Luna hummed happily as she rode her new follower through the forest towards the witch's house. Van was sitting behind her, as she did not want him in front. Her follower, her rules. Forcing him to hold her from behind, all the while she teased that she wanted him closer. To which he ignored, lost in his own head as it were.

It was a strange feeling for Van, for the first time ever, he had technically a person under him who he did not form a connection with. If the bear could ever be truly considered a subordinate of his. Even if Luna did say it was to be a pet.

More importantly… he still couldn’t get it out of his mind… the look on Luna’s face as she fought. The sheer willpower and determination… not to mention… the bloodlust…

But right now, it was like Luna was back to normal… or perhaps even going so far as to regress again, bordering back on her bimbo Luna phase, as she happily sang nonsensically. He was so lost in his own thoughts, he did not realize that Luna was asking him a question.

“So what do you think? ...Hello? Van? Earth to Van! Are you there!?” Luna pestered, turning her head around to get a better look at her husband.

“Huh!? Oh, umm...” Van looked up, then tried to rewind his thoughts and try to figure out what she was trying to ask him. But it stopped mid-reel as it hooked itself on an odd word, his brows furrowing. “Wait… earth? Wasn’t that one of… how does Luna know that…”

“VAN!!!” Luna shouted as his eyes glazed over, snapping them back awake.

“Wha-!” Van blinked and realized what he had just done. “Oh! Sorry… I… was lost in my thoughts…”

“That’s clear,” Luna responded flatly, but then a look of worry took her. “Are you okay? You're not bear sick, are you? I could ask Bearycream to go slower if you want.”

“No, I’m okay, I just…” Van blinked again. “I’m sorry… What did you just say? Beary-what?”

Luna smiled proudly. “BEARYCREAM!” she shouted with pride. “I’ve been thinking about what to name my follower! And wanted to ask you for your opinion. Which do you prefer? Bearycream? Or Starbeary!” she then squealed, “don’t they both sound so cute!” she exclaimed.

Van inwardly cringed and gave a quick glance over to look at the long-suffering expression of the bear who was doing its best to ignore Luna in the hopes this conversation would miraculously go away. Perhaps thinking if she remained quiet enough, Luna would get bored and start talking about something else. Sadly, it was not to be…

“Oh! Oh! Maybe Bearaness! Because she was like the ruler of this area or something!” Luna continued without pause. “Or maybe-”

“How bout rosa.” Van cut her off, hoping to put a stop to her horrible bear puns. “It’s cute, it's short and it somewhat matches her color. Or perhaps terra? Since it means earth. Since, you know… Bell explained to us that the spikes on a thorn bear are actually earth the bears manipulated and shaped onto their bodies.” Referring to the time that Bell was explaining what thorn bears were really like after the fight, and how they were more like earth bears than thorn bears that they are sometimes confused for.

This seemed to get a somewhat positive reaction from the bear, but a pout from Luna. “That doesn’t sound very cute…” but after giving it some thought a mischievous smile grew on her face and she turned to face Van with a sparkle in her eyes. “What about Teddyrosa! Like terrarosa! But teddy! Wouldn’t that be perfect!”

“Umm…” Van looked visibly pained. “How but we stick to your other idea of Terrarosa, and we can call her Rosa for short.” he tried to bargain on the bear's behalf.

Luna narrowed her eyes, staring him down… “Rosy…” she said with finality.

Van sighed. “...alright… her name will be Rosy for short…” he conceded.

Luna nodded imperiously, acting like that was the only expected and correct answer. She then looked down at the bear with a smile. “From now on, you are…” she paused for dramatic effect. “Terrarosa! ...But you will also be called Rosy for short, okay?”

Rosy sighed with relief, not the best, but far better than the other options. She gave Van a look of thanks for his effort. And then the change began. Rosy started to shrink a little, her form becoming more compacted. Her fur became softer and harder at the same time, and underneath it, one could feel the muscle strengthening.

Van wanted to say something about naming Rosy as they were riding her but unfortunately didn’t get the chance. Thankfully she didn’t shrink too much, so they were able to stay on.

After that little scare, and Luna giggling happily at the little surprise, the group made their way towards the witch's house, making good time.

“Well… here we are… this is where Alecto lives. Mind your manners okay.” Van said to Luna as they got off Rosy. He then walked over to the door and knocked on it.

A minute later, Alecto answered, wondering who it was. “Oh! Van! Surprised to see you here so soon. Did you come to take me up on my offer of a massage? I promise to be very… thorough…” she said with a coy smile.

Van gave a polite cough, “well… I originally came here to either thank you or give you a piece of my mind for what you did to me. But my wife insisted that she wanted to meet you. And… she kinda needs to be looked at at the moment… for obvious reasons…” moving aside and with a motion of his hand indicated Luna’s condition.

“Oh my…” Alecto’s eyes widened. “You have a very beautiful wife! And…” Alecto's eyes widened even further. “Oh dear…” she quickly moved over to get a better look at Luna, instantly going to her shoulder, and then her chest, finishing off with looking at her foot. She then looked Luna in the eyes. “My dear… I'm amazed you're still standing. What in the world did you do to get in this state?”

“If you think this is bad, you should see the other girl,” Luna said in a half-joking manner, pointing over her shoulder at Rosy.

Alecto looked over Luna’s shoulder and was taken by surprise. “Is that the queen of the earth bears of the south woods!” she exclaimed in surprise, only for her eyes to widen in worry once more. “Oh, my gods! What happened to your face!” noticing the slightly crushed jaw and the shut-eye with crusted blood on it.

“It was worse before I named her.” Luna said, “I was hoping the change would get rid of most of the pain and heal her some. But it wasn’t as much as I was hoping for.” She then continued to explain what happened and the fight the two had. Rosy going along and made sounds of agreement and other noises as if to tell her own side of the story.

“Enough!” Alecto shouted, not wanting to hear any more of this. “I don’t care how you two barbarians beat the shit out of each other!” she glared at them, then locked eyes with Luna. “you! Get in the house and take off your shirt!” She then turned to the bear. “And you stay here while I get something to fix your broken jaw. Why are you even trying to talk in the state you're in!” sounding mad and exasperated.

The two flinched and looked like two siblings that got in trouble for fighting in front of their parents. Luna was escorted into the house, or more, dragged into the house by a very angry Alecto. Who was muttering things about not catching a break-even in the middle of nowhere, and calling for her daughter to come downstairs and help. Van followed in, concerned for his wife, as Bell and the kobold decided to stay with Rosy and keep her company.

Alecto pushed Luna down on a nearby sofa chair and ordered her to take her shirt off again while asking Agnès to get her medical supplies.

Agnès looked surprised to see another new person in the house, but professionally followed her mom's instructions, and as she was rummaging through the shelves, she noticed Van looking at the woman who had pulled her shirt off, who was wincing all the way as she removed her clothing. She addressed him as she brought the medicine.

“Umm… maybe you should go somewhere else?” seeing Van was staring at the now half-naked beautiful woman in front of him.

“What? Why?” Van asked, looking at her confused.

“I mean because…” Agnès couldn’t really find a good excuse… it just felt wrong for a man to stare at a woman. “Patient privacy?”

“It’s fine,” Luna said, drawing Agnès’s attention. “It’s not like he hasn’t seen me naked before. And not like it matters if a guy sees a naked woman in general anyway, am I right?” she laughed good-naturedly as if expecting Agnès to understand. Then winced when Alecto started to poke and prod her.

Agnès gave her own wince, though, for a different reason, she looked back to Van, hoping he would get the hint and understand. But it flew right over him, making her feel a little alienated with someone who she was hoping to share more things in common with. Though, maybe just perhaps there was another reason why he chose to stay. She couldn’t be sure just yet.

Alecto then finished checking Luna out. “Well… admittedly … you are healing pretty fast. But you're still suffering from a few cracked ribs and bruises, including on your hand and foot. Not to mention your shoulder was improperly put back in place and is pinching a nerve. It would have slowly gone in correctly given a few days, but might as well fix that now while I can.”

She then took Luna’s shoulder with both her hands and gave a swift pull, causing an audible pop to be heard, making Luna gasp. Then she put it back in place just as quickly, the shoulder looking like this time it snapped in the socket correctly.

“Try now,” Alecto asked.

Luna blinked a stray tear away and tentatively moved her shoulder blades. Surprised by how easily and painlessly the motion was. “Oh… wow! This feels amazing!” she said with wonder, her shoulder feeling like it was brand new.

Alecto nodded as if that was the most obvious conclusion. “Alright. Now it's time for you to lie down.” She then pulled something on the chair, making it recline, and started to look at her cracked ribs. “Damn girl…” she muttered. “Could you be any bigger?” She then moved them a bit out of the way so she can get a closer look at how far the damage went. Then asked Agnès to come over with her medicine kit.

Slowly, she drew a long sharp needle from the box that Agnès was holding and began to explain. “This is going to hurt a little, but only for a moment. Now, this is a needle that’s been coated with a numbing agent and muscle relaxant. It’s also been enchanted to have a small healing effect and is expertly crafted to allow for high mana conductivity. Allowing me to project healing spells directly into your body through them.”

“I’m going to be using them not only on your chest area but on some parts of your arms and legs. Since I noticed you clearly forced your body to go beyond its limits and some of your muscles are torn and your ligaments damaged. Are you ready for what’s going to happen next?” she asked out of courtesy.

Luna gulped at the long sharp needles. These were far different than the ones that her mother forced her to train with. She looked over at Van, to see if he truly trusted them doing something like this. And in return, Van gave her a slow nod, his eyes promising to watch out for her. Even going so far as to walk over and hold her hand. With that, Luna gave a nod to Alecto, giving her consent.

Alecto wasted no time in piercing Luna’s body with her needles. In just a few minutes, Luna had dozens of needles throughout her body. “There, done. Now just stay like that for the next hour or so and you will be good. The healing spells will sink into you and your body should be able to take care of the rest.”

“Was this really the only way to heal her?” Van asked, looking at Luna as she whimpered pitifully.

Alecto gave a devilish smile. “Oh no, there are many simpler ways we could have done this. But if I made it easy, then how are these barbarians ever going to learn their lesson about almost killing themselves?”

She then started to pack some of her things and took the box from Agnès. “Now if you excuse me…” she muttered, her humor already deserting her. “I have a jaw to fix.” she then walked out the door, muttering something about not being a god's damn dentist. Soon followed by growls of protest and her saying “don’t be such a big baby! Stay still!” with a snap of her voice, followed by another whimper.

“Sorry about my mom, she can be a little…” Agnès was at a loss for words trying to apologize on her mother’s behalf.

“It’s fine,” Van said. “What's important is that Luna gets the healing she needs.”

Agnès looked a little relieved, then nervously looked between Van and Luna. “so… you two are husband and wife?”

Van nodded. “Yup, she’s the one I told you about.”

“Oh! The one you married right after you got…” Agnès went silent

“Ya…” Van said, now realizing the awkwardness of this situation.

Luna looked between Agnès and Van and did her best to give a cough without moving too much, for fear of making the needles move. “Umm.. mind introducing me?” she asked, looking towards Van.

“Oh! Right! Luna, this is Agnès. She’s Alectos, daughter. Agnès, this is Luna, my wife.” Van said.

Agnès and Luna then properly greeted each other.

“So… you know Van’s life story?” Luna asked.

“Well… probably not everything… it’s just that… me and Van share something… really similar…” Agnès replied, trying to be vague because she didn’t know how much Luna knew about Van’s condition.

“Such as…” Luna asked.

“Well… were both soul awakened,” Agnès responded, a little hesitant, leaving it at that and hoping that Luna would understand.

Luna’s eyes widened. “Oh! I am so sorry! You must have had a hard life.” she emphatically said.

“No, it’s fine,” Agnès said, somewhat surprised by the concern Luna was showing her. “Things could have been worse, trust me…”

“How did you and your mother come to be in this forest?” Luna asked, “were you chased out? You can come live with us if you want, my mom would take you in.”

“Luna...” Van said, for fear that Luna was being rude by asking such questions.

“It’s fine,” Agnès said with a gentle smile, more touched than anything by Luna’s offer. “I don’t mind telling her.”

She then began to tell the same story she told Van about what happened to her and how they ended up in the middle of nowhere in vampire lands. As that was the last place that their pursuers would expect them to be.

“I am so sorry that happened to you!” Luna sniffled at the somewhat sad story. “You deserve so much better! If only you had a chance to soulbond like me and Van! You could have had such an easier life.”

“I’ll tell you what, why don’t you marry Van and become his concubine! That way we can become like sisters and I'll make sure to take good care of you!” Luna exclaimed, making Van cringe and go red with embarrassment.

Agnès blushed. “Oh… uh… thank you for the offer… but I'm not like other girls…” she began, trying to figure out a way to turn Luna down gently.

“Could have fooled me!” Alecto said loudly as she just came through the door looking exhausted. “The walls are thin and I know what you do in your room when you have free time and you think no one is around. You can deny your that kind of girl all you want, but your body knows what it wants and needs.”

“Mom!” Agnès yelled, looking scandalized, completely red in the face.

“Now… What was this I heard about soul-bonding?” Alecto asked. Looking very invested in the question with sharp eyes.

Van wondered why Alecto became so serious all of a sudden. But by her expression, it seemed she wasn’t going to let them go without an explanation. Making him wonder what soul-bonding means to her, or was there something else to it that he didn’t know and should be worried about…

Feeling like he had no other choice, and with Alecto staring him down, Van began to explain exactly what the soulbond was all about…