To say that I was pissed off would have been putting it mildly. I was actually shaking in anger as I dropped the swords to the ground and I had to stop my hands from beginning to draw the sigils of a spell that would shut Narek up permanently. Instead, I attempted to clamp down on the fury building up inside me as I looked up to the heavens in frustration. “Goddess!! Could you, like not be an asshole for just one fucking minute?!” Willow hissing from atop my shoulder added punctuation to my own anger.

The others were looking at us uncertainly now and both Lissany and Nishalle were approaching with concerned expressions on their faces, but I was too mad and insulted to let this go now. Narek had been trying to provoke an emotional reaction from me since the moment he had shown up and now he was going to damn well get what he wanted. “You want to know who's fucking side I’m on?! See these pointed ears and Danann’syr? I’m a Yseil'dhraí and that means I’m on everyone’s side! I’m on the side of preserving life and peace! I’m on the side of maintaining the balance of nature and magick! Those are the things that we Fae were created for! There is no them or us! There is just us and our duty! My first priority is to that duty, my Court, and the Fae as a whole! You speak of trust and loyalty to the Fae, but I’ve only seen petty Winter Court games and manipulation from you since you got here! Trust is earned, be it from a Human or a Fae! Deception, betrayal, lies; you’ve proven that all Races have the capacity for that, including the Fae! Don’t talk to me again about trust until you deserve it!”

With each point I made I moved closer and he took a step back until he fell on his butt in the water lapping at the shore. He looked up at me, his eyes wide and a stunned expression on his face, like he had gotten exactly what he wanted, but it wasn’t really what he had been expecting. For a long moment he just stared up at me, and then a smile split his face and he flowed back onto his feet in that fluidly graceful way that only the Fae possess, only to kneel before me with his head bowed. “Well said, Your Highness, you have your mother’s fire. On behalf of Queen Seshaire, it is my pleasure to inform you that the Winter Court humbly grants our allegiance to the Autumn Court and I shall remain here as our representative, at your service.”

He produced an envelope from somewhere in his jacket pocket and offered it to me, remaining on one knee. At first, I couldn’t speak. I was so floored by his sudden turnabout that I wasn’t sure what to think or do. I had suspected that he had been trying to get a rise out of me since he had arrived, but I hadn’t been sure why. Then I realized that this had all been some kind of test/lesson for me. Narek had played to every Winter Court stereotype that I could think of from the start. The arrogance, the womanizing, and the rudeness had all been an act, to get me to react emotionally and see If I would react like a Fae or a Human when push finally came to shove. The only time he hadn’t been trying to push my buttons had been when I had shown myself to be following Fae traditions by wearing the sahir kien.

They wanted to know where my loyalties laid, but it was much more than that too. They wanted to know my values and if I would cave to pressure or stick to my guns, but they didn’t just want themselves to know where I stood, they wanted me to know it too. Yes, it was Court games, but they needed to know that I had the interests of the Fae in mind and that I wasn’t going to be some sort of loose cannon if they were going to put their support behind Mahair’s plan for all the Courts to work together and with the other Races as well.

I looked at the stark white envelope in Narek’s hand and saw that it bore the sigil of the winter court in the pale blue wax of the seal. It was addressed to Taelya nír Keshwaindyr, Princess of the Autumn Court. It was my formal name, all Fae have one, but I hadn’t really heard mine outside of my dreams of Taelya’s childhood. Basically, it could translate to “Taelya of the Keshwaindyr”. It was one of those Elvish terms that don’t have a real English equivalent, but the word referred to the sunrise on the morning where autumn and winter meet.

My hands were shaking slightly as I broke the seal and read the letter. It was a formal letter offering the allegiance and support of the Winter Court to the Autumn Court. There was no mention of their little games or apologies for them, but then, I didn’t expect any. Queens of the Courts do not apologize for actions that are deemed necessary for the benefit of all. Once such matters are finished they are quickly forgotten with each party knowing that no ill-will was intended. I probably would have been pissed if my Fae Culture and Governance skills hadn’t made me aware of all that but now that I actually knew what was going on there was no use getting bent out of shape when I could see their reasoning for it. I didn’t like being pushed like that, but I couldn’t really hold a grudge for it either.

I nodded to Lissany and Nishalle to let them know that everything was okay, let out a sigh, and then turned around to retrieve the discarded swords. Narek hadn’t moved a muscle and was still kneeling with his head bowed so I held the weapons out to him. “You may rise Narek, I believe that these are yours.”

The Winter Court Fae stood but quickly shook his head. “I had them made yes, but not for me. Those are for you, Your Highness. Consider them a personal gift and a mark of my esteem.”

“Thank you, but I wouldn’t know what to do with them. All that I know is that the pointy end is supposed to go in my opponent,” I said with an unladylike snort. “I can’t learn right now either, I just used the only skill point that I had on acrobatics last night.”

“That is why I will be training you, the old fashioned way,” Narek insisted with a smile.

I shook my head. “I thank you for the offer but I have plenty of ways to protect myself already and Nishalle and Lissany wouldn’t let anything happen to me. If I have to fight anyone on my own I have my magick and my guns, and I know Kurinshal too.”

“I mean no disrespect to you or your protectors,” he assured me. “Lissany has proven herself a fearless, loyal, and powerful Guardian. Quite frankly, your sister is terrifying at times. And as for you, I have never heard of a Yseil'dhraí using Nature’s Call at such a young age, let alone using it to kill a Vhasjin’dhur. I would rather never find myself opposing any of you. You may be a powerful Magus and you know how to use those guns that you wear, but no matter how skilled that you and your protectors are you still may find yourself in a situation where your firearms and magick are either ineffective or impractical and fighting barehanded would be foolhardy. Those blades, and the knowledge of how to use them, may save your life in such situations. Should your mother approve you will spend your training sessions dividing your time between her teachings and mine.”

I found myself smiling at that, picturing the look on his face when Amoiraishe shot down that little idea. “Well, let’s go see what she has to say about that.” With that, I made my way back to where my Mahair was speaking with the others to hand her the letter.

A smile played upon the face of the Fae Queen as she took the letter and pulled me aside as she read the contents. “Very good. It would seem that the Winter Court approves of you Taelya, or rather Narek does, and old Sasha trusts him enough to leave the decision in his hands. She wouldn’t have sent her son here otherwise, especially given our history. Though I suppose that history made his hostility more believable.”

“History?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s… complicated,” she replied with a frown before asking, “did he say anything else when he gave you the letter?”

I gave her a quick rundown of our entire conversation. When I got to the part about the swords and his insistence on training me to use them she let out a sigh. “Of course he would want that, now that you’ve proven yourself. I will allow it, you don’t need to spend the entire morning training with Nature’s Call. You have already proven that you’ve developed a fair amount of control with it.”

“I have enough on my hands learning to use Nature’s Call more effectively and expanding my spell list though. Not to mention all of the other things keeping me busy. Like I could really work with him even if I did have the time, I barely know him and I may understand why they did what they did, but I don’t like being played like that.” I was frowning as I spoke and crossed my arms beneath my breasts. Nope, I didn’t want to work with him, no matter how nice he was being now, and nothing she could say was going to change my mind.

She sighed again, looking at me as if I were an obstinate teenager, which I suppose may have been a fair assessment. “Taelya, please. Think of it as fostering goodwill with the Winter Court. You could do an hour with him each morning, followed by an hour with me, and then an hour of those group training sessions that you want to do. During your time with me, I can help you hone your fine control of Nature’s Call and I will start teaching you some of my more advanced spells as well.”

I may have perked up a bit as she mentioned that last part. Amoiraishe knew me way too well. I bit my lip as I thought about all of the things that she could teach me, all of those new spells that I could add to my repertoire. I was learning fast, but until now I had been mostly self-taught, trying to combine sigils in new and interesting ways. I could learn a lot faster if she could teach me. “Okay, but I want to learn a mass teleportation spell today.”

“We have a deal, my little rose,” my Mahair replied with a smile, shaking her head at my eagerness.

After coming to that agreement with Amoiraishe I took my party-mates aside for a few minutes to tell them what was going on before we got involved in our morning training sessions. Kinara expressed her distaste for Court politics, but like me, she could see why they had done what they had. Everyone else was pretty pissed about it, especially Nishalle, Lissany, and Daenyss. They only calmed down about it a little after Kinara had explained the Winter Court’s probable reasons for it. For a fourteen-year-old with a distaste for Court politics, she was very perceptive.

Following that conversation, I found myself alone with Narek once again. He had me clip my new swords in place behind my hips and after teaching me how to properly draw both blades from that position he began to work my pretty little Fae ass off. I had been expecting him to teach me blocks, parries, and swings through repetition but it was almost like he was teaching me some long and complicated dance, beginning when I first drew the swords. Apparently, it was only the first part of a much longer dance that I would learn as our training continued, but he wanted me to master the first sequence before going on to the next.

Narek was a firm taskmaster, it was the hardest that I had ever worked in my life. Every time that I was positioned slightly wrong, a body part was even a few millimeters out of place, my shifting of stance was wrong, or I wasn’t holding one or both swords just right he would correct my position, and then we would start at the beginning until I did have it right. I was very glad that I was Fae because I couldn’t see how anyone who wasn’t could have pulled some of those moves off to his exacting specifications. My gymnastics and Acrobatics skills seemed to be helping as well, since they had made me fairly nimble, flexible, and well balanced, even for a Fae.

Still, it seemed like I was endlessly repeating the same dance over and over with Narek constantly saying things like, “No, you’re holding swords, not snakes, you must use them as an extension of your body,” or “Your elbow was too low, it should be here. Start again.” My personal favorite was, “You’re stumbling about like a Human. Move faster and don’t stop when you get to the next movement, each must flow into the next like water. You must be a river, not a landslide.”

As much as I really wanted to snap at him, and nearly did a few times, I had promised Mahair that I would do my best and try to use this to build a little bit of goodwill between us. So I just held my tongue and tried to be a good student, even though I would rather be learning new spells. “Get through dinner first Taelya,” I reminded myself. “Mahair promised you dessert after.”

It was a good thing that most of my work with Mahair on refining my use of Nature’s Call was based on meditation and focusing exercises because I really needed to be able to sit down after my training with Narek. I was exhausted, and sore in places that I didn’t know I even had places. So while I sat in the lotus position and rested my poor body I worked my mind equally hard to master my control of nature. Once Amoiraishe felt that I had had enough for the day she began teaching me a spell that would allow me to tag whatever objects or people that I wanted within a fifty-foot radius and move them all to a place that I was familiar with by forming an image of that location in my mind. It took a lot of power to cast and required five sigils and a bit of time, but it would be good to know in case my group ever needed an emergency escape.

After that, we settled in for some group training before lunch. I split our party into two teams with Venika leading one and myself the other and we had a sort of mock battle to work on combat situational awareness and teamwork. My team consisted of myself, Lissany, Nishalle, Daenyss, Rei, and Kinara. This was mostly because Nishalle, Lissany, and Daenyss felt that they needed to be with me to properly do their jobs and Rei wanted to stick by my side as well. I felt better having Kinara on the team as our second mage so that my protectors could keep an eye on my fellow Yseil'dhraí as well.

That left Lark, Rob, Pete, Grell, and Salem on Venika’s team and I felt that it split up the resources pretty well, or would once Salem learned a few spells. Both teams would have two mages and a good mix of ranged and melee combat and Rei could use her Priestess skills to act as the healer for my team while Salem’s Medic sub-class would allow her to fill that role on Venika’s team. While Venika’s team may not have a dedicated tank like we did with Lissany, we both felt that Lark’s Bard skills could even the playing field in that regard.

It was as we made our way tiredly back to the house for lunch that Nishalle muttered, “Is it me, or is it weird having Narek not being an asshole? I was about ready to kill him when I saw how upset he was making you during that little talk you had, Sis. Now he’s being Mr. Helpful. While you were training with Mahair he was sparring with Lissany and helping her to improve the rough parts of her swordsmanship. It’s like he just flicked a switch.”

I shrugged, trying not to show how bothered I still was about being played like I had been. “Well it seems that was all an act, and there’s no sense keeping it up now that he’s gotten the assurance he was after and the Winter Court is on board. I could do without having to play nice and learn to use swords though. I thought there would be a lot more repetition of blocks and thrusts and stuff, not learning a bunch of sword-dance sequences.”

“Weird, he just sparred with me and then had me correct anything I had to work on over and over until I got it right. We must have gone through that one parry over two dozen times before he was satisfied,” Lissany put in. “What’s really weird though, he actually complimented me. He said that I needed some work on my swordsmanship, but that overall I’m a fierce warrior, worthy of being your Guardian. I had no idea what to say I was so shocked.”

“I was watching him train both of you while I practiced my spells,” Kinara said after a moment, though there was a slightly perplexed look on her face. “He was training you totally differently. With Lissany he sparred with her first, got a feel for her, and then had her repeat anything she was doing wrong as he showed her until she had gotten it right at least ten times. That’s how the royal guards are trained, it’s all about utility and proper form, no movement is wasted. He’s training you differently Taelya, he’s not teaching you all the basics first like a front line fighter, he’s teaching you an art form.”

I turned to look at the pink-haired Yseil'dhraí, my brow furrowing. “Wait just a minute Kinara. You’re saying that he’s teaching me sword ballet? Is this going to be useful at all? What the hell? Is he still messing with me?”

“Relax Taelya, I don’t think he is, in fact, you should probably feel honored,” Kinara assured me. “It’s an art-form, but a deadly one. That’s got to be his family fighting style. Sharing something like that with outsiders is practically unheard of, and I’ve never heard of a twin-sword family style before. Most Yseil'dhraí rely on magic and don’t even have family weapon styles and common-born use single weapon and shield or two-handed weapon styles. My father wants to start teaching me ours, but I guess that we use a spear and he’ll need to have one made for me.”

Once again, I found myself wondering about Kinara’s knowledge of things and her casual Fae-ness as we made our way to the dining room and then ate our lunch. I could have probably known as much on the topic as her but I would have had to have someone mention the topic and then wait while the memories associated with my Fae Culture skill dredged up the pertinent information. Those details seemed to come to Kinara and the others visiting from the other Courts as naturally as when she was talking with Lissany about their favorite bands or videogames. Once again I forced those suspicions about the game to the back of my mind though. Suspicions were all I had for the moment and a wild theory that any sane person couldn’t possibly take seriously. And with no solid proof to back them up, it was better to just bury them in the back of my mind and keep my eyes open for something more.

After lunch, Amoiraishe gave me, Nishalle, and Kinara the marks that would allow us to summon our new armor when needed, just as she had promised. Then I went upstairs with Daenyss to get ready for going into the village for the afternoon magick lessons and possibly a bit of questing. Once my Attendant had me looking amazing and dressed in one of my Fae outfits that covered enough to make me legal, I cast an illusory outfit on her and we returned downstairs and headed into Haven with the others.

Once in Haven, we split up. I went with Kinara, Salem, and Venika to our usual practice spot on the edge of the woods while Daenyss, Lissany, and Nishalle followed. They would give us plenty of space to do our thing, but all three wanted to be there in case something happened and I needed them. Rei and the others went to see how the village was doing for supplies, check the village quest board, and to try to make themselves useful.

Sheriff Shaw was waiting for us in the usual spot and I decided to start off by teaching her and Kinara both a new spell. When I was certain that they had the basic idea and all the sigils for the Ice Lance spell down I left them to practice with Venika keeping a close eye on both of them as she got her own practice in. Then I got in some one on one time with Salem, beginning by teaching her some of the various sigils and what they meant. She took a while to both speak and draw them properly, but once she had I taught her the simple Flash Freeze spell. It was fairly easy and one of the first spells that I had learned as well. I would have taught her Combustion, but as a Liyun'shael she would likely have problems casting fire spells, so I wanted to work up to those.

Things would have been much easier for both of us if Salem had a general knowledge of the Fae language or culture, but I had encountered similar issues when I had started teaching Becky. Just like the Sheriff, Salem would be getting off to a slow start because I was having to teach her the basics of what the sigils meant, but she was very eager to learn. At least Amoiraishe had been able to teach her some of the basic mental exercises while I was training with Narek earlier that morning. We would have to expand on that knowledge in time and maybe have her take the Fae Culture and Elvish language skills to make it all easier for her, but I felt that I could still get her off to a solid start.

The look on Salem’s face when she cast her first successful spell and encased that target in ice made it all worth it. She looked like a kid who had just had her wildest dream come true. For that instant, all of her discomfort, all of her uncertainty and self doubts just faded away as she squealed in excitement, “I did it!” Hers wasn’t the only face to light up at her success either since Daenyss was beaming from where she was watching with Lissany and Nishalle.

I could feel my own lips turning upward in a grin as well as I told her, “Of course you did Salem. You’re smart, determined, and you’re probably almost as powerful as I am. With the right knowledge and training, you can do anything that you put your mind to. Now do it again. If you can get this one down today I was thinking of teaching you something really cool tomorrow.”

Her eyes widened a bit as I winked at her and gestured to Daenyss, dispelling the glamour that made it look like she was wearing clothes for just an instant and then quickly recasting a new glamour of her wearing a completely different outfit. Salem’s clothes were obviously bothering her, she had been tugging at them and scratching all day when she hadn’t thought anyone was looking. “You’ll teach me that?” she asked, looking wistfully toward my Nymph Attendant.

“Yup, all that you need to do is cast that Flash Freeze spell nine more times to show me that you’ve got it down.”

Salem was smiling as we made our way through Haven to meet up with the others. Proving to me, and herself, that she was able to cast her first spell reliably had improved her mood from the day before considerably. The fact that she had people around her who seemed to care and who talked to her as a person and a valued friend helped a lot too. My promise of teaching her to create illusory clothes was the icing on the cake.

This had her and Daenyss embroiled in a discussion on various women’s clothes that she might be able to produce and since Daenyss had all the fashion and appearance-related skills the pair were chattering eagerly about looking at some of my clothes for reference or having Daenyss sketch out some simple designs for the Moss Maiden that evening while most of the Fae would be occupied with tonight’s Jhashaira ceremony. It was nice seeing them both smile and laugh as they made plans. It wasn’t all that uncommon for Daenyss, she seemed to see the world through a lens of childlike wonder, but seeing Salem that way really warmed my heart.

As luck would have it, that was when we ran into her former party-mates. They were with Hawkin who pointed straight at Salem and smirked. “See, I told you guys that she’s some half-plant Fae freak now.”

Salem’s previous good mood evaporated as they wheeled on her, fear and uncertainty written all over her face. Pharen, the Tokh'dhraí Magus of the group glared at her. “Seriously Salem, what the fuck?! First, you fucking run off on and leave us to die and now you’re hanging with Princess Popular here?! You could have stayed and tried to res us!”

“I… t-told you that we should r-run. W-we had no chance, b-but you wanted to stay and fight. I... I couldn’t stop to revive you. A-artificial resuscitation takes time, there were too many R-Redcaps and y-you were hacked to pieces. I couldn’t do anything for you like that, I n-needed to come and warn the village,” Salem stammered as she backpedaled away from the group.

“You had one fucking job, but you couldn’t even do that right, you little bitch! Tierr…” His hasty attempt at speaking an incantation and the corresponding hand motions were both aborted with a pained gasp as Nishalle appeared from behind her fellow Tokh'dhraí from his shadow. Before he could so much as whimper she had grabbed his casting arm, taken it in a hold that bent it back at a painful-looking angle, and forced him downward to kiss the pavement.

“Not very smart trying to attack Salem, dipshit, especially when she’s standing beside the princess,” my sister whispered coldly as Daenyss and Lissany stepped protectively in front of me and Salem. “One of Her Highness’s overeager protectors could take it the wrong way and you’d end up right back in hell. Salem is with us now, and we don’t take kindly to those that attack our friends. Speak if you catch my meaning.”

He didn’t so much speak as whimper, “I understand.” His pained eyes were looking frantically toward his companions, who were measuring us up and probably trying to decide if the risk was worth it.

“Player-killing is against the rules douchebag, we’re all supposed to be working together. We’re also in a safe zone, so your spell would have backfired,” Venika pointed out.

“After tonight though there are no safe-zones for a while though, so maybe you’d like to pick this up tomorrow,” I said with a smile as I looked at the others. “I’ve had some new spells that I’ve been wanting to try out. I wouldn’t kill you, but I could make you wish that you were dead. What do you girls think? We could call it training.”

“Sounds good to me, Sis, I think they could use the training too. I could attack them anywhere at any time, nothing lethal of course, I’d leave them with just enough spark of life to recover so we could do it all over again,” Nishalle said, grinning enough that her fangs were showing.

Bless her heart, Lissany caught on real quick too as she said thoughtfully. “I really should test out this new war hammer, I guess. Hadrick tells me that this one shouldn’t explode no matter how much strength I put into a blow, but you never know.” Hawkin, who had seen the video, apparently decided the risk wasn’t worth it as he backed away from my Guardian and suddenly remembered that he was needed elsewhere.

“Moving targets are much better training too,” Kinara added. “I’m sure that Salem and I would pick it up pretty quick though. I mean, she’s almost as much as a natural with magick as you and I are, Your Highness. Are you guys sure that you want to mess with some of the most powerful Magi on the Server? Or the daughters of the Queen of the Autumn Court?”

Lupin, the white wolf Beastkin shook his head. It would seem that he remembered what happened to the last guys to mess with my group. “Fine! You can have her! She’s useless anyway!”

“Fuck you guys! I warned you that we couldn’t handle it and we should run! But you guys rushed in like idiots expecting me to heal you after like you always do! I’m through with you! I’ve got friends who actually give a shit about me now and you and your fucking abuse can go to hell!” Salem snapped. Nishalle chose that moment to release Pharen and the moment that she let go he got to his feet and he and his friends bailed.

Daenyss was hugging Salem while we stood around the pair and watched her former party-mates go. I didn’t think they would dare try anything, but if they did we would kick their asses. The important thing was that Salem was in a safe and supportive environment now. “Are you okay?” Daenyss asked the Moss Maiden in concern.

Salem sniffled a bit but nodded. “Yeah, I think so. I’m so glad to be done with them. Thanks, everyone, it’s nice to have real friends.”

It was after dinner and I was helping Rei to prepare for the evening ahead. Nishalle and Venika would be in attendance as well, but most of our crew were going to be doing their own things for the evening. Kinara and Lissany were going to watch some DVDs in Kinara’s room and hopefully have a serious talk about Kinara’s request for a relationship. The pair had also offered to Wisp-sit for Venika and I since we both felt that having them flitting about at the Jhashaira might make things awkward. Pete and Grell were planning to make use of the pool table in the mansion’s recreation room, while Lark and Rob had decided to have a romantic evening in and catch up on lost time. As for Daenyss and Salem, they planned to hang out and spend the evening together getting to know one another better as friends while the Nymph introduced the Moss Maiden to the world of female fashion. I was glad that she would get to use her knowledge for the benefit of someone other than me for once.

Rei hesitated at the doorway as she inquired nervously, “Are you sure that we have to go like this?”

“Yes, the tradition is to present yourself naked. I have been through this before, or well, dream me has anyway,” I assured her. “You’ll be fine, it’s a warm night and you’ll have to get used to casual nudity around the Fae anyway. Besides, everyone is going to be naked and it would be pretty silly to get all dressed up just to go to an orgy and get naked anyway, wouldn’t it.”

My fiancée let out an uneasy giggle. “I guess you’re right. I never really considered that.”

I put an arm around her and kissed her earlobe before softly tugging on it with my teeth. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to. You can still back out and I wouldn’t care. You’re the only one that I need my love.”

“No, I want to do this. I just.. this is my first orgy. What should I expect? Are there any rules that I need to know about?”

I shook my head. “I can’t tell you any specific details, you will find out when we get there. It’s part of the experience and having your eyes opened to the world of adulthood. All that I can tell you is that the most important thing is for you to enjoy yourself and to try to make sure that your partners do too, their needs and desires are as important as your own. This is about finding yourself. That said, nobody will make you do anything that you’re uncomfortable with because they will expect the same courtesy from you.”

Rei took another deep breath and nodded. “Okay babe, let’s do this.

I guided her outside and escorted her to the clearing set aside for the evening’s festivities, the full moon providing all the light that we would need. Once we reached the edge of the clearing I left her with Nishalle, Venika, and the several dozen other Fae who had chosen to go through with the ceremony, and then I left them to join Mahair in the center of the clearing. There were many Fae of both the player and NPC variety in the clearing, including Naerysse and Brynna, both of whom looked eager for the festivities to begin. Narek, Sahnae, and Kinara’s father were there as well. So many naked bodies bathed in moonlight, blankets laid out on the ground, and a wide variety of beverages and snacks to help the revelers to keep their energy up. It was both strange and familiar to me at the same time.

Once I was standing in my place at Amoiraishe’s side she smiled at me, and then she turned that smile out to those waiting at the edge of the clearing. “Welcome Faelings, step into Danu’s light and see the world through adult eyes,” she stated clearly and loudly enough for everyone gathered to hear her. “Tonight you shall be called Faelings no longer, for tonight is your Jhashaira. Tonight you will be able to give in to the pleasures of the body that you have worked so hard to deny yourself until now to become true adults, and starting tomorrow you will learn the secrets of the Faerie Dance.”

Rei and the others stepped forward as instructed and as they did I took a deep breath and then said my part. “Tonight you will learn of joy. You will learn the joy of the pleasures of the body, but you will also learn the joy that can only come with bringing pleasure to another. There is a balance in the pleasures of the body as there is balance in all things. Maintain that balance and you shall do your people proud. Pleasure and be pleasured, teach, and learn. Find a partner, or partners, and begin your journey into adulthood.”