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Kalokin was a damn good thief; there was no lock that could hold him, no spell, no binding so complete that he could not wiggle his way free. Shelandra knew this, but even so, she was surprised it had taken this long for him to escape. She was sprawled out, belly down in the sand, in her own private corner of the deserts, a place far from Naga cities where she could simply relax and bake in the heat. She was the god of passion, of love and heat, here she'd focused all the heat within a square kilometer onto the small patch she lay on. The sand beneath her had long ago melted into liquid glass, but it had been cooled and melted enough over multiple visits that it stayed hard under even the most brutal heat. She felt a little alarm go off in her head when Kalokin wriggled free of Khaesho's body, and another as he popped across the vast kilometers into existence right beside her.

*Hello brother dear, fancy meeting you here.*

*Sister, I goofed bad, and I need your help.*

That got her attention. Usually she found out second hand as he fled the scene cackling. Still, she hissed with derisive sarcasm. She had cleaned enough of his messed to be a little tired of it, and even though she knew being rough with him was a bad idea, he had interrupted her in the middle of a really nice bask.

*Oh, wow, that's a first. You've made a mess that you need me to clean up? Someone, call in the heralds!*

*Sis', this is serious. I'm not going to beg you to swoop in and fix everything; you've done that for me enough. I just need you to tell me how to fix what I've broken.*

Another first; he was trying to take responsibility for his mistakes? Any other time, and she would have celebrated his newfound maturity, but she had had a long day, and all she really wanted was to enjoy the burning sun's rays.

*Kalokin, you do not 'fix' things. You break them, and then you bathe amongst the pieces before sliding off to break something else.*

Her casual declaration, so soon after Khaesho's denouncement, reduced him to a quivering mass of scales before her. He wrapped his arms around his coils as if the act alone could help keep him together.

*Please, I'm begging you. I can change, I will change. I swear, I'll get back to work and stop being a nuisance, I swear I'll get myself together, just help me out this one last time. If not for me, then do it for Khaesho. For Shouyousei. Please...*

Regret? Selflessness? Sorrow? These were things she'd never seen in him before, and she roughly looked through his mind to see what had happened. To say the least, she was not pleased. She found his memories buried deep in his mind, and she yanked them to the forefront of his attention with a painful twist.

*Do you have ANY idea what you've done?*

*I...*

*You have twisted this poor girl's mind! You shoved so much of your magic through her that you literally warped her soul!*

When she'd denounced him, he hadn't thought he could feel any worse. Now he knew he was wrong.

*I... no, I wouldn't have... I thought...*

*If it hasn't already, her mortal body will reject the twisted, impure soul. Her soul will float away on the breeze, condemned to suffer in silence for eternity, and her body will become a roaming husk, an empty thing, best killed as an act of mercy. This is a new low for you brother, you haven't done something this despicable since the dark days.*

*I... Please sis', you have to help me. Tell me what to do, how to fix her. I'm tired of having to live like a criminal.*

She laughed. She laughed for a good five seconds as Kalokin lay helpless before her.

*You know as well as we do, Kalokin, you can't help at all because you can't be fixed. We tried, we really did. You just need to come to terms with that fact.*

She didn't really mean it. She loved him, in her own way, but she was always... harsh during daytime, especially during spring and summer. It was almost sundown in the east, but it would have been high noon in the deserts, and she was always at her most violent at noon. Had he waited until night time, she would have returned to her normal self, but as it was, her casual dismissal snapped something within him. He pulled himself higher until he towered over her prone form. His scales darkened, and his eyes paled until they were almost white.

*And you would condemn her to this fate? You would let her suffer? You're a fucking hypocrite, that's what you are! You speak all high and mighty, but you can't even be bothered to save an innocent girl. Actually, you know what? I refuse to feel sorry for this. This whole situation? My curse? MY ENTIRE CROOKED EXISTANCE?!? ITS ON YOUR HEAD! You poke and you prod, and you say you're trying to help, but you never actually told me jack shit, NONE of you did. I know I'm not as blessed as you three, but maybe I'd be less of a cripple if you stopped treating me like I'm BROKEN. Of course I don't know what I'm doing, of course I don't know the repercussions of my actions because NONE OF YOU EVER TOLD ME. Actually, you know what? Let's go further back. If not for you, He would have executed his plan killed us all! The world would be a better place, and He would still be alive. THAT'S ON YOUR HEAD TOO! Fine then, grow a dick and go fuck your own anus if you really like it. Burn your soul to cinders in this wasteland of lies, I'm going to go try and fix this. And you know what? I'm only gonna crook it up even worse, but that's okay, because AT LEAST I BITING TRIED!*

He turned to leave, but Shelandra pounced, sinking her talons into his shoulders. Her coppery skin had turned to actual molten metal encased in punishing fire. Literally burning with rage, she tracked Kalokin's vessel across the world and took them both there.

---

Khaesho and Shou cuddled, holding tight just for the tactile comfort. They didn't say anything, didn't make any light, they just sat there in the dark, each wrapped in their own thoughts. An abrupt shock wave knocked them out of their contemplation, and accompanying it was a light bright enough that it leaked through Khaesho's stacked coils. He and Shou cautiously peeked over the top of his piled body, and Shou got her first real glimpse of a divine manifestation.

A female Naga made entirely of fire and molten copper held a singed Blue Racer by the neck. There was no question that the first was one of the other serpent deities, apparantly an embodiment of fire, but she was confused at the second until she put two and two together.

"Kalokin? I thought you were a Rattlesnake."

He feigned apathy as if his essence wasn't smoking from the heat.

"Yea, funny thing, I'm really a Blue Racer. Rattlesnakes are better known and more feared though, so I put a disguise on before I entertained you. Thought you'd appreciate the full experience, as it were. Oh, this is my Sister, Shelandra. She's a Copperhead, and she's here to help."

Shelandra was bipolar, and Kalokin was betting she would have a mood swing as soon as she talked to Shou a little bit. Unfortunately for him, his casual dismissal irked her, and she instantly doubled in both light and heat.

"You have forgotten your place, brother. Let me remind you that You Are Beneath Me."

"Kalokin!" Shou nearly surged up, but Khaesho held her down, which probably saved her live. Shelandra's intensity increased until the blackened layer of char around Kalokin's neck turned to ash as she literally started burning him alive. Khaesho flinched beneath his coils; even this far from her blazing heat, he was getting uncomfortably warm. Shou had to duck back down behind his protective flesh, this newcomer was far too hot for her to even look at. Khaesho was reminded of the one time he had gone swimming through magma, and even that had only singed him a little bit. He couldn't even comprehend the amount of heat rolling off of Shelandra, but the rock beneath her started to melt as she torched Kalokin. Shou's eyes were wide, and her breathing trembled slightly. The words of the Goddess, had her narrowing her wispy blue eyes in anger, but she bit her tongue. Shelandra was clearly more powerful than Kalokin, and she sounded PISSED. Still, she was hurting Kalo, badly. His essence was literally burning, and he made a strangled gasp. Kalokin had fucked up... and he probably deserved it... but even so, it wasn't in either or Shouyousei Khaesho to abandon a friend, even if that meant standing up to the goddess of the sun. Khaesho thought for a moment, about Kalokin, and about Shou, but most importantly, about Shelandra. Indecision rolled over his face, but clarity snapped into his eyes as he realized what was most important and made his choice. He turned to Shou and nuzzled her affectionately

"Shou... I am about to do something of legendary stupidity. Make sure you watch this, because I doubt anyone will ever attempt something this insane again within your lifetime."

"I... be careful. I don't want to lose you."

He smiled reassuringly, and then thought for a moment. He looked at the cavern, at the water, and at Shelandra. He wrapped Shou in a protective barrier to bar her from the worst of the heat and positioned himself several yards away, between Shelandra and the pool.

"Shelandra! Put him down, he's mine!"

Her focus wavered for a fraction of a second, and Kalokin broke her hold and vanished into light and energy. He quickly took refuge inside Khaesho's mind, but couldn't do much aside from try and pull his charred soul together.

"Know Your Place, Khaesho. Your place is to obey me, not to give orders. I will say this once. Hand him over and stay out of my way, I do not wish to hurt you."

"No. My claim to him is equal if not greater than yours. I do not wish to fight you for him... but how about a wager? You've never turned down a good wager before, and here are my terms. I want Kalokin's freedom and your help in healing Shou, against absolutely anything that is within my power to give."

She cocked her head to the side, hesitating with surprise. Most Snakes love a good wager but none loved to gamble so much as the gods themselves. There were always grand stories of people winning insane favors from the deities, but for those who lost the bet... the price was always high.

"Anything...? And if my price was for you to remain ever by my side, to be my slave for an eternity? You make a good plaything, and I could put you to good use."

He answered without a moment's hesitation

"The terms are agreed then."

She laughed, and the fires around her cooled somewhat. As her anger shifted into curiosity.

"I would just kill you, but I always did like you Khaesho. Deal. What shall we gamble on?"

Khaesho raised his arms and crossed them behind his back, clasping his forearms in his hands. It was the traditional stance for the Crooked King, the struggle in which one Naga must force the other's head to the ground.

"Only the oldest method of settling disputes, the oldest of games."

"Ahhh... The Crooked King? You'll be burned to cinders, my pet. Even with your skill in heat magic, my skin will eventually bake you to a crisp."

"Do you agree to my wager?"

"Hmmm... Yes. Don't think that death will get you out of your end of the bargain though; I can still keep your soul with me. I have not claimed a new soul in quite some time; we will have _such_fun together."

Silencing herself, the wolf stood to the side, pressed into the cave wall as she watched Khaesho barter with his soul against... Shelandra, if she had heard correctly. There was a surge of jealousy at the idea of the selfish goddess taking Khaesho for all eternity, with anger at its heels at suggesting he would be a slave. She bit her tongue to keep her silence, but she didn't look away.

Shelandra likewise crossed her arms behind her, and adopted a low position. She hissed, full of danger and fury, and small tongues of fire escaped her molten mouth. Khaesho, for his part remained perfectly motionless, except for his fingers. From her vantage point, off to the side, Shou watched him snap his fingers, coating his hands in a thick layer of frost, then ice as he drew moisture along his scales; he had dipped the tip of his tail into the pool.

"Any time you feel ready, Shelandra, I ate well and slept recently, I can wait all day."

This taunt had the desired effect. Her fire doubled in intensity, as her anger blinded her. She bodily threw herself at him, hands kept firmly clasped behind her. She no longer even pretended this was a real dance, she just wanted to burn the ignorance from him and claim him forever. As she flew towards him, Khaesho reached up with his hands and grabbed her by the neck. The ice on his hands spat and hissed as it vaporized, but it bought him precious seconds. He lunged backwards, using her momentum to drag them both into the waters of the pool. There was a splash, followed by the hissing of a great cloud of steam as the snakes writhed within the water. Shelandra had started to use her hands now, but her fires were extinguished, and she wasn't expecting Khaesho to cheat a second time. He snapped his fingers again, and the water froze solid into ice around them. She screamed in sudden pain as he leeched the fire from her form, pushing the heat outwards, far from their cave. The air was filled with steam that rapidly frosted into snowflakes, as Khaesho focused hard on forcing all the heat away. Her movements slowed as even her great fires began to run out, but her eyes burned with blind hatred. She hissed venomously, creating more heat, creating fire enough along her scales to vaporize the ice and still melt the stone beneath them. Khaesho had an unexpected edge over her though; in the seven years he had been trapped, he had taken ample time to explore his magic, and he had learned several tricks that Shelandra hadn't bothered to learn. As she poured vast amounts of raw power into creating heat, Khaesho expended a minimal amount of energy, not destroying the heat, but forcing it away from her, out of the room.

Shelandra writhed, snapping the half a foot thick layer of ice they were in and melting the ice with a fresh wave of heat. She grappled at Khaesho, raking her claws along his chest, but he kept both hands firm around her neck, preventing her from using her fangs. As the turned his chest into a mass of bloody ribbons, he turned and twisted, pulling them deeper, and this time, he managed to submerge her underwater. Her scream of shock and pain shook the water, and she extended her body down into the depths to push off of the floor and force her head above the water. Khaesho took this as a wonderful opportunity to snap freeze all of the water, and this time, he focused all of his efforts into keeping her frozen. Blood ran from his chest in a steady stream, dripping down the ice that half encased him, but he had plenty of blood to spare; as long as he didn't accidentally freeze himself, he would be fine.

Shelandra's entire body was encased in ice, all the way up to her neck, and her feral screams tapered off as heat left her body. The entire pond was frozen solid, and for every joule of heat she pushed into the ice, he pushed it further, evacuating all the heat from the water and her manifestation until even her molten skin cooled into the brown, leafy pattern of a Copperhead's scales. Her eyes fluttered closed and her head lolled backwards. Eventually, her screams grew weaker. Then they stopped altogether. She was pale beneath her bright scales, and she looked dead, some cadaver frozen in the ice, but Khaesho apparently was not yet done. He slithered over to her and started punching, raining heavy blows against her. In the silence between blows, he could be heard hissing a single worded mantra, over and over. He shivered, large shudders wracking his entire body, and his voice was twisted with what might have been sadness.

* __Submit... Submit... Submit..._ *_

Shou had watched their violent duel with silent apprehension, but at Khaesho's apparently mindless violence she called out. "K...Khaesho...?" Didn't he win when he had her pinned? "Khaesho, stop you're killing her! STOP" She wasn't fighting anymore. Was it a ploy? The wolf girl didn't know. Could he kill a God? Was such a thing even possible? Khaesho didn't turn his head, didn't pause in his heavy strikes that would have shattered bones if Shelandra hadn't existed only as essence. His voice cracked with pain, as if he suffered for every punch he gave. He was literally torturing a goddess, a figure he was used to worshipping... his pain was understandable, but all the same, it sounded deeper than that somehow.

"She is not dead... I doubt she can really die. This is a duel to the death, and she is staying frozen until she either admits that I won or I starve to death. With you and Khaesho to hunt for me though, that could take a quite some time. With a thought, she could be back on the ground beside you, but if she did that though, she would be admitting defeat."

His eyes never left Shelandra's face, but his scales glowed softly with harsh grey light, luminescent from the magic he held in his grasp. He pulled one hand back, coated it in ice, and smashed his gauntlet directly into Shelandra's snout. She had a good poker face, but even she screamed with the fresh agony. Shelandra blazed, hotter even than she had earlier, pouring every thimbleful of spare essence and she vaporized the ice around her until the air was thick with steam, but Khaesho froze it around them both before she could escape, and they resumed their tug of war until he'd pushed all of her heat away. Shou wondered how a mortal could possibly stand up to a god, until she noticed the heat rolling through her, enough that no amount of panting could help cool her down. The temperature of the cave had risen drastically, and then she understood that Khaesho wasn't fighting fire with ice, he was simply pushing all of the heat from the area, a surprisingly scientific approach for a "Barbarian" from the deserts. After perhaps another minute, Shelandra truly ran out of heat. Her scales started to fade, and she fell still again. Even her eyes started to glaze over. Khaesho unfroze himself long enough to slither above the waterline.

"Cut the crap Shelandra. You. Have. Been. BEATEN!" He punctuated each word with a fist. "SUBMIT TO ME!"

His voice rolled like cannon fire and shook the cave. With a snarl, he pulled her up out of the ice and slammed her against the side of the wall. She writhed weakly, still trying to fight. She opened her mouth and to bite at him; Just a single drop of her essence as venom would be enough. Khaesho was sick of the games; Shou needed her help NOW dammit, and he was done waiting for her to surrender. He let go of her shoulders and grabbed her fangs, one in each hand. He froze his fists around them, and with a savage rush of bloody anger, he yanked back, literally tearing her fangs from her mouth. She screamed, more than just a scream, her voice rent the air asunder. Her cry was a pitiful thing, broken and shattered. She tried to flee, and made it to the rocky cave floor before Khaesho grabbed her by the neck.

Shou watched, with eyes widened, and her breath caught in her throat, watching helplessly as he vented his brutality against her. She quavered and her eyes trailed their forms. Watching as he demanded submission, as he so easily fought a Goddess to her knees, and she wondered what she was doing here. She was just a city girl, a ballerina and painter; she didn't belong here. The wolf trembled, and her ears began to droop, and her eyes widened just the slightest bit more. She looked horrified, lost, and very upset.

Shelandra looked absolutely miserable, a tight, hollow coil of copper colored scales that was soaked through to the bone. Her fires were gone, and she shivered as if she would die from the cold. Khaesho removed his hands from her throat and tangled his body in hers, pulling a little heat back into her form. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and pulled her head up so he could look her in the eye. She stared into his soul just as Shou had once, and what she saw wrenched a wretched sob from her.

"Please. Do not prolong your suffering. This is one fight I am not willing to lose."

In a soft, quavering, pain filled voice, she spoke.

"Damn you to the grinding depths, Scorpent... I... I submit."

Khaesho all but collapsed against her as she kept sobbing, body shaking violently from both chill and despair. He used the last of his energy to heat them both, further entwining his body with hers, until he ended up beneath her. He hugged her torso close as she shivered and wailed into his shoulder.

As Shou watched Khaesho coil around Shelandra, it felt like she was looking at something that she shouldn't see. Even as Kalokin formed a manifestation as a coil of light by her ear, she was moving, backing up. Her steps made no noise; her training as a dancer, her proficiency as a hunter made that easy enough. Kalokin spoke to her softly as she slipped from the cavern that held the pair. Her hand on the wall, she wandered down the hall, her breathing coming fast as she walked into the darkness and let her thoughts run rampant.

"There's a lot that just happened that might not make sense to an outsider, so I'll try and explain. They made a bet, you saw that, but Khaesho tricked her. When he said 'the oldest method of settling disputes, the oldest of games' he meant survival itself. No holds barred, fight to the death... or to submission. Shelandra was expecting an honor dance, and that's how he caught her off guard. Until she spoke the words 'I submit' the fight was still on, and she could have reasonably turned the tables on him if he let her, which explains the possibly unnecessary brutality; he wanted to make sure she knew she lost. Oh, also, we're all just a little crazy. In your language, Shelandra is Bipolar, angrier during the daytime and more emotional at night. It was noon in the deserts where I found her, but we skipped a few hours traveling back east. The sun set sometime while she was frozen, and that's why she's shaking in a pile. I'm over here, with you, and not in Khaesho's head because he just beat the shit out of the older sister who regularly beat me to a pulp, and that scares the fuck out of me right now, so I'm going to wait with you until I'm sure he's not mad at me anymore."

Shou took a few more stumbling steps before she collapsed against the wall, shivering in the darkness

"I... don't belong here..." It was murmured softly, her form trembling, a violent shiver down her spine. She needed to move, her skin felt too tight. "How could I... what hope do I... I need to go... Whatever you did, Kalokin, it's forgiven... I don't... it doesn't matter what it does... I'm not angry, a-and that's all you need to know... Show me how to get out of here, please?" Her voice was whisper soft, and quivering slightly.

"He would not survive it. He just brought a god to her chin, for _your_sake. If you left now, he would gladly end his own life, partly as reparations to Shelandra, but mostly from sorrow."

"I need air, I need... I need to breath, I can't breath..." She was hyperventilating in the darkness, feeling claustrophobic for the first time in her life. The wolf whining as she felt her eyes go wide, a dilation of fear, the need to escape. For a moment she felt trapped, and her tail curled between her legs. Instinct warred with what she knew logically was the answer. "I'm... just a... I'm confused... and scared... and I don't... I don't kn-know what to do... a-and my skin is too tight, and I c-can't move in the d-dark..."

Immediately, soft blue light filled the room. For a few moments, it emanated equally from all surfaces, and then, the world snapped, and looked completely different. She was standing at the pinnacle of a grand mountain, looking out over an endless forest below her. A cool breeze ruffled her fur, and the air had an impossibly clean, sharp feel that is only ever felt high in the mountains. Kalokin pulled his essence into a physical form for the second time in centuries and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"No, it isn't real, and No, I didn't hypnotize you again. I just happen to have a knack for illusions."

Unwilling to believe him at first, she tentatively reached out, only to brush her knuckles against the hard stone wall. Not being underground, even though she was, was a relief, and she panted heavily. She gathered the air into her lungs and struggled to calm her racing heart. The cold, sharp wind ruffled her fur and she was finally calming. Then she looked out at the endless forest below her and sank down to sit - heavily.

"I promised him I would come back if I ever left, pinky promised. That isn't a promise you break, no matter what some people say... I'm not an oath breaker..." But she felt tears rise to her eyes, and she curled up a little bit, arms wrapped around herself as she shivered hard. "I don't know how to handle these... how I feel right now... I don't know what to do with this tangled mess of emotions that this has torn free... I'm just a girl, just a wolf... mortal, nothing brilliant... I may be pretty, but..." And there was the belief that at least she was pretty, compliments of Khaesho's hypnotism. "As you said... he just wrestled a God to her chin... A God who happily suggested keeping him for eternity, something he could probably demand with what he just displayed..."

Kalokin followed her to the ground, and hugged her gently from behind.

"I get that you're sick of the underground. I get that you're panicking and you don't know what to do. I even understand why you'd need to get away from me and my crazy family, but Khaesho? In a matter of days, you've thoroughly entwined yourself into his heart. He loves you now, with all his soul. If you walked out now, without an explanation, the bloody chunks of his heart left over would be able to fit through the eye of a needle, and his death would be a mercy."

His voice was soft, but there was an edge of cold reality in his voice that he hadn't heard from his own mouth in a long time, and it surprised him.

Shouyousei's voice softened, quivered slightly until she was whispering. "Where do I belong in all this? In this world of... of magic and deities and fights to the death and... I'm just a ballerina, Kalokin. I don't fit there... not... didn't you see them? I don't belong in this place... I'm useless here... I can't do anything..." Anger then, it settled in the pit of her stomach, and she threw her head back and howled her to the air. It was a helpless noise, pained, angered and upset, and she slammed her hands to the ground in front of her. She felt the rough stone under the illusion, and continuing until she could scent her blood on the air, collapsing over and beginning to cry. "I can't... do anything..."

He let he beat her hands bloody against the stone. He knew better than to try to stop her. He arranged himself into a simple coil then pulled her atop his "lap," so he could hold her tightly with his arms. Her shoulders trembled with her sobs, and she turned to face the God and bury her face against his scales. Her tears were hot, rolling down her face and her whole body quivered with them. All the same, her ears were perked forward to listen to what he said next.

"That's not true. Every action has a consequence. My brother used to say that to me whenever I did something unusually stupid and he wanted me to think about it, but I think he was using the phrase wrong. Every action, no matter how small can affect the world around it. I've seen a lot during my existence: I've seen an empire fall, because a scorpion wandered into the palace. I've seen a man with nothing but words and conviction raise an army to fight injustice. I've seen a massive war that spanned a century, lost, because one single Mouse decided that she was sick of fighting, and wanted to go home. You might not have magic. You might not be able to fight and die to change the world... but you have the most powerful weapon of all. You have ideas. The words that spin from your mouth could cause even a hopeless god to turn himself around, and if you can do that..."

Watery, wispy blue eyes looked up at his pained yet tender face and her bottom lip trembled a little bit. The fur on her face was damp from her tears. Her heart was aching in her chest, and she was lost, well and truly uncertain what to do now. Every child dreamed of a great adventure, of magic and mayhem, of excitement and danger, but it was the pain that got to her. She hated to see others hurt, or frightened. She really was too gentle to be the predator she was, and she quivered in his arms as he continued.

"And you know what? You might be right. Maybe you don't belong here. Or, as the counter to that, maybe we don't belong _here._Shelandra and I have our faithful, out in the desert. I should have stayed there, and kept all the crazy far away from you, from this. Maybe it's too late for that, but I at least want to try. I want to try and take my crazy out of you. I... I don't want to see you die because of something I did. After we're done, after you're healed, then you can do whatever you want. If you still want to leave we would respect that. It would hurt, but with what has happened to you, he would understand. The three of us would go back to the desert. Khaesho and I would have some very interesting problems to solve once he got there, but they'd be the good kind of problems, the ones that make you better after you solve them. He'd grow old and die as someone's favorite uncle, but he'd never get over that wolf girl he fell in love with while he wandered the wide world. For your part, you'd go back to the city, back to a world of dancing and painting, back to a world where magic is just a myth and the only snakes for a thousand miles are the feral ones. You could go on with your life... but you would never forget us. For as long as you lived, you'd look back and wonder... 'What if?'"

She listened carefully, sniffling occasionally through his tirade. The good problems... she knew those, knew what they were like, and her ears splayed some. There was a tightness in her throat, and she peered up at him with half lidded eyes and a soft whimper as she spoke.

"I don't want you to take the desert... it's warm, and I can- could_feel the sand. It was... comforting, and it shouldn't have been, but it was. A-and... and even if he stayed here, he would still grow old and die as someone's uncle at best... i-is cross-breeding between our kind even possible?" She was getting a little ahead of herself, but her mind was rolling through all these worries at once. "Didn't you see how _perfect he looked wrapped up in another Naga?" Her voice softened, ripened with hurt.

"I did. Make no mistake, that was for her benefit and yours, not his. He needs her to pull herself together, and that was the fastest way to make that happen. You had a fair point earlier... with what he's done so far, he could probably get away with asking to be one of her consorts for an eternity. Funny thing is, they both recognize that fact. So here's what I want you to do. Ask him. After this is done, you can still go back to Civilization... but you can take Khaesho with you. He wanted to ask, but then I messed up and Shelandra got involved, and he's been a bit distracted. Unless you specifically told him to leave, he would follow you to the ends of the earth... we're already halfway there. All you would need to do is ask. He's a fast learner... he'd find some way to fit in. Ask him if he'd rather be with you, or Shelandra, and then I want you to count how many seconds it takes for him to wrap you in his coils. I'll be surprised if you make it past two."

She curled up into the fetal position, wrapping her hands around her knees, and Kalokin coiled gently around her, hugging her softly with cool scales.

"Yes... yes he could..." Who would be content with life with a mortal when they could have a God? With s glance down at herself she saw every flaw in her form, every imperfection that made her not worth considering, and she wondered if she could take that rejection. It was more or less to be expected by now. She bit her bottom lip and nodded a little bit. It wasn't an option she had thought of before because he had chosen to be in this cave, and she wasn't one to push her will on another, even if that was bringing him home with her. He seemed to not want to be in town, so she hadn't wanted to push it. She bit her lip and looked at her hands. "I... don't want him to do something... he doesn't want to do..." Her voice was soft. "I don't want him to do something... because he feels guilty about what you did..."

"No. I'm not allowing you to leave until we at least try to fix you. After that, there can be no guilt. Like you said... no harm, no foul. Once you're healed, we'll owe you nothing. He loves you Shou... I... I love you too, I think..."

His declaration surprised her a little, and only made her feel more guilty. Did she love them? Either of them? Wolves were monogamous, and just the idea of two different men loving her gave her more than a tinge of panic. She couldn't sort through her feelings just then, there was too much turmoil in her mind. Her hands were hurting, aching and bloodied, and she brought one to her mouth and tenderly licked at it, cleaning the wound the only way she could. The thought of going back, of seeing Khaesho wrapped up in the Goddess had her heart tightening and she didn't want to move, but... running never got anyone anywhere, and she moved to stand up, shoulders sagging and heavy. She spoke softly to him. "Can you lead me back to the pool, Kalokin?"

The illusion faded, and she was in the dark in the cave once again. A glowing sphere appeared before her, acting as both light and guide. Kalokin returned to being a band around her ear, a comforting weight shining softly and just a touch warmer than the air around her.

"Take as long as you need."

Following the light that Kalokin provided, she paused several feet away, and murmured softly - meant only for the God on her ear. "Thank you Kalokin... you have a very generous heart..." Ten hours ago, Kalokin would have fired off a sarcastic comment about how selfish he was, likely tying it to the fact that he still wanted to bang her more. Now though? Now he noticed just how cruel such words would be, even if he spoke them as a joke. His heart was unsettled with guilt, and something twinged deep inside of him. It was a kind of compliment he'd never received before, thieves were not known for their generosity, and more than that, he knew he didn't deserve it. She walked with slow, quivering steps, but she walked forwards all the same. In her heart, she dreaded seeing them again, seeing him wrapped around her... but still she forced herself forwards. Eventually, she got to the last corner. She steeled herself, preparing for the sight of he and her in a tangled pile... and sighed in relief when she saw that he wasn't. He was coiled alone, a respectable distance away from her, brooding with his head tucked under his coils. Shelandra looked much better, even though the still shivered with sadness. Her scales had regained some of their gleam, and tiny flickers of flame were emerging from the cracks between them. Her head was not to be seen either, she had it buried in the middle of her coiled pile.

Upon Shou's entrance, Khaesho's head emerged, and he quickly traversed the distance to embrace her. He spiraled around her where she stood, and held her close. She couldn't help the strangled little sob that escaped her throat as she clutched him tightly. She hid in his scales as she buried her face against his chest. Her arms wrapped around him tightly, and she pressed close, a small whimper escaping her as she looked up at him slightly. A mute nod, as she wasn't sure she could get her voice to escape even if she wanted to say something. Instead she just stared at him with those watery, glimmering blue eyes.

"Kalokin gave me his memories, and I've been talking with Shelandra. We think we know what he did wrong, and we have an idea for how to fix it. You're going to be okay, I swear it."

Not even the smallest hint of doubt colored his tone, but he still held her as if she might turn to vapor and float off if his attention waned even a moment. Khaesho ran his claws through her hair, scratching her scalp as he held her, and the familiar scrape of his talons melted her in his embrace. Shelandra parted her coils just enough to glance out, but quickly went back into hiding as she saw Khaesho embracing her. Like water flowing through gravel, Kalokin fell through Khaesho's skull until he occupied the familiar corner of his Vessel's mind. He looked into her eyes then, and though he did flinch, he did not turn away. She saw determination in his soul, but just beneath that she saw his complete and utter devotion.

"We can fix this. Don't worry."

She hid her face against his chest, just savoring the company of the Serpent as she had her arms twined around him, pressed as close as she could manage to be. As he flinched, she closed her eyes, ducking her head down to hide her face against his chest. Pressing her ear there to listen to the beating of his heart, she murmured softly.

"I am not worried, not about this anymore... I trust you, both of you, to do everything you can." She spoke with the soft conviction that even if they hadn't managed to think of anything, she firmly believed that they at least tried.

"Alright. Time is of the essence, and if you are ready, we can start. It will be somewhat like when I hypnotized you that first time. I'm not sure if you will remain conscious, but you will certainly go limp. If you blackout, then that is fine. If you fall through my soul, surrounded by the colors, that is also fine. If, however, you wake up in a strange place and you don't know what's going on, Do Not Move. We will come to you."

He picked her up and carefully made a bed from his coils, then set her down atop him. They were nose to nose, and his tongue flickered from his mouth to tickle under her chin. She nodded a little bit and kept her eyes closed, not wanting him to see whatever state of her soul that upset him so. Her ears were pinned to her head and she settled into the bed of his coils, squirming just the slightest bit to get comfortable. The touch of his nose to her own had her muscles tensing, only to relax a split second later. Slowly, almost reluctantly, she opened her eyes to look at him.

When Shou opened her eyes, Khaesho stared into them, her throat tightened and her breathing came softer, wanting to look away so he didn't have to see her, but at the same time, she was trapped, his eyes were always so beautiful when she got a glimpse into them. To her, it was like the world slowly fell away, until there was nothing but silence, the sound of their breathing, and Khaesho looking at her, looking through her, all the way to her soul. Not willing to move, not wanting to break away, she relaxed, although there was little need. Her muscles were already limp. His voice was soft as he murmured to her.

"Just remember two things. Have faith in me, but most importantly, have faith in yourself. You are stronger than you know."

A trembling note of hope, and she let go of the rope of fear, reaching for the colors of Khaesho's soul, but her reach fell short as a kind of gravity sucked her back. The wash of silver and blue pushed forth from his eyes into her soul and hit her like an impact, jarring all her senses. She tumbled backwards into darkness, and that darkness swallowed her. Then, she awoke.