"And they were lost too?"

A man with two dark wings adorning his back standing in a deserted, dark room stared into a glass sphere on the table before him, images playing on its surface. When he spoke, it was directed at the object.

"Yes," a feminine voice responded in a muffled tone.

"What was the cause this time? Your last report was one stating the operation should be in your favor, what changed?" he questioned.

"We... do not know," came the hesitant reply.

"You know nothing? At all?" he asked, voice cold and impatient.

The man began pacing.

"The mission wasn't important, but that you couldn't secure a child without any guards shows incompetence. Explain yourself."

While not too important, it would have been good to have a win lately. Ransacked towns and burnt down villages were nice, but a play of power like this would have been a large step forward in their goals for this continent. Though not the main reason they were here, it would have helped for the future.

The mistress would not be pleased.

"We know nothing about how the last operation went. There were multiple attempts for contact, but all were blocked once they reached the mountain's base. We know nothing of what happened other than that all twenty-five of my troops have gone quiet. It has been a week," the woman replied.

He said nothing as he stopped his pacing and looked up, staring into the endless darkness the building offered. Not only a personnel loss, but no information gathered to top it off. A total and complete loss. He wasn't sure what to do with this information.

A minute passed whereby the person on the other side of the conversation spoke up, "What are our orders at this point, sir? Continue surveillance?"

He stood still for a moment then nodded to no one.

"Yes, continue surveillance on the child, but focus on your other duties as the priority. You are not only in that mountain chain to play kidnappers, do not forget. We want the progenitor's lab found. It is his will," he said.

"Yes sir," she replied immediately.

"That being said, I expect you to try again. And Minerva," he said, pausing for effect, "when you do find an opportunity to make a second attempt at the child, I'd suggest you do not fail again. It will be your life if you do."

"...Yes."

With that, the connection closed as the man conjured a chair from the ground to sit on, picking up the sphere and holding it in his palm.

"This... will not be a pleasant conversation," the man sighed out.

It had been his decision to use Minerva's camp, and he would be paying for it soon.

Delaying the inevitable would be of no assistance though. The mistress hated late reports more than she hated losing soldiers, and he did not want to be on the receiving end of her fury should he be late to report lost men.

With those parting thoughts, Emerson sent his mana into the sphere.

I let out a sigh of relief as the village guards become visible atop the gate.

It had been a stressful last couple of days, traveling with this new band of folk. Emily and Vanessa made the decision to assist them in their trip to our village once the contractors had shown Vanessa their seal. It meant they were in fact who they said they were, but I bet someone could forge those with all the magic in this world.

The ride had been much more pleasant without the Fae and a bit quicker paced than we had originally traveled at, yet it was not that which made the stress truly kick in. It wasn't even the fact that I had to act like a very intelligent four year-old.

No, it was the company.

Not Gallion. He turned out to be alright, if not a little... awkward. The Celestial was convinced he was hot shit and anyone who thought otherwise was a buffoon, but that was tolerable if not kind of hilarious at times.

No, it wasn't him that ended up being the problem. It had been the other Celestial 'children' I had been told to make friends with that had made the journey so uncomfortable.

Two other children, or young adults, were being accompanied by their parents on the way to the school and one had repeatedly made it known how unfavorably they viewed me and my mother. The constant superiority complex he held whenever conversing near me, the glares whenever I spoke, and the nonchalant way he trash-talked Humans every chance he got was beginning to grate on my patience. The fact that he delivered it with eloquent speech mannerisms only made it that much more irritating.

The other of the two was quiet. Eerily so. He'd spoken once or twice, but only in simple, short sentences each time. After that, he'd go back to staring at Kastra or Alexa and ignoring me completely.

Alexa disliked both of them as much as I did while Kastra didn't seem to understand that it was weird to be stared at throughout the entirety of the day. Unfortunately for us all, Vanessa and Emily impressed upon us the importance of making connections before actually getting to the academy and thusly forced us to eat meals and travel in the same cart as the other young adults whenever we had free time.

Gallion turned out to be the only thing keeping Alexa and me from giving up the endeavor entirely. While our introduction was rocky, the day after had been pleasant. For one reason or another, he had stopped harassing both of us and brought up multiple topics to speak about, ignoring the other two completely. Subjects of wine, men, women, magic, and even the occasional recreational substance he enjoyed the use of. The man had no limiter on his mouth and even less on his inhibitions.

It was admirable to see someone so honest, though sometimes I'd wished he kept his opinions to himself.

I personally believed his attitude change came with the realization that we might be interesting company to keep, along with Kastra's... motivation. I'd woken up in the middle of the night and noticed the fairy had been gone and the entire next day Gallion had been avoiding her gaze and flinching slightly whenever she moved. Perhaps we'd impressed upon her a bit too much on how much the boy irked us. It took him the entire day to get comfortable again.

Either way, sigh in relief I did when the guards came into view and knowledge that the journey was literally minutes away from being over paraded through my body. I could sleep in my own bed, bathe in my own tub, and eat something other than what I had murdered just hours prior. Life in a village was not the most dapper, but it was a large step up from camping for a month. I didn't know how much I missed this place until I was almost home again.

"Is that Garrett?" I hear Alexa ask from beside me.

"I think so," I say, squinting my eyes to see a man waving in our direction.

"I'd assume whoever that is belongs to your family," Gallion says. "Dressed just as boring yet handsome as you, waving like a fool, and... wonderful. Another Fae. I won't be staying with you all I hope?"

"Another Fae?" I ask, squinting harder and mentally reminding myself to thank Kastra later.

Though he'd kept his hands off me ever since Alexa asked him to, I didn't want to chance accidentally walking in on him anywhere.

"Oh! I see it. In his hair," Alexa says, nudging me with her right arm that was wrapped around my left.

Sure enough, there is something on his head. I'd thought it was a hat, but the closer we get the more it becomes obvious it isn't. For one, hats don't pull on your hair by themselves.

Alexa and I say our goodbyes to our new buddy and walk over to our cart, hopping up to sit next to Vanessa and Emily before we begin to check-in at the gate. Once we are through, we jump back down when we see Garrett jogging over with a huge smile on, wrapping us both in hugs the moment he can.

"Thank the gods you are all back safe. How was the trip?" he asks me, walking around to the other side of the cart and hopping up on it, settling in next to Vanessa.

I roll my eyes as he pulls Emily into his lap and she starts giggling.

"Pretty good," I respond, getting back up on the bench-styled seat with Alexa.

"Only pretty good?" he asks, looking over at me. "What happened to your eyes!" he then says loudly.

I cringe slightly at his volume.

"It's a bit of a long story, related to the Fae. Speaking of them, have you been treating my best friend well?" I ask, pointing to the Fae on his head who seems to be pouting.

It's definitely the same fairy that chased him out of the house before we left and used to sit on my head all the time, only it seems they've bonded somewhat. Whereas before Garrett was anti-fairy, now he is letting one rest on his head.

"Though it looks like she's found a new best friend," I add. "I feel betrayed."

"He is only my slave, but you let her take my spot!" the Fae yells back indignantly, pointing at the top of my head where Kastra is laying down.

Now I know why she's pouting at least, I'll have to explain the circumstances later.

Garrett laughs before cutting in.

"Well, I expect to hear that story soon then. As for this... this's Plum. She's been... well. She sort of lives with us now. It's also a long story."

"Not satisfied with me anymore?" Emily says with a grin.

He pulls her into a kiss as they snuggle closer and we all attempt not to vomit, saved by an irate fairy.

"Ya said we'd get foooood! Where is it!?" Plum whines from atop Garrett's head.

"We will just wait a bit longer," he says, flinching a little at her complaint.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I've been waiting for days!" she cries out.

The Fae begins pulling on his hair again and he looks apologetically over to Vanessa.

"Any chance we could stop by the market? I sort of made a promise and she seems... trickier than usual today," he asks.

"Can it wait? We still have to go to the Association to deliver the carriage and announce our return," she responds, leading the carriage towards the northern district without hesitation.

He says nothing for a few moments as the fairy on his head starts groaning loudly at the prospect of waiting another few minutes.

What has my poor father gone through these past few days?

Looking like he is about to resign himself to go alone, I feel Kastra sit up on my head and the Fae quiets down her moaning almost immediately.

"Kastra?" she asks, rubbing her eyes in disbelief. "Kastra!!!" she eventually screams, flying and tackling my wife to the ground/my head.

We all massage our ears as I use my mana sense to watch Plum rub her face against Kastra's with a large smile.

"What are you doing here? I didn't even recognize you because of how much you've changed. I thought you were stuck in that stupid lake for another ten years at least?? Not stupid, pretty. Pretty lake! How'd you get-" she stops, looking down at my head. "Don't tell me you got forced to bond with the Human!" she shrieks as we all cringe at the volume once again.

"It's good to see you too, Marci," Kastra responds, pushing their faces apart and trying to pry the fairy off her.

"If you touch a hair on her I'll kill you boy!" Marci yells at me, smacking the top of my head while glaring downward.

Great, just like that, she forgets that she is supposed to like me and admits she knew about the bonding. I wonder how she'll react if-

"Don't be mean to him, Marci. He's not a bonded, he's my Equal, see?" Kastra says, showing her new wings off.

Well, if that.

I sigh. What are the chances she'd say exactly what I was worried she would. At least she didn't mention I picked her life specifically to ruin.

Marci lets her pry their bodies apart as she stares blankly at the grey wings.

"I didn't get forced either, but he was the one who chose me over Seria to be his bonded. And the one to ask to be Equals. It was great, if it weren't for him, I'd still be... Marci?" Kastra asks, looking into her friend's vacant expression.

And there it is. Life sure was fun while it lasted, though I wish I had been a little more in control of my destiny.

The fairy looks like she is piecing together all the bad news when Kastra finally shrugs and untangles her arms from the Fae, flying down to my shoulder to settle into the crook of my neck as usual.

That seems to be the last straw as Marci's expression goes from blank-faced to rage-fueled in a moment, protective side surging forward as she dives off the front of my head and whips around, aiming for my nose, sharp pointy teeth bared. She doesn't get far before Kastra leaps off my shoulder and headbutts her directly in the chest to my utter surprise.

Kastra, having been prepared for the incident, floats in the air before me as if nothing has happened. Marci falls out of the sky and lands in my outstretched palms, wheezing. She sits up with her legs splayed out as her head droops forward and she hugs her sides.

"Kastraaaa that... hurttttt! Why did you do that?" she complains, looking up accusingly with sad eyes.

"I said to be nice to him and you tried to attack," Kastra says back matter-of-factly.

"But he forced you to-"

"No, he didn't," Kastra says, flying down to her friend, "I willingly accepted, and I said that. It got me away from the lake, the two clusters merged, and I like his magic. It's beautiful."

She finishes talking and lands, patting the other Fae on the head. I'm beginning to see a real mother and daughter relationship here. Daughter acts up and gets punished or hurt and now the mom steps in to console her. It's a little comical considering they are miniature and timeless but also sweet in a way, I suppose. I'm just glad my skin is still connected to my nose, her teeth look sharp.

"There there."

"You, *sniff*, you hit me," she says, sniffling without tears... definitely faking it.

"Don't be stupid and I won't have to hurt you," Kastra says back.

If only everything were that simple.

"Shouldn't you be happy that your best Human friend bonded with your best friend? Now Kastra will be around almost all the time," I persuade.

Marci looks up at me with a complicated expression before turning back to Kastra, who is nodding with a smile.

"Plus, don't think I'm not mad at you," I cut in before she can respond. "You knew I'd be bonded to Seria and instead of trying to help me out, you abandoned me."

She immediately looks away.

"That's not what friends do."

She keeps staring into the distance.

"Definitely not what best friends-"

"Ok ok I was wrong I'm sorry I'm glad you and her are happy!" the Fae yells out. "I'll even share my spot with her. There, see? I'm being so giving, so you should just forget that tiny little thing I did..." she finishes, trailing off.

I smile at the victory.

Kastra and her continue chatting as more explaining and consoling happens, Kastra patting her head and Marci avoiding my gaze completely. It lasts for about a minute as we ride through our village for the Association until Kastra gets bored and flies back to my shoulder. Marci looks up with a forlorn expression spread across her face and looks away when I glance down at her, so I lift her up with my hands and deposit her next to Kastra.

"You two must be pretty good friends," I say.

"She is one of the only ones I consider a friend. We like the same things mostly, though she is more into tinkering with things than magic," Kastra replies, nodding.

"I'm her best friend!" Marci says loudly while laying her head on Kastra's lap.

"Well, it's a good thing you'll be living together then, Marci," I say.

"It's Marciela to-" she starts indignantly, glancing away after meeting my eyes. "I... it's Marci to my two best friends only," she mutters out.

She is very cute when she's not screaming.

"That's right! If she's your wife, you'll live together. And you live with my slave!" she shouts, pointing to my dad.

"We aren't married," Alexa corrects.

"Just an Equals pact," I confirm, nodding my head.

Kastra doesn't nod with me though, and I sigh. Alexa looks away, Garrett ignores her claim, Emily continues watching the little show they've been putting on, and all the while Vanessa continues to steer the cart forward from my right, ignoring everything to do with the two Fae.

Or at least, trying to.

"So you'll both be attending, then?" Gallion asked as he looked at Damien and Alexa both sitting across the table from him.

"That's the plan," Damien said.

"He's only four though so he'll be coming in when I have one year left," Alexa said.

"That's if I have to go when I'm eleven Lexi. Do they accept anyone early?" Damien asked in a light-hearted tone, playing the child.

"Please, you don't even know if you'll be gifted yet and you think you can get in early? Good luck," Gallion said sarcastically. "But to answer your question, no. They don't," he finished.

Why they put up with him, Damien had no idea, but it comforted him to know that Alexa would at least have one person at the academy that she was friends with before going, even if it was this pompous ass of a man.

Who knows, maybe having someone this good at being in charge of a conversation would be a boon.

They all sat in a restaurant with their parents and family eating, the adults at one table while the three of them sat at another, Kastra on Alexa's shoulder this time. Gallion's father, Toren, had offered to pay for a meal for them all as thanks for the help and brought them to the most upscale restaurant in the Village, though, that wasn't saying too much in Carlon.

The Ruidens were apparently a well to do family out east, holding a rather large merchant company that specialized in clothing on the coast. They purchased raw material and made a wide assortment of goods from casual worn dresses to formal attire for the wealthy, owning two separately located shops for their two different clientele. They claimed to have no ties with the Ruidens on Hylyu, which Gallion explained was a prominent family, but Damien could tell there was something off about how much the boy despised that family.

Damien refocused on the conversation they'd been having and decided he'd ask further about the age requirement. If he could find a way in earlier, he'd take it.

"Why d-"

"Ma'am," Gallion said, raising his hand and interrupting Damien as a waitress passed by, "would you mind, beautiful top by the way, but could I get another coffee, without the creamer as I asked? It's not that it tastes horrible this way, just that it really does. Thank you, dear," he said, winking at her.

The waitress looked at him strangely, probably unsure of whether to be flattered or offended, as she turned back to the kitchen to get him a new cup.

"Could you not do that while sitting with me please?" Damien asked.

"Do what?"

"Be so... rude but not really I think? I don't want them to spit in my food because I'm sitting with you," Damien said, looking down at his plate and back up to Gallion.

Alexa looked at him worried, forcing Kastra to duck out of the way of her chin as it moved over her right shoulder, "They'll do that? Maybe... yeah you should be nicer," she said, turning to Gallion.

"Cute thought, but no," he said as he accepted the new coffee, "Thank you dear. Should I be nice or honest? If the shoe doesn't fit after they measure your size, most people would throw it back at them. At least I do it with class."

Damien shook his head, once again unsure how he should deal with the man. Alexa scoffed.

"So, what's your deal anyway, Mr. Serious? You're four, but you act older? Or are you older and act four? Either way, you should work on your acting."

Damien froze while Alexa looked away quickly. Kastra stayed seated, silently observing the conversation. Damien stared at the youth before him, noticing he was smiling more than usual. In his peripheral, he saw Emily twitch slightly at the question as her face went from relaxed and smiling to rigidly smiling in an instant.

"Oh, come on. It's not like I'd tell anyone, no one talks to me or I would. Too much knowledge of the world up here to believe their bullshit," Gallion said, reaching up to tap his head with his right hand. "So what is it?"

"I... have a condition," Damien responded. "My mind just focuses better than most my age, so I don't get to play as much. No one really likes a know it all young kid," he lied, praying that would be believable.

"...Unfortunate childhood, then. At least you have her," Gallion said, pointing to Alexa while his permanent smile disappeared for a moment.

He looked... wrong without it.

"Yeah, she's been great," Damien responded truthfully, noticing as Emily's shoulders relaxed. "So, what if I tried to join sooner? How would they know how old I am?"

"Healing magic," Alexa responded. "Or a branch of it. I'm not sure how it works, but they can tell your age within a month of your actual birth date. It gets harder and harder the older someone becomes."

Unfortunate, he thought. If it was a matter of integrity, he had no qualms about lying his way in earlier. The sooner he had a safe environment to practice in, the better.

Lunch continued in the same manner before concluding. The conversation petered out and the families parted ways, headed for their respective homes for the evening.

Marci sat next to Kastra on Alexa's shoulders, endlessly talking while his Fae listened. He'd thought she'd fallen asleep or had been ignoring the other, but she would nod her head whenever appropriate or give her thoughtful input when asked for it. Truly, good friends.

The group of them split off from Vanessa as Emily's begging for her to stay the night fell on deaf ears. Eventually, they arrived at their house.

It sat there, surrounded by a fence as always as the sun began to fall further and further into the sky behind it slowly. They'd spent a long time in the other districts, and all were tired.

Damien wasn't sure why, but he'd expected the house to be destroyed when he got back for some reason. Something about Garrett meeting them with a Fae had given him a premonition that something bad had happened, yet here their dwelling was, standing as before.

Just under two months had come and gone, not long by any means, but Damien was happy to be back. They were home.

He really felt it, too, when Garrett opened the door and a black and white streak of movement shot towards his stomach, stopping suspended in the air inches from a collision.

"Kastra it's ok. This is Jasper, our pet fox," Emily said, petting the suspended fox's head as its eyes nervously flicked about. Kastra floated above the fox's head and in front of Damien's chest with a hand outstretched.

She nodded to Emily before moving out of the way. The moment she landed on Damien's shoulder, she stopped holding it back and both Damien and Jasper were surprised as the fox slammed into his stomach with its earlier speed, causing Damien to double over and the fox to yelp in surprise.

Alexa, Garrett, and Emily looked on and chuckled.

This was home.

Damien laid stretched out in the warm bathtub, relaxing after the long trip. Good with the bad, he'd enjoyed almost every hour of it. He could have done without the Fae for the most part and the extra two Celestial children around at the end, but it wasn't too big a cost to have met someone that Alexa could call a friend when she traveled to Eleram alone. Everyone knew she got lonely fast like he did; she would have had problems if she were alone.

Still, in the future when he attended, he'd have to remember to avoid those two. Cedar the obnoxious one and Easton the quiet one.

He looked down at his leg and wrist, still surprised to see there was no scarring. Though healing magic accelerated the bodies natural process, it seemed that people of this world only retained scars if they healed naturally because they couldn't heal the wound themselves, whether due to inexperience or lack of mana, so not very many held one. Those that had the proof of battles past were considered poor or unlucky.

Damien felt cheated though. Chicks dig scars, he'd always been told.

He let out a sigh of content as he relaxed his body further, sinking deeper into the water.

Chicks. Women. That was another problem he'd have to address eventually. It was quite obvious that Alexa liked him, he wasn't dense. It was made all the more obvious by the fact that he could literally sense her emotions. He could feel her blush every time she caught him staring at her while pondering something, or every time he caught her staring at him. Even when Gallion was hitting on him, he'd felt a pang of jealousy.

It wasn't that he didn't like being with her. She was pretty fun, kind-hearted when she'd wanted to be, and obviously cared a lot about his family and the same things he did. It was more the fact that she looked like a freaking nine-year-old. Adorable, sure, but still a child. It was awkward even when factoring in that she was supposed to be around seventeen years of age on his world.

It was only made stranger by the pull her emotions had started having on him, too. She'd be embarrassed and him realizing she was looking at him while feeling that would make him embarrassed as well. To her, they looked almost at a marriageable age. To him, it was all damn confusing.

Kastra was on the other side of the spectrum. Whereas thankfully Alexa didn't try to be physically affectionate just yet, Kastra always stayed close to him and Alexa both, yet gave off none of the same emotions. She seemed content to just be touching them. Alexa had already started to act consciously of him before he'd told her everything, but now, seeing how Kastra was acting and after the talk, she'd been sitting closer of late too. He'd snuck into the bath right now, in fact, because he was worried she'd start acting strange about them bathing together.

Damien just didn't want her to try and get him to commit a crime, even if it wouldn't be seen as one. He liked women, dammit. Grown, normal women. Though, none of this was a problem in their eyes. Kissing was normalized, Gallion was seen as an adult at the age of eleven and acted like it even though the Celestial was the same height as him...

Damien shook his head back and forth to rid himself of the complicated thoughts. Those could all wait for another time. He was relaxing right now. Let complicated matters that would be resolved with time set on the back burner until time did indeed resolve them. He couldn't wait until they were all fifteen of this world's years and it could be normal, somewhat, and they could work through whatever the hell they would decide to do. The pact would make it hard for him to be with anyone else, but perhaps Alexa would find someone up there and ask to be...

Damien sighed again as his mind vehemently rejected the idea of someone laying hands on her. She was his, yet not his until she was older, yet in this world, it was normal...

He rested his head in his hands, irritated that his thoughts kept bringing him back to problematic topics. With an idea, he began actively trying to remember song lyrics from his past, an attempt at keeping his brain too occupied for other thoughts. It worked, as he eventually began humming and relaxing again, albeit only for a short while before he was interrupted.

Alexa, of course, entered the bathroom with Kastra in tow.

"You should have told me we were taking a bath," she said, hopping in and landing on his legs on the other side of the tub.

She seemed normal and he felt no reaction from the bond so... perhaps trying to sneak had been unnecessary.

"I just wanted some alone time is all," he responded.

"Should I leave then?" she asked, concern flowing through as he laughed at himself for worrying.

"No, it's fine. I've had more than enough. My brain has already put me through the wringer; it'll be nice to talk and get my mind off things," he responded.

"What's the wringer?" she asked.

"Just an idiom from my world," he said.

He froze for a moment when he noticed Kastra was still on her shoulder but relaxed a moment later. They were bound for life; she'd find out eventually.

Alexa pouted.

"It took years for you to trust me enough with that and you accept it so easy for her?" she asked.

"I'm stuck with her for life, no point in hiding it Lexi," he said.

"You're stuck with both of us for life," Alexa said back as she kicked him in the side lightly, smiling.

"Maybe not, you could always find a good guy up there and we could-," he stopped, regretting his words instantly as hurt flowed through the bond.

Alexa looked away.

"Right, because you can both remove me whenever you want," she stated.

"That's not wh-"

"It's what you said though," she said, looking back at him. "You should be more careful with your words Mr. serious," she said with a sad smile, fooling no one with her attempt at lightheartedness as he felt the pain flow through.

"I'm s-"

"Well, at least in a year or so we won't be able to remove you at this rate, so you just have to wait," Kastra cut in.

Damien and Alexa both looked at her as she flew to the side of the tub and sat down, her satin blue dress shortening slightly so it wouldn't get wet as she rested her feet in the water. Her hair flowed down her back like a deep blue waterfall as always, reaching just above her waist.

"Come again?" Damien asked.

"The second stage of the pact I told you about. When that happens, it strengthens. At that moment, she won't be able to be removed anymore," Kastra responded.

"Really?" Alexa asked hopefully.

Kastra nodded.

"What about the third stage?" he asked.

"It should mature further and her death will be met with ours."

Damien looked to Alexa and saw her smiling, seemingly happy about this news. All he could think was that they'd made a mistake.

"Maybe we shou-"

"No," Alexa declared. "It's my choice."

He wasn't stupid enough to actually tell her it wasn't technically, but it still worried him. What if she didn't end up wanting to be stuck with them?

"But what if you regret it later?" he asked. "There is always the smallest chance you- ok, ok," he said, raising his hands as the girl glared at him from across the tub.

"Even if we get to the point that she can't be removed, she could always still leave us for months on end and visit occasionally when the pull becomes too strong. That would stop the pact from deepening pretty permanently," Kastra interrupted. "It only grows through close proximity and recurrent physical contact. If she is gone mostly, it won't grow at all."

Damien was relieved to hear the explanation and Alexa seemed excited. Nothing truly bad had come of it yet, they'd just have to decide if that's what they wanted when the time came.

Damien and Alexa both retreated to their thoughts after that, occasionally glancing at one another or Kastra while relaxing. Alexa wasn't hurt anymore, but giving off a vibe of excitement and expectation. It was worrying to him in a way.

"I still think-"

"Should I be naked?" Kastra interrupted.

Damien's mind went blank for a moment at the random question, as did Alexa's if her expression was any indication.

...

"What?" Alexa finally asked.

"Well, you're both naked. Is this... should I be naked too? Are we bonding naked right now?" she asked.

"You don't exactly have to be if you don't want to bathe?" Alexa said questioningly, as if she wasn't exactly sure herself.

"Well, I want to bond. I guess I'll-"

"No!" Damien said, louder than he'd intended.

"No?" Kastra asked.

"No. You uh, you should definitely stay clothed," he said.

"Why?" she asked.

"What are you embarrassed about?" Alexa asked referring to the bond as he cringed.

'It works both ways, shit.'

"I think I'd like to try bathing," Kastra said, standing on the edge of the tub and hopping backward, landing on the floor as her gorgeous twenty-year-old self, yet just as tall as they were.

Damien's mind struggled to fathom what he was seeing.

Proportionally, her body was enchanting. Thin, but in a fit way, not an unhealthy one. Nice hips, moderate bust, probably five foot seven when at full size, and a well-toned butt. Combined with the silver freckles, an enchanting wide smile, bright blue hair, tanned skin, and beautiful European face, she fit perfectly what any man would call a model. The last thing Damien needed was that taking a bath with them when he was busy being pure. Desires or not, he still had his memories and minds were a thing that wandered.

"I just think-" he started.

She reached up and slipped off one side of the straps of her dress as he spoke and that was enough. Damien's slightly flushed face from the bath turned full red as he shut his eyes, daring not open them.

'Pure thoughts,' he chanted.

When he felt the water rise and an extra pair of legs enter, he nearly cracked.

"Wow, you look amazing when bigger, Kastra! And your body is so... I can't believe how... they're like the perfect size for my hands. It's weird seeing a four-foot-tall adult." he heard Alexa exclaim as the water in the tub sloshed back and forth. "Oh now who's being a prude? We're all adults and it's just a body, open your eyes," she said to him.

"Not happening right now, you're nine and I'm four. Maybe some other time. Get her to go back to her original size and maybe," he responded.

'Pure. Thoughts.'

"Oh, whatever. I'll enjoy this sight if you won't then," she replied. "Claims to be eighteen and can't handle a nude woman. Maybe it's all made up," he heard her snicker.

He sat there listening as they whispered back and forth to one another, talking about him most likely. He decided he'd had enough and was making an escape route in his mind when he felt a hand rest on his arm as a body pressed into his, something soft resting just below his knees and a smooth weight pressing onto his chest.

"Now stay there until he decides to open his eyes and we can all bathe together like normal," Alexa declared.

'You don't understand woman!'

Damien fought hard, but his mind eventually shrugged as he resigned himself to his fate. He opened his eyes and was greeted by the sight of blue hair directly below his gaze and nothing else as Kastra rested her back onto his small chest, seated in his lap. He glanced up to Alexa with jerky movements to see her smirking at him.

"I opened them, you can get up now," he said.

"It's comfy," Kastra responded.

Not his fault anymore, he tried his best.

Damien reached forward with his arms and rested them around Kastra's soft stomach.

He was wrong earlier. This was not his usual, safe home. This was a dangerous paradise.