Writing in the style of light novel/anime is probably one of the geekiest things you can do (behind the keyboard) and one of the most enjoyable. As usual I fell in love with my characters and couldn't let it go. If you missed the first episode, A New Green Man Appears, Stefan Hanover is hunting in the mountains and finds a gate that leads him to a different world where magic and elves and other anime type characters exist. He finds himself in a land embroiled in a bloody civil war with one way home, and he has no desire to take it.

We find our characters still on the beach at the Blue Sea because that's their favorite place, and Stefan realizes that it's time to meet his future father-in-law who he fears may not like humans. As always, except for the characters that I invented, I don't own these characters, I'm just borrowing them and their world from author Takumi Yanai, A-1 Pictures studios, and Sentai Filmworks LLC. who created the source material "Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri"

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

It was a beautiful night on the Blue Sea, the three moons, Trinidad, Antonio, and Concepción, seemed to grow in size as they slowly spun, locked in their strange orbit around themselves. Two lovers splashed in the warm saltwater sea, Lelu, an emotionally shattered elf who was still suffering from her years of imprisonment and torture, and Stefan, a human male who arrived on this world through strange circumstances and was suffering from a strange ailment that left him weak and worn out.

It's been less than two weeks since Lelu and Stefan found themselves entranced by a reaction caused by their own pheromones mingling when suddenly Lelu's elven mind melded with Stefan's mind and they became inexorably bound together mentally, emotionally, and to some point physically. They were separated by their governments and Stefan was being sent back to his own world and the separation almost killed them. Lelu being an elf was so much stronger than Stefan, she also had two very powerful arch-mages who used their healing magic to keep her alive and heal the scars from her incarceration Stefan did not have that care and nearly died.

Now healing, they finally consummated their marriage on a warm evening beach then waded out from shore to rinse off. It took Stefan ages to walk from the shore of the Blue Sea to the base of a large tree that Lelu coaxed him to walk to. He was still as weak as a newborn kitten after their brush with death. "Are you ok?" asked Lelu as they paused, and Stefan leaned against the tree. Although slim and curvy with toothpick arms, Lelu was incredibly strong, and she half carried Stefan to the edge of the forest from the beach where they had made love and played in the surf.

"I'm ok-ish," said Stefan panting.

"I can carry you," she frowned. Being an elf, she has four times the strength of a human being, but she realized that Stefan needed to maintain his pride.

"You can carry me to my funeral," he said silently, his lungs starting to suck in enough oxygen now. He was exhausted from the walk from the sea, his cock was still tingling from the mind warping sex with Lelu not long ago. After making love for the first time, they relaxed in the surf before heading to the forest where Lelu's father waited for them in a cabin. She dropped his backpack and hugged him against the tree. They kissed passionately as a hot freshwater shower started and rinsed the salt and the beach sand from them. When their lips parted, Stefan stepped out of the shower and sighed "Wow! That was unexpected."

"What, the kiss? I love to kiss you," smiled Lelu knowing that he meant the shower. Lelu dug a towel out of his backpack and handed it to Stefan. "Mom and dad built this cabin after they got married, it's really amazing and they worked on it constantly until..."

She closed that part of her mind and Stefan chose not to pressure her about it. Instead, he looked around and saw nothing but trees. "Cabin? I don't see any cabin."

"You're in the cabin silly. This is the basement." She grabbed a vine on the trunk of the tree and pulled. Suddenly the hot shower became a cold shower. "Ooops, sorry, wrong one." She pulled another vine and silently a set of stairs lowered from above. "Can you make it?" she asked, seriously concerned about Stefan's condition.

"Maybe," he said as he looked at the stairs. The stairs were made of incredible craftsmanship, the woodwork was perfect, not a single nail or screw was used, it was all perfect joinery that held this masterpiece of woodwork together. "This is amazing. I know woodwork and this is... simply amazing!" he gushed.

"It's just stairs," she shrugged. "Come on and take it easy." She led him up the stairs that never once creaked or groaned as they slowly climbed. They paused twice for Stefan to catch his breath, but they finally made it to the top of the stairs. When they got there, Lelu tugged a vine and the stairs rose with hydraulic silence, and as it rose the stair steps, the risers, rotated flat and the raised staircase became part of the wooden walkway that they were standing on, twenty feet up in the forest top.

The guard rails of the walkway were low walls made of woven twigs; an ancient craft known as wattle. Here the wattle walls were still alive, leaves grew from the woven twigs creating beautiful living camouflage. The leaves hid all evidence of a cabin and tree top walkway which was why Stefan couldn't see the cabin. The walkway went from tree to tree until they came to an actual building that was built twenty feet above the ground, supported by four sturdy trees that grew close to each other. The cabin had windows on all four walls and gentle amber light flowed from the windows. "Daddy's home!" Lelu said with an odd tinge of sorrow as they crossed the bridge from the walkway to the cabin. She eased an exhausted Stefan onto a bench in front of the cabin. "You wait here, I'll be right out."

As he waited for Lelu he felt the gentle swaying of the trees around him, the leaves illuminated by the three moons lulled him into a pleasant state of near sleep. He laughed, he had heard that the Japanese argued for weeks over whether the Special Region was earth or not and all they had to do was look up, the three moons would have settled the argument. He could tell Lelu was distressed, occasionally he could hear her and her father arguing, and through his bond with Lelu he could feel her sorrow. Something was seriously wrong, she was trying to tell her father something, but he wasn't paying attention.

Finally, she stepped outside, and Stefan struggled to his feet. "We need to go," she said aloud. Something is definitely wrong; Stefan and Lelu never speak aloud unless they actually want someone else to hear what they're saying.

"Why? I want to meet your father."

"He's not up for company," she said sadly.

From inside the cabin Stefan could hear her father call out, "I'm fine, I really am Laylah. Who is out there with you?"

Lelu closed her eyes and took a deep breath then let it out. "Laylah is my sister. He's been so lost since mom and I were captured. I've been trying for a week to convince him that I'm Lelu." She looked like she was going to cry, and Stefan couldn't blame her. Her dad lost his wife and daughter decades ago to the empire. In a raid on their village the empire captured Lelu and her mother, while Lelu's father and sister escaped. Lelu and her mother suffered a similar fate as each other; however, Lelu was held in the dungeons of the imperial palace and was released by Itami, her mother was held elsewhere, and Lelu had no idea where her mother was or how she was being treated.

Like Stefan and Lelu, Lelu's parents are bound to each other, and her dad must suffer through each of the assaults that Lelu's mom suffers. Only his connection with her and his loving and encouragement keeps her alive and sane. "He doesn't believe it's me, he saw me after I was released..." and now she did start to cry. She was tortured, raped, and physically mangled, when she was held by those animals she was horribly abused. It took a week of non-stop healing magic from two of the most powerful arch-mages in the empire to repair most of the physical damage done to Lelu and they're still not done repairing the damage.

Stefan leaned forward until their foreheads met and he put his hands on her temple, and she placed her hands on his temple and together they calmed each other. A week ago, she was fractured, hideously misshapen, horribly fragile, but inside Stefan saw her as the most beautiful woman he's ever met. Now her external beauty has been restored, but inside she's still a fractured, abused girl and he's here for her. "Ok," she said in a tiny voice, "come meet daddy."

Stefan saw her father through Lelu's eyes, a tall, strong elf. He was powerful, an elf that could move the world to a different orbit if his twin girls were too hot or too cold, at least in Lelu's eyes. But the elf Stefan met was a slim, one would say skinny elf who looked to be just a few years older than Lelu. If he were human Stefan would guess his age at twenty-four, but he's approximately three hundred seventy-five years old. "Daddy, this is Stefan, Stefan this is my daddy Dayv Jowns.

"Dave Jones?" Stefan asked Lelu silently.

"Yes, Dayv Jowns." She answered, "It's an honorable name. He was named after an ancient king. He's a big history nut like you."

Dayv smiled and held his hand out, fingers up, palm facing Stefan. An elven handshake is like a gentle high five, palms are pressed together, it's more intimate but less "manly" as Stefan would describe it. He smiled at Stefan and with all good humor said, "What intentions do you have for my daughter Layla?"

Stefan frowned internally, Dayv really thinks that this was Layla, not Lelu. Stefan sighed, but Dayv was a history nut, being a history nut himself he knows how to deal with that. He patted Dayv's hand properly, then before Dayv could sit Stefan bowed low and said, "Veru nalmë, Stefan-mahtar nányë, essë Lelu-nya mir nalmë." He spoke in Quenya, the ancient, magical language of the High Elves. It's said that you cannot lie when speaking in Quenya and he was counting on Dayv's belief in that. What Stefan said was 'We are married, I am Stefan the warrior, my wife is your daughter Lelu, we are bound.'

Dayv stared at Stefan, first his eyes showed humor, then as what Stefan said sunk in Dayv looked shocked, and then he grew sorrowful and fell back into his chair. He looked lost and confused, his blond hair was tangled and matted, his eyes dull and lifeless. And then the scales fell from his eyes, the tall handsome elf holding his daughter's hand was actually... Seething anger boiled up in Dayv, a human in his house? "You humans," he hissed. Stefan knew what was coming. "You humans," Dayv growled. His eyes showed some life finally. "YOU HUMANS!" he shouted. "You take and you pillage, and you burn, and you crush!" He was shouting, spittle flying from his mouth.

All Stefan could do was lower his head and nod. Lelu was in shock, "Daddy, no! He's not like that, he's not from here!"

"They're all the same!" he shouted and jumped up. "Can't you see? He won't even defend himself!"

"How can he with you shouting at him?"

Dayv wheeled on Stefan and growled, "What do you have to say for yourself hu-MAN?"

"Daddy stop!" cried Lelu.

"I just want to know what makes him so damn special."

"Daddy, we are bonded!" screamed Lelu.

Silence reigned for a long, heavy moment, then Dayv snarled at Stefan, "Get out of my house." Without a word Stefan turned and left with Dayv shouting, "GO! GET OUT OF HERE!"

It took Stefan a while to find the right vine to pull to lower the stairs, but he found it just as Lelu came up to him, "I'm sorry," she wept, "It's just that he's been so..."

"Your dad needs you," he said as they hugged. "I won't be far." They stood for a long time, foreheads touching, love and support flowing between them, the reassuring scent of their pheromones bonding and calming them. Then wordlessly Lelu headed back to her father and slowly, painfully Stefan made his way down the stairs, and he followed the sound of the surf to the beach.

About an hour later Stefan was sitting at the edge of the freshwater pool near the beach, he was sitting with his feet in the water and was holding a long stick wishing it was a fishing rod. Dayv stepped up and sat down next to Stefan. "Lelu told me that I could find you here." He took a long deep breath. "I want to apologize," Dayv started.

"Don't. I know what humans did to your people, I can't fix that, but I can try. And I can't imagine what you're going through," Stefan said without looking up. He didn't want to mention Lelu and her mother's captivity. "And then to top it off, your youngest daughter shows up with a grouchy old cuss from a different world, a different species and says that she's bonded to him. It really sucks to be you."

"Life hasn't been easy. I suppose if you had seen Lelu before the mages healed her..."

"I did," said Stefan. "We were bonded over a week before she was healed." Stefan thought about it and laughed, "I smelled her before I saw her, I crawled under a tree that she was in watching for Prince Zorzal's troop movements. I didn't see her, and she jumped down to kill me."

"Why didn't she?" asked Dayv.

"Believe it or not, we smelled each other. A mage told me that our bodies knew that we belonged together and sent out certain odors..."

"The Tak Marhon," said Dayv, "she didn't mention that. Her mother and I hadn't been blessed with the Tak Marhon for weeks after our bonding started."

"I didn't know it had a name," said Stefan. "I saw her for what she was, but what she was on the inside was so much more important to me. I think she's still mad at me a little bit," Stefan laughed. "When I finally awoke, I didn't notice that they restored her body, seeing her heart is much more important to me."

"You see her... heart?" asked Dayv. When Stefan nodded wordlessly Dayv gasped, "The Khid Marhon! It took her mother and I many months to achieve the viewing of the heart. I believe you can talk without speaking. Share feelings and thoughts?" When Stefan nodded, Dayv said "The Dzig Marhon, ours started with a kiss."

"So did ours, quite accidentally. I had killed several soldiers and was feeling very bad," sighed Stefan remembering that hot afternoon. "She leaned in to kiss my tears away and our lips touched." Stefan paused, basking in the memory.

"And...?" Dayv prompted.

"There was this click, or maybe a snap, but people felt it 150 meters away."

Dayv smiled and nodded, "That's how it was for her mother and I... but why were you weeping for killing soldiers?"

Stefan stared at him like he was uneducated. "Soldiers are soldiers. I'm a soldier, I understand what those men were going through, most of them were following orders that they found distasteful, they were probably threatened with death or the death of their family if they didn't follow them. But they were holding slaves and their sergeant was going to kill one, a young elf boy..."

"Lelu told me nothing of this, you released slaves?"

Stefan nodded, "Prisoners actually, but they were probably heading to the slave pens... or wherever Zorzal sends them. Seventy-three humans, elves, warrior bunnies, foxes, cats... seventy-eight if you count the birdcage with five fairies that we found on one of the wagons. There was even a bird... person... whatever."

"Griffon maybe," suggested Dayv. "Did it have a face like a lyon?"

"Nah, didn't have the big cat's face. All I remember is that it was a girl, an annoying little teenager, and the knees bent backwards."

"That would be an Eagon then," Dayv said sagely. "You saved all of those people from a life of pain; I don't understand why you were weeping."

"I made a vow to never take a life again, and I ended thirty-six lives that night."

"Now I'm confused," said Dayv. "You said eleven but you're up to thirty-six?"

"Twenty-five of Zorzal's retreating army saw us headed to Nangda and tried to retake the prisoners and the gold they liberated from Nangda."

They were silent for a long time, then Dayv finally said "You speak Quenya well, but your accent is... interesting."

"Actually, I don't speak Quenya at all, Lelu is translating for me." Stefan tapped his temple. "I tell her what I want to say, then she tells me how to say it in Quenya. She makes me sound smarter than I truly am. She completes me."

"Her mother does the same for me." Dayv stared at the reflection of the moons dancing on the water. "I miss her so much; I don't know how much longer we'll last."

That's when Stefan realized that Dayv's link with Lelu's mother is what kept her alive for the past half century. "Tell her that we're coming for her." A cheer of joy from Lelu could be heard from deep in the forest.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Two travelers slowly materialized in the early evening gloom, they wore gray green cloaks and wore their hoods pulled over their heads, both wore backpacks, and each carried a large staff. The young JSPF Private on guard duty held up a hand and said, "Halt!"

One of the two travelers slowly waved a hand, "We are not the droids you are looking for," he said in Saderan and continued to advance on the gate to the Alnus SDF base.

The guard raised his rifle and cried, "Halt! I am authorized to use deadly force."

The traveler pulled back his hood revealing a face lined with years of care and hard work. "Relax private. Tell Lieutenant Itami that Gunny is here to see him."

The guard didn't move. "Lieutenant Itami isn't here."

The man who called himself Gunny gave that face that all sergeants make when confronted with a particularly stupid private that he's not allowed to hit. "Private, there was a doujinshi convention over the weekend, you and I both know that Lieutenant Itami is going nowhere for the next couple of days because he's got some reading to do. Now you get on that little radio of yours and tell Central Security Control that Gunny is here to collect a debt."

The private stared at the traveler dumbfounded. He was used to taking orders from literally scores of people, but never a Gaijin, a white foreigner. "I'm waiting private," snarled the traveler.

Without moving his eyes from the travelers, the private keyed his radio microphone on his collar and said in Japanese, "CSC, this is gate four, I have someone here who is looking for Itami. He says he is Gunny and has come to collect a debt."

His radio was silent for a long uncomfortable time, then cracked to life. "Someone is on the way," and continued to give instructions. When the radio went silent the surprised looking private lowered his weapon. "Someone is on their way; in the meantime, would you like some tea?"

The second traveler pushed back her hood revealing a spectacularly beautiful elf maiden with metallic silver hair. Her eyes were stunning, one was metallic gold and the other a glowing emerald green. "That would be lovely," she sighed.

Eventually a Humvee arrived and out of it stepped Lieutenant Colonel Osamu Higaki, Lieutenant Itami's commanding officer. The colonel found the guard had set up folding chairs and a table just outside of the gate and was serving the two travelers tea. The travelers looked very familiar to Higaki, quite an uproar was caused when they disappeared. Itami would have been court martialed if Higaki was not there to witness the disappearance himself. "Gunnery Sergeant Hanover! It is good to see you up and moving," said Higaki in surprisingly good English.

Stefan stood to shake his hand, "It's just Mister Hanover, or Stefan. I'm retired."

"Ah yes," then in a quiet tone of voice he asked, "How is Lelu?"

"I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking," said Lelu. Higaki had seen Lelu before she and Stefan were separated weeks ago, he never saw the results of Lelu's recovery.

"My goodness!" he gasped, "I'm sorry, I did not realize..."

"It is ok colonel, I know what I looked like, I lived with it every day for longer than you have been alive." She looked like she was going to be sick, "to torture me my guards used to hold up a mirror and make me look at what they did to me."

Stefan felt the waves of hate and anger and self-loathing radiating from Lelu and he turned to her. He wrapped his arms around her, her cheek resting on his shoulder, and he calmed her, allowing her emotional crisis to flow into him, allowing their pheromones to mingle and reassure them both. When she was calm, he turned back to Higaki who asked, "What is the nature of your visit today?"

"We're planning to release Lelu's mother from Zorzal's prison and need a few items, we also need Itami's elves to try to determine the location of a specific elf that we are looking for, and Crown Princess Pina wants us to present ourselves to her. Could you reach out to Ambassador Sugawara and find out when would be a good time for that?"

"Of course, I would be glad to do all of that... if you'll do me a favor," grinned the colonel, "I hear you Americans have a tradition in your military..."

The colonel gave them a ride to Itami's quarters and dropped them off telling them which tent was Itami's. It was hard not to chuckle as he and Lelu strolled through "tent city" eventually finding Itami's tent, it was the 3rd Recon Team's HQ office where arch mage Lelei Le Lelana was sitting at the unit admin's desk typing on her laptop, normally Sgt. Akira Tomita would sit there, but being a "down day", he was home with his wife and child. The tent was huge, normally twelve people could live comfortably in the tent, but this tent was divided into four rooms, the front office and storeroom took up most of the tent, Itami's living room and Itami's bedroom took up the remainder.

As Stefan and Lelu entered the front door, Lelei looked up and almost shouted with delight at seeing them but they both shushed her with a finger to their lips which she understood and whispered "Hi! You look so much better than the last time I saw you!"

"I was unconscious and nearly dead," Stefan reminded her.

Lelei nodded, "and you're doing so much better now." She examined Lelu's right hand, "I think I can do a little more healing while you're here, but it's still going to feel ugly."

Lelu tried to flex her shattered hand, "I've been ugly... I know ugly."

"No, you're not ugly," Lelei nodded in Stefan's direction, "He wouldn't be here if you were." They sat down at a desk and Lelei slowly and carefully began to heal the bones that she thought could be straightened. Hands are complex, a hand surgeon in Stefan's world probably couldn't straighten the savaged bones in Lelu's right hand, but he could get it to look ok-ish. Lelei can restore looks and functionality to her hand, but it was going to be a long and sometimes painful process. "So why are you here?" Lelei asked, probably to distract Lelu more than anything else.

"We need a mage, we're looking for Layla Barada Tu Tamuz."

"She's quite powerful now," said Lelei as she cast a healing spell on Lelu's hand, rearranging a misshapen bone. It was a difficult spell to cast because she didn't have a second mage with her to give Lelu "anesthesia," a pain killing spell at the same time, yet what she was doing seemed to be working quite well. She had to fix a little, kill the pain, fix a little more, kill the pain some more, and Lelu never showed any pain.

After several cycles of this Stefan had to call a stop to it, Lelu's pain was getting to him and making him nauseous. Lelei did one more small repair just to see what was going on, her quick anesthesia spell should have worked properly, Lelu didn't appear to be in pain, so she studied the couple and when Stefan's hand curled up in pain she cried out, "Are you taking her pain from her?"

"I'm her husband, that's my job," said Stefan as he winced in pain and flexed his aching hand.

"Oh no, honey!" cried Lelu as she turned and wrapped her arms around Stefan. "What if we both get hurt?"

"You are the one that knows the medicinal and edible plant life here," he said between kisses. "I don't know those things; I could get us killed so I'll take your pain while you find something to help us."

Just then, Lieutenant Yoji Itami emerged from his apartment to find out what the ruckus was all about. He had been reading doujinshi manga, as Stefan suspected, when the noise of visitors in the admin office began to disturb him. "Is there a reason you're disturbing my only day off this month, Gunny?" demanded Itami as he entered the admin office.

Stefan chuckled. "I come to collect a debt that you and your little club of military fanboys owe me."

"Club of military fanboys?" True, being a member of the JSDF was primarily a method of providing money to support his hobbies, but 1Lt. Itami does have a little pride.

"You don't have any marines," growled the retired Gunnery Sergeant. Actually, there are JSDF Marines, none of them were under Itami's supervision. "I have a list of a few things that I need." He handed a handwritten list of the materiel he wanted to Itami who looked at the list and whistled.

"This will definitely cost you," the lieutenant said as he scratched his head.

"You can't get them?"

"No, I can definitely get them, but ummm..." Itami truly could get them, he just didn't want to do it. This was his day off!

"Tell you what," grinned the old sergeant, "If you can get me these items, and a ride to Sadara, I'll get you that second bar LT."

"Second bar?" Itami asked.

"Oops, sorry, I meant third cherry blossom." In the USMC a first lieutenant wears a single silver bar, adding a second bar would make him a captain. In the JSDF however a first lieutenant wears a single bar and above it is what looks like two puffy stars but are cherry blossoms. A promotion to captain would get Itami a third cherry blossom. The cherry blossom is a fixture in Japanese culture and is meant to remind the soldiers of what they are fighting for.

"Do you think I'm going to fall for that Gunny-san?"

"Well, look at it this way Itami-sensi, I have a gazillion yen on the books which should cover what I want so all you're doing is filling out the paperwork for me, and for that you get another 30 or more dojo-nishi magnum a month... or whatever you call your comic books," said Stefan with a rakish grin.

"Doujinshi manga," corrected Itami as he stepped behind the admin's desk and signed in on the supply net. "Ok, Interarm Mark Ten bolt action .243 caliber left hand action, for the little lady I'm going to assume. Ten boxes of .243 ammo, full metal jacket, naturally. Ten boxes of .243 ammo ball, I'm guessing for target practice, Remington model 870 pump action shotgun, extended magazine, nice boom stick!" Itami said referencing the movie Army of Darkness. He continued, "ten boxes of double ought buck shot, three-inch magnum, nine pellets per round, that'll do the trick. Let's add ten boxes of steel bb shot, you may want to do some duck hunting. And an ATN X-Sight Pro Edition 5-20x70mm scope, hmmm your scope is worth more than your rifle... just saying." He banged on the keyboard and said, "It'll be here tomorrow. Pay up."

Stefan waved his walking stick over Itami's head several times chanting the incantation:

Cold hearted orb that rules the night

Remove the colors from our sight

Red is gray and yellow white

But we decide which is right

Then he gently tapped each shoulder. "By the power vested in me by the United States Marine Corps I hereby promote you one rank in the Japanese Self Defense Force." He brought his stick to order arms, then made a "magical" motion with his hand and said, "Poof! You're a captain."

As Lelei and Lelu applauded Stefan's amazing magical power, Itami shook his head and said "I knew it was all bullshit."

Just then Lieutenant Colonel Osamu Higaki knocked on the door. As he stepped in, Stefan snapped to attention and in his best booming USMC trained voice he let go with "ROOM! A teeeen HUT!" Lelu almost snapped to attention herself, even though she had no idea what "attention" truly is. Even Lelei started to jump out of her chair without really understanding what was going on. Colonel Higaki glared at Itami who was shuddering at the position of attention. Higaki held a fistful of rolled up papers in his hand that he pointed at Itami like a dagger. "Lieutenant, did you order two weapons and several boxes of ammunition for a civilian?" he demanded; a cigar clenched in his teeth. Itami had never seen Higaki so worked up before. He looked angry enough to start hitting people.

"Yes sir, I did," said Itami, no sense in lying about it. This might be his ticket home.

Colonel Higaki's features softened. "Good job," he said in a pleasant voice then broke out in a grin, "That civilian has a mission coming up, he's going to need some support." He swatted a confused Itami's arm with the rolled-up papers and grinned. "Congratulations captain."

Being the commander of Recon Team 3, Captain is Itami's position title. Like the Captain of a naval vessel, that's the name of the job, your rank may not be captain, you can be a Sergeant, but you will still be called Captain if you are in command of the ship. "Thank you, sir," he said, still confused.

"No really, I mean it... Captain." Colonel Higaki handed the rolled-up papers to Itami who slowly unrolled them and saw they were a set of orders telling him that he had been promoted to the rank of Captain. Suddenly all the members of Recon Team 3, Itami's troops, poured into the office laughing at this great American tradition of pranking a person who earned a promotion. As they started to congratulate their boss Itami could only say, "You put him up to this, didn't you Gunny Hanover."

"Aye, Captain. I sure did."

"Gunny, you're a son of a bitch," said Itami as his men patted his back.

"Aye, Captain, I sure am."

As Recon Team 3 congratulated their boss, Lelei cast spells on Stefan and Lelu's cloaks and backpacks. The cloaks received spells that caused people to ignore the wearer, it doesn't make them invisible, that's impossible, but being ignored is close to invisible. The backpack received a dose of storage magic, they can now hold anything you can get through the opening, no matter how long. A 15 foot long pole slides right in. Also, no matter how much you put in there, the pack never weighs more than 5 pounds.

As the joyful unit headed over to the All-Ranks Club, Stefan and Lelu left the promotion party and went to the growing town of Alnus Hill to find an inn for the night. They found a restaurant that wasn't too crowded, so they decided to eat there, and hoped that they would meet someone who knew of an inn where they could sleep. "I hate being illiterate," groaned Stefan as he looked at the menu. It was written in two languages, Saderan and Japanese, neither of which Stefan could read. Stefan only knows one Japanese kanji, the one that looks like a long-legged stick figure which means "person." Saderan looks to him like someone writing cursive with a pen that is low on ink and keeps skipping parts of the letters.

"I'm not much better," said Lelu, "I can read this, but I don't understand what any of this is... what's rice? I see it mentioned a lot."

"It's a grain that's boiled. It's in a lot of Japanese meals." Stefan thought for a moment, what would 18-year-old Private Stefan Hanover do when he ended up drunk and off base in Okinawa? Oh yes, he remembers. "I know a trick that works in all restaurants, it works best in Italy, it should work here." He turned to find a waitress and paged one over but as she got close their waitress began looking at them funny, like she was star-struck or something. Her eyes were wide, she was trembling all over and she had a huge open-mouthed smile. Her bunny ears were twitching meaning that she's overwhelmed by something. Desiring a glass of water Stefan asked, "Oh miss, could we..."

The waitress squealed and slumped to the floor; she had fainted dead away.

"Holy crap!" said Stefan and he and Lelu jumped up and knelt over the waitress. Her pulse was good, and she was breathing, "She may be in shock," he said. He covered her with his cloak as Lelu made a pillow out of her cloak and put it under her head, then Stefan put her feet up on his chair. The manager, another warrior bunny came running as patrons began to circle around to see what was happening.

"What happened to her?" the manager asked as she crouched down to check her waitress who was now regaining consciousness.

"I don't know," said Lelu, "she just looked at us and fainted."

When Stefan looked up at her the manager squealed loudly and fell back on her fluffy tail. "Yeah, she said that too," said Stefan.

"No! No! It's just that you..." then the managers voice took on a dreamy quality, "You've been marked by The Queen!"

"I have?" asked Stefan.

"He doesn't have a mark," said Lelu as she helped the recovering waitress sit up.

The manager gasped in awe, "You're both marked!" she said it with such reverence that both Stefan and Lelu started to worry. Then the manager reached out with a trembling hand and gently touched Stefan's cheek which caused the recovering waitress to squeal again.

Stefan and Lelu shrugged at each other. "I don't see anything."

"Me neither."

"Only warrior bunnies can see it," said a wizen old matron of the bunny persuasion who came by to see the human and the elf that were marked by the queen. "It's a special mark left by the queen, it can be one of seven colors, your is red. It's right here," she said as she touched Stefan's cheek.

"That's where Queen Mary kissed me," said Stefan, but his words were drowned out by several warrior bunny customers squealing and fainting. "Ok, that's it," Stefan growled, "I'm fixing this now. He stood and climbed up on a chair and declared, "Bunnies! I have been marked by your queen. Now that you know, you need to suck it up and act like a rabbit! Do you copy?"

"Yes, human!" the bunnies replied, proud to be called a rabbit, their ancient name. But one, a slim athletic blond who looked barely old enough to be in high school extended her diary toward him, "Can I get your autographs?"

The next few minutes were a bit hectic, when word of what an autograph was got out, bunnies lined up for autographs on everything from scraps of shopping bags to cloth handkerchiefs. The manager came to the rescue and announced, "AFTER they eat, I'm sure our heroes will be happy to sign autographs and answer your questions!" The manager then turned to Stefan and said, "You clearly do not understand how big of an honor this is, maybe Grandma will explain it to you after you eat."

"That would be great," smiled Stefan, "we're really hungry."

"What would you like? our best dish is yours, on the house," gushed manager bunny.

Stefan tried his best trick, it worked for him in every country he was assigned to, "don't tell the chef who we are, just say we're new here, then tell the chef to make us whatever it is that makes him or her happy to cook. His or her favorite dish, anything, at all, on or off the menu. We just want to enjoy the head cook's favorite dish."

"She'll be delighted to hear that," the manager smiled and headed back to the kitchen.

Stefan and Lelu took the opportunity to sign autographs and answer questions from the excitable bunnies endearing them to the crowd. After about 20 minutes the manager came to their table with an interesting looking dish, it appeared to be a large round flat bread covered with sauce, cheese and slices of sausages, and with it came sectioned wings from a large bird that were fried and coated in a spicy cayenne pepper sauce. "Pizza and wings?" laughed Stefan, "this is a sign! my compliments to the chef!"

"A sign?" asked Lelu, "how so?"

"The chef could have made anything," said Stefan as he put a slice on Lelu's plate, "but without knowing me, she made food that my people traditionally eat to celebrate something."

As Stefan showed Lelu how to dig into "American" food a voice was heard from behind the crowd who insisted on seeing how heroes eat, "Who has the discerning taste in exotic meals?" called the chef as she made her way through the crowd.

"My husband," said Lelu, her mouth and fingers covered with wing sauce, she added another bone to the stack they were building. "This is delicious! Such flavor! So bold and intoxicating!" said Lelu, her eyes rolling with pleasure, then she smiled at Stefan, "it reminds me of you. Brassy and aggressive and hot on the tongue and makes the white sauce taste great," she waggled her eyebrows suggestively as she dipped the wing section in the ranch dressing.

The chef appeared from the crowd, she was a warrior bunny, shorter than most, just barely out of her teens. She had black hair restrained in a hair net along with her ears and was wearing a white apron with nothing else, her breasts threatened to spill out of the apron. She was happy to see that a human was eating her cooking, most green men generally didn't like it, but the ones that did were CRAZY about it. She was also surprised that an elf was eating her wings. Elves traditionally prefer bland food, and many were vegan.

"This is such a good pie," said Stefan between bites of the pizza. "Now I know that I'm not in Colorado anymore, you can't get a pizza this good in Colorado. Where did you learn to cook pizza and wings? This is incredible!"

"One of the Green Men asked me to give it a try," said the chef bunny cheerfully. "He was stationed in 'Merica and he loves 'Merican cooking so he translated the recipes, and I gave it a try. You like?"

"I LOVE it," said Stefan around a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

"So good!" said Lelu, "I can't get enough!"

"I'm from 'Merica, and this is better than most 'Merican pizzas," said Stefan.

"REALLY?" squeaked the chef, "I'm learning how to make real 'Merican Trismass food for the Green Men who can't go home for the holidays. Can you tell me if I get it right?"

"That depends," said Stefan, "There's all kinds of Christmas food. What are you making?"

"It's very popular, Itami told me so," she smiled.

Itami! Stefan shook his head, what is it with that guy? He seems to be involved in everything here. "So what is your secret dish?"

Chef bunny grinned and leaned over, exposing more cleavage, and said, "K.F.C.!" Stefan paused, looking to see if she was serious, then broke up laughing. "What's wrong with K.F.C.?" Bunny asked, "I think I identified all eleven herbs and spices."

"No, it's not that, it's... yes, KFC is 'Merican as apple pie, but it's only popular as a Christmas meal in Japan. I'm sure you're going to do a great job," Stefan tried to recover from laughing.

Instead of being insulted, chef bunny started laughing along with this man and his elf wife. "You have stuff all over your face," she said.

"Thank you," he said. He wiped his face off and Chef Bunny gasped.

"Who gave you that mark?" she demanded as she placed her hands on the table and leaned over to look closer, giving Stefan an incredible view down her cleavage. "When did you get it?"

"Queen Mary," said Lelu who then took a big bite of the slice of pizza that Stefan held out to her.

"She was awesome," said Stefan, "What a bunny. Have you ever tried blue cheese with these wings? Incredible! I'm not complaining, ranch isn't bad, but bleu cheese is the authentic thing. I went to Buffalo once just to try the wings right from the source..."

"How do you know it was Queen Mary and not the traitor Tyuule or one of her followers impersonating the Queen? Have you ever met Queen Mary before?"

Stefan and Lelu looked at each other and conversed silently, "I can't fault her for wanting to be sure, worse things have happened." He looked up at Chef Bunny and said, "Hiya boys," in a deep breathy voice. That was Queen Mary Atchi's standard greeting, even though 93% of the warrior bunny population is female she always says "Hiya Boys" to open a speech or ceremony.

"Good, but not good enough," snarled Chef Bunny, "everyone knows that." It looked like this was going to get ugly real fast.

"I'm not going to fight you," said Lelu, "My teammate Hahn Tahn Amaya said that she was Queen Mary, I'm sure that Hahn knows her own mother. I was there when Mary awarded Hahn two bucks."

"And I just took Cookies word for it. Leah Cooka Rohcha was one of the bunnies we rescued, and she told me that Queen Mary was her mother," said Stefan then he took another bite of pizza and rolled his eyes in pleasure. "This is so good..."

Chef Bunny took a chair next to Lelu and Grandma bunny sat next to Stefan. Chef Bunny asked "How did you know? How could you be sure?" She looked worried as she added, "I've heard a rumor that she's been assassinated and Tyuule took over again."

"We were both right there in the town square in Nangda the night that Queen Mary presented the award to Hahn. If you don't believe me, ask her yourself." Stefan glared at Chef Bunny, for the first time in his life a cleavage like that was not a distraction. "I'm getting quite tired of this game you're playing. I may be a human but I'm not one of those jerks in the palace that have been fucking up everything since..."

"I'm sorry, but I had to be sure," said Chef Bunny, "Aunt Mary is not the type to hand out awards like the mark of the queen lightly, and never to an elf or a human."

"Aunt Mary?" asked Stefan. "So Hahn and Cookie are your cousins?"

"Not really, I was orphaned, Mary took me in, Hahn and Cookie raised me. Because I..."

Before Chef Bunny could finish her answer, she was interrupted. "I was there," said Grandma Bunny, then she pointed a shaking finger at Stefan. "You were there, I saw you, but you were there with The Troll, it was The Troll that got the mark of the queen." She pointed a shaking finger at Lelu. "How did you receive the mark?"

Now Stefan was livid. "The Troll?" He looked like he was going to hurt Grandma quite seriously, and Lelu was starting to freak out. She withdrew from the conversation and was curling up in a tiny ball in her mind. Stefan somehow turned his attention away from Grandma bunny and reached for Lelu's hands. He gently clasped her tender right hand but as he was reaching across the table for her left hand Chef Bunny reached for her hand. Chef Bunny ended up holding Lelu's left hand and Stefan's right hand just as Stefan started sending a flood of love and comfort to Lelu. The chef completed "the circuit" and suddenly had Stefan's love flowing through her.

Bunny didn't realize what was happening, but she did realize that this wasn't meant for her, it was for Lelu. But Chef had never felt such a thing before, there's no romantic love in the world of the warrior bunnies, there's no time for it. Not when each bunny male had 15 women waiting for him to pay attention to her needs. Bucks will develop friendships with a warrior bunny, but he really doesn't have time to spend time with her and sadly, while a warrior bunny will be fertile into her 70's and live to 110 or more years, a buck rarely makes it past his 35th birthday.

The emotions that flowed back and forth between the elf and the human were overpowering to Chef bunny, there were few actual words, it was all feelings and memories, it was like Stefan was emotionally petting Lelu and slowly Lelu began to calm down and start to... Chef Bunny decided that the best way to describe it is to "purr," emotionally. And now she noticed a scent from the couple, it wasn't strong, a normal person wouldn't notice it over the smell of the pizza and wings, but to Chef it was there, and it was enchanting, it smelled of calm and gentle times, of relaxing, it smelled like a walk in the woods or gazing at the stars at night with a friend and Chef Bunny became addicted. The pheromones of Stefan and Lelu entrapped her, wound around the bunny's mind and refused to let go and somehow Chef's body responded producing her own pheromones that Stefan and Lelu noticed were weaving into their web of harmony.

"Grandma," said the chef softly. "She's not a troll, she's an elf, please hold your tongue." Her grip on Stefan and Lelu's hands tightened and her eyes never left theirs. "Yes, she looked different back then, but you should know better, your boyfriend helped heal her." The fact that shortly after moving into the Alnus Hill refugee camp, Grandma Bunny and the mage Kato El Altestan began a quite active affair which was one of the worst kept secrets on the Falmart continent.

Grandma Bunny looked angry but when she thought back on the misshapen creature that Queen Mary kissed and this beautiful elf seated here, now valiantly trying to hold back the tears, she was able to see that they are indeed the same elf. "I'm sorry dear, sometimes even the wise display their foolish nature."

But Stefan and Lelu weren't paying any attention to Grandma Bunny, they were looking at Chef Bunny. A look of mild astonishment washed over the faces of the human and the elf as they realized that their traveling party just increased in size. "What's your name bunny?" Stefan asked gently.

"Carny... Carny Taz."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Lelu enjoyed the ride on the helicopter, probably because Stefan enjoyed it so much. She spent their first ride in a helicopter on an out of body journey with Stefan to the beach. Now she was here in the huge machine with Stefan and their new companion Carny Taz, the warrior bunny chef. Also on the helicopter was Captain Itami, Arch Mage Lelei La Lalena, Demi-Goddess Rory Mercury, High Elf Tuka Luna Marceau, all heading with them to the imperial capitol Sadera. The huge double rotor Chinook took off from Alnus Hill and headed northeast. Lelu was smiling nervously but she was soothed by the closeness of Stefan and his help to ease her nerves. "I've been on hundreds of flights," he assured her, "never had a problem."

"Oh, no! Poor Carny!" gasped Lelu. Carny was sitting across from them, and she was terrified, her ears were drooped down over her shoulders, and she was trembling all over, even her large boobs were jiggling in fear. Her eyes were welled up with tears and she fought to keep from crying, but it was clear she would lose that fight soon.

Stefan unbuckled and leaned over and unbuckled Carny's restraint. "Come over here with us, funny bunny," said Stefan and Carny leapt to the other side of the copter and snuggled in between Stefan and Lelu and shivered in terror. They covered her up in her cloak and held her tight, cuddling her fears away. As Carny's trembling subsided, they decided to see if they could take her someplace relaxing.

Carny's eyes fluttered open, and she was no longer in that stinking shaking noisy torture chamber, she was laying under a tree, on a warm sunny beach and she was completely naked. She looked around for something to cover up with when she noticed that Stefan and Lelu were both here, they were walking down the beach hand in hand, both were as nude as she was.

She got up and ran after them and finally caught up. Lelu heard the excited bunny running up behind them, so she stopped Stefan and they turned, smiling, watching as Carny approached, holding her breasts with one arm because of the bouncing. "This is so weird!" the young bunny gasped. "Where are we? Where's my clothes?"

"We are still on the helicopter and your clothes are still on your body," said Stefan.

"This is like a dream, that's really all I can say about it," said Lelu. "This is a real place; my dad lives not far from this beach in those woods over there."

Carny reached out and touched Lelu's sparkling silver hair, "It's so weird, I can feel you like you're really here."

"Believe me, it's a dream," said Lelu. "How hot does the sand feel to your feet?"

"A little hot, not too bad," Carny answered.

"The days I've been here the sand burns your feet," said Stefan, "and the sun doesn't feel nice like this either. We're down south on the blue sea, it's hot down here."

"The Blue Sea?" gasped Carny. The blue sea is almost a mythical place to the bunnies of the northern fields. The Blue Sea promises an enchanted area where it's always warm and the snow never falls. "It feels real enough to me!" She started to run off to the water's edge, but something pulled her back and before she knew it, she was back in the helicopter which had just landed.

A loud shrieking noise filled the air causing Carny's ears to flatten and she pulled a wooden dagger from her belt. She knew that the noise was from some kind of machine, but to a bunny a threat is a threat. Stefan knew that the noise was the electric motor that opens the rear door of the huge helicopter. A chill wind blew in through the large open door, it was oddly chilly here today, a cold wind was blowing down from the unnamed mountain range of ice and snow to the north. The humans from the other side of the gate thought it odd that no one bothered to name a mountain range that affects the weather pattern for most of Falmart. Then again, it was highly unlikely that anyone on the continent of Falmart knew what weather patterns are.

They were led to the palace by several guardsmen, and this caused Lelu no uncertain amounts of panic. Lelu spent decades in the dungeon being tortured, her nightmares are enough to drive Stefan to suicide because he shares them hoping that it will take some of the horror of her incarceration away from her. "Is he one of the bad ones?" he asked Lelu, indicating the guard that led them to the palace.

"No," she said nervously.

"It's ok," he said as he hugged her close. "But let me know the moment you see one, ok?" She nodded nervously and even though he didn't mention verbally or nonverbally that he was looking for any guard that so much as touched her when she was imprisoned, they both knew what he was going to do.

The guard led them to their rooms, three tiny rooms with a single narrow bed in each room located just above the dungeon. Lelu was horrified to see the accommodations and Carny was starting to panic, how many Warrior Bunnies died in rooms just like this? Stefan whirled on the young guard, "Did you know that you were escorting us to prison cells?" There was death in Gunnery Sergeant Hanover's eyes, a deep-seated hatred that made the guard realize that Gunny Hanover wasn't a threat, he was a prediction of hell to come.

"T-t-t-they're n-n-not..."

Stefan held up a hand for silence. "Just... fuck it. You led us to where you were told to take us. What was your next task, to lock us in?"

"Y-y-y-y..." He was interrupted by the roar of Stefan's pistol as a water pitcher that was on a small table in the cell exploded in a shower of water and shattered fragments. Stefan made the shot without looking.

"Do you think you are capable of locking me up?" As the young guard sputtered in fear, Stefan gently pushed him into the cell, then he took the key from the terrified young guard and locked him in the room leaving the key in the lock. He turned to see an angry, shaking Lelu and Carny and said, "Let's go, we have a mage to find."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Princess Co Lada hasn't seen Itami in ages, it was so nice to be able to walk through the palace gardens with the new Captain. Being royalty, marriage to a commoner was forbidden, and even being associated with an invader was unthinkable so having Itami as a consort probably wouldn't happen, but then... when had Pina Co Lada ever played by the rules? When her father killed nearly one hundred thousand men in his battle against the JSDF, playing by the rules went out the window.

As they walked their conversation centered mostly on the flowers they walked past, but that portion of the conversation was ending. With a subtle hand signal, she directed her escorts to fall back several yards and she started leading the conversation to something more... adult in nature, and Itami seemed to be open to her options. Just as she was about to invite him to a private dinner in her chambers, an uproar burst out of the garden door of the palace.

Five guards came out of the door backwards, swords drawn followed by the captain of the guard, a man in green almost like Itami's uniform was behind the captain of the guard. The green man had a firm grip on the back of the collar of the captain's shoulder pads and was holding a pistol to the back of the captain's head. Behind the green man was an elf and a warrior bunny dressed similarly, both had weapons drawn and were holding back a score of guards behind them.

"I'll get this," Itami said to Princess Pina. "He's... a friend." Itami hustled to the crowd of guards while Princess Co Lada's guard circled her. "Gunny!" shouted Itami. "What are you up to Gunny?"

Stefan's eyes never left the back of the captain of the guard's head. "Oh, hi Cap'n. We were just leaving."

"Gunny, why do you have a gun to the back of that man's head?" it was then that Itami realized that he knew exactly what Stefan was going to say, maybe he should have worded this differently.

"To kill him should he require it, cap'n."

Itami sighed, that's exactly what he expected. "Is there a problem Gunny?"

"Let's just say that the accommodations revealed the distaste that the management of this palace has for me and my family," Stefan snarled as he practically drilled the barrel of his pistol into the back of the captain's head.

Pina shrugged off her guards and stepped up next to Itami. "Is there a problem with the accommodations Mister Hanover?"

In answer, Stefan pressed his piston harder against the back of the captain's head and growled, "Tell her, and be aware that the device on the back of your head is a bullshit detector, if you lie it will go off."

"L-L-Level K, your highness," the captain sputtered.

Pina went ice cold; level K was dungeon. It was much better than most of the dungeon, it was reserved for heads of tribes and fallen royalty, but it's still dungeon. "Is that where I told you to house them?" demanded Pina.

"No, your highness, but..."

"But what?" shrieked the soon to be empress.

"Your highness..." he whispered hoarsely, "she's an elf!"

The color drained out of Stefan's face and a surreal calmness washed over him. Lelu started to panic because Stefan blocked all thoughts with her, but Itami recognized what was happening. Gunnery Sergeant Hanover went into kill mode. "On your knees asshole," Stefan hissed. The trembling captain slowly sank to his knees, the barrel of the pistol pressed to his skull the whole time. "You may not want to watch this ma'am," he said to the Princess without looking at her.

Itami stepped up to Stefan and said, "Sergeant, didn't you make a sacred oath not to kill any more."

"Well, when I rescued 73 people from assholes like this and I had to blow away thirty six pieces of shit, I kinda blew that oath, didn't I cap'n," he said without removing his glare from the back of the man's head. "Besides this isn't killing, pieces of shit like this aren't really alive. This is chlorinating the gene pool." Then without looking up he called to the princess, "Ma'am, you may want to step back, you don't want to get pieces of his head on your nice outfit."

"Gunny, this is the Crown Princess' mess to clean up. Let her take care of her own mess."

Stefan thought for a moment then removed the gun from the back of the guard's head and eased the hammer back down as he stood. "Just protectin' my family sir," said Stefan as he planted a boot in the middle of the guards back and sent him sprawling to stop at Princess Pina's boots.

Pina Co Lada looked down at the man sprawled at her feet. "Captain, your stupidity nearly caused this empire a second war with the elves and the warrior bunnies, and thanks to my idiot brother, we're not capable of defending ourselves." When the sprawled man tried to respond she pushed him down with her armored boot, "Just shut up," she sighed. "High Elf Prima Diva Lelu Nikto De Sebat and Marine Gunnery Sergeant Stefan Edward Hanover have been conferred with entry into house Atchi. They are royal blood, which is why I told you to house them next to my apartment."

"I'm royal?" whispered Lelu.

"I thought you knew that" Carny answered quietly. "That mark you carry, it's red, that makes you a member of Queen Mary's family."

"Ain't that some shit," said Stefan as he walked up to Lelu and Carny. He put his arms around his girls, his elven wife and his bunny... what is she... daughter? "Come on girls, let's get out of here."

"Oh no you don't," said Princess Pina as she stepped up to the little family. "You two are coming with me, we're going for a nice warm bath then a proper dinner." And she led Lelu and Carny back into the palace leaving Stefan and Itami behind while the guards dragged their former commander down to the dungeon for an evening of torture.

"Ain't dat some shit," said Itami watching the girls follow the Crown Princess into the palace.

"You got dat shit right," responded Stefan as they fist bumped. It doesn't matter whose army you're in, military men and women know how to communicate in their own unique manner.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Freshly scrubbed and her long raven locks washed, Carny slipped into the steaming hot bath with a sigh. The hot water soothed away the fear of the past day, the terrifying ride in that loud flying machine, being sent to the dungeon, then Stefan getting so mad at the guards, it was scary! Just a couple of days ago she was an orphan cooking in a refugee camp and now she was part of a human/elf family taking a bath with royalty! Aunt Mary will never believe it.

She eased into the steaming hot water next to Lelu and nudged her with an elbow. "Are you ok mom?" Lelu shook her head no. "What's the matter mommy?" Carny snuggled up close to Lelu and wished she could calm this elf like Stefan can. "Are you mad because I called you mommy?"

"No," Lelu smiled at the young bunny. "We like it when you call us that," then she looked sad, "we probably won't have children."

"Why not?" Carny moved so they were sitting face to face.

Lelu looked totally lost and heartbroken. "Elves and humans aren't compatible; we can't make a baby together."

"Who says that? Is that a rule or something?" If there's one thing that Warrior Bunnies know, it's making babies. The only thing that stops a determined warrior bunny from having a baby is the lack of a sperm donor. "Is it because you... you don't have the right equipment?"

"No, you silly rabbit, our equipment is just fine. It's just... well I guess because it's just never happened before."

Carny glared at Lelu. There's one thing that elves and humans have in common, it's the skill of over-analyzing the most basic things. "An elf has never bonded with a human before, but you guys did that... didn't you?" Carny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, it just happened... I see what you're doing here, but a baby is different," pouted Lelu.

"Babies are natural, they happen to everyone. Bonding is impossible for almost everyone, even for elves and you guys did it without trying. How do you know that you're not pregnant right now?" Carny didn't know much about elves, but she did know that they have very small babies and really don't show for most of their pregnancy.

Carny was right, how did Lelu know that she wasn't pregnant? They have only made love to completion once, most of their love making was in their minds, but still, there's a chance... it's a gazillion to one chance (gazillion being a number not used in elf mathematics, but Stefan uses it quite often, so it's got to be a human number) "You're pretty smart for... what is it that Stefan calls you... a Waskily Wabbit,"

Carny laughed for a bit then said, "That's funny, but what does it mean?"

Lelu shrugged, "I don't know, it's like when I'm very upset, he says he has to coax me down off the shelf. I'm not sure what that means either." Lelu's train of thought was interrupted by two glittering insects that fluttered into the bath leaving a vapor trail of glitter as they flew, and they came straight for Carny and Lelu. These were fairies of course, cute little winged demi-humans, they're kind of stupid but they're easy to train and they make great gifts for the children. Queen Mary gave one to Carny when she was young, back before Mary Atchi became Queen Mary.

"We have a message for you!" the fairy with dark blue hair said.

The other fairy, a pink skinned little creature with bright orange hair said, "The empress is coming for her evening bath!"

"You have been deemed acceptable and are permitted to bathe with her!" cried the blue hair fairy, bursting with excitement.

"Rejoice and be well!" they said in unison and fluttered over to the entrance from the shower room and hovered on either side of the door. Soon the beautiful red haired crown princess Pina Co Lada entered the bath. She was followed by her two closest advisors, short dark purple haired Beefeater E Caty the captain of the Rose Order of Knights, and fellow Rose Order of Knight the stunning blond Bozes Co Palesti.

As they started to take their towels off, Lelu covered her eyes and asked Carny to tell her when the royals were safely in the water. "Ok, they're in," said Carny brightly, and Lelu uncovered her eyes.

"What was that about?" asked Beefeater.

"Just in case my husband is..." and she started to mumble.

"He is what...?" demanded Pina in her best empirical voice.

Lelu began to blush and sink lower in the water, but Carny said clearly, "They're bound! He can see what she can see, and she doesn't want to show him our bodies!" Then the bunny stood in the water in front of Lelu and started doing a dance that caused her large breasts to shake invitingly. "Oh Stefan! Look at me dance for you Stefan!"

"Bound? Another couple?" asked Bozes. "There appears to be a rash of this happening."

"No, just us."

"Really?" Bozes asked in a snobby voice. "The couple I met that was bonded was a human and a..." she suddenly realized that there was a very angry looking warrior bunny glaring down at her.

Carny whirled to face Bozes. "Say troll, I dare you," she hissed.

"I was going to say an unfortunate victim of this empire's worst behavior," continued Bozes. She looked at Lelu who was looking forlorn. "That was you?" gasped the blond warrior. She moved next to Lelu and hugged her. "You look wonderful! What happened? Was it a healer?"

They had been joined by a dark elf, a high elf, and a small human with teal colored hair. "It was two arch mages and a week of their work nonstop to heal most of her outside injuries," said the Yao Ro Dushi, the dark elf, as the three entered the water next to Lelu.

"Itami ordered us to help her," said Lelei La Lalena. "He said he would protect us from the emperor's anger." When Pina looked at her strangely Lelei continued, "Your father issued an order to all healers and all mages with healing magic to let the victims of his torture suffer until they die. Itami told us that the emperor's order was illegal, and he wanted Miss Lelu ready for her wedding as soon as possible."

"He said that?" gasped Lelu.

Tuka Luna Marceau, the high elf that joined said, "They repaired most of the exterior injuries, but the interior damage caused by your father and your brother is beyond their skills to heal." She pointed an accusing finger at Princess Pina.

Beefeater Caty leapt to her feet, water streaming off her taut athletic figure, "I will avenge my empress!" she shrieked and crouched in a fighting stance.

Crown princess Pina Co Lada leaned forward and placed her hand on her chief of the guard's hip and asked, "Avenge me for what? You want to protect me from hearing the truth?"

"My lady!" gasped Beefeater, "she insinuated..."

"She insinuated nothing! She did something that hasn't happened in this building for centuries, she spoke the truth," said Pina. The room was silent except for Lelu's stifled laughter. "Does this amuse you madam elf?"

"No, but I'm sure my husband will find it hilarious," Stephan's laughter in her head was contagious and she couldn't help but laugh along. "He heard you say..."

"Your husband hears us, and you hear him?" asked Pina, "How is this possible?" She gestured to Lelu to come join her. Still shy about her body, Lelu made her way over to the crown princess and Carny followed closely. Seeing Carny stick close to Lelu's side, Pina asked, "and you are?"

"Carny Taz, I am Lelu's cook, bodyguard, and daughter."

"How interesting!" Pina laughed, "a green man marries an elf, and their child is a warrior bunny. I love it!"

"We're not married yet," said Lelu, "there's something we have to do first." When Lelu and Carny sat down next to Princess Pina, Yao explained how bonding worked and was very specific about mentioning that this bond between a human and an elf had never happened before.

"So, your husband can see and hear everything that you see and hear?" gasped Beefeater and she slipped down into the water up to her chin followed by the rest of the girls except for Pina. "Your highness!" gasped Beefeater, always protective of the princess.

Pina shrugged, "If he's already seen us, it makes no sense in hiding now."

Lelu laughed and said, "no, he is not watching now, and he insists that I'm the only one he wants to see naked."

"Oh, that's sweet!" chirped Tuka. Both Tuka and Yao take encouragement in seeing Stefan and Lelu's elf/human relationship, because they both have eyes on Itami and wouldn't mind an elf/human relationship of their own.

When the coo's of "How sweet," died down, Lelu explained that they can only see what she sees when they're in physical contact. "But the next time we touch, he'll have access to my memories," and she waggled her eyebrows.

"How lewd," sighed Tuka.

"I believe this is the first time we've ever had an elf and a warrior bunny in the Imperial Baths," said Pina as the chuckling died down.

"No, your highness," said Lelu softly. "I've been in here dozens of times scrubbing the baths after..." In his youth, Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, Pina's father, enjoyed orgies here in these baths where raping prisoners was on the menu. His orgies held in the baths allowing political allies to indulge their sexual fantasies with his stable of demi-human prisoners was the talk of the empire. Luckily, he found Lelu's disfigurement disgusting and he left her alone.

"Stop." Pina ordered. She knew where Lelu's story was headed and she didn't want to hear it, and she didn't want Lelu to relive it. "It ends now." She put her arm around Lelu's shoulders and said, "I want to have a word with you and your husband, I have a few ideas." She looked over at Itami's friends, the two elves and the mage. "Come join us, I want to hear your ideas too." When everyone was close, she said, "First I need an advisor..."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

For the next week terror stalked the corridors of the palace at night. A spirit roamed the dark hallways of the dungeons and the brightly lit hallways, apartments, and offices above the dungeons judging the guards for their past misdeeds. It was said that this spirit would walk up to a guard, stare him in the eye then either congratulate him for his past good behavior, or ask "Remember the time when you thought it would be fun to abuse a prisoner?" Then beat the ever-living shit out of the guard warning him that he better claim to have fallen down the stairs or he won't survive the next beating, nor will his family.

The crown jewel of the imperial dungeon, the interrogators, all disappeared leaving behind suicide notes describing their past misdeeds, especially when it came to torturing elves. All these notes left by the interrogators were a surprise to the empirical court because one of the skills required of a good interrogator is illiteracy. When "encouraging" a prisoner to sign a confession, one doesn't need the interrogator to understand what the prisoner just agreed to confess.

Crown Princess Co Lada was overwhelmed with requests from injured and bandaged soldiers who claimed to have "fallen down the stairs," for reassignment to far flung outposts regardless of how dangerous the assignment was. She had expected several when she laid out her plan with Lelu and Carny, but the number was overwhelming. Their fear of the palace "stairs" was all consuming. She finally turned to an advisor who informed her of the most knowledgeable man in the palace regarding staircase safety. She summoned him to the throne room at once. Looking down at the man she said "Sergeant Hanover, I have been told that you are an expert on stairs may know why so many of my men have been falling down the stairs in recent days."

"It may be possible that they're showing up to work drunk, I've met a few of your men who reek of elven wine," Stefan as he looked at the emperor, not Princess Co Lada.

"That certainly may account for a number of them, but many have been here far too long and know the penalty for being drunk on duty. Do you have any idea why they may suddenly fall down several flights of stairs?" Crown Princess Co Lada realized that when he spoke, Sergeant Hanover was not looking at her, he was staring at her father with barely concealed disgust.

"Your highness, forgive me if I am blunt, my home country has no love of royalty, we are a country of separatists..."

"I understand sergeant, your wife has briefed me of this." Princess Co Lada frowned; he's skirting on the edge of insolence.

"Well, we're not actually married either, we want to gather her whole family together first, but her mother is a "guest" of your brother in one of his dungeons." Stefan glared with barely controlled anger at the emperor who is now starting to notice his disdain. "As for your guards, I venture a guess you may want to entertain. Your stairs are well made and even though the risers are worn from centuries of use, that should be of no danger to a well-trained, well-disciplined soldier. I can only assume that these men have something on their mind and just aren't paying attention to what they are doing."

Princess Co Lada leaned back; he's finally getting to the point. "Do you have any idea what may be on their minds that would cause such a calamity?"

"This is just a guess, but it just may be possible that guilt for past misdeeds could be clouding their minds to the point that slipping and falling might become a very real occurrence." These words were aimed at the former emperor like a dagger thrown at the heart.

"Thank you, sergeant. That will be all." Pina glared at her father. When Stefan had left the throne room she said, "I see that we will need new recruits for the palace guard. I believe they should be chosen on their ability to GUARD rather than to turn a blind eye to certain deeds committed by certain people."

The former emperor just shrugged and waved a bored hand. "It's your palace now, do as you like."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The throne room was gayly decorated with banners and bunting and flags of the empire and Japan hung in places of honor. Governors of the different empirical provinces were in attendance wearing their finest robes and togas, and a band struck up anthems as the empire's army honor guard dressed in their finest uniforms took their place in the throne room. Crown Princess Pina Co Lada took the emperor's seat while her father took the seat of the Grand Vizier behind and to the left of Pina. Behind Pina with many other VIPs sat Queen Mary Atchi, Crown Princess Hahn Tahn Amaya, and Princess Leah Cooka Rohcha.

The herald at the main entrance banged the butt of his staff on the stone floor twice and the audience instantly went silent. The herald announced, "Commander of the Japanese Self Defense Force's Third Recon Team, Captain Yōji Itami and his advisor demigoddess and apostle of Emroy, Rory Mercury." Itami in his dress uniform walked side by side with Rory in her black and red gothic dress carrying her massive halberd. The edge of the giant battle axe is so sharp that small blue flashes of light could be seen dancing along the blade's edge as air molecules that struck the edge of the blade were sliced in half. They walked up to the throne and presented themselves to the future empress then took their places with the governors.

The herald again banged the butt of his staff on the ground twice, the sound echoed through the throne room and silenced the crowd. He announced, "High Elf Prima Diva Lelu Nikto De Sebat and her heiress, Warrior Bunny Carny Taz." Dressed in beautiful gowns they slowly made their way up the center aisle to the throne. Lelu's gown was varying shades of green to represent the forests of the elven folk, Carny's dress was varying shades of golden brown to represent the fields of the Warrior Bunnies. They knelt before the throne awaiting the words from Pina. Would she say what she promised? Lelu was terrified to be here; in her history with the empire, the truth and the empire's leadership have a contentious relationship. Carny reached for the long knife hidden in her gown... just in case.

"Lelu Nikto De Sebat, I understand your distaste for this throne, you came to that distrust honestly, which is more than I can say for the way we have treated you and your people. Having shown fealty to my administration, would you serve as advisor to the affairs of the Empire regarding the needs and desires of the nations of the elves?" The entire crowd was shocked, elves were considered mere possessions of the empire, a thorn in the side of landowners, and a woodland creature to be hunted like a deer, why would the empress need an advisor for them? Why would the empress deign to employ one of them? At the same time the elves in attendance including Tuka Luna Marceau and Yao Ro Dushi held their breath in excitement, representation by and elf for elves in the royal court? It was a dream that goes back hundreds of years.

"I will, your highness." Lelu never looked up, the terror was too real, even the calming words of Stefan in her mind were of little help.

"Then come, join me. Guide my hand," said Pina and gestured to a seat on her right. "Lead us to a new day." Lelu rose and on wobbling legs she ascended the dais and took the seat next to Pina. Carny followed and stood behind her, occasionally grinning over her shoulders to her cousins Hahn and Cookie seated behind her.

Again, the herald banged his staff twice and announced, "United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Stefan Edward Hanover." Stefan rolled his eyes, his rank was getting more use in this world than the entire 20 years he was in the corps. He walked up the aisle wearing a simple uniform that a soldier of the empire would wear, however rather than a leather kilt, the kilt he wore was wool with a blue and green tartan plaid which he said was close enough to his mother's Scottish ancestry. He wore an ornamental brass breast plate polished so brightly it showed like gold, brass shoulder pads, and a short sleeve leather shirt that showed off the magical globe and anchor tattoo that glowed softly on his forearm. He carried a short sword that he picked up from the corpse of an old soldier that was executed before his eyes as a reminder of the inhumanity of these people. When he neared the dais, he stopped and stood at attention. The whole trip up the aisle was spent gazing in the eyes of Lelu, they teased each other and made plans for an evening of love before this "dog and pony show," which made the empress' new advisor smile and blush sweetly as her man winked at her.

A highly decorated empire army officer approached him as another herald approached then turned to the audience and announced, "Upon finding himself within the boundaries of the Empire through no fault of his own, Retired Gunnery Sergeant Stefan Edward Hanover joined observation team 117 in their mission of observing the movements of the rebel forces of the criminal Zorzal El Caesar. Sergeant Hanover saw that El Caesar had taken over seventy-three citizens of the empire as slaves to be sold as booty. Enraged with the treatment of these noncombatant civilians, Sergeant Hanover defeated eleven rebel soldiers and liberated the captives. After liberating the captives, he treated the wounded and escorted them back to their home in Nangda. But enroute to Nangda they were assailed by a major force. With the aid of a single partner, he defeated all twenty-five heavily armed rebel knights and returned Princess Leah Cooka Rohcha to her mother Queen Mary Atchi, Lord and Sovereign Leader of the Nation of the Warrior Bunnies. Stefan Hanover's actions reflect credit upon himself, the Marine Corps, and the Saderan Empire."

The overdecorated officer, a general probably, was handed a tray by an aide, the tray held two medals with brightly colored ribbons. Stefan was a bit taken back, usually the aide holds the tray at an award ceremony while the general does the presentation. If a general is holding it, then the presenter outranks him. With a gasp from the assembled crowd, the crown princess rose and turning around she nodded to Queen Mary then stepped off the dais and approached Stefan. This was unheard of! At an award ceremony the crown would just watch with bored resignation until the ceremony was over and then he/she could get back to whatever debauchery was on their social schedule for that day. "Could we have your partner join us?" Pina asked loud enough for the VIPs to hear.

The look on Princess Pina's face was priceless when Lelu stepped up next to Stefan. "Not Hahn?" she asked quietly. "I was told she was part of the action."

"That was a bit of political showmanship on Queen Mary's part for the people and bunnies of Nangda," Stefan said as Pina picked up a medal from the tray the general was holding.

"For their great courage and for saving the crown princess's people they are awarded the Emperor's Cross," called the herald. Pina put the medals on both Stefan and Lelu, shook their hands and joined the crowd in applauding them. Not to be outdone, Mary, Hahn, and Cookie rose and gave them a standing ovation which forced the crowd to rise also. You just can't ignore when royals rise to applaud, it's just not done!

When they were done clapping and back in their seats Pina said to Stefan, "hand me your sword sergeant." He unsheathed his nicked, battered gladius, and handed it to her pommel first. Pina had been told about this sword by Lelu in the bath several nights ago and she inspected it carefully, obviously concerned about the chips and cracks in the blade, the old soldier that carried this weapon obviously had a tough life. Lelu said that Stefan carries it to remind him of that old soldiers death at the hands of Zorzal's army. He once told Lelu, "This tired old blade looks like how I feel when you're not around."

With all the dignity she could muster Pina said, "Kneel." Once they knelt she looked at the audience and declared in a loud, commanding voice, "Be it known to all that I, Crown Princess Pina Co Lada am minded to raise Stefan Edward Hanover and Lelu Nikto De Sebat by virtue of their honor, loyalty, valor, and skill at arms, to the high rank of knighthood!" when her declaration stopped echoing she then said to the kneeling couple, "Stefan and Lelu, do you swear and acknowledge me to be your true and lawful liege?"

"I do," both said.

"Do you also swear fealty to the Rose Order of Knights, to defend and obey them until relieved of duty, or death shall take you?" Pina continued.

"I do," both said.

The herald then said, "Candidates, repeat after me: I, your name, do solemnly swear and pledge my sword to the Rose Order of Knights and my liege, to defend and obey her until she departs this demesnes or death shall take me, and to uphold the honor of knighthood."

When Stefan and Lelu repeated the oath, Pina then said, "And I, for my part, do swear to defend and honor Stefan and Lelu as befits a true knight." She took the ancient gladius, that ugly short sword, its pommel stained with blood from uncounted battles, and patted the candidates on their shoulders with the sword, and as aides appeared with shiny new spurs and swords Pina announced, "I dub thee Sir Hanover and Sir Sebat. Receive now your spurs and your right to suitable arms, and my sword to your side to serve and defend me well. Arise, Sir Knights!"

The audience sat in stunned silence, a green man and an elf sworn into knighthood? Is this woman crazy? But the knights of the Rose Order of Knights shouted "Hoo Zah! Hoo Zah! Hoo Zah!" they were overjoyed to receive an elf in their midst. Again Queen Mary, and the princesses Hahn and Cookie rose and forced the nobles of the empire to give them a standing ovation. Beefeater Caty, the head of the Rose Order of Knights presented Stefan and Lelu with the ceremonial spurs, shields, and swords and suddenly they were surrounded by the Rose Order of Knights.

"How do I tell them I don't ride horses?" Stefan silently asked Lelu as he shook hands with Bozes.

"I don't either," Lelu answered as she hugged Hahn.

There was a huge reception for the new knights in the grand reception hall. The Rose Order of Knights had plans for their new recruits, and when they found out Stefan's skill with a rifle, they wanted him in the field at once. Queen Mary even addressed the audience, she stood at the podium in the reception hall, a large drink in one hand, a burning cigarette in an impossibly long ebony cigarette holder in the other and opened with a breathy, "Hiya boys," which had the guards, troops and knights howling. Even Princess Pina found herself laughing along with all her advisors. Queen Mary gave a speech on how she hoped that these events would lead to a new, more peaceful relationship between humans and Warrior Bunny, and she held up the relocation center at Alnus hill as an example. She called Itami up and teased him like a burlesque stripper would, rubbing her tail against him to the howls of his men, then she thanked him for making Alnus Hill a refuge for all humans and demi-humans, then she gave him a kiss, her red lipstick glowed on his cheek, then it faded away.

Then she called up Stefan and Lelu and told all the true story of the "Battle of Ukaru Valley" and how they freed the captives. While she spoke, Princess Pina's fairies circled over her head in rapturous excitement, there were fairies freed that day too. At the end of her speech, her lipstick turned gold and she gave them a kiss on the opposite cheeks from when she kissed them before. "You're now my knights too. I'm especially good at knight," she purred bringing loud laughter from the knights, man, and woman.

"I'm sorry, but I'm taken," said Stefan. That was the wrong thing to say, Queen Mary's hormones seemed to go into overdrive.

"Mmmm, you're a marine, aren't cha big boy," she purred bringing hoots and hollers from the men as she rubbed her body against him. Suddenly she switched over to Lelu and began hugging her from behind, her hands getting dangerously close to Lelu's breasts. "That means you're out to sea for long, long months, ain't that right dear?" Now the women in the Rose Order of Knights began hooting and pounding the table.

Suddenly the spell was broken, and she was all business. Everyone in the hall realized it too, it was time to be the queen. "When you are done with your current mission, I have work for you. I will coordinate with your commanding officer, Knight Caty, and your liege, Princess Lada. You will be briefed on your orders after the wedding." Suddenly the iron ruler was gone, and she was Mary, Burlesque Queen once again. She walked to the side of the stage where several of the Rose Knights stood mingled with the "Thank you and have a good night." Her voice dripped of sex as she stepped back to her seat

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The room that Pina had given to Stefan and Lelu was sumptuous and luxurious, according to Stefan the mattress was like sleeping on a marshmallow causing Lelu and Carny to demand an explanation as to what a marshmallow was. Neither believed that a marshmallow was a candy that originated in a swamp. Carny was bouncing off the walls with excitement, "Rose Order of Knights!" she bounced on the bed in excitement, "That's so awesome! Does that make me your page?" then she suddenly calmed down. "Why not the empire's army? Why didn't you join them?"

"If we joined the Empire's army Stefan would have had to take an oath to serve the empire, and he won't do that," explained Lelu.

"Why not?"

"Because I already swore a sacred oath to another country, and I refuse to break that oath by swearing allegiance to this empire," said Stefan.

"So, by swearing to the Rose Order of Knights he swore an oath to an organization, not a country. He joined the Rose Order without invalidating his oath to the You Ess and can quit the Rose Order any time he wants without violating an oath to the empire," said Lelu.

Carny pulled her ears down and held them together under her chin and rolled her big brown eyes skyward. "Stop! You people are so confusing!"

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Three travelers stepped off the coach at Nangda, the small outpost city, two were tall, the third was short. Their gray cloaks were pulled up over their heads against the rain and their back packs were the same drab gray as the cloak. It was a dark, dim day, a cold misty rain was falling, and a fog hung in the air making the day even gloomier. The coach dropped them off at the inn, then turned and headed to the coach house. Nangda is the end of the line and the coach and team need attention before returning to the Imperial Capital. They got a room for three and the man that signed the inn register used the name Madison Avenue.

Like all small town inns, the room was tiny, but at least it was heated. A small coal brasier roasted merrily in the corner and Stefan pulled up a stool close to it and wrapped himself in a blanket and stayed close to the flame shivering.

"What's wrong with poppa?" asked Carny.

"He's tired and achy," whispered Lelu. She was getting concerned. After returning from the gate, they were both weak and worn out, she recovered and Stefan was doing quite well, strong enough to be a threat to the guards that beat and tortured her, but ever since they started this quest to find her mother he's been sliding downhill, and ever since the rain started, his body has been wracked with pain in the joints.

"I'm ok," muttered Stefan, "just cold... and this damn rain! And why Nangda? Since coming to this world I've only seen four places, Nangda, Alnus Hill, and the palace."

"What's the fourth?" asked Carny.

"Nangda again, this time in the bloody rain," grumbled Stefan.

"He's hungry," said Carny and Lelu to each other. Stefan is always grumpy when he's hungry.

But while he sat by the fire, he was keeping an eye out the window. Down below in the rain spattered streets of Nangda, he saw four guards run to the inn. It may be nothing, but it may be trouble. "Get your cloaks on!" he shouted, accompanied by a series of coughs and wheezes. They quickly pulled on their still rain soaked cloaks and crouched in the corners, Stefan pulled his shotgun out of his pack and stood by the door waiting. He was about to jack a round into the chamber when he thought about what he was doing and swapped ends, holding the gun by the barrel like a baseball bat.

They heard booted feet stomping up the stairs and suddenly the door flew inward propelled by a heavy kick by a guard, Stefan swung, catching the guard right in the throat. The guard sagged to the ground like a sack of oats and Stefan stood over him with the gun, barrel poised over the guard's face. To the guard, the barrel of the gun looked as big around as a sewer pipe.

"I told him to knock" said the head guard.

"That's right, he did say that," said the inn keeper who was standing with the guards in the hallway.

"When you said knock, I thought you meant..." said the young guard sprawled out on the floor.

"Ah hem," said the captain as Lelu and Carny stood and revealed themselves, "The mayor requests the honor of your presence at his chateau to discuss matters of and pertaining to the witch."

Stefan who still hasn't moved yet said, "Can I shoot him?"

The captain thought for a moment while the young guard lay on the ground in terror, he heard about Stefan Hanover and the Boom Stick. "Nah," said the Captain, "I'm short handed this time of year, getting close to harvest and all."

They reconvened in the mayor's office who greeted them like long lost children. "Mister Hanover! So good to see you, Mrs. Hanover! Let me look at you! You look marvelous! And Carny! Still cute as a button!"

"Ok mayor why are we here?" said Stefan.

"It's been ages! I just wanted to catch up!" Mayor Vanderhorst was in a full jovial mode.

"It's been a month," said Stefan as they all sat. "We're not residents, we can't vote for you, what's up?"

Mayor looked uncomfortable. He gestured the guard sergeant to close the door then said, "Mahgah Boiya." Stefan started at the mayor, waiting for the punchline, but the mayor just repeated himself, "Mahgah Boya!"

"I don't get it," said Stefan, but he glanced at Carny, she looked shocked, and she began to whisper an old poem from her childhood.

"Mahgah Boya stalks the grass at night

Looking for bunnies whose head to bite..."

Lelu didn't look much better, she grabbed Stefan's hand and suddenly his head was filled with horrible stories of the evil witch Mahgah Boya feeding her unholy lusts with the souls of children that she captured and mangled, cooked alive in her stew pot that was heated on a fire built from the dried bones of the children's hapless parents.

For the first time ever, Stefan pulled his hand away to break the images she flooded his head with. "Ok, bad fairy tales, but..."

"Fairies don't have tails!" shouted Carny.

Vowing to be more careful with what he says, Stefan continued. "What I mean is that these are old fables..."

"No, they're not," said Lelu. "In Stefan's home world a witch is a practitioner of a religion..." started Lelu.

Stefan rose from his seat, "Ok, look. Back home, some people believe it, some people don't. Que Sera, Sera. But there's no scary magic..." His rant was stopped with a kiss from Lelu.

"There is magic here, and much of it is scary. An elven mage that turns to the dark side and worships Emroy becomes a witch that cannot be stopped, and they are called Mahgah Boya. Imagine Rory Mercury with magic. A lot of magic."

"Mahgah Boya hired one of the guards to kill Mister Hanover and bring his wife and bunny to her," said Mayor Vanderhorst.

"So that's how you knew we were coming here," said Stefan.

"No, your queen sent me a message, she also told us about Mahgah Boya," said the mayor. "The population of this town only half is human, the rest are mostly bunny, some foxes and cats, and a few retired bucks. So, when an elf and human couple bearing two marks of the queen arrive, someone is going to notice."

"Then let's find that witch and give her a .243 caliber enema, then get that mage so we can go get your mother," said Stefan.

"I don't think it will be that easy, but I like your thinking," smiled Lelu sadly. "First we need some fairies."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

"Ok, now watch this," said Lelu. They were both sitting by the fire in the common room of Mayor Vanderhorst's chateau, just an odd couple in love, a painfully average looking middle aged human male and a beautiful elven female, he had his arm around her, she was resting her head on his shoulder, the firelight reflecting off of her chromium hair. "I can't see the pet shop because..."

"Pet shop? Why do you want to see the pet shop?" interrupted Stefan.

"Where else are you going to get fairies? Now pay attention. I don't know where the pet shop is, but I know Carny, so I can see her. Here we can see her as she walks through the city market, now down Grind Gold Street, and there it is!" Lelu's far seeing emerald eye gave her a clear picture of Carny walking through the rain and mist, and Stefan was able to see to because Lelu shared her vision with him through their bonding. Now that she could see where the pet shop was, she could look inside before Carny got there. "They only have two, I was hoping for at least three."

The idea is that they will use the fairies to look for the witch and the mage the same way they used Carny to look for the pet store. Lelu will know the fairies and she'll be able to follow them with her farseeing emerald eye as they fly ahead of them. They watched as Carny dickered with the storekeeper and discovered she's quite good at negotiating a good price.

They met Carny in their room, she was carrying a small cage covered with a fancy looking cozy decorated with needle point and lace edging. She pulled the cover off and showed that the cage was set up like a tiny studio apartment, they had a tiny bed, a tiny dining room table and chairs, comfortable furniture, even a tiny dressing area with tiny modesty screens. The two fairies stood looking at Stefan, Lelu, and Carny who were all looking at the fairies. "It's like they're waiting for something," said Stefan.

"They're waiting for their names," said Carny. "Don't you know anything about fairies?"

"Guess not. How about Tinkerbell and..."

"No!" demanded Lelu. "They get proper names!"

Stefan looked back at his years of otaku reading between battles, alerts, exercises, and training. He loved reading the folk tales of other countries. "Ok, the brunette is Tana, and the blond is Orla."

The two darling little fairies absolutely loved their names! The fairies squealed and hugged each other and jumped up and down in joy, finally they bowed to Stefan and said, "Thank you master!"

"Those are perfect names!" sighed Lelu as she held him close and hugged him tightly, thankful for whatever reason that they were bonded. Tana, the brunette had a name that means Fairy Queen, and Orla means Golden Queen. Now that they're both named "Queen" there will be no bickering over which fairy is in charge... or possibly he made it worse.

"Now what do they want?" asked Stefan, Tana and Orla were waiting with their arms crossed under their voluminous (for fairies) breasts, toes tapping impatiently.

"They're waiting for the feast," said Carny. "It's part of the naming ceremony." She unwrapped a piece of cheese and broke off four pieces. "This is their favorite food." As she handed Stefan and Lelu a piece, he looked at it cautiously, then sniffed it. It reminded him of provolone.

"Cheese? I thought fairies liked honey and nectar and stuff like that," Stefan said as he broke off a small piece for Tana and Orla then opened the cage and handed the small piece of cheese to the fairies.

"That's their everyday food, to them, cheese is a special treat." said Carny who had raised fairies since she was a young kit. Orla and Tana hefted the piece of cheese to their table, to them it was the size of a country ham, and each broke off a large chunk. "Ok, does everyone have their cheese?" Carny asked. Then, "Itadakimasu!" and they all ate their piece at the same time. There was a sparkle of fairy dust over all five partakers of the cheese and their union was complete.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Three days out from Nangda, traveling northeast they continued to skirt the edge of the great forest Silva Bleak. The forest was named for the unique pine trees whose needles were so dark they were nearly black. Being an elf, Lelu loved forests, but Silva Bleak was so dark, so stifling that she felt uneasy just entering the woods a few meters. Sunlight didn't penetrate to the forest floor, so there was no underbrush, it was just a confusing maze of tree trunks and fallen branches on a soft mattress of pine needles. Travelers needed a lantern even on the brightest of days. The very best part of Silva Bleak was that it was perfect for sleeping during the day, since they were traveling at night, they could set up a nice comfortable camp without worry of being seen, the branches were so thick they needn't worry about rain, and they could hide in the darkness for 24 hours a day if they desired.

Lelu was starting to worry about Stefan. He's normally the type where she had to jog to keep up with him when he walks, but ever since their bonding he's slowed down, and it's like he used up what energy he had cleaning up Princess Pina's guard corps. Every day he seemed to be getting slower and slower. He never complained but she could feel the aching in his poor abused back. Old injuries were coming back to haunt him, and now she noticed that his beard was turning grey.

Before they left Nangda they bought a horse and a wagon to carry their belongings. Even though the spells Lelei put on their backpacks allowed them to carry everything they wanted, regardless of size or weight in a backpack that never weighs more than five pounds, Stefan was starting to have a hard time walking for more than an hour.

"Where is Orla and Tana?" Carny asked Stefan. They were stopped for the day and were camped about fifteen meters deep in the forest while Lelu was at the forest edge allowing their horse that Stefan named Duck Soup to feed on the grass.

"Those two? They're over there fucking again," Stefan said, pointing to a tree where the fairies chased each other around the tree trunk then up into the branches in a dizzying pattern of sparkles and glowing contrails. "Horniest damn creatures on any planet." At first, he thought they were lesbians, but both Carny and Lelu assured him that Tana, the brunette, was a boy and Orla, the blond, was a girl. Stefan had seen them naked, in fact they're naked most of the time, and they look identical to him. There was no glaring or subtle difference in their physical makeup that Stefan could see. "How do you know that Tana is a boy?" he finally asked Carny.

"Duh! She's got brown hair. Go back to sleep old man."

Lelu listened to the conversation and laughed... and then it hit her -- old man -- Stefan was aging before her eyes. When they had met, she was ordered to kill him and she was afraid of doing it because he was a vibrant man in his thirties, but now he seemed to be twice that old. And she... she felt younger, at least thirty years younger, but to an elf that's not much. She made sure that Duck Soup was staked out and she dashed back into the woods to check on Stefan. He was asleep by the time she got there, and she dropped to her knees and studied him closely. Damn it! He is aging! Aging rapidly. "What's wrong?" Carny asked.

"That witch!" swore Lelu through her tears. "She wants to kill my Stefan, she must have cast a spell on him, look how old he's getting."

"He is... we got to find that mage you've been talking about."

Lelu nodded, "I don't know if she can help, but we can't go up against a witch when he's like this." Something fluttered past Lelu leaving a trail of glittering sparkles in its wake. She called out, "Come back here you two, there's bats in the forest."

"Bats!?!" cried the fairies in unison, and like twin flaming arrows they rocketed back to their comfy little cage, and they pulled the door shut then they recharged with some honey comb they keep in a tiny cooler.

Once the fairies calmed down, Lelu covered them up then crawled under the blankets with Stefan and tried to comfort him, he was so full of aches and pain! She could feel his aches through their bond the same way he feels her terror when the memories resurface. Even now with his advancing age taking hold he will wake up when the nightmares return. He will soothe her, calming her back to sleep as he takes her terror as his own, letting her relax and slip back to sleep while he deals with the horrors she faced. Could that be why he's aging? Is it her fault?

At sunset they prepared to head out again. As Carny and Lelu packed up, Orla asked "What's wrong with papa?"

"He's feeling old, he hurts a lot," answered Carny.

"Maybe we can help," said Tana and they opened their cage door and fluttered over to where Stefan was resting, he was leaning up against a tree. He was looking up into the branches remembering the day he met Lelu. The fairies began to flutter over his head and joined hands then began shuddering. Sparkles rained down from under their skirts landing on the rousing marine.

"What are you two doing?" chuckled Stefan as he looked up and wondered where the sparkles originated.

"We're sprinkling you with fairy dust!" giggled Orla.

"Fairy dust comes out of your butt?" he asked.

"Sort of," giggled Tana as she wriggled her hips vigorously causing more sparkles to flutter down on Stefan.

"You're not pooping on me, are you?"

"Nooooo! You're silly poppa, poop doesn't glitter."

"Are you sure you're not peeing on me?"

"EWWWWWW!!!" the fairies cried in unison. "That would be gross!" insisted Orla with a pout and the fairies zipped back to their cage.

"Thank you, girls, he feels better," said Lelu and they packed up, hitched Duck Soup up to the wagon, and started to head further northeast. As they travelled parallel with the edge of the forest, they would use the fairies for Lelu's farseeing eye. Every so often they would stop and let the fairies out. Tana would fly lead and Orla fly on her wing looking for bats and predatory birds and Lelu would watch from afar by focusing on what she knew, Tana. She set her view from behind and above the fairy and that way she could look around for sign of warrior bunnies. Night after night this happened, four or five times a night, never stopping, never loosing hope. Not yet anyhow.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The moons were at their zenith when Carny walked straight out into the grassland from their campsite. After about a hundred meters she stopped and stared at a shadow on the ground ahead of her. "We're going to have lunch, care to join us?"

The warrior bunnies, Ranse and Cuthbert looked up in shock at a fellow bunny who stared down at them with amusement. "How did you know we were here?" asked Ranse. They had worked hard to camouflage themselves in the dense grass.

"My momma can see far, far away, she told me you were here. We've been riding through the grasslands for weeks looking for you. Join us, I made stew for poppa!" They gave up on staying near the forest close to a month ago when they noticed Stefan's aging and began moving through the grassland hoping to draw the attention of the warrior bunnies they knew were out here.

Over by the wagon a couple of travelers were bent over a pot, beneath it purple and red crystals glowed softly, the crystals never got warm, but their natural radiation caused the iron pot that was sitting on them to heat up, warming up the beeson stew that was gently simmering over the crystals. The couple was an old man and a young-looking elf. "This is my mom and dad!" Carny announced.

"You mean your grandpa and sister don't you?" said Ranse, a natural wiseass.

The young elf burst into tears and ran off into the grasslands while the old man just smiled sadly and tried to follow her but lost energy and leaned against the wagon. "We're looking for a mage," said Carny. "There is a mage out here with a Hutch of Warrior Bunnies. Momma Lelu says the mage can help us, but poppa Stefan says we won't find her in time." Carny fought bravely to hold back the tears as she helped Poppa Stefan into the wagon. "He says I should start looking for a hutch to join, he doesn't want me to be alone after they go."

The two scout bunnies hugged Carny. "We have a mage," said Ranse, the blond bunny.

The green haired bunny, Cuthbert held them tight, "pack up, we can be there by noon."

Lelu was in horrible shape, she'd spent the last month wandering this wild grassland that goes on forever it seems, looking for the mage, wearing out the fairies and all the while she's had to watch Stefan grow older and weaker with each breath. All she wanted to do now was to lay in the bed of the wagon with Stefan and hold him as he slowly fades away and to go with him.

She was kneeling in the long grass weeping when Carny came up. "Momma, come on, my friends have a mage. They said she can help us." She took Lelu by the hand, not the right hand, which was reserved for Stefan, but the left hand. "Come on momma, pappa's in the wagon waiting for us," Carny was in shock too, while Stefan's body seemed to age decades in their weeks of searching, Lelu's mind seemed to reflect Stefan's age. Caring for these two had worn Carny out and shattered her heart, but it's a labor of love and she's not giving up.

Duck Soup was happy to get moving, she doesn't like standing in one spot, and now there were new passengers to impress with her horsepower. Ranse and Cuthbert sat on the wagon's seat with Carny seated between them, Stefan and Lelu lay in the back snuggled together as they softly drifted off toward the end.

The sun was starting to peek above the eastern horizon, Stefan and Lelu liked to stop and have their tea about now then bed down, usually, but today they didn't say a word. Carny was worried but when she looked back at them, they were curled up in each other's arms, whispering to each other. Even Duck Soup didn't want to stop. She was a creature of habit and had gotten used to stopping at sunrise but today there were two more Warrior Bunnies to pull so something must be up.

Cuthbert looked back at their charges, she was interested in any leftover stew but as the sun came up she finally got a good look at Carny's "parents" and gasped. She nudged Ranse who was sitting on the other side of Carny and was starting to fall asleep. "Don't," mumbled Ranse who was half awake.

"Ranse!" hissed Cuthbert, "Look!"

Ranse gave a cursory glance over her shoulder and was about to say "So what?" when a little something she saw set off an alarm in her head. She almost broke her neck by turning to look back as fast as she did. There was an old human man lying on his side, and a young elven girl, barely a day over 100 curled up behind him, whispering to him, he would occasionally smile as she whispered to him, and on their cheeks bright as day to a Warrior Bunny was the bright red lipstick Mark of The Queen, a member of the Royal family. As they watched, Stefan rolled over to face Lelu and they could see a gold lipstick print on his other cheek. "He's a warrior," gasped Cuthbert.

"They both are, knights of the Bunny Empire are what Aunt Mary called them," said Carny.

Ranse grasped Carny's shoulder and demanded, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I thought you knew!" Carny said, "how many humans are married to an elf?"

"I saw him in Nangda just a couple of months ago," said Cuthbert. "Wasn't he with a troll?"

"That's my mom you're talking about," snarled Carny. "She was knighted by Princess Pina last month, first elf knighted by the Empire, ever. First green man ever knighted by the empire too, and Aunt Mary was there."

"Aunt Mary?" asked Ranse. She grabbed Carny by the chin and turned her face side to side, and there it was, hidden by a spit curl by her right ear, the red lipstick mark of the Queen. Ranse suddenly realized that she and Cuthbert were sitting on a wagon load of royalty.

"Mary...Atchi?" gasped Cuthbert. Cuthbert knew Queen Mary, she knew the Queen's address of "Hiya boys," was just a ruse to put potential threats to rest while she observed every single member of the audience. Mary was sharp as a tack, ruthless as a shark, and bent on restoring the Warrior Bunnies to their rightful place on the Falmart continent. She wants to do it while making friends with the Empire and the Green Men, but if necessary, she'll do it over their rotting corpses.

Carny nodded her head. "Aunt Mary adopted me when I was a kit."

"Can't you go any faster?" begged Cuthbert. She did not want to be the bunny to allow the only human to carry the Mark of The Queen to die on her watch.

"Duck Soup can gallop if you want," said Carny, "but papa, he's so frail..."

Ranse hopped off the wagon, "I'll go let them know you're inbound." With a bounce she took off like a rocket, sprinting faster and farther than possible for a human using every bit of speed that the Warrior Bunnies are famous for. She arrived at the hutch within an hour and let the warriors know what was happening. Within minutes the entire hutch was in an uproar, an outsider, a human is coming to the hutch to die? And Ranse said he bears the Mark of The Queen? Ranse must be insane or delusional. Only one human bears the mark of the queen and he's nowhere near as old as Ranse says.

The sun was high in the sky when the cry of "Here they come," came from a guard. Her only weapon was a long stick whittled to a point, the empire denied the Warrior Bunnies metal weapons and longbows. She saw Duck Soup start up the incline to the rise where the hutch was settled. Before long the horse and cart came into a warrior bunny settlement known as a hutch, and all the bunnies turned out when the horse drawn wagon arrived. "Help us!" cried Cuthbert as she jumped off the still moving wagon and ran to the rear of the wagon.

Ranse came running with a blanket, "How are they?"

"They're alive," called Cuthbert, "but I don't know if they'll last much longer... Oh gods, I'm sorry Carny."

Hearing Cuthbert's assessment Carny dropped to her knees in despair. "Help," the little bunny gasped, "please help."

"They got the marks!" gasped an onlooker, "They have the Queen's Mark!" she cried. This brought the entire population of the hutch running, they all knew about the Queen's Mark, but they'd never seen it before. There are seven different marks, and all three passengers in the wagon have the red mark, recognition of outstanding service to the Bunnies rewarded by entry into the royal family, and two wear gold, the defender of the Bunnies.

Fashioning stretchers out of two wool blankets, the warrior bunnies lifted the semi-conscious couple from the bed of the wagon and gently began to carry them to the clinic hut. Carny walked next to Stefan weeping, "Wake up poppa, I'm right here poppa." They walked past the mage, an ancient bunny who stood stoically watching the procession, and then they brought the elf maiden. For the first time since the mage joined the hutch the mage displayed any emotion.

"Halt!" the wizen old mage cried. She slowly walked up to the stretcher holding the elf. The shiny chrome hair, the golden eye, the perfect white gold skin. The mage reached out and ran her dried, wrinkled fingers through that chrome-colored hair and whispered, "Lelu."

Hearing her name Lelu looked up with those mis-matched, unseeing eyes and begged, "help him! I can barely feel him."

"Take them to my hut," ordered the mage. The hut was further away but the warrior bunnies followed the mage's command and dropped off the improvised stretchers in her hut. "Ok, everyone out demanded the mage. After the bunnies left the mage turned and saw that Carny was still there, she was seated between the couple, holding their hands. "I need everyone to go."

"No, I'm with them. If they stay, I stay, if they go, I go." Carny pulled out a razor-sharp steel knife and laid it within easy reach.

"Fine," huffed the ancient warrior bunny. "Move up there," she gestured to a stool in the corner. She slowly knelt between Lelu and Stefan and took Lelu's left hand in hers, avoiding the twisted and clearly injured right hand. "Lelu honey, what is happening?"

Lelu's eyes fluttered open, and she looked at the mage a few times and shook her head. "Layla?" she gasped weakly. Carny looked and the mage was someone else... but she blinked, and she saw a wizen old warrior bunny.

"Lelu, what happened?" asked the mage.

"My man, he's going, and I follow..." Lelu said softly then drifted off again.

The mage was suddenly full of fire and anger. She whirled and glared at Carny. "You! Rabbit! What is going on here?"

"I don't know!" Carny cried out, "They were fine, and we came to look for you and he started getting old, and she started getting weak and I can't help them. I want to go with them toooo," the distraught bunny's face screwed up and suddenly the flood gates opened. A month of watching her parents slipping away left Carny an emotional wreck. The thought of their leaving without her was too much to bear. Loud, heartbreaking sobs echoed through the mage's house as the sorrow of the broken bunny was let loose.

Carny's crying was getting on the mage's nerves, she was of no use to her, but the mage couldn't just throw Carny out. "Sleep!" said the mage softly and Carny slid off her stool onto the floor and began snoring gently.

"Are they going to be ok?" a tiny voice asked.

"Yeah, can you fix them?" said a different tiny voice.

The mage looked around the room and found that someone set a fairy cage on the table nearby. "Do they belong to you two?" asked the mage. Ownership is a two-way street with fairies, they belong to you, but in turn you belong to them. Both fairies nodded their heads so vigorously that fairy dust sparkled and fell from their hair. A silly thought came to the mage, it was crazy, it was insane, it was impossible, but she had to ask. "You wouldn't know if they were bonded to each other, wouldn't you?"

Orla nodded, "Uh huh."

"Oh yes! All three of them!" said Tana cheerily.

The mage squinted at the fairies and snarled, "What do you mean all THREE of them?"

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Carny was practically useless all week long, but the mage was able to give her small tasks that she could do like cleaning the house or making meals, and as long as Carny could see Stefan and Lelu, she did the tasks she was assigned. The mage also created an easy to swallow liquid meal that will keep the couple alive as they slept. Even Carny drank it because she often refused to eat solid food. The mage realized that if she didn't come up with something soon, she was going to lose all three of them. She gathered her acolytes and to her one evening and gave them the bad news. "I've tried everything, but nothing is working. I can keep them on the edge of death, I can keep their bodies alive, but healing is out of my grasp."

Stefan and Lelu lay side by side on a soft sleeping pallet that was brought into the mage's hut, Carny sat next to them, her eyes were closed, a tear occasionally rolled down a cheek that ached from crying, Stefan looks like if he's not dead, he should be, he looked centuries old, while Lelu looked like the equivalent of an elven teen. "How are you keeping them alive?" asked Phrito, a tall, slim warrior bunny. Her wombmate sister, Prindle, leaned over and gave Carny a kiss on the cheek. Her skin was salty with dried tears.

The mage just shrugged. "I give them food, such as it is, and water. I clean them and keep them warm." She ran her fingers through Stefan's shock white hair then Lelu's luxurious metallic chrome locks. "I honestly have no idea what is keeping him alive... I think she is doing it."

The leader of the hutch, Tesson Culp, a bunny nearly as old in appearance as the mage, handed her cane to the bunny at her left elbow then bent to touch first Lelu, then Stefan. Finally, she caressed Carny's sorrow filled face then rose with the help of the bucks at her sides. "So that is it? We just watch them die?" She sneered. "This must be some human magic that the green men brought with them."

The mage shook her head, "No, wise one. The green men have tools that look like magic, but in truth they have no magic at all. This I believe is elven in origin. Their fairies told me that they have been bewitched by an elven enthrallment not seen in centuries." Tana and Orla nodded as they fluttered over the sleeping couple. The mage took a deep breath and said, "I want to take them to Vinnofri and request assistance from an elven mage." She waited in fear of reprisal. Hidden in the Unnamed Mountains, protected by marvelous and deadly traps created by the dwarves long before elves and humans ever stepped foot on Falmart, Vinnofri was the last great elven city. Rumors abound, but most people believe that Vinnofri is now an empty shell, populated only by ghosts and fairies. People like Tesson Culp and the mage know better.

Tesson thought about it then finally said in her gravelly voice, "Is there a chance of this, whatever it is, spreading to us?"

Just then Carny crawled up on the bed and snuggled down between Stefan and Lelu and said, "Poppa is looking for me."

The mage's face became deeply concerned, Carny had been saying "Momma wants something" or "Poppa needs me" more and more over the past week. Something must be going on between the three of them and she needs to figure out what that is. "I don't know for sure," said the mage, "I don't know if it is race or species specific. I had a guess that it didn't affect bunny-kind, but I think little Carny just proved that guess wrong."

The hutch leader became concerned. "Go to Vinnofri. Take whatever you need." Tesson Culp remembered when Carny was orphaned, her mother and sisters were killed in a goblin attack, the poor little thing was barely old enough to walk and she was left alone in a field for three days, they almost lost her then. Mary Atchi dropped everything to take on saving the poor dear and although she's queen now with many responsibilities, she will drop everything for one of her kits if needed. With the political atmosphere of Falmart in such an uproar Tesson wants the queen to be able to concentrate on all warrior bunnies without distraction.

"I think I will need..." but Tesson held up a hand stopping the mage.

"You've been with us a long time, I think you understand us now," said Tesson. "Go, save my bunny, take everything that you need, and if we meet again, it will be without masks." The two crones hugged, then Tesson departed with a final look at the sleeping family.

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

The mage departed for Vinnofri a few days later with the sleeping family in a larger wagon pulled by two horses. Joining Duck Soup was a second mare named Erie, but in one of her wakeful periods Carny renamed her Cocoanut, "because poppa likes that name better than Erie." The mage was joined by two adventurous demi-humans, Glencove and Jolietta. Jolietta DaBers was a young and excitable cat girl with long pink hair, brown ears and tail and large breasts. She is good at whatever tasks she is given, but occasionally needs encouragement to keep her focused on the task, otherwise she is humorous and self-confident. Glencove Chiton was an older and more serious fox girl, she is tall and extremely slender with short dark green hair, red tipped with white ears, and a red tipped with white tail. Both were acolytes of the mage and the mage trusted them with any order she could give them.

The new wagon has a spring suspension and was a smoother ride so they could move faster when on even ground. Halfway through the first day Carny woke up. She was groggy and weak, but she seemed oddly happy. "Momma says I'm going to a better place," she smiled. But the mage, Glencove, and Jolietta were worried about her. "Going to a better place" struck a nervous chord with them.

They were traveling during the daytime because the grasslands have many ruts and creeks hidden by the grass that would jar the sleepers and break an axle or even a horse's leg if hit at night. That evening when they stopped for dinner Glencove tried to start a fire. She collected what fuel she could find in the open grassland, several dead bush branches and dried beeson chips. She stacked them up and located some dried lichen for kindling and started scratching flint against steel.

"No fire!" Carny demanded. "It draws wolves." Carny opened her pack that Lelei La Lelena had enchanted and reached deep into it. It appeared that her arm went deeper into the backpack than the backpack would normally allow. She extracted two canvas bags, opening them she showed that one contained red crystals about a foot long and as big around as a roll of quarters, the other bag contained purple crystals of the same size. Carny laid the crystals side by side alternating red and purple crystals.

"So?" asked Glencove. The crystals didn't appear to be doing anything.

"Now watch. This is some of momma's elf magic and some of my magic." She took the swamp duck eggs that Jolietta gathered and scrambled them in a bowl. Then she took an iron frying pan and laid it on the crystals which began to glow softly. She pulled a pack of herbs and seasonings from her backpack and added some to the eggs and beat them briskly. Then taking some bacon from her pack she chopped it up fine and sprinkled the chopped bacon in the pan. Soon the bacon began to sizzle, the pan was heating because of the magical radiation from the crystals. "Steel pans work also but cast iron are the best," Carny said as she stirred in the eggs and worked them around to get all the bacon goodness in them. Soon all were feasting on the best scrambled eggs they had ever tasted.

After cleaning up with water she drew from a nearby creek and ran through a filter then heated in an iron pot over the crystals, Carny crawled between Stefan and Lelu and went back to sleep.

"I made the eggs just the way you like them poppa," said Carny as she waded out into the warm sea to wash her hands then waved at momma and poppa up on the beach. They were laying on a blanket in the shade and were curled up together as young lovers would do. She finished washing up then ran up to the beach and snuggled up with them.

The mage inspected the crystals in awe. This wasn't warrior bunny magic, and it wasn't elven magic, where did this come from? She was told that "Poppa" was a green man, but he wasn't from the same tribe as the Itami green men. She had heard that "poppa's" tribe was much more powerful than the Itami tribe, do they have magic? Did he bring these crystals across the divide?

"No, I told you, the green men don't have magic, they have machines. We got those crystals from Mister Kato."

"Carny? What are you doing in my head?" The mage was shocked, a warrior bunny was in her head!

The sexy little warrior bunny looked at the mage innocently, "I didn't take anything, I'm just telling you.

"Rabbit! Tell me how you speak to me like an elf!"

"How would you know how an elf talks? You're a warrior bunny like me... right?"

Glencove and Jolietta stared at the wizen mage who appeared to be arguing with empty space. "They were right," gasped Glencove, "you are a witch."

Jolietta sat on the driver seat of the wagon and grinned, her cute, pixyish face came aglow when she smiled like that. "I've never seen a witch before."

The mage looked even older. "I'm not a witch," she said. "You need to know that this trip may not be simple duty for you two. I know that you signed up with us to help us with Stefan and Lelu, but I think we won't be needing that kind of help any more. If you'd like to head back to the hutch, please go now, because we will be entering elf territory and there may be no safe returning."

Once upon a time the relationship between elves and demi-humans like warrior bunnies, foxes, and cats was cordial, even friendly, but with the upswelling of the empire in recent centuries, they no longer saw each other as allies. As the empire carved the continent into shreds and the gods Harvey and Emroy continued to battle each other, elves and demi-humans began to treat each other as enemies.

"If there's a chance that you and Carny are in danger, then I will be there for you," said Glencove.

"Me too," said Jolietta bravely, "As my gran used to say, in for a penny, in for a pound." From a pocket in her smock, she produced a short stick that was shaped and sharpened against a flat rock into a wooden dagger.

"This isn't a tale that you will tell your kit and grandkids," insisted the mage, "you may not come back."

"The empire captured the last two bucks they had at this hutch," said Glencove. "They hunt us foxes down with their hounds, our reynards lead them away from us vixens and our kits and the reynards never come back, there's going to be no more kits or kittens to entertain with stories."

The mage knew that what Glencove said wasn't theater, it was the truth, that hutch was done for. Most of the mage's work was supporting suicidal bunnies who'd reached the end of their fertility with no kits. Warrior bunnies don't live for war, they live for their babies, their kits, and to suddenly realize that they've lived their seven decades of fertility and have had no progeny to gather around themselves was soul shattering. "I..." the mage started, then realized that telling these two warrior bunnies to go back to their hutch was useless, this journey may be a one-way trip and end in a pool of blood, but it will be better than going back to grow old and die with your hutch mates weeping for the children that never were.

Carny climbed out of the back of the wagon and clumsily fell to the ground, she grunted as she landed on her back. Glencove and the mage started toward her, but Carny waved them away and worked her way to her feet. Then reaching over the rear board of the wagon she grabbed Stefan's backpack and shoved her hand into it. She reached deep, deep into the pack and pulled out two steel knives, each was nearly as long as Stefan's gladius sword. Each knife was in a leather sheath and was from the SDF armament shop and Carny handed a knife each to Glencove and Jolietta. The ban on metal weapons was put in place years before Glencove was born so both demi-humans were unfamiliar with the heft of a quality blade. "Poppa says you can have them, but he wants me to put them back if you die," said Carny.

Glencove and Jolietta both laughed at Carny's remark, but the mage snarled "She wasn't joking, this is going to get ugly." The laughing cat and fox stopped their chuckling, both knew that the mage never joked about anything.

Carny sagged slowly to the ground and sat cross legged in front of the large iron Dutch oven that had a half dozen maroon and mauve heat crystals on the lid, they glowed softly in the darkness, warming up the iron and baking a Journey Cake, an elven bread that was delicious and filling and perfect to eat when on a long trip. "Might as well show them auntie," Carny said. "They need to get used to it before we get to Vinnofri."

The mage sighed. She had no idea how Carny figured it out, but she guessed that Lelu had something to do with it. The mage unwound the shawl from her shoulders and somehow her appearance changed as naturally as a leaf gently fluttering on a tree in a slight breeze. She was no longer the old, tired bunny that groaned with each pain wracked step, but now she was a tall, curvaceous elven maiden. She had beautiful light golden skin, long sexy legs, rounded hips, a narrow waist, and large breasts. Her face is beautiful, high cheekbones, a tiny nose, and her face was rounded perfectly to a pointed chin, her eyes sparkled and shimmered metallic silver and her hair was a beautiful, shining gold. Not blond, not yellow, but perfectly polished metallic gold, in the same way her twin sister's hair was metallic silver.

"Who are you?" gasped Joliette.

The elf sighed, "I am Layla Barada Tu Tamuz."

While they were entranced by Layla's transformation, Lelu had eased out of the wagon. She was loath to leave Stefan alone, but this was almost as important. She stepped up to Layla, her near identical mirror image and the elven women stared at each other, studying each other's face. Layla stood trembling as Lelu wrapped her arms around her. "Oh, gods how I missed you!" gasped Lelu.

Slowly, almost reluctantly Layla's arms wrapped around Lelu, and she whispered hoarsely, "I am so sorry..." and they hugged tightly, shuddering in a combination of sorrow and excitement.

"That's my auntie Layla," said Carny happily to Jolietta and Glencove.

"Please don't tell me that you're the witch who hired the guards to kill Stefan and bring me..." sobbed Lelu.

"I'm sorry sweety, I wanted you back, I miss you," wept Layla. "I didn't want him killed, just out of the way."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Vinnofri, the last great Elf city of the north, was hidden in the depths of the great forest Silva Bleak and protected by the ramparts of an ancient dwarven mine. The elves won the war against the dwarves and drove them out of the elves sacred forest and into the mountains of ice and snow, the mountains whose names must not be said aloud, or they will send the great rivers of ice to scour the lowlands. Unfortunately, the elves did not win the war against the humans and were forced to move their entire city to a location the humans could never reach them. And now the small party of three warrior bunnies, two elven maidens and one near death human must reach the most secure location on the continent.

Two moonless nights after revealing herself the party found themselves at the edge of the Sylvan Bleak Forest. As she helped a woozy Carny clean up the campsite Layla caught Glencove packing her bag. "Where are you going?"

Glencove sucked up a deep draught of air and set her jaw firm. "I'm going back to the hutch. I'm going to let them all know what you are."

"That's not going to happen, even if I let you live and you make it back to the hutch, Tesson Culp will be looking for you. She's not going to let you ruin everything we have established." Layla wasn't using a threatening tone of voice, she let her staff do the talking for her. The staff she carried as a bunny mage had a large knot of wood at the end making the staff look like a threatening club. When she revealed herself, that knot became a large, rounded piece of mármaros, the forbidden mineral. Mármaros is a white opaque rock that humans used to use for sculpting until they discovered the hard way that mármaros had an inner life that elven mages can access. Two hundred years ago the first imperial palace was destroyed when the statues of their proud ancestors came to life and attacked.

The sphere of mármaros on Layla's staff began to glow with a soft white light, not a threatening light, but unexpected. "Douse that!" demanded Glencove, "You'll bring down every..." Suddenly a beam of opaque white light reached out from Layla's staff and touched Glencove's forehead.

Tesson Culp turned and frowned, "Why are you here Glencove? Didn't I give you a task to perform?"

Glencove looked around and gasped, she was surrounded by black, the only thing she could see was the leader of their hutch, Tesson Culp. "What kind of witchcraft is this?" gasped Glencove.

"It's elven magic, you blithering fox," snarled Tesson. "Do you need to know the name of the spell she used also?

"But... but... but the mage! She's not a bunny!" gasped Glencove.

Tesson shrugged her ancient shoulders. "I know, and she never said she was a bunny. What's your point?"

"She's an elf! She's an elven mage!"

Tesson nodded and smiled happily. "They're the very best kind of mage."

"But she knows our secrets! She'll tell the elves!"

"She will tell them what secrets dear vixen? How to make a salad out of sawgrass? How to sharpen a stick with a flat rock?" Tesson Culp was taunting Glencove now.

"But... but... but..."

"Pull yourself together Glencove, you're wearing steel on your hip. You're the first demi-human to do so in generations." She pointed at the large Japanese blade hanging from Glencove's belt, "Show us that you've earned that honor."

"But Tesson, she deceived us!"

"She deceived some of us," said Tesson, "the leadership of the hutch knew her for who she is." Tesson stepped closer to Glencove and spoke in a softer voice. "For the past fifty years the elven mage Layla Barada Tu Tamuz has been hiding among us. While we gave her shelter, she honed her craft and grew in strength. And as she increased in power she cured our ills, mended our bones, delivered our kits." Tesson Culp seemed to grow in size as she lectured Glencove. "Our races are in decline, the elves, and the warrior bunnies, and the foxes, and the cats, and it is up to You and Jolietta to reverse that trend. You must get the human man to Vinnofri alive, and if he lives You must accompany him to the lair of Zorzal El Caesar where the treasure of the Warrior Bunny race and the Fox race is held and bring it back here! If you do this, You will save two races."

Glencove started at Tesson Culp in complete shock, her mouth hung open as she stared at the old bunny. "Yes mom," she gulped. Tesson never reminds her, but Glencove will never forget how the old bunny found her in an empty fox den waiting for her parents to come home, but they never did. Jolietta came to the hutch in a similar way.

Tesson Culp smiled and ruffled Glencove's hair. "Now there's a good vixen. You were always my favorite. Now go! Go play with your little friends!"

"Yes mom," Glencove said as the image faded returning Glencove to their camp at the edge of the Silva Bleak Forest. The elven mage Layla Barada Tu Tamuz just smiled sadly and said, "Sorry, I didn't want to bring your mom in on this."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

They found the entrance to the Silva Bleak Forest easily, it was a narrow, but well-manicured path through the forest that just happened to open before them. They were in the forest just a short time when it seemed like the path closed behind them and they were swallowed by black. Oddly enough, it didn't seem to bother Duck Soup or Cocoanut, they strolled along like they were walking under the shining sun.

As they drew closer to Vinnofri Lelu was more active which meant that Carny spent more time asleep with Stefan trying to keep him alive. The idea was to join him in his "vacation" at the sea and interact with him, keeping his mind active. Unfortunately, Carny was a warrior bunny, and they don't handle the worlds of elven mysticism very well. Quite often she would awake and inform Lelu that "He is slipping." These announcements caused Lelu to lay down next to Stefan, which is where she wanted to be anyhow, and convince him to hang to his tenuous grip on life.

The forest was pitch black and stifling hot and Lelu decided to try "faerie vision" again. As they did with the vast grasslands, the fairies Orla and Tana scouted ahead, and Lelu was able to look through their eyes at the obstacles ahead through her emerald eye, but there were no obstacles, the path was straight, smooth, and horribly narrow. Lelu quickly realized that the fairies could see quite a bit, it was almost like being in the forest weeks ago before she and Stefan were stricken. She wondered if there was some form of sorcery making the trip invisible to elves and bunnies.

For close to the wagon illumination, Layla's staff provided a soft white light all around them, but that light was gobbled up by the forest, so it was nearly impossible to see anything but tree trunks on either side of the wagon and pitch black beyond those trees. Ahead of them stretched the path, but they could barely see a wagon length ahead of their horses' noses.

"Why are you doing this?" Layla asked Lelu.

Lelu turned to look at Layla slowly. "I have to," she said softly. "If he goes, I go... and I think I want to go now." Her strength was waning, she wished she knew what was going on but whatever was sucking the life out of her was also sucking the age out of her. She now looked decades younger than her identical twin sister, but it seems to be adding age to Stefan. He's only awake a few minutes a day now, and in that time she and Carny work hard to get him to eat and drink before he slips back unconsciousness.

Suddenly the fairies Orla and Tana returned chittering and singing, "We're here!"

"We're always here you silly bugs," said Jolietta. "No matter where you are, you're always here."

Ignoring the warrior bunny Orla and Tana danced over Lelu and Layla's heads. "We're here! We're here!"

"I don't understand," said an exhausted Lelu, "we should have days more to travel."

Her sister shook her head. "Travel to Vinnofri isn't a matter of time or distance, but a matter of need."

"Well, I'm told we need them," sighed Lelu, glad this strange ordeal was over. She almost cried with relief, she's only known Stefan for months of his life, but through their bond she's emotionally known him his entire life and to see a strong, vital man brought down like this was heartbreaking. She was so tired... but it's over. Even if they die, they can finally rest. "Our need is opening the path?"

"No, that's not how it's done," Layla said. "They don't care if we need them, all that matters is if they need us. Haven't you noticed how the path just opened before us? If they didn't want us, we'd never see the city gates."

Before long the forest opened up, and it literally opened up. Glencove and Jolietta were walking alongside Duck Soup and Cocoanut and saw shafts of light appearing in the dark ahead. The light was from sunlight reflecting off light gray stone beyond the trees, they were visible to the bunnies because the trees were moving out of their way.

And suddenly the trees all stepped aside; they were out of the forest. Ahead of them sat the Unnamed Mountains and the ruins of Serak Torvuk, the last great dwarven mine. Ahead of them lay a gate in a huge wall of light gray rock, huge, sculpted faces framed the sides of the gate. Ghastly and alien they terrified Glencove and Jolietta, "What are those?" gasped Jolietta.

"Dwarves," shrugged Layla. Decades of studying arcane texts prepared her for such sights.

Now the path was a smooth stone road beneath the wagon. Duck Soup and Cocoanut's hooves clattered on the smooth stone road, it looked like a floor as one would see in a grand palace, and it was slowly descending. Lelu looked back and saw that the wall was solid behind them. Did the gate make a noise when it closed? If so, was it drowned out by the clattering by the hooves of the horses?

The path led them underground, it was like following a wide avenue between two buildings but there was a ceiling over their heads. The ceiling was covered with pipes, tubes, beams, and cables, and they were all made from tarnished golden metal. Strange devices lurked in the shadows, Lelu tried to show them to Stefan as he drifted to wakefulness, and all he told her was that they were "machines."

Over the clatter of the horse's hooves could be heard a more sinister clattering of machines that were following them in the shadows. Lelu looked back at one with her emerald eye and what she saw terrified her, it was like a large metal spider that was carrying a javelin on its back. The spider followed them closely as if daring someone to come and fight, but they didn't attack. Lelu got the feeling that they were making sure no one deviated from their assigned path, and she chose not to look back again. Eventually they could hear water as it dripped from overhead pipes and gushing in culverts below them, and then a strange growling began to echo off the dark walls, but that turned out to be Carny snoring.

Like the path through the woods, the path underground was arrow straight and very dark, only the light glowing from Layla's mármaros orb illuminated the area immediately around the wagon. But the dark didn't seem to bother the horses, like in the forest Duck Soup and Cocoanut plodded along seemingly happy with the clatter they were making with their iron shoes on the hard stone floor. The fairies Orla and Tana were having a field day flittering here and there and occasionally returning to the wagon with small gold-colored treasures they found lying in the corners. "What are these girls?" Layla asked.

"Don't know," said Tana, happily panting from hauling a small gold sphere back to the wagon.

"Poppa will know," said Orla as she looked at the growing pile of small items they've been hauling back. For over a month the fairies were either overworked or neglected but worst of all they were deprived of cheese, but this was a dream come true. Being able to fly as far and as much as they want indoors where a crosswind doesn't exist has always been a fairy's dream, this is a reward that is equal to a full wedge of provolone.

Finally, the path started to tilt up and the poor horses had to pull harder. Glencove and Jolietta hopped off the wagon again and walked alongside with their packs on their backs and Layla soon joined them. Lightening the load made it easier for the poor horses. Eventually they made it above ground and found themselves in a small open field facing a large grove of trees. "We're there," sighed Layla.

Lelu opened her exhausted eyes and began to silently beseech Stefan to wake up. "We're here honey."

As Stefan started to rouse, elves approached them from the trees, males and females approached, and when the word went back to the trees that horses, a warrior bunny, a foxgirl and a catgirl were with them, elven children raced out from under the trees to see and to touch the mythological beasts that men have harnessed and often ride.

"We're here honey," said Lelu, "We're going to be ok."

Stefan's eyes opened and they searched for Lelu, but he couldn't find her. As his lids drooped closed he remembered a joke that once made her laugh, "Elvish has left the building," and he drifted off.

"No!" gasped Lelu, and she held him close and drifted with him.

Glencove was a bit unnerved by the children, it's been a long time since she's seen children of any species, but the much younger Jolietta crouched down and talked with the children because all the elf children spoke Saderan which has become the lingua franca of the Falmart continent. Soon a crowd of children formed around the smiling cat girl and Jolietta was overwhelmed by their smiles and affection. "Hey! Don't touch me there!" she cried as a tiny elf child, barely old enough to walk, tugged her tail.

"Why not?" a rambunctious elf boy asked.

"Because it feels like this!" and she began tickling the elf lad until he squirmed to get away. This caused the crowd of children to grow, and Joliette found herself being led off toward the copse of trees nearby by the happy mob.

"Children!" called a female voice, "Come on, back to class!" A female elf came up to the crowd of youngsters clapping her hands. "Awwww!" reluctantly the little ones let go of Jolietta and clustered around their teacher, eager to tell her what they learned about bunnies, foxes, cats, and horses. The elf raised her hand, all chatter slowed, "When the hand goes up, the mouth goes shut!" she said softly, and she led her little tribe of elvlings off into the woods.

"It's a school," said an elderly elf to Jolietta with some pride. "It's something we saw the bunnies doing so we're trying it here."

A tall graying elf came up to Layla and said, "Sister mage, you can let your horses roam, this is an enclosed canyon, they will find food and water and won't wander off."

As he said that, about eight elves descended on the wagon and were considering Stefan strangely. One cried out, "He's human! How can this be right?"

The graying elf turned to Layla and demanded, "He's human?"

A second elder stepped up to the elf and Layla and said, "Of course he's human, that's why we brought him here." The second elder had a staff like Layla with an orb of mármaros and he wore the peaked, broad brimmed hat in the style of the arch mages. "The human bonded with one of us, we must study this phenomenon."

"Please, that's my sister he's bonded to... can you maybe... separate them?" Layla asked.

The mage didn't answer, he shook his head then waved his left hand toward Layla and her own hat of the arch-mages appeared on her head. "Sister, why do you hide your badge of office from us? Are you not proud of your educational achievements?"

"Chancellor," said Layla with a bow, "I have been living with the warrior bunnies for five decades, they are leery of witches and witchcraft."

"As are we all," said the wizard, "the last witch we had on Falmart brought forth the gods Harvey and Elroy from the infernal realms, we don't need a battle like that again."

Layla nodded, it has taken centuries for Harvey and Elroy to settle their differences and coexist in this new world where they found themselves trapped. "Agreed, but I found it best that the bunnies consider me a mere healer, what they consider to be a mage, in that way I could study and advance my true skills."

The chancellor gestured to Layla to follow him, then turned to supervise the offloading of Stefan, Lelu, and Carny from the wagon by the squad of elves. "You are quite an astute arch mage Layla Barada Tu Tamuz. I would be honored if you came to the academy to lecture and maybe to address our first graduating class."

~~~~~~*~~~~~~

Stefan woke to the singing of birds and the soothing morning breeze that streamed through the open window. The breeze smelled of trees, flowers, pastures, it was wonderful. But the best smell of all was the scent of his lover. He looked to his left and there was Lelu, she was propped up on an elbow waiting for him to rise.

"Good morning," Lelu said with a beautiful smile. Stefan answered her with a kiss. It was a kiss for the ages, all the pain and sorrow of their journey was washed away, and he flooded his woman with love and adoration. Questions like "Where am I?" and "What day is it?" faded away, at that moment his life was Lelu and nothing more. He was awake, he was with her, they were naked, and their lips and tongues were starting a reunion that both were aching for. As their tongues caressed each other his arms wrapped around her and pulled her close, her firm breasts pressing against his chest. She held his face with her hands and mewled her joy that he was back!

As they caught their breath his excitement mounted, he was feeling good, all his senses worked and Lelu was here with him, what could be better? "Tell me it's real, tell me this isn't a dream, tell me it's over."

Lelu looked him in the eye and with a smile she slowly said, "Sina na vamme a ól, kes's ilya anwa."

Stefan always considered Quenya an ugly sounding language, kind of slobbery, kind of guttural, it wasn't lyrical, it wasn't musical. However, it was a magical language, and you couldn't lie when speaking Quenya, and right now Quenya never sounded so good as when Lelu told him, "This is not a dream, it's all real."

With a laugh of joy Stefan rolled over until he was on top of Lelu and kissed her with all the love and gratitude he had in his soul, but in the middle of that kiss she rolled him over onto his back with her inhuman strength. "I need your tongue," he heard her ask in his mind. To elves cunnilingus is for lesbian love only, they don't consider it wrong for a man to do it to a woman, they just don't do it. (Think of it like cattail root, a delicious vegetable that tastes delightful. Most people don't eat it because they don't eat it and for no other reason.)

Stefan created a cunnilingus fanatic when he treated Lelu to his tongue. "Come here love," he said and gripping her athletic butt cheeks he lifted her until her pussy was right at his mouth. This was perfection he decided, the warm summer breeze coming in the window, and the love of his life crouching on his face. He began flicking his tongue over her clit and she began to croon gentle little noises. It seemed like it's been months since he had this pleasure, and the best part of this is, if he wants, he can feel it all, every lick, every kiss, every pinch of the nipple. Every time his tongue flickered over her clit, he felt her pleasure exactly like she felt and soon he found himself crooning along with Lelu. "This is where I belong," thought Stefan.

"Wait for it, my love," Lelu's thought came into his head, "it will get better."

Thinking Lelu was talking about her orgasm (her orgasms were so exceptionally powerful that he's afraid to experience them fully with her) he gently continued to love her pussy with his lips and tongue while being able to experience how it feels to her. It was weird, he felt the delightful stimulation of her clitoris, but at the same time his cock was rock hard and throbbing with neglect. He wanted to hold back, to prolong this, but the feeling was so exquisite, so sexually powerful that he couldn't stop if he tried. Lelu grabbed his hair and held his mouth to her pussy as he pinched both of her nipples hard, and they both teetered on the precipice

"I'm going to cum!" cried Lelu and Stefan. Weeks and weeks of pent-up sexual desire exploded as both came in a tsunami of release. Lelu jerked and spasmed on Stefan's face and screamed "Oh mime iluvátar!" (Oh my God!) while Stefan's cock throbbed untouched and spewed shot after shot of cum that splattered on her back and his chest. The jolting release was intoxicating, Stefan could even feel the sensation of Lelu's elven cervix trying to close on her lover's cock. No wonder why the elves didn't do oral sex that much, it's a frustrating feeling for the girl to have no cock inside of her to grasp.

Lelu leaned forward and propped herself up against the wall with her hands and they lay panting in the wonderment of it all. Slowly she got off the bed and on her wobbly legs she went to the side table and soaked a soft cloth in water from the pitcher and turned to clean up Stefan. "You came a luka!" she gasped as she wiped his spend off his chest.

"A luka?" he chuckled.

"Yeah, luka, it's a unit of measure, it's a..." she rattled around in her head then in Stefan's head looking for the appropriate word and said, "It's like a pint."

"I feel like it, whew! I've never felt so drained!" he said as she turned to face the footboard. He took the cloth and wiped her back.

"And you're still hard," she said.

"At my age, this is a verifiable miracle," he chuckled.

"Honey, you're not your age anymore," she said and leaned over. "It's my turn now," she crooned and began to clean the cum from his cock and balls with her mouth. Lelu moved and lay down on Stefan in a perfect 69 and any thought of questioning what she meant by that statement was lost. They started again, gently licking and kissing each other yet enjoying their own thrills and the sexual responses of their lover. Stefan was gentle this time, letting her make love to his cock with her mouth while being content with kissing Lelu's thighs, sending chills throughout her body. "I love you," he whispered.

"We love you too," whispered Lelu and as she took his cock into her mouth, Stefan felt a second mouth start to suckle his balls. The thrill was indescribable, but he had to know who this was. He tried to sit up, but Lelu chuckled around the head of his cock and refused to let him move. He's twice as big as she is, he should be able to make her move, but elves are four times stronger than humans and she had no problem keeping him in place.

Two tongues, two sets of lips slid over his cock and balls, licking him, sucking him, their ministrations were delicate and wonderful. Then it seemed like Lelu was giving a lesson, occasionally she would say, "Right here," and the tongue would slide over a very sensitive portion of his cock, or when the other mouth started plunging down on his cock Lelu would say, "be careful with your teeth, you're scraping him." Of course, Lelu was right, she could feel what Stefan was feeling just as he felt it, and her moans joined his as the second mouth gained confidence.

Lelu soon sat up and Stefan felt bodies shifting on the bed. When Lelu sat up her hips rotated bringing her ass in line with his mouth and Stefan chose to avail himself of the opportunity. His tongue began to dance around her ass, pressing against her anus trying to force its way inside her. "Don't!" gasped Lelu, "that feels so weird," but her mind said that it felt nice, and her libido told Stefan to keep doing it. Snakey thrills shot from Lelu's ass as his tongue slithered around her asshole, trying to force itself into her causing the thills to permeate both bodies. The tongue and lips on Stefan's cock slid up and down in beautiful, wet harmony that he and Lelu felt close to cumming again.

Lelu was keeping something from Stefan, and she now decided it was time to let him know what was going to happen. He felt the bodies shift and when he opened his eyes and was facing him now, her nose barely touched his. "Don't freak out, and be gentle, it's her first time." She rolled away and there was Carny crouched over him, she was trying to line up his cock with her pussy.

Poor Carny's face was a confusion of lust, love, doubt, and terror. She had that look of abject fear that she had the moment the big Chinook took off lifting them from Alnus hill. "Come here bunny," Stefan said softly, and Carny smiled that heart breaking cute smile of hers and dove for him. He held her close and as her shaking calmed down, he gathered Lelu in with them. "What is this?" he asked Lelu silently. "She calls me poppa and looks to me for fatherly guidance and advice, is it incest? You and I are bound together for all eternity, is this cheating?"

"This is us," answered Lelu, "this is our love."

Then another voice popped into Stefan's head. "Love me poppa. Love me like you love momma."

"It seems like you learned a new trick while I was asleep," said Stefan aloud. Carny grinned and nodded her head.

"She's not bonded the same way we are," said Lelu, "but she can talk with us in our minds." A picture of a piece of paper with writing on it appeared in Stefan's mind, the paper said, "She can't read what we are thinking, and she can't share our thoughts unless we give them to her."

"Good to know." He then turned his attention to Carny. "Relax my waskily wabbit," which caused Carny to grin, she loves it when he calls her that. And suddenly their lips met for Carny's first kiss. It was a long, beautiful kiss, lips pressing, tongues entwined, her arms and legs wrapped around Stefan. Then Stefan turned and kissed Lelu bringing her into Carny's first kiss.

Stefan wanted to kiss his way down to Carny's pussy and make sure that she's ready for what was to come, but she held him tight. "She's ready dear," said Lelu.

"I'm really ready poppa," said Carny with a bit of a nervous giggle.

"Don't worry, you can't get her pregnant," added Lelu. "You're still pretty weak, but I know she'll enjoy it."

Stefan nodded. Warrior Bunnies are shock ovulators, she would need a really rigorous fuck to break an egg cell free from her ovaries and he wasn't quite ready for that. He leaned back and looked down at her pussy, glistening in her moisture, her clit was swollen, and the tiny bud was extended, ready for him. He lined the head of his cock up with her virgin hole and eased forward. "Oh poppa!" she sighed and reached up for him as his cock spread her open for the first time.

He lowered himself and she wrapped her hands around his neck. Her ebony hair was spread around on the mattress like a halo around her head, her ears flopped out to the sides giving her a comical look, and the expression on her face was a mixture of joy and hunger. When Stefan was sure that he wasn't hurting her, he began to fuck. Carny's head rolled back as the delight of the big, virile cock inside of her began sliding in and out, her large, delightful breasts began wobbling in time with his thrusts, her nipples describing circles and they fucked. He started with nice gentle strokes, making love to her sweetly to ensure her first time was a loving delight.

But warrior bunny's ideas of delight are different from human women or elven maids, warrior bunnies would be more delighted with an eighteen-year-old human male who just completed Marine basic training and was filled with a seething overdose of testosterone; a walking erection in dire need of a pussy to plunder. Carny began to fuck Stefan from below, her ankles were locked at his hips, and she was driving him into her as she grunted, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" with every stroke and at the same time she'd arch her hips up to capture every sweet millimeter of his cock.

Stefan was more than happy to return her aggressive desires and began fucking her with all the strength his weakened body could produce. Her breasts wobbled frantically on her chest as he pounded her with every bit of strength he had. Suddenly her eyes flew open wide, and she gasped in surprise, "I'm cumming poppa! I'm cumming!" Her eyes closed and she squeezed him as hard as she could with her arms, legs, and pussy. Her cooch clamped down on his cock as tightly she could, and her body shook as waves of sexual release crashed over her. Lelu snuggled close, her mind piggybacking on her husband's pleasure, and as Carny experienced her very first real orgasm ever, their pheromones mingled drawing them tight, making the three individuals one loving entity. Wave after wave of blissful release exploded in her brain, washing away those horrible days watching Stefan slowly fade away.

Finally, released from the power of her orgasm Carny released Stefan, her arms and legs spread wide as she panted. Then as he was about to start again, she grinned, "Let's do it the right way this time!"

Stefan and Lelu looked at each other in surprise, "the right way?" but Carny flipped over and raised her round ass into the air and waited on knees and elbows. "Come on poppa!" she called. "Bunny style!" With a grin Stefan took his position behind Carny and lined his cock up with her pussy. It was unnerving for Stefan, never in his life had he ever imagined doing doggy style with a girl that has a tail. His nervousness caused Lelu to start laughing. "What's so funny back there? I'm waiting!" Carny called.

"You asked for it," Stefan growled and slammed his cock into her pussy causing Carny to moan, "Mmmmmm just like that." Stefan stepped up the pace causing Carny to groan, "Oh poppa, you are the best."

"Yer damn right," he panted as he began fucking her as hard as he could. He held on to her hips and yanked her body back at him as his hips swung forward causing their groins to meet with a loud CLAP! with every pounding thrust.

"Oh yes... that's so good," Carny groaned, "so gooood," as her pussy was pummeled by the human she loved. He's not as big as the warrior bucks that she's seen, but she loved him, and that makes up for a few lost inches.

Lelu knelt behind Stefan, her hands running over his chest, finding his nipples then pinching them, her pelvis rubbing against his ass. Sweat poured down his body as he tried to savagely fuck this bunny and Lelu helped him, encouraging, and kissing his shoulders. For his part Stefan was overwhelmed, he could feel his love's breasts rubbing against his back, her hands roaming his body, while his cock was buried in a very hot, very tight pussy. Carny's back was smooth and sexy, shaped like a cello, her narrow waist and large round ass made that comparison perfectly. Her breasts swung back and forth with the pounding her cunt was getting, her nipples dragging on the sheets creating extra stimulation. Stefan realized she was so hot inside! Hotter than a human or an elf! "I'm not going to last long," groaned Stefan as he felt his orgasm sneaking up on him.

"Let me show you something," Lelu said in his mind, and she reached around Stefan, grabbed Carny's tail, and pulled hard.

"YEEEEEAAAAAHHH!!!" shrieked Carny as scalding jolts of sensations ran from the base of her tail to her pussy. She began thrusting back at Stefan like a madwoman, nearly driving him backwards off the bed. She started chanting with each plunge of his cock "Buck me! Buck me! Buck me!" which caused Stefan and Lelu to start laughing. She shoved back so hard that Stefan landed on his back and Carny was sitting reverse cowgirl, driving herself down on his shaft her breasts flopping crazily, her pussy clenching his cock like a vice as she came again, her orgasm causing her to fall back on Stefan who was now spurting deep into her pussy. Gasping, Lelu lay down with them, enjoying a hands-free orgasm of her own which was fueled by Stefan's shuddering climax.

The three lovers relaxed at the very edge of the mattress, glad that their gyrations didn't throw them on the floor. "Oh shit!" gasped Stefan. "That was... Gods how I love you both."

"You're such a dumbshit, how did a couple of hot gzantaz (untranslatable but always used in a sexy context) like us meet up with a goof like you?" grinned Carny, which caused Lelu to start laughing as she hugged Stefan.

"Wait, what?" Stefan was shocked but Lelu had to cover her mouth, she was laughing so hard.

"I'm yelling Buck me! Buck me! And you're just plodding along like you're reading a book or something." Carny pantomimed reading a book and turning pages which caused Lelu to laugh even harder.

"Buck me?" asked Stefan, "what the hell do you mean by that?"

Lelu's answer entered his mind as Carny looked at him and shook her head sadly. "Honey, she's asking you to be more aggressive when she says that."

"Huh? Seriously? I thought she was new at this and mispronouncing 'fuck me'." Now Stefan was confused.

"No, virgin bunnies know what they want, they don't hide sex in warrior bunny society."

"I didn't know that, now I feel stupid." Stefan turned to Carny and said, "I'm sorry sweetheart, I thought I was doing good..."

Carny looked up from her imaginary book. "I know, I'm just giving you grief Poppa, you did good." She scrambled up next to Stefan and snuggled with him and Lelu. "You're the best I've ever had!" After a pause the three lovers started laughing and as the exhausted Stefan drifted off to sleep, in her mind, Carny wondered who Stefan loved the most.

Now Lelu spoke in Carny's mind, "Carny, is it fair to ask poppa who he loves the most? How would you feel if he asked me that in front of you?"

"You heard that?"

"Yes, now relax and get some rest. The Archchancellor is going to brief us on what happened to us, and why they brought us here later today." Their talking rousted Stefan from his entirely too brief nap.

"I'm sorry," sniffed Carny. "It's just that I love you both so much, if you had left me behind, I don't know what I would have done."

"We wouldn't leave you behind Carny," said Stefan as he hugged her and was surprised to see her starting to cry, "well take you anywhere we go, we're a family."

"She means when we almost died."

"What do you mean almost died?" Stefan demanded. Then he looked at his hands, the skin didn't look as old as it normally does, the wrinkles that accompany your fortieth birthday were gone, so were a few scars, and so was the constant aching in his back and knees. He grabbed Lelu's hand and said silently, "Let me see, please?"

"Ok, but don't freak out..." She looked at Stefan and allowed him to see what she saw, and he didn't see a tired, slightly paunchy, forty something retired marine, he saw the finely muscled young man that he used to be, but with shock white hair on his head, face, chest, and pubis.

"I did die," he gasped, "now I'm Santa Claus."

Epilogue:

"I believe we are all here now? Am I not mistaken?" asked Har Chalktaw, archchancellor of the University of Vinnofri. In the room was himself and a grad student whose name Har never bothered to learn even though that grad student was Har's personal secretary and had been for two years. Also was Carny, Glencove, Jolietta, Layla, and the cage holding Tana and Orla. Tana insisted that her friends Duck Soup and Cocoanut join them, but it appeared that both horses preferred to graze in the park and be petted by the elven children of Vinnofri than to come to this meeting.

"The guests of honor are not here, chancellor," moaned an extremely bored Layla.

The archchancellor adjusted his spectacles and began to read from some notes as he said, "At their request I locked them into my office and again I locked the door to this room thus preventing their..." he was interrupted by the soft "PAMPH!" of several million air molecules being shoved out of the way by the sudden arrival of Stefan and Lelu. "Ah, I believe they are with us now, but you are wrong Ms. Hanover, I did detect some magic, so we'll have to continue research on your remarkable mode of travel. Good show, shall we begin?"

"I want to know what happened to us," demanded Stefan as he and Lelu sat down next to each other. "Did I die, or what?"

"Or what?" asked Har unfamiliar with American forms of speech.

"Exactly," said Stefan.

Har was confused but he slogged right along, he has given several freshman orientations, so he was used to this. Universities are new in the elven world, they never really taught before, and Archchancellor Chalktaw believes that freshmen are the reason. "I assume that you would like to know why you are still alive?" Stefan nodded and Har Chalktaw continued, "In the matter of the assumed death..."

Stefan interrupted "In Quenya please."

Har felt even better about this, rather than slogging about looking for vaporous syllables in the lingua franca of Falmart to hide the painful truth. He must be honest when speaking in Quenya, but since hardly anyone, including a green man, speaks Quenya anymore, no one would be the wiser. "Very well then, Esse i erma O i faire O Stefan ni polE eques i so trulime dyd fírima. Are there any more questions? If not, then we'll..."

"Ok, I died," said Stefan, "I get it, then why am I here breathing and talking and shit."

Seeing the shocked look on the Archchancellor's face, Lelu added, "I'm sure you know of our father, Dayv Jowns? He's fond of Quenya. My lover learned it to make daddy happy." Both Stefan and Lelu made a fist and bumped them together without taking their eyes off the Archchancellor who is well acquainted with the works of Dayv Jowns, the foremost scholar on the Quenyan language in Falmart and a major donor to the university. Dr. Jowns probably did more to get this university open and put Har Chalktaw in the Arch Chancellor's seat than anyone else. The archchancellor realized that when dealing with the daughters of Dayv Jowns, honesty is the best policy, even though it's not part of University policy.

Archchancellor Chalktaw began to explain, "what happened when you bonded was part of several different functions of the bonding process. Couples that bond rarely go through all of them as rapidly as you did. You both mentioned the smell of the other person, how it mingled with your own scent, this is called the Tak Marhon physical attraction caused by a mingling of complimentary odiferous potions created by your own bodies." Har Chalktaw was nervous because this was deep stuff, his postgrads got slogged down on this.

"We call the potions pheromones," said Stefan.

"Good term!" said Har, "Quite scientific sounding, may we use it?"

"Uh, yeah, go ahead. It's not copyrighted."

The archchancellor wrote down the concepts of pheromones and copyrighting then continued. "Next you experienced the ability to see what was driving each other's emotions, this was the Khid Marhon The viewing of the heart."

"That's when I knew if I killed him, he wouldn't hold it against me personally," said Lelu.

"That's right, you were following a lawful order," said the marine as their eyes found each other. "And I knew how much you really wanted to, at first."

"You were so brave to let me," she said, losing herself in his eyes.

"You were so beautiful," he was starting to get misty with the memory, "how could I not?"

That really stunned the Archchancellor, but he pressed on. He sounded like an embarrassed parent giving their child the birds and the bees speech. "Then comes the big one, where your thoughts and feelings mingle, where you know each other's minds so completely that you lose yourself into a wonderful stew of something called "us," when that happens, you're going to really..."

"Oh, we know! The Dzig Marhon The hearing of the soul, the combining of feeling and thoughts," said Lelu. "I still remember when it happened," and she turned shyly to her human and gave him that smile.

"Our lips met, and I suddenly realized that I wasn't alone in the world," said Stefan as his eyes met Lelu's and they drew closer.

"I knew that there was someone who would let me share my pain and my joy with them," said Lelu as their lips grew closer and closer.

"A-HEM!" The Archchancellor restored his position of leadership. "These do not always happen in this order, nor do they often happen close together. The bonding of a couple can take decades, I remember when your father and mother bonded, it took nine years.

"I think it took us nine minutes," said Lelu.

"Just you and me under that tree...," said Stefan.

"Sharing our hidden dreams and feelings...," said Lelu.

"Getting closer to each other with every heartbeat..." said Stefan as their lips grew closer.

"A-HEM!" Har Chalktaw was starting to consider retirement. "Now we come to the Psak Marhon The merging of the bodies -- the bodies of the couple..." He was interrupted by uncontrollable giggling from the fairy cage. "Do you two MIND?" roared the professor.

"He said, "the bodies of the couple," said Tana with a snerk.

"Merging of the bodies," giggled Orla who then made gasping noises to simulate sex. The fairies tried to stifle themselves but that only made their laughing worse. Eventually Carny took off her cloak, folded it up and covered the fairy cage with it and soon their giggling was replaced with snoring.

"It's the only way I can get sleep some nights," said Carny.

The archchancellor took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then returned to his lecture. "The bonding process tries to even the physical attributes of the two... participants." He held his left hand up high and his right hand down low. "Where Lelu's natural elven strength is up here, and your human strength is down here..." he brought his right hand up to the level of the left hand, "the bonding process is now bringing your strength up to here."

"And that's what killed me?" asked Stefan.

"Ummm, no. It was when the process tried to even out your ages that it hit a snag." He held his hands the same as before, left high, right low. He shook his left hand. "Here's Lelu, two hundred fifty-seven years old..."

"Two hundred twenty-six!" shouted Lelu and Layla.

"Correct," continued the archchancellor, "two hundred twenty-six years old, just entering the prime of her life, and here's you down here at forty-two years of life, middle age, preparing to head into your senior years. The process tried to bring you up and bring her down to about the same level to even out the two bodies life expectancy." He brought up his right hand until it was halfway to the left hand. "When you reach what we estimate is the equivalent of one hundred four years old the process hits a snag."

"What was that snag?" Stefan asked.

The archchancellor sat down and sipped his tea. "You died."

"I DIED?" Stefan's eyes were big around as dinner plates.

"Well not died - dead, more like died - not living anymore." The archchancellor took a deep breath and nodded. "Believe me, it wasn't easy trying to determine what the bonding process was doing while Rory Mercury was there the whole time demanding your soul and swinging around that great battle axe at anyone that entered the room. It was a terrible mess. Terrible." He shook his head at the memory causing his jowls to flap.

He took out his pipe, struck a match and puffed thoughtfully. He puffed out a smoke ring, then puffed out a smoke arrow which soared through the center of the smoke ring. "In the end we believe that the process tried another tactic and instead of trying to equate your ages, it evened out your physical characteristics. We used various forms of magic to keep you from rotting away until the process brought you back around, say wot."

"So, am I still not alive?" asked Stefan.

"Don't know."

"Am I forty-two years old and just look twenty? Or am I two hundred twenty-six and just look twenty?" asked Stefan.

"No idea."

"Will I live as long as Lelu?" asked Stefan.

"Can't say."

"Am I still human?" Stefan asked.

"Not a clue."

"I'm not an elf, why is this happening?"

"Not sure."

"What do you know?" Stefan was on the edge of hysterics.

"It's starting to happen to Carny too." This caused Carny to pat her fists together silently in joyful excitement. "She's already described the Tak Marhon, that fairy moan thing that you mentioned."

"Pheromone," Stefan corrected.

"Right. Like I said."

"So, how old am I now?" demanded Stefan.

The archchancellor shook his head, "Like I said, two hundred twenty-six."

"I'm a human, we don't get that old."

The archchancellor puffed his pipe and blew out a perfect smoke cube. "I guess you do now. Can we get on to the primary matter for discussion?" He looked around the room and seeing no objection said, "fine. Our primary purpose in bringing you here is to prepare you to release prisoners held by the dethroned rebel prince Zorzal El Caesar. Naturally, if any of you are captured this university and city will disavow you..."