"Oh, gods." Gwynne groans the next morning. "I didn't know I could be this sore. Did you have to be so rough?" She asks while sheepishly looking around for her clothes.

""Yes."" We answer in unison. "But, thank you for letting us work off some of that aggression." I add. "It's never good to carry around negative emotions like that."

"Glad to be of service." She titters and tries to stand, only to collapse with a hiss onto her sore behind as her legs fail to hold her weight. "I guess I'm not mad at you anymore, either. Even if all you did was watch last night. Well, that and put on a bit of a show of your own." She grins at the memory.

"Sorry Gwynnie." Elle crawls over and whispers in her ear. "My love is still the jealous type. You should just feel lucky that she let me play with you last night, I know Sorrel sure does." Amelia then pulls my alter-ego back and wraps her arms around her.

"Mmm." She licks her earlobe and whispers. "You and he were so good last night, I'm definitely going to have to give the both of you a reward later."

"Yes, please." Elle moans before blushing furiously at the look that Gwynne is giving her.

"Ooh, you really do have too much fun with her." Amelia says to me while the dragoness shakes herself all over.

"I know it's just a spell, but damn." She lets out a long exhale and lays back to wait for her legs to work again.

"Speaking of spells." I say while playing with Apricot's hair. -It's actually possible to tease it all out straight, but it always flies back into an apricot shaped mop.- "I called my friend in Riverton yesterday, and he Evaluated the two girls there. They read as Demi-Siren and Moura now, and Clara said she feels like she has some control over the seduction powers."

"My girls said the same thing, they can now mostly control that and the Moura their shapeshifting. But the fugues and divination are still beyond them." She looks both happy and sad for them.

"Well, you don't have anything resembling either of those, so it may just be part of their species, or there may be a missing puzzle piece we haven't found yet." I stare her in the eyes, upside down from this angle. "I consider giving them a measure of control to be a big win, but I'm still going to keep looking into it."

"Mhm, yesterday was definitely full of big wins." A fulfilled smile crosses her face. "I want to thank you, all of you for that." She rolls over and stares Amelia in the eyes. "And, I know you don't want to share him, but is there anyway I could keep that toy you used on me?" She blushes, but doesn't drop her gaze.

"Well, I suppose Elle wasn't the only good girl last night." Amelia purrs. "I guess you deserve a reward too."

"I wanna know how she broke the last one." Apricot says with a laugh as the dragoness picks up her new prize. "We've put those things through their paces and never had one start smoking."

"Nnh." This time Gwynne does duck her head. "...ied to ... ... faster by ...ing Mana into it." A few of her words are inaudible, but we catch the gist of it.

"Hahahah." I can't help but laugh. "You really don't know how enchantments work, do you? Give it here, I can add a superspeed mode for you. It'll drain the charge that much faster, but fortunately you can keep it stocked up."

"... thank you." She looks up to hand it over, and I can feel the heat radiating off of her enbarrassed face.

"I don't know what it is, but there is just something so hot about a bashfull dragon." Apricot laughs a wicked laugh.

"Well, if you ask Amelia nicely you might just get to see a bit more of her." I say while trying to make her hair stay in pigtails. "We've stil got a village to move, and a genetic puzzle to sort out. So, you should have a chance to talk her into another romp or two. And, why will your hair not do what I want it to?" I laugh as it springs back into it's natural shape again.

"Heheh, not enough magic in the world to get a pixie's hair to do what it doesn't want to." She lets out an amused sigh. "Trust me, we've all tried at some point in our lives."

"Well, that just sounds like a challenge." Says Amelia while putting Elle's hair into the pigtails I wanted to give Apricot. "And, you know how he is with challenges."

I'm about to say something when my stomach rumbles, quickly setting off a chain reaction as the others' bellies speak their minds. "Mhm. Food first, magical coiffure later."

...

"Hah!" I crow at my success. "I think I finally got it."

"Did you really need to use that diamond thread of yours just to tie her hair up." Amelia says as we arrive at the hidden village.

"It was that or fly home real quick to pick up some of the titanium essence." I had to braid every strand together with the nanothreads but I finally managed to get Apricot's hair to stay in pigtails.

"It looks great Sorrel, and I'm glad you managed to out-stubborn my hair." She turns to me with a pained look. "But, could you take it out now? My head hurts."

"Ohh, sweetie." I hug her, and the air is soon filled with glimmering dust as her hair poofs back into it's usual mop. "I'm sorry. I guess I got kinda carried away there. Mhm, I can still play with your hair though, right? Just no more tying it up?" I say worriedly.

"Yes, you goof." She gives me a quick kiss before ruffling my spiky hair. "But, if there's anyone that needs pigtails, it's definitely Amelia." She dances over to her wife and starts playing with her hair.

"Nnh, don't tickle me." She tries not to squirm because Mittens is sleeping in her blouse, like usual when we're out and about.

"Come here little guy." Elle scoops him up and deposits him in her own blouse instead. "Don't want momma waking you while other momma tortures her."

"Eeee!" Amelia squeals and squirms, but lets Apricot fool around with her hair without moving away.

"Hahaha." Gwynnes laughs at our antics. "You guys are a hoot." We're spotted by a few villagers as she says that.

It's not long before they're all surrounding us and offering their heartfelt thanks. Well, most of them were, a few just wanted to know the details of last night. To which Amelia just smacked Gwynne on the ass making her jump with a squeaking sound.

"Now who's a hoot?" Apricot parrots the dragoness' words back at her.

"Alright. Settle down everyone." Lana, one of the older women calls for order. "We can tease Gwynne about her sex life later." Her statement is met with laughter from the women and a disgruntled noise from their progenitor. "Lord Rumex." She address me once they quieten. "We've decided to relocate a days fast ride north of the new dungeon. We're ready to go anytime you want, though we would like a chance to say goodbye to some people in Newlake."

"Okay." I take out a block of steel, and start making some busses to carry everyone. "It'll take me a few minutes to build some transport, and depending on how long you take in town we can reach Riverton by dark." Seeing the nervous looks on most of them, I add. "Or, I can push through to get us to your new home by midnight, if you prefer."

"Thank you." While most of them are watching the transports contruct themselves, a villager named Melinda comes forward with several drawings in her hand. "I'm the most artistic of the bunch, so they saddled me with drawing up some ideas for the new village."

"Oh, these are lovely." I send Elle forward since she seems somewhat uncomfortable with me. She holds up the largest drawing; a hill in the shape of a sleeping dragon -obviously modelled after Gwynne- curled up protectively around a village set at the edge of a lake. "We can definitely work with this."

The women's eyes are drawn away from the busses as the drawing comes to life. The hill becomes a small mountain, a long lake forming on top in the hollow between where the wings fold down onto the dragon's back. Waterfalls cascade down along its rear leg, forming a small river that follows the tail to feed into the larger lake.

Then shining walls of their new homes spread along and up the walls of the mountain, farms fill the flat land between them and the lake. Steam starts to rise from the dragon's nose and the view zooms in to show a hidden hotspring accessible via a cave made to look like a gap in its teeth.

""..."" Not one of them can seem to find their voice as the hologram zooms back out and begins to rotate slowly so they can observe it from all angles.

"Damn Sorrel." Apricot laughs and slaps me on the back. "I thought your lotus village looked cool, but this beats it hands down."

"Thank Melinda, I just fleshed her drawing out a bit." I say with a shrug.

"..." The artist in question just stares slack-jawed between her sketch and the life-like projection. "If you say so." She finally speaks.

"It is amazing." Gwynne says while touching her mouth. "But... did you have to leave out the tooth?" The look on consternation on her face sets all of us to laughing.

***

A large crowd forms as we roll into town in a convoy of over a dozen busses. The windows are all tinted so no one can see inside, a precaution I took for the more gun-shy women. Two of busses are dedicated to nothing but sleeping wildlife, including a large fishtank, and another to the villager's livestock.

And fortunately, just as human sized sapients have larger inventories than the fae, dragon sized beings have inventories that are that much larger than ours. So, Gwynne was able to hold all of the women's belongings for the trip, saving me from having to build and control even more transports.

"Cynda, good morning." I greet the head woman as those villagers who are willing to visit the town do so.

"You're taking them all away, already?" She looks shocked. "Jocie came back and told me about your plans, but..." She trails off.

"After what happened to Kacey." I speak loud enough for the crowd to hear while snarling in the direction of the small jail-house where the two attempted rapists are locked up. "They felt it was time for a new start, one that I am more than happy to provide for them." A projection of Dragon Falls -their tentative name for the new village- appears in mid-air for everyone too see. "This is what they have to look forward to now, instead of the leering stares to be found here." Looks of shame, envy, and thinly veiled hatred cross many of the men's faces as I castigate them.

"What about those like them?" She asks while cataloging the reactions of the townsmen, and carefully not staring at little Denna.

"That's what these are for." I hand her a box of the enchanted bracelets and a phone. "Protective charms, and a long-range communication rune." I explain for the crowd. "Gwynne and I will be keeping in touch, and are only a short flight away." I leave the threat of what will happen should our communication be interrupted go unsaid.

"But why?" One of the women in the crowd asks, her hand placed protectively on a little blonde girl. "Why do all this for women you don't even know?"

"Because I can, and because it's the right thing to do." I answer her. "Fate has been unkind, so I chose to step in and redress the callous way the gods have treated them." I say this to the crowd at large, and then smirk at Gwynne. "And, maybe just maybe, because I want to have a dragon owe me a big favor."

Gwynne snorts, making me think that she can tell that I only said that for the crowd. My girls just smile and shake their heads, knowing that this is the least of my considerations. The townsfolk on the otherhand are nodding and giving each other knowing looks.

It doesn't take long before we're back on the road again. I don't even bother trying to hide all the busses as we speed along, other travellers happy to make way once I tell them to via magic. Word about what happened in Newlake will soon spread either way, and frankly I want it to. Candassa had this great opportunity to help these women, but tried to use them instead. Let the bastards know that Larendath now has a dragon on its side.

"Rea." I call my favorite mayor to let her know she's about to have neighbors. "Were you informed about my saving that girl, Clara?"

"I was." She answers. "I also heard that you went to track down some answers, and found a dragon guarding a village of girls just like her." She laughs at the absurdity of it.

"I did." I laugh right along with her. "And well, they're sorta following me home. I offered to build them a new village and they chose to place it a days ride north of Circle Orchard. We'll be passing through late tonight, and I thought I'd give you a heads up."

"A dragon is following you home?" I can hear a drawer open and a cork pop, followed by gulping before she speaks up again. "Uhm, you should probably inform her majesty about this."

"I plan to, but I started with you because you'll be the most affected. These women have not had easy lives." I sigh. "I may have helped them gain a measure of control, but many of them are still wary of men. I need to ask you and captain Brant to keep the curious away from the mountain that's going to appear tommorow. The Villagers will make contact when they feel they're ready."

More gulping sounds come through the phone. "Yes, sir. We'll be sure to keep the lookie-loos away. Will you still be building the other village?"

"Of course." I answer straight away. "And, thank you. I know I'm making an unreasonable demand here, but they really do deserve a fresh start."

"Not a problem sir." This time I hear a small thunk before the drawer closes. "Everyone in town knows what it's like to need one of those. I'll spread the word that they're refugees from Cendassa that were mistreated just because they weren't human."

"Hmm? I'd noticed a higher percentage of the other races in town, but didn't think anything about it. I haven't seen them be mistreated anywhere else, but I haven't spent much time outside the Capital either."

"They generally aren't. Queen Vivian and all the Larens have always done their best to insure that all their citizens are treated well. But, sometimes people slip through the cracks, and those people are often a race other than human."

That makes me wonder what my reception would have been like if people knew I was Plantkin. I haven't really been hiding it, I feel most comfortable in my human guise. I had planned to shapeshift back now that I can, but it may just be time to come out of the forest.

"Sir?" Rea asks after I'm silent for a moment.

"Still here, just thinking." I decide to drop the pretense here and now. "Did you know that I'm not human?"

"Sir?" I swear I can hear her blinking. "But, Coen Evaluated you..."

"Before I came out of the woods, I was unsure how I'd be treated considering how I look, so I picked up the Shapeshift skill. I am Plantkin, but I was raised human and feel most comfortable looking human. I wasn't hiding it intentionally, it just never came up before now."

"Wow!" She pauses for a moment. "Does anyone else know?"

"My wives, Amelia's parents, and the villagers I'm driving right now. They found out when a certain dragon bit my arm off and I reverted automatically." I want to see if I can get her to open the drawer again.

"Y-your arm?" She lets out a little whimpering noise, but I don't hear her pick up the bottle again.

"Don't worry, it was just a minor misunderstanding, and it's already started to grow back."

"How is something like that considered a minor misunderstanding?"

"Oh, I was Shapeshifted into a woman at the time." I say with a smirk, half at Rea's tone, and half at Gwynne's squirming. "She could tell I was really a man though, and attacked on instinct. She took me by surprise, but I was able to calm her down and explain things properly."

"And now, you're building a village for her. You're not just fucking with me, are you?"

"Heheheh. I'll admit to having some fun listening to you react, but I swear everything I'm telling you is the truth."

"Alright, can you please ask her not to eat anyone else. I'd rather not have to deal with the paperwork."

"Hah!" I bark out a laugh as Gwynne turns red and covers her face. "Not a problem, we... had a little chat, and she's got much better control of her impulses now."

"Good to hear. Should I wait up to greet you tonight?"

"Oh, no need to bother, we won't be there until around midnight. I'll try to stop by tomorrow, depends on how draining making a mountain is."

"Hah! Alright, I'll see you when you do stop by then. I should warn you though, Coen is going to be jealous to miss something like that."

"Just tell him that I'll take him with me next time, and there will be a next time. Alright, I've got a couple more calls to make, so I'll let you go now. Just call me if you need anything."

"Will do." I disconnect the call after she says that.

"What do you normally look like?" Lana asks, and a few of the more curious women also seem interested, so I shift for them. "Mmm, not bad." She nods, and so do a few of the others. "Do you think that if we can fully unlock our bloodlines we'll be able to control our shifts like you do?" She brings out her scale form for a moment.

"That is a very good question." I say and shift back to Plantkin because I see I'm making a few of them uncomfortable. "Temmie, can you tell me if they'll gain access to you after they're considered a full species?" A *ding* in the affirmative is her answer.

"She said yes!" Gwynne startles.

"I thought she would." I say as they seem a bit shocked. Though whether that's because of the answer, or because they never even thought to ask, is anyone's guess. "You girls are as, if not more magical than Plantkin. So, even if you don't get full control, you'll be able to buy it, likely at a discount." Plantkin have a similar discount because we can use our growth to change how we look.

"Really? Sirens too?" Kacey asks, and I nod when Temmie answers her. "Oh, wow. I've always wanted an inventory like Gwynne. Would doing another scan help?"

"It can't hurt." Elle answers for me. "And, it'll give me something to do during the drive."

"Aren't 'you' driving all of these crazy carriages faster than I can fly?" Gwynne asks with a look out the window.

"We're not really going that fast, it just seems like it because we're at ground level." I explain. "And, the controls are all synced anyways, I just need to keep an eye out in case I need to make any minor adjustments." Now that my body isn't all torn up, I don't need to be as sparing wih the Healing Sap. That means I can take my time and don't have to put all my focus into doing it as quickly as possible.

"I still don't really get how you and her are the same person." Kacey says with a bashful look at Elle. "You have different personalities and everything."

"Oh, she used to be just like me." I say after Elle sends me an embarrassed look. "I originally shifted into her just to put your cousin Clara at ease. These two got such a kick out of her that Elle eventually got her own personality. She would have been just another bit of roleplay, but when Gwynne lost control it brought some things we've been ignoring to the forefront."

"And, if Sorrel can do something for his girls, he will." Elle finishes for me while we both stare at Apricot, the love I have for her plain to see in both of my faces.

A chorus of "aww's" have not only Elle, but even Apricot blushing. A rare sight, that. But, one that both Amelia and I are happy to drink in.

***