I now have an editor, so you all shouldn't need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore. :)

* * *

Chapter 34: Home

* * *

"Master?"

"Hmm?" Ethan turned from staring into the pre-dawn sky over the Argo's bow to look at his Fey wife. She was absolutely delightful. Her honey-blonde hair was gently moving on the breeze, her smile was captivating, and the iridescent wings that hung from her back were exotic and lovely. She was lovely, and quite possibly the sweetest girl he'd ever known, even including his other wives. And that was saying something.

She smiled at him. "I was just wondering, do you think you'll ever feel about Kendra how you feel about Sarah and your wives?"

"Sarah's engaged." He stopped, then corrected himself. "Or betrothed; what's the difference?"

"An engagement is when a woman chooses her husband for herself, which can only happen if she's been previously married or her father isn't around." The Fey teen replied. "It can be broken easily by either side. A betrothal is when the groom pays a bride price to the girl's father, at which point they're considered married. Well, basically married anyway; it requires a divorce to break a betrothal."

"Then Sarah is betrothed, which means she's even less free." He replied. "I've been on the receiving end of a fiancée cheating on me, and I could never be part of that."

"But what about Kendra compared to your other wives?" The Fey pressed. "Could you love her like you love us?"

"Maybe?" He shrugged. "It's funny, ever since Lady Ekthros forced us to bond, I've found it a lot harder to dislike her. I'm not saying I'm interested, but..." He shook his head. "I don't know. She's a pretty impressive person on balance. She's clever, imaginative, and downright devious when it comes to hunting dragons. Plus she had the strength of character to admit that she was wrong and then apologize. Most importantly, she put herself in harm's way to save the wife of an enemy. There are definitely things to like about her."

"...but?" The Fey prodded.

"But she also has been pretty cold to me even after she stopped trying to kill me." He pointed out.

"She's really nice when you get to know her master."

"Maybe, but I haven't done that; I haven't had a chance."

"Would you be willing to?"

"I suppose so?" He shrugged. "We're bonded, so I get the feeling that she's going to be in our lives for a long time, like it or not."

The Fey beamed.

"So, let me ask you." He said after a few moments. "Why do you care about her so much? I know she saved your life, but it seems like it's more than just that."

"She's a really good person master." Taloni replied as she slipped her arm around his and snuggled up to it.

He cocked his head to one side, feeling like he could disagree but not sure that he'd be correct. If you discounted that she'd been trying to kill him, she had been rather good. Playing devil's advocate, he knew what kind of trauma had caused her hatred of dragons. Plus, he could understand why she had been hunting him. Most people would have good reason to believe someone like Lord Delmar over a random dragon.

He found his thoughts drifting to Sarah, and how much he'd enjoyed meeting her. Well, except for the severe beating that he'd taken. It was weird; he'd never believed in love at first sight before, and while it hadn't been exactly at first sight -- maybe more like first fight -- he'd fallen for the innkeeper's daughter. Hard. If only she wasn't betrothed...

He sighed.

Taloni giggled slightly beside him.

"What?"

"Alana, Beth, Taloni, Rachel, Kendra, Selene, and Sarah." She said almost experimentally, as if to see how it sounded.

"What about them?"

"I'm just imagining growing old and raising a family with all of them."

He rolled his eyes. "Kendra hates me, Selene isn't interested, and Sarah's engaged, --err, betrothed."

The Fey shook her head and her wings quivered excitedly. "No master, Kendra doesn't hate you. I saw how she kept glancing at you on her airship; I think she can't admit to herself that she likes you. Selene wants you to like her more than she would admit too. And Sarah..." She frowned. "Hmm, I don't know what color dress would look best on her."

He blinked.

"What color dress?" He opened his mouth then cocked his head to one side. "Why would that matter?"

"Because all your wives need dresses master." Taloni said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I know Kendra would like purple since her favorite gemstone is an amethyst. But I don't know about Selene or Sarah." She frowned, and her nose crinkled in an adorable way as she did so. "I should go ask Selene."

She gave him a peck on the cheek and skipped away in the semi-darkness of pre-dawn, leaving him to wonder where all her confidence about who the rest of his wives would be had come from.

* * *

Kendra opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling above. It was still fairly dark as the sky was just starting to lighten. She'd just woken up from a dream where she'd been snuggling in bed with Ethan and all of his wives, and her body couldn't seem to decide what to do about that.

Her stomach led the charge in the 'against' column, threatening to empty the last vestiges of the previous night's dinner on the floor if she thought about it much. Meanwhile, her heart was screaming in delight at the dream and groaning in frustration that it had ended. Her mind was so deeply conflicted that she didn't know what to think.

He was a good 'man', but he was also a dragon. She liked him well enough, but had absolutely no attraction to him. None. He wasn't repulsive -- okay, he was a dragon so yes he was physically repulsive -- but personality-wise he was fine. Not good, not bad; just fine. Okay, he might be the most selfless man she'd ever met, but was that really personality? Wasn't that more character than personality? Was there even a difference?

She rolled over a bit and sighed.

If he were a man, she might be willing to stay bonded to him. He might've been a decent husband for her if he was a man and not a dragon. He wasn't though. She was pretty sure he'd let her stay on the Argo for a day or two, and she was positive that she wanted to try and break their bond. She figured that since death severed bonds, and she'd died for a short time after he'd struck her with lightning and then brought her back, he could do it again. That should break their bond, like with Beth when she had died. With the bond broken, she would be free again.

She wasn't sure what she'd do with her freedom, but she'd have it.

She might even be able to stay on the Argo for a while, perhaps even longer than a day or two.

That made her smile.

* * *

"Here you go; I hope you like it." Sarah said as she set breakfast down in front of the inn's only real guest, since the man with the pegged-leg had left the previous day after delivering his message to Ethan. Lady Ekthros took the spoon and took a small bite of the oatmeal.

"It's quite good." She said after swallowing. "I taste the apple, cinnamon, nutmeg, and walnuts; but what's that last flavor?"

"Cardamom." Sarah said proudly, happy that a real, live, honest-to-goodness lady thought her cooking was good. "It pairs so incredibly well with cinnamon dishes, but so few people use it."

Lady Ekthros took another bite and spoke after swallowing. 'You have a gift my dear. Careful; I might steal you away for my own kitchens if your other meals are this delightful."

"I would love that, but I'm betrothed."

"Ah, who's the lucky man?"

"Rindrin, he's the blacksmith here in the outpost." Sarah said, trying to maintain her cheerful façade.

The auburn-haired woman gave her a piercing look. "Not terribly fond of your betrothed, are you?"

The girl hesitated.

"I won't push if you deny it, but you're a terrible liar." Lady Ekthros said with an amused chuckle.

"I'm... I'm grateful that he's willing to marry me." She finally said honestly.

The auburn-haired woman looked slightly confused for a moment, then she made a thoughtful sound. "I don't suppose that -- completely by accident -- I've stumbled onto 'that' inn, have I? Are you the girl that I've heard so many warnings about?"

Sarah hesitated again.

"You are. Hmm." Lady Ekthros nodded and looked around the room with mild curiosity, finally setting her eyes on Sarah and giving her the onceover. "Well, you don't look like the rumors." She then smiled good-naturedly and added. "There's no horns or anything."

The girl grimaced and looked down

"Keep your chin up girl." The woman said gently. "We all have things that we aren't proud of, and not one of us is an exception. Besides, things can always get better."

"They can, there's even a real prophet of Illuminar in the land." Sarah nodded thinking that he might someday be able to free her from her problem, then she frowned. "Though, I thought Lord Delmar put a bounty on him." She said, remembering that the woman had mentioned that she worked for him the previous night.

"Yes well, he has his reasons." Lady Ekthros shook her head. "I'd like to meet this Ethan fellow to see for myself, and hopefully he's not..." She trailed off, like she had said too much. Oddly, Sarah got the impression that the older woman knew something about Ethan; something not good.

"I hope he can help me with my problem." Sarah finally said to end the awkward silence. She couldn't quite meet the lady's eyes as she spoke though.

"Sarah, let me give you a piece of advice." The woman said kindly. "Never let your head droop like that. The world is a hard place, and almost everyone will try to get you down. Don't let them; be strong for yourself."

"I do try." She said, thinking that at least one person -- well, one person and his wives -- really lifted her up instead of bringing her down. Still, the other woman wasn't wrong otherwise.

* * *

Kendra opened the door to Graflex's shop with a slight spring in her step. She might actually be able to see Taloni that afternoon, and possibly even break her bond with Ethan. That would be wonderful. It would be even more wonderful if Ethan let her stay on the Argo for a few days afterwards.

"They're done." Graflex announced proudly, though oddly he didn't seem happy about it. He pointed to four boxes near the front of the shop.

Two of them were large, two were small. The large ones were the both the same size at just under five feet long, about eighteen inches wide, and at least eight inches tall, though one was made out of a much cheaper wood than the other three. The larger of the two smaller boxes was about eighteen inches long and three inches square. The last box was the smallest at about eight inches long and again about three inches square.

"Where's the spear?" Kendra asked as she looked at the boxes. The longest box wasn't even five feet, and she remembered the spear at least being six feet long.

"In that box." The dwarf muttered, unhelpfully waving his hand towards the stack of four boxes.

She raised an eyebrow.

He harrumphed. "You don't like 'em, you can get someone else to reforge them."

She frowned, but nodded.

"Now here's the important thing." The dwarf continued. "Don't even open the boxes until you've enchanted them all to be self-repairing. I've gone and put an edge on there that would cut silk that was dropped over it. If you muss that edge up before you enchant it, there ain't no way to fix it without changing the perfect edge geometry. I designed these to be enchanted, so don't even open the box until they're enchanted to be self-repairing, ya hear?"

"Got it, open the box as soon as possible." She retorted.

He harrumphed. "Ruin them however you want; I've already been paid." He flipped a small piece of dragon steel that had been formed into a small disc in his hands, much like someone might do with a coin. "That cheaper box is the training version." He added. "Your Ethan fellow can open it whenever, but I wouldn't spar with it until it's been enchanted to be self-repairing."

"Noted." She nodded and picked the boxes up. They were surprisingly light given what was in them, but she activated her strength-enhancing vambraces anyway because she had to walk.

"Thanks." She said as she turned to leave.

Graflex harrumphed, then nodded and shuffled into the back room. Kendra shrugged and walked out carrying the boxes. It was somewhat awkward to carry all four of them and she got a few odd glances, but she managed. It wasn't a long walk to return to the apartment that Elder Goman had set up for her, and she had a visitor when she opened the door.

"Elder Goman." She said as she kicked the door closed behind her.

"Ah, Kendra." The elderly arch mage said, dropping the 'ancient and senile act' the moment the door was closed, and deactivating what she assumed was a disguise gem. Physically, he didn't look much different. His hair was still wispy and his robes still clung to his thin frame. But the overall effect had changed drastically. Suddenly his face didn't look so heavily lined and his eyes looked a lot brighter. He looked like a fit man in his sixties instead of pushing one hundred and on death's door.

"And no one sees through that disguise gem? With the company you must keep?" She asked as she set the boxes down.

"My dear Kendra, if you have enough dragon scale, mana, and enchanting knowledge, you can create a man-sized illusion that almost no one can see through unless they know exactly what to look for, and are actively looking for it." He touched a large medallion on his chest, which looked like it was made from dragon steel. "It might cost a king's ransom, but none has seen through it yet."

She nodded, thinking about Ethan's disguise gem which the Nalatia guards had seen through the moment they'd looked. She had known about more powerful disguise enchantments, but had never seen one in action. Elder Goman's enchantment must be incredibly powerful since he rubbed shoulders with some of the most powerful wizards of the age.

"That's some enchantment." She finally said.

"Yes, but this isn't the enchantment you need now." He said glancing in the direction of his workshop where his portal was. "Are you ready to rejoin your husband?"

She shot him a dirty look.

"You're bonded, are you not?"

"For now." She nodded.

"The young often don't realize what they have until they've complained about it." He gave her a piercing look, then a slightly annoyed one. "I thought you'd hold out longer: now I'm afraid I owe Luminar Kossel that bottle of mulled wine."

She glared at the reference to the bet they'd made in her presence the last time she'd been in Arcanum to confirm Ethan's story.

"You said you could portal me to Ethan?" She said after several seconds, hoping that he'd take the hint.

He nodded. "Yes, though I assume you'll want to take your airship with you."

"I'm certainly not leaving it. The masts can fold, so it should fit through a portal."

"Then I'll have you travel outside of town, open a portal at ground level through which you can push your airship into my portal room. Once you're in my lab, then I can open another portal and return you to him." The arch mage's eyes twinkled. "Your husband I mean."

She shot him an even dirtier look.

* * *

"Rachel, do you have a minute?" Ethan asked after everyone had finished their late lunch.

The redhead smiled back at him, her blue eyes sparkling. "Absolutely."

He extended his hand and led her amidships before turning to look at her. She was truly lovely. Her hair was darker red at the roots and it slowly faded to blonde at the tips, making it look like her head was on fire. Her blue eyes were filled with intelligence and -- when she looked at him -- love. Plus, she had a wonderful personality and was always good company.

"What?" She asked.

"Just looking." He smiled at her.

The redhead appeared to smile despite herself. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to ask how you're doing."

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm good, why?"

"Well, I was wondering about something." He began.

She jumped in rather nervously. "I know I'm still a bit... nervous being naked around your other wives. I promise I'm getting better though."

"Oh, that's good; that's not what I was wondering about, but good." He replied. He had noticed that she tended to keep covered up around his other wives. Even when they all woke up naked, she tended to stay under the sheets or reach for her dress.

"Oh, then what?" Rachel asked.

"I wanted to follow up on our conversation from our wedding day." He replied. "You seemed adamant about not having a 'lord', and yet you have called me 'my lord' ever since that evening. I just wanted to make sure you're okay with that."

She cocked her head to one side as a wide smile split her face. "Really?"

He nodded.

"Even if I hadn't been before -- and I was -- I would be now." She closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them, the smile never leaving her face. "That was really thoughtful of you to ask. That's really what you wanted to say?"

"Well yeah." He nodded again. "I definitely prefer happy wives."

"I really am okay." She smiled even wider. "If anyone besides you tried to tell me what to do, I'd either laugh, glare, or give a scathing retort. But with you..." She cocked her head to one side and pursed her lips. "...with you it's like... like... I don't know. It's like I somehow know deep in my bones that you'd never ask me to do anything that you didn't think was the absolute best for me. Somehow, that makes me not mind."

"Well, I'm glad you know that." He smiled at her, but then his smile turned to a slight frown. "You do know that might be my dragon side influencing you though, right?"

"I do." She nodded. "You said you can't compel me, so it's not likely though. I don't think the dragon was involved. But even if he was, there's nothing that anyone could do about it except break our bond, and I would rather die than let that happen." She said firmly, then added with a grin. "Happiness or death; seems like one of life's few easy choices, doesn't it my lord?"

"It does, and I'm really happy to hear you say that." He replied with a wide grin.

He really was.

It was good to hear that the fiercely independent redhead was actually enjoying being his wife. He certainly enjoyed having her as one, and he knew that Alana loved it too. That put him in mind of the birthmark that they both had, which for some reason he kept forgetting to tell the redhead about.

"So Rachel." He began. "I keep meaning--"

*Ethan?*

He jerked his head up as a completely unfamiliar voice sounded in his head. It took him a moment to place it, and when he did his jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Rachel asked with concern.

"It's Kendra." He said marveling. "She just talked to me telepathically. Hang on." He thought to Kendra. *Hi, is everything okay?*

*Yes.* She replied curtly.

*Ladies, Kendra just contacted me telepathically.* He thought to all his wives. The collective feelings of shock over his bonds with them mirrored how he felt. *I'll ask her to move to the group chat.* He then thought to the dragon huntress. *Kendra, could you talk to the group chat so everyone can listen in?*

*Am I doing this right?* Her voice came to the group chat several seconds later.

*Kendra!* Taloni exclaimed with joy.

*Hi Taloni.* She replied almost sheepishly.

*Kendra, are you okay?* Alana and Rachel asked at the same time.

*Yes, did something go wrong?* Beth added.

*Why are you all asking that?* Kendra replied.

*Because you're talking to us telepathically.* Ethan replied. *I thought you never would.*

*Yeah well, Elder Goman said he wouldn't open the portal until I let you know that I was coming, so...* There was definitely some annoyance in her mental tone.

*You're ready to arrive?* He asked.

*I am now.* She said, and he got the distinct sense that she'd just closed the gates of her mental fortress to block them all out again.

Taloni had walked up to him during the conversation and was beaming at him. "She's going to love it here master."

"Love it here?" He raised his eyebrow. "She'll be here for like, five minutes to drop off the weapons and then she'll take off."

Taloni gave him a look much like his mother used to give him when he asked her a particularly dumb question about girls. "Master, I think she'll ask if she can stay on the Argo."

"Why?"

"I don't know." The Fey shrugged. "I just feel like she will."

"I'd say you were nuts if you hadn't been right about everything involving Kendra so far."

A minute or two later, Ethan saw a portal slowly opening about a hundred yards above the Argo. He was mostly looking at the underside of the portal, so it appeared to be a line instead of a disc, but it certainly was a portal. Moments later, the prow of Kendra's canoe-sized airship appeared. It was among the strangest things that Ethan had ever seen: to be standing underneath a portal and watching the airship glide through it. Since he was underneath it, her airship looked like it was appearing out of thin air. It was so strange to watch it slowly appear as it slid through.

Once the airship was through, Taloni didn't waste a moment. Her wings became a blur and she started flying up towards Kendra.

He smiled.

It had been just over a month since Taloni had been freed and started exercising her wings daily. At the beginning, she couldn't even lift herself off the ground without the weight reduction necklace. Now she was flying a hundred yards straight up and didn't seem very strained while doing so. He imagined that there must be some kind of magic involved for her wings get that strong that fast.

Regardless, it was good to see.

He took a deep breath as he realized that it had only been a month. He felt like time had somehow slowed to a crawl lately while simultaneously moving so fast that he couldn't keep up. Yesterday had been a good example, what with meeting Sarah and all.

"She really loves flying." Beth said from beside him.

He hadn't noticed her approach, and he put his arm around her shoulder. "Hey angel, yeah she does. It's good to see."

The blonde leaned her head on his shoulder. "I keep feeling like this is a dream; a wonderful dream that I'm going to eventually wake up from and have to face real life again."

He smiled and gave her a pointed look. "I know what you mean."

She sighed and kissed his shoulder. "Can you pinch me? Just to make sure."

"Eep!" She jumped as he gave her butt a little pinch.

"Still awake?" He asked.

She nodded dreamily, and spoke in much the same manner. "Yes Dominus, and I couldn't be happier."

He smiled and gave her another pointed look. "I know what you mean."

He looked up in time to see Kendra's head poke over the side of the airship. Apparently she'd finished her 'hello hug' from Taloni and...

He felt the dragon.

It stirred at the sight of the dragon huntress, and it took more self-control than Ethan liked to prevent the dragon from taking over, flying up there, and bending the dragon huntresses over in her own airship.

*Ethan...* Alana thought directly to him.

*Yeah, I hate how much my dragon side is trying to assert control.*

*Should we be more dedicated to wearing you out in the bedroom in the future?* She asked, and he knew she was serious because her comment didn't contain an ounce of flirtation.

He looked around the deck until he saw her up on the quarterdeck, and then shook his head slightly. *No, it doesn't help. Might actually make things worse.* He sighed in frustration. *If I ever meet my dragon side, I'm going to pound him.*

Alana gave him an ironic smile. *I'll get you a mirror.*

He chuckled, but it still took a lot of effort to stop his dragon side from pouncing on the dragon huntress.

* * *

"I um... I don't..." Sarah looked down, wishing she had a better answer. It was lunchtime and she'd just served Lady Ekthros, who had started inquiring about Sarah's wedding.

"I've never seen a woman look so down about her wedding dress." Lady Ekthros said. "Surely you're having one made, or making one yourself?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, the inn isn't... I mean I don't have money for..." She looked at her shoes. "And I don't know how to sew. I can mend things, but I don't know how to make a dress from scratch."

"Ah." The auburn-haired woman looked around the inn and nodded. "Well, we can't have that now can we?"

"Huh?"

Lady Ekthros smiled at her. "I need to go into town today to get..." She waved her hand carelessly and spoke with the air of someone coming up with a lazy excuse. "...get a new clasp for my cloak."

Sarah starred.

She wasn't wearing a cloak, and judging by her luggage, she probably didn't have one with her. It sounded like she was making up an excuse to go into town so she could...

No.

No she couldn't be planning to...

Could she?

The older woman smiled in a grandmotherly fashion. "I might as well stop by a tailor while we are in town and get you a nice dress for your wedding."

"While we are in town?" The girl felt her jaw drop.

"Of course; unless you want to get married in your current dress?"

"You can't do that; it's too much." Sarah replied quietly.

"Of course I can; I never had kids, and just want to pretend I have a daughter to spoil for a bit." She winked. "You wouldn't deny an old woman that simple pleasure, would you?"

"Thank you." She could feel her eyes filling with happy tears. This woman was so nice; nearly as nice as Ethan, Selene, and Ethan's wives. She counted herself extremely lucky that Illuminar had brought her into her life.

* * *

Ethan busied himself sparring with Serif as Kendra docked, trying to distract himself and his dragon side from her. It wasn't attraction; it was pure unbridled lust and horniness that was being fueled by his dragon side. He growled and found himself being more aggressive with the war-sword sized longsword that he was using.

He'd actually been doing nearly all his sparring with a longsword since the trip to Nalatia, and especially since they had told Serif about Lord Delmar's attack. The wiry crewman decided that the best way for Ethan to beat the longsword was to learn it, so that he knew its strengths and weaknesses from experience. He would've been lying if he said it wasn't a dream come true; learning to swordfight that is. Serif was a master and he had learned so much in a very short time.

Eventually, Kendra's ship finished docking and she stepped onto the Argo with Taloni in tow. Ethan paused his sparring match to look at her, feeling the dragon urging him on. It wasn't exactly hard to resist, but it certainly wasn't as easy as he would've preferred.

"Ethan." The dragon huntress greeted him in a strange tone that was at once both terse and seemed like an attempt to be nice.

"Kendra." He nodded back at her.

"I've got your weapons." She said after an awkward moment.

"Weapons?" He raised his eyebrow. "Plural?"

"You didn't think he needed all that dragon scale to make a single spearhead, did you?"

"Uh, I guess not." He said, thinking about how many dragon scales were in the satchel compared to how much metal was in a spearhead.

The raven haired newcomer seemed to bite back a retort, then turned to the ship and pulled out four wooden boxes.

He noted that none of them was over five feet long and raised his other eyebrow. "Spear?"

"So, about that..." She told him what Graflex had told her about the designer of the weapons as his other wives arrived. All of them -- himself included -- were staring at her open mouthed when she was done.

"Gabriella designed these?" He looked at the boxes, thinking that they would probably be pretty special if she had.

"Apparently." Kendra shrugged.

"I bet Illuminar did." Taloni said in awe.

"I wonder what they are." Beth said, curiosity burning in her eyes.

"Well, let's look." Ethan stepped forward but Kendra held up her hand.

"Graflex said you shouldn't even open them until they'd been enchanted to be self-repairing. He said he'd put an insane edge that would need to be completely reshaped if it was nicked."

Alana shook her head. "No, he just wanted to make sure Ethan didn't go testing it and dull the edge before it was enchanted."

"So, I can't open any of them?" Ethan said feeling a bit crestfallen.

"He said you could open that one." Kendra indicated the large box made with cheaper wood. "That's an unsharpened training version. He said just don't spar with it until it's been enchanted to be self-repairing."

He rubbed his hands together in delight. "Okay, let's take a look!"

He grabbed the box and pried the lid off.

"Huh." He said, leaning over the box and staring.

"What?" Selene asked since she couldn't see into the box from where she was. "It's not a girl in cryo-stasis with psychic powers and a tendency to be 'morbid and creepifying', is it?"

Everyone stared at her.

Ethan shook his head. "No, it's a sword."

It was long; about four and a half feet long. Being a training weapon, the blade edges were dull and the tip mushroomed slightly for safety. Otherwise, it looked like a sword. The hilt was a little over a foot long and had a medieval disc pommel on it. Oddly, the back half of the pommel had a wide slot cut into it around the back half, but you couldn't see the slot from the top or bottom. It looked like a long strip of leather had been coiled and slipped into this slot.

The handle was a flattened hexagon in cross-section and wrapped with thin leather that looked like it had been forced over a wrapping of cord. The cross guard was exactly as wide as the hilt was long, and it had a very subtle sweep towards the tip. The ends of the cross guard were pointed too, and could deal a lot of damage if used to bash someone. Forged into the cross guard were two large oval 'rings' which stuck out directly opposite each other on either side. He assumed they were intended to provide additional hand protection, since the side rings would completely protect his knuckles.

Other than the side rings, it looked plain.

Very plain.

Honestly, it looked a bit underwhelming. It looked like any other sword except for the side rings and leather at the back of the pommel. At least, it was underwhelming until he reached into the box and pulled it out.

"Damn." He whistled as he moved it around experimentally.

It was perfect.

Absolutely perfect.

The weight, the balance, the feel, the handling, the grip size and shape; everything. He had initially been surprised at how lightweight and maneuverable medieval style swords could be when he'd first handled one in the Ten Kingdoms. Most of them felt quite light and nimble in the hand, whereas he'd been expecting something a bit more crude from what he'd seen in movies and video games. But as good as those swords were, this one was better.

It was perfect.

Not 'almost perfect'.

Perfect.

It was perfection itself.

He set the tip down on the ground, and the pommel would've fit perfectly into his armpit without being uncomfortable or falling. The blade came up to where his bellybutton would've been if he had one. He waved it around experimentally a few more times and grinned widely as he realized that this sword had literally been made for him, and it felt like it. It almost felt like it responded to his thoughts, though obviously it didn't.

"Damn, that's a nice sword." He grinned. "Though, I wonder what the blade looks like on the real one."

"Open it and see." Beth urged.

"It should be fine as long as you don't take it out." Alana assured him.

He popped the other large box's lid off. The real sword was identical to the training sword in every respect except for two. First was the blade. It was about two inches wide at the base. The blade tapered slowly for most of the length, but then a foot from the end it smoothly transitioned into a slightly sharp taper which ended in a wicked looking point. The blade itself was slightly hollow ground, and had a smooth, satin polish to it.

The other difference was the pommel.

It was identical to the training version, except a golden version of Illuminar's star was emblazoned on the disc-shaped pommel. It was a seven-pointed star, but the circular center was slightly disconnected from the points, making it look a bit like a sun. His dragon senses told him that it was real gold too.

It was beautiful.

He whistled.

"Someone wasn't being subtle." Rachel observed, nodding at Illuminar's sigil on the pommel.

"This feels so amazing that I really don't mind." Ethan replied, waving the training sword around a bit.

"May I see it?" Alana asked.

"Sure." He handed it to her.

It was far too big for her since she was only five feet tall. She did move it a bit, but then closed her eyes and ran her hands over the metal as if feeling something he couldn't. While she did that, Ethan replaced the lid on the real sword's box.

"This training version has a bit of dragon steel in it." The wood elf finally said. "Just enough to take a self-repairing enchantment, but nothing else, except for the grip." She ran her hands over the grip. "It's wrapped in very high quality enchanting leather, and I could fit both a self-repairing enchantment and summoning enchantment, but nothing else."

"That should be fine; it is a training weapon after all." Ethan nodded. For the next several minutes, it was passed around to the rest of his wives plus Selene, who all expressed appreciation for it.

Finally, it ended up in Kendra's hands. "This is a masterful blade." She said after moving it around a bit. "It's equal to the finest blades I've ever handled, and I've handled blades made for kings."

"May I?" Serif asked.

"Sure Serif." Ethan said.

Kendra froze.

She looked at Serif with wide eyes for several moments while staying rooted to the spot.

"Serif?" She finally got out in an awed whisper. "The Serif."

Ethan looked at his wives, who all looked as confused as he felt. As he thought about it though, Kendra hadn't heard the crewman's name before now, despite having been on the Argo before. Everyone had been too tired for introductions during dinner, and Anthiel had shooed them away from breakfast in the morning so everyone could recount their stories.

"Yes, he's the Serif." Anthiel finally said, then turned to Beth. "You didn't think that your father would send just anyone to protect you, did you?"

Beth looked both stunned and confused. As usual, it didn't take too long for her curious personality to assert itself as she looked at him. "But who is 'the Serif' though? I mean, I know my father spent a ton of time getting you to come to Gralden, but apparently there's more to the story?"

Serif shrugged. "We all have more to our stories."

Kendra finally managed to scrape her jaw off the deck long enough to hand Serif Ethan's new training sword. She did it with a lot of reverence, and Ethan was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the sword.

"So..." Ethan looked at the wiry crewman. "...what's the rest of your story?"

"My story." Serif said curtly as he moved the blade around. After several moment he nodded. "The only blade that I've held that was this sword's equal was intended for a king." He tapped the side rings. "Excellent hand protection too. Were this blade not claimed, I would want it myself."

Kendra was still staring at Serif.

"So Kendra, what's the story with Serif?" Ethan asked.

"He's..." She trailed off as Serif gave a subtle shake of his head.

"He's got his own story; you'll have to ask him." The dragon huntress finished. Unless Ethan was much mistaken, Kendra seemed intimidated by the wiry crewman. Suddenly, he had a newfound respect for the man.

"What does that leather at the bottom do?" Beth asked as Serif handed the sword back to Ethan.

He took a closer look at it.

The leather appeared to be a long strip -- maybe two or three feet -- that was wrapped around itself in a tight roll and then slid into that slot at the back of the pommel, which you couldn't see from the top or bottom. It was clearly enchanted to be stiff, as it simply wouldn't budge.

"Hmm." He scratched his head, then held the sword out to Alana. "It's definitely enchanted; what can you tell about it?"

The wood elf took the sword, put a hand over the leather and closed her eyes for several moments. When she opened them, she looked impressed. "There's a self-repairing enchantment combined with a self-summoning enchantment."

"Self-summoning?" Ethan asked.

"If you were to cut the leather, the two pieces would attract each other and try to reattach themselves to each other even over great distances." The wood elf explained. "It's like how you summon your hammer, and it's a powerful addition to a self-repairing enchantment."

"Oh nice." He smiled, then frowned. "But why? What does it do?"

"Let me see." Alana closed her eyes again and ran her fingers over the leather. After a minute, she opened her eyes. "Okay, I think this is dragon leather because there's four different enchantments here. There's the self-repairing and self-summoning enchantments. Then there's also a very powerful fire resistance enchantment; you could throw this into a volcano and it wouldn't even be singed."

"Well that's good." He nodded, thinking about the fate of his poor spear. "What about the fourth enchantment?"

"It a hardening enchantment." She replied. "But the hardening enchantment is activatable like a regular leather shield. However, it's a more complicated 'double-sided' version that can activate in two different positions."

He cocked his head to one side. "Hmm. You mean that this is one position, but there's another position it can harden into?"

"Yes." Alana nodded as she handed the sword back to him.

"I suppose I should try it then." He said. He held the training sword out in front of him, tip up. He took a deep breath, then pushed a tiny drop of mana into the leather to activate the enchantment, just like he did with his disguise gem.

The leather instantly uncoiled itself, shooting straight to the rear of the sword at incredible speed. It stuck straight out, adding an extra two and a half feet of length to the weapon, putting the overall length at seven feet. The war sword by itself was about four and a half feet long, and the extension was just over two and a half. The resulting weapon was almost half blade, with plenty of hilt to hold onto. It almost looked like...

He grinned.

It was like a spear that was half blade.

It was a... spear-sword?

Sword-spear?

Sword staff?

He adjusted his hands into the spear stance that he'd become so accustomed to and moved the weapon around a bit with the extra handle. It was a bit slower than his spear, owing to the greater mass in the blade, but...

He grinned wider as he summoned his vambraces to his forearms and rerebraces to his upper arms; all four of which had strength enhancing enchantments. They landed and he locked them into place, then tried moving the sword-spear around a bit.

It was perfect.

With the strength enhancing enchantments nearly doubling his strength, he could move his new sword-spear around faster than his old spear. Plus it had a massive cutting blade; over three feet of razor sharp dragon steel on the real version. He activated the grip extension again, pulling it right up to the hilt and all of a sudden he had a war sword sized longsword again. Another activation and he had something that resembled a spear, but was so much better.

"Holy shit!" He breathed.

"Impressive." Serif nodded. "It has all the strengths of both a spear and a war sword, but being able to switch between them nearly eliminates the weaknesses of both."

"Plus you can carry the sword in a scabbard master, so you'll never be without a weapon." Taloni pointed out.

"Oh man, you're right." He was smiling ear-to-ear at this point. "I'll basically be walking around with a full size spear and no one will know."

"Plus there's the element of surprise." Rachel pointed out. "You could draw your sword and start a normal sword attack, then extend the leather to get an extra reach almost instantly."

"Day-um!" Ethan exclaimed. "This thing is awesome."

"And there's still two more..." Beth pointed out, clearly wanting to see them.

"Yeah, but he said don't open them until they've been enchanted to be self-repairing." Ethan pointed out.

"Let me see about one of the smaller ones." Alana said, walking over and putting one hand on each of the smaller boxes. After almost a minute, she opened her eyes and turned to the rest of them. "Okay, so I think that smallest one is a new head for Ethan's hammer. It's hard to tell without seeing it or touching it, but from what I can feel of enchantable material, that what it feels like."

"What about the other one?" Beth and Taloni asked at the same time, then looked at each other and grinned.

"I have no idea." The wood elf replied. "I can feel a small piece that's pure dragon scale, and a larger piece that's dragon scale. I think I can fully enchant the whole thing to be self-repairing if someone would be willing to donate--"

"I will!" Beth and Taloni both stuck a hand in the air and jumped a bit.

"I'm also happy to help." Rachel added with an amused smile.

Ethan chuckled, and then walked a few paces from everyone else to swing his new sword around a bit more. He felt like a kid on Christmas morning, and probably looked it too.

"Careful, you'll shoot your eye out." Selene called with a wink.

He snort-laughed.

* * *

Sarah had never ridden in a carriage before, or at least not a proper carriage like the one she was riding in now. It was a small one designed for only two people, and not terribly ornate. However, it was clearly of incredibly high quality. The seats were leather and the wood was subtly carved in intricate designs. She almost felt like a lady, and was sitting next to one.

"I can't believe my father let me come." She said, feeling slightly worried about leaving him alone at the inn, even in the middle of the day.

"Most men have a habit of letting noble ladies get their way." The auburn-haired woman said with a twinkle in her eye. She looked to be in her late thirties or early forties, but Sarah guessed that she looked young for her age.

"Thank you." She said for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Please stop thanking me dear girl." The other woman replied kindly. "I'm an old fool indulging a whim; I might hate you tomorrow."

Sarah laughed.

Lady Ekthros didn't.

The girl faltered for a moment.

"Sarah, not everyone is your friend." The older woman said somberly. "There are people out there who will only pretend to be your friend to get something from you. You need to watch out for them."

"But you aren't like that." Sarah replied.

"If I was like that, I would tell you that I wasn't." She pointed out. "You need to be careful Sarah; sometimes the people who pretend to be your friends can do more damage that outright enemies. They can hurt your heart and soul, whereas outright enemies can only hurt your body."

"Okay, I'll watch out." She nodded, grateful that Lady Ekthros had warned her. She of course knew of the possibility, but hadn't really thought about it before.

"Remember that the Book of Light says that even Saidow himself sometimes pretends to be an angel of light." The auburn-haired woman said as she flicked the reins gently to keep the horse moving. "Why would men be any different?"

Sarah smiled at her, but it wasn't the most genuine smile she'd ever had.

What of Gabriella?

She remembered the dream in which the angel had made some promises. But that must've been a real angel because there was no chance that she was a servant of Saidow. None whatsoever. Plus, she had met Ethan, and he was a prophet of Illuminar.

Sarah sighed wistfully. "At least there's a prophet of Illuminar in the land again."

"Of course there is." Lady Ekthros said, but something about her tone seemed... off.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yes." Her reply seemed genuine.

"Is there something about the prophet of Illuminar?"

"I'm sure it's nothing dear." Lady Ekthros said in a voice that was intended to be comforting, but oddly came across as the exact opposite. That was mostly because she didn't sound like she believed it herself. It sounded like there was something that the other woman knew about Ethan that she didn't want to share, and it didn't seem good.

Hmm, curious.

* * *

"Okay, all done." Ethan heard Alana say.

He turned from appreciating his new sword towards his wood elven wife, walked up to her, and gave her a soul-searing kiss. "Have I ever told you that I love you?" He asked when the kiss broke.

She grinned. "Every time you look at me."

"Damn straight."

"So what's in the box?" Beth asked.

"Yes master, please open it." Taloni echoed.

He sighed loudly and in a mock-exaggerated way. "Okay fine, if I must."

He reached over and loosened the middle sized box, but hesitated before pulling it off. He turned to all his wives, but especially Beth and put on a totally deadpan expression. "You know, maybe we should wait for a bit, preserve the surprise."

"Dom-i-nus." She rolled her eyes. "Please?"

He shook his head in a mock-exaggerated way. "The things I do for love."

He opened the middle sized box to see... He cocked his head to one side.

Huh.

"What is it?" Beth asked.

"Um, a dagger? Maybe?" He reached in and pulled out the strangest looking dagger that he'd ever seen.

It weighed very little, but it had a lot of heft.

The main body of the dagger was a cylinder about 7 or 8 inches long and over an inch in diameter. It had a lot of presence and inertia in his hand, but almost no weight. He assumed it must be enchanted to be lighter. He guessed that without the enchantment it would probably weigh several poounds; maybe more. However, all that weight was in the dragon steel cylinder. He guessed it was probably filled with lead because of the large amount of mass; though again it had almost no weight.

Protruding from the cylinder at the back of the dagger was some tightly coiled leather cord. The cord was about a quarter inch thick and was tightly coiled around itself into a disc that extended for one cord's thickness wider than the dragon-steel cylinder itself, forming a sort of pommel. There were four levels like this stacked on top of each other, all made from the same length of leather cord that was clearly enchanted to be as stiff and strong as steel.

The front of the cylinder had more stiffened leather cord, though this cord had been arranged to resemble a circular guard, with the cord cleverly folded to form both the outer ring and seven supports for it. This cord was also enchanted to be as stiff as steel and was also one piece. The end of the cord stuck out about eight inches in front of the guard and was tipped with a tiny dragon steel head.

Seriously, the head was tiny.

It was about three inches long, but extremely narrow and thus very sharply pointed. It was shaped like an extremely elongated pyramid that was just slightly larger than the leather shaft.

He looked at it in confusion for several seconds. "I guess a dagger can be very useful. It looks like it would have a powerful thrust. Though the leather might be activatable just like the sword... Hmm."

"Try it." Beth urged.

"Hang on." Since he was dealing with a fully sharped head, he took several steps away from everyone and angled the dagger so the tip was pointed skyward. "Everyone ready?"

They all either nodded or assented.

He poured a drop of mana into the dagger to activate it. Instantly the coil of leather at the back shot straight to the rear and the one at the front shot straight forward. With the two cords extended, it was about six feet long, with about two feet in front of the dragon-steel cylinder and the remaining length behind it. The rear portion flared out just slightly at the very back. The flared portion looked like an arrow's fletching, and there was a crosspiece with the same shape, so there were four 'fletchings'. Overall, it looked like a six-foot arrow with a massive bulge in the middle.

"Is it a spear?" Taloni asked.

"I mean, yeah but..." Ethan slowly moved it around to feel how it moved and shook his head. "This would be rubbish to fight with. There's no weight in the head so it would be easy to parry, and it just feels wrong; the weight's all in the wrong place."

"It's a javelin." Kendra said.

He looked at her, having heard the term but not remembering what it meant exactly.

"A spear that's optimized for throwing, which that one clearly is." She explained. "Look at the pseudo-fletching at the back to keep it nose forward in flight. And the large weight in the middle is probably to give it more inertia so it can penetrate more deeply."

Beth and Taloni giggled.

Kendra shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"This looks like it would penetrate very deep." He said with a wink at his two teen wives, then activated the javelin again so it was a dagger and looked at the point. "Look at how slender that tip is; there would be so little resistance."

"It's similar to a Roman Pilum." Selene said, and everyone turned to look at her.

"I like weapons." She shrugged. "I saw this video one time that showed how these things would punch through wooden shields with the tiny point. Then the shaft is thinner than the point, so it slides through without resistance until it hits the guy holding the shield. Even if you don't hit him, you've got a bloody big javelin sticking out of your shield, making it useless."

"So, either I kill the guy or make his shield useless?" Ethan grinned. "Damn! This is the strangest looking weapon I've ever seen, but if you're right, it would be so effective."

"One moment." Serif said. He went through the door to the lower decks and returned a minute later with a rollable leather shield and an archery target. He set them up leaning against the main mast, activated the leather shield, and then then returned to the group.

"Thanks." Ethan said, then extended the dagger into a javelin, took careful aim, and then gave it a measured throw.

It punched right through the enchanted leather shield.

It barely seemed to slow down.

He walked over and saw that the javelin had buried itself deeply into the archery target. So deeply that it took a moment to get out.

"Holy shit!" He breathed.

"What about the shields that the wood elven king gave us?" Beth asked.

About a minute later, one of them was set up against the archery target and Ethan had thrown his new javelin at it. It made a large-ish dent, but didn't punch through and fell to the decking.

"It might not go through a very thick wooden shield then." Serif said.

Ethan picked up the javelin and hefted it again. "I could believe that. It's enchanted so it weighs less than half a pound, but I imagine it would weigh several pounds without that enchantment. Plus..." He activated the javelin again so it snapped back to being small. "...I could easily carry this around as a dagger because it's so small and lightweight. An odd looking dagger, but a dagger nonetheless."

"And I could enchant both the sword and the javelin-dagger so you can summon them." Alana added.

"Oh man, imagine a javelin that can punch through shields that I can throw again and again." He grinned.

"And in close combat, that dagger form would be invaluable for penetrating chainmail and thrusting through gaps in armor." Serif added.

"And then there's the new head for your hammer." Rachel pointed out. "The new dragon steel head.."

"I should be able to create a more powerful lightning strike with a dragon steel head." He mused. "The limited space in my current elven steel head really limits the amount of power I can pack into a bolt."

He could feel the grin on his face widening as he contemplated the possibilities that his new weapons would bring.

* * *

Kendra was leaning against the railing of the Argo next to where her own airship was docked. She was watching everyone gush over Ethan's new weapons and couldn't decide if she was feeling left out or included. She hadn't spoke up much, but everyone had listened when she did.

Plus, Serif?!

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She couldn't believe it, but she was feeling a bit nervous in the presence of such a legend. She couldn't believe that she'd met him, or that he was here on the Argo. She suddenly counted herself very lucky that he had never gotten involved when she had been hunting Ethan. She doubted very much that she'd still be breathing if he had.

"Copper for your thoughts." Rachel said as she approached the dragon huntress.

"I've never given a dragon weapons before." Kendra replied, which was technically true, though not really on her mind.

The redhead made a thoughtful sound and they stood there for a few minutes as Ethan practiced throwing his new javelin into the archery target.

"Copper for your real thoughts." Rachel finally said.

Kendra looked at the teen mage, trying to decide what to say. Finally, she decided on the truth. "Do you think that Ethan would be comfortable with me staying on the Argo for a few days?"

The redhead shrugged. "He fell asleep next to you on your airship, so I don't see why not. I think he'll be more interested in why you want to stay. Why do you?"

Kendra considered for a moment as she decided how to answer. She wanted to tell the truth, but really wasn't sure that was the best idea. Then again, she wasn't sure why it would be a bad idea either. She tapped her foot on the decking, realizing after a few moments that she never would've let such an obvious indication of her thoughts show a few months ago. Apparently, she'd come a long way -- or perhaps fallen a long way -- in terms of showing how she actually felt.

It was kind of nice.

"I um..." The dragon huntress hesitated. "Are you all for real? I mean, you all seem so nice and genuine, and I don't really... um, I don't have a lot of experience with that."

Rachel smiled. "I grew up in my father's court. Everything was hiding your emotions, smiling at enemies, and being aloof with the few people you liked. I don't need to do that here." She paused. "Okay, maybe a bit with Raklan; but not with Ethan or my fellow wives." She thought for a moment, then added. "And not with Anthiel or Selene either. There's a lot of good people on this ship. Frankly, I feel lucky to be here."

"Me too." Kendra said quietly.

The redhead glanced at her airship. "I can imagine; that airship looks like the perfect size for one person."

"And no more." The dragon huntress nodded.

She looked out at Ethan, who was listening to Serif -- the Serif -- instruct him on the proper method of throwing a javelin.

"So I'm just guessing, but you didn't have many friends growing up, did you?" Rachel asked after several moments.

"Why, did Ethan say something?" She asked, worried Ethan might've revealed what he'd learned when they had bonded.

"No, I just recognize the signs." The redhead replied kindly. "You're not the only one to grow up that way."

Kendra nodded.

Oddly, she felt less alone now. The teen mage seemed to understand what she was going through; how lonely she was. She didn't know why, but just having someone else understand really made a difference. She felt... well she didn't exactly feel better, but she almost did at the same time. It was like she was carrying a heavy load, and while Rachel understanding didn't make the load lighter, it made it easier to carry.

"Are you lonely now?" Kendra finally asked.

Rachel shook her head and smiled. "Not since I became friends with Alana, and especially since I married Ethan. I don't think I've felt lonely since then."

"Well, I don't want to marry him because, dragon; but I really did enjoy..." She trailed off, thinking about that evening meal that night she'd spent aboard the Argo, the talk afterwards, and especially sitting around the fireplace with everyone the following morning.

That had been wonderful.

Truly wonderful.

"You enjoyed..." Rachel gently prompted.

"Not feeling alone." Kendra gave her a small smile. "You really think he'd let me stay for a few days?"

"I can ask him for you if that'll help." The redhead offered.

"No, I should do it. I need a favor from him anyway."

"A favor?" Rachel looked intrigued.

"Yeah, I need to see if he's willing to kill me."

* * *

"I haven't seen this place in years." Sarah said as she rode into town on Lady Ekthros' carriage. "It all looks the same; almost nothing has changed." She smiled in amusement. "Except everything looks like it got a little smaller."

"Growing up will do that." Lady Ekthros replied, then stopped the carriage near a small group of men.

The men were hanging around the entrance to a pub, and were chatting good-naturedly. The pub was situated around the town square of Marsdale, which was the nearest town to the inn. It wasn't terribly large, but it was cozy and the people were nice, like most of the people in Ivernia.

"Well met good men." Lady Ekthros called to the fellows outside the pub. "Could you direct me to the nearest reputable tailor?"

"That would be Mesavil over yonder." One of the men pointed across the square. "He's getting up there in years, but he's good."

"Thank you good sir; you all have a round on me." The auburn haired woman replied, then flicked a silver coin at them.

"We will miss, and thank you kindly." The man said with a wide smile as he caught the coin, and they all tipped their hats politely at the women.

"That was a whole silver coin." Sarah said, hardly able to believe that the lady could afford to be that generous.

"It was." Lady Ekthros replied as she pulled the small carriage up to the tailor.

The lady stepped out of the carriage and Sarah followed her as she walked into the shop. The girl was rather glad that no one seemed to have recognized her yet. She hadn't gone into town in many years and had grown up a bit since the last time she was here. Plus no one from the town ever came to the inn. However, she hadn't changed that much, so she thought someone might recognize her eventually.

"Hello?" Lady Ekthros called as she entered the tailor's shop with Sarah in tow.

"Just a minute." An elderly voice called from the back of the store. About a minute later, old man Mesavil shuffled out to the front. "What can I do for you lovely ladies?"

Sarah smiled at him; she'd always liked old Mesavil the few times they'd met. He was a kind, elderly gentleman and he always had a grandfatherly air about him.

"I'd like a wedding dress for my friend here." Lady Ekthros said. "The finest you can make; spare no expense."

Sarah gaped at her.

She moved her mouth soundlessly for a moment before she found her voice. "That's too much."

"Nonsense my dear." The woman replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I have a stipend and nothing to spend it on; indulge me just this once."

"But... but how will I ever repay you?"

Lady Ekthros got an amused expression on her face. "My dear girl, haven't you heard of a 'gift'? Traditionally, one doesn't repay a gift, or even offer to repay it. That would be rude, and you wouldn't want to be rude, would you?"

She shook her head.

"Then Mr. Mesavil, get started if you please." The auburn-haired woman instructed.

He drew a cloth measuring tape from a pocket. "Arms out miss."

Sarah did so, not believing that this was happening to her.

Maybe Gabriella had been right.

She said that after the worst moment of Sarah's life that everything would change for her. The moments between when she'd attacked Ethan and he'd talked to her had been the worst of her life, so maybe it was going to get better now? She had met the prophet of Illuminar, though he hadn't been able to help with her problem. And now she'd met the wonderful Lady Ekthros.

She smiled.

* * *

"Wait, you want me to do what?" Ethan shook his head, sure he'd misunderstood.

"Kill me with lightning like you did in The Arena, then bring me back." Kendra replied, shifting her weight from one foot to another. "On the way to Arcanum, I remembered from your story that dying broke your bond with Beth, and thought it could do the same with me."

"That's brilliant." Rachel said from behind him.

"I agree, O wise redhead." He replied, wishing he'd thought of that before. He let out a sigh of relief; hopefully, all these damn cravings from his dragon side would be history soon. Beside him, Taloni looked highly amused and was suppressing laughter.

"What?" Ethan and Kendra asked at the same time, then glanced at each other at the same time.

The Fey girl giggled. "I'm so glad you two got married."

"We didn't get married; we bonded." Ethan said. "There's a big difference."

"Not according to Gabriella." Beth interjected.

"And not according to the elves, or the Fey." Taloni added. "You two are married if you ask an angel."

"Fortunately, I have everything we need for a divorce." Ethan said as he summoned his hammer.

"A divorce without contestation." Kendra nodded.

"So..." Taloni got a sly smile on her face. "...are you admitting that you're married because you can't get a divorce without being married?"

"No." He and Kendra said at the same time.

Everyone except the 'couple' burst out laughing.

He and Kendra shared a look, and she cracked the first real smile that he'd ever seen on her. It was a slightly embarrassed smile, but she seemed genuinely amused.

She had a nice smile.

He wasn't sure why it was such a nice smile. Objectively speaking, her smile wasn't really any different than his other wives, or really any woman. However, something about it seemed very significant and just... just nice. She had a 'girl next door' quality about her despite her former profession; or perhaps because of her former profession? Anyway, her smile was exactly that. It was the kind of 'embarrassed but amused and pleased' smile you could imagine a 'girl next door' getting. It was homey and so normal.

It looked good on her.

"What?" Kendra asked as his gaze lingered.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "You ready?"

"Give me a second, I'm psyching myself up for the whole mouth-to-mouth thing." She shuddered and appeared to dry heave once.

"I can do that if you don't want Ethan to." Selene volunteered, then added with a wink. "I don't blame you; dragon breath."

"Okay, ready to die?" He said in the cheesiest way he could.

Selene chuckled.

"It won't work." Taloni said, though she seemed to be thinking out loud.

"Why not?" Ethan asked. "It worked once before."

"Yes, but it won't this time." The Fey replied, then turned to Kendra. "When you two are all done trying and failing, I'd love to talk to you for a moment."

The delightful honey-blonde skipped up to Ethan, gave him a peck on the cheek, and then skipped towards the quarterdeck.

"What's got her so happy?" Ethan asked.

"Beats me." Kendra shrugged.

He turned to her. "Ready?"

"Go for it." She nodded and braced herself.

"It'll take a second to charge it." He said.

She nodded, then cocked her head to one side. "Speaking of, are you ever going to tell me how you got enough mana to enchant your claw to cut off Rachel's collar while we were captured?"

"When I bond to someone, they become like gold when they're around me." He replied, not sure why he was telling her this. "With Rachel, Taloni, and you all there, I got a lot of mana."

"You're kidding me." Her jaw dropped.

"Nope." He replied, then realized something. "I have no idea why I just told you that. I probably should've kept that to myself."

Kendra shrugged. "I'm certainly not going to tell anyone."

"I know." He replied almost automatically, before realizing that it was actually true. He trusted her not to share it with anyone. He wasn't sure when that had happened, but it had.

Strange.

His hammer hit full charge. "You ready?"

"Loose." She nodded.

He chuckled as he realized that 'loose' was the command to shoot a volley of arrows, and thus was roughly equivalent to 'shoot' on Earth.

He did.

CRACK!

"Shit!" Kendra said as the bolt hit her square in the chest. She clutched her hands over her chest. "God damn it! That fucking hurt!" She didn't seem to be swearing at him though, just swearing because it hurt.

"I told you!" Taloni called from the quarterdeck.

They ignored her.

"Again?" Kendra asked as she removed a hand from her chest, and he guessed she'd been healing what was probably a pretty bad singe. Her shirt now had two holes in it, the first being from the fight in the Arena. He guessed that her clothes were enchanted to be self-repairing and thus she only had the one set. However, apparently self-repairing didn't work when the cloth had been vaporized.

"Sure, but let me try something else." He said, and then started pulling the charge directly from Kendra, from the area around her heart. That worked much better for targeting lightning strikes accurately.

"Okay, here comes round two." He said as he raised his hammed, and she nodded.

CRACK!

"God damn it, fucking OW!" The dragon huntress clapped her hand to chest again, right over her heart where the bolt had struck true.

She still wasn't dead.

"Holy shit that stings." The raven-haired woman said after a minute. There were now three small holes singed through her shirt.

"It's not working." He said confused. "It should be working."

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Selene frowned as she stepped closer to Kendra. "Where's the exit path?"

"There wouldn't be one with that strike." Ethan said. "However, that might be an idea. If we can get her to the ground it might be easier to ensure proper grounding."

"I'm game." Kendra said.

Selene shook her head with a smile. "I've never helped commit a temporary murder before."

"Me either." He said wryly, then turned to the quarterdeck. "Taloni, put the Argo down; we need to get to the ground for this next attempt."

"Yes master, but it still won't work." The Fey called back as the Argo began a slow descent.

"How do you know?" Kendra called.

"I just do."

Ethan and Kendra looked at each other and shrugged.

She couldn't possibly be right...

...could she?

* * *

"That's all the measurements I need."

"Thank you so much." Sarah replied as Mr. Mesavil finished.

"Now, you just need to pick the style." He said as he pulled out a large book full of drawings of different dresses and styles.

There were so many options that Sarah didn't know how to choose between them. He had drawings of so many designs and a few examples in the shop, but the options were overwhelming. After looking for only a few minutes, her head was spinning.

"I don't know what to pick." She finally said to Lady Ekthros.

The older woman took a step back and looked her up and down slowly. "There's something you learn when you have a lot of coin to spend; less is more. A simple, elegant dress that fits perfectly will look better than one bedecked with jewels. It's better not to gild the lily."

"Gild the lily?" Sarah asked. "I'm not sure I've heard that expression before."

"It's from my..." She paused. "It's a saying from my homeworld. It means to pile extravagance on something which is already beautiful, and needs no improvement. In fact, 'gilding the lily' often means the thing suffers from the 'improvement' rather than looking better."

Sarah swallowed. "You... you think I'm..." She couldn't bring herself to say 'beautiful' out loud.

"Of course dear." Lady Ekthros said kindly. "You just need something to showcase the beauty that's already there."

The older woman flipped through the book of drawings while the innkeeper's daughter tried to stop from crying happy tears. Someone thought she was beautiful? No one had told her that since her problem had manifested, and she couldn't believe how nice it was to hear again.

"How about this one?" The auburn-haired woman asked.

Sarah looked at the picture and smiled. "That's really pretty."

"It is, and I think it would work wonderfully with your neckline." Lady Ekthros said. "Now, fabrics."

Looking at all the fabrics that Mr. Mesavil had was thoroughly enjoyable. There were so many options that she felt completely out of her depth. Fortunately, Lady Ekthros was there and so incredibly helpful.

"Yes, this will do nicely." She said holding up some silk.

"But, I'll feel like I'm naked if I wear that." Sarah protested. The sample in her hand conformed to every curve of her fingers, and on her body would've made everything show.

"We can add some lining to prevent that, but trust me; there's nothing like the feel of silk on your skin." Lady Ekthros said.

Mr. Mesavil brought out a sample of silk with some lining that gave it a bit of shape and would prevent everything from showing.

"It does feel really nice." Sarah admitted once she'd confirmed that it wouldn't show everything.

"Then we'll go with that." Lady Ekthros announced, then turn to the tailor. "How much."

He told her, and Sarah's jaw dropped at the sum.

"I'll pay up front now." The auburn haired woman said, fishing out a coin purse.

"Thank you milady." Mr. Mesavil said with a slight bow.

"But that's too much!" Sarah exclaimed. She'd never even heard of someone paying so much for a dress, even a wedding dress.

"Nonsense, a girl only gets married once." Lady Ekthros said dismissively.

"But for the cost of this dress, the inn could--" She stopped as Mr. Mesavil's eyes bugged out, and she could tell that he suddenly recognized her. The mention of the inn had probably jogged his memory.

"You're Festus' girl." Mr. Mesavil said as he slowly backed away.

"I am." She nodded and her shoulders slumped.

"I'm afraid I can't make this dress milady." The elderly tailor said fearfully. He handed her the slip of parchment with the measurements. "You'll have to go somewhere else, and I must ask you to leave."

Lady Ekthros gave him an icy glare, and the man wilted under it, averting his eyes and looking down.

"Sarah, we're leaving." She said, looking at the man with all the warmth of a mid-winter blizzard.

The two women left the tailor's shop, the younger one feeling terrible, though slightly grateful to Lady Ekthros for defending her. They went to the carriage and sat in it, and the auburn-haired woman seemed to be getting control of herself. She had clenched her hand into a fist more than once.

"Sarah, there will always be people who judge without knowing you." She finally said. "Fuck them; don't listen to a word they say, and concentrate on those who won't judge you."

Sarah nodded.

"Have you ever met anyone like that?" Lady Ekthros asked

"You." The girl said, the pain from the tailor still fresh, plus she didn't feel like she should say that she'd met Ethan.

"Anyone else?"

Sarah's mind immediately went to Ethan and his wives. They had been so nice to her despite seeing her problem on full display. She couldn't stop a tiny smile from creeping onto her face; Ethan had been nice to her because of her problem. He really was incredibly nice.

"Ah, I seem some young fellow has caught your eye." Lady Ekthros said with a sly smile. "Who is he?"

"He's..." She bit her lip. "He's not my betrothed." She finally admitted. "Therefore it doesn't matter; I belong to Rindrin now, and I shouldn't even think of him."

"You do not belong to anyone." The older woman said firmly. "You are your own person and can marry whoever you damn well please... and it sounds like this fellow 'pleases' you." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

Sarah blushed, feeling alarmed. "No! I've never... uh... been uh, 'pleased' before. He was just so... well he was so nice when he found out."

Lady Ekthros leaned in. "Judging by your expression, this was recent too. When did you meet him?"

"Um..." She hesitated, not wanting to reveal that Ethan had been at the inn, especially to one of Lord Delmar's advisors. "It was um..."

"Oh, very recent." The older woman had a bit of glee on her face, though why she couldn't tell. Maybe she was just happy for her?

"How recent though? Last week?" The older woman pressed

Sarah hesitated a moment.

"Oh, even more recent; you just met him. I'll bet it wasn't more than a day or two ago, was it?"

The girl hesitated, then nodded.

"What's his name?" Lady Ekthros asked with the air of a girl trying to pry some juicy gossip out one of her girlfriends.

"He's um... Uh..." Sarah wasn't sure she should say. I mean, Lady Ekthros did work for Lord Delmar and obviously was pretty sharp. If she gave his name, she would assuredly put two-and-two together.

"You don't want to tell me his name?" The older woman asked raising her eyebrow. "Why ever could that be? Surely you know that I wouldn't say anything to your father or Rindrin, right?"

She nodded.

"Then it must be..." The auburn-haired woman cocked her head to one side. "Hmm... if you know that I wouldn't tell your secret and yet you still don't want to tell me his name, then I must know him too. However, who would we both know..."

She paused for a moment, tapped her foot on the carriage floor, and then gave Sarah a piercing look. "Could it be... nah, it couldn't be." She shook her head, then paused. "Although, you've mentioned him several times so maybe..."

Sarah looked down guiltily.

"It is." Lady Ekthros said. "You met Ethan, the 'prophet of Illuminar'; didn't you?"

Sarah froze.

The older woman chuckled. "Don't even try to deny it; you're a terrible liar. When did you meet him?"

"Yesterday." Sarah admitted. "But he left, and I don't know where he went."

"Sarah, I just told you that you're a terrible liar. You do know where he went, but you certainly don't need to tell me. I would like to meet him, but you don't owe me anything."

Sarah wanted to disagree and say that she did owe the auburn-haired woman something, but didn't for some reason. She certainly wasn't going to tell her where the Argo was going.

"What was he like?" The older woman asked, and she sounded... concerned?

Hmm.

Strange.

"He was really nice." She finally replied. "I um, I kind of lost it while he was around and attacked him, but he forgave me. He said he didn't know how to get rid of my problem, but that he would try to figure it out."

"Ah. Hmm... Okay." She nodded, but again Sarah got the sense that something was off; like the older woman knew something that she wasn't sharing.

"Um, Lady Ekthros." Sarah started tentatively.

"Yes?"

"Um, you sound like... I mean, it seems like you know more than... um, more about Ethan that is... um, it seems like you know more about him than you are saying?"

The older woman's lips pursed slightly as she looked at the girl. "I probably shouldn't be gossiping, especially since it's technically privileged information anyway."

"Oh, okay." Sarah looked down as her heart drooped a bit. She understood, but would still like to know more.

"Just promise me this: if you meet him again, be careful." Lady Ekthros said with what looked like deep concern. "He's... well, just promise me you'll be careful around him, okay?"

"Okay." Sarah replied, and she got the distinct impression that Lady Ekthros knew a lot more than she was letting on. For some reason, the innkeeper's daughter got the distinct impression that the older woman had good reason to be concerned about Ethan, and that in turn concerned Sarah.

Her mind drifted back to what the lady had said earlier, quoting the Book of Light when it talked about servants of Saidow dressing as angels of light. That passage went on to say that they did this to mislead faithful followers of Illuminar. But that wasn't Ethan. It definitely wasn't. There was just no possible way that Ethan could be like that. He had been so kind and caring; so nice and understanding.

There was just no way that Ethan wasn't a servant of Illuminar.

No conceivable way in the world.

Not Ethan...

...right?

* * *

"Holy shit!" Kendra breathed as another lightning bolt slammed into her chest. She clapped her hand of her chest reflexively and started healing the wound.

"It's not working; why isn't it working?" Ethan growled to no one in particular.

"God damn it." The dragon huntress hissed as she finished healing the latest lightning strike from Ethan's hammer. She looked down at the slightly sad state of her blouse. He'd hit her a half dozen times by now, and while each strike only vaporized a small portion of her shirt, they added up. His accuracy was good, and thus she was showing a bit more of her chest through the holey shirt that she would ordinarily have liked.

"Okay; it's time to pull out the big guns." Ethan growled as he stalked towards the Argo.

Fifteen minutes later, he pointed his hammer at her again. "Ready?"

"Ready." Kendra said as she leaned back.

She was in a slightly precarious position, with her feet up on some dry wood, her hands balancing herself, and her back resting on the pommel of her sword. Ethan was about to rest his hammer against her chest right over her heart to ensure a good hit. Directly opposite the hammer was the pommel of her sword, whose point was firmly embedded in the ground. Ethan had wet the ground slightly, saying that would help. She didn't understand how, but Selene had also thought it was a good idea, so the raven-haired woman went with it.

"You ready Selene?" He asked the Brazilian woman, and Kendra was glad that she could do the 'mouth to mouth' thing instead of Ethan himself.

"Yup." She replied.

"Okay, here goes nothing." He said. He dipped the head of his hammer in a nearby bucket of water and then touched the dripping head to the skin directly over her heart, the holey shirt now making that possible.

CRACK.

"Fuck!" Kendra hissed as a sharp searing pain shot through her chest. She clutched her hand to her chest and started healing the wound as she jumped off the crazy setup.

"You don't look dead to me." Ethan said with a scowl.

"What the hell?" Selene exclaimed. "That should've worked."

"Unless the lightning stopping her heart in The Arena was a freak accident." Ethan pointed out. "I've shocked a lot of people since then and no one else's heart has stopped. I don't know how it all works, and I don't exactly trust TV to get it right."

Kendra glanced up at the Argo's quarterdeck where Taloni was.

Could the Fey have been right?

"Maybe it's a timing thing?" Ethan said after a moment. "I mean, maybe the shock has to hit at a certain part of the heartbeat cycle to stop it?"

"I have no idea." Selene replied.

"Me either, and I'm out of ideas too." He scowled, almost growled.

"You're saying that we're stuck being bonded." Kendra said.

"Yeah, seems like it. Shit." Ethan let out a low growl, though it wasn't directed at her. He grabbed the lumber on which she had been standing, turned, and walked towards the rope ladder leading back up to the Argo.

"None taken." Kendra said under her breath. She fully understood why he didn't want to be bonded to her, but he was being a bit more dragonish about it. She jerked her sword out of the ground, wiped it off, and then returned it to its scabbard.

"I wouldn't take it personally." Selene said. "I've noticed that he's doing the whole 'dragon thing' a bit more often lately."

"Yeah, I noticed that too."

Kendra frowned, then looked up as something caught her eye. Taloni had jumped off the Argo and was floating down to the ground, her beautiful wings a blur as they moved.

"Now Kendra, may I please point something out?" The Fey teen asked.

"Sure." She shrugged.

Taloni smiled mischievously. "You trust Ethan more than you realize."

"Oh?"

The Fey nodded. "You asked him to kill you and bring you back to break the bond. But I bet it never occurred to you that he wouldn't bring you back."

Kendra stared.

She cocked her head to one side.

Huh.

"You trust him so much that you never considered that he might not save you after killing you." Taloni continued. "Doesn't that say something?"

"She's got a point." Selene said. "And he let you sail off with a crap-ton of dragon scales without ever considering that you might not bring them back." Selene said, then added at the dragon huntress's confused look. "Taloni pointed that out just after you left the Argo. Apparently you two trust each other rather a lot."

Kendra inclined her head in concession, not able to disagree.

Wow.

Taloni and Selene were right. Absolutely and totally right. It had literally never even occurred to the dragon huntress that Ethan might not bring her back from the dead. At no point did it enter into her planning or consideration. Ever. It was strange; she'd fought for years with many squad mates and yet never trusted them as much as she trusted Ethan.

Well, one. But he had always been like a brother to her and he was no longer among the living. She reached up and touched her dragon tooth necklace through her shirt. The largest tooth on that necklace belonged to the dragon who'd killed him. As she felt the shirt, she felt the holes that had accumulated with repeated lightning strikes. The shirt's self-repairing enchantment wasn't healing them either, probably because the fabric had been vaporized.

"I'm going to need a new shirt." She said aloud.

"And the award for the most random comment goes to..." Selene chuckled.

"You do trust master, don't you?" Taloni said.

Kendra hesitated a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I guess I do."

"Good." The Fey replied brightly. "Then we should go see Alana about making you a dress. I just need to make sure: what's your favorite color?"

"Amethyst." She replied, though the rest of what she'd said made no sense. "But a dress? Why a dress? They're a lot harder to move and fight in."

"Because all of Ethan's wives have a dress with a different color." Taloni said like it was obvious. "We wouldn't want you to be left out."

Beside her, Selene was trying very hard to conceal what looked like a massive smile of amusement. Her hand covered her mouth and she was shaking slightly in suppressed laughter.

Kendra shot her a look. "Careful; just about every unmarried woman in Ethan's orbit seems to end up marrying him eventually. If you're not careful, you'll be next."

Taloni giggled.

Selene shook her head as she laughed. "Sorry, not a chance in hell I'd marry a guy who sleeps with other women. Not happening."

Kendra shrugged, but couldn't help noticing the look of amusement on Taloni's face. "What?"

"Speaking as the only married woman here, it's not so bad that he has other wives." She with a confident but slightly embarrassed smile, then went slightly red as she added. "And sleeping with other women isn't so bad either."

"Yeah, I couldn't do it." The Brazilian woman said, then clarified. "Either of those things."

The Fey teen had a sly grin on her face. "You probably could; you might even..." She cleared her throat. "...enjoy 'it' with his other wives." She blushed scarlet.

"I don't swing both ways." Selene said firmly.

"Oh well, your loss." Taloni said, then turned to Kendra. "Come on, I want to see Alana about a dress for you."

Kendra hesitated, then an idea occurred to her. This might actually work in her favor, if she was willing to tolerate wearing a dress. "I'd have to stay on the Argo for a few days while she made it."

"Of course silly; that's half the point!" Taloni beamed.

"And I'd have to ask Ethan if that's okay." Kendra said.

Taloni waved her hand dismissively and then her eyes went a bit unfocused for a moment. It was an expression that Kendra was quite familiar with since being imprisoned with Ethan and his wives; Taloni was talking to him, or maybe all of them. It briefly occurred to Kendra that she could ease her mental barrier a bit and hear the conversation, but she resisted. It was awfully tempting though.

Hmm.

A few moments later, the Fey teen looked at the dragon huntress. "He says it's fine, and Alana would be happy to make a dress for you, and says she'll grab the measurements as soon as we return to the Argo."

"Thank you." Kendra replied feeling relieved. She knew that Ethan had granted her an invitation to visit, but she had been a bit worried that he might not let her stay anyway.

She glanced at Selene. "Well, I suppose we're going to be roommates. Well, for a few days anyway."

* * *

Sarah finished stirring the dinner pot in the inn's kitchen, still not able to get over what Lady Ekthros had said -- or rather not said -- about Ethan out of her head. The older woman hadn't really given anything away, nor even said anything bad about Ethan, but Sarah couldn't shake the impression that the lady knew something about Ethan; something that wasn't good. But as she thought back to her meeting with him, she couldn't imagine what it could be.

She didn't know what to think.

Ethan, Selene, and Lady Ekthros -- not to mention Ethan's wives -- were among the nicest people she'd ever met. She had a hard time believing that any of them could be less than wonderful people.

She resolved to put it out of her mind and focus on dinner. There were several people at the inn, which was a welcome relief since she knew the inn must be low on coin. She had never seen the books, and couldn't read even if she had, but she could tell by her father's stress levels.

Out of the kitchen window, she saw several horses riding into the outpost, which was unusual at this hour. It was past dark.

Hmm.

They were riding in fast, though she couldn't quite tell how many there were or what they were wearing. Judging by the sounds, they rode around to the front of the inn and stopped. She walked out to the front room, rather excited to have several more visitors. Her father would be so pleased.

Then the door opened.

A half dozen soldiers piled in with swords drawn, all wearing surcoats with Lord Farbrottan's sigil. That's when Sarah remembered. The instructions that Lord Farbrottan had left for his men said they had to report in every week. It had been eight days, and these soldiers were surely coming to see why they hadn't reported in.

"Freeze." One of them shouted, pointing his sword at her.

Oddly, she didn't feel very afraid. She knew that they couldn't hurt her. Her father had just gone to Rindrin's to get something since they rarely got new visitors this late. He would know better than to re-enter the inn with soldiers there. They probably wouldn't hurt the guests since they hadn't last time, and there was no one else in danger. She had known this was coming, and while she wished it didn't need to be this way, it was happening in the best way possible.

At least no one else would get hurt.

"Excuse me!" Lady Ekthros stood up to her full height and looked down on them regally. "I am Lady Ekthros, advisor to Lord Delmar. I demand to know the meaning of this."

"Keep your fuckin' mouth shut bitch." The lead soldier said. "I don't give a flyin' fuck who you are. Get out of the way; we're here for the girl." He pointed his drawn sword at Sarah.

The innkeeper's daughter put her hands up and let her head droop.

"Under the conditions of the alliance between our two lands, I demand that you surrender the girl into my custody." The auburn-haired woman continued.

"You're trying to protect her huh?" The lead soldier sneered. "Fine, then you're coming too."

He started forward with his sword raised, and Sarah saw actual fear on Lady Ekthros' face for the first time. The older woman swallowed hard and raised her hands as well. The soldier started forward with two sets of manacles, roughly forced the lady's arms together and shackled her, then started towards Sarah.

"You ain't gonna give me no trouble are you?" He said, emphasizing his sword point.

She shook her head.

A minute later, the two women had been forced to mount horses, their manacles attached to a ring in the saddlehorn so they couldn't jump off.

"I'm sorry." Sarah said to Lady Ekthros.

The older woman opened her mouth to reply, when--

Wham!

Someone backhanded Sarah from out of the blue.

"No talking!" He barked, and then then they started off.

The innkeeper's daughter took a last look behind at the inn which had been her home for her entire life. She had no idea what was coming, and was sorry that Lady Ekthros had gotten dragged into it. However, she did feel better knowing that the strong woman would be with her. She said a silent prayer of thanks to Illuminar for bringing her into her life.

* * *

"All done."

Kendra smiled at Alana, who had just finished measuring her for a dress in the lower decks, after adding a patch to the inside of her shirt so she wasn't showing so much skin.

"Thank you; thank you very much." The raven haired woman said, and she meant it

"You're welcome." The wood elf said brightly. "Any special requests for your dress?"

"Um, I need to be able to fight in it, preferably at a moment's notice." She said, then cocked her head to one side and considered what people might say if they could see her left arm. "And could you make it long sleeved?"

"Hmm." She cocked her head to one side with a thoughtful frown. "That'll take some design work; I should bring Rachel in on this."

"I appreciate it." The dragon huntress said, and she meant it. She had literally never experienced this level of hospitality from anyone. Ever. Much less from people who she'd tried to kill. Well, she hadn't tried to kill Alana, but she had attacked her.

Which reminded her...

"Um, Alana." She said, not quite meeting the wood elf's eye.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry for attacking you, back outside Havorleth's lair."

"I forgive you." She said with a smile that was as comforting as it was genuinely kind. "You saved Taloni when you didn't have to, and I wasn't seriously or permanently hurt. No harm done. I'd actually forgotten about that."

"Again, thank you."

"Don't worry about it. Now come on, I think dinner will be ready soon."

They went up to the weather deck and joined the others around the dinner fire. They had started eating after dark since Anthiel hadn't even started dinner until Ethan and Kendra had returned from their attempt to break the bond.

Kendra noticed that Ethan seemed to be in a particularly foul and dragonish mood throughout dinner. His breaths occasionally came out as something between a growl and a snarl, though they weren't directed at anyone in particular. The dark cloud he cast seemed to affect everyone, and dinner wasn't the same cheery affair that it was the night she'd returned him and his wives to the Argo.

Despite that, it was still nice.

The Fey girl was sitting next to her and occasionally leaning affectionately on her arm. It was a simple gesture of kindness and companionship that Kendra had literally never felt before, but enjoyed immensely. She could even feel her eyes threatened to get slightly moist occasionally.

"I'm so glad you like it here." Taloni said, looking up at her with her lovely lilac eyes.

"How could you tell?" Kendra asked

Selene chuckled. "I'm not sure if you've realized it or not, but you let out a contented sigh every few minutes."

"I do?"

"Yes." Alana, Beth, and Taloni said at the same time.

"They're not wrong." Rachel added with an amused grin.

Even Ethan cracked a grin.

"Hmm." Kendra nodded, then took another bite of the biscuits and gravy that Anthiel had made. She couldn't believe that she'd let her guard down that much. Had she really become that careless with hiding her emotions?

"Kendra, you don't have to be so guarded here; you're among friends." Taloni said with a kind smile.

"Old habits." She shrugged.

"Old doesn't mean good." Rachel pointed out.

"They've kept me alive for a long time."

"But I'd wager they've also kept you alone." Ethan said, his dragon-ish mood seeming to abate slightly. "It doesn't matter how many people are around, if you can't share yourself with them, you'll always feel lonely."

"You're not wrong." Kendra admitted.

"That's why you need to stay on the Argo; you can trust everyone here." Taloni said confidently, then frowned. "Except for maybe Raklan."

The burly crewman grunted. He looked like he was going to say something, but Serif shook his head subtly and he went back to wolfing down his food.

Serif.

Kendra shook her head at the improbability of meeting him here of all places. She suppose it made sense that the owner of The Bank would seek him out for his skill. It made even more sense that Lord Borden would send him with Ethan to protect his daughter. It made sense, but she still couldn't believe she had met the Serif.

"How long were you planning to stay?" Alana asked. "After I finish your dress that is."

"Um..." She looked around, not sure how to respond. She wanted to say 'forever', or something like that. However, she wasn't sure how Ethan would react if she did, especially with how dragon-ish he was being this evening.

"Do I have the option to stay longer?" The dragon huntress finally replied. "I mean, originally I was only going to return the weapons and then leave, so..."

Everyone looked at Ethan.

"How long did you want to stay?" He asked, though she couldn't get a read on how he meant it.

She opened her mouth to reply, but Taloni spoke before she could get a word out. "Please be honest Kendra; I know you like to deflect, but you really don't need to." The Fey held her gaze for a moment, then repeated the question. "How long do you really want to stay on the Argo?"

"I... I don't know." She admitted.

"Oh?" Ethan set his plate down and turned his attention entirely on her. For some reason, his dragonish mood seemed to have dissipated slightly.

"Yeah." Kendra nodded, then looked down.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because..." She hesitated, not sure how much to reveal.

"You can be honest Kendra." Taloni reminded her.

"Because..." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "... because I don't feel lonely here. I don't remember the last time that I didn't feel alone." She hesitated. "Okay, that's not true; it was the last time I was on the Argo. I think the time before that was when I was a little girl."

All of Ethan's wives and Selene all got similar looks of sympathy. Taloni turned to give her a brief hug.

"Yeah." Ethan nodded his head very slowly as he seemed to consider. "Yeah, being lonely is no fun."

"No, no it's not." She said quietly.

No one said anything for several moments.

"Can..." She glanced at Ethan, took a deep breath, and then exhaled slowly. When she spoke, it was slightly haltingly, and she forced every word out, scared out of her mind that he would say no. "Can I stay a bit longer after Alana finishes the dress? Would that be okay?"

Ethan also took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

He scrutinized her for several seconds, his expression giving nothing away.

Kendra tried very hard not to wait with bated breath. She tried even harder not to shiver in both worry and fear about being rejected. It was rather incredible how much she felt like her happiness depended on what he said next. She absolutely hated that, but there was nothing for it. She couldn't remember the last time she felt so vulnerable.

Ethan looked at his wives, and they all looked at him. She knew they were talking telepathically, and guessed that Ethan had asked them all what they thought. She couldn't resist lowering her mental walls enough to hear what they were saying.

*--would love that master.*

*We know Tee.* Beth replied with amusement all over her tone. *I wouldn't mind Dominus. I don't know her well at all, but she saved Taloni and Anthiel, and she helped you guys escape. I don't think she'd hurt any of us, and she might benefit from being here. Maybe we could help her.*

*I had a short talk with her earlier and I also think she'd really benefit from being here.* Rachel added. *If she was going to harm you, she would've done it already. Plus, she is a dragon huntress; she might be able to help with Lord Delmar and the black dragon if she stays long enough. Even if she doesn't, I'm sure she could give us some advice. I would seriously consider it.*

*Alana, thoughts?* Ethan thought to everyone.

*I'd like to help her if we can.* The wood elf replied. *She has seemed really lonely in the past, but she seems better when she's here. However, right now my primary concern is you. Is having her around going to make your dragon side worse?*

*It shouldn't.* He replied. *Honestly, my dragon side is getting worse anyway, and I don't think it matters how far away she is.*

Kendra resisted reacting at this information, but barely.

*Master, there's an easy way to solve that...* Taloni replied both sweetly and mischievously.

*I'm pretty sure she'd never consider that an option.* He replied. *I'm not exactly thrilled at the prospect either, and there's no way in hell I'd ask.*

Kendra took another bite of her food, partially to hide her burgeoning curiosity. How could she be the solution to his dragon problem? She thought about it for a few moments before realizing it must have something to do with them being bonded. That would explain why Ethan seemed so excited to break their bond earlier in the day, and so disappointed when it hadn't worked. However, she still had no clue what the solution that they were thinking of entailed.

"Kendra." Ethan said after a moment. "I'm okay with you staying on the Argo for a while, and my other wives are too."

"Thank you." She let out a sigh of relief, and didn't even bother trying to conceal it.

She could stay.

She didn't know for how long, but she could stay. She felt the corners of her mouth curve upwards just slightly. She could look forward to this tomorrow night, and the night after, and the night after that. He was willing to let her stay even after everything that she'd done. She looked around as the general chatter around dinner picked up. Ethan's foul mood seemed to have abated and everyone was making up for lost conversation.

She didn't say anything.

She just watched and listened.

She could stay.

They were okay with her being there. They were accepting her, even after everything that she'd done to them.

They were still letting her stay.

She didn't know for how long, and she dreaded the thought of leaving, but she didn't want to think about that right now. Her heart felt like it might lift her off the decking it was so full.

She could stay.

"Are you okay?" Selene -- who was sitting on her other side -- whispered.

"I'm good." Kendra whispered back, and realized that it was true.

Right now, she was good.

Suddenly, her eyes got rather watery and the moisture was threatening to overflow and come down her cheeks. The dragon huntress pulled the leather string from her jet-black hair so it fell loose, letting her hair down on the Argo for the first time. Then tipped her head forward so her hair partially concealed her face.

She blinked, feeling her eyes get rather full and not wanting the moisture to start down her cheeks as she smiled.

She could stay.

She couldn't believe they were letting her stay. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that they would be so forgiving; so welcoming. She still didn't understand exactly why, but she was past caring at this point. She could get up and have breakfast with them, so she wouldn't have to eat alone. She could talk to them during the day, and so wouldn't pass the day alone. She could lay down to sleep with someone else in the room with her, so she wouldn't have to sleep alone.

She felt a line of moisture leak from the corner of her eye and trail down her cheek as she smiled.

She could stay.

* * *

Ethan thought it was profoundly strange that the dragon had chosen this exact moment to go completely dormant. He noticed Kendra's happy tears and he felt his dragon side turn away. He wondered if it had something to do with what Illuminar said about his dragon side knowing what his wives needed, or perhaps the dragon was just disgusted by the tears. Either way, he was glad. He suspected that the reprieve would be short lived, but it was exactly what he needed at that moment. He needed a clear head because he could see something that he almost couldn't believe.

Kendra was silently crying.

Smiling and crying.

She had positioned her hair so it was hard to see her face, but he was sitting across from her and it was unmistakable; she was literally crying in happiness. At least, he saw no other way to take a genuine smile combined with her tears which silently fell.

She had a nice smile.

He watched in confusion for a minute while he remembered the loneliness that he had felt from her when they had bonded. She had tried to kill him many times, but for some reason that had faded to the background. She had apologized and changed. Seeing how happy she was right now did his heart a world of good. As he thought about it, he could think of one thing that might help her even more.

Surprisingly, he didn't feel any inclination to hesitate before offering it.

"Kendra." Ethan said gently.

"Yes?" She replied, not looking up.

"If staying on the Argo means that much to you, then you can stay as long as you like."

Kendra look up at him, her brown eyes full of confusion and hope. "Really?" Her voice cracked slightly and there was no missing the longing in her tone.

"Yeah." He nodded. "You can make the Argo your home if you like."

"Home?" She whispered back, voice still slightly cracked.

Everyone else had fallen silent except for Raklan; he was eating loudly until Serif nudged him and then he too fell silent. The light from coals still in the firepan and the lanterns nearby cast a soft glow on the deck and everyone around the fire. It was a warm, cozy glow that only firelight in the darkness could really achieve.

"Yeah, if you'd like." Ethan replied

"Home." Kendra said the word almost experimentally, like she was trying to decide how it felt on her tongue.

"Really?" She asked quietly. "You... you don't mind?"

"Yes really; and no, I don't mind."

"I haven't had a home in..." She trailed off as she wiped her now quite wet cheeks and sniffled. "You're sure?"

"I mean, do you want me to reconsider?" Ethan with a wink.

"No." She replied instantly and shook her head slightly. "No, I..." She gave him a small smile that was absolutely genuine as she spoke, her tears distorting her voice somewhat as it cracked slightly again. "...I really don't."

"Okay, it's settled then." He smiled back. "You can stay as long as you want."

"Thank you." She said softly. "I don't think I can..." She swallowed. "I mean, I don't know how to tell what that means to me."

"That's okay; I think I can tell." He looked at her happy tears, even feeling himself getting slightly choked up at the honest, genuine emotion coming from the dragon huntress.

Taloni wrapped an arm around the dragon huntress and gave her a hug from the side.

"Home; I like the sound of that." The raven-haired woman looked around at all of them and smiled as she wiped her cheeks and sniffled again.

Her voice still hadn't completely returned to normal.

"It's not a bad one if I do say so myself." Ethan nodded. "Though, it's mostly the people who make it that way, and I've got some great people here." He looked around at his wives fondly, and then Anthiel, Serif and Selene.

Raklan, not so much.

"Agreed." Kendra replied, though she still seemed to be a bit stunned. Happy, but stunned. She looked at him confused for several moments, then opened her mouth, then closed it again. She stared for several seconds before it looked like something occurred to her.

*Ethan?* Kendra thought directly to him so the others couldn't hear.

*Yes?* He replied.

*Why are you doing this?* Even her mental voice seemed to crack just slightly. *Why are you being so nice to me? Do... do you want something from me? Or do you have some angle that I'm not seeing?*

*Um...* He hesitated, then decided on sharing as much of the truth as he was comfortable with. *Rachel pointed out that you could be really helpful advising us how to fight Lord Delmar and the black dragon. Given how my encounter with Kyrupto went, I'll need help to keep my wives safe and could use the input. Otherwise...*

Hmm.

He tapped his finger on his scales, and it made a satisfying clicking sound. *Otherwise I'm not sure why I'm doing it. You look like you could really use some company; some friends. And since I don't think you'll try to kill me anymore, and you saved Taloni, I guess I feel like I should help.*

Kendra nodded slowly. *So, you're doing it because you feel like you owe me?*

*Kind of, but not really.* He shook his head. *You did something really nice for me by saving Taloni, even if you didn't intend to do it for my benefit. I don't feel like I 'owe' you anything, but I want to thank you for that. Not because I have to, but because I want to.*

Kendra bit her lip. *And... and you're not planning to get something from me in return?*

It suddenly occurred to him that she was connected to their mental network, and could've heard his conversation with his wives earlier. He thought about it for a moment and then decided to call her on it.

*You listened to my conversation with my wives, didn't you?*

She looked guilty and nodded her head fractionally.

*It's nothing to be concerned about.* He said. *I won't lie and say there's no way you can help, but you shouldn't concern yourself with it.*

*If I can help, I'd like to.* The dragon huntress replied.

He couldn't help but think how much things had changed with her. She'd gone from trying like hell to kill him to now genuinely wanting to help him. However, he was entirely sure that asking her to have sex with him on a regular basis was a bridge too far. Actually, it was many bridges too far. Maybe a whole continent of bridges too far.

*I'll keep that in mind and I appreciate the offer, but not with this.* He replied.

She nodded.

With the lull in conversation, he noticed that everyone who was sitting around the fire -- except for Raklan -- was looking at either Ethan or Kendra.

"What?" He and Kendra said at the same time, her apparently having noticed the same thing.

"You were talking to each other telepathically." Taloni said with obvious and unconcealed joy.

It took Ethan a moment to realize that was actually a very big thing for Kendra. She'd been adamant about keeping him out of her head, and then she'd initiated a telepathic conversation.

He smiled.

"Arranged marriages are funny things." Anthiel said with an amused grin. "They result in genuine love more often than you might think, especially if the bride and groom are both good people..." She looked significantly at the two of them. "...and they are."

"We're not married." Kendra said firmly.

"Not yet." The high elf said with a knowing smile, and then took a sip of her drink.

* * *

Kendra felt like her heart was so full it was going to burst. For some reason, the thought that Ethan actually did want something from her, but was refusing to ask for it seemed better than him wanting nothing from her at all. She didn't know why, but that thought put her mind at ease quite a bit. And with her mind at ease, her heart was soaring. She found herself looking forward to breakfast.

Not because of the food, but because of the people.

Alana -- who was sitting between Ethan and Rachel -- leaned against her husband and let out a contented sigh.

Kendra found her brain imagining herself in that position with Ethan and then she felt her dinner threaten to come up. She choked it back, determined not to show any discomfort or nausea on her countenance. They were being so nice to her, and she didn't want to make them uncomfortable for just being in love. She figured that eventually she wouldn't want to hurl every time she saw him being affectionate with his wives.

At least, she hoped so.

"Oh!" Taloni exclaimed, then looked at Ethan.

Ethan raised his eyebrow, made a sort of 'rocking' motion with his head that people sometimes did when they were considering something, then nodded. Then starting with Alana, he looked at each of his wives in turn. After several seconds, each one got a smile on her face that was somewhere between amused and contented. Was he talking to them individually so she couldn't hear?

"What was that?" Kendra asked.

"You'll see after dinner." Taloni said sweetly.

The raven haired woman nodded; she trusted the Fey teen. They finished eating not long after, and everyone stood up.

Kendra stood up last of all. "Well, I guess I'm heading to bed then. Can I use one of the hammocks below decks like last time?"

"Absolutely." Ethan replied, then nodded to Alana.

"Hang on." The wood elf said, and she walked over to the dragon huntress and offered a hug. Unsure what else to do, Kendra accepted it.

It was a good hug.

"Welcome to the Argo Kendra." The wood elf said with a genuine smile. "I'm glad you're here."

"Thank you." Kendra said, and she had a grin on her face when the hug broke.

Beth stepped up afterwards and did the same as Alana. "Welcome to the Argo Kendra." The blonde said as she gave her a nice tight hug. "I can't wait to hear more about your tales of dragon hunting."

"Thanks, I'd be happy to share." She replied, feeling her grin grow wider.

Taloni was next in line, giving the dragon huntress an incredible hug. "I'm so glad you're finally here on the Argo with us Kendra." She said with sunshine in her voice.

Rachel stepped up after that hug broke, and she had a slightly sheepish grin on her face. "I feel better knowing there's more people on this ship who can handle a sword; I'm glad you're here too." She then pulled the slightly shorter woman into a hug. Rachel clearly wasn't as practiced with hugs as the other girls, but it was wonderful anyway.

Kendra didn't resist as her smile grew even wider. She felt her voice start to crack as the happy tears returned. "I'm glad too."

After Rachel, Anthiel and then Selene both gave her a hug and welcomed her to the Argo. Serif offered a handshake and a nod of respect, which completely floored her. Raklan appeared to be about to move in for a hug -- which probably would've included some groping and Kendra most certainly would not have accepted it -- when Serif absent-mindedly slapped him upside the head. He mumbled a word of welcome instead and then went below decks.

Finally, Ethan stepped up.

He didn't offer a hug, nor even a handshake like Serif had, and she was grateful for that. Physical contact with him still made her nauseous, and he probably knew that. However, what he said brought happy tears to her eyes that didn't abate for quite some time.

He looked at her with a smile, and spoke to her kindly; almost fondly. "Kendra, welcome home."

TO BE CONTINUED...

I first introduced Kendra in chapter 10. It took 24 more chapters to get her here, and I hope the emotional payoff was worth it. Not that her character arc is finished -- not by a long shot -- but I definitely enjoyed writing this turning point for her.

I'd like to extend a very special thanks to two of my supporters, one of whom didn't want to be credited by name. So "Anonymous" and Joseph: thank you so much for your support. I really appreciate it.

STORY TAGS: dragon, magic, medieval, elf, teen, romance, virgin, harem, cuckquean