Gersius sat quietly looking out over the lake as his thoughts were plagued by the image he had seen. He had never heard of a divine imparting so much information as he had just gotten to anyone before. It was as if Balisha was desperate to make him understand what had happened, and yet he had more questions.

He heard parts of the conversation between Lilly and Balisha. He heard Balisha answer some of her questions and refer to herself as I and then we. So was Balisha responsible for what had happened? Or were they both responsible? Certainly, it was Solesta who caused the conflict. She was the one who ordered the dragons away from men and then ordered them to go back and attack the remaining dragons.

He realized that much of what he had seen was one-sided and could not help but feel something had been left out. Still, he was grateful to feel the flow of a divine again. He felt a special warmth for Balisha, especially now that she had healed Lilly's wings. He made up his mind to let the images fade and work on building his connection to the Goddess. Nothing was more important right now than establishing his link to her.

The night air blew over the lake and carried with it a soothing cold bite. Thanks to Lilly's dragon gift, he loved the feeling of the cold now. It was another pleasing sensation that was every bit as inviting as a warm fire. He thought of how lucky they were that they had this gift. If Lilly had flown them into the sky without it, they would likely have frozen.

He smiled and watched as the water of the lake gently rippled in the cool breeze. The light of the stars reflected on the surface and danced on the tiny waves. He saw the long streak of the silver moon and felt a sudden kinship to it. He looked up at the bright object that hovered in the sky and thought of Balisha.

It was in this moment he realized he had no idea why Balisha was associated with the moon. Solesta was the sun, and he realized that Sol was the name his people had for the sun just as Bal was the name of the moon. He thought on that as he tried to put the pieces together. Maybe the names were based on the ancient Goddesses? In the vision, he had seen the sun and moon collide. It was symbolism he knew, but it was meant to convey something meaningful. He briefly considered going back into the temple to use the portal and go before Balisha. He had questions that had no answers, and she could tell him face to face.

He felt a deep welling sense of resistance to that. He knew the urges of the divine well enough to know Balisha was telling him no. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths as he felt the bind inside and looked for his wives.

He felt them both instantly as he let his senses return to the link they shared. They were a little ways behind him. He could tell both of them were watching him and wondering if it was safe to talk to him.

“I am back, you can talk to me,” he said still not moving from his position.

“What did she say?” Lilly asked as they approached him.

“She didn’t say anything, she sang me a song and let me hear the story of dragons as well as showed me visions of the war they fought.”

“But that is a sad image, you felt so happy to both of us,” Lilly said.

“That is because I saw a second image, one I am very grateful for,” he said, looking over his shoulder at them. “I saw the image of the dragon knight. Balisha has made it clear; I am the dragon knight.” His eyes looked up and locked on the dark-haired priestess of Ulustrah. “And so is Thayle.”

Lilly and Thayle both reacted with sudden jumps, and Thayle spoke. “I'm not the dragon knight. It has to be you.”

“The vision was obvious in its message. She showed me two dragon knights. One man and one woman. You must be the women she showed me.”

“You don’t know for sure?” Lilly asked.

“She was in full armor. I could see very little of her besides that she was shorter than both of us like Thayle is.”

Thayle looked stunned by the words and her hands twitched. “But I am a priestess of Ulustrah? The dragon knight was a priest of Astikar. He was a warrior with great strength and skill. How could she want me?”

Gersius understood her reservations. “Thayle, you said your Goddess gave you permission to follow us and to love us. You are called to be a dragon knight beside me. If this is the case, then your Goddess knew this was coming. Your path is set.”

“You saw it clearly?” she asked, and he nodded. She was upset, but she took a breath and steadied herself. “So be it then, I will stand beside my husband as the second dragon knight.”

“So your both dragon knights?” Lilly asked.

“We are, and you are our dragon,” Gersius replied.

Lilly smiled and glanced at Thayle before asking a question. “So we can go to Calathen now?”

“Not yet. We need to go to Avashire and see what progress Lengwin has made. We must have his support to take the city.” He paused a moment and looked distant. “I saw something in the vision that makes me concerned.”

“What did you see?” Thayle questioned.

He wanted to tell them about the dragon and what it had said, but he decided to speak about another mystery.

“When I saw the two dragon knights, they were both wearing the silver armor of the dragon knight.”

“So where is the armor?” Thayle asked.

“The original armor is in the vaults of Calathen,” he replied. “I feel strongly we are supposed to have this armor before we reach Calathen. But my armor is in Calathen, and there is no woman's armor.”

Thayle pondered the thought a moment before speaking. “So where does my armor come from?”

“I have no idea,” he replied. “Nor do I know where the weapons come from.”

“More mysteries,” Thayle said with a shake of her head. “You finally get one answer only to replace it with two questions.”

“I will pray to Balisha some more and see if I can get an answer to that. Right now, I need to teach Lilly the Goddesses song.

“You heard the song then? I am glad you did, I hardly remember any of it.”

“In time holding the link to the divine will be as easy as breathing, and your thoughts will be free to listen and remember things,” Gersius said.

“Did you see a wall of fire and the red eyes?” Lilly asked.

Gersius looked into her face with a questioning stare. “What fire and eyes?”

“When I did what you told me I saw a huge wall and gate, the priests of your order who wear black armor were standing on it and behind them was a huge wall of fire. I saw red eyes through the fire, and then I lost the connection.”

“No, I did not see that, that message was meant for you,” he told her.

“I hoped you could tell me what it meant?” she asked him.

Gersius thought a moment about it. “This wall and gate, were the walls smooth, a flat gray color with almost no lines or breaks.”

Lilly thought back trying to remember the image. “I… I think so.”

“The gate, was it a dark wood with golden metal bands across the front?”

“I am pretty sure it was.”

“And it was closed?”

“Yes, it was closed.”

“You were looking at the golden gate of Calathen. So the message is telling you that Dellain and his men will be there. The gate will be closed to you, and they will bar your entrance, nothing we did not know already. As for the wall of fire and the eyes, I am at a loss for what this is. It can only mean something more awaits us behind the gates.”

“I don't like this. These visions are hard to interpret,” Lilly said.

“They often are when you first have them but time always brings you more clues, and the context of the image begins to make sense,” Gersius said.

“Thayle already told me that, it doesn’t help,” Lilly argued back.

“It is how the divines often choose to communicate. Next time you open to Balisha focus on that image in your thoughts. See the wall and the fire and focus on the eyes. There may have been more to the vision, and you lost control before she showed you.”

“So she will tell me more?”

“I do not know. Sometimes they will show you more, and it will make sense. Sometimes they show you nothing or just the same thing over and over.”

Lilly looked confused by that answer. “Why show me the same thing over and over?”

“Sweetheart, when a divine shows you the same thing again, and again it usually means you missed a detail in the image, something the divine wants you to see,” Thayle added.

There was a surge of emotion over the bind, and Lilly looked away.

Thayle smiled at her and tilted her head to the side. “You really like being called that don’t you?”

Lilly smiled back. “I like it when you call me, sweetheart.”

“This binding link is amazing. I can feel you both like your talking in my head,” Thayle said.

Gersius laughed. “You would be surprised to know that you can actually do that.”

Thayle looked at him a crinkled face. “What do you mean?”

He stood up and stood a few paces away from her. “Watch my mouth,” he told her.

She stood still and watched him. His mouth never moved, but suddenly she heard him in her head like he was talking in her ear.

“When we are close we can talk without having to speak, we just need to hear the words in our own heads,” he told her silently.

She gasped and stepped back.

“How did you do that?” she asked.

“Just think what you want to say. Hear your voice in your head, and Lilly and I will both hear it.” he replied, still not moving his mouth.

Thayle took a moment to steady herself and tried to think her words out.

“So you can hear this?”

“I can hear you, my love,” came Lilly's sweet voice.

“I can hear you as well,” Gersius replied.

“This is amazing!” Thayle said loudly in her mind.

“If you think this is amazing, wait until you lay in my arms, and I dream,” Lilly said.

“What do you mean?” Thayle questioned.

“Remember the night I asked you to join us and have children for us? Remember why I was so upset?” Lilly asked teasingly.

“You could see his dream!” Thayle gasped the words only heard in their minds.

“It only seems to work if you are touching the other person,” Gersius added.

“Wait, have you two been talking to each other like this while I was around?” Thayle questioned.

Gersius and Lilly both laughed out loud and went back to normal voices.

“How do you think I was guiding Lilly how to hunt you?” Gersius said.

Thayle considered it a moment and then scowled at them. “So you were doing it right there at the table in the inn?”

Lilly blushed, and Gersius laughed some more.

“So while I was trying to tell you that I was uncomfortable returning your wife's affections, you were telling your wife to show me more of them!” Thayle barked, putting her hands to her hips.

“My love, please don't be angry. He was only trying to help us be together. He knew already that I loved you,” Lilly said.

“Would you rather it had not happened, and we had not come together?” Gersius asked, trying not to laugh.

Thayle smiled. “You two are very bad, but I am glad you are.”

“You will always hear our thoughts now. There will never be another secret,” Lilly said, coming to hold her hand.

“Hmm, So you were after me from the day you bound Lilly?”

“Lilly and I had a conversation about it a few days later, and we both admitted we loved you. There was no point in denying it we could feel each other over the bind. We knew exactly how we both felt about you.”

“So the bind made you have to admit the truth to one another,” Thayle said with a nod.

He nodded back. “I told Lilly she was free to pursue you, and I focused on the task of planning our next move. I felt since you had so soundly rejected me about going east, you would not respond well to any advances from me.”

“Well, your right,” Thayle said. “If you had come after me, I would probably have been angry at you.”

“Lilly was clearly the better choice,” he said. “So I helped her along by telling her what to say to you. Some of it she did on her own, and some of it I helped her with.”

Thayle nodded. “So all that time I was afraid I was going to hurt you, you were hoping I would be in your arms?”

He smiled. “I was hoping for more than that.”

She smiled. “You are such a man.”

He shrugged. “To be honest, I was going to put an end to our chasing you. The very night Lilly went to your room I had made up my mind to stop. The next morning however she told me you agreed to join us. When she told me how she got you to agree, I was sure you had been pressured into it.”

“There was a little bit of pressure, but I made up my mind to do it on my own,” Thayle said.

“It wasn't until you told me that you would submit to being bound to me that I saw the truth of the matter. I still think about that day and wonder. How did I end up with the two greatest women in the land as my wives?”

Thayle smiled and glowed warmly with joy over the bind. The sensation was so intense it filled him and Lilly with happiness.

“You are so warm and happy my love,” Lilly said.

“Of course I am, sweetheart. I can see his aura; everything he just said is the truth. He really feels that way about us,” Thayle said.

Lilly smiled at him too. “I suppose we can leave now and go back to Avashire. I can probably fly us there in a little over a day.”

“No, we are going to stay here a couple of days,” Gersius said, his eyes wandering around the lake.

Thayle looked at him with a slight twist to her hear. “Why?”

“Lilly and I need more time with Balisha. She needs to practice opening her heart and mind. I need to meditate on the path ahead and to learn of Balishas power. This lake is a quiet remote place, and we do not need to eat or drink or even sleep. Here is the perfect place to be still and focus on the divine.”

Thayle smiled. “How did you ever expect to live a life without a divine to worship? Your heart is so hungry to love one.”

“I did not allow myself to think about it. I focused instead on how to love my wives.”

“So we are going to stay here?” Lilly said, glancing around.

“Just for a couple of days, so you and I can meditate. I can teach you the song of Balisha and help you grow your connection to her.”

Lilly understood the logic and had to nod her agreement.

“Will I be watching over you while you sleep then?” she asked.

“I do not see a reason to sleep,” he replied.

“Then what will we do?” Lilly asked.

“We will do more of what we just did. We will open our hearts to our divines and strengthen our connection to them.”

“For two whole days?” Lilly questioned. “You only ever sang in the mornings.”

Gersius had to acknowledge her point. “I did that because I had a task before me that required me to limit how much time I spent meditating. But we have time now, and a need to stay put so you can learn. It is not uncommon for a young priest to spend half a day or more in prayers. They do so to grow the connection to the divine and gain understanding.”

“Can I at least be a dragon then? I don’t feel as safe as you do out here.”

“Of course, Lilly. Whatever you want to do is fine with me,” Gersius said.

“Thayle will you put my clothes away for me?” she asked as she began to undress.

“Sweetheart, of course, I will.”

Lilly smiled at her as Thayle felt the surge over the bind.

“You said that to so you could feel me,” Lilly said.

“And I am going to call you sweetheart every chance I get,” Thayle replied.

Thayle helped her undress. Her long silver-blue hair fell straight down her back and touched the tops of her butt. Thayle smiled at her as she still timidly covered herself with her arms.

“Sweetheart, we have both known your body now. You don't have to be so shy,” Thayle said, brushing a hair from her face.

“It feels so strange to be naked before humans. I am a dragon after all,” Lilly said.

“You still feel a little of that then?” Thayle asked.

“When I first changed for Gersius I didn’t think about it until I saw how his eyes looked at me.”

Thayle felt shame for her and turned to scowl at Gersius.

“Oh, come now, you cannot blame me for noticing how beautiful she was? She was standing right in front of me naked.”

“You could have averted your eyes!” Thayle snapped.

“I gave her my cloak to cover her up. It was all I had with me. I wasn't expecting her to change into a human woman.”

“He did give me his cloak, and that reminds me of something I have wanted to do for a long time now,” Lilly said a tear coming to her eye as she stepped a safe distance away.

A white mist began to crawl across her skin and obscure her form. Suddenly it was a huge billowing cloud swirling about her so that she was completely hidden.

Thayle and Gersius looked away, and a bright light filled the night air. When they looked back, a great blue dragon stood before them.

Her eyes were brilliant blue, and a sort of fire burned out of them. Her scales started as the deepest blue almost black and slowly faded to sky blue with hints of white at the very tips. She had a slender serpentine neck that flexed easily. Her head was broad with a long snout full of round, pointed teeth. Small black spikes jutted out of the curve of her cheeks and a pair of black horns as long as a man's arm curled downwards slightly from the back of her head.

Down her neck and back was a row of small black spikes that went all the way to the top of her tail. Her hands were clawed with similar black talons that looked sharp enough to cut a man in two.

Two great leathery wings stretched out from her body, and she flexed them with careful grace. The arms of the wings were scaled blue, but the skin between the spines was a silvery-white.

“It has been so long since I could do this,” she said in a voice that sounded like two people speaking. One voice sounded human, but the other was deeper and resonated with power. Each voice said the same thing as if echoing one another.

“Since you could do what?” Thayle asked.

Lilly sat down and curled her tail around her feet. Slowly she pulled her arms in tight, almost hugging herself and then lowered her head down. Her great wings flexed and folded over herself, wrapping her body in a leathery embrace hiding her in their protection.

Inside the barrier of leather and scale, Thayle and Gersius heard weeping.

“Why is she suddenly upset?” Gersius asked.

“These are tears of joy,” Thayle said. “You can feel her over the bind. She isn't sad or upset; she is happy. Doing this with her wings was important to her. It must make her feel safe.”

“So what do we do?

“Go talk to her,” Thayle whispered.

“Maybe you should go talk to her?” he said back.

Thayle shook her head and took his hand and dragged him to Lilly.

“Sweetheart, why does doing this mean so much to you?”

The leathery wall opened, and the glowing eyes of Lilly greeted them.

“I used to wrap myself in my wings like this and feel safe,” Lilly said with a sniffle. “I never thought I was going to do it again!” she wailed tears coming to her eyes.

Gersius walked into the divide and put a hand on her head. “Can we stay in here with you and be safe too?” he asked in a gentle voice.

Lilly snorted as she tried to laugh her dragon voice, sounding like a growl. “I will always keep you two safe.

She reached up with two powerful arms and practically dragged them both to her chest hugging them tightly as her great wings wrapped back around blotting out the night sky and securing them inside.

“Well, now we have a tent,” Thayle said as she was pushed in close with Gersius.

“Why did I not think to bring one?” Gersius said, suddenly scolding himself.

“I rather enjoyed sleeping under the stars with Lilly watching over us,” Thayle replied.

“I like protecting you two while you sleep,” Lilly said her blue eyes blazing as she turned her head a little to face them inside the winged fortress.

Gersius laughed a little and shook his head. “I walked into that valley so you could kill me, Lilly. Now I close my eyes and sleep with you hovering right over my head, and I have never felt safer in my life.”

“So long as I live, no one will ever be able to hurt you,” Lilly said and nuzzled him with her nose.

He and Thayle stroked her head as they sat inside the protective tent of scales.

After a few long moments, Lilly lifted her head.

“Can you teach me the song now?” she asked.

Gersius looked around. There was certainly plenty of space on the ground to assume a kneeling or sitting position to meditate. Lilly was already sitting and would not need to move, but he looked at Thayle.

“What will our wife do while we are doing that?” he asked.

Thayle put a hand to his arm. “I will be listening to you two sing for me. I promise to sit to the side and be quiet so as not to disturb you.”

“If you are not bothered by that, I am more than happy to let you listen to me sing, though the song is more of a long chant.”

“I have only had the pleasure of hearing you chant one time and it was beautiful. I would love to hear you do it again.”

He smiled and ran a hand through his wild brown hair. “I will chant for you then, and Lilly can learn the chant as I go through it.”

He sat down in a kneeling position and held hands down at his sides palms out. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths as he centered himself and prepared his heart and mind.

Then, with a voice of power, he began to chant, the masculine energy of his voice echoed in the enclosed space. Both Lilly and Thayle were stunned by the beauty of the haunting words as he sang them out in long rolling chants.

When he completed the song, he opened his eyes and smiled at the blazing eyes of fire.

“What did you think?” He asked.

“I think you made Thayle cry. I wanted to cry with her, but I was trying to memorize the words.”

Gersius looked over at Thayle, and he could see she was crying as she sat on one of Lilly's hind legs and covered her face. He could feel her mixture of sadness and joy from the power of the song.

“I will go through it again, one chant at a time. I will sound them out slowly, and you try to copy me,” he said.

He started again; his voice was slower, and he put more emphasis on being clearly understood.

Lilly stumbled on the first few sounds and had to ask him what any of it meant anyways.

“It is a consecrated chakra chant. In most cases, we are making tones and not using actual words. These are divine sounds that hold power. The words that are there are identifiers. It identifies Balisha in the old tongue. We are essentially declaring our love for the Goddess Balisha and offering up these words of power. This is why priests often make a single tone when they call on divine power. “

“Why do you go up and down in tone on some of the words?” she asked.

“It is the way to get the most power out of them. You ascend the scale of the tone and then slowly descend back. You are awakening the power in your own body and channeling it to the divine. The chant is just an exercise in doing it.”

Lilly nodded. “How did you come to understand all this so well?”

“I did not take my studies lightly. I wanted to be a powerful servant of Astikar, not just a brother but a high priest.”

“But you are not a high priest, are you?” she asked him.

“No, Lengwin is a high priest. I am a knight captain, it is the same rank but in the military arm of the order. Not all members of my order fight. Some of them are gentle and abhor violence.” He paused a moment and had to consider something. “I suppose I was a knight captain. I am not sure what I am now. Balisha has given us no indication of title or rank.”

“I am sure you are her highest priests,” Thayle said from the side.

“Of that, I am sure, but we will need to know what she wants us to call these ranks. I suppose we can copy another orders titles for now,” he said.

“Let's worry about that another time. I want to learn this song,” Lilly said, looking into his eyes.

He nodded and started again slowly going over the opening tones, and Lilly tried her best to follow him. Gradually she got it and added more and more of the words of the song. Before long she was singing entire passes of the chant with him, but then they both had to stop.

From the side of the tent of dragon wings came such a feeling of desire that they had to stop and look at Thayle.

“What is it?” Gersius said, looking at her smiling face.

“Lilly, would you do something for me please?” Thayle begged.

“Of course, my love. Whatever you want.”

Thayle stood up and walked over to put a hand to the side of her head. “Your dragon voice is strong and powerful like Gersius’s is, but would you change back into your human form and sing for me with your beautiful human voice?”

Gersius smiled as he understood what Thayle wanted.

“You do have a musical voice sometimes when your yelling at me,” Gersius said with a laugh.

Lilly flexed her wings open wide and looked out over the lake that looked alive with reflective stars now.

“Move back to the shore so I can change,” she told them.

Once they were safely away, the familiar white mist returned and in a flash of light Lilly was her tall, lithe self again with pale white skin and blazing blue eyes. The light of the blue dragon fire now burned in them like it always did when she changed back.

“Gersius, come here,” she said, holding out a hand to him.

He walked to her naked form her silver-blue hair falling over her chest as she smiled at him.

“Take me through the song again. I was keeping my voice low because you were so close, and I was a dragon. Now I want to sing loudly to the Goddess who's moonlight dances on the water.”

They both knelt on the lakeshore and held hands as he began. She joined him, opening her voice to swim with his in the night air. They sang together a haunting chant his strong deep tones laying a foundation that her higher but equally as strong tones danced over.

Thayle had never heard anything so beautiful outside of a channeling service where dozens of her order came together to sing to Ulustrah as one.

When the song ended, he picked it up again, and Lilly went right along with him. For over an hour they sang filling the night air with power and praise for the Goddess of the moon that floated over their heads as it crossed the night sky.

When they stopped, they both looked over to see Thayle with her silver bowl in lap meditating into her mirror.

“You stopped listening to us?” Lilly asked.

Thayle smiled. “No, I opened my heart to Ulustrah. I wanted her to hear the beauty of the song you were both singing. I wanted to bless her with it.”

“Hopefully we have made two Goddesses happy tonight then,” Gerius said standing up.

They spent the rest of the night practicing the meditation techniques, and Thayle joined them opening her own heart to her Goddess as the night wandered quietly by.

It was the middle of the next day when Lilly opened her eyes again. The sky was clouded over, and the breeze blew a little more strongly bringing with it the scent of the lake. She could hear it in the distant trees as her mind ever so gently took notice of the world around her.

She was still rooted in the connection to her Goddess, however. Her Thoughts seemed almost fluid as if she wasn't even in her own head. She felt like a small stream flowed through her body, and she drifted on its surface, floating up and down in its gentle current.

Gersius told her this was the point of maximum release when the divine flowed through her, and she was opened wide to the Goddess. It was a sensation she now relished, a complete feeling of surrender.

She sat with her legs folded under her and took a deep breath inhaling the sweet scent of Thayles hair. Thayle sat cross-legged with her silver bowl in Lilly's lap. They sat motionless as she meditated to Ulustrah while Lilly opened to Balisha.

As the power of the divine flowed through her so too did the song of Balisha. It was sung in a woman's voice that seemed to drift on the wind. It was an old voice, but a voice that had such passion and power to it. In places, she even heard a rolling noise like thunder when certain tones were reached.

She felt breath on her head as Gersius exhaled. Just as Thayle sat in her lap, she sat in his. He had his legs open and to the side corralling both women between them and holding them close. Her senses drifted back to the chanting voice, singing as the river of power flowed through her. She had achieved the level of release Gersius wanted for her, and he wanted her to spend the rest of the day swimming in it. Sandwiched between her lovers, she let the waters carry her away and time became meaningless.

When the dawn of the second day came, she was still adrift in the flow of her divine. Thayle was asleep with her back pressed to Lilly's chest, and her head resting on Lilly's shoulder. Gersius hardly seemed to breath indicating he was still deep in meditation.

She carefully lifted her arms and cradled the woman at her chest and pulled her in tightly. She had forgotten that she was naked. She meant to change back into a dragon and not bothered to dress. But the singing was so beautiful, and her heart so at peace, she had forgotten all about it.

She closed her eyes and took a deep inhale of the scent of Thayle's hair. The woman always bathed herself with an oil made of flowers. She told Lilly it was called Lilac and it had a beautiful aroma to it. Clearing her mind, she took this opportunity to do something she had been hoping to do for many days. She closed her eyes and looked into Thayle's dreams. She saw the woman leaning over plants, blessing them and making them bloom with flowers. All around her was a garden of flowers full of life and color. Thayle was dreaming of tending this quiet garden, and Lilly was glad to see such a beautiful dream.

She could not imagine a happier moment than this. In all her long life as a dragon, she had always believed she wanted to be alone. All she cared for was her gold, and to soar the sky, feeling the wind on her wings. Now she sat here with Thayle breathing gently in her arms and Gersius's breath kissing the back of her head and she knew the truth. She would give up her wings to feel this moment again. This absolute still calm surrounded by love and the gently flowing waters of the divine. Never could she imagine a life without them now. She almost cried from thinking about it. She reached back out to Balisha. The Goddess was just a feeling, a twinkling light in the night sky. Lilly wanted to thank her for the blessing of this human form that made this love possible.

In that moment of realization, when her heart wanted nothing but to thank the Goddess for the love she had because of her blessings, she saw the golden line of light again. It danced and waived in the blackness of space, stretching out from her to the divine. Suddenly it grew into a pulsing corded rope as wide as the one she had seen earlier, the one she knew had come from Gersius. Her new line glowed brightly as her sense of the love she felt and the gratitude it provoked flowed to Balisha, and the distant star that represented her Goddess grew in brightness and shined with a blinding luminescence.

“Well done,” came Gersius's soft voice. Strong arms wrapped around her and pulled both her and Thayle into his warm embrace. “Hold this feeling and let Balisha have all the power you have to give her.”

Lilly smiled, and tears ran down her cheeks, wetting Thayles hair as his embrace only made her happier. The golden cord of her connection to Balisha glowed even more brightly and little flashes of light danced on its surface.

Lilly had no idea how long she fed her feelings of love and appreciation to Balisha. When she came back to her senses, Gersius still held her. His face was now tucked into her shoulder and buried into her hair. Thayle had turned in her arms and laid into her sleeping soundly.

“Does this moment have to end?” Lilly asked quietly.

“Never have I experienced a moment like this before. Your dragon powers have made this possible. A normal man would have needed to sleep or eat by now. Never have I been free to stand in the flow of the divine for so long and let it wash over me.”

“Thayle is asleep,” Lilly said and lowered her lips to kiss the gentle woman's head.

“Thayle has probably never felt safety and comfort like this in her entire life,” he whispered back to her. “I wish this moment never had to end, that there was no war, or prophecy, or reason to even leave the shores of this lake.”

“I do too,” Lilly whispered back.

“We do need to go back. We have to go back for the empire and Balisha. She has given us our first task. We must finish her temple.”

He went to move, but she carefully grabbed one of his wrists. “Please, Gersius, let's sit here until she wakes up. Let me have this moment of peace and hold her a little longer.”

He felt the deep desire in her heart to hold Thayle, and he relented. He wrapped her more firmly and put his head back in her hair. “Just until she wakes up,” he whispered in her ear.

When Thayle did stir Lilly finally relented and allowed Gersius to get up, but she wrapped Thayle tightly and rocked her gently for a few moments whispering, “I love you,” to the woman.

Though the sun was hidden behind the clouds, they knew the day was growing late as the world around them became darker.

“We should head back now. We can fly through the night and reach Avashire before night tomorrow,” he said.

Lilly smiled and sighed. “You two haven't seen that yet. The magic of this moment won't have to end.”

“We have not seen what yet?” Gersius asked.

“The night sky as we fly. We will go above the clouds, and you will see the world in a whole new way.”

“Oh, now I can't wait!” Thayle exclaimed.

Lilly walked a safe distance away, and the white mist began to crawl on her skin. When she was changed, they helped her put the saddle over her back and buckled it behind her wings. They tied the bags to it, and Gersius helped Tahyle up before climbing up himself.

He wrapped his arms around Thayles waist as she took the ropes in her hands.

With a mighty flap of her wings, she lifted into the air and quickly beat out a rapid rhythm to gain speed and carry them upward.

Lilly felt the absolute wonder and amazement as she introduced her lovers to the world of the night. Above them was a canopy of twinkling lights made vast and more evident by how high up they were, but below them was a sea of clouds turned silver in the moonlight. It was as if they were flying through a magical world of light and darkness, a place where only they existed.

“Welcome to one of the most beautiful sights I know to share with you,” Lilly said.

“I feel like I am still meditating,” Gersius said as his world become a starscape.

“I have seen and experienced more beauty in the past two days than I ever hoped to have in a lifetime,” Thayle added.

“We do not even need to shout,” Gersius said in his thoughts.

“I suppose we don’t,” Lilly replied in her thoughts.

“How can this get any more magical?” Thayle asked her heart swimming in emotions.

With that, Gersius started to sing again. They both surged with joy as his voice echoed in black ocean of stars. On they flew deep into the night listening to Balisha’s magical song.