“Jase?” Lily said getting my attention.

“Yeah?” I asked looking up from the computer. I had been reading some of the ancients’ herbology knowledge to keep my mind off yesterday’s incident. “We have lost so much knowledge.”

“True,” Lily replied.

“Is something wrong?”

“April just let me know the Stonecroft elders and business leaders are meeting in a few minutes to discuss Sara and what to do with us,” my familiar informed me. I frowned.

“How did she let you know that? I haven’t seen or heard anyone come in.”

“She used the network,” Lily answered.

“Why don’t you guys use the network all the time?” I asked.

“Doing so takes a lot of energy still. It’ll probably take years to restore full network functionality.”

“I think I understand,” I said after carefully watching Lilly. Her wings weren’t beating quite as fast, and she looked tired. I fished a honey drop from the bag on the table. “Need a pick me up?”

“Yes, and thank you,” Lily replied taking the offered candy. I stood and walked into the kitchen while Lily ate the sweet. I returned with a cup of lemonade that I had made with the lemons I had gotten from the village store. I put a straw in the cup and sat it on the desk. “For me?”

“Yeah,” I answered. Lily flew up and started sucking from the straw.

“So good!”

“Should we go attend this meeting?” I asked.

“No, but I’m going to see what they say.”

“Lily…”

“I promise to tell you anything important.”

“Just be careful and don’t overreact to whatever they decide.”

“I promise to be careful and not make any rash decisions,” Lily replied flying up and kissing my left cheek.

“How about promising me we’ll discuss things before you do anything?”

“Alright. I promise that too.”

“Thank you,” I replied. Lily suddenly grinned. “What?”

“I’m leaving Yam and Willow to babysit you!” Lily said.

“I don’t need babysitters!” I retorted at the tiny retreating form.

“Too late!” my familiar shouted as she flew off giggling. A moment later two pixies flew into my home.

“Yay! Lemonade!” Yam squealed and attacked the straw. “Aw! Lilly was a piggy and drunk it all!”

“Jase! Can we have some lemonade?” Willow asked giving me sad puppy eyes. She then grinned. “If so, we promise not to tell Lilly you looked up nude pictures if you want to look them up.”

“What?” I asked in disbelieve and a lot of embarrassment at what the pixie just proposed. “Where did that come from?”

“The network was a treasure trove of dirty pictures and videos,” Yam said. “Aw! Jase is blushing.”

“Honestly, smut was probably half of everything on the network at one point,” Willow added. “You’re a healthy young man. It’s only natural that you would want to take a peek behind the green door.”

“What green door?” I asked in confusion. There are no green doors in the cottage.

“We’ll show you,” Yam replied. Both pixies now had devilish grins on their faces.

“Ah no. I’ll get you lemonade anyway though,” I said turning and walking into the kitchen. When I returned with two cups of lemonade, the two pixies were being chased by a well-known blond pixie. “What the….”

“You’re not supposed to be trying to corrupt my Jase!” Lily shouted as they stopped for a second. Now that my embarrassment had faded, I could feel my familiar’s anger. That anger had been building since I first got embarrassed too.

“We were just trying to help him explore his feelings and urges,” Yam replied.

“That’s right,” Willow agreed. Lily’s eyes narrowed as the other pixies grinned. My familiar charged Yam, who dodged out of the way.

“Ha! Missed me,” Yam crowed.

“Oof!” Willow yelled as Lily tackled her to the desktop. Both went down in a heap. Yam flew down and started pulling Lily’s hair to get her off Willow.

“That’s enough!” I thundered as my own anger flared. I sat the two cups down and reached out to take Lily into my hands. I could feel her anger and embarrassment. I could also feel jealousness underneath the other emotions.

“Sorry my Jase. I got angry when your emotions hit me across our bond,” Lily said looking up at me from where she was sitting in my left hand. She looked at the other two pixies. “I’m sorry guys. It’s just that…”

“You feel it’s your place to corrupt Jase,” Willow said. Lily nodded.

“Hey!” I objected.

“We just wanted to tease him too,” Yam added ignoring my outburst. “Lily, we’re sorry too.”

“I’ll corrupt myself when I feel like it,” I said making the pixies laugh.

I felt Lily calm and return to her normal fun-loving self. She joined the other two pixies on the desk and helped Willow up. The three pixies hugged.

“You guys need your own human,” Lily said.

“True,” Willow agreed.

“Woya seems interested in us,” Yam said. The three started talking about Mohe’s daughter as I picked up the cup Lily had drunk from earlier and took it to the kitchen. I returned a couple minutes later with it refilled and a cup of lemonade for myself.

“Lily?”

“Hmmm?”

“What about the meeting?” I asked.

“Oh. April is going to let me know what happens,” my familiar replied.

“Ok. You know she could have done that in the first place.”

“Yeah, but if she had agreed to do that, we wouldn’t have had this little misadventure,” Lily cheerfully said. Yam and Willow agreed.

I shook my head. “Drink your lemonade.”

“Yay!” the pixies cheered.

I turned back to the computer and froze. Glancing out of the corner of my eye I saw the pixies watching me closely. I pointed at the screen.

“What is this?”

“A picture of a naked woman,” Yam innocently answered.

“Your finger is pointing at her breasts,” Willow happily added.

“If you look down below her stomach you can see her…” Lily said and fell silent as I covered her mouth with my left index finger.

I quickly closed the picture. Lily bit my finger. I snatched it away. Lily grinned as the others laughed. She flew up and kissed my finger.

“We’re just trying to help,” Lily said giving me an innocent look.

“Sometimes I wonder about that.”

“Does your finger feel better after I kissed it?” Lily asked.

“Yes.”

“See. Helping!”

“You’re the one that caused it to hurt though.”

“That’s helping too!” my familiar replied to laughter from the other pixies. She started laughing and I soon joined them.