Amoiraishe’s obvious pride and happiness at seeing us unharmed was both a relief and a concern. The relief was because, well, she was my Mahair and I had all of those dream memories reinforcing that. Also, to be honest, it felt good to have a mother figure to care and watch over Nishalle and me again, even if she did get too involved in my personal affairs sometimes. That’s what mothers do though, not because they like interfering, but because they care and want the best for their children, and Amoiraishe had been treating me and Nishalle both like her daughters more often over the past week since we had returned from our scavenging expedition.

My concern was that as an Admin and the game creator she probably had a pretty good idea about our encounter before I had contacted her. She didn’t seem surprised to see Brynna, or about the fact that Salem had changed species, in fact, she seemed happy about it. She had that little look that she gets in her eyes whenever one of her plans is going perfectly. Yes, I believed that Salem was meant to become a Liyun'shael. It was just far too convenient that the Witch who couldn’t use her magick and studied environmental sciences in real life was the one to become a Moss Maiden, and Amoiraishe could issue quests so all that she really needed to do was point Salem’s group in the right direction.

Then there were the Wisps coming right to my group. I mean, sure there weren’t many parties questing in the southern woods and we were the only ones besides Salem’s group that had been confident enough to go that deep into the woods. I was absolutely certain though that no other party would have been able to complete the quest of getting Salem safely to Haven. I had sensed the Dryad and spoke with her, something that nobody else on the game, except perhaps our guests from the other Courts, could do. Sure, another parry might have tracked Salem to where Brynna was inducting her into the ranks of the Liyun'shael, but I was pretty damn certain that no other party could have taken down the chaos beast and the goblin ambush. I had had to use every ounce of power that I had to for the former and hadn’t been able to assist with the latter, other than coming up with a battle plan of sorts.

No, this had been a challenge for us personally, something to push us to our limits. It wasn’t really all that surprising, given just how much that Amoiraishe had been pushing us to train and become stronger for the inter-server tournament at the end of the close beta test. She wanted us to become the best that we could be, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to this than just her wanting Autumn Server to win the eventual tournament. “That was a test wasn’t it, Mahair? And this whole thing before the event… you wanted to see how strong we’re getting and to make us work harder at training to keep improving, didn’t you?” I asked her in a near-whisper.

Amoiraishe smiled at me and nodded just enough that I could see it before replying in a quiet tone, “Yes. It was as much to challenge you as to gauge your strength, and to show you where you need to improve. Everyone needs to get strong enough to survive what’s coming and to be able to contribute. I apologize for not giving you any warning, but you passed with flying colors.”

“And if we hadn’t? What if I wasn’t able to keep that thing contained?”

“Then I would have stepped in to ensure you were able to escort Salem here,” she replied to my question, her smile not fading one bit. “I had confidence in you though, in all of you. The others count on you and trust you and you’re a good leader. You are powerful, but you also think ahead and use your resources wisely, you know when to fight and when to run, you don’t want to see anyone hurt, and when you take on a task you are always determined to see it through to the best of your ability.”

I shook my head sadly. “There is still room for improvement. I kinda freaked out and panicked a little when I saw the Vhasjin’dhur. Lissany saved our asses and Lark too, by buffing us. If it weren’t for them, and that I was so scared for Kinara, that fight might have had a very different ending. I was overconfident too, with my plan to try and get them to attack one another. We should have taken care of the Vhasjin’dhur first and then triggered the goblin ambush afterward.”

“Fear is not a bad thing, it lets us know when we are in danger and nobody is truly fearless, everyone fears something. When your companions acted and you realized that it wasn’t just you in danger you found the courage to push past that fear and act, and that is what is important. As for your plan, it wasn’t a bad idea, if it had been anything but a Vhasjin’dhur then it might have even worked,” she offered, putting an arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer as we walked.

“Thanks, Mahair, but Salem… why her? Hasn’t she suffered enough without the added dysphoria? You sent her a quest to start this whole thing didn’t you?” I didn’t so much accuse her, as ask what she was thinking as I allowed myself to lean into her embrace.

“She has suffered, and that is precisely why I chose her to be the courier of the message,” the Fae Queen agreed. “Like you, she surprised me by choosing to become female in the game and her first attempt at summoning her familiar went badly. She could be a fine Medic but to truly be useful, and the type of class that she wanted to be, she needed her magick. She is nearly as powerful as you and me and her being able to access that power will mean a great deal in the future. Her being female allowed me to give her a second chance at having her magick by becoming a Liyun'shael. She is uniquely suited to being one with her area of studies and I think that it will bring her happiness once she is past the dysphoria, so I sent her a quest to follow that wisp, hinting that she could get a second chance at getting her magick.”

She had been telling me a lot more as we were becoming closer and I wasn’t really sure whether I should be worried or comforted by that as I pulled away slightly and said, “You just didn’t say how.”

“No, I did not, but does that matter if she can become truly happy in the long run?” she countered.

I sighed and shook my head. “I guess not, but how can you know what will make her happy in the future? A background check doesn’t tell all that much about who she is as a person.”

“I can’t know, not for certain, nothing is absolute. I can only follow my vision and hope it all works out for the best. Seeing the future beyond thirty seconds or so is never certain, too many things can change the picture it paints; free will and the machinations of other people can affect a lot more than people realize. But certain people are like focal points capable of changing events far more than the average person, with the right motivation and circumstances; you, Salem, your sister, and all your friends. You are all like bright threads in the tapestry that I am trying to weave with this game, bringing it closer to matching my vision. From some, I could sense it when we first met, and I could sense it from certain people from their background checks.” She turned her head to look back at Salem and Daenyss chattering away like long-time friends. “I cannot be certain how some of those threads might affect the overall tapestry, the best that I can do is to guide them with a steady hand and hope for the best.”

I think that this was the most direct answer that Amoiraishe had ever given me, even shrouded as it was in symbolism. But this talk of her vision and our roles in it bothered me. The first time that she had spoken of her ‘vision’ I had thought that she had meant the game and that she was speaking in a purely artistic sense, but this made it sound like the game was only part of a larger plan? Given my other suspicions, this worried me. I liked and trusted Amoiraishe, despite her tendency to doublespeak, and I knew deep down that she wouldn’t harm us. I even felt that she wanted the best for us, but what would this mean for all of us once the game was over, and just how far did her vision reach? It was a lot to think about and with answers either out of reach or hidden in the darkest recesses of my mind where I wouldn’t have to confront them it gave me a lot to think about. I remained quiet as we continued our walk to Haven’s Town Hall.

I stopped at the gas station restroom with Lissany, Daenyss, and Salem before going onward to make ourselves more presentable before showing up for the meeting. Of all of our group, we looked the worst off and we needed to do something about that before going into a meeting with all of the other players. The new Moss Maiden’s clothes were covered in soil from her recent burial, and Lissany and I had Vhasjin’dhur blood all over us, though Lissany was safe in her armor and at least my hair had managed not to get any in it.

I removed my blood-caked leather armor and accessories, then with Daenyss’s help I washed the blood off my skin. When that was done I changed into my Autumn Court finery from earlier in the day, which had been stowed safely in my duffel bag. Then, while Daenyss was touching up my makeup and making me look as nice as I could under the circumstances I created illusory clothing for her, to keep her decent. Meanwhile, Lissany cleaned the blood from her armor and Salem got the worst of the dirt from her clothes. It wasn’t perfect, but at least we looked presentable and not like some extras from a horror movie. Now we just looked like extras from a fantasy movie, which was about normal for us while in this game. Once Daenyss figured that we were all presentable we joined the others outside and made our way to the meeting.

Except for those who were in Hell at the moment such as Salem’s former party-mates, all of the players, both Human and otherwise, were gathered in the Town Hall when we arrived. Amoiraishe and I waited with the rest of our group at the Town Hall’s entrance for the meeting to begin. That group of course now included Salem, Rob, and the representatives from the other Courts. The Fae were of course in their court finery since we were in town and had to look presentable. Luckily my party-mates hadn’t gotten too messed up from our fight, except for me and Lissany, but at least we had taken care of that. As for the Wisps, they were all perched where they could see everything, Willow on my shoulder, Kimmie peeking out from Kinara’s hair, and Venika’s newly-named Silverheels sitting with her on Lissany’s shoulder.

Brynna had returned to the Glade to await Salem at the Manor with the other NPCs since she was uncomfortable in the village and she hadn’t been wearing clothes. It was a players’ meeting so the NPCs wouldn’t be attending, even those like Naerysse or the other NPCs who I suspected may have been real people playing background parts but who were still pretending to be NPCs for some reason. It wasn’t a surprise that they weren’t attending, because that would have just confirmed my suspicions and they were all working very hard to maintain that illusion of being NPCs, just as Amoiraishe had with us at first. The only reason that the queen of the Autumn Court wasn’t doing that now was that she was officially in the game now as an Admin, though she left the GM duties mostly up to Sheriff Shaw since that was her job and Becky was more than happy to do it.

So it was Becky who called the meeting to order while the rest of us waited with Salem at the entrance. “Good evening players of Apocalypse Dawn! You have been gathered this evening at the request of the Autumn Court to discuss matters of importance to all players. To start, I’d like to call Salem up here to tell us about what happened in the Southern Forest today, you’re all familiar with Salem aren’t you?”

There was some murmuring in the crowd as people told those who didn’t know Salem who she was, a lot of people referring to her as the tiny girl with the bright red hair. One male voice could be heard above the others though as he said with a derisive laugh, “Yeah, she’s the useless little Witch who leeches off those two Beastkin and the Shadow Elf. The one that nobody wants in their party.”

Becky frowned in the direction of the voice. “Stow that shit, Hawkin. Nobody here is useless, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. I figure that you should know that since you’ve had to respawn three times his week. I haven’t seen Salem have to respawn since the game started, not even during the Deadrush.”

I had seen Hawkin around before, he was a tall muscular Human with short brown hair who had chosen the Warrior class and liked to think of himself as a tank, but he really couldn’t hold a candle to Lissany. He was also a loudmouth who tended to jump into situations without thinking first and spoke his mind without considering who he might be hurting. He wasn’t a bad guy, just a bit insensitive and slow-witted in my opinion. Still, Salem didn’t deserve that. I liked her and I felt the need to defend her though so I said loud and clear enough for the whole Hall to hear, “Actually, I want her in my party. If you’ll look at our party list you’ll see that she’s already joined. It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t use magick before, but now she can and I will be teaching her personally. Come on Salem, you have a report to give.” I took her carefully by the hand and led her down the aisle between the chairs toward the podium.

There was a hush as people realized just who was speaking. That shifted to confused mumblings as I walked Salem to the podium. “She’s with Taelya’s party now, where is her regular crew... Wait that’s not Salem… I don’t know what that is…”

The confusion kept the crowd mostly quiet until Salem stepped up to the podium, with me right by her side for moral support. “Hey everyone… I… umm… know that I look a bit different, but I am Salem, not a pod-person or anything.”

“You kinda look like Salem, but why are you green?” one voice said in the brief silence that followed.

“Yeah it does kind of look like Salem, I guess,” another agreed, “but I bet it’s not easy being green.”

I groaned at that comment and Salem bravely pushed on, trying to deliver her message even though the crowd wasn’t making it easy for her. “My old party was wiped out by Redcaps in the woods, there are a lot of them and they’re really dangerous. They could attack any time and we need to prepare. The only reason I’m not dead is because I managed to get away and a Moss Maiden found me and saved me before I could bleed to death by turning into one of her own kind. I guess I don’t look much like a Human anymore and I’m a Fae now, but…”

“You’re Fae now? So is the grass really greener on the other side?” another voice from the crowd joked.

“Really? Have a little maturity people, this is fucking important,” I thought to myself with a groan.

I was about to make my thoughts on the matter clear to everyone when Salem stood up straight and said as loudly and clearly as she could. “Okay! We get it, I’m green and it’s just so fucking funny! Do you know what’s not going to be funny?! When those Redcaps decide to come and attack and you’re all making these fucking jokes in Hell while we wait to respawn and they’re using your blood to dye their caps! There are over forty of them and they wiped my party out! They just cut my friends apart like they were nothing and we didn’t even put a scratch on them! If you want to keep making jokes, fine, I don’t give a shit, I delivered the message like I was told to!”

I got a notification that the quest was complete as the crowd went deathly silent, but I shoved that and the level-up notice aside for the moment as I put an arm around Salem’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay Salem, you’re with us now and we take care of one another,” I whispered before turning my attention to the now silent players seated in the Hall. “Yeah, real mature everybody. Make fun of the girl who came to warn you all of the impending danger and went through something pretty traumatic while doing it. I know that you were all probably thinking that since this is a player meeting that it was going to be all OOC and giving feedback about our game experience so far or something, and maybe have a bit of out of character fun. That is not why I called this meeting. I want you all to start thinking like your lives depend on what we’re telling you because they do, and I doubt that any of you want to spend another minute in Hell that you don’t have to.”

I had their attention, they were listening now, even if a lot of them were looking down at the floor in shame or embarrassment from their fellow players’ behavior. If XP were being given for guilt trips I might have gone up another level as I let them stew in their juices for a minute before speaking again. “So, to redcap… err… recap, there is a clan of over forty Redcaps out in the southern woods. They are insanely strong and hard to hurt, even without their weapons and armor, and they want to violently kill you and bleed you dry.”

Becky stepped up beside me and began to lay it all out. “The Redcaps are part of an upcoming event called Red Dawn. Tomorrow night is the full moon and at dawn the next morning the event will begin. At some point, those Redcaps are going to attack Haven, the Fae Glade, or both. It could be that morning, or it could be a week or more after the event starts, the triggers have been put on random so that not even Admins will know where or when the attack will come. We don’t even know how many there are for certain, and the event will not end until every last Redcap has been defeated. You could of course choose to attack them pre-emptively or stay in town and wait things out, but keep in mind that there is a sizable force and that for the duration of the event there are no safe zones. You could be killed in the village or Glade as easily as you can be killed out there in the wider world, and there will be other monsters ready and willing to attack both. Taelya’s party encountered just a taste of what could randomly spawn during the event while they escorted Salem back here to the village.”

There was a lot of muffled cursing in the silence that followed Sheriff Shaw’s revelation, especially once the Sheriff opened up a video file in mid-air of the horde of goblins erupting from the trees. This was followed by a second video of Lissany jumping into action against the Vhasjin’dhur, focusing on the chaos beast, and the battle with it until I eventually tore it apart. There was a large communal gasp as Lissany’s war hammer exploded from the force of the blow that broke its tusk and jaw and I had to admit that it was pretty cool the way that my eyes glowed when I used Nature’s Call, a bit scary too. From across the room, I could see Narek go as white as his hair, looking from me to Lissany and then back to me. Clearly, he had just realized exactly how much he had been underestimating both of us and I had to stifle a giggle. I was pretty sure that he was thinking, “And she’s the nice sister?” as he turned to look warily at Nishalle.

There wasn’t much time to think about that though as Sonja, a Human woman with short black hair and a massive double-bladed ax, stood up and shrugged as she said, “Sure a bunch of Goblins could be a problem, but that thing doesn’t look so scary. I mean, it had a glass jaw and the princess there was able to take care of it practically single-handed.”

I just stared at her in disbelief for a moment before replying, “A glass jaw? Lissany’s hammer exploded from the force of the impact, and sure it broke its jaw, but that only really stunned it for a few seconds and you can see on the video how quickly it healed from the damage we were doing. If Lissany hadn’t taken it off guard and I hadn’t contained it until I could rip it apart then none of us would be here right now, and I had to call on the living mana of the entire forest just to do that. Not everybody is going to have that little trick available.”

Most of the Fae in the crowd were nodding and to my surprise, it was one of Sonja’s party-mates, Níala, who informed her gently, “I could feel how much power she was using from here in the village. If all that was barely enough to contain and kill it, then most of us would have no chance against something like that alone, or even in a party.” The Nyiir'dhraí Scout with the long chestnut-colored hair shook her head sadly at Sonja who frowned in response as she sat back down.

Suddenly it was very quiet and they were all looking at me expectantly once the barely audible question finally surfaced. “What do we do?”

“We get stronger,” I said. “We all train hard to become the best we can at our classes, level up, and gain new skills. We also need to start working together more, all of us. This is a cooperative game people, and we need to start getting organized and cooperating, all of us doing what we do best. Crafters, start producing gear to help those of us out there fighting. Fighters and magic-users start training hard with your parties, doing quests, and gathering what the crafters need to do their parts. If you are not in a party, join one, there is safety in numbers as well as being able to train together. The maximum number for a group is twelve, I have that many in my group, and I’m hoping to have us do training exercises as a group and as two smaller units of six in case we need to split up or attack from multiple fronts, I would suggest that other groups try something similar.”

“We also need to be ready wherever they might attack. That means organizing defenses for both Haven and the Fae Glade, and being ready to back one another up,” Nishalle pointed out from the back of the room.

Amoiraishe was beaming with pride as she walked up the aisle to join us at the podium and address the group. “My daughters are both correct; form groups, and start working together, challenging yourselves, and improving. You regular players will need to start organizing. The village and Glade will also need to plan defenses and communication to start working together. Taelya will represent the players living in the Glade, but the Human players should select a representative to speak for all of you and Haven.”

“Tien!” someone called out, a call that quickly spread throughout the Humans in the Hall. I recognized the name, though I only really knew of her by reputation. Becky had told me quite a bit about her after one of our magic lessons earlier in the week. Apparently, as two of the few Asians in the game, they had started talking and become good friends.

Tien was an Arts student in real life and had gotten the invite from her aunt, who worked as Moira’s receptionist but had no interest in joining the game, so Tien had joined and decided to play a Druid. Her parents owned a shop in the Kensington – Cedar Cottage area of Vancouver that some people refer to as Little Saigon. She had learned about running a business from them and when she saw the need she had put her experience to good use. It was when the supplies had burned up after H3lls-Pwn’s actions that she had started a sort of trading post in Haven, selling her herbs and potions and trading for whatever people managed to gather or get in quests that they didn’t need. She now had quite the brisk trade of all sorts of items and had a reputation for being fair, and often charitable when it was needed. She had quite a sense of humor too since the name Tien meant “Fairy” in her native Vietnamese and she had gone out of her way not to play a Fae.

Soon Tien was being practically dragged out of her seat by those around her to come and join us at the Podium. She was an unassuming looking Vietnamese girl, about twenty years old, probably looking a lot like she did in real life. She was dressed fairly casually in some of the clothes we had brought back from Walmart; a simple hoodie, jeans, and sneakers combination. She did look a bit nervous though, so to put her mind at ease I offered my hand and smiled as I told her, “It’s nice to finally meet you officially, Tien. I’ve heard good things about you.”

“Nice to meet you, Your Highness,” she replied with a nervous-looking smile. “I guess we’ll be seeing more of one another now though.”

“Then you should call me Taelya, at least when we’re being informal,” I offered with a smile. After that the meeting went on for another hour as possible tactics and training methods were discussed, parties were formed or expanded, and we discussed maintaining communications at all times. That was when Grell and Ashura revealed the new project that they had been working on, cell phones.

The only problem with using phones before had been that outside Haven it would be hard to keep them charged and getting a signal could be a problem if cell towers were damaged or not getting power, the satellites were still up there though. With that in mind, the pair had created a sort of magical battery for cellphones that was constantly charging from the mana around them. They had also vastly increased the signal range and strength so they could work just about anywhere. So far they had over two dozen of them altered and offered one to both me and Tien to help with communication. They planned to have one for each crafter’s shop and each party leader and had even outfitted a couple of laptops with similar artificed tech. Things were starting to look up as the meeting came to a close.

I was really tired by the time we had gotten home, had dinner, and gotten Salem settled into one of the guestrooms. Daenyss would have been willing to share with her, but she had a fairly small room next to her mother’s in the servants’ quarters and there probably wouldn’t be room for the two of them comfortably while they both still suffered body dysphoria. Salem seemed a little uncertain about staying in the manor but I told her that she was our friend and our guest and that she should come and see me or Daenyss if she needed anything at all.

As tired as I was, I still wanted to enjoy some time with Rei. It was so wonderful not having that constant dysphoria hanging over me and feeling comfortable with my body and who I was right now. It was as Rei and I were snuggling together in bed, savoring the afterglow of another few rounds of amazing sex that I asked him, “Honey, do you think that I could have a bit of your hair, you know from your usual Kitsune form?”

“Sure, babe, what do you need it for? Do you need it any specific length?” he queried, regarding me with the currently golden eyes of the Yseil'dhraí form that he had taken for our amorous encounters.

“It’s kind of for a Fae thing,” I began to explain. “We take a lock of each of our hair and braid them together into a pair of bracelets that we both wear around our right wrists. It’s called the sahir kien and the braids are made from three groups of hair, one of mine, one of yours, and one of a mix of the two. It’s sort of like the Fae version of a promise ring or wedding ring and it shows that we have been claimed by one another, heart and soul. It would also tell people like Narek that, while a bit of friendly sex is fine, that we are in a committed relationship and I don’t want anything more, so he might back off.”

“I don’t think that Narek will be pushing again after what he saw on that video,” my lover said with a grin. “I can’t tell if he’s more scared of you or Nishalle now.”

“True, he was surprisingly respectful at dinner, but I would still like to do this, just to let everyone know that we belong together. So... umm… what do you think?”

His answer was to shift into his, or rather her, androgynous Kitsune form and kiss me deeply, causing my desire to flare up again. It wasn’t too surprising since his male form had been getting more androgynous over the course of the day. I kind of figured that he was in one of his gender-neutral moods when the Yseil'dhraí form he had taken was so feminine looking. Once she had broken the kiss she smiled at me, still close enough that our breasts were touching and causing little shivers of delight to run through me as she said, “Call Daenyss and see if she has some scissors in that hairstyling kit of hers.”

Soon Daenyss arrived and unbraided my hair so that she could snip a lock from the nape of each of our necks where it wouldn’t be too obvious. Once she was finished she hugged us both, congratulated us, and then headed back to whatever she had been doing before to allow us to complete our task in privacy. I didn’t really know how to braid hair, but Rei showed me how and I got the hang of it pretty quick with my nimble fingers. Soon we had the braided bracelets secured around our wrists, loose enough to not be uncomfortable, but tight enough to not just slip over the hand accidentally.

“Wow, it feels so official now,” I said as I smiled and stared at the band of hair around my wrist, my bright red-gold contrasting her jet black.

“Yeah, it’s not like we had a wedding ceremony or anything, but I feel like that too,” Rei said as she looked at her own bracelet. “I’m actually kind of worried about losing it if I have to change shape to a Sprite or something for some reason.”

“Maybe Mahair has some sort of spell that will let it change size with you, I don’t know anything like that yet. We can ask her about it tomorrow,” I suggested.

“Speaking of tomorrow, have you decided if you want to go to that… uhh… ceremonial Fae orgy thing tomorrow night? You know, one last night of fun before the uncertainty of that event.” She sounded uncertain about whether she should ask or not.

I kissed her softly and held her close. “All I need is you, honey. As fun as it sounds with my dysphoria gone and all, I’m committed to you so I won’t be going. It’s not like I’ll be the only Fae not there since I doubt that Daenyss or Salem will be going, and Kinara is too young. So, the two of us can just spend a nice quiet night in.”

“Actually, I was… umm… talking to Amoiraishe earlier when I got my new skill download for Fae Culture and I sorta asked if I could be included tomorrow night. I know I’m not Fae, but I am your fiancée and you’re the princess. She agreed and I’ll be going through the ceremony with all the newbie Fae,” she said, looking a bit worried.

The reason for her nervousness suddenly clicked. She hadn’t been nervous about whether I was going to go, she had been worried about telling me that she was going through with it herself, and as one of the initiates. “Wait, you took Fae Culture as your new skill? And you’re going through the Jhashaira rite?”

She nodded and then kissed me tenderly before looking me in the eyes and saying, “Yes, and I want you to be there, so we can do this together babe. I know how much you enjoy being Fae, even with the dysphoria you’ve been so much more open and at ease with yourself since we started playing this game and you became Taelya. I love seeing you like that, seeing how you’re growing from this experience. So I want us both to be able to embrace the Fae culture, all of it, and I meant what I said about us having an open relationship. Sex is fun, and now that I have the new skill I can kind of see how the Fae view it; it can bring you closer to people that you care about, but it’s not really important in the grand scheme of things. It’s just our bodies, not our hearts and souls. As long as we’re both being safe about it and I know that I’m the one who wears your sahir kien and the one that you love and come home to every night, I think we’ll both be very happy.”

The look in her eyes, her words, she wasn’t lying to me. She wanted this, for both of us. My heart fluttered, my breath quickened, and I could feel tears coming to my eyes. This was like, the sweetest thing that she had ever done, and as both Rei and Jess, she was the sweetest and most supportive person I had ever known, though my sister came a close second. Finally, once I thought that I could control my voice, I spoke breathily. “No worries then, my love, because the only one I want to share my life, heart, and soul with is you. For the rest of our lives, in this body or any other.” We kissed then, tenderly, trading soft caresses as our tongues danced. Soon we were doing more than kissing as we picked up where we had left off before making our sahir kien and got some practice in for tomorrow night.