After I finished telling Leneira my story, I urged the others to move on. The way she had behaved at the end of it had been a little too pushy, too intimate, to make me comfortable. In addition, Sigmir had displayed a similar sentiment, only in a more physical manner. Once I had left the lake, she had stepped up and, quite forcefully, inspected my mouth for cavities, using her tongue. Not that I complained about her forceful manner but I had a feeling that, if Leneira kept pushing, Sigmir would toss all concerns for the rules of hospitality out of the next window and introduce Leneira to her Lok’nar. While there was a small part of me that wondered if we could take her, the rest of me was certain that it would be a bad idea.

I could feel that, despite our rapid departure from Leneira’s glade, Sigmir had been left with a seriously bad mood but I already had a good idea what to do about it. I also kept quiet about the fact that we were following a suggestion from Leneira, to follow the stream that fed her pond southward. I was quite curious what we might find there, even if I doubted that it would be anything simple. No, Leneira had seemed far too smug and mischievous when telling me about it, making me consider a couple of ways to make sure we didn’t stumble into a trap. But at the same time, Lenore and I agreed that it hadn’t been a lie, that there would be something useful to find. We would have to wait and see.

In addition, travelling along the small stream gave us a steady and easy supply of freshwater and I looked forward to bathe in the stream, even if I was fully aware that there wouldn’t be an effect like the one from Leneira’s pond.

For the rest of the day, we slowly moved further south, taking our time and relaxing from the effort of the previous day. As we walked, I let myself notice more about our surroundings and the simple, yet pure, beauty of the forest we were walking through. There was no modelling of new magic-spells, no theorising what might happen if I tried something new, no careful watching for a potential ambush, just a relaxed awareness of our surroundings.

There was something in the air, a pleasant smell of blooming flowers and the constant, soft noise of insects, birds and the wind blowing through the new leaves of the trees. It made me think of cartoon-movies I had seen, and never understood, when I had been a child, movies with frolicking small animals, singing songs as they dance through the woods. There was no such thing here, but I felt a sense of lightness, making me wonder if some of the plants had hallucinogenic properties.

Once I started to feel a little too out of control, I forcibly reigned myself in, focusing on potential threats and pushing the lightness away. It scared me, the feeling of giddiness that was making me act in a strange manner.

Focusing inward, I let my awareness almost drift into a state of meditation, not quite delving into the Astral River but almost. It allowed me to taste the magic all around me, what I normally ignored as background noise, unless I observed the Astral River itself. And I noticed that the types of magic I was normally using were thin, making me realise that if I wanted to work my magic it would take a lot more effort than I had been accustomed to.

Instead, the tastes I had learned to associate with water-, wind- and light-magic were thick in the air, making me wonder if I would be able to learn those types of magic. Especially water was thick and I realised that the brook we had been walking next to was a mirror the a stream of water Astral Power in the Astral River. Was that why Leneira had settled in the lake she was living in and created her grove around it?

“Let’s stop here for the day.” Adra spoke up and I took in our surroundings on a more physical level, no longer focusing on the magical traces.

It was a good spot, I had to admit, there was a broken tree, most likely due to a storm at the beginning of winter and beneath it was a lot of dead, mostly dry wood, which would allow us a nice fire. In addition, the brook we had been following had a large bow in it, creating a comfortable slope, even with a little sand.

“Go ahead. I’m still trying to figure something out.” I replied, putting down my pack as I let my senses drift back into the Astral. What had pushed me into that strange feeling of giddiness, was it merely the magic around me? Or was there something else? Part of me wanted to try using Mind Magic as a sort of mirror to inspect myself but I had no idea where to even start. I had tried the obvious idea, act as if I was reaching out to a different mind but when it came to my own mind, there was a blind-spot. Even trying to act through Lenore, who seemed incredibly amused by my attempts, had failed making me wonder what I was missing.

“Did you notice?” Lenore asked finally, after I had banged my head against a mental wall for some time.

“Notice what?” I asked in reply, not sure what she meant. Was I missing something obvious?

Instead of waiting for her answer, I focused my senses outward again and noticed something that I had failed to see before. What I had seen as a pure stream of water was a little more complicated. There was something else flowing in the river, something I hadn’t quite expected.

“What’s that?” I asked Lenore, hoping to have noticed the right thing.

“Curious.” she muttered, making me wonder if it had been the thing she meant.

Walking to the beach, I cupped some water in my hand, using the act as a metaphor to ingest some of the Astral Power as well, letting my taste tell me what the thing I had noticed actually was. It only took me a moment to spit the water back out, sadly doing the same with the Astral Power was a lot more difficult. There was a tiny trace of death, of rot and decay, almost impossible to notice carried in the water.

When I shared my findings with Lenore, she turned quite curious, knowing that, if we managed to separate and cleanse the Death-Magic, it might be quite advantageous for her.

“That might be what Leienra meant when she said that we’d find something interesting.” I mused, considering what might be the source of the magic I was detecting.

“Could be, yes. But we might only find out if we get there.” Lenore replied, studying the reflective surface of the stream.

As I stood there, contemplating what I was seeing, two arms wrapped around me from behind and a soft voice whispered into my ears.

“Love, Rai and Lenore are gone for now. And we need to talk.” Sigmir said as she gently nibbled my ears. There was something in her voice that sent a shiver down my spine, making me wonder just what she had in mind. Just as I noticed that, Lenore did so, too, and decided that, whatever it was that Sigmir was planning, Lenore didn’t want to have a ringside seat, leaving her Hallow and taking of towards the edge of the clearing where Ylva waited for her friend.

“What do you have in mind?” I asked and noticed that my voice was a little breathy in anticipation.

“You have been naughty, cavorting around with that nymph in the morning, splashing around in her lake. I think I’ll have to remind you that you are my mate, what do you think?” she asked, switching her nibbling from my ears to my neck.

There was a small part of me that wanted to push back, to assert that I was allowed to do whatever I wanted. But at the same time, I knew that it’d be hypocritical and that I would act in much the same way, if I felt that someone had tried to seduce Sigmir. Well, maybe not the same way, I was more likely to first rip apart the flirting being in an orgy of blood and pain, before having my way with Sigmir, but that was par for the course.

But I wasn’t about to simply roll over and let her have her way with me, that was just not me. Instead, I bend my back twisting in her embrace so that I could look at her in turn, whispering back, “I think that sounds like a grand plan. I’ll gladly show you that you, and only you, are my mate.”

The declaration felt good and, just as my earlier giddiness reasserted itself, I let myself melt into Sigmir, planning to take all that delicious excess energy out on her.