I marched out of their house, potion in hand, with so many thoughts spinning around in my head that I didn't know where to begin. They'd just... there wasn't any other way of describing it than saying they'd emotionally blackmailed me into having sex with their daughter, then backed off the moment they succeeded. I felt like I should be apoplectic at their behaviour, but I really couldn't work up the anger.

It didn't help that all of their points were very good ones. I had serious communications problems. I'd never talked to Cluma about mating season, aside from to ask her not to talk about it. We'd never even discussed if we wanted children. That needed to change. Not that all the blame was on me; I needed to impress on her the need to tell me anything important, however much I didn't want to hear it. She certainly wasn't shy about expressing her opinions on other things, such as me chopping my arms off for science.

And next year... Clana had said the potion was a safe way to skip the first year, but her lack of mention of subsequent years, and Camus' extreme declaration of forcing a beastkin divorce on us, implied it wasn't safe to use repeatedly. I'd just have to cope. I'd sworn never to hurt Cluma again in an ill-considered experiment, but hurting her just to avoid having to broach uncomfortable subjects was even worse.

Why hadn't I used the full two years I'd negotiated? A chunk of this was self inflicted, but even if [Temporal Mage] let me travel back in time, I wouldn't stop younger-me. That wouldn't be fair either; my words at the time had been sincere. From what I'd just heard, they had to be, to have the effect they had.

I barely concentrated on the road all the way back home, but even the cursory scan I was doing with [Mana Sight] stopped me short before reaching my front door. Someone was in my house. I suppose I should have expected it. I pushed open the door to see Cluma sat at my table, not even using [Stealth], ears twitching nervously. A flicker on the top of my head implied mine were doing the same.

"Sorry," I said, deciding to be the one to start. "I didn't know, and I didn't want to know. That wasn't fair to you."

"I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have made assumptions."

"Was it in the Serpent Isle dungeon, the first time you deactivated your odour suppression?"

"Mmm. When I smelt that you'd given yourself to me, I was so happy. I don't know what happened, but somehow I reciprocated. But... I guess your scent comes from your trait, and it didn't mean quite the same thing. And now... now I've lost it. I never should have told dad."

I stared at Cluma as she teared up, wondering what I'd missed this time. "Wait, what? Lost what?"

"Huh? Our bond, stupid!" snapped Cluma in a burst of anger. "Did it mean so little to you?"

Bond? The same thing Camus was talking about? Given that I'd only just found out it existed, I could hardly claim it was a vital part of my life, but why did she think we'd lost it? If nothing else, that would leave Camus out of a job for next year.

"I... may not be able to smell it, but I don't see why we'd have lost it?" I hazarded, eliciting a look of confusion from her before a flash of mana indicated the disabling of her earring.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as her face switched through emotions like a slide-show. Incomprehension, hope, then elation, before she bounced up and tackled me. "How?" she exclaimed between inhaling large gulps of air. "Dad said... he said he was going to force you to sever it."

So, they'd never had any intention of sedating her to begin with. The pair of them had made a bet. Since I'd agreed to put her needs above my own, they'd given me one more year. Had I refused, they'd have severed the bond. Breaking it still sounded like a sensible way of handling it to me, from a purely logical point of view, but I obviously didn't understand the associated culture. Or perhaps there were other downsides, like not being able to re-establish it.

"He lost a bet with Clana. Here—your mum gave me this. Drink it a week or so before... mating season, and you won't go into heat."

Yay—managed to get the words out with barely a pause.

Cluma stared in disbelief. "She had something like that and didn't tell me?!"

"She implied it was freshly made by Vargalas. When did you last speak to her? She might not have known it was possible."

"Uh... I didn't. She was at work, and I spoke to dad. When he said he was going to sever our connection, I... ran away. Slightly."

"Slightly? How do you slightly run away? But that explains it then. You know what your dad's like with wanting to protect you. He said what he thought was best, then your mum found a better solution, but you weren't around to hear it."

What a mess... But I'd just have to acknowledge it, move on, and ensure nothing similar happens again.

"What else did they say? You were out a while."

She was spying on me? But despite my vow of improved communication, I was hardly going to tell her they pressured me into sex. "That potion is a one-off. Camus made it very clear that next year, he will insist on unbonding us if we... if I don't... you know."

Okay, that one I failed to say out loud. But in my defence, this was supremely weird and embarrassing. I'd rather walk around Dawnhold in my maid outfit than have this conversation! But I had no intention of chickening out now; it was time to deal with my issues once and for all.

"And will you let him?"

"No. I swear."

Cluma smiled, finally detaching from her elongated hug and sitting back at the table, staring deeply into the vial of suspiciously purple liquid.

"So, is there anything else you haven't told me that I need to know?" I asked.

"I'm just wondering why you humans are so weird, and how I ever fell for one."

"To be fair, that's mostly just me, not humanity in general."

Cluma snorted. "True."

"So, now what? We still have a few days before our new armour will be ready."

"Can we have a day off? There's nothing we need to do. Let's just stay here and talk."

Well, I had just decided that I needed to do better at communication. Talking was a good start. Listening, too. So I did both. I listened to Cluma explaining how she'd never fully grasped the implications of our connection, and how terrified she was of going into heat without me once she found out. How much fun she'd had building a snowman with some kids in the street back in the winter. How Grover had sworn his revenge on her when she'd hugged him completely by surprise in the institute cafeteria, causing him to scream in front of his colleagues. How novel an experience swimming was, and how much she was looking forward to going again.

How much she wanted children, but how she was prepared to give up having any herself just to be with me... Did I want children? I wasn't sure, but we agreed it was still far too early to make any decisions.

I reciprocated, explaining all the Earth baggage I was stuck with. Talking through all the emotions that I'd been hit with upon discovering the harpy twins were my former parents, and then about the fact that stable portals to Earth could be opened, but that it would be too dangerous to walk through one, so I didn't have the option of going back to visit. How I was worried Cluma was surpassing me in terms of combat power. I even had a short rant about the Law, but of course, Cluma listened to my entire complaint with a glassed-over expression and immediately changed the subject when I stopped.

I gave her permission to move in whenever she felt ready to.

By the time we were done, it was late at night and my voice was hoarse. [Mana Sight] had picked up Camus prowling around outside at one point, but that was presumably just to check that Cluma was here and safe, because he soon went away again without knocking.

"I suppose I should leave before my parents start worrying. What do you want to do tomorrow?"

Which raised another point that I felt the need to vocalise. "You don't need to spend every day with me, you know. You have other friends that need attention, too."

Cluma giggled. "What do you think I do in the mornings while I'm waiting for you to get up? And the evenings too, for that matter."

"Huh? I work quite long days, sometimes!"

"Sometimes. And then you sleep in the next day to make up for it. But if you're offering, you can take me to the Emerald Nest tomorrow. I haven't visited my friends there in a while. And then the beach after that, and then Grover will have finished."

Cluma left for home, feeling slightly guilty about not telling her parents where she'd been, having slept at a friend's house the previous night. I dragged myself into my own bed, finding a day of solid talking every bit as tiring as fighting in a dungeon. Which of course meant that the first thing Cluma said when I saw her the next morning was, "See. I told you. It's gone third bell!"

I didn't really sleep that much, did I? On the days we'd cleared three floors of the Serpent Isle dungeon, it had normally taken us around seven hours. In Earth time, that would be... Sixteen hours? Ish. If the spacing between anomalies had been precisely one Earth week, I should be able to work out the time differences exactly, but it had certainly been a ridiculous sort of working day. I suppose it helped that I didn't really consider it 'work'. Although I probably soon would, if we attempted to keep that pace every day. Anyway, I felt my sleep schedule was perfectly reasonable. It wasn't my fault if Cluma was [Hyperactive].

As promised, I provided Cluma with transport to the Emerald Nest, trailing around after her like some sort of duckling as she ran between the houses of everyone she knew from her restaurant days, and finding happiness in watching her be her usual, energetic, friendly self.

I didn't fail to notice the reactions of any beastkin we visited, either. Cluma had never turned her odour suppression back on since the previous day, and one couple even congratulated the pair of us. Still, I was feeling more optimistic after our heart-to-heart, and no longer felt the desire to immediately run to Grover for an odour suppressing accessory of my own. If that was how beastkin did things, I could accept it.

Then we went for lunch, and Cluma attempted a level forty monster core.

"Five more minutes," she moaned, flopped forward and struggling to remain conscious.

"And to think you were complaining about my sleep schedule. At least I don't fall asleep mid meal."

She grumbled wordlessly, much to the amusement of our spectators. In fact, it took her ten minutes before she was capable of lifting her face from the table. "My teeth ache."

"Don't eat monster cores that contain more mana than you do?" I suggested.

"But it smelt so delicious! And tasted it, too, for the first half."

"Why didn't you stop when you were full?"

Cluma gave me a look that I remembered well from Earth, mostly from when I asked people questions like, "Why did you eat the second half of the chocolate bar when you were already feeling sick?"

"Okay, I understand."

"You do?"

"Yes, and when we open up the next portal to Earth, remind me to ask them for some chocolate. I suddenly have a craving."

What if Clana made chocolate? Or worse, a fourth rank cook? Probably best I never found out. Cluma had already mentioned my lack of muscle definition. I didn't want her starting on my belly.

The following day, we went to the beach as planned, Cluma stripping her clothes off and storing them safely in my [Item Box] long before we reached the sand. With a water crystal to wash off any that stuck to us as we left, and towels to dry off, it was a far cleaner trip. Once again, however, I was left wondering how I could bring others there. We'd have to head east from Dawnhold at some point, to find a beach on our side of the sea. Somewhere we could bring people who couldn't teleport.

No, there must be boats. It wasn't something I'd considered before, but how did the first people get to this island? I suppose a harpy or fairy [Spatial Archmage] could have flown over to open the portal, or maybe there were spells to fly, but boats weren't exactly high technology. The shoreline of the continent was visible from this beach, so this island must be visible from there. Heck, with System enhanced stats, someone could quite easily have swum. Would [Weft Walk] work while swimming? Probably not, but I'd bet I could still swim the distance without it. Something to try, one day.

And thus concluded our vacation. The next day, the pair of us prepared to return to Grover's lab, ready to begin a second round of experimentation into the uses of [Superimpose]. Almost.

"I meant what I said!" exclaimed an exasperated Cluma, blocking my front door with arms on her hips and tail poking out rigidly behind her. "If you're too embarrassed, it just means the experiment isn't important enough to risk your health for. So make your mind up."