Nellie

It had been the better part of a year since that eventful day, when the doorbell rang unexpectedly late one Saturday afternoon. The butler answered, as was his duty, giving a perfectly impassive look to the young Cougar standing on the other side. "...Hi," Tibas waved with an embarrassed smile, not entirely sure why he'd expected Mare to answer the door herself, "Is 'Mare' at home?" He remembered perfectly well that was not her actual name...and hoped to goodness her staff would not use that as an excuse to feign ignorance. He almost hadn't been able to remember the way back here to even make this trip, and was still having to convince himself he got it right. The sight of a single villa dominating the surrounding buildings had been reassuring, at least.

"Of course," the Zebra bowed, gesturing for him to come inside, "This way, please."

"Oh thank you," Tibas sighed in relief at the butler's immediate answer. No tricks or games to play here. Their mistress was not that sort.

The butler lead him around the great staircase dominating the entry hall and into the living-room. Tibas had no idea what could possibly be on the second floor, given that everything he could imagine needing in a house was on the ground floor and a few things besides. Motioning to the couch facing the wall-consuming television, the butler instructed, "Wait here. I will inform the lady you have arrived."

"Thank you," the Cougar nodded again. He was too anxious to sit, though, and instead paced a slow turn around the coffee table, taking in the decorations around the room. For whatever reason, this room had a sort of "tribal" feel, with furniture made of woven cane and reeds, carved wood statues guarding the doors, and even the fan blades being imitation leaves from some tropical plant. It was airy and foreign, but still comfortable, with soft pillows on every surface not meant to support cups and magazines. He stepped over to take a closer look at the heads on a trio of spears supporting an oversize wooden mask of some sort. Surprisingly (at least to him), the sharp, serrated stone blades appeared to be real.

"Do you like the spears?" She startled him when she spoke, as he hadn't heard her coming. He'd almost forgotten that her hooves somehow made next to no sound when she walked, even on hard tile floors. Tibas put it down to her naturally graceful step, but it was still an amazing trick.

When he turned to her, he was (to his own embarrassment) surprised to see her fully dressed, wearing a bright white blouse and skirt that seemed to shine around her dark fur. A string of crystals sparkled around her neck, the longest of them reaching all the way down into the cleft of her breasts as though leading his eyes there, and the tear-drop pearls hanging from her ears reached more than halfway to her shoulders. Despite the extravagance, she made it look elegant. It was an enhancement to her own looks, not a competitor to them, as fashion and jewelry ought to be. It somehow made her look more mature than he remembered her, too, though not enough to change his original estimate of her age.

Tibas didn't bother answering her question, but mustered up the best smile he could. He didn't want to seem desperate or needy...but in the back of his mind he knew that his very presence here was a kind of admission of defeat. She would understand that, too. "Hi," he greeted her gently, walking over to offer her his hand, trying not to be presumptuous, "Tibas Mosshorn. You...might not remember--"

"Please do not insult my memory," she cut him off curtly, though she remained smiling at him with obvious recognition, "I never asked your name, and you never once spoke it the entire day that you were here. I heard it only once, from Lydia, at the club the night before, after we were all well into our cups already. And yet I remember it. So you may rest assured I remember the promise I made to you."

His ears drooped, and all his efforts to look confident crumbled. "...Yeah. Sorry."

She tilted her head, still smiling. "And you remember what happens if you apologize for doing things you were told to do, right?" she confirmed. When he nodded, she motioned for him to sit on the couch, then seated herself in the chair at the end of the coffee table, to his left.

The crisp report of her fingers snapping was...oddly comforting. In the months since he'd last been here, that sound had grown in his memory into a kind of magic. He heard it in his head, clear as if she were actually in the room, shattering his feverish thoughts whenever he started to feel overwhelmed. It calmed him. The memory of it had been what finally convinced him to come back.

The servant left two cups of steaming coffee on the table for them, along with a bowl of sugar and a tiny pitcher of cream. "So," Mare prompted gently before reaching for her cup, "How did it go? Did you make up with Lydia?"

He winced instantly. "...No. No, things did not pan out in that direction at all." Of course, having conscious, sober, intentional sex with another woman had not been a help to the situation, and he realized that before her driver had gotten him halfway to Rhinton that day. But as it turned out, Lydia had already had her eye on another guy well before Tibas was even fired. Sudden lack of funds and the convenient excuse of cheating just sealed the deal on her switch, sparing her even the shadow of an accusation for disloyalty. By the time they'd finished yelling at each other, he couldn't even blame her.

"Oh my," Mare sighed when he'd finished filling her in, "I am a little relieved to hear I was not personally the start of the trouble, but it's a pity you had to endure that." She took a thoughtful sip of her coffee. "What about the business side, then? You don't look threadbare or hungry, so should I expect a happier story?"

"A little," Tibas chuckled, "I did get it started, and found a couple of guys willing to work with me. We're local, obviously, rather than regional, and still building a reputation and clientele, but things are going...okay," he made a waffling gesture with one hand, using the other to deliver his drink to his tongue, "Not super profitable, but we make more than we spend so far. The start-up loan is being slowly paid back, everyone's getting their check every couple of weeks, I've only failed to pay my rent once, and that was when I was still getting the paperwork together," he smiled.

She flashed a warm smile right back at him, and Tibas was surprised by the sincerity of it. Or maybe surprised to realize her more frequent smile was not sincere. It was the plastic smile of someone being polite for the sake of the public, regardless of what they were actually feeling at the time. She was good at it, at least. If he hadn't seen the real thing a couple of times now, he might never have noticed the difference. "That's encouraging," the Arabian nodded, causing her crystals to sparkle, "You're working hard and reaping the rewards of such." Then, giving him an appraising gaze over the rim of her cup as she took another sip, she added, "So you're not here for want of money. Lonely, then?"

The heart of the matter. At least that didn't surprise him. If anything, he was grateful she'd let him explain the other circumstances first, before getting to it. From what he remembered of that one day, she liked to be both honest and direct, almost irrespective of tact. Almost. "...Probably, " he admitted like he'd only just realized it himself, "It was actually that third clause that made me think of you, to tell the truth. But now that I'm here and looking at you..." He looked up from the dark liquid in his mug to seek out her eyes. It was odd that he had almost no specific memory of them from the first time they'd met. Looking at her now, they were easily the most striking thing about her: a deep, saturated blue, like perfectly polished sapphires. It almost clashed with the dark, earthy shades of her fur, actually. And then he realized perfectly well why he hadn't noticed them before: he'd never had the heart to look directly into them that first time.

Mare seemed aware of it, too. When their eyes met, her smile actually brightened, and she tilted her head curiously. "...And now that you're looking at me...?" she coaxed him to continue.

"...I think it was a mistake to ever leave," he finished with a warmth in his cheeks, fully aware of how cheesy that sounded but unable to find the words he really needed to express himself at the moment.

Mare rolled her eyes just slightly, like he'd made a joke of the mood, but continued smiling as she shook her head. "No, that was definitely no mistake," she argued, "It's barely been a year, but you are already twice the man that you were at our last meeting. You've clearly been doing well." He nearly dropped the coffee before catching his grip again. He glanced over his shoulder, as if she might be talking to someone else behind him. Mare chuckled at his reaction, putting her empty cup down and leaning back casually in her chair. "So the 'third clause' suggests that you've somehow ended up homeless," she noted with a dubious look, "Is that true?" He'd already admitted that he was still earning an income and had only missed his rent once, so she waited patiently for him to explain how he'd ended up on the street.

Tibas made that waffling gesture again. "Sort of. Like I said: everyone's getting paid like they should. But as the guy living off the profits after everyone else gets paid...I haven't been living so well," he admitted with no small amount of embarrassment, "The coup-de-grace hit last month: my apartment's being torn down. The rent was arguably the cheapest in the city, but that translated to not a lot of maintenance. Or keeping up with health and safety codes. They posted a flyer on each tenant's door warning us to clear out by a specific date, then the building's coming down to make way for a new, much more expensive one. I definitely won't be able to swing the rent there," he admitted with an embarrassed smile, "And frankly, most of the places I can afford have no vacancies...or neighbors that concern me more than the rent."

Mare snickered, clearly trying not to laugh at his plight, but couldn't quite hold back a brief giggle. "So you need a room-mate?" she asked at last, "That's what it took to bring you back here?"

"Or, you know, a cheap room," the Cougar chuckled, nodding, "I know, I know...not very romantic or heroic. Ahem...not that I'd complain about a contribution to the business, either...but yes, somehow the question went through my head, 'I wonder what she'd charge me for a room in the basement?'...and then I decided it was time to come see you again." It hadn't been quite that casual a decision, either. In fact, between managing the business and looking for a new apartment, he'd been overwhelmed and on near to suffering a panic attack, he was pretty sure. In his head, he'd heard the snap of her fingers, as if Mare herself was calling for his attention...and that was when he'd had the idea, and made the decision.

"Hmhmhm...I have a cellar, but no basement," the shapely Arabian chuckled, still seeming highly amused.

Tibas shrugged. "Color me surprised," he grinned, looking a little less sheepish as he leaned back in the soft cushions of the couch, "So...what now? I'm in a bind but not exactly desperate, and you're not actually obligated even if I was," the Cougar admitted, "I already feel better just seeing you. So...just tell me your real name and call it even?"

He thought he might have made a mistake when her smile inverted itself briefly. "So that's the part you forgot, huh? Well then let me remind you: I don't appreciate anything half-done," she stated, turning her nose up just a little as if she'd been insulted, "I promised you my name, and that we would no longer be strangers, and that I would support you in whatever way you need at the time. If you want the one, you'll get the rest, too. Otherwise, get out."

Tibas blinked at the severity with which she declared that...and shook his head slowly, sitting forward in his seat again. "No, I'll take it. I'll accept it all, and gladly. I just didn't want to ask too much."

"Then I don't think you understand who you're dealing with," she huffed. Then she sighed, looking down into her lap, as the indignation melted instantly away. "What am I saying?" she asked mostly to herself, "Of course you don't. And not for lack of asking, either. That's my own fault." Shaking her head, she looked up at him again, her irritation and smile both completely gone now. "I apologize for the outburst. For now, just let me say clearly that I am not the type to offer what I cannot provide, or to ask for what I cannot accept. So if I tell you that you may have something, you should take it in full." Checking the tiny watch strapped to her wrist, she noted vaguely, "You picked a good day to show up, at least. Come have dinner. Then we'll take a walk, and you will learn my name, and we will lay out exactly what we are going to do from here," she promised, getting to her hooves and turning toward the dining room without even waiting to see if he would follow.

She snapped her fingers as she stepped through the archway, and Tibas practically teleported to the entrance, though after he thought about it he realized that snap had probably not been intended for him. Tibas waited for Mare to sit down before taking the closest seat next to her. The servants brought them each what looked like a large bowl of spaghetti, dressed with roasted nuts, various herbs, and a squeeze of lemon for tang. It looked bright and smelled crisp, but didn't contain one trace of meat. The Cougar dug in anyway. He hadn't actually been invited to dinner, so he certainly wasn't going to complain about whatever was served.

Looking her over as she carefully held her hair out of the way of her fork with each bite, Tibas couldn't help but admire how well her suit fit her. Last time she had seemed relaxed to the point of decadence. Now she looked refined to the point of elegance. The difference was telling, and he wondered if it was something similar to what she claimed to have seen in him today. "Out of curiosity, did I interrupt some other plans you had for the evening?" he asked curiously, gesturing to her jewelry in particular, "You look positively stunning. Were you going out after this, or did you meet with someone earlier?"

"It's my house," she declared with a shake of her head, repeating a simple line he remembered quite well from his last visit, "If I want to go naked, I can. And if I want to dress to the nines, I can. Today felt like a good day for getting dressed. Wouldn't you say it worked out well?" she asked back with a smile of her own.

"I thank whichever forgotten god sent that premonition," the Cougar chuckled. They ate the rest of their dinner quietly, only interrupted once by Mare's butler bringing in a stack of note-cards again. Once more Mare flipped through them quickly and quietly, but this time she selected one and laid it down on the table beside her plate. The rest she handed back to the butler, who took them away without so much as a word passing between them. "May I ask what that is?" her visitor asked, pointing his fork at the card.

She nodded, but finished chewing the last mouthful of her own dinner before answering. "Work I need to do tonight. A client needs a refill of her medicine, without which she will die within a week. She will become understandably anxious if the shipment is late."

Tibas blinked at the little card, looking from it to Mare and back. "...Do we need to put off our walk for another day?" he asked sincerely, "That sounds pretty serious."

"No," the Mare insisted, "But thank you for understanding why I will be absent for part of the night. Making this potion takes a little time, but not so much I must start immediately. It's about time we start that walk, though," she added as she pushed back from the table and offered her hand to him.

Tibas chuckled, suddenly having the ridiculous impression that they were on some sort of date, as he took her hand and held it while they walked through the living-room to the door out into her back garden. "A moment, please," she requested, taking her hand back from his and beginning to unbutton her blouse.

He quirked a brow as the shirt came off, followed quickly by the matching skirt, and both by her bra and panties. She kept the jewelry all in place, with the longest crystal of the necklace now hanging openly between her free breasts. Noticing his curios look, she grinned. "Moonlight feels absolutely fabulous on bare fur," she explained, sweeping her hair back behind her shoulders before offering her hand to him again, "I insist you try it with me sometime. But not tonight. Now," she reached for the door as he took her hand in his once more, "Time to shed light on all secrets."

The moonlight sweeping over her body worked a powerful magic on her as the pair stepped out into the night. And that was no euphemism or romantic figure of speech: before his eyes, her dark fur and even darker mane and tail all turned as pale as fresh snow. Starlight danced along the strands, causing them to sparkle like they were coated in glitter. Even her bared nipples changed color to a pale, pastel pink. Her dainty hooves split down the center, becoming more like those of a deer than a horse. And up from her brow a spiraled horn nearly as long as his arm reached for the heavens, shedding a multi-hued nimbus faintly around its curves. Tiba's hand clenched hers for a moment, tighter than he meant to. "You're...a Unicorn...!"

She nodded slowly, pulling him fully into the light of the night sky, and began to lead him on a slow walk through the little hedge-maze toward the gazebo in the center and pond at the far end. "Yes, I am," she confirmed it readily, "I keep the illusion up mostly because old habits die hard...and it never hurts to keep a low profile in populated areas. But the moon tolerates no masks between her and her children," Mare declared, smiling up at the large, full orb in the sky, "So it always crumbles when she's full-faced." With a sly smile and a comforting pat on his hand she added, "Don't worry: I'll be the humble little Arabian you know so well again come dawn."

"...I didn't know her at all," the Cougar declared, eying her beautiful body from hooves to horn several times and struggling to catch his breath, "But that certainly explains a few things...like that remark on the kind of life you've led."

She nodded whole-hearted agreement and confirmation of that, marching up the steps to the gazebo. In the shadow of its roof, she seemed to glow even more brightly, as if the moon's light shone directly from her own fur. The Mare took both his hands in hers, turning to face him fully, and looked him directly in the eyes. "My name is Nellienemare Snowmane. My friends call me 'Nellie'. My one-night-stands call me 'Mare'," she winked, "And with that name shared and this form revealed, you know everything that needs to be known to deal with me honestly. We are no longer strangers. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tibas Mosshorn."

His eyes felt like they were getting bigger by the second. "The pleasure is, and always was, entirely mine," he whispered like he wasn't quite aware he was talking aloud.

Nellie smirked, and reached up to pat his cheek firmly in a suggestion of a slap. "Alright, my star-eyed friend, back to the modern world with you. We are, thankfully, not so rare as we once were. You've probably seen us on television a time or two, whether you knew it or not. We don't walk on moonlight, or live in deep, secluded glades, and our horns do not gift anyone who takes them with immortality." Her face fell into a more genuinely worried look. "Please tell me you weren't thinking about how you might take the horn...?"

"Only if stabbed directly through my heart counts," he blinked at last, rubbing his eyes with both fists, "Oh, forgotten gods, I'm sorry...the shock just...sorry," he sighed in a long exhale, following it with a deep inhale and one more exhale. "Okay. I've got it together. That was...really something," the Cougar confessed, shaking his head briskly and finally and fully returning his gaze to the her, here, and now.

Nellie gave him a knowing smile and an approving nod. "We're known to have that effect. So," she strolled down the stairs on the other side of the gazebo, starting through the second half of the hedge maze and toward the pond at the back of the property, "That's the first and easier part of the promise kept. Now to discuss the hard part. Before I make any suggestions, is there anything specific you want me to do? Surely you had some hoped-for outcome before you came here, even if you realized it was unrealistic."

"Eh, one brief fantasy of being taken in and told I never need to work again, just live a comfortable life in this gorgeous house," he admitted with a chuckle, "And one where you placed a reasonable price on an out-of-the-way room...and I still had to haggle you down a bit. Being this far out of Rhinton, I'll have to actually buy a car of my own and afford to put gas in it to get to work every day. If you agree to let me stay."

The Unicorn chuckled. "Ah, the classics," she mused, "One a wildly optimistic fantasy, and the other a bracingly stoic pessimism. Alright...let me make an offer between those two extremes, with a slight lean toward the fantasy," she smiled, "Marry me."

Tibas stopped dead in his tracks. "I...I'm sorry...did you just say marry?" he asked hesitantly, "Like...vows and rings and joint taxes kind of marry?"

"That kind exactly," she nodded, seeming unsurprised by his surprise. Taking a step back to claim his hand in hers again, she coaxed him to resume walking with a gentle pull. "I'm glad to see you aren't so star-struck to just leap at the offer. Now state your worries, and we'll talk about how we can alleviate them, and whether or not we should. You're not afraid of commitment on a foundational level, are you?" she asked, knowing full well he was not or he never would have gotten that business started at all.

He shook his head, and thought seriously about it for a minute, until they exited the hedge maze and began pacing around the pond toward...a pool house? Now that he could see it up close, even if it was dark, he realized the pond was tile-lined and algae-free. An irregularly shaped, well disguised, well maintained swimming pool. By the feel of the air near to it, it was even heated. "I'm flattered," he declared at last, looking her over from horn to hooves again as if he hadn't quite realized just how beautiful she was the first time, "Really flattered. But...it feels like...this might be one of those priorities you have in a different order from most people. We might not be strangers now...in a manner of speaking...but we barely know each other. I feel like I literally just met you. How can you jump so casually into the commitment of a lifetime with someone like that?"

"Oo, so close," she hummed, rocking her head thoughtfully, "But we did just meet, effectively, so I suppose it's no surprise you got it backwards. The question you should have asked is: how can you jump into the commitment of a lifetime? I'm only stepping into one for a few decades," she pointed out, giving him a briefly pitying look. "There's a big difference. It'll take a little practice to wrap your head around it, but it is impossible to have a genuinely equal commitment between us on this...or nearly anything." Pausing at the water's edge, the Unicorn turned toward him, sliding her fingers between the buttons of his shirt to take a light grip on him and pull him in close to her star-lit body. "You're not poor, but I am...comfortably independent, to put it politely. You can hardly hope to catch up. You'd burn yourself out. You might, given my medicines, survive a full century after this day, but I've been brewing potions and amassing wealth for over eight times that already. I will never age, and never die."

Still holding him by his shirt, as if concerned she might have to keep him upright in a minute, Nellie met his wide eyes without blinking. "It's all lopsided, you see, and completely in my favor. So it's easy for me to say 'don't worry about it'. But can you do that? Most people can't, and most of those that can earn the scorn heaped upon them. You don't seem like that type. So, while I commit to keeping you for a few decades, can you commit a lifetime to me? And if not, what is the limit, and what conditions would make it more tolerable?" she asked more gently, giving him a comforting smile, "This is just the proposal. You're allowed to negotiate. Young, modern couples don't seem to understand that." Seeing and seeming impressed that he wasn't freaking out yet, she carefully let go of his shirt and took a step back from him.

Tibas was holding himself together...but only barely. His mind was reeling at the implications now laid bare. His gaze grew distant, and his heart began to race and...

Nellie snapped her fingers. Tibas blinked, nearly flinching from the sharpness of the sound...and then realized she hadn't moved her fingers at all. The real Nellie hadn't snapped. It was just in his head. Taking a deep breath, the Cougar rubbed his face. "If it's that one-sided," he asked clearly at last, "Why did you propose it? If there's nothing to be gained...not even a real, loving husband...what would make you put forward something like that?"

"It's not that there's nothing for me to gain," she corrected gently, "But they're simple, subtle things. It's likely to be closer to the end of your life before you come to appreciate them. For example," she gestured vaguely at the dark plains all but invisible in the night beyond her house now, "The centuries can wear mountains down to grasslands, but loneliness doesn't erode so quickly. It doesn't strike me often, but it does from time to time, and I struggle in those moments," she seemed a little embarrassed to admit, reaching forward to pat his chest, "That night Lydia found me at the club was my first outing in over ten years, and I was standing alone and silent in one corner, observing more than participating. Although I was -- relatively -- young at the time of the Age of Persecution, I do remember those days when we Ancients were hunted very nearly to extinction. It's hard to let go. Hence my habitual disguise."

"...That...hardly seems unreasonable," Tibas admitted. It was always painted as a dark era of history in modern academics. It was a time you were thankful not to have lived in. It hardly took any imagination to understand those decades would leave a survivor with trust issues. And the only argument he could make for being more trusting was the simple fact that they were centuries removed from that time, now. But he was mortal, and only just beginning to realize how different that made his perception of time from hers.

Nellie simply nodded, as if reading the mix of thoughts going through his head and appreciating his hopeless attempt at understanding. "Even so...well, let's just leave it at I ought to get out more, and make connections again. My servants hardly count. A relationship with you would be far more effective, I think." She was careful to meet his eyes before adding a cautionary note: "I don't love you. At least not yet. But I could come to, if you continue to mind your manners and speak honestly with me. In the worst case, I already like you fairly well, and I dare say my life would be at least a little more exciting with you around for it. So yes, there are benefits I gain by a marriage."

Tibas thought that over for a quiet moment...then chuckled. "A puppy. It sounds like adopting a puppy. If I marry you, I'll become something more like a pet than a husband," he observed.

Nellie frowned at that...then closed her eyes and rocked her head thoughtfully. After a moment she sighed. "That's not wholly inaccurate, much as I'd like to deny it. At least you're a pet who can make impositions on his master, and expect her to be agreeable to most of them. I don't want to encourage bad habits, but I can go along with most anything that might be called reasonable. Or, in the worst case," she shrugged, looking more and more like the kind but distant Mare he'd known that one day in her villa, "I can send you away with enough money to rent a fairly lavish apartment for a time...let's say thirty years?...and call my promise fulfilled, if somewhat dissatisfying."

"I definitely can't take that option, then," Tibas slowly shook his head with a smile, "My ego would never tolerate a pretty woman finding me 'dissatisfying'. I still think letting me rent a room and take you out to dinner on occasion would be more reasonable, though. Or maybe one of these houses along your street," he gestured in the general direction of the small town on the other side of her villa. Granted, this was strictly a guess on his part, but at this point it didn't strike him as so unlikely that she owned the entire area privately.

The Unicorn smirked at his initial answer, but was pleased to hear him begin negotiating earnestly. "I do not allow long-term guests in my house who are not family. And putting you up in one of the houses would require me to evict one of my servants, none of whom even remotely deserve that," she countered, subtly confirming his guess, "I understand you wanting to keep the door open for a more genuine lover in the future, but there is no place for you here except as my husband. A rental in another town is the closest we can be."

"Well I'm glad you understand it," the Cougar rolled his eyes, "But I can't understand any guy going into a marriage thinking in advance about the divorce. If I'm entertaining that idea in any way, we can't get engaged."

"Hmhm...and are you entertaining that idea?" Nellie asked with a sympathetic look. She wouldn't blame him. She genuinely wouldn't. It could easily be argued that she would get most of the same benefits from a simple friendship, and she was asking a lot from him in exchange for her 'help', if that's what it could honestly be called under these demands. He would frankly be wise to make that argument even if he didn't outright refuse. That he was trying to assure her of his commitment when he accepted -- if he accepted -- was a promising sign, by her estimate.

It was his turn to rock his head, thoughtfully. "It's...more like I feel like I should be," he admitted, meeting her eyes directly again. Nellie returned the gaze unflinchingly, and her smile turned both encouraging and sincere again. "It's crazy. We just met. I've got a lot of years ahead of me...I hope," he chuckled, and she nodded agreement, "I should definitely be looking for someone I already know, or could get to know better, before exchanging vows. And yet...there's no guarantee it'd ever happen. I don't even know anyone else I'd like to pursue now."

Nellie's eyes widened in pleasant surprise as he got down on one knee in front of her, holding her hand in front of his chin as he looked up at her. "I accept. And you're welcome to think me young, stupid, and reckless for it. I'm just old enough to recognize those things about myself. But I think I'd be twice as stupid (if no younger or more reckless) to let an offer like that pass, from a woman who knows both what she's offered and what she's likely to get in return, and what both will cost. Please have patience with the rest."

The Unicorn tilted her head with a full, sincere smile, and placed her other hand on top of his head. "That is the one thing I can offer more of than all the wealth, medicine, and magic I possess in spades." With a soft laugh, she added, "And I like old-fashioned things, but you can stand up now. It's traditionally the one proposing who bows their head, at least if the marriage was not arranged before their birth."

Tibas chuckled, and kissed her hand once before getting back to his feet. "I can't imagine you bowing to anyone," he admitted, and was about to commend her dignified bearing when she shocked him in turn, by getting down on both knees and pressing his hand against her brow, just below where her horn sprouted from it.

"To my husband, I will," Nellie promised quietly, "For that is part of what it means to be 'wife'. As you know, I don't like things half-done. If you will take me, and grant me all my due rights as wife, of course I will afford you every right you are due as husband."

"...I don't think kneeling is any part of that," he argued with a blush, turning his hand to collect her palm against his and pulling her quickly back to her hooves, "You are so proud -- in the right way, I mean -- it looks wrong seeing you down there. Don't do that again," the Cougar insisted with an embarrassed smile.

His new girlfriend...no, they'd skipped that stage completely...his fiance smiled and cupped one hand against his burning cheek. "Ideally, it won't be. It's the last resort in times we cannot agree on a course of action when a course must be chosen and acted on. So long as we can continue having 'honest talk', as you once put it, and come to terms we can both agree to with clear conscience, I will bow my head only for your pleasure. With that said--"

"If we're arguing something that important," Tibas interrupted, "Just remind me which of us has actually seen some history."

She laughed. "Well that's encouraging, outside the subtle insinuation I might be more 'cougar' than you," Nellie winked, "I was just going to ask you to keep in mind my wealth of experience of the world. And I promise not to be dismissive of your perspectives on it. Youth has its own kind of wisdom, after all, and one I can never get back."

Tipping her head back, the Unicorn considered the stars for a moment before putting both arms around his neck and leaning into a brief hug. Tibas' whole body turned hot as her naked body pressed against his, and he suddenly wished he'd joined her in stripping at the door. "Now, my dear husband-to-be: it is getting late, and I need to start my work. You may stay in one of the guest rooms tonight. Tomorrow, we will begin planning the wedding event. And I strongly suggest you take in as much of me as your eyes can gather before we get inside, because this is the last time you'll see me undressed before the honeymoon. I expect you to be ready, eager, and dearly wanting on that night," she warned with a smile.

"Mm, you are unexpectedly cruel," Tibas chuckled, daring to give a kiss to her nose as she leaned back just far enough to allow him a good view of her upper body, "I am 'ready, eager, and dearly wanting' now," he confessed, certain she had not missed the bulge in his pants that her right thigh was pressing up against.

Nellie chuckled, nodding her understanding, but remained adamant. "It will be difficult," she acknowledged, stepping fully away from him and starting slowly back toward the house, deliberately offering him the view of her swaying backside, "But resist touching yourself from tonight until then, too. I will do everything I can think of to make the wait worth it when the time comes...and I can think of quite a lot," she promised. Again, her actions in the moment were making her demands difficult to accept. Tibas hardly needed more than a stroke across his pants to make him explode at that very moment.

"A week in your house, even fully clothed, is going to make that absolute torture, you know," the Cougar chided, walking quickly to catch up to her and daringly put his arm around her hip. Nellie made no effort to shrug off his touch...or cover her pleasantly swaying breasts from his appreciative eyes.

Instead she laid her horned head against his shoulder, and put an arm around his back in turn. "You won't be insulted to learn this isn't my first, will you? The planning won't take long. Two days at most. The wait after that depends entirely on how many you wish to invite, and how much notice they need in order to make arrangements to attend." Lifting her head to give him an appraising look, she asked, "You do want to invite some witnesses, right? You're not afraid of making it public so quickly?"

Her fiance laughed. "Eh...it's a little embarrassing," he admitted with a wink, "Mom and Dad are bound to have questions. But I think they'll be thrilled stupid, on the whole, especially after what happened with Lydia." The Cougar gave her a sly grin then. "It'd be in poor taste to invite her and her new beau, wouldn't it?"

"Very," Nellie nodded quickly, "Immature and petty. If you do, I will be sure to rub her nose in it right up to her ears, though," the Unicorn promised as casually as if he'd asked for chocolate cake instead of the traditional vanilla, "Barring some tragedy, this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I would not deprive you of any part of it you think you might enjoy."

Tibas was grateful for that offer...but it brought to mind a question: "'Barring some tragedy', but it's not your first," he noted, "And you're right: that's not really surprising, but...how many?"

The Unicorn gave him a measured look, then laid her cheek on his shoulder as they neared the house. "You will be my third," she answered gently, "And you have every right to know what became of the first two, but that's a talk I would like to save for after the honeymoon. My history should not cast shadows on your present moment. Can you accept that for now?"

"Absolutely," the Cougar nodded firmly. He sincerely doubted either of them had been recent separations, unlike his and Lydia's. For all he knew, they had both been as mortal as he was, and passed on with all oaths fulfilled. Far from casting shadows...if anything, it made him pity Nellie just a bit. She was right: it would take some time to really wrap his head around the disparity between them...and that might not be as much to her advantage as she'd tried to make it seem...