*** Tanatsu ***

Can these stupid, useless beasts show up! I thought minutes would pass. Not hours. Why would they not be scouting out here? How are you ok with not knowing what is out here? Bugs can't be the only thing scouting. I don't believe. How would any of her creatures get ambushed if bugs are Nature's scouts?

So where are they?

Finally, a branch snaps. The beasts are even ape-like for me. The best we can do without getting dryads or kidnapping some elves off the street. I just need to cut their limbs off and jump back home. A little prayer mentioning Alzi should help me out in the temple to the Goddess of Space. It worked getting out here.

Soon, the group of five moved into my vision. Easy pickings, honestly. I hope every trip out here is this easy. It would be better to have this be the last trip out here.

No need to give them the first strike. Just a short teleport over and a few swings of a sword, and the first ape is taken care of. Next, I just need to expand the space around us and cut up the remain apes.

They don't stand still like they should. Their hairy arms swing wildly as they count on luck to land a blow. But it makes it simple for me to cut off the limbs. Hardly a minute passes before I have them all cut up. A bit of bandages and a splash of a healing potion, and I have five little lab rats for me.

A loud crash ruins my plan of a quick little visit. The circles I needed to get out of the forest quickly haven't been made.

A three-eyed giant that has more muscles in a single thigh than I do in my entire body. How does something like that even get here without me noticing? Space isn't going to let this thing teleport without the circles.

Are five little apes really this important to Nature? This thing has to be more likely to just step on the apes than save them. There doesn't seem to be much thought going on behind those eyes, just enough to walk and not fall over.

But with all that mass, I have plenty of striking spots with Nature's disdain for armor or inability to get her creatures to create them. I launch forward and aim for the toes. The beast is too slow to touch me, but its skin is too thick for me to scratch it.

It picks up one of the many broken trees it created and starts to swing it around. Of course, I can just teleport past the tree. I'll just have to keep trying new spots to strike and find one that isn't covered in rocks or something.

The three eyes would be nice to reach. Just need to get up there and get past the tree. Its aim is terrible, but all the branches make it cover a lot of space.

Every strike I try below the knee does nothing, and I can't get a good strike higher. Nothing to push off of and get my weight behind it.

We just get to dance with one being unable to hit and the other being unable to hurt.

I'm going to have to use more mana or just run. If they have this thing around, there has to be someone who will pick up the extra mana we're using. Or mana I'm using, this beast hardly uses any mana. I'm sure its real use is to find those who can use mana in the forest.

I jump past the tree and move in for a strike, but my body spins instead. My left arm must have gotten caught by a branch after my teleportation. I didn't hear the crunch, but I feel the broken bones. A quick look confirms it won't be doing anything for me anytime soon. I just cut it off so it can't get caught on the tree again.

I need to find one of the apes and just run. My swords are too dull to do anything now; I had to coat the edge with mana to cut through my shoulder. Any big skills and whatever this thing's master is will come running, and I can't face someone with a brain right now.

Or I could just run away without them. I'm on the right side of the beat to just run.

No, I need at least one for Aya. I start up a sprint, aiming to go between its legs. The tree starts its arc again. But it's too big an arc for it to reach me now that I don't need to slow down to aim a sword.

Just as I reach the beast, its leg spins and cuts off my path to the apes. I don't have time to stop, so I brace with one arm and...

Fall through him?

Blood and guts rain down on me. The massive beast is gone, popped like a balloon. Blunt weapons are how you kill it? Is it a balloon or something? I lost an arm to a fucking balloon!

"These damn fucking beasts don't make any sense. What was the thought behind these things? Just make them big and everyone will try to cut them up, so who cares if another beast trips into its massive fucking legs!" At least I can take the apes that lived and get the fuck out of here. I'll have to tell Mother about that thing.

But what about the handler? She just decided to show up at the edge of the clearing.

Should've done something already, girl. You can't be surprised that someone tripped into your balloon.

"You should've attacked already," I say, popping in right behind her. A knife already in hand, and it slides right into her soft belly. "Think I don't keep at least a knife in reserve? Now, my pretty little dryad, do you know anyone who can heal a knife wound?"

"No."

"Interesting. As long as this knife stays still, you'll be fine, but a little twist or jostling and you'll bleed out in just minutes."

"Your arm."

"Already got a potion stopping the bleeding. But yes. We both need some medical attention, and I know a wonderful dragon that will help us. You just have to help me get out of here, and I'll take us to her. Of course, I need you to put on this collar for me. Can't have you killing our healer after all."

"You wish to make me your slave?"

"You'll be the healer's slave. I don't need anyone besides my lover. Do you wish to live? Then accept it and help me. Otherwise, you can die here. I don't care."

"Promise me that I'll live."

"I won't kill you, and the healer will save your life. Why would we kill you after saving you?"

She stands still for a bit. Long enough that I'm thinking more heard this fight than her. "Three seconds."

"Fine."

"Very good," I say. "Use some mana to keep the knife in place. I only have one arm to put the collar on you. There we go. Now. Help me get these apes back to my lab slave. We both have a time limit here." A potion would save her life, but it's better if we both have reasons to move quickly.

*** Cornelius ***

"She has a royal dragon daughter, dragon son, goddesses, elementals, and succubus children," Eliyen says. "How did we become friends with such a great breeder?"

"Eliyen!" I say. "After all we just told Alzi and you say that to me! What do you mean by that? You really went shopping while lying to Alzi's face? Is that it? You're just trying to get her to forgive us for having a kid with her already. You want another, or to set up one of our kids with a son of hers?"

"No. I just. No," Eliyen says. She stumbles through the gazebo, trying to show off her pregnant body. "I'm carrying your child, and I'm happy about that. The women in this family are yours. If they are blessed with children, they will be your children. I've said that and I'm not taking it back. But come on! We have kids to think about. Four of them so far. We aren't some powerhouse, our claim to fame is in a silly little game we take too serious because it makes us feel important. Even that almost screwed us over. Now we're having our daughter stay over at the Queen's castle. A pregnant phoenix was there. We both know she's a princess. Elora is around, another princess. Alzi is a princess. That family is going to be the next royal family. Everyone knows Alzi is going to end up there somehow, even if the Queen has to bend the rules to do it. And little us are her friends. Not through me or my wives, but you."

"None, absolutely none of that is a reason to talk about the kids like we were just strolling through the market!"

"I was raised that way," Eliyen says, worming her way into my lap. "I was five we my Mother started worming her way into my head. Telling me I have to find the boys. Get them to love me. To figure out how to get them alone. At thirteen, Mother told me why and made it even clearer that I had to do it. If I don't, the house will disappear. Marrying you was a gamble. Literally, a gamble is how my Mother won the right for me to marry you. But I was told that wasn't enough. It made everyone respect me enough to invite me to parties. I could make you join women in bed for better deals. But that wasn't enough, I was told. I had to have as many men's blood in my family as possible. Stronger the better. I had to find them for my daughters and lie, cheat, steal, bitch, and moan if I had to get a man for the next head of the house. Thirty years! Think that goes away easily? No. So yes, that was walking through the market for me. Alzi has my respect. I won't make a deal where she has to promise a son to marry my daughter, or even let my daughter join one of her daughters' harems. But there isn't anything that isn't going to make me stop seeing how amazing a breeder she is. If the world burned down, so that only her house was alive, she would repopulate all the realms in a few years. She may replace us all, even if that doesn't happen. That's a fact. It's a fact that she has a lot of children of different races who are going to be extremely strong. She had goddesses hanging out in those cribs! That is just a fact. Part of me really wants to exploit that. But I won't. We have you, and that is enough. We'll teach our daughters to be respectful. We'll count on the Goddess of Fertility fixing the world she created. I promised you that, and I'll stick to it."

"Then don't say things like that again. Toss it out as the useless thoughts they are. We said we are going to help Alzi, my friend, so that is what we are going to do. Or I will make it to the Goddess of Fertility's altar and pray she makes you all infertile."

"We are going to help her. I'm just not going to be able to change all my thoughts on a dime. I'm not going to act on any of it. She's more than just a breeder. Much more. But it's amazing to see all the races that are with her. The strength of her house. We plan to be her friends, and I will do that. If we manage to have a marriage between the two houses, it will be because our kids grow to love each other. I promise."

"Good. If I find out different."

"You won't. You'll be the main contact between the us and her. But it is fine to call me out when I stray too far in my thoughts. We'll need help."

*** Alzi, main body ***

Tanatsu is gone again today. I don't know if I prefer her looking over my shoulder at everything or if it's better when she's gone. She knows the body well and can answer a lot of questions I have. I'm learning a lot more about it than Oriphusa ever taught me. But...

"Alzi," Tanatsu says. When did she get here? And where is her arm? "I've got the practice dolls, but this dryad and I need some healing. She's about to bleed out, so get to her first."

"What the fuck?"