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Cobalt's Shadow Written by Leo_Todrius Commissioned by Beardbear

It had been a blessed late summer's day, the sun shining true over the Pendragon forest and the Cobalt Mountains alike. The tall grasses and wheat seemed to hold the warmth of the day while the lakes and ponds shimmered with cool blue clarity. Crickets chirped and buzzed and the dirt paths seemed rested and forgotten, but as the sun set toward the horizon and the clouds ignited with the vivid colors of evening, it was time for one civilization to retire to bed and another to awake.

For centuries the elves of Pendragon and the dwarves of Cobalt lived side by side in an uneasy truce. Neither culture trusted one another but they had never had any reason to fight. The dwarves lived in the mountain, creatures of the earth achieving their glory with smithing and forging, creating their own light and living in the glow of molten metal and rock. Their civilization was full of creations that would last generations. They were hearty and strong, brave and true, and as far as the elves were concerned base and brute. The elves, however, lived lives in the trees, surrounded my nature. They had grown tall and willowy like their surroundings. They were lithe and fair, living lives of quiet sophistication, needing for nothing and devoting themselves to the honing of their minds and spirits. Their implements were light and airy, easily replaced should anything break.

While the elves relied on the sun from day to day, the dwarves made their own light with lanterns, fires and forges. The two cultures had drifted apart and it seemed that neither would ever see eye to eye, at least until the day that a young elf had wandered to the base of the mountain and found a dwarf collecting stones polished by the cobalt waterfall. The two had gotten to know each other and had fallen into the habit of meeting once a week. Darig Doomcutter was a rather unusual dwarf for wanting to bring a softness and refinement to some of his work, while Zalo Aiiz was uncommonly bold and daring. The two had become fast friends.

Zalo emerged from the trees, glancing over his shoulder to ensure none had fallowed. The elf had long silken hair flowing down over his shoulders to the small of his back, the color as bright a red as the clouds hugging the sunset. His eyes were a brilliant green as deep as emeralds and his ears were long and pointed, emerging from his ears. His frame was tall, six foot two. If he had been a human some might say he had barely entered adulthood, but as an elf he had already amassed several decades in his life. His lithe body betrayed some muscle on his arms from his activities. He pulled off his sleek silver robes and cast them aside to reveal a more useful green tunic and pants, more comfortable for travel, his pockets loaded down with trinkets and baubles for trade.

The elf moved along the path, passing the crystal ponds and moving toward the base of the Cobalt mountains. The uncommonly blue mountains were pitted by water flows and lava flows, leaving it a labyrinth of tunnels, though the surface tunnels were rarely used by the dwarves, save for Darig. As Zalo turned the corner of a rock outcropping and saw a thick plume of smoke rising, he knew that Darig had beaten him there as always. Sure enough, he found the dwarf perched on a log, puffing away on his long pipe, the embers in the bowl glowing before the dwarf's lips parted and a thick puff of smoke emerged, filtered by his thick, dark brown mustache that nearly hid his mouth entirely even when open.

While the dwarf only stood four feet and four inches tall, his beard would have been impressive on any human. With his stout body, the beard flowed down over his chest and over his rounded belly, coming to rest just above his belt. It was as thick as an animal pelt with a few stands braided with leather strapping. A war hammer hung from his hip and a thick pack of goods rested by his side. His shoulders were broad for his size and his plate mail hugged muscled, thick flesh. Sensing movement, Darig turned, his deep brown eyes falling over Zalo.

"Have your travels been safe my friend?" Zalo asked as he approached, moving to sit down on the ground next to the log Darig sat on so they were at eye level to one another.

"As safe as it can be traveling the same tunnels as borewyrms. I had to smash my way through thirteen just to make it here in time." Darig boasted. Zalo chuckled. It was one of the dwarf traits he could truly appreciate.

"Well I am glad to see you as always. I look forward to our meetings quite a bit." Zalo admitted. Darig took another puff from his pipe.

"Even if they are forbidden?" Darig asked, taking another puff from his pipe.

"Especially because they are forbidden." Zalo grinned.

"Spoken like a true dwarf!" Darig chuckled, clapping Zalo over the shoulder before offering him his pipe. Zalo looked surprised.

"Truly?" Zalo asked. Darig nodded.

"For us to be friends, we should share more than just tokens. Enjoy, it is the best of cobalt." Darig said. Zalo bowed his head in thanks before he brought the pipe to his lips. Darig watched with far more eagerness than one might typically have. Zalo drew in air through the pipe, the bowl glimmering before the smoke filled his mouth. Zalo shivered in surprise. The flavor was so earthy, musky, strong and pungent. It was all things dwarf... and it made him feel fantastic. His lips parted and he exhaled again, watching the faintly blue smoke lift into the air. After a moment of reflection of the experience, Zalo went to hand the pipe back before realizing that Darig had not only brought out another pipe but had already lit the bowl. Zalo chuckled and took another draw, getting more accustomed to handling it. Darig watched eagerly as the smoke filled Zalo's mouth, his groin hardening in anticipation of how the day would unfold.

"I brought the wood scraps that you asked for." Zalo said after a moment.

"Good... Most dwarves see no need for wood that isn't petrified, but it can make some of the best inlay on boxes. Ah, but I brought you a knife of our finest steel." Darig said. Zalo grinned, taking another puff of the pipe before exhaling, the smoke curling about his face. As it cleared, Darig could make out a faint redness along Zalo's upper lip that hadn't been there before, the start of stubble.

"Most elves seem fit with one or two folds of the metal, but I know this knife will last a good deal longer." The elf smiled, shifting a bit, adjusting his weight. It seemed that he wasn't seated quite as high as he had thought. Still, he puffed away. Darig reached down to stroke his thick dwarf cock through the confines of his pants. It had taken him some time to get his hands on the holy leaf, cursed so only dwarves could enjoy its properties... but he had known ever since he met Zalo that he had been a dwarf born in the body of an elf and that he wanted the red head as his mate. With a few more puffs, a dreamy look had crossed the elf's face. He was lost in thought and habit, unaware that his cheeks had grown red with stubble or that thick strands had pushed out of his chin, tangling and growing bushy in a short tuft. All the hair of elves was smooth and fair, but this was wiry and thick.

"Care for some grog?" Darig asked after a moment, pulling out a bottle.

"That sounds good." Zalo said, grinning a bit. Darig opened the tip and took a big swig before handing it to his friend. Zalo tipped it back, taking a gulp before he hissed at how strong it was. Darig chuckled.

"Too strong?" he asked. Zalo shook his head and took another gulp before handing it back, sighing happily.

"Darig, what's it like living in the mountain?" Zalo asked after a moment, his voice sounding gruffer after the harsh bite of the grog.

"Well, with no sun to tell us what to do we wake and sleep when we please, we live our lives as we want... We create when we feel like creating, we eat when we feel like eating." Darig said with a grin, setting the bottle aside to take another puff of his pipe.

"That sounds very... good." Zalo said. Usually he would have said nice, but the word seemed so soft, so pathetic. It was good, so why not call it good. He brought the pipe back to his lips and took another puff. The smoke was taking greater effect. Zalo's tunic had grown baggy around him, the elf losing height at a fair pace. He had already lost at least eight inches, though he was just as wide as before. As his spine compressed, his muscles bunched together, making him look more built than he had been before.

"I take it you feel repressed in the lily livered city of yours? Let me show you a trick we have to unwind." Darig said, scooting over. He reached down and started to massage Zalo's shoulders, his thick pudgy fingers pushing into the muscle and flesh, working it around. Zalo moaned, his eyes slipping shut. As he basked in the pleasure, he was none the wiser that his ears had lost their points, looking far more common than they had before. The red stubble from his forming mustache connected to his sideburns, creeping down to the tuft pushing out of his chin, but that wasn't the only part of the elf growing fuzzy.

Beneath his tunic, his smooth arms had taken on a coating of hair he had never had before. Thick tufts of bushy red grew out beneath his arms and around his groin and a light dusting was growing across his chest and his ass cheeks. Even his legs were getting thick with hair. As Zalo's legs started to contract and shrink, the flesh on his legs compacted, making the growing red hair seem much thicker as it had less area to cover, but at the same time his feet had remained the same size, seeming larger and larger by comparison.

"Great goddess, that feels amazing. How did you learn such a thing?" Zalo asked. Even though it had been some time since he drank, his voice was still gruffer, having lost the song like quality of an elfin voice.

"You'd be surprised what pleasures dwarves can know..." Darig whispered. Zalo shuddered before he turned to look to his friend.

"Can you teach me?" Zalo whispered. Darig grinned deeply. He had been hoping for an excuse for so long. His balls throbbed with desire, the dwarf slowly licking his lips.

"Once you go down this path, you can never come back." He warned slowly. Zalo took a deep breath, his heart thumping in his chest. He knew what Darig was offering... He had known that dwarves were far more open with their affection than elves, but he had never imagined... well, that wasn't true. He had imagined Darig offering, but his imagination had paled in comparison to the real thing.

"I want this..." Zalo whispered. That was all it took. Darig swung around Zalo and landed on the shrinking elf's lap, leaning into a kiss. Zalo's senses tingled as his face was embraced by the coarse, thick beard. It closed around his mouth and brushed his cheeks and chin and then the leathery dwarf lips met his and a strong tongue pried them open. Zalo inhaled, but instead of air he got tongue. His eyes fluttered shut as he shared a twice forbidden kiss. Elves did not go against the order of nature and certainly never with a dwarf.

As Darig felt Zalo relax against him, he began to work in tighter. He kissed the elf with all his pent up lust and passion before pulling back. The elf was in a daze, too blissful to realize that he had grown his own thick red mustache and goatee and the feeling he felt wasn't Darig's beard but his own. Darig leaned back in and kissed Zalo desperately as his hands started to clutch and tug at the elf's tunic. The elfin material tore easily, revealing a pale chest covered in red curls of hair. Darig reached in, his fingers tracing through it before latching onto the elf's nipples, tugging and twisting them in the merciless traditions of the dwarves.

Zalo let out a deep moan, tipping his head back only to be surprised by Darig leaning in to suck and bite at his neck. Zalo's hand shot up to hold the dwarf there. Instinctively Zalo started lifting his hips, humping against the wild beast of a man on him. Zalo humped back, their shafts bumping and grinding through layers of fabric. Zalo panted deeply as his ears disappeared the rest of the way into his hair, no longer elfin in any fashion. His nose started to widen, as did his jaw, but most of the features were hidden beneath the thick coating of red fuzz pushing out of his cheeks and growing fast.

While Zalo was caught up in lust more than he ever thought possible, his mind still was capable of limited thought... and the fact that he still felt fuzz on his face even with Darig at his neck finally caught up with him. Zalo kept Darig against his neck with one hand and lifted the other up to feel his face. What he found there was a thick, bushy, wiry beard. He shivered as his fingers trailed through it and he could feel it rooted to his face. He gasped in growing shock, realizing it was already three inches thick and seemed to be growing in his fingers.

The shock, fear, lust and surprise pooled in his system. He used all his strength to pry Darig from his body, lifting him up. It was both much harder and easier than Zalo expected. All of the muscles he used were different. Darig was no longer a small thing in comparison, but Zalo was stronger than he ever had been in his life. Zalo gazed up at the dwarf and the dwarf gazed back. It was working so well, Darig was amazed. Zalo had a thick nose and thick jaw, a fine beard for a youngling, thick brows... He'd gained great girth by maintaining the width of an uplander but was no longer so spindly. Darig guessed that Zalo had shrunk to almost five feet already.

"What is going on?!" Zalo asked, his voice thick and deep. Zalo blushed suddenly, realizing his own voice was turning him on, but his blush was invisible beneath his red beard.

"I couldn't live my nights without you any longer... I knew we were meant to be together, that's why we came to meet each other so, I knew you were a dwarf waiting to be freed. Tell me you don't like it, tell me you could resist this pleasure and I will admit I did the wrong thing." Darig said, his eyes daring his friend. Zalo went to protest, to speak out, but his words caught in his throat. Darig grinned and reached out, taking a hold of some strands of Zalo's beards. He deftly worked them around, braiding them into a cord of hair and Zalo moaned.

"Why does that feel so good?" Zalo growled, his eyes squeezing shut. Darig grinned.

"Because a dwarf prides himself on his manliness... His beard is as important as his shaft, and I'd wager you wound up with a rather nice one." Darig beamed in happiness, moving to grope Zalo. Zalo shuddered.

"You planned this? All of this? What will become of me?" Zalo panted. Darig started opening Zalo's tunic, moving down to his pants.

"You will be my mate, my equal. We will enjoy the splendors of both our worlds and each other... and I will make you a very happy dwarf." Darig said, grinning as he exposed his target, Zalo's massive shaft. While his body had shrunk, his cock had grown, reaching an impressive nine inches. Darig gazed at the cock as if transfixed in his own blissful state.

"How long did you have this planned?" Zalo asked, though the quirk of his smile betrayed that he was starting to feel amused about it all... not that Darig could see his lips. Interpreting the movement of mustaches was a very important dwarf skill after all.

"Since the first time I met you, though then my plan was to only get you a hair tonic... to put some hair on your chest, beneath your arms, perhaps some long elfin goatee you would let me braid." Darig whispered.

"But now I'm a dwarf..." Zalo said.

"A fine, handsome dwarf, a strong, manly dwarf... You'll be admired and envied and you will be mine and I will be yours." Darig said.

"That's assuming I say yes to this arrangement. You did trick me after all." Zalo replied. Darig grinned before he lowered his head toward Zalo's exposed manhood. Zalo's fingers dug into the mud as he felt his cock slid into a beard lined orifice, wet and hot. Zalo growled as Darig took him in, feeling more alive than ever before. Darig began to suck and tug on the cock with his mouth, his tongue slathering all over it all. Zalo started to buck and thrust his hips, driving the cock in deeper, and as he did so the changes settled in even more.

The former elf's spine and legs contracted even more, bringing his body down to a grand total of four foot eight. He would be a rather tall dwarf, but no longer would any ever mistake him for an elf. The hair on his chest got so thick it was practically a pelt and his nipples grew wide and fat, the nubs pushing out and bloating. His fingers widened and his nails grew coarse... but most amazingly to Zalo was that as Darig sucked him off, the flesh seemed to work up around his cock, forming into foreskin he hadn't had since birth. His cock was now the girthy tool of a dwarf and it was being put to very good use.

Darig buried his face in Zalo's groin, beard and bush meshing together in a forest of hair. From a great distance one might have mistaken the two for baby ridge bears playing rather than two great men making sensuous love. Darig reached up to pinch and tug on Zalo's nipples again, but Zalo wasn't content to merely take the affection. Even if he had become a dwarf, he was honor bound to give as much as he was getting. Darig grunted around the cock in surprise as Zalo maneuvered around beneath him.

The red headed dwarf slipped around until he was facing the opposite direction as Darig. He began pulling at the brown haired dwarf's belt, his pants and his leathers, removing everything piece by piece until the dwarf's groin was exposed. A pungent, strong manly musk escaped and Zalo inhaled sharply, amazed by Darig's package. His bush was as thick as a forest, meshing seamlessly into belly hair. His balls were so hairy they seemed to be covered in fur... and in the midst was eight inches of foreskinned manliness, dripping with thick pre.

Zalo leaned in, his lips parting and his tongue extending. He gave the cock a slow lick, testing the waters. It was not a dwarf motion. Zalo realized Darig had just dove right in and that he should do the same, but he was still learning. His tongue teased the slit in the cock before probing the inner folds of flesh beneath the foreskin, slathering his tongue around and coating it with saliva before he took the entire head into his lips and started to suck. His head bobbed up and down slowly before he began advancing, taking another inch and another into his mouth.

While Zalo had started out as sensitive and careful as an elf, the growing musk ant the rightness of what he was doing soon overwhelmed him. Zalo let caution fly into the wind as he bobbed his head down deeper, sucking and slurping, his head bobbing. Zalo's eyes clenched shit, but as they did a most interesting change swept through them. The green of his eyes started to change, turning to a rich honey gold color that complimented his fiery red beard and hair well. Zalo's beard fleshed out more as he sucked, almost as wide as his shoulders, growing down to his nipples, then past, his red beard spilling out of his face at an astonishing rate until the bottom edge brushed his belly button.

Zalo and Darig had gotten into a fantastic pattern, sucking and slurping, bobbing their heads, faces buried in crotches. It was everything Darig had hoped. Zalo was a real looker as a dwarf and all his. Darig shuddered, starting to moan in pleasure. The moan sent vibrations through Zalo's cock, making him feel even more pleasure. All of it was divine, perfect even... but while Darig had spent months swearing to himself that he would pace himself, hold back and let the pleasure linger, his orgasm caught him off guard.

The brown furry balls throbbed and tugged up tightly against his body, his shaft pulsed thickly and then his rich, potent dwarf seed rushed into Zalo's mouth. The salty cum splashed against Zalo's teeth and even they were changing. The fair, thin teeth of elves became blocky, strong dwarf teeth. His tongue thickened and his throat strengthened. He guzzled down the sperm and it enriched him more than anything he had ever eaten, but it was doing more than that. While Zalo had started out thin for a dwarf, his body seemed to be making up for lost time.

His wide nipples began extending outward from his body, his pecs gaining flab, but the washboard abdomen began to distend too. He still had all his muscles, but a layer of fat was overlaying them. His belly pushed outwards, turning into the belly of a dwarf that loved his mead and grog and ale, and especially his meats. Darig felt the growth against him and came even harder, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Zalo's entire body seem nourished by the sperm. His hair seemed thicker and coarser by the moment.

Zalo savored every drop of sperm, feeling his body change. He'd given up feeling anything negative about it and embraced it. He was becoming the male he was meant to be. He felt so strong, so tough. His balls had even swelled, growing from the size of kiwi fruit to the size of pears. The red bush had grown across them until they were furry as well, and with all that growth and change, Zalo could hold back no longer. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as his cock took its turn to pulse and spray.

Darig accepted his mate's seed like a pro, gulping it in, swirling it around his mouth. He made sure every tooth was coated, that his throat was engulfed. He wanted to savor the aftertaste for hours. He relaxed his throat as much as possible and brought Zalo's head up to it, letting him pour right in his throat. Zalo moaned and shuddered, spraying every drop he had until the flow finished. Darig caught the last few squirts in his mouth before he pulled off of the elf, turned around and their bearded faces came together once more.

Zalo embraced Darig completely, but as a flood of his own cum was pushed into his mouth, his eyes went wide before they slid shut. Zalo grabbed Darig's head, fingers tangling in his mane of brown hair and the two dwarfs kissed with all their lust. Their friendship blossomed into much more, love. Darig moved to straddle Zalo, grinding their wet cocks together. Zalo had fully expected his cock to go soft once more, but the feeling of cum soaked hair and flesh rubbing against it got it through the slump and it started hardening again. Zalo started to wonder just how many times dwarves could go at it, but he had a feeling he was about to find out.

Their kissing and humping went on for many minutes, well past the time the sun sank behind the mountains and the skies began to darken. In the twilight they still went at it, grinding and rubbing before Darig's hands reached to Zalo's legs. He gave Zalo's left leg a stroke before he lifted it up, sliding it over his shoulder. Zalo gasped in surprise as his ass was hiked up. Darig stroked the other leg before doing the same to it. Soon Zalo was on his back, his legs in the air, his furry ass fully exposed.

"And now for the fun part." Darig said.

"The last part wasn't fun?" Zalo asked in surprise.

"Not compared to this." Darig returned before he slathered his cum soaked cock against Zalo's virgin ass, probing the pucker before he began to push in. Zalo's fingers dug into the dirt once more as he felt his muscles pried wide. Darig grabbed hold of Zalo's legs as if they were the only thing keeping him from falling into a deep pit, and with that death grip he slammed in. Zalo's back arched and he called out as he was filled so full. Darig slammed in and out, picking up speed and depth before all at once the shaft struck a tender spot and Zalo's senses blanked out for a moment.

As Zalo's senses returned, he felt as if he had been bathed in sunshine and ale, massaged his whole body over. Seeing Zalo's reaction, Darig slammed into him in the same spot again, then once more. Zalo shuddered and cum began dribbling from his cock steadily. Zalo drooled and moaned, his sounds like a song to Darig. Darig kept slamming in over and over before suddenly he shifted his hips and increased the friction he felt. Zalo cried out in desire and delight, though his cries sounded like the mating call of some beast as he had become a true dwarf in the end.

Darig kept thrusting wildly, his sack slapping Zalo in the ass as they came together. Sweat would have beaded across Zalo's body from the exertion of such lust but it merely soaked into his hair, building up the spicy manly musk all dwarves had. It wasn't sour or bad, merely masculine. The two clashed together roughly, bodies writhing, but in the midst of the blinding lust, Zalo was still getting used to his body. After so many minutes of merely taking it, he started to clench and tighten his ass. His lover growled out in bliss, feeling the muscles work his cock... and then Zalo took it to the next level, clenching down like only a dwarf could.

What had started as a fluid thrusting was now like wrestling, Darig struggling to get his cock back only to force it again. Now they were making love like dwarves, now they truly were equals. Darig grunted with all his might, bearing in and pulling back. He could feel his second orgasm swift approaching, and apparently so could Zalo. Once Darig had slid in as far as he could, the elf clenched down tight and locked Darig's cock deep in his ass. The dark haired dwarf tipped his head back and let out a howl before he unleashed his seed into Zalo's ass.

Zalo let out a deep moan as he felt the heat spread into his bowels, filled so well. He took it in and slowly brought his legs down around Darig's shoulders before he reached up and pulled his mate to him. Their bearded faces came together as their lips found one another once again, their bodies so well matched. Darig wrapped his arms around Zalo and clung to him as they kissed and remained together beneath the starlight, the sun having set completely. It was the end to an elfin day and the start to a day for the dwarves in the shadows of the Cobalt Mountain... and Darig knew he was starting the day with the right dwarf at his side.

"That was amazing..." Zalo grunted softly, gazing up at the stars. Darig gave a grunt of satisfaction. Zalo's grin grew, "So it's my turn now, right?" Zalo asked. Darig's eyes widened in surprise before he grinned.

"Only if ya can take it from me." Darig replied. What had been a loving embrace suddenly became a wrestling match. Darig pulled out of Zalo, the two grabbling. The rest of the dark haired dwarf's clothes were torn from him, as were the rest of Zalo's, the cloth and armor getting pushed into the dirt and the mud. Their bodies were bathed in moonlight and their dwarf eyes saw even better in the dark than they did the light. Both were powerhouses of masculinity, covered in body hair of every thickness with beards covering almost all of their torsos. Zalo had left his elfin life behind but his cock was raging for conquest.

Darig kept trying to pin Zalo but the red haired dwarf was unstoppable. Darig thought he had almost achieved victory but suddenly Zalo had picked the dwarf up and flipped him. Darig landed on his stomach with a grunt of surprise, another grunt coming as Zalo came down on top of him. The red headed dwarf slid back, sliding his cock along the cleft of Darig's ass before he tilted his hips and brought the head of his mighty dwarf rod to the entrance of his lover. Darig tried to knock Zalo off but Zalo gave one powerful thrust and began sliding into his lover.

As Zalo's cock entered Darig's ass, each inch made him think that Darig wasn't unaccustomed to being penetrated, whether to those bold enough to take it or to some sort of method of pleasuring himself. It seemed funny to Zalo that hours earlier he never would have thought of such a thing, but now he wanted that method of pleasure to be him. Zalo slid in all the way until his balls slapped against Darig's ass. Darig moaned, his belly pressed against the ground. Zalo pulled back and thrust in again, starting to work up a rhythm. As he swayed, his mighty beard swept up Darig's ass and then back, moving to and fro in a hypnotic pattern and Darig loved it.

Darig's fingers dug through the dirt in an expression of his lust, the black collecting under the nails, the dust clinging to his pudgy fingers. He panted hard, but he had given up all pretense of fighting. He bucked his hips back against Zalo, starting to use his muscles to clench and milk his partner's rod. Zalo moaned, trying not to lose his seed yet. He still had to find Darig's G-spot. He tilted his hips, grinding and shifting before suddenly as his cock struck the fleshy side of his partner's passage, Darig screamed out in lust.

Zalo adjusted his hips to slam into the same spot over and over, wondering if the gods were watching if they would take note and immortalize the moment of pure masculinity in statue form for all to understand what being male was truly about... or lust, or true love. Zalo's old life started to seem like a lie, a guise to make more babies, but this... this was true pleasure, true joy, and with that Zalo tilted his head back to cum and he let it unleash. His shaft pulsed and sprayed Darig full. Zalo collapsed onto Darig's broad hairy back as he filled him and Darig went limp beneath him.

The two lingered together for minutes, saying nothing but remaining together. Sometime during their love making their hearts had fallen into sync. They were perfect mates, perfect lovers. They daydreamed together, fantasized together, and after an hour Zalo finally pulled out of his mate. They wordlessly moved back to the log and sat down, catching their breaths. Zalo fumbled for the bottle of grog, took the cork out and took a drink before offering it to Darig. Darig took a big swig before he nodded his head in appreciation.

Zalo watched in appreciation as Darig cleaned the two pipes, packed them and offered Zalo his. The former elf brought the step to his lips as Darig did the same and a flame was produced, lighting both. They puffed away and the leaf filled their mouths with the spicy scent that had brought Zalo his new form. After several breaths had produced a blue haze around them, they lowered their pipes and turned to face each other, their bearded faces coming together again. Mustaches meshed, beards tangled and tongues wrestled as they embraced each other.

Two cultures had come together in the shadow of Cobalt's Shadow, but they would leave as one... One couple, one love, one unified joy. They were dwarves, the folk of the mountain that lived passionately. Darig knew that he and Zalo would have very amazing lives together and that the dwarves would be far better off for having such a man in their midst. Darig's life had been better ever since meeting Zalo, and he only hoped Zalo felt the same way. It wouldn't take long for Zalo to convince him that was exactly how he felt.