<~> Chapter 79We were lucky our room from the previous night wasn't take. We were quick to rebook it and shuffle into our room once again.

  All of us immediately started stripping down to our sleep wear, mostly just underwear for all of us other than Mimi. As soon as Bel had finished undressing Mimi had glued herself to Bel's side, huggiightly.

  "What's wrong Mimi?" Bel gently asked.

  "That dy hurt you... and I couldn't do anything. I didn't know how to help, I couldn't keep you safe..."

  Bel ed her arms around Mimi and hugged her back. "It's okay Mimi, it was something no one could have protected me from. Nor would I want them to. She did hurt me... but I think it was something I o hear. You did fine, you protected me and I'm still here."

  "Y-you're still hurt though..." she said quietly.

  Bel's closed her eyes and took a breath. "I am still hurting. But you're already helping me more than you know. Everyone is." She briefly looked at each of us before looking back down at Mimi. "But right now I'm exhausted, let's get some sleep." She kissed Mimi oop of her head like I often did to her.

  Man looked hesitant, like she wao join us in our bed but after that se it would be hard to pull Mimi away from Bel right now. Bel fell asleep the instant she id down. Mimi cuddled up to her from behind and ay space was left o her for me. I stepped over tan and kissed her on the cheek. She blushed and smiled from the chaste kiss.

  "Thank you for g about her as much as you do. I know there are only so many ways for all of us to cuddle together but I promise I'll make it up to you ter."

  She nodded. "I want to get closer with everyo I know things are a bit more plicated than normal right now. This retionship is already more than I could have asked for so I don't mind being patient."

  "Thanks Man. I'll talk to you in the morn- er, whenever we all wake up." I looked over at Torien who looked rather awkward. "Sleep well Torien."

  She smiled. "You too."

  I slid into bed o Bel and ed my arm around her. She sighed and nuzzled me in her sleep. I passed out rather quickly myself.

  ***

  It was dark by the time I woke up and I felt so sore. Only Man had woken up before me. She was looking out of the mostly closed wooden shutters, it seemed the sun was already starting to go down.

  I sat down in the chair o hers and she smiled at me. "Did you get enough rest?" she asked in a quiet voice.

  I nodded. "Yeah, I'm still pretty sore from all the exercise st night though. How about you? Did you get enough rest?"

  "Yeah, I think I had it the easiest. It was hardest for me in the beginning before the fire. Ohe fire was r it wasn't too hard to repurpose the mana in the air."

  "Hmm... makes sense I suppose. Is that how it works? Fire in the area creates more fire mana?" I asked.

  She nodded. "Yeah, well... mostly. It's not always a oo ohing but generally if there's a lot of something around there's a lot of matg mana around too."

  "What about things like light, dark, and terra magic? There's usually a lot of that around."

  "Not everything puts off mana. That's why I said it's not oo one. Fire and water magids to follow fire and water pretty closely and it's pretty much everywhere. Just because there's light doesn't mean there's lots of light magic around."

  I scratched the base of my horn in thought. "What about when I cast a light spell. Does that create more light magic you could trol?"

  "Generally no but it kind of depends. Light magic doesn't usually follow light the same way fire magic follows fire. I don't really know what the difference is but it behaves differently. Theoretically a spell could transform mana in the area to the kind of mana cast, iionally or uionally, but it would have to be pretty powerful magid not something I have heard about light magic doing before. The other thing is that most mages transform their own mana into whatever magic they need and cut off the flow of magic when they're doh it. It's only briefly attuo light magic before it's verted into a spell. It's pretty difficult to wrestle trol of someone's magic away from them mid cast... difficult but not impossible. Anyway, since I don't really cast magic that way I have to grab whatever's avaible, usually fire and water are the most on but it's not hard to vert water to ice or push fire into being more intense."

  "Mimi said the Staff of Manaflow we gave you could be used to store a mana type a you vert nearby mana to it. Have you had a ce to use it yet?"

  Man pursed her lips. "With everything going on tely I haven't had a ce to really set it up with something that would be helpful. Fire, water, and to some extent ice are already everywhere. Perhaps if we could find some terra magic that would be the most helpful si would probably give me a lot more options and utility."

  "I could use a terra ritual, would you be able to pull the mana from something like that?" I asked.

  She leaned ba her chair and stared at the ceiling in thought. "Hmm... Well, usually rituals spill off a lot of their elemental mana, that's why they tend to have terrible efficy. I could try to siphon off the terra magic to charge my staff but it might be time ing and both of us would have to basically keep our respective spells going the eime until I have enough to attuhe staff."

  "So doable but ly easy or fun."

  "Pretty much. It might be worth it for terra magic though... Not that it's impossible to find a pocket of terra magic as we're going along."

  "Why isn't there terra magic, like everywhere?"

  "Hm? Oh in the case of terra and nature magic it actually is everywhere. The problem is that there is so much ground that the terra magic is thinly distributed over most of the area. The upside is that it's good for things like that water source searg magic Bel used that oime. It ect mana acre distances which let you get unique effects. The downside is that it's only trated enough for me to actually use iain pces. If I had access to terra magibsp;all the time, I would be able to do things like build structures like any other terra mage. Though that depends on how fast I actually ge the nearby mana using the staff."

  "Could you use the the earth mana your staff verts to better grab hold of the mana in the ground?" I asked.

  She tilted her head in thought, it was cute. "I'm not sure, it's worth a try because the potential bes would be huge. It would take a lot of experimentation though. I've trained in using terra magic before but it was in an area already rich with terra magic. It's certainly not my strong suit."

  "Makes sense."

  The two of us leaned ba our chairs and sat there quietly for a while. Before a thought came to me. "Man, do you like tea?"

  "Tea? I haven't really had it much. It's too much of a luxury to give most sves. But I have had it before."

  "Do you like it?"

  She shrugged. "It's alright I guess. I was mostly taught how to brew it. So other than having examples of the taste I haven't really had much. Why?"

  "Mmm... there's something about sitting and rexing while everyone else is sleeping that makes me want to drink some coffee or tea."

  "Coffee?"

  "It's a drink made from ground roasted beans that has a lot of caffeine... That's the stuff in some teas that wakes you up and makes you more alert."

  She smiled wryly. "I see why that might be nice right now."

  Torien sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes before looking around. Rather than actually get up she instead id back down and curled up under her covers.

  "Looks like your sister could use some caffeine herself." I said with a smile.

  Man ughed and paused for a moment. "Thanks for talking with me about magic. Or... well... I guess what we talked about could be sidered strategy for our adventures but... it makes me happy that you're ied. Torie even humor me anymore." she said with a sigh.

  I smiled. "Don't worry, I find magic very fasating. Magic is so baked into everything here. The people, the jobs, even the ground." I said with a ugh. "It makes things that seem mundane and b, new and iing. I appreciate you answering my questions and being patient with the holes in my knowledge about things that are so basic to everyone else."

  Man smiled. "I'm gd you think that but what we were talking about isly basic." She looked through the shutters again at the people walking oreet. "Most people don't care to know why things work, just that they do. Your curiosity about how everything fits together is rather refreshing. It makes me even more excited to explore the world's mysteries with you."

  She got up and eased herself onto my p fag me. It was much more forward than I was used to but the mome right. She leaned her head against my shoulder and ran her right hand up along my side, tig me slightly. She looked up at my face before leaning in and giving me a gentle kiss on my cheek. I ed one arm around her lower bad cradled the back of her head with my other one. She blushed as I leaned forward and kissed her on her lips.

  This was a different kind of passion. A slow rexed one instead of the hot burning kind. I felt fortable around her, rexed, enticed. I kept kissing her, expl her mouth with my tongue. Her curious hands started to explore my body, I was still wearing my fortable sleeping clothes so it didn't take long before I felt her fingers running through the soft fur on my back.

  I broke the kiss and she leaned back to stare down at me in the warm glow of the evening nterns hanging from the windows outside. Man looked stunning to me in that moment. I ran my hands up her smooth skin and under her shirt befently settling on her breasts. When my thumbs stroked over her hard nipples she shuddered under my touch. I grinned up at her and she looked down with a breathless expression.

  I gnced around the room to find everyone else still fast asleep. Ma out a quiet 'eep' sound when my free hand slipped under her butt and I lifted her up as I stood. Sometimes it was really noticeable how much difference my now 7th made when pared to my strength before.

  Still holding her I leaned in and gave her a quick peck befng towards the bathroom. "Would you like to join me for a quick bath?"

  Man's face was a mixture of excitement, embarrassment and arousal as I held her, looking over her beautiful face. She meekly nodded before quickly adding, "Yes please."

  I smiled, kissed her again, and quietly carried her into the bathroom with me.

  Saine

  Hello! I really enjoy writing these quiet moments between Lilith and Man, it gives some unique fvor to how these two enjoy spending personal time with each other. chapter we'll get to see them get even more personal for a little bit. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading and see you ime!

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