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My ears folded back as I listened to one of the heavy chimes sounding off behind me. By the tone, I could tell it was the central camp one. Three rings later, I groaned and rolled my head back, looking up at the sky for a moment as I sat in the water. So much for a relaxing bath. Exir sighed at the same time and stood up, dripping, next to me. "Figures. They can't even wait until lunch time to tell everyone we're leaving..." he muttered. Three chimes meant it was time to pack up, and we had two hours to do so.

Struggling to my paws myself, I looked over at him toweling off before huffing. "At least I'm not still in casts. This would have been even more awkward with me laid up..." I replied, following him out of the water and to where our clothes were. Nara had almost insisted on joining us, but Mother had hauled her and Exia to the female's side of the bathing pools instead for 'girl talk'. This both terrified and intrigued me, but the former won out and I chose not to ask.

"Dragging your furry ass does sound not very fun, I admit," he quipped, earning a glare from me over my shoulder as I reached down and grabbed my towel. He laughed after, then assured, "Chill dude! I'm just joking! You've got a great ass!" Seriously? I glared again, catching him actually staring at my rear before rolling my eyes. My wet tail flicked up and to the side, and he gave a yip as I managed to nail him across the side of the face with it.

"Hornball. You should save it for your Priestess girl..." I pointedly reminded, now toweling my tail down after it had served its function as a weapon.

Exir rubbed at his cheek for a moment before huffing and finishing toweling his legs off. "I haven't seen her in two days! I'm pent up!" he defended, sticking his tongue out at me just before pulling his tunic on over his head.

I raised an eyebrow for a moment as he got his arm stuck, crooked against the side of the tunic and not able to find the sleeve as he blindly wiggled it around. Rolling my eyes, I grabbed the sleeve portion and shifted it to the side, letting his arm through before grabbing my own tunic from the ground. "Two days? Some of us have never had sex at all you know. Pansy," I retorted, dusting the sand off the side of it before pulling it on over my head, actually mindful of the sleeve locations before I did so.

"Dude, Nara almost followed you here and jumped you. You really think that's going to last much longer? Give a guy a break!" he chittered, crossing his arms over his chest once he finished tying his waist cord. It was my turn to roll my eyes as I finished tying my own cord off and went for my sandals.

"Pretty sure she's just being a giant brat and teasing me. Sure, her titles are temporarily suspended, but do you really think the royal princess is going to get into a mating without going through the entire Trial Mating in the most formal way possible? We'd be in phase one if so, which formally declares definitely no sex," I pointed out, raising a skeptical eyebrow to him. Sure, a bottom rung Inaga or even all the way up to a guard recruit might be able to get away with waiving a few technicalities and steps, but there was no way that was going to happen with Nara.

Exir snorted at that, but didn't say anything for a long moment. I gathered the towels up and looked back to him, just in time to see the corner of his muzzle turn up. "You know, you did save her life..." he pointed out, sounding amused again. What? Oh.

"Uh, no. There's no way she's going to call a life debt. There's just... she's a royal. Royals don't do that, and her mother wouldn't let her even if they did," I pointed out, looking away from him afterwards. If Master Chronak was right, then she was the 'carrot'. Suddenly I started to wonder if I could even begin a Trial Mating with her without her mother already getting what she wanted.

He gave a shrug at that, then admitted, "You might be right, but personally that would be more than a little shitty of them, don't you think? The Queen already broke that tradition herself by ordering Nara to live with you. Cohabitation isn't supposed to be until phase_two_. If your theory sticks, that means this whole thing is just one giant cocktease, which isn't any way to treat someone you're trying to earn the favor of..." Queen Calien, trying to earn the favor of me?

Sighing, I muttered, "You'd think she'd have enough power to just order me to comply really. Though if she did, why would she be bothering with all this at all?" I knew the Queen wasn't the only one in charge, and she too had a council in the capital made up of a ton of nobles from various professions around the city. They held quite a lot of power over government too.

"It's not like the Queen can outright enslave you, Exes. You're not a criminal. Though if you're mated to her daughter, I can see her being able to exert a lot more influence over you, which is probably what she wants," he pointed out, as both of us set off towards my family's tent again. He added, a moment later, "I'll help you guys pack up your tent. I really doubt they need me over in the training yard." Exir's parents weren't even in this tribe, their pack being pulled to the capital to serve in official capacity. Exir just stayed behind to complete his guard training, and stayed in the barracks tents.

I sighed again at that, then shrugged. At this point, I was playing everything by ear anyway and just going with the flow. "I guess we'll just have to see what happens when it happens. I mean, I admit, I rather like Nara. It's been... fun teaching her the last week or so and we have a lot in common..." I admitted, considering it more myself even as I said it. I'd probably agree if she asked me right now for a Trial Mating, if I was being honest with myself.

"That and she's definitely easy on the eyes! You're seriously lucky," he quipped.

Snickering at that, I asked, "What about your female? Giving up on her already and going to aim for Nara's Second or something?" I admittedly kind of wanted to meet this priestess trainee, but that might draw more attention to them at this point, and I definitely didn't want to jeopardize anything for him.

He grinned over at me and shot back, "Pfft, what if I wanted to be her First instead?" I almost stumbled for a moment. I knew it was a joke, but I wasn't anticipating the sudden lance of anxiety to shoot through my chest. My eyes widened a little as the mental images shot through my head anyway, and I slammed my eyes shut to force them out.

Blinking slowly, my eyes opened again, showing Exir frowning back at me, apparently having just realized I almost tripped and ground my face into the sand. "Whoa, uh, sorry. It was just a joke, Exes. Besides, pretty sure she's only into _you_at the moment. Plus, I heh, already have a girl interested in me. I wouldn't even dream of breaking off with her," he assured, voice softer now as he looked concerned. Right. Right? Of course he was... right.

Frowning to myself, I suddenly wondered what had gotten into me. As the alpha female, Nara was perfectly in her rights to choose others to be in her pack. There was no way I'd be the only member, and she was a royal, so I might not even be the only male. I wasn't supposed to be suddenly having feelings like this, was I? The desire to be her First specifically? Or the only male she had? I was an Inaga, not a Vulkus or Gar. What the hell?! We didn't have instincts like this...

I rubbed at my temples and sighed. "S-Sorry. I guess I'm just a little stressed over yesterday still," I muttered, suddenly feeling a little sick to my stomach and wishing I hadn't scarfed down so much breakfast. Moving up next to Exir again, I relaxed a bit as he clapped me on the shoulder instead.

"Relax, Exes. Let's just get packed up. You'll feel better once you can relax riding in the wagon..." he suggested. I nodded to him and followed him back into the bulk of the camp. Looks like today would be tiring too...

---

To be honest, I really should have seen this coming. With actual hover carts, travel to Laridia, the capital, only took a quarter of a day at best if you pushed the ella. I watched the large creatures breathing a bit heavily indeed as the driver of the hover wagon got them fresh water and food while they rested. They were massive creatures, backs as tall as an adult Inaga, including ears, and that was before you included their impressive antler racks. Four legged herbivores, they largely grazed on grass and oats, and were pretty gentle in temperament, especially when well-trained like these ones were. They were covered in a light coat of brown fur, with a lighter tan around the neck and shoulders, and built wide and powerful. Apart from their antlers, their hooves were also hardened of course, into twin cloven things, and their shoulder sported a thick, slightly pointed plate of the same material each, forming natural protection for their necks in that location. Of course, they could be dangerous if they started stampeding in a group, as not much stopped them once they got moving.

"No, this isn't what I wanted at all, Mother! You're completely blowing this out of proportion. I'm safe here! I want to stay and train, and be with Exes!" I heard Nara shout. I'd be worried that they were making a scene, but that ship had already sailed about five minutes ago, and now I was just weathering the storm. The three Elders present had even backed off, now on the side of Queen Calien opposite of me.

Her mother looked more than a little frustrated as she stood next to the wagon. There were at least a dozen honor guard that I could see, each riding their own ella separately it looked like. To my surprise, Zira and Ziri were instead over to each side of me, looking like they shared my sentiment of wanting to keep distance as the two yelled at each other.

"If the situation were different, I'd have no problems at all letting you stay and do just that! But the tribe is packing up and moving, and this area has become too dangerous for you to stay in, especially with only two guards! I know what happened yesterday, Nara," the Queen reminded. The two hover wagons had been easily visible when Exir and I got back to camp, and he sent me ahead as we suspected it had to do with Nara. I wasn't exactly a lot of help with packing and unpacking the tent anyway. Still, I think I'd rather be doing that, now. I was getting a lot of glances from the crowd, especially because Nara kept referencing me while shouting. I knew better than to try to cut into the conversation though, with it being way above my station at this point.

Nara gave a growl of frustration and stomped her paw down into the dirt, glaring daggers at her mother. "Then if you know about that, you know he saved my life, Mother! I had feelings for him before, but now..." she reminded. To my surprise, the Queen's expression actually softened at that, and she looked to the side, over at me instead.

For a moment, she didn't say anything, instead just looking me over. It wasn't like the first time I'd met her, where I felt like meat at the market. This time she actually seemed to be looking at me like a normal Inaga, which was both relieving and strange at the same time. "I know, Nara. I've heard all about it..." she assured. My nervousness spiked a little as she suddenly gestured with her head for me to come over, then looked to the other side a second later. Uh oh.

Elder Chronak stepped forward at the same time I did, with the twins trailing to both sides of me, slightly lagging behind. Nara's expression softened as she watched me approach, and to my surprise, she slipped to the side and over by me instead, pushing into my right side.

Queen Calien just watched her for a moment before sighing and turning to Master instead. "As you can see, there have been complications. You already know the gravity of the situation, and that I must withdraw Princess Nara from here," she explained. Did that mean Nara's, er, Princess Nara's titles were reinstated? I didn't know if that included in regards to me or not, and that suddenly made me anxious. Her paw slipped into my own however a moment later, and I felt the tension slowly ebb out of my chest.

"Prudent, I have to admit. We don't know the nature of the threat yet, so taking unnecessary risks would be foolish. Does this mean our deal is temporarily suspended?" Master asked, face a stony neutral as he watched the Queen.

She scowled for just a moment before shaking her head. "No, I've no intention of dishonoring the deal. Instead, I think it's wiser to offer an alternative means now. Giving the order for my guards to also protect Exes made me realize that our way of life, and the knowledge therein, actually should be protected. This means the both of you," she reasoned. What did she mean by that?

Whatever it was, Master didn't seem to like the sounds of it as his eyes narrowed just a fraction towards the Queen. She held up her paw however, the universal sign of staying a threat. "I've no intention of asking you to move into the palace again. However, I'd like to extend the offer to be lodged in an apartment suite instead, in the capital. You'll maintain complete autonomy of course, but also be safe inside of the walls. I'd like to move Exes' entire family there as well, and have Exes continue his education with you in safety," she explained. My eyes widened at that, and then snapped to Master Chronak, who remained locked in place, staring pointedly at the Queen. She didn't back down, nor remove her gaze from him however, and for a long moment, they just stared at each other, making probably everyone else present nervous, myself included.

When he finally spoke again, I actually gave a little start of surprise at the tension snapping in the air. "Complete autonomy, and travel allowances if desired," he corrected, it definitely not being a question.

"Of course," Queen Calien relented, without batting an eye. Did that mean us too? I'd never been to the capital in my entire life, let alone had travel allowance to actually leave the country, Larid.

He sighed at that, but finally nodded, looking over to me instead. "If this is all okay with you, Exes, go get Umani and Exia..." he ordered. I swallowed and nodded, not used to hearing my mother's name, admittedly.

Releasing Nara's paw, I started to turn and head back towards my family tent when the Queen spoke up again, all of a sudden. "Get Exir too, and Priestess Trainee Iri," she ordered. The world stopped again as my blood froze. I looked back at the Queen, probably with a shocked expression, but her own visage was completely blank and empty. The only thing I really saw were those amethyst eyes burning right into my soul. In the shade of the cart's canopy, they almost looked black...

---

"What the fuck?! She knows?! How?!" Exir hissed, voice a dead whisper as he physically pinned me to the tree our cart had been tied to. Both of his paws were clutching my tunic, and shaking badly. Not out of anger, but desperation. I swallowed and rapidly shook my head. There were no answers that I had for him, and he knew it.

"Graaah, fuck!" he barked out, spitting the word out like it was a physical, rotten thing he found in his mouth. My ears remained flattened against the back of my head, and I stayed leaning against the tree even after he released me and stomped to the side to release a long string of the curses.

He was breathing hard by the time he was done, and still shaking when he just held both paws to his face. "We were so careful. I've lost entire nights of sleep because we only met after dark in the pitch black of the fucking pool division. We avoided any tents, any wards, any eyes that could have seen us! How can she know?!" he asked, voice trembling now as he looked back towards me.

"I... I don't know, Exir. I told you where all the town wards are and if you didn't trip any of them, ever, there shouldn't be any way anyone would have known something was up," I pointed out. There were benefits to being a mage, especially seeing as I helped set up over half of them.

He sagged, but nodded, swallowing hard. After a long moment, he just sighed and looked back towards the Priestess tent. It had the tallest profile in the camp thanks to the crystalline spire off its peak. It ran all the way down into the tent, into the heart of the altar there used for communion. We didn't have an actual Priest or Priestess, so we were forced to use communion magic to scry.

"She's going to be upset. Let me go get her and then meet me back at the royal cart I guess?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder at me. I nodded to him of course. He'd intentionally not told me anything about her, just in case everything did go badly like this. Queen Calien using her name was the first I'd heard of it.

"Right. I'll try anything I can to-" I started, but he held his paw up, rotating to partly face me again.

"No, Exes. You've already done enough for us. In a roundabout way, it was my request that almost got you killed. If someone needs to take a hit for this, it's going to be me. I'm not letting you or Iri be hurt..." he assured, voice brokering no refusal. All I could do was give a sigh, watching him go. My mind went over everything I'd ever done involving him and this priestess in training, but I didn't remember anything that could have alerted anyone that something was amiss.

Turning, I slowly walked back towards the royal carts, my mother and little sister probably already there. If I didn't do anything to alert anyone, and he didn't do anything to alert anyone, that left really only two possibilities. Either we had been spied on using magic during one of the times we spoke about things briefly in public and someone was amazingly good at making deductions, or this Iri had done something to draw attention. I couldn't fathom why someone would care enough about such a stupid little transgression to go through all the effort of spying and investigating clues surrounding it. It was looking more like Iri had goofed somehow or let something slip. Not that I'd tell that to Exir. He really, really seemed to care about her.

Arriving back at the royal two-cart caravan, I noticed Nara looking towards me immediately, looking antsy. I headed over to her, seeing as my mother and sister were already there anyway. Mom gave me a nervous smile as I came up, but thankfully Exia seemed more excited than anything.

"We're going to get to go to the capital!" she chirped, grinning to me as I approached. I smiled back and nodded, which only caused her to get more excited and spin in a little circle before starting to wiggle there in an impromptu dance. Ah, to be right on that age of borderline interest in adult things, yet fully residing in the realm of infinite energy and excitement over everything else.

Nara pressed up against my side, and on auto, my left arm wrapped around hers. "How'd it go? Uh, should I ask who Iri is...?" she whispered a moment later.

My ears lowered a bit and I sighed, mind still whirling. "Not great. And you'll probably find out shortly..." I guessed. Her brow furrowed, but she nodded, pressing herself a little tighter into me. It felt like she was stressed still, probably from the very public fight with her mother, more than likely. Rotating, I got a little daring and slipped both arms around her instead, initiating a gentle hug.

It must have been the right move, because she all but groaned, burying her face in my chest as her arms slipped around my waist, folding over each other just above my tail's dock. My daringness stoked by her reaction, I got really ballsy next. Mana activating, my paws lit up with blue energy. Curiously, I saw the Queen snap to attention, looking over at Nara and I. Oh? She was a mage...

That bit of information I pocketed before both paws kneaded into Nara's back, the teasing energy massaging into her muscles with warm, smoothing sensations. She gave a start for a split second, then all but melted into me as I held her up, kneading her back along her spine in slow motions, moving outwards at a crawl before lowering and repeating the gesture further down her back. The Queen relaxed again as she watched, actually smiling finally as I gave her daughter a massage.

Unfortunately, my stamina levels were shit and I couldn't hold Nara up for very long. I'd only gotten about halfway down her back when I had to ease her into standing again and apologize with, "Sorry. Arms going numb..."

She looked dazed for a long moment before her eyes focused on me again and she grinned. "Mmm, don't worry. That was amazing, Exes. You're definitely going to have to try that again once we find someplace we can properly lay down at..." she purred out, leaning up enough that she could give a little lick under my chin. I flushed, sensation like teasingly scratching something itchy shooting through me as she managed a direct hit on my scent gland there, undoubtedly intentionally. That was exceedingly... naughty to aim for, especially if her titles were restored and I was shifted to abysmally under her station again.

Admittedly, I was getting tired of wondering. "So uh, I also note that you're no longer going to be in the tribe and our camp," I pointed out. I had very good memory for some things, and distinctly recalled the Queen saying that as long as she was here, all of her titles were dismissed. A glance told me the Queen was actually still looking at us, and suddenly I became a bit more nervous. Urges to follow protocol had me back off from Nara a bit, which in light of my statement, seemed to only confuse her more.

"Well uh, yeah. Neither are you for that matter. Is something wrong?" she asked, shifting a little closer to me again, which caused me to tense up. Her eyes widened a little bit, but I looked over at the Queen again, which caused her to do the same.

To my horror, I'm pretty sure the Queen managed to figure out what was going on and smirked suddenly, not only turning to face us, but walking over as well. Oh no... "Mmm, there seems to be some confusion, and I suspect I'm the cause. Is something the matter, Exes?" she asked, tone remarkably sweet. I was intimately familiar once again with that sensation of my heart going cold and slowly sinking into my stomach.

"I uh... n-no, I mean..." I started to stammer, which only seemed to make the Queen's smirk widen a bit. Shit, no, she already knew something was the matter! Lying to her was bad! "W-What I meant was uh, y-you said when you were first here that, w-well, she was supposed to have her titles removed while she was here, which meant that, i-if we weren't going to be here anymore..." I managed to spit out, thankfully without actually spitting. Or passing out. I considered this a victory.

Nara perked up at that with dawning realization, but the Queen looked like she's anticipated that very reasoning all along and was unfazed. "Oh my, you have very good memory. And you're right of course. This is troublesome indeed if she suddenly shoots so far above your station," she mused. Nara dropped her ears again and switched back to looking daggers at her mother, and I wanted to back away and dive for cover, really not wanting to be caught up in the crossfire.

"Mother..." she muttered in a dangerously neutral tone, though Queen Calien's expression didn't shift even slightly.

"Obviously my intent was for you to teach her, which I hear you have been quite wonderfully. I see no reason for our arrangement to dissolve just because of changing locations," she admitted a moment later. Nara sagged a little, relaxing once again, but the Queen's grin didn't dissipate at all, and that spike of nervousness came back in force.

Of course, she continued. "Of course, this does allow for a chance to renegotiate if you prefer. Forcing you out of your tribe like this is obviously a big inconvenience and detriment to you, and you're still doing me a big favor by continuing to teach my daughter. I'm not even paying you for it, you realize? Sure, your Master agreed for you the first time, but you understand he technically didn't have the right to do that, right? You're not actually relaying any of his training to my Nara, are you?" she pointed out, eyelids momentarily dancing up a little during that last bit, which served to drive the point home. She knew I was largely self-taught from old books the tribe had. Would that invalidate any of my testing I'd done?! Was this her subtly threatening me with the knowledge?

"You know it doesn't matter where he got his basic training, Mother. Stop scaring him..." Nara defended, shifting closer to me again and actually putting her right arm out in front of me.

If anything, the Queen simply looked delighted. "My, you two really have grown fond of each other. Good! You really did need to come out of your shell, Nara. Just because you don't have responsibilities like your siblings doesn't mean you shouldn't make something of your life. Finding a nice, polite boy to love and be your First is an important part of that. You know I hope to be a Grandmother one day!" she chirped, completely disregarding what we'd been talking about before and almost making me inhale my tongue again.

This of course shifted the defensive to Nara instead, of herself this time as she started blushing furiously. "Yes, I know, you told me that! And I know it benefits you too," she hissed, huffing afterwards.

"Of course," Queen Calien returned instantly, followed by, "Just because I benefit from something however, doesn't mean that you and he do not. So, in that regard, this arrangement is good for everyone involved." Well that was pragmatic, but... She cut my thoughts off sharply just by changing her gaze to me instead a second later, however. "Which really does bring me back to the first point. There was no threat there. Exes is receiving less benefits by this arrangement than he should be, rightfully, if we channel the virtues of our nearby Keld friends. As they say, the books must be balanced, and favors repaid as equally as debts. So, what I was really asking is, what do you want, Exes?" she asked.

Panic! Red flags were everywhere in everything she just said, and her grin returning immediately made me think that this was a deal with a Demon! I swallowed hard, and Nara frowned again, looking between my mother and I as I all but froze in place. After another long pause, the Queen gave a soft little snicker before starting to suggest, "I could pay you a tutoring fee of course. If you're in the capital, the funds could be quite useful to you. I'd of course assumed you'd be staying with Nara, but I could bump up the arrangements a bit too. Did you know she has a cute Illan servant? I could get you a cute little female one too, for any needs you may have?" Each suggestion got heavier and heavier as she lowered her voice. Nara flushed at the suggestions, frown playing across her expression, but her mother didn't give her time to retort this time.

"Of course, I suspect a proper male like yourself would be nervous with that suggestion. Hmm..." she noted, then all but purred out with surprisingly dripping seduction to her tone, "What if I instead gave you Nara? Not just as an apprentice, but as a servant? Or maybe your own little pet?" My breath caught in my throat, face prior feeling hot, now felt like it was scalding. Dozens of thoughts from earlier came back and betrayed me, rushing through my mind like wildfire as I remembered being so bothered by the thoughts of Nara and Exir. Only now it went a step further, showing Nara kneeling in front of me, mouth open and-

"Mother!" Nara hissed, snapping me out of it just in time for me to realize in utter horror that my mintleaf had worn off, and I was so rock hard that it was jamming into the knot in my waist cord.

Raising both paws up, the Queen just snickered and backed away again. "It's fine. I got my answer, and we'll talk about it later," she chirped in a rather sing-song tone. Her eyes flicked down to my lower half, and I swallowed hard. No, it wasn't possible. My thoughts were just errant and abnormal. There's no way she could have predicted that I'd...

Nara perked and followed her mother's gaze right to my groin, eyes widening even more as she spotted my developing issue. They shot up to me a moment later, her expression questioning if anything as she blushed furiously. I opened my mouth to try to say something, but my tongue was busy trying to cram its way down my throat to hide from the world, and no words came to mind that could really excuse this.

But I didn't get a chance to anyway. Motion to the right of me drew the attention of all three of us. The crowd had thankfully thinned out after the excitement of royalty showing up out of nowhere waned. Guess I wasn't the only one not surprised when Nara was getting evacuated. This allowed us to see Exir approaching however, and I was surprised to note him blatantly holding paws with a smaller, very flighty looking Inaga girl with short, shoulder-length, blonde hair. She wore the purple tunic and skirt of a Priestess of the Earth Mother, but didn't have a clasp on the front yet, indicating she was in-training. That must have been Iri, then. Her light blue eyes widened drastically when she saw the Queen, and she swallowed, suddenly looking quickly to Exir.

He gave her hand a supportive squeeze, steadying the bags he had slung over his other shoulder, then walked up to the three of us, who rapidly became six when Mother, Exia, and Master Chronak joined us. He must have helped her pack too by the looks of all he was carrying. Both of them looked nervous suddenly, but the Queen didn't even look fazed. "Ah, good. Now that everyone's here, we can get going. Hopefully we can get back to the capital before dark," she muttered, glancing up at the sun before giving a light huff. A glance told me that her estimates were correct and we'd probably have at least an hour of light after that even.

Master Chronak lifted an eyebrow, glancing towards the young priestess, but to my surprise, Exir actually managed to speak up, albeit with a bit of a stammer. "W-What about I-Iri and I? If we're in t-trouble, please, just punish m-me," he managed to get out, head still lowered and not looking at the Queen. Glad it wasn't just me she absolutely terrified, but my breath caught out of sympathy for him instead.

Queen Calien paused, glancing back down at Exir after, muzzle edge curling up in more amusement than anything. "Oh? I like you; you've got guts to volunteer to be punished for your girl. The quintessential male, I think," she complimented. Sort of. She shook her head after though, then noted, "Wasted however. Neither of you did anything wrong. She was the one that initiated the flirting, not you." Uh, and it was perfectly okay for Iri to initiate it? Not that I was complaining about my friend not being in trouble but...

Exir looked as confused as I felt and frowned, looking over at Iri, who was actually crying now. "I'm... I'm sorry, Exir," she whispered. If I hadn't been literally right next to him, I wouldn't have heard it.

"Come on, Iri. We need to get going," the Queen tacked on, motioning towards the front cart before walking around behind it. What?

"Y-Yes Mistress," Iri muttered, giving Exir one more look before swallowing and quickly following after the Queen. I stared at her in shock as she went, then looked back to Exir a fraction of a second later. The bags he'd been carrying dropped bluntly to the sand with a dull thud as he stood there, mouth slightly ajar and eyes wide, like someone had just smashed him in the chest with a sledgehammer. Oh...

---

As a small favor it seemed, we were riding in the back wagon, as far as possible from the literal spy that had just knifed my friend through the heart. Exir was currently just sitting there, arms propped on his knees and expression rather empty as the wagon hovered smoothly along around us. Nara was to his left, and Exia to his right, both rubbing his shoulders and trying to cheer him up, even though none of us could really do anything.

"I really am sorry, Exir. If I'd known my mother dropped off more than just me..." Nara apologized again. I sighed, sitting across from him, with my mother on my left, and Master Chronak on my right, still wrapped in his heavy cloak.

Exir's downcast eyes looked momentarily to Nara before he slowly shook his head. "No, it's really just the shock of it all. I mean, we'd only known each other a couple weeks. I wasn't... that attached. I just didn't think she was a fucking spy for the Queen," he muttered, hissing the last part out, his muzzle scrunching up.

I bit back my own comment then. If he wasn't that attached, why was he about ready to take a fall for her? I sighed, but to my surprise, Master Chronak spoke up instead. "It wouldn't be as low as I've seen the Queen stoop, that's for sure. One of the many reasons I left the capital, and my prior lodgings in the palace. Chances are she wasn't just a spy for Exes and Nara though," he pointed out.

Exir frowned up at him after, but he actually did finish explaining. "The Queen didn't give any specific orders to Nara regarding Exes apart from that she was to live with him and be trained by him. Checking into Exes' portfolio at that point would be laughably easy for her, and finding out his close friendship with Exir just a stepping stone..." he furthered, gesturing to Nara as he did.

Exir frowned at that and nodded of course. "Yeah, so she knew I'd be hanging around Exes a lot, so having a spy linked to me would be a way to keep an eye on both of them..." he repeated.

Master smiled sadly at that and slowly shook his head. "It's just that. She also knew you'd be hanging around Exes a lot, and would be the only other male that Nara was likely to encounter on a regular basis, thus," he pointed out. Nara perked her ears up at that and Exir's frown deepened. Suddenly I didn't like where the conversation was heading, and if it made me antsy, that meant he was referring to...

"There was a small chance that Nara would become interested in the wrong male. Having a spy is nice, yes. Having a spy distract and steal the attention of the other male however..." he answered, exactly with what I was afraid he was going to say.

Both Nara and Exir looked shocked for a long moment, before the prior suddenly looked very aware of herself touching his shoulder, and snapped her paws away before looking over at me instead. Exir, for his part, slowly lost the shocked expression, muzzle twisting into a snarl instead. "What the fuck?! Who does that?! Why did Iri even go along with it?!" he hissed, voice raising now. We were the only ones in the back cart, but I still looked around to see if anyone was watching.

My mother gave a little sigh, looking sad as she shook her head. "If the exchange of station for the Grandmaster Alchemist is as important as it sounds, it's probably why she's going to such lengths. That doesn't make it right, but it might at least explain some of it. Iri herself may not have had a choice. You heard what she called the Queen," she reasoned. Exir gave a sigh, and Nara stayed looking at me with a frown.

"So, at the core, really, everything that's happened these last two weeks is because of me..." I muttered, sighing to myself as I looked down at my lower paws.

Master chuckled to my right, giving a softer smile before admitting, "You give yourself too much credit there, Exes, in a negative way. As I told you before, I need to pass on the most advanced Inaga techniques, and soon. Otherwise they'll be lost, and that would be a detriment to all of our species. Despite my differences with the Queen, I can't let that happen."

I watched him, trying to fathom exactly what that level of duty felt like. To some degree I knew. Even I was fettered by my mother and sister. I'd do anything for them, literally. After everything we'd recently been through, my bond with Exir was also becoming even stronger now. Plus, I had Nara, who I was rapidly growing quite affectionate to. But Master's conviction was to the whole of the Inaga species. Trying to fathom what that was like was hard for me, but then again, wouldn't that be me exactly in a few years?

I suppose my mistake was not paying attention to her at all. Out of nowhere, to my sudden surprise, I got a lap full of Nara, back to me. She was a lot heavier than my sister was, and I actually exhaled when she flopped onto me all of a sudden. Eh?! My head being forced over her right shoulder now, I gave her a bewildered look to the side, but she only grinned, situating herself on my lap. Of course, this ground her rear right against my groin, and I bit my lower lip, trying to think of literally anything except for the female against my most intimate of places.

"Uh, maybe snuggling isn't the best idea right now...?" I whispered to her, not that it was much use with all of us rather close inside the wagon. ...and all being a species known for exceptional hearing.

Exir, who'd been watching for a long moment, gave just the smallest start of a smirk at that. "Oh, no, don't mind me. Watching your discomfort's actually cheering me up a bit..." he admitted. I shifted to glaring at him instead and he actually outright laughed.

"Why wouldn't you want to snuggle? Snuggles are great! Is it really that big of a deal?" Exia asked curiously, glancing between Exir and I. Er.

My mother chuckled at her exuberance and answered, "It's not about the snuggling, Exia. Exes just didn't want Exir to feel lonely without a girl sitting in his lap too." Wait, if she explains it like that... Was that intentional?!

"Oooooh," Exia murmured, eyes large as if trying to process it all. Exir raised an eyebrow to her, then all but yelped as she spun and plopped predictably right down into his lap instead. Yup, saw that coming. My little sister was predictable about some things. "There, now you don't have to be lonely!" she chirped.

Exir actually blushed, both of his arms out to the sides as he stared in what could only be described as horror at the little girl on his lap, like she was some sort of disease or volatile weapon. I tried really hard not to laugh, ending up with just a snicker instead, even as I slipped my arms around Nara's waist. After getting adjusted, this was actually not as bad as I thought it was going to be. She seemed pleased as well, leaning back against me and nuzzling her cheek into my own.

Nara, for the most part I noticed, was very snuggly. I didn't mind it in the slightest, and I suspected she may be as attention starved as I was. Physical contact and just holding someone you know cares about you in an intimate, romantic way was way different than say, me snuggling with my little sister at night. Both gave warm, happy feelings, but it was hard to describe why it felt like Nara's touch was more... raw.

Well, that was until her scent picked up again, or maybe it was just finally reached area saturation? My nose twitched, drawing her attention for a moment. Crap. I tried holding my breath, but the air I inhaled already contained _her_in it. My teeth clenched as I tried to distract myself again, causing her to raise an eyebrow and turn to look a little bit more at me.

Every little detail around me, I tried to focus on, even as I felt myself twitch in the sheath again for a moment. Exir looking like he was handling deadly ingredients when he carefully lifted Exia out of his lap, check. The sounds of my mother snickering more as she watched. Check. Nara's widening grin as she probably felt me stiffening against her rear... Shit.

She didn't move off me of course. If anything, she just shifted about in my lap slightly, and I widened my eyes a bit as she managed to crease her own tunic in the back. After working the fabric to give herself more room, suddenly my erection was pressed right up between her rear cheeks, tucked in nice and tight. I swallowed hard as she settled down once again against me, probably feeling every pulse against herself now. Suddenly, I realized that I was going to be an utter mess by the time we got to the capital, and really hoped we were going to be unloaded in private...