V-Miracles of life.

Pretty much as expected, the day after I found myself waiting for Johanna in top of the tree house, making a small landing pad just for her in case she wanted to land on top. Krissie was by the side and preparing some food. From time to time she'd caress her belly and feel the eggs inside. Though they were still small, with the idea that they'd grow in the next few weeks, they were already sizeable, all three of them about twice the size of a large chicken egg that you'd buy at the supermarket. Since they didn't feel anywhere as big when I, well, laid them inside her, our guess was that they had already grown a fair bit overnight.

As time passed I got more and more nervous, worrying about Johanna not coming or not managing to find the way.

"Stop worrying like that, she'll be fine."

"But I didn't give her enough details on the location!"

"What else were you supposed to tell her? Give her the GPS coordinates or something like that? Give yourself a break."

"Yeah, maybe I am a bit nervous..."

"A bit? Look at your tail: it's like an eel on land, flopping around like that." She pointed at the very nervously swaying tail on my back, which was moving on its own and slapping the ground and anything it could touch. The sight indeed reminded me of a large eel or even a fish and that made me laugh. "Told you. And speaking of 'I told you'... look who's coming right now." I looked upwards and saw a very large object coming towards us at very high speed, getting bigger by the second. I felt my hearts skip a beat and my throat go dry as a desert. In less than a minute, Johanna landed right in front of me, wings closing behind her back. I didn't say anything and neither did she. Krissie tapped her foot and left the landing pad. It took all my strength to open my mouth and say something.

"" Are you angry at me?"" Johanna decided to talk at the same time and we ended up overlapping. Under any other circumstance I would have found this funny, but now it just felt more awkward than anything else.

"Sorry, I... didn't want to lie to you..." She sat on her haunches and dropped her head on the floor of the pad. I sat in front of her and caressed her muzzle. "I just..."

"It's ok, don't worry, I'm sorry too."

"I-I thought you'd left me behind for that, that you'd never come back and that I'd be left alone forever... I thought you hated me for lying and... and..." The more she talked the more tear swelled in her eyes. She stuttered and whined in her sadness.

"Why would I ever do that? I was the one that thought that you hated me for leaving you... I was so cowardly I hid in this tree for weeks before even going out. I'm sorry, Johanna, I should have come sooner and apologise..."

"So... you don't hate me?"

"Not at all."

"You still love me even if you got a mate to replace me?"

"Oh, ehm..."

"I understand that you wanted someone better than me and I understand if you don't want me around..."

"Johanna, Krissie is in no way a replacement, firstly because you cannot be replaced and secondly because it just sort of happened. I didn't plan this nor I thought it would go this far, just like I didn't plan to fall in love with you."

"Really?"

"Really, you are irreplaceable in my heart and nothing and no one will ever be like you. Will you forgive me for being a coward and waiting all this time to talk to you again?" She wiped off her tears and sucked back some snot that was beginning to drip from her nose. Cute.

"Only if you forgive me for lying to you."

"You have nothing to apologize for, not one thing." I kissed her nose and her tail immediately slapped on the floor in happiness. Seeing her mood change that fast was somewhat weird but if she was happy than it was fine. The light kiss broke into a full kiss and then into a sort of heavy petting. Johanna was breathing fast and hard, light smoke coming off her nostrils, tail wagging behind her and wigs fluttering to cool herself. Behind me I heard footsteps and Krissie came back to the pad, smiling.

"I see you have worked out things fast."

"Well..."

"Hey, it's fine and much better this way for all of us." She walked closer and Johanna took a couple of steps back, sniffing the air around her. Her eyes went wide and she seemed to get sad once again but when Krissie hugged her neck she froze and didn't move. "I wanted to welcome a new member of the family, that's all."

"New member?" She was puzzled. Of course she felt like doing something like that, what a prima donna. "Am I..."

"Yes, I am going to say this for him, since he's not that good with words right now: you are now living with us as our mate, not his, not mine... we are all one big family." Krissie patted her belly as she said that, reinforcing her role as first mate and soon-to-be mother, but doing it in a way that didn't make Johanna fear her or leave any doubt whatsoever. Johanna's face filled with happiness and licked Krissie's face, leaving a long trail of slippery saliva. "Welcome to this dysfunctional family, Johanna." Well, that was... easy enough I guess. I thought there'd be more tears and insults directed at me specifically and I'd have to do all sorts of things to make her forgive me... Is this better or worse? I still feel like I owe her something and I'll be damned if I don't figure out what that is!

"Are you...?"

"Yes, yesterday we went a little bit too far since I apparently went in heat or something. Aidan was so kind as to plant three eggs in me."

"Eggs? But... that's a female's job to make eggs!" She was confused for a moment and then remembered my other bits, or rather, smelled them. "Oh, right. He's not completely male, is he? Maybe that's why..." She stared at me with little subtlety.

"Regardless of what he is, I bet you'll have yours soon enough, dear." Johanna blushed and looked away. "What's wrong?"

"I just passed my heat and until next year I won't have any eggs to fertilize."

"I'm sure Aidan can provide something for you..." Krissie looked at me with a devilish smile and Johanna blushed but stared at me with a gaze that asked if could do something like that.

"Listen, why don't we go inside and eat something? We'll have more baby talk later, for now, I am fine with having one of my mates pregnant, two would be an utter disaster." When I said the part about two mates, Johanna giggled and trotted happily after us as we came inside the house.

Good thing that I had refit some of the rooms to be able to fit someone of her size. The two of them went in first and I got a whole lot of dragon ass and tail in front of me. This was truly a sight to behold: one was big and purple and I could hug it all and still have room, the other was smaller but much, much softer and way cuter. The butt paradise. Never considered myself an ass man, but this was nothing to scoff at. I could not resists and smacked them both, Johanna was rather surprised, Krissie pleasantly surprised and bordering on 'why didn't you do that sooner'.

The meal we had was weird in many ways, with the two of them talking about me most of the time, Krissie giving her tips and pointers like I was some kind of Ikea shelf to assemble. I could not even step in to stop them and I just had to suffer through a few hours of girl talk. I mean, I did have girl bits but in no way I was going to take part in that stuff.

"Why did you even accept me Krissie?"

"In this family you mean?" Johanna nodded. "Oh, why do you even want to ask?"

"I just want to know..."

"Alright: Aidan still loves you madly, you were his first love, Jo, there is no denying that." She blushed hard when Krissie said that. Boy, she was going to blush a whole lot more around her from now on. Poor girl. "And you still love him, don't you? I don't see why you cannot be with us as a family, it's not like there is anything to stop us."

"But... what will others think?"

"What do you care about others? We have each other and that sounds more than enough for me."

"Ok, but I still have some doubts about this." Krissie immediately burst into laughter, smiling and looking at the two of us, confused.

"Gods, you two are basically the same person: sweet and caring, willing to sacrifice yourselves for others and always, always fearful that what others want and think is going to determine your life. So what if the others don't like you? So what if they will look at you weird? Just... shrug it off."

"I see. Thank you Krissie."

"You're welcome sweetie. Now, let's get Aidan to fix the bed. we'll need a far larger one now." Johanna swallowed a rather sizeable glob of saliva.

"I'm going to sleep with you?"

"Of course... we need to celebrate this day after all and I think he's not that tired after yesterday night."

"I think I am."

"Then take some vitamins and shut up. Go and fix the bed now."

"Yes ma'am."

I obeyed without question her orders, not that I had any chance and I needed to do that anyways later, better to do it now. Although, before starting to make it larger and softer, I peeked behind the door frame and saw the two of them whispering about something and grinning. A chill ran through my spine. Why did I already know what they were thinking about?

I sighed and went to the bedroom, instructing the trees to grow out and make more space for the new furniture. The moss bed grew out and became softer and fuller as I put on a new blanket on it. After a good few minutes of refitting I was finished with the minor tweaks and then I hear something fall behind me. I turned around and saw that Krissie had tossed her clothes on the floor, Johanna standing behind her with a curious look.

"Not going to wait for a bit more?" I had hoped she'd not jump on this immediately but here we were and somehow the situation was turning rather hot and interesting.

"Why should we?" Krissie smiled and Johanna tilted her head to the side. God damn she was so cute!

"I don't know? Let her take a look at the house, get a rest from her flight..."

"About that... I'm feeling terribly sore. Could you give me a massage on my wing joints?" Johanna cooed and tilted her head sideways again, tail swishing behind her.

"I just cannot say no to that cute face, come here."

Her behaviour was so cute that even though she clearly had other plans, I could not resist. She hopped on the bed and gasped in surprise at how soft it was. I got on her back and began rubbing the joints where the wing bones attacked to her body. She purred almost immediately and relaxed. She was wide enough for me to have to use both sets of hands and reach both her wings comfortably, massaging her in the same way that Krissie did with me. She seemed to like it as much as I did.

Out of the bed, Krissie took in hand the task of massaging her big rump and coax even more moans of pleasure from her. A little bit later I heard her yelp in surprise as Krissie rubbed her tail under Johanna's vent. Knowing my fist mate, she was preparing the new/old mate for me. Johanna purred and used her own tail, joining Krissie in her work. Moments later I felt something wet hit my back and the clear smell of dragon arousal pervaded my nostrils as Johanna grabbed me with her tail and placed me right in front of her vent. The act reminded me of old times and, just like last time, I began with my hands, though now I had more of them.

She was getting a bit swollen, maybe the remnants of her heat were not gone yet and she panted heavily in the ever thickening cloud of musk in the room. Krissie stood by the side and kissed her softly, letting her dragon tongue go ever so slowly down to her nether regions. Under my touch, it didn't take long for Johanna to come and her knees buckled slightly.

"How are you so much better than before?"

"Practice my dear."

She poked her head behind her, taking away her attention from Krissie and onto me, immediately captured by something more masculine. I had gotten both cocks out a while ago and the scents were mingling with theirs, though now my own was beginning to overpower them. Johanna turned around and licked her lips with hunger, Krissie was much like her. Both took one cock in their mouth: one was far larger and hotter the other one tighter. I found myself swimming in two contrasting sensations and struggling not to come after a mere minute. The two that were torturing me though, they had other plans: at the same time they sucked on the ridges and Krissie massaged the base of my cocks and that was it. I grabbed onto Johanna's muzzle for stability and came in their mouths. Krissie pushed deep until she had deepthroated me while Johanna swirled her tongue around the tip. I roared and humped weakly, clutching the sheets and arching my back to get even deeper inside them. When I finished I fell on my back and thanked the moss bed.

"He does taste incredible, so much more addicting that when he was still human."

"Told you you'd like it."

"Yeah but now I am all itchy down there and he seems exhausted."

"Sit on his face and he'll be ready in no time." Johanna purred and turned around again.

Without too much care for my opinion, she smushed her vent on my muzzle, letting a few centimetres inside. I opened up and licked her insides. The difference in taste from my memory was astounding: my new taste buds picked up all the faint clues that she had hidden from me before and my long tongue went much further than before, exploring the true depths of her passage. She moaned again and came, clamping on my face and spraying it with her fluids.

Like our last time, this was a signal for me to get a move and take her. She once again spread her legs and the motion opened up her vent, giving the illusion of a wink. I didn't wait for her and slid deep inside. If Krissie was tight but elastic, Johanna was roomier but massaged my flesh with practiced experience, piled up in decades of heats. She purred and the vibration reached her back and I felt them all.

Krissie smiled and that probably gave her a nice idea to try out later. I didn't care what else she had in mind and began thrusting. I didn't need to worry about hurting her, she had more than enough experience to withstand bigger dicks than mine and much more strength than I put in my legs right now. Had the bed been made with legs, it would have rocked back and forth and most likely broken already.

Suddenly I felt a cold tail reach under me and search for my own vent, sliding in and pumping out slowly at first and then moving in synch with my own thrusts. Johanna chucked but that chuckle was lost as I picked up the pace by several notches. She did her best to follow my lead but had to give up and just push as deep as she could inside me, reaching my egg chamber just as I felt myself hit hers in a particularly deep thrust. For once, I came first with my female parts, clamping on her tail as she wiggled it inside, coating it in my fluids and then with my cocks, spraying her vent with a hefty amount of seed. As I was not trying to breed her for real, the knots had not inflated and the overflowing seed dribbled out of her vent. She roared and came as well, further clamping on my members. In a fit of mad pleasure, I didn't stop humping and kept going, coming over and over, spilling as much seed as the confiners of her passage couldn't hold anymore. For some reason, I felt like my own body adapted my quantity to the size of my mate and when I pulled out, I saw that it was true as my members had grown quite a lot, pulsating even more with need.

"Now, that is a sight to behold. Say, Aidan, do you want to make sure that the eggs are totally and completely fertilized?"

Krissie's grin was contagious and Johanna shuffled her body to make room for her underneath her belly. The two of them stood belly-to-belly, both spreading their legs and baring themselves to me.

I aligned myself and took them both at the same time. The general idea was much like before but so much better. My seed dribbled from Johanna's vent and coated the one below, already very slick, and Krissie's legs as well, more spilling each time I pulled out. Good thing that Johanna was not that big else getting them both would have been rather hard.

Already I was touching my eggs inside my mate and felt them bump on my tips, adding pleasure to the ever increasing heavenly sensations I was feeling. The unholy combination took all I had and threw it out of the window as I came once again, filling both females at the same time. Johanna was surprised at the increased output and quantity but didn't complain and enjoyed the feeling. As if by command, both of them came at the same time, thrashing on top of each other. Inside the former human, my eggs were receiving a second helping of seed as I whitewashed them with enough essence to make her stomach swell even more.

When I pulled out and let a small cascade of spent seed flow out of them, they shakily moved their somewhat bloated bodies and cleaned me up before moving on each other.

"I never thought sex would be so fun."

"Yeah, me neither. Aidan told me that dragon sex is much rougher."

"Oh, yeah, no doubt about that, especially with the big males. Not that there's anything wrong, I like a rough fuck as much as any other dragoness, but you need someone that is sweet and nice sometimes. You generally go to the small males for that normally, though some big guys can be very gentle. The roughness is cancelled during heat and that makes it somewhat better."

"I can imagine that."

"I don't think I can get used to this though... Each time he goes in it's like the first time all over."

"I don't think you can even get used to that. Look at me: first time I do it and I get looser and grow scales, then I want kids and he gets a knot and then lays eggs directly inside, then you come and he gets bigger... seriously Aidan, give us a break."

"Well, sorry for being a sex machine made by god itself..."

"Right, there was that part as well. So, who's up for another round?" Rina smiled and dragged a finger over my chest. Johanna cooed and kissed her from her position.

"I think I'll pass for now." Krissie was not that happy to hear that. "I have flown fast and for a long time, the massage was good but I still feel sore all over. Can we just... sleep for a moment?"

"Sure thing, love."

"Thank you." I looked at her close her eyes with a smile and fall asleep in the next moment.

"She was dead tired... poor thing. Should we let her sleep alone?"

"No, I'll stay here with her. You can go if you want, take a shower or something."

"And wash away your scent? Now way in hell. I have decided that I'll be going around with the sign 'taken' plastered around me." The thought, although rather weird, interested me and even if she did carry a lingering scent of her at all times, a full blown haze of my pheromones would be very arousing indeed. She noticed my new excitement and slapped my head. "You'd wish I did that, pervert. If I did, you'd be walking around with a permanent erection. It's sexy to let everyone know that I am taken but doing it that way would be downright slutty."

"But you are my little slut."

"Language!" She leaned in for a kiss and then walked out of the bedroom, leaving a slimy trail of bodily fluids all over the carpet. "I'm going, you take care of her, ok?"

"Sure."

For the next few hours I didn't move, afraid that I'd wake her up. Unlikely, given how she was snoring, a very cute snoring to boot, but I couldn't afford that. I curled up around her and basked in the warmth beneath her scales. It was all so different and yet so similar: she had the same scales, the same heat the same cute moans and they all felt like new and novel things to me. I clearly remembered how she felt months ago and how she felt now. The difference alone was enough to catch my interest and arouse me again.

Johanna shifted in her sleep and turned on her other side, distracting me from my thoughts. She mumbled something about food and booze and then returned to her senseless snoring. I caressed her lower jaw, between the finer scales and the leathery skin of her throat, coaxing a few purrs and moans. She didn't wake up though.

Eventually I fell asleep as well, waking up late in the afternoon. Krissie was in the living room, reading one of the books I had swindled from a lost caravan in the forest last week. The first thing that hit me was Johanna's weight on me and the next was the fogy cloud of scents that mixed in the room. I had forgotten about that. It took some control not to get hard from that, although I had spent hours inside it. I teleported out of the warm embrace and cleaned up the air.

"I see you're awake. Did you sleep well?"

"Kind of... she almost crushed me."

"Are you calling her fat?"

"I am calling her big which is good. Being fat is not healthy but has its perks, being big is just good. All that... ass to love."

"Are you becoming an ass man by chance?"

"I don't know, maybe. Hers is so nice though."

"Is mine not good enough for you?"

"You have other things I love, you can't have it all, honey."

"I wish I could."

"But then you'd not be you, only a mass of features that no man or woman can resist."

"Like you?" She shot me a playful glance and I scoffed. "Your body was literally designed to appeal to both sexes."

"Yeah, doesn't seem to be working all that well for now."

"You know they just need time to process the new world they live in, there is no more 'either you or me' now, soon they'll have more stuff to worry about than to berate at you for being different."

"I know, I know... by the way, one of the dragon lord asked me to make an appointment with Pembroke for him, peace talk he said it was."

"An appointment with the king? Now, that is some balls he has." She tossed me an apple and I removed the skin with my claws, handing half to her as I was done. "You going to do it or what?"

"Of course I am, it's just that I don't know how am I supposed to do that. It's not like me and him are on good terms or anything like that."

"You don't need to be: fly into his castle or whatever and drag his ass over to the dragon, have them talk and take him back. Easy peasy." I stuck out my tongue at her and she smiled. "What about peacefully walking over to him? Use a couple of spells, make yourself invisible and then work your other magic, words. That or jam a cock in his mouth and shut him up."

"Good idea but no, I think he'll come to us soon enough."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, after our little stunt yesterday, we have appeared in front of many people not only as a couple but told a clear message, or Colin did for us. He'll learn that we are here and that we have no intention of running or antagonizing him. The best case is that he comes and wants to talk, the worst is an army at our doorsteps. Talking about that: it's better I get working on better defences for our home."

"Why? We have the other spells in place already."

"But they won't be enough one day, better make some right now. Later I'll work on some armour or something for you." Krissie's eyes sparkled in excitement at the idea of having weapons and other things to play with. "But I won't let you use them when the pregnancy goes further, alright? I don't want to risk yours or their health."

"Ok."

I went to the landing pad and jumped down, opening my wings just as u was about to reach the edge of the trees below us. I felt my feet touch the tip of a pine and whatever critter was inside escape as I shook its home. The late afternoon was turning to evening as I landed and chose a spot high enough in the forest that could allow me to begin my work of further securing my home.

I gathered power in my hands and dispersed it over then surrounding trees, permeating the wood with magic and using the massive network of roots to further propagate it. Living beings were resistant to certain types of magic and weak to others, tree were particularly susceptive to anything that made them grow, regardless of the direction or type of growth. The type I had in mind was to make them receptive to a certain type of creatures, namely humans and dragons: contact with one of them would make them grow exponentially and harden, forming a wall of wood and rocks. Fire would be a weakness of course but I trusted that the young sprouts would make for a good fire retardant. The nice feat was that when a human left the area, the trees would revert and turn to normal. Essentially, I had made a living automated gate with in-built security system.

Inside the 'fence', I created golems, using the same principle as the drones, though much simpler and ordered them to stay motionless until someone trespassed the second line and then attack. Anything that could go past a living wall of wood that retaliated if attacked was not to be underestimated. Good thing that there were a lot of rocks around the area.

"Should I add something more? Artillery? Turrets? More traps?" I was about done and pondering on whether or not add more when the emergency signal in the home sprung to life. I told Krissie to use it only when something worrying or of extreme importance was happening but that didn't stop her from using it to request me to do errands for her. Nevertheless, I teleported back home in a moment. "What's wrong?"

"It's Johanna! Come have a look at her!" Krissie was evidently worried and that was enough for me to trust that this was not a prank or another request for wild mushrooms. I heard a bone chilling crack coming from the bedroom and rushed.

Johanna was thrashing on the bed, screaming as her bone structure shifted, bones reassembling, shortening, elongating, changing shape and density, and then return to normal. She seemed barely conscious but more than enough to feel the pain and running a pretty bad fever too. I checked her vitals and saw that her heart was beating well over the limit even a dragon had as a second one formed inside her.

"What's happening?"

"You know how after our first time you changed? This is something similar, only worse for her. It's kind of like my own change."

"You mean she's going to become like you?"

"I doubt that, I don't have that kind of power. This seems to be a weaker version of it."

"Weaker? But it feels like she's dying! What was it like for you then?" I remembered my own change and the pain that came with it...

"Like hot lead melting your skin and spikes growing out of your bones. Not good. I'll put a spell on her to quench the pain, at least for a bit." I gathered what little power I had left after the upgrade session and spread it in her body. The effect I desired was not what I got: something inside her sucked everything I had out and left me without an ounce of strength and slumped on the floor. Krissie was fast enough to get me back on my feet and held me up.

"What happened?"

"I have no bloody idea." I could do nothing as she writhed in pain for five more minutes and then stop. She was hot and her muscles kept tensing and relaxing. I was scared to touch her again but I had to do it and feel if she was fine. Well, she was obviously not fine at all but I wanted to see how bad this was. She felt hot to the touch but not unbearably so and her body seemed to have reverted to a more normal state of being with the addition of a second heat and a third lung, nestled between the other two as the hearts moved a few centimetres below. "Johanna?" I shook her shoulder to wake her up and she jerked awake, head hitting the ceiling as she did so.

"Wh-what happened?"

"You were subject to a change not far from my own and Krissie's." She patted her torso and face, noticing a bit late the changes inside her.

"I don feel that much different except I can breathe better and feel lighter."

"Yeah, you've got two hearts like me and one extra lung. The other organs may have received some change as well but none that I can see right now. Do you feel anything out of place?"

"Like what?"

"In this case... anything at all."

"No, not really." She moved her wings and toes and they all seemed to respond to her wishes normally. "I feel that I have all the bits in place..."

"Try walking. Do you think you can?"

"Yeah, sure." She put a paw in front of the other and slowly dropped one hindleg on the floor on the side of the bed. She rested part of her weight on it and then moved onto the next one. As her hindlegs were fine, at least for now, she put her front limbs down as well and tentatively made a few steps. Her backbone cracked and she fell on the floor. "What the hell?" I rushed to her side and felt as the bones under her scales rearranged themselves, all of her body changing 'configuration' and adopting a new one.

"Does it hurt?"

"Now that you say that... no. I feel fine, it tickles a little though."

"Ok, good. Try and remain calm and get on your feet. The ceiling is high enough and you don't have to worry about your head?"

"Y-you want me to stand?"

"Yes."

"O-ok, I'll try." She breathed in and gathered courage. I helped her up on her legs. She wobbled like a child that learned how to walk, her tail functioning as a crutch to help her stand. "Whoa."

"I think the change rearranged you bones to be able to shift between bipedal and quadruped stances." I examined her thighs and her spine as well as hands and arms. She did indeed seem to have completely shifted her skeletal structure. "This is nothing to be scared about, Johanna."

"I am scared..."

"Fine, try to get back to normal. Go on all fours and relax." She wasn't calm at all, hearts beating fast and harder than usual as she dropped on the floor with a thud and breathed out. In a split second and with a soft crack this time, she returned to her old stance. Everything fell in place as a proper dragon should have been. I patted her back and she finally relaxed. "See? All is good."

"Is this permanent?"

"Look at me: I still have scales and I even grew a tail. At least you look the same." I grabbed a large vase I put by the side of the room and tossed it to Johanna. She raised an arm and grabbed it with her hand. She looked at her shifted arm like it wasn't even hers, wiggling the opposable thumb she had grown now and stretching her fingers.

"It's so weird and flexible..."

"Welcome to the world of human hands..."

"It's like the ones of the smaller dragons I met, but more agile and strong. I could get hooked up on this." She flexed her fingers into a fist and tightened it. "I bet this will hurt a whole lot." She probably wanted to keep experimenting but her body had, again, other plans for her and her stomach grumbled very loudly.

"Yeah, yeah, now let's get your stomach filled." Johanna averted her attention from her hand to the living room and her hand returned to a paw as she moved to the side of the table which Krissie had prepared before she changed. "I had made special cutlery for you to use but I guess they are useless now." I sighed and put the custom made silverware I prepared for her in a drawer and closed it.

We ate and chatted a lot, there were jokes, pokes, sarcastic remarks and a lot of dropped and broken plates since Johanna insisted on trying to figure out her body as we ate, not later. She tried to take her plate in hand and it slipped as her hand morphed back, sending a perfectly good chunk of deer steak on the floor. She still ate it but I had to clean her mess. Funny as it may sound and look, I gave her a baby bib, which I made out of the ruined blankets of the bed. She had fun at least.

Back in bed, we leaned in on her larger frame and used it as a pillow, ears stuck to her belly, listening to the heartbeats come and go.

"Why did this happen?"

"I don't know and it might be anything at this point. I changed Krissie, now you, most likely I will change someone else in the future."

"Are you planning on bedding more females?" Johanna's tone was not trying to hide her jealousy and instead made it very clear.

"It was my idea. He's too loving to be a player. I wouldn't mind seeing him taken by a few males..."

"Males?" Johanna blushed and her tail slapped the bed. "But that's... weird and not normal."

"Tell me one thing about us that is normal, just one. Also, we are not the only ones that go beyond the normal. Colin might be a good example."

"Colin? Your husband?"

"Ex-husband by the way. I want a divorce. But yes, him. I swear I saw him kiss another man once in an alley and look with dreamy eyes one of the fighters of the arenas more than a few times."

"He's homosexual?" Colin? Him? "That would make some sense. You didn't consummate the wedding on the first night or even the first week for what I remember."

"Hmm, he was very reluctant about doing it and I feel like it took him a lot of willpower to do it."

"I bet he was picturing you with muscles and a beard. Ouch! Was that necessary?"

"Yes."

In the village by the mountainside, the one small clearing that was used as meeting point was well over the capacity the founders if the place had intended it to have. Over a hundred men and women clustered around and talked softly with each other.

Mrs Fyr, the acting chief of the village, not elected but there by sheer will and tenacity, having endured everything like threw at her, including a drunk husband and two sons lost to the dragons, like some others around the village.

"What should we do about the Envoy?"

"What do you think Gordon? Leave him alone of course."

"Leave him? Why?"

"Because he's more powerful than any of us and surely more than capable of handling a ragtag mob of villagers." She looked at the crowd, composed of this village's population and some from other places as well, all here to help find Krissie and Colin. "I understand that most of us are not fine with having him there or knowing that Krissie lives with him, but we cannot stop him. We have all gone through that part of the forest at one point and we all got lost and found ourselves back where we started. I may not be a mage but I can see a spell."

"Then we can call the Guild and have them take him on?"

"And you're going to pay them? With your broke ass pockets? No? Then shut up Leonard." The old woman scoffed. If they knew what to do, then why didn't they go and do that instead of bothering her all the time. She was approaching her seventies and getting tired by the day of their bickering.

"Then what?"

"We wait and see what happens. For now, do not antagonize either of them, especially Krissie. You have seen how nervous and scared she was, make her uncomfortable and we are sure to be met with bigger problems."

"And regarding the dragon that came by this morning?"

"That thing landed on his tree if what told me Macarius is correct, it's likely to be their friend. The scales are purple if he saw well enough, so any purple dragon of medium to large size is our friend as well. Now get a move everyone, this search party has been disbanded as the two we needed to find are fine and dandy. Get back to your villages and thank your chiefs for me." The crowd murmured and complained but no one disobeyed the orders of the oldest and toughest woman around just to make a point. She sighed and returned to her home. Colin was waiting for her inside, not having participated in the meeting. "You alright honey?"

"I think so, Mrs Fyr."

"I told you to call me Agatha."

"Alright, Agatha. What now? For me I mean?"

"Your family knows that she has come here and that you are with her. Send them a letter telling that all is fine and they'll leave you alone for a few more months."

"What if they come here and want to see her?"

"Them? Those stuck up nobles? No way in hell they'll make the distance from the capital to here just to see the both of you, no offence hon."

"None taken. You do have a point, but one day we'll have to come back. They gave me this much time and money to get her back, not to be happy and live in a village. I may be adopted but I'm still their son."

"Why do you care? At most, you could go and ask your ex-wife to take you in and let you stay?" "Wi-with her? But..."

"Listen Colin, I know a man that doesn't like women when I see one and you fit the description well. You are one fine lad and with a good backing, swallow some pride and your fear and get out there. You may not find anyone to love you back as you wish in this world for a while. Look at me: I had to settle with an alcoholic with a mostly limp dick for forty years. You'll do fine."

"I... thank you, Agatha."

"You're welcome, hon. Now go and work, you need to put some muscle on those sticks you call arms."