. Most of them were worn small by the ocean, but he found a decent-sized one to skip out over the water. It bounced twice before being swallowed by a small incoming wave.

“Gemma was a prodigy with magic so she didn’t need to do anything with her life but show up,” Gaea smirked at him. “She also is shit at keeping things clean. When you become an apprentice for healers most of the time you have to keep their workspace clean. Discipline they call it.” She thought about her time with her mother. “It’s not the same thing when she is your teacher.” She grimaced a bit. “She is… hardcore when it comes to teaching.”

Gaea chuckled as they walked the beach briefly. “Dragons are only in the White Court and they are all owned and tamed by Toya Rose. People get into fist fights all the time though.” She smirked up at him as she watched him take his boots off and roll his pants. Thinking about her safe spot now she just gave him a smile. “Gemma and I have a pond we bathe in back at our house… We live in a mangrove inlet. It’s nice and warm all year round. Just us and our tree house. The sea does feel different though.”

She thought about the answer to his question. “To… be…” She thought about. “Useful.” She picked up a stone and tossed it just as good as he could. Her wave was a little bit smaller than his. “There are so many healers in Arri that I wanted to leave and Gemma wanted to come with me. We were thirty… two? So we left about two hundred and twenty three years ago if I'm remembering my age right. I was hardly getting any requests because of the large amount of healers. So we left home. Not the best reason but Ignis Season is really hard here too.” She chuckled. “Most of my siblings don’t live here.”

She reached out and took his hands in her own. “And if I hadn’t left… the lessons I’ve learned that are most important to me would never have been taught. While I learned a lot here… I learned a lot more on the outside. The outside is so much more different than Sularia is. It was just something I had to learn. On the outside, no one knew who I was. They didn’t know I was a princess nor that my mother was a goddess. I could just be Gaea, a nymph reject who went around healing people for a living.” She chuckled as she yanked him close to her. “And if I hadn’t left… well, you wouldn’t be in front of me now would you?”

Warm all year round. That sounded nice. Whenever winter rolled in for the season, the lycan always found himself longing for warmer climates, but quite often he had to stay put, either for training or for a job. “I’ll have to visit sometime.” He watched her stone skip the water, smiling at each bounce. The smile faltered upon hearing her story continue. Thirty-two when she’d left? Over two centuries ago? He blinked stupidly at her, but let her finish her recollection before speaking. “You’re over two hundred years old?” When he heard it out loud it sounded almost rude, so he cleared his throat. “You don’t look a day over twenty,” he revised once he’d recovered from his surprise. She appeared in every way no older than himself.

As he’d gotten into the habit of doing, he gave her his hands when she took them. “I know what you mean. I learned plenty at home but only about keeping a farm. Once I was on my own, I had to learn everything else I’d been missing, one way or another.” Some lessons had come relatively easily, like camping on a rise to avoid pooling rainwater. Others were harder: his limits as a fighter, for example; the distance he needed to be from a town to avoid casualties on a new moon.

“It was good to leave home after everything that happened for me as well. I could start over, and my family was unwelcome there anyway.” He was tugged closer, and Olvar rested his forehead lightly against hers with a smile. “Probably not, no. But maybe I’d have come to Sularia,” he ventured, giving her a light kiss, “in need of healing.” One hand remained with hers, but the other slipped free to find her cheek, cupping her chin for a second kiss. “You’d have healed me, wouldn’t you?”

Gaea laughed a bit and nodded. “Closer to three hundred now. I can’t remember exactly how old I am but I know I am at least that old.” She couldn’t get over the look on his face as she laughed. “Most of us don’t look over twenty. That’s just the Rosenite race. We’re timeless. I’m still relatively a baby compared to how old we can get. Most of us die in battles when we are young. We are reckless individuals with guts of steel for the most part.”

She was glad to have things in common with Olvar. It was hard to think they would be on the same thought pattern about certain things. They were different but there were many things that appeared to be the same for them. “I learned… that different medicines have different effects on different races. That some races needed more of one herb than another. It molded me. Made me think on my feet.”

Her forehead met his and she chuckled more when she saw that smile. “Maybe you would have.” Her lips returned the kiss just as lightly. She pushed her face into his hand almost on instinct now as she closed her eyes briefly before reciprocating the kiss. “I would have healed you without a thought in the world. Made you feel better… Made sure that you were comfortable. I would have taken care of you.”

Things were perhaps getting a bit handsy between them in the water as they stood there. She could barely breathe through the charged feeling she had while in his arms. Pushing herself up she kissed him once more and pulled him back to the shore. “I want you…” There was a blush on her face. “To come back home with me.” Obviously, a cover as she laughed it off. “Come on.” The beach was no place for them to pursue anything further at least… without a blanket.

She watched him put his shoes on and before long they were on their way. The walk to the Red Court Mansion was a long one as they rounded up to the big white mansion with gold design. Olvar had a ton of questions. “No.” “No.” “No.” She kept saying to him with laughs in between every guess. “This is my mother’s mansion. Built after there were plenty of us. It didn’t use to be so big but with so many of us… She made sure we had a place to return to.”

She pushed the door open and there were a few house servants floating about. “Don’t mind us.” They couldn’t even get a greeting out as she dragged him up the giant marble stairs and to the right. It was absolutely huge. However, when they got to the very end of the hall she turned the knob to a door. The space inside was small… sort of cramped. There was a small bed, desk full of papers with a book on a pedestal, and a bookshelf full of old literature.

“Probably not what you were expecting…” She laughed once more as she brought him in.

Each kiss she returned to him strengthened his smile. “I’d trust no other healer in the whole of the city,” he told her confidently, eyes alight with life. His heart was doing backflips against his ribs with such vigor that he was sure she would hear. Still he held her close, pressing a longer, tender kiss to her lips. With the sea’s wind at his back and the sun glowing gold above them, she truly looked like the daughter of a goddess. After one peck on the lips from her, she stepped back, pulling him back to the sands. He followed, of course.

At her sloppy amendment, he scoffed, but didn’t push. He wiped the sand off of his feet, then pulled his boots back on to trail after her through the city. The lycan laced their fingers as they walked, eyeing the passing Rosenites with a small amount of suspicion. Once or twice he caught a woman eyeing him up and down, but upon seeing his hand locked with Gaea’s they seemed to more or less dismiss him: a relief considering the way Gemma had gone on about the terrors of Ignis season.

As soon as they rounded the corner, the massive mansion caught his eye, standing out even amongst the luxury of the city around them. “Is that all yours?” No. “Is it Gemma’s?” No. “Gemma’s boy toy’s?” No. Her laugh rang clear and bright like crystal. Angela’s mansion. A place to return to. The man let out a gentle breath as they entered, Gaea confidently leading the way. His eyes went to the servants immediately, suddenly feeling out of place. It was like Chateau du Montefort all over again, but all of the noble furnishings were compacted into a smaller plot of land. Everything in here appeared to have a place, whereas Simon’s castle had seemed to have hallways stretching on with no discernable destination.

Olvar was dragged up an elegant staircase and down a hall, maybe two. He wasn’t paying much attention. He was too distracted by the interior of the mansion. The door they’d arrived at was relatively simple though, and almost more striking because of it. On the other side was a room that was packed with a bed and as many books as he’d ever seen in a bedroom. Filling the shelf, overflowing from the desk, and even taking up a portion of the chair tucked into the study area.

“I would expect this of a closet,” he answered, running his fingertips along the bookshelf. “But if this is your room, no, it’s not what I expected.” A brief chuckle followed the reply, and his gaze slid back to Gaea. “At least it’s your own private space.”

Gaea gently flicked his nose at his scoff and gave him a smile. Her fingers found his comfortably as she kept him close. Her glares were few and far between as she caught women staring at him. This city… It was exhausting. A sigh left her lips as she started to ignore them.

Once they got to her room she chuckled a bit more at him and shook her head. “I requested my room to be like this when I was a girl. If it was too big it could have distractions. It was just right. I’ve just… been hoarding books in here since I left so it's not as organized as it used to be. I don’t like to keep books in our treehouse because of the weather.”

She let her hands leave his as she flipped the pages of the book on the pedestal. “Advanced potion making when dealing with elements.” She said aloud to Olvar. “Tricky thing that is.” It was weird for her to have someone in this room. She froze a bit. “You are the first one I’ve ever brought here before.” Her pink eyes looked up at him as if her mind was stuck on something. “It wasn’t really private…” Finally, she smiled again and laughed. “Gemma hated sleeping alone so she was almost constantly in here if she hadn’t suckered one of the local boys into her bed.”

Gaea closed the door behind them and came up behind Olvar with her arms around his waist. Her forehead was against his back as she thought about everything that had happened before they arrived. The half nymph pressed her lips into his back for a moment before going around him and pulling towards the small bed. “I just didn’t want to get sand in places where it didn’t belong. Maybe next time we’ll bring a blanket.” She winked up at the lycan.

Just before the bed, her hands cupped his face as she brought him down to kiss her again. “You know… You don’t have to be gentle with me. I was frightened before and I’m not anymore.” She whispered to him as she put her forehead against his.