*** Alzi, main body ***

"Are you ok, my Mistress?" Sarania asks.

"Better now," I say. "Why does blood have to scare me now? I could handle it before. Now I just think about my own blood getting spilled when I see them come in."

"The nobles tortured for years, my Mistress," Sarania says, pulling me into her soft chest. "This is expected. You're so strong for working through it. Syro, the Goddess of the Sea, and the Goddess of the Dragons are all trying to help you as well. The collar made it easy to forget your past like that. Now you can't easily escape it. We won't use Nakuma to teleport around for a bit. You can just relax, and we can talk and cuddle on the trips between the temple and Tanatsu's lab. We can always take a break from the lab as well. We don't need to push you so hard that you break. A bit of extra rest will be good for you sometimes."

"That sounds nice," I say. "I think my second body is the only reason I can do this. Getting to play with Irlo is nice. She's so cute helping with the babies and running around. My kids are so nice."

"Of course," Sarania says. "They have you as a parent, my Mistress. They're getting your best qualities, and they get to see them in action every day now. As they grow up, they'll get to hear about you healing others. You're a great role model for them. You just have to be you."

"Until they hear about my past," I say. "Not even my healing is safe. Do I really want to talk about all the things poisons can do to the body and how to stop them? Women come in, turning all sorts of colors. Like they're trying to match my hair. Purple, blue, green, red, white, and black. All from a different poison, leaving them on the brink of death. Then the missing limbs, vines growing through the body, and the strange moss thing are back. I heal so much of that through sex!" I haven't had any of the phoenixes come in yet, so I don't have to see what magma does to a body, but I know that won't be pretty when it does come in.

"Shh, don't focus on the injuries now, my Mistress," Sarania says. "Focus on the fun you'll have with Irlo, and what you can do with two bodies. There's going to be some sun left when we get back."

I give her a nod and do my best, but the mind goes where the mind wishes to.

...

"Ready to test two bodies close together again?"

"Yes," I say. Cuddling is nice, but moving is probably better for me right now. I can cuddle after Syro.

Sarania already switched out my dress, so I don't have to walk around in a blood-soaked dress or have Shyla change me and waste time. Though that may be nice, I hope this isn't too embarrassing. I don't need Irlo to see me tripping over myself. Well, I can trip a few times; it would be funny. But I need to be able to run around with her a bit.

My second body and Irlo are busy playing in the dirt in some garden a bit away. Almost everyone else is watching over the sleeping babies. Luck and Destruction are awake just to prove that Goddesses are special.

"Hello, Alzi," Cornelius says. "We just got here a few minutes ago and were about to run out to find you, but then Aurora said you have two bodies now. Which would explain why the one out there is golden instead of a rainbow."

"Oh, hello," I say. Cornelius and I'm guess one of his wives, walk out from one of the tents. The lady is pregnant, just a month or so probably. Are they about to say I did that?

"Yes, this is my wife, Eliyen, the head wife of the family, actually," Cornelius says.

"I'm happy to meet you, Princess Alzi," Eliyen says, moving into a small bow. "I'm sorry to take up your time today. But we heard your letter, and well. Leena, can you come out?"

"But Mother," a child's voice says from the tent.

"This is important, dear," Eliyen says. "Please."

A little girl comes stomping out of the tent, and two little red horns stick out of her blond hair.

"Come meet your father, Leena," Eliyen says.

"Are you really my father?" Leena asks, clutching Eliyen's leg.

"Yes," I say. "Yes, you are. I know you can't feel it, but I can. You share my blood. I'm sure my Mommy said the same thing, and your siblings that are dragons feel it as well."

"Hi, Father," Leena says, daring to let go of her Mother's leg.

I kneel and open my arms for a hug, and my little girl cautiously accepts it. "I'm out there playing with your half sister, Irlo. Would you like to play as well?"

"But you're right here."

"I've got two bodies. The one out there is golden, like the royal dragons all are. How about you join us? Irlo would love another kid to play with. Irlo likes playing with me, but having another kid is always better."

"Ok," Leena says, but she turns to her Mother.

"Go play, Leena," Eliyen says. With that extra permission, she runs off to the garden to join Irlo. "I'm not her birth mother, but it all works out the same. It was just my wife who visited you a few years ago and got pregnant. I don't know how much you would care about this, but we aren't the torturing kind. She promised that it was just sex, a fun night rolling in the sheets. I hope you can meet her and tell me if that is true. If she hurt you, we'll find some way to pay you back for that mistake. I'm sorry we kept the child from you. Before you were a slave, and then after, we were annoyed that you convinced the men not to try and get us pregnant. I told him not to say anything during the war. It wasn't the right time. Not when we could have you meet your beautiful child in person."

"It does make a difference," I say. "I knew I would be having sex with women in the brothel. I may be from a small town, but I knew what they were and what went on in them. I knew there was a chance I would get someone pregnant and never see the kid. Thank you for letting me meet her."

"Of course," Cornelius says. "We aren't the most influential families, outside of the Hunting Grounds group, but we are trying to convince those who do have your kids to stop by so you can meet them. We would like to work on a way for you to meet them consistently. The war makes it hard, but it won't last forever. If there is someone in your family who has the time to help us work on that, we would appreciate the help. There is only so much we can do."

"Elora would be a good person to do that, I think," I say. "If she can't, she should know someone who can help you."

"A princess would certainly get things moving," Eliyen says. "We also have a lot to thank you for, first for Leena. She's a sweet girl and a blessing. I'm sorry you missed the first few years of her life, but we plan for you to be a part of the rest of them. Then I'm pregnant, if you can't tell. I'm sure it has to do with you. We traced the date back to shortly after you visited Cornelius back in the camp. And we've thought about what we've done to Cornelius. This is a bit strange to say, but we didn't love him correctly. Leena isn't our first child. We have two others and this one on the way. The other two are his, and so is this one. We didn't respect what he had given us. If we did, we wouldn't have caused you pain by hiding a kid from you, and I know you said you were fine if the woman were nice, but that still hurt you. I'm sorry. My family is sorry. Then that isn't enough hurt that we've caused."

"You didn't hurt me much," I say. "It would've been nice if she had visited once to let me know about the kid. It isn't like you could take a kid to a brothel, or anything." Eliyen is tearing up a bit, resting on Cornelius. It's kind of cute.

"I know, but..."

"Dear, go sit down," Cornelius says. "I can handle this one, ok."

"Ok," Eliyen says. "Thank you, Princess Alzi. Thank you."

"I'm happy to see this. I'm sure you've raised Leena well. Thank you for that. It is the most important thing for me," I say.

They give a little hug, and Eliyen walks back to the tent. "I got your letter," Cornelius says. "I also heard about what happened in the temple. Or the basics of it. I'm sorry. I never promised that you would be there, just that I hoped you would join, and for them to reserve a spot for a bit so I could invite you in person. That is why they couldn't say who, because I didn't know if it would happen. I obviously told my wives about your visits to the camp, and they managed to get me to speak about our games. They pressured me to join the tournament, and I thought it would be fun to have you watch a match. They can be a bit boring, so I wasn't going to ask you to do more than just a match. I don't know if what I did caused what happened. I hope it didn't, but I'm sorry if it did."

"No, the Goddess planned that from the start," I say.

"I'm sorry the Goddess wanted to hurt you. But I'm happy I didn't bring you pain. The temple isn't happy, but our influence is great in the game, so we have moved the start of the tournament, if you would still like to watch. It is postponed till after the war for obvious reasons."

"I would be happy to watch," I say. "It'll be fun to see how it is played at the higher level. Sorry for dragging you into the tournament."

"Oh, that's fine. My wives have been a lot more open with me. I think they truly have thought about how they act towards me. Instead of three hours of training, I only go through two," Cornelius says with a good chuckle. "But they do ask what I want to do a lot more. Sure, most are at war right now, and I'll need to show them a lot of love when they come back, but their letters have a different tone. They even let me stay behind to keep Eliyen company instead of trying for kids themselves."

"I'm glad," I say. "I still have to try and get Fertility to fix that issue."

"That would be nice. I'm sure we'll get all your kids to meet with you, but changing our role in the family will be difficult. I know you'll be protected now that you're the head of the house, but women will always expect that you'll stick your dick in them if they open their legs."

"I just have to make a few of them have to be stuck in my bed to survive the pregnancy, and they should stop that with me. But yes, I would love to fix the breeding parties."

"They are the worst. But enough depressing stuff. You didn't show up here to talk with me. Play with your kids. Leena is going to be talking about this day for a while, and I want her to have plenty of stories to tell."

"Thank you for bringing her over. I could have her spend the night. I have a few ways that I could bring her to you in the morning."

"Already worked that out with your Mother. Enjoy your time with her. You'll have more time with her, but they're only young once."

"That we are."