After eating my fill, I helped carry the leftover carcass back to the den. It wasn't too difficult between the four of us. When Took had brought one back, the swarm still was full of adolescents instead of adults, so they'd struggled to drag the carcass back between the whole group. Now, as four strong adults, we didn't struggle at all. While growth was instantaneous and marked most of the time, it was still jarring to occasionally compare myself today to the me of yesterday.

In the den, the three Alqat nodded at me in a friendly but dismissive way as we approached my den, and I didn't overstay my welcome.

As I walked into the entry, I was greeted by the general bustle of the swarm--I heard the clamor of the spawnlings practicing down the hall, the generally happy conversations between groups of keelish of all sizes, and, in the distance, I spotted Octavi doing her usual--listening to the conversations of all the people around, while seeming to not pay attention to anything in particular. She was Sybil's best informant, and she had grown into a persona of indifference and lackadaisical wallflower-ness. I knew, however, that was all a front--she was particularly invested in the political climate of the swarm, and was Sybil's first choice whenever it came to interkeelish problem solving.

Octavi glanced at me while I passed by, and nodded respectfully just like the rest did, but did no more to compromise her true intentions. All of Sybil's true subordinates were scary like this, and, my exposure to Sybil helped me to formulate some ideas as to why Wisterl and her interkeelish combat abilities were so highly valued. The thought sent a shudder down my spine, and I quickly dismissed it.

I relatively quickly got to my quarters, and sat, thinking for a while. There was no shortage of ways to grow my influence and trust among the Alqat, but the most immediate option that I had was to continue growing in strength personally... and I had a quest that should be pretty simple to accomplish, if I was just willing to... complete it.

I sat, mulling over my near future in my room for a long while, long enough that I realized I was getting hungry again. The reminder of my physical needs made me realize--there had been a couple of times where I had been aroused in the last couple of weeks. Never by anything specific, a smell here, a twist of a tail there, but the way this body responded made me uncomfortable in a way that I never was in my old one. Maybe it was just the foreign-ness of this body, but... if I wanted to check the easiest quest off of my list, I would have to at least momentarily embrace it.

I sat, frustratedly rubbing my aching shoulder, for another long while.

Finally, making up my mind to at least think about it, I decided to consider what eligible options I even had. Sure, Took could work, but... that was weird, like, having sex with my older sister. Sybil wouldn't want to, Shemira would definitely want to, but I couldn't possibly open that can of worms purposefully. The thought sent a shudder down my spine. Treel and Foire were obviously into each other, so I wouldn't insert myself (no pun intended) there, and the rest of the named females didn't have much of a personal relationship with me. Maybe that was for the best?

I again was lost in thought, until I finally decided to consult someone else. I whistled softly, and a spawnling poked their head in my room, "Yes?"

"Call the Gamma here. Let her know it's no rush, but I have a couple of things to run by her."

The little one nodded, then disappeared as I listened to its footsteps fade.

I had supposed that Sybil would take her time to get to me, but I was wrong this time. She sauntered in before too long had passed. She carried herself with poise and grace now, no longer the cowed individual from before, but instead a powerful Gamma in her own right, a master manipulator and schemer. Every so often, I would be taken aback by how tightly she kept the general goings-on of the swarm under her thumb, when I would reference something I thought she should check up on, only for her to explain in gritty detail what all the minutia of the case was.

"So, 'Lord', to what do I owe the pleasure?" Sybil smirked over at me as she approached. Keelish can't comfortably sit, so they typically laid down or sat back on their haunches if not standing or walking. We hunched down comfortably as I tried to gather my thoughts.

"You... do you ever have a distinct... feeling, about what you need to do to grow?"

Sybil cocked her head. "How do you mean?"

"Like, knowing how to improve your control over your magic, or how to gain strength, or anything like that?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said it's never happened, but I get the feeling you're talking about something more specific that I am. This should be in connection to what you said the other night, right?"

"Probably. I have a couple of particular... things... that I feel like would lead to my immediate growth, but only one of them is immediately available to me, but I can't do it alone."

Her eyes narrowed. "Is it something particularly dangerous? I can probably rally the swarm behind you on a suicide mission if necessary, but I don't think that would be worth it, long term."

"No, nonono, nothing like that. It's just... Well..." I was getting more uncomfortable by the moment, the more I thought about what I was going to try to ask my friend, to find me someone to sleep with.

"Spit it out already." Sybil rolled her eyes.

"I... need to sire a brood. I'd like your help in selecting a... matron." In an attempt to save myself from my own awkward self, I simply read the terms from my [Status], then realized I didn't know what to call the one that would be the mother of my children and settled, quite uncomfortably may I add, on "matron".

Sybil blinked. Slowly.

"You're serious?"

"... Yes..."

"Permission to speak candidly?"

"Of course."

Sybil bolted upright and got in my face. "You're a damn fool if you think that I'm about to help you matchmake. I've been trying to seduce you for weeks, in increasingly less subtle ways, and your response is to ask me to set you up with someone else?" She was actually pissed, and, after a moment of clarity, I realized that she was emanating the smell I'd "reacted" to and was twisting her tail in the unnaturally alluring fashion that had caught my eye previously. Oh. Shit. Shitshitshitshit...

I blinked and felt my eyes involuntarily dart all over. I'd never been particularly astute with the opposite sex, even when I'd found myself in a couple of relationships in my past life, and the signals were all different now, but I didn't let myself get caught up in excuses.

I stood tall enough to look Sybil in the eye. "I'm sorry. You know me well enough to know I speak the truth when I say this--I was entirely unaware of your, or anyone else's, advances, and the only reason that I asked you to advise me was because I thought you'd be disinterested in a sexual relationship, especially with me."

Sybil looked at me, frustrated, before responding, "Yeah, I know. Let me put it explicitly for you then." She turned around and rubbed her tail up and down my stomach while coyly lifting her head and looking at me sidelong. "Ashlani--sire a brood with me. Now, or never."

I chose the first option.