On the way back to the manor, just as the Tower's light was growing dim, I realized I'd never really asked Tristan how her time went with her moms. So, I decided to break that seal. "Her Tris, did you have a good time with your moms?"

She looked up at me and smiled. "It was really nice, actually. I hadn't seen them in a few years, so we had a lot to catch up on."

"Such as?"

Rolling her eyes, she said, "Of course, I brought you up."

Good. "Are they busy? We have time to swing by." I'd never wanted to meet a woman's mom before, let alone her moms, but for Tristan? Hell yeah. "I'd love to meet them."

"That's sweet, but unfortunately, they went back to the grove. I told them we'd visit soon, though."

"We definitely will." I probably didn't need to ask, but it was better to know for sure. "Did they leave because of the stuff going on?"

"Yeah. They wanted to stay and meet you and Vral, but Na-Randir got so insufferable about leaving that they ended up giving in."

"Na-Randir?"

"Na-Ya's brother. My cousin."

"Ah, that's right. You mentioned him before, said he was a lot. What's up with that?"

"It's a few things." She sighed. "He's one of the strongest fighters in Fael-Na. As such, he had a lot of responsibility put on him at what was probably too young an age. It's gotten to his head. When Na-Randir is around, he's always right, even when he's wrong."

"Exhausting."

"Yeah."

"How old is he?"

"He's my age. Twenty-four."

"Did you two grow up together, then?"

"We practically shared a crib. He was as close to a brother as I ever had, and Na-Ya was basically my big sister. But, as we grew up, I grew a lot faster than he did because I'm a siraïn. Eventually, he was still a kid when I was reaching the first change, and that gap only ever grew as time went on."

"Why would he care, though? You reaching the change early doesn't change anything between you, does it?"

"No, but my people don't particularly like the company of the other races due to... reasons, and I guess changing early became a constant reminder to him that I was different. He started calling my human side an affliction."

"What an asshole."

"Yeah, he can be. But, in all honesty, that idea isn't that uncommon in certain circles within the groves. Many groves don't even allow non-elves to enter."

Great, elven racism was a thing here. To be fair, racism between the other races seemed to be a thing, too, so it wasn't all that surprising. Goblins definitely had it the worst, though. "Is that all? Seems like a dumb reason to be off-putting with someone you grew up with."

"Well..." She shook her head. "The other part is that he got it in his head that, eventually, I would reach the change through him."

"Wait..." Was she saying... "Isn't he your cousin?"

"Yeah..." Squeezing my hand, she continued, "We're second cousins, so it isn't like we couldn't fasten our wrists. Since we were young, he thought we were destined for one another. He was just so certain that I would end up being his mirán once he reached the change. But, he's never changed, and I am certainly not his mirán." Her eyes met mine. "Only one man could ever light my flame."

I grinned and hooked my arm around her waist. "Damn right." I didn't understand something, though. "If he's still mithlgalen, why do you call him, him?"

"You're learning! And you always say you're slow." She nudged me with her hip. "But, to answer your question, the common tongue doesn't really have words for silver leaves like elven does, so we just default to whatever most people see us as: boys. You experienced that firsthand with me."

"Makes sense." Ugh, she'd never let me live that down.

"Overall, though, he's not all that bad. He worked really hard with my dad to become a great warrior in his own right before dad passed. Since then, he's carried on my dad's legacy as a local hero around Llyn. He's just a massive pain in the ass."

She'd never really talked about her dad before. Was this the time? "Your dad was a local hero?"

She smiled brightly. "He was. He was my hero, too, and he was the biggest softy you'd ever meet, despite being a mountain of a man." Her eyes sparkled at me. "I don't mean this in a weird way, so please don't take it that way, but you remind me of him. You're passionate and hardworking, but you're also sweet. It's easy to love you because I loved him."

"Tell me more about him. I'd love to know more about my wife's father." After Thokrim's comment earlier, I was never letting that go.

Elbowing me, she giggled and said, "Our wrists aren't fastened together yet, big boy."

"Fastening our wrists?" A wave of dread washed over me. Not again. "That isn't going to be another 'taking her hand' thing like it was with Vral, is it? Like, I'm not going to grab your wrist one day and end up half-married to you, am I?"

"Oh, no. It's not nearly as easy with my people as it is with her people. Or hard, depending on how you look at it." She laughed. "Either way, we won't have to fight to the death to figure it all out when the time comes."

Thank the Goddess. "What do we do, then?"

"The wrist-fasting ritual takes three days, and the heartbinding ceremony lasts for about a month."

"A month?!"

"Yes, a month. And no, there's no way out of it. Even if I wanted to speed it up, I couldn't. And, for your information, I don't want to. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."

Honestly, I would, too. I knew what I wanted my life to look like, and it included her every step of the way. "Why a month?"

"It takes one full moon cycle for all the velethri to bind their hearts to one another."

"Velethri?"

"The love circles."

"Okay, that's cute."

She batted her eyes at me. "I'm glad you think so, because you're going to end up in one. Plus, I'm very much looking forward to dancing naked under the full moon with you."

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"Naked... Like, in front of people? Or is it private?"

"No. It's not private. The whole grove will be watching." She grinned, looked down at my groin, then back up. "But don't worry, you have nothing to be shy about."

Flattery will get you everywhere, beautiful quarter elf. "So we do a ceremony and party for a month? I can handle that. Sounds fun."

"It does, doesn't it?" She grinned. "Vral and I will do a ceremony together, too, which I also can't wait for. I want us to be of one heart."

"I think you two already get along great." Considering all the laughing and snuggling they do and how easily they'd taken to one another, even I was jealous sometimes over the beautiful women's obvious affection for one another.

"We do, but there's always room for improvement." There was a loud exhale. "I love her for what she is to you. She was there for you when I couldn't be, and she brings out a side of you that I can't. But I also admire her. More than I have the words to express. And I love her for fire, and her sass, and her effortless beauty. I want the roots between us to grow as strongly as they've grown between you and her."

"Don't overthink it. She loves you."

"You think so?" She shook her head. "I mean, I can feel our roots growing together, but it's like they're choked off. It makes me uncomfortable. I always heard that my people didn't do emotional ambiguity. I get it now."

"Oh, how hard it must be to know exactly how someone feels about you. You poor elves and your emotional certainty."

"Shut up." She swatted my arm.

I chuckled. "Give it time. She's just guarded. She might seem tough, but she's been through a lot, and she's a massive softy under all that sass."

"Ugh. Before I met you, I didn't think much about all of this. But now? It's painful. Why'd you do this to me?"

"Hey, I didn't tell your body to get all hot and bothered."

"Goddess, it's so hot and bothered lately. Even after you and Vral, uh, did the thing, I'm still an inferno down there."

"Want me to put that fire out tonight?"

"Whatever you do, you just make it grow." She winked at me. "But seriously, I just want to cross that emotional bridge with her, you know?"

Yeah, I do." I laughed. "You just need to realize that Vral only really has two kinds of feelings about people: either you don't really exist, or she thinks about you. You, my dear, are in the latter category."

"I'm glad." She exhaled. "Still, I can do better."

"You always do just enough, and then a whole lot extra. I think this one's on Vral."

"Thank you." She kissed the back of my hand. "So, uh... what were we talking about, again?"

What had we been talking about? A little bit of horny bubbled up in my head. "So... will you and Vral dance under the moon, too?" Because I wanted to watch.

"No, silly. We'll lie together under the Orblight from dawn to dusk with nothing but our skin separating us."

"Uh..." Don't make it weird. Don't make it weird. "Can I watch?" You made it weird, Alex.

"Of course, silly!" She bumped into me again. "You'll be right between us! How else will we let Her light soak into our shared soul? Plus..." She blushed. "The Goddess can't express herself through our bodies if we're not all together. That part of the ceremony is generally pretty... bonding, from what I've heard."

Thank you, Goddess, for this life you've given me. It rocks, and I'm eternally grateful. Never forget that I am your humble servant. Use me as you will, especially on orblight day. Express everything you need to express, for I am your vessel. My body is yours to command. "You're right. How silly of me."

"Get your head out of the gutter."

"You first."

"Never."

"Me neither."

We looked at one another and laughed. Then, after a long kiss, we strolled together up the fading streets hand in hand, our roots growing stronger by the second.

***

By the time we were a couple of streets away from Elise's manor, the sky had turned dark purple. Instead of Orblight, we were bathed in the soft glowstone light that sparkled along the edges of Galden's streets. The glowstones weren't set everywhere throughout the city, but one could find them everywhere near the city's center. They made night walks a joy. Especially on nights like tonight, when there was no moon shining above.

"Hey! The Mask is right above us!" Tristan pointed upward.

I looked up to find a constellation that looked very much like a grinning drama mask shining above us. "That's neat. I've never seen that one, I don't think."

"It isn't visible all that often. You usually can't see it when they moon's out."

"Huh." I looked around and quickly found other constellations high above us. Pointing at one, I asked, "Is that the flame?"

"Yeah, and there's the Shield!"

As we were enjoying the constellations sparkling high above us, we continued walking until I turned us down a broad alley I'd been down a few times. I knew it would take us to the manor's wall. Still looking upward, I managed to bump into a crate. Looking down, I noticed that several of the glowstones set into the alley's walls were flickering.

"Tris..." My heart rate spiked.

"What's up?"

The shadows of the alley grew longer... more distorted...

I held my hand out, stopping Tristan. "Stop."

"Is everything okay? What do you—" Her sentence ended in a gurgle.

"Something's wrong." I turned back to her and saw that her eyes were rolled back in her head, and she was shaking violently. "Tristan!" I rushed to her side and took her into my arms. Smacking her cheek, I whispered, "Hey! Come on! Talk to me!" What the hell was happening?!

A soft, wordless whisper sounded from the alley.

Guiding Tristan to the ground, I turned to find that the shadows covering the alley had grown thick, so thick that the manor was no longer visible on the far side.

There was another whisper, this one louder, and the shadows began to writhe and twist. Slowly, they stretched upward and congealed, forming into a vaguely humanoid shape. With every breath, the rough shape came into focus, revealing a feminine figure roughly the same size as Tristan. She was covered in thick black robes, and her head was covered with a hood, leaving only her lips and jaw visible.

With a too-wide smile, each of her pearly white teeth glinted as she took a step forward and reached a pale hand toward me. "Good evening. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

The amount of pressure the woman gave off was insane. It felt like her spirit could crush me if she looked at me wrong. And my sightless sight was screaming at me, forcing every hair on my body to stand on end. If Aerell was dark, and Baelgrim and that woman were black holes, this woman in front of me... she was like looking into the void itself.

Involuntarily, I drew my sword and shield and willed my shaking hands to cooperate. "Don't come any closer."

"I wouldn't dare." The woman smirked and took a step backward. "I'd never break your trust."

"Who..." My teeth were chattering. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The woman's lips twisted downward. "It wasn't so long ago that all you mortals knew my name. And when you saw my face, you threw yourselves to your knees, prostrating yourselves before this world's master. You cried. You wept. You screamed your adulation." Dropping her hand, she sighed, the sound both bitter and exhausted. "If only I could be free once more... I'd remind you mortals exactly who the strongest of us was." With a wave of her hand, shadows snaked out of her palms and twisted to me.

I tried to step back, to move away, but I was rooted to the spot. As the shadows touched my skin, I felt... warmth... comfort...

"That's why I've come to you, dear one." She flicked her hand, and the shadow snaked under my armor. "You've been chosen! And now, I think I'm going to claim you. Through you, I'll begin to gain a foothold in this world once more."

NO.

The Dark Lord's voice trembled through my mind.

THAT VESSEL NO LONGER HAS A USE.

The woman's shadows were torn out of my body and thrown back at her, shoving her back several steps.

"You're stronger than I thought." She flickered her wrist again. This time, the shadows darted over me and slammed into Tristan's chest.

The priestess cried out, her eyes opened wide, and she began convulsing.

"That vessel isn't prepared, but I suppose I can make use of it for a time before it crumbles away."

Every thought in my brain turned to fire, and every bit of fear turned to unbridled rage. "DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!!" In a single heave, I exploded down the alleyway and, with as much strength as I could muster, I cut directly at her skull.

The woman's snide smile grew as my blade whistled toward her head. At the last second, she swept upward with the back of her hand, catching my sword mid-air. The metal rippled violently, creaked, then exploded, raining shards of metal on everything. "A valiant attempt."

I didn't care about my sword, or her lack of fear, or my inability to harm her. I couldn't see anything but rage. "I'LL KILL YOU!" My scream echoed up the alley as my shield slammed into her face. Unlike the sword, it passed through her like she wasn't even there.

But my fist didn't.

That caught her right in the jaw... which was as hard as stone. I felt the bones in my hand shatter.

[U⋏br⟟⧫k⋆b▯e]

How was she so strong? And the fuck was happening with the system?!

I didn't have time to think about it, because the bones in my hand snapped back together, forcing a groan from the depths of my soul.

"I won't hurt her if you simply give me what I want." She reached for me, but I leapt backward.

"FUCK YOU!" I struck at her again with my shield. This time, she caught it mid-air, her black energy cascading around her hand like black lightning, which entered the shield. In an instant, the shield crumbled to dust.

Grabbing my neck, she hoisted me into the air. "So fierce. I'm going to enjoy riding your skin." She nodded to Tristan. "And don't worry. I'll make sure to fill her belly with both your seed and my essence. If the Dark Father could do it, so can I."

I kicked her in the groin and felt every bone in my foot shatter.

[U⋏br⟟⧫k⋆b▯e]

The bones in my foot snapped back together. This time, I barely stayed conscious.

"That won't work, silly mortal." Her grin split her face in half like a snake's. "There's nothing you can do to stop this. You have been prepared. Now, accept your fate, and fade to nothing."

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