I swoop through the fifth ring as it floats in the air, banking tightly to avoid the incoming dive bomber(whelp) who previously overshot it, then turn back towards the second to last ring, inducing a downwards air-current under Leda to stop her puppet, now in a flight-form somewhere between mine and Lucas’ form, from hitting it.

The ploy fails, as her momentum carries her through the ring, so instead I boost my speed. The whelp, having used it’s dive to gain horizontal speed, soars through the ring hot on my tail, and the two of us vie to be second, with Leda being too far ahead to catch up with.

The whelp dives under me, as Leda finishes the race with a cheer somewhere between a roar and a shout. What’s that suppos- whoop, my thoughts are interrupted as the air rushes downwards.

Oh you sneaky little bastard! Two can play that game!

I continue his little spell so that he’s dragged into it as well, while making the air around myself stable enough that I don’t lose too much altitude. Not to be defeated, he hits me with an orb of mana, making me flinch just long enough for him to drag me further down.

Dammit, just let me get to the final ring without crashing! Well, now that I’m close to the ground I just use force magic to keep myself up.

With the whelp being unable to do that (and being a bit too stubborn of the down-draft trick), he makes a thud followed by the sound of snow being pushed out of the way as he slides to a stop. I didn’t do it! More specifically, I instead use my force-boosted speed to soar through the last ring… just behind the female whelp.

I glide ot a landing next to both of Leda’s forms, and revert my wings, turning around just in time to see Lucas swoop in down in front of the non-downed male. My rival limps through another half minute later.

“So many friends, and they can all fly! Why is everybody so slow, though?”

“Oi, don’t say that after starting by grounding all of us while you flew through the first two rings. Besides, I would’ve caught up if it wasn’t for the little shit.”

“But Lucas!”

He makes a somewhat disgruntled warble, glaring at his rival.

“Why are you so bad! You’re my son! You can’t be that bad!”

I shrug, “Too much rivalry, the two of them were just sabotaging each other. That said, the female crushed them after they tried to interfere with her.”

“Hmph. Lucas, you must get stronger,” she begins, waving a finger in front of him to get his attention, and I sense a mind bond in play, too. Despite her faux-stern exterior she seems almost giddy, though, with just a hint of annoyance. “So that when you get older you can beat her up and make kids with her.”

“Wait what? Is that actually how it works for wyverns?”

“Nuh-uh, usually the males are too weak, so they can’t beat the females, but since both you and me are teaching him, he can become like super strong!”

“So what happened for you? With males and all that?”

“I beat up and chased away all of them.”

“But then where did Lucas come from?”

“Oh, I saw which one was the strongest and let him try several times. Then I let him-” she pokes at my mind, and I let her search for the word, “inseminate me. But you were stronger than him, and maybe even stronger than me!”

…it feels really weird to hear that form someone of her mental age. Having ‘the talk’ with her was interesting, to say the least. Well, it was more of an entire day of describing, discussing, and demonstrating all manner of things related to the sexual, with a focus on human norms, since they’re the most important for her to know.

Not that my tangents didn’t reach their usual level and I showed her some of the, uh, more interesting material you can find online. Got to bust out the presentation my group had to make in that one semester of science. It’s good our presentation was after lunch, given the gratuitous amount of images and illustrations on our topic of STIs and STDs.

As they say, bodily harm is the best teacher. At least, both english and norwegian have idioms about learning via bodily harm, be it from being bitten or burnt. Seems like Lucas has realized we’ll talk for a bit, and he heads off to the gazebo with his friends.

“Be that as it may, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that I can defeat you in a straight magical fight now.”

“That’s fine, you’re my friend now so you don’t need to. Only if you want to become my mate, for real this time.”

“Weee-uuu weee-uuu! It’s the police! That’s illegal! In fact, right now I think it’s illegal under multiple different laws.”

“But that’s unfair, we don’t even know if I can live for sixteen years!”

“Leda, you’re fucking magical -even if you don’t fuck me- so I don’t think you should be afraid of dying so soon.”

“But you don’t know for sure! What if I’m some old woman by then! You said old women can’t have kids!”

“Well, if it’s that important for you to have more kids, I’d think you could find someone strong enough to satisfy you out here.” I say, making a large motion across wyvern-riddled mountain range.

“Wait,” it strikes me, “does that even work? Are they the same species as you? Since this year is your first winter with snow, and besides, they feel… different, somehow.”

“I don’t know…” she starts, her voice sinking to a mumble. “…but I don’t want them…”

I heard her, of course, but… “could you repeat that?”

“I said I don’t want them!”

And the magic word is: “Why?”

“Because they can’t beat you, and besides I like you already. Even if you are my mate but not actually my mate!”

“Huh, so wyverns are monogamous? I guess I can study the others for patterns, too.”

Her frustration creeps then crawls through the bond. Ugh, that emotion-mirroring is a mixed bag. “Laaaaars!”

“I’m sorry, calm down. I’m- I’m avoiding it, I know, but right now we’re both in a bad mood, how about we pause and get some fresh air, and continue afterwards?”

“Are you gonna study the other wyverns?”

“That was the plan, yes.”

“No!” she shouts, stunning me for a moment with the combined volume and magic imbued in the sound.

I take a startled breath, and her mana slams into me, quite literally, and pushes the breath right back out as I’m thrown backwards.

“Wha-”

An immense pressure, stronger than I remember it, crushes my mana from all directions, and I stagger backwards. Need more mana!

I drop the crystal as her puppet gives me a full-body tackle, and I take a greedy breath as the pressure relents for a moment, only to realize it’s because she’s levitating her main body over to me.

“Shit!” I mutter, pushing the pre-teen body to the side as I stumble to my feet and start to run away.

I get hit once, twice, and the third weight remains on my back.

What did she-? Breath, hack, cough, snow! It’s cold I need air Leda get off I’m suffocating please it hurts…

Air! Second breath! I cough the half-melted snow out of my throat and mouth, then take another deep breath.

I lie there, cold and beating, but thankfully without her entire body on top of me. I make a few more heaving breaths, and realize that she’s got me thoroughly pinned with what motions I can make. And while she has relented the extreme pressure on my mana, I can’t use magic any more than before.

She makes no further moves, so eventually I catch my breath and calm my mind enough to speak. “Why did you do that? You scared me, and it might’ve been dangerous!”

“I’m-” she starts with an uncertain tone, but pauses. I can’t see her, and she has completely closed her side of the bond, so I’m not sure what it’s supposed to be.

“You can’t escape! I’m not letting you study the other wyverns until we’ve talked!”

…

“Fine. I shouldn’t try to avoid the issue when I know it’s important to you. No, it’s because it’s so important to you. So, can you at least let me turn around and get a more comfortable position?”

Her weight shifts, then shifts back. “No. You brought this upon yourself.”

Ah, my favored phrase to use when disciplining unruly kids and Lucas-es after they disregard my ‘act properly, or else’ threats. Et tu, Leda.

“Can you at least let me grow some more fur so that I don’t get frostbite?”

After a pause she relaxes her mana’s hold on me enough to let me grow a thick, fluffy coat of fur, but when I try to use magic to heat myself, she shuts it down. “Well then. Where were we?”

“I don’t want some random wyvern to be my mate! You’re already my mate, even if you’re not my mate!”

Great. That’s what I feared. I am not prepared for this type of discussion. Where do I even begin?

Leda speaks up before I can form a cohesive sentence, “Why don’t you want to talk!? You’re not afraid of talking about sex and stuff?”

“No, I’m…”

“Then why don’t-” “SHUT UP! Let me formulate my thoughts properly!”

…

“Thank you. Usually I have no problem talking about ‘sex and stuff’, but I’m a bit reluctant when it becomes this serious. Same with emotions. And I don’t want to hurt your feelings, though I think I will have to.”

“Then just don’t!”

“I would rather be honest, and hurt you, than lie and not hurt you, only for you to realize the lie later and be doubly hurt. But let’s not talk about why I don’t want to talk about this, let’s talk about the topic at hand. Can you let me sit upright?”

“No.” She says, no room for discussion.

“Okay then. Wyverns are monogamous, you are monogamous. You consider me your mate and clearly your emotions think so, but intellectually you know that I’m not a mate that way. The… the question then is, what does that mean to you? Which effects does that have? What do you want?”

She makes a growl, a sound not supposed to come from a mostly human form, “I don’t know! I want to stay your friend, but also be your mate!”

So she’s also torn. Maybe? “Which kind of mate? The ‘help taking care of Lucas’ or ‘make whelps’ kind?”

“Yes, both, maybe… Mouu! Raaahr!”

I fail to suppress a snicker at her honestly adorable roar and receive a hit to the side for it. “Ow. Sorry, but that sounded adorable. How about this, then: Do you want to lay a new egg slash make a new whelp?”

“No.”

“Okay, then it’s not a-”

“But if I make one I want it to be with you.”

“Oh.” That complicates matters. “Seriously though, can you let me up?”

“Are you gonna run away?”

“Are you gonna let me?”

“No.”

“Hah! Then I’m not. I don’t want to be crushed again.”

She moves, and I lift myself into the air, stretching, before taking a pose as if sitting, holding myself up with magic. My eyes linger in the skies, though. “Say, how long have they been circling us?”

“Not very long.”

“Which is how long?”

“…since I sat on you.”

“Well, if they were gonna attack, they probably would’ve, so maybe they’re just curious. Seems to be a shared trait among you.”

We share a silence for a little while before she stops fidgeting and look me in the eyes.

“I’m sorry. I- I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was just so angry and I don’t know how to feel and then I got angrier and you were stupid and- I’m sorry!”

“Ehh, apology accepted. No permanent harm done. Thankfully. Want to get back on topic?”

She nods.

“Okay so-” I start, but immediately deflate.

“So… there’s… two, three- several parts to this, and, uhm… I guess I’ll start with the easiest. It’s illegal. In multiple ways, probably.”

“You are still considered an animal who is also a person. Sexual acts with animals is illegal. Well, you’re clearly intelligent and can consent -or not- so I doubt that’d be an issue. So we can just assume you have the same rights and protections under the law as everyone else. Do you remember the age of consent?”

“It’s sixteen…”

“And that’s where we started the entire… argument that lead to this discussion, isn’t it.”

“But we don’t know if I can become that old!”

“As I said, probably a bit too insincere and jokingly, you’re magical. I don’t think you’d die before the age of at least twenty.”

“But that’s so long!”

“Aaand we have the same arguments as before. Look, we might be able to make you live longer with magic, maybe- wait, you know… is it- how important is it that you can- that you’re fertile? That it is possible for you to make eggs?”

“Very. I think, but… It’s mmm- it’s more important that Lucas is safe and that I can be with you, I think. I, ungh, I don’t know!”

“Okay, I’ll mark that down as ‘very’.”

“Mark down? Where?”

“It’s a phrase.”

“Oh.”

“And you’ve already said that you want a potential whelp to be with me, hm. Well, either way, the age of consent is to protect minors, since they might not know what’s best for them, and also to stop adults around them from exploiting them. The law could probably get different ages for different species.”

“But if we shapeshift, don’t we become animals?”

“Physically, yes, legally, no. Still people. I think. Haven’t asked my lawyer about that yet. Anyway, I’m pretty sure it will become legal before either of us dies or turns infertile.”

“But when will that be?”

“Within the next five years?”

“But what if I want it faster?”

“Sooner. Well, that brings me to the other parts to it. Like the practical part. I mean, for you to make an egg I’d need to shapeshift or transform into a wyvern. Or at least, the relevant parts.”

“But that’s easy!”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if the form you end up with is fertile.”

“Oh. But what about the mouse experiments?”

“Huh? Oh yeah.” The mouse puppet breeding experiment.

“The first one, the one I had out as much as possible and avoided the shapeshifter storage stasis for, gave birth to five live young,” Which was a… weird and somewhat painful experience, “and the other had seven, though one was stillborn.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Born dead.”

“Oh.”

“But those were two mouse puppets, which are small non-magical creatures, I can’t say how that translates to other species. It’s also too small of a sample size-.”

“Sample size?”

“Science and statistics. The amount of data you collect.”

“Oh, I know this! When you have too little it might just be a random coincidence, so good science must be repeated and repeated.” She says, reciting what I told her almost verbatim.

“Exactly. The sample size is too small to say anything conclusive. I also don’t know how viable the offspring were or if they had any defects - They weren’t puppets, so after a couple days I killed them off.”

“Did you eat them?”

…

“Leda, that was a socially unacceptable comment. But yes, I made a snake puppet to eat them so I could see how that works up close. But that’s besides the point.”

“Then what is your point?”

“Ah, honestly both the legal and practical stuff is unlikely to stop it anyone from having sex. I mean- ah, nope, no tangent.”

I shake my head.

“But there is the personal aspect, too. And that’s where it gets… Know how you’re torn -conflicted, mixed feelings-? Well me too. On one hand, I’m definitely inclined to try new sexual experiences, as long as it’s legal and practical.”

I raise a hand to stop Leda from saying what she’s almost bursting to spit out.

“But! Everyone involved have to agree, to consent, and for me to do that, well. Guidelines must be set. You know how human social stuff is complex? Well, when anything sexual or relational is involved, it’s even moreso. It can mean vastly different things to different people, and what some people see as unimportant, others see as core to their being.”

“What do you think? Is it important?”

“Yes and no. Sex? Personally I think it can be for recreation as much as for procreation, no-”

“Recreation? Procreation?”

“Recreation; activities for fun, play, enjoyment. Procreation; reproduction, making babies. Well, in the modern world you don’t need to spew out kids and hope someone survives to get their own kids, so honestly it’s more for fun and enjoyment. Relationships on the other hand? I think it’s important. But… in a different way from most people.”

There is a pause as my tangent has left me so far off rails that I forgot what I was trying to say.

“Oh yeah! Relationships come in many forms, from casual acquaintances to married for life. And that’s the thing: I don’t want to commit to anything long-term at my age. Well, I say that as if I’m very young, but marriage is supposed to be for life, and I can expect to life three times as long as I have so far, and then some, and that’s without accounting for magic.”

Huh, the concept of marriage might need tweaking…

“Anyway, a marriage is a binding social contract which, to most people, mean no sex outside of the relationship, and that becomes a problem if the parts don’t want the same things in the relationship. And that’s where I have a problem with the concept, because it kinda assumes that they will always want the same things all the time. Or that one part gets to decide things”

“But I don’t even want the same things all the time!”

“…I meant ‘the same as each other’, but yes that’s also a point. I don’t want to marry because I don’t want that. But I do want, well, desire, someone to be intimate -very close- with, on an emotional level. I just don’t want to tie that to sex or no sex.”

Leda looks thoughtful for a moment. “But… I don’t care if you have sex or not even if you’re my mate.”

“Well… what does ‘mate’ mean here?”

“That you inseminate me.”

“Ugh, please don’t use that word so much.”

“But you said-”

“I also said that sometimes the correct words are not the right words to use. Besides, there’s synonyms and euphemisms. Heck, that’s why euphemisms exist.”

“Is that words like meatstick and sausage and man-bat and-”

“Yes.” Why just penis euphemisms, though? I guess those are more common.

“Anyway, I don’t want to make kids.”

“What? Why?”

“Because I don’t want to have that responsibility, it’s too heavy. I’ve realized that believing that makes me a more suitable parent than… certain people, but even so. I’m already your guardian, and by extension, Lucas’, but you can both take care of yourself, I just have to make sure you don’t get in trouble with humans.”

“But it would just be another wyvern, isn’t that like… two, three, one… two… half, half is… it’s only like fifty percent more wyverns? That’s not so much?”

“Even ignoring that a fifty percent increase is a lot, the absolute -just numbers- increase is still one whole wyvern, and both you and Lucas are a handful, so I’d need to grow another arm.”

It takes a moment to click, but she gets it and start laughing.

“You will look really stupid when you try flying with three wings!”

…or not. “I didn’t mean it literally, it was a joke.”

“Oh, but can you please try it? I want to see!”

“No, I wouldn’t be able to. Maybe with four wings, but I’d need to get creative. Remind me later.”

“Aww.”

“But yeah, I don’t want to make kids -whether human or wyvern- and then practically abandon them, nor do I want to have to take care of kids.”

“But- No, it’s okay, I’ll just not lay any more eggs, but you can’t go and become a mate for anyone else!”

“See, that’s the exact thing I was referring to. Jealousy. And we haven’t even married or anything like that.”

“Didn’t you call it a bound social contract?”

“Binding, yes?”

“What about the companion bond? When we made it you said yes to be my mate, I think, and now we made it even stronger! We’re suuuuper bound together!”

Ah, shit.

“If so, then I also have one with Tåke, albeit without the strengthening-” not to mention I haven’t seen her lately since she’s off doing who knows what with her ‘sub’-pack.

“-and besides, I don’t remember precisely, but I’m pretty sure I simply agreed to be ‘companions’, and know I saw you as a child talking about things they don’t fully understand.”

“But I’m not a child, and I understand a lot of things!”

“…and there is a lot of things you don’t understand. Also, you said that exactly like how a child would.”

“Mraaarh!”

“Roar to you too. Anyway, I’m not saying I’ll never want a kid, but if I do, I would want them to be human. Uhh, -ish. Human-ish.”

She sulks for a little moment before a grin creeps up on her face, and then she jumps into the air, hovering in front of my, limbs splayed.

“Hah! I can do that! This puppet is humanlike! We can make a baby with this one!”

Ah, fuck, I’m gonna need to unwind tonight. “That body is not even teenaged, it’s a child, even if I was into that I don’t think it would tackle childbirth well.”

Of course, as I say that she simple makes it grow, reaching an adult size but with stupidly oversized breasts that would look out of place on a human, not to mention that the scales just make them look weird.

“No. Turn back.”

“I don’t wanna.”

“Well, at least shrink those disgusting fat-sacks down to something that wouldn’t kill a human. Bigger breasts does not mean more mature.”

Well, compared to nothing -and up to a point-, it means more physically mature, but beyond that it’s just genetics and/or implants.

“And if you don’t make it look childlike, or at least teenaged, I’m not letting you play with Philip and other kids.”

She easily listens to the first order, but the ultimatum has her in obvious inner turmoil.

“Look, it’s not like you can’t just change the body if I change my mind. And you’d need to be able to live among humans for me to consider that; the child would need to grow up with other kids.”

A thought strikes me, as it has before: “Why is it so important to you?”

“I don’t know! I feel all weird in my puppet!”

…the puppet which to me has always looked pre-teen. More specifically, a girl in her early double digits, so somewhere between nine and fourteen, probably more like eleven or twelve if I was forced to be more precise. A tween, or whatever it’s called. But definitely part wyvern. Wyverns are mature by five or six. In humans, girls start earlier than boys. And she keeps it summoned basically all the time.

“Oh, for fucks sake, is your puppet entering puberty?”

She blinks and look down at her back-to-normal body.

“Know what, just keep it like that, and let it develop. Worst case scenario you can change it or just not use it, but I want to see how that works”

Almost panickedly, she shouts “But I don’t want to feel like this for five years!”

“Calm down, the entirety of puberty can take that long, but most individual changes take less time. And as I said, you can always unsummon or change it. Not to mention the wyverns parts will probably make it go faster.”

She thinks it over for a bit before agreeing. I cooperate with her to make a ‘backup’ puppet which is more wyvern and also fully grown while still looking fairly child-like. We also agree to go on as usual, but keep our discussion in mind, and maybe chip away at the topic over time.

I fish out my phone and note down ‘Make lawyer keep me updated on post-Upheaval laws. Maybe especially the stuff with Leda’, before heading looking up and around us at the wyverns who have surrounded us.

“Huh, they left us an exit, intentionally or not. Hey, I’m gonna try to get some of them to come down-slash-over here, want to stay here and protect me, my Dame, or will you go and socialize?”