“Philige, I hope you’re hungry,” Lolo said as she set the basket on the desk. “The cooks were a little extra generous tonight.”

“Lolo?”

“Hm?” she turned around, and Philige had her tangled up in a kiss before she could stop rotating. “Dinner first, kisses later,” she scolded when he released her, but she honestly didn’t mind. Philige pouted a little but obediently sat down to eat, and Lolo went to organize the papers. It had only been a few days since they’d made things official, but their relationship had progressed so naturally that it felt like they’d been together a lot longer.

"So, how was training?" Philige asked as he pulled out his dinner.

"It went well. You'll be glad to hear that Standig turned a corner after we had that talk a couple days ago. He's finally starting to seem like himself again," Lolo reported happily. "What about you? How were your meetings today?"

"'Military report was about what you'd expect.... I took your advice."

"Which advice?" Lolo laughed. "I can't keep track of all the ideas I've thrown out at you."

"Your idea for dealing with the scattered population problem."

"Again, which idea?"

Philige grinned. "We are breaking ground for a new village. If it's successful, it will be one of several."

"Ah! The build-it-and-they-will-come theory," Lolo was pleased. "How long will construction take?"

"The design we settled on is little more than a handful of homes arranged in a cluster with land attached for farming. It won't take more than a few weeks."

"But the cluster follows a main road?"

"Yup!"

"Are you planning on giving the homes to people or having people purchase them?"

"This first round, just give them away. If it ends up being popular, we might need to adjust, but right now, it's more important to consolidate our population."

"I agree. Well, let me know how that turns out!"

With the papers neatly stacked and the dishes back in the basket, Philige took Lolo at her word and lifted her onto a desk to make her a little taller and therefore easier to kiss. He really liked kissing her. In fact, if she would let him, Philige would be quite happy to skip their regular walks in favor of making-out in The Great Hall. Lolo enjoyed kissing him too, but she was a little more self-conscious about it and needed the walks and conversation to balance out all the snogging.

Saying goodnight especially always ended with Lolo insisting that she really did need to go, and Philige trying to steal just as many extra kisses as he could. So tonight, when Philige randomly found the self-control to stop on his own, Lolo was confused.

"Philige?"

"There's something that I want to tell you."

"Alright. What is it?"

His hand found her face. "Huo Lohse Lang, I love you." From the way that he said it, it sounded as though Philige had been sitting on this statement for a while. "I don't expect you to reciprocate, at least not right away, but, everything on the table, Lolo, I'm all in. I just wanted you to know that."

Not particularly prepared for his confession, Lolo laughed nervously. "I think I already knew that."

"You did?" This was not the response he was expecting.

"Mn. Short of hearing you say it directly, I already knew."

"Oh," Philige had no idea where to go with that. "Well, this is awkward."

Lolo just laughed and hugged him.

***

“You’re certain about this?” Lolo asked everyone but mostly Ulana. “We have no way of knowing what will happen here.”

Ulana took a deep breath and joined the boys in nodding.

“Ok. Then how do we want to attempt this?”

“I guess we just sit in a tight circle with our knees touching and hold hands?” Fortus shrugged.

“I claim a seat next to Lolo,” Ulana announced and grabbled Lolo’s hand.

“Me too,” Fortus said, taking her other hand.

Amused, Standig shook his head and took Ulana’s hand, leaving Jadu to complete the circle. The group sat down and adjusted positions until everyone’s hands could rest comfortably where their knees touched the person next to them.

Standig looked at Lolo. “You should lead.”

“Me? I think you would be a better choice.”

“This was your idea.”

Lolo exhaled sharply. “Fine.” She closed her eyes and started a steady breathing pattern. Around her, she heard her team copy her.

Synchronized as a group, it felt strangely like they were a part of one great body, breathing with a single set of giant lungs. As she focused on the circle and her connection to her teammates, Lolo felt Ulana to her right and Fortus to her left, but somehow, she also felt Standig and Jadu, and Ulana to her left and Fortus to her right. The circle seemed to make who was physically sitting next to whom meaningless.

Lolo felt the Silver Wolf spirit wake up and get excited. A warm buzzing sensation crept from her resting place in Lolo’s chest outward to the rest of Lolo’s body. Anticipating that something might happen once that feeling reached her hands and knees, Lolo tracked its spread through her arms and down her legs. Once at her fingertips, Lolo felt Fortus and Ulana twitch slightly as the buzzing feeling passed from Lolo to them. Somehow, Lolo felt the Golden Lion and the Red Phoenix spirits stir as the warmth spread to Fortus and Ulana’s chests. The Golden Lion and Red Phoenix continued the spread of the Silver Wolf’s energy to the Blue Dragon and Black Bear who were similarly roused. The energy met on either end of the circle at Jadu and Standig’s fingertips, and Lolo felt an exponential surge in energy as the five primordial spirits combined their power.

Lolo saw the great white and copper Dragon King sweep into the council circle, followed by the Horned Owl. “You five have done well connecting with the humans. They are as you said, Silver Wolf, and they deserve the same right to live peacefully as the rest of us. However, I have some disturbing news. My son, the Black Dragon, has been amassing support behind my back in favor of the humans’ destruction. I am taking action to snuff out the rebellion, but the humans are vulnerable and will require protection.”

“How can we help?” Lolo asked.

The Dragon King seemed to smile. "Are you willing to defend the humans?"

Lolo turned to her friends to communicate silently. “I believe we are all willing.”

The king nodded. “Then I will grant you the power that you will need. Gather in a circle around me.”

As Lolo and her friends circled the great dragon, he closed his eyes and began to emit an abundance of light. Lolo closed her eyes as she felt herself absorb massive amounts of energy and something in her spirit fundamentally change. She knew in an instant that she had become timeless, that this mission she had perhaps naïvely accepted was more than just a one-shot campaign. She felt a draw to the humans that she was to protect. Somehow they had become a part of her, and she had become a part of them, impossibly and inextricably linked. No sooner had this understanding come than she realized that so too had she become eternally bound to her friends that had joined her on this mission.

Lolo felt powerful, so much so that she held the illusion of absolute control. The Dragon King seemed to understand her and enhanced her natural, protective, pack instincts. Those who dared to harm her pack, her human pack, would find it difficult as long as she was there to defend them.

The Dragon King finished, and Lolo looked around to see her friends’ eyes glowing with the same power she had just been granted.

“Horned Owl, I give you the responsibility of overseeing the five. They will report to you.” The Dragon King touched a claw to the owl’s forehead and gave her a different kind of power and timelessness. “Son,” the king turned to the Blue Dragon, “you will send me your progress reports.”

The Blue Dragon nodded.

“Team, this mission will last until the rebellion is fully quelled, however long that may be.” With that, the Dragon King took to the skies.

The connection Lolo felt to her teammates slowly began to fade as the Silver Wolf spirit settled back down in her chest. The merge had ended, but as the meditation wound down, Lolo felt something new. It was hard to describe, but she felt as though she understood herself better, her purpose, her strengths, her mission, and she knew that she had what she needed.

She looked at her teammates with new eyes, understanding for the first time the true depths of their potential. For a few minutes, the team just stared at each other, existing in the moment and basking in the new clarity.

“Well,” Ulana was the first to speak, “that was illuminating.”

“Does anybody else feel like we’re ready?” Lolo asked.

“Ready for what?” Fortus sought clarification.

“For our ultimates… ready to produce them.”

There was collective affirmative murmuring around the circle.

“But I still don’t understand how we are supposed to do that. Theoretically, we’re supposed to master them before we can consider our training completed,” Fortus scowled.

“I’ve always found that I tend to figure things out in the heat of the moment,” Lolo said. “Maybe we need to go on some kind of adventure together.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know,” Lolo shrugged.

“How about a night hunt?” Standig suggested.

“It’s worth a shot. Maybe tomorrow night?” Lolo looked at Fortus.

“Let’s plan on that,” he agreed.

***

“What are you doing here?” Standig demanded gruffly, as Philige emerged from the tunnel. He hadn’t made up with Philige after their fight, and, while doing better, Standig was still extra irritable these days. Standig walked toward his brother, stopping just short of bumping into him so Philige had to crane his neck to meet his buring gaze.

Lolo appeared at Standig’s right and tugged on his sleeve. “He’s your brother, our liaison, and the Bear Tribe leader. Does he need an invitation? Besides, you were the one that showed him this place.”

Standig looked down at her, his expression communicating a feeling of betrayal.

Lolo sighed and grabbed Philige’s arm. “Fine. He’s here for me.” She pulled Philige around a now very bewildered Standig. “We’re going to the stream for some water. 'Want me to refill your water bag while I'm at it?”

Standig shook his head.

“See you in a bit then.” Lolo grabbed her own water bag and waved over her shoulder.

Once concealed by the trees, Philige caught Lolo’s face and kissed her, making her giggle. He then found her hand to hold while they walked through the forest.

“So, why did you come here?” Lolo asked.

“I need to talk to you about something important before your hunt tonight.”

“Oh? It couldn’t wait until tomorrow, huh?” she teased.

But he was serious. “No. It couldn’t.”

They reached the stream and Lolo knelt down to fill her water bag. “Well, I’m listening. What’s going on?”

Philige seemed anxious. “Come sit with me for a minute?” He gestured to the meditation circle a little further down the hill.

She followed him and found a patch of grass to sit on. “What’s this all about?”

He sat down across from her and took a deep breath. “One of the elders saw us together, Lolo.”

She laughed. “That’s all? It’s not like our relationship is a secret.”

“No, but the elder reminded me this morning that, as the Bear Tribe leader, I’m supposed to declare my intimate relationships to the council of elders.”

“What for?”

“It’s a courtesy, mostly. But the purpose is so that the council can evaluate my, er-”

“Girlfriend?” Lolo suggested.

“Yeah. Evaluate her as my-” Philige blushed. He was really struggling to get this out.

“As the potential wife of the tribe leader,” she finished for him.

He nodded, feeling awkward, and found something in his lap to stare at.

“Ok?”

“What?” His head snapped up.

“Ok! So when are you going to make the announcement?”

“I guess, tomorrow evening at the council meeting. But wait! You’re ok with this?”

She shrugged. “Should I not be? I mean, it doesn’t exactly change much. We are dating. All dating relationships end in one of two ways. This will just make it either a very public wedding or a very embarrassing breakup.”

“But are you ok with it?”

“It’s not what I’d have chosen, but I accept it.”

“But how do you-”

She interrupted him by placing her hand on his cheek. “Philige, I chose to date you knowing that you are the Bear Tribe leader in much the same way that you chose to date me knowing that I’m a primordial. I accepted that there would be obligations and expectations that came with that. This is just part of the territory. Remember, I was also raised in a tribe leader’s family, and I’m familiar with these types of formalities.” She paused to smile at him. “Do I need to be there tomorrow?”

He was staring at her and had to shake his head to return to earth. “No. I mean, you can come if you want to. It would be a nice gesture…. You know you’re amazing, right?”

“How so?”

He rocked forward onto his hands and knees so he could peck her forehead.

She laughed. “You weren’t nervous about telling me this, were you?”

“I was, actually.”

“Why? You thought I’d break-up with you over it?”

“I didn’t know what to expect.”

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Philige tipped her backwards onto the grass. “For my part, I hope this ends in a very public wedding.”

She giggled as he smothered her in kisses.