Alicia had latched herself onto Lilly, her arms wrapped around her in a hug as Kai manipulated the space on the other side of the portal to pull everyone through to the roof of their home within the domain.As soon as Kai put the spatial distortion in place, they were all yanked through the portal as the handle on the door behind them jostled.

Thankfully, the sudden pull wasn't strong enough to cause any of them to stumble, with their superhuman stats allowing them to maintain their balance and react instantly to the unexpected force.

When Kai could see that everyone was through, he made his own way into the domain, closing the portal behind himself just as the door handle to the Guild's back room started to turn.

Alicia and the woman, Lilly, took the focus as they still embraced each other in a hug.

When Alicia finally stepped back and to the side, Kai got a good look at the woman Alicia had spoken so much about.

She was just a little shorter than Alicia, with her brown hair tied back in a tight utilitarian bun. From the shape of her ears, Kai guessed she was human, and he didn't bother with an examination.

Lilly had a plain face that Kai admitted was just pretty, a strange thought to him considering he once thought everyone he met on Alea was outlandishly beautiful.

The woman was wearing a durable dark grey uniform that reminded him of what the maid's back in the palace in the Dawn Empire wore, and she stood in a way that told Kai that she was all business as she brushed the creases out her clothes after Alicia had released her.

"Everyone this is Lilly, My maidservant." Alicia said proudly, introducing the woman.

"Alicia, darling, I havent been your maid for years now. Not since you left the capital," Lilly said promptly, her tone that of an older sister patiently correcting her younger sibling.

"Oh, right. Sorry, old habit. This is Lilly, my oldest friend and confidant. She was at my side from the moment I could walk and stuck with me through some of my darkest moments."

Lilly smiled as she nodded in acknowledgement.

"She is also you're new household manager while you and your team are here in Cibiale or off adventuring," Temra said, filling in the blank on what Lilly was doing here.

"Uh, I thought that was your job," Kai said, feeling like he had missed something.

"No, I manage the party. Lilly here will manage your household, completely different job."

"Mistress Temra is correct. I was working in a kitchen when I get a letter about a job from The Sage of all people. He has hired me to ensure the needs of your new household are handled. Cleaning, cooking and the many other tasks."

"Oh thank the spirits. Kai's not bad in the kitchen but I could really use your help learning to cook," Alicia said with an eager grin as she took hold of Lilly's arm.

"Learning to cook? Alicia, you've changed."

"I know, I have so much to tell you about these last five years."

"There will be plenty of time for that."

"Wait, Lilly, my father told me you had a child, are they here too?!" Alicia said as she spun around as if she expected there to be a child hiding somewhere just out of sight.

"Ah, Leah… she is playing with Sicily and the… and I cant believe I am saying this, the dragons and two odd little foxes. I asked them not to go far. That Sicily girl was so serious when she gave me her word, that she would look after my daughter. I believe that Leah is making memories fitting of a child her age as we speak."

"Leah? I can't wait to meet her. I hope you havent been waiting for us long. What do you think of this place?"

"I have been familiarising myself with this… magical estate… while I finished the final touches for this evenings celebrations. I have everything ready in a storage ring that I received from my contact in The Houses, Mistress Egretta. I'm sorry I would have had everything set up, but I am embarrassed to admit, I couldn't find a table for fourteen people."

"Sorry Lilly, when we have gatherings for barbeques and other social gatherings here we kind of just hang around and get comfortable. Food gets served when and where we feel like it, I didn't think about setting up a table," Syl said as she looked about the rooftop a little embarrassed.

"So no formal place setting… I was asked to put together a dinner party. This is… peculiar."

"Sorry, Alicia married down and most of our friends are adventurers. You should have seen what Kai was like at some of the formal dinners he has attended. Here," Syl said as she waved a hand, a long solid table appearing out of nowhere. "how big do you need it? People can pick what they like and use the other tables and chairs we usually use or crash out on a lounger."

"I thought it strange that you requested traditional, regional, authentic food and drink. Not what was it, that noble tripe. It makes sense to me now," Lilly said as one massive table cloth after another rolled out on the table followed by trays of food and a series of tapped casks. "We will need another table."

"You did all this in three days?" Alicia Squeeled seeing all the items appear. "I wish I had know I could have helped."

Lilly did a double take when she heard Alicia talk about helping, but she got control of herself before Alicia turned back to her.

"Two days, the staff in The Houses kitchens were eager to help when they were informed who I was working for. And you help would have been appreciated, but I believe Mistress Sylph wanted this meal to be a surprise."

"Ah, that, Kai doesn't realise but he bought them. Probably has them on the hook financially for the next five centuries or more with what he gave them."

"He bought… The Houses," Lilly said, turning to give Kai a suspicious look that he couldn't quite read.

"Its un-official," Alicia whispered conspiratorially.

"Lilly, please, just Syl. No one but the system calls me Sylph. And you should know, the food's not the surprise; you are."

"I am?" Lilly said, shaking her head; she was so taken aback.

"Of course. From when we first met Alicia, she has mentioned you time and time again. Now if you will excuse me for a moment," Syl said as the colour of her hair changed to a deep as her clothes shifted and a beautiful loose, flowing, matching purple dress fell into place on her perfect figure. "I believe the others are ready, but I'm going to check before I bring them over. We don't want to repeat the bare bottom incident."

The quick display of Syl's raiment change made Lilly's head turn as Alicia copied her spouse and changed into a similar cream white dress and flowery corset combination.

"What's the dress code?" Kai asked as he started checking his mental wardrobe of clothes he had absorbed into his own raiment.

"Smart, casual? Everyone's friends here," Alicia said as she gestured to herself.

He nodded and a moment later he was standing there in a clean white shirt, smart fall front black trousers and the pair of comfortable boots he got from The Sage.

"Will this pass?" he said with a twirl.

"It passes," Alicia said, smiling as she clung to Lilly's side.

Temra scoffed, "Stupid dungeon reward. I'm off to change, have Syl summon me when I'm done, Kardy better have everything ready."

"Think I'll change too, Syl made some suggestions and I'm going to experiment, be back soon," Talious said as she followed Temra down into the house.

Syl reappeared with Cillian, his sister, three cousins and Ester.

All of them looked fabulous in flattering ensembles that Kai thought wouldn't have looked out-of-place back on Earth at a modern renaissance fair where fashion trumped authentic period clothing.

The celebrations began, and Kai thought the only thing they would lack was good music, until Temra came back and set up a device that played a few different melodies.

It looked like an old gramophone, with a small brass horn included, compact without a turntable, a slot where you could place different stones of all things to change what was playing in its place.

He expected it to sound tinny, or even crackle a bit, but the tunes that came out were crystal clear.

Everyone settled in, enjoying the food and drink as they gave their own accounts of what had happened that day and continued to share highlights of their time together with Lilly, such as explaining what Syl had meant by the bare bottom incident much to Niamh's embarrassment

Lilly, for her part, took a while to loosen up. She seemed surprised to be included in the celebration as an equal, and not merely hosting it like a servant.

She was often complimented on what she had managed to put together for everyone as she herself was invited to share one embarrassing story of young Alicia after another.

When Kardain arrived Lilly went stiff again as she gave the man a formal bow of her head as he waltzed onto the roof and recounted the insane roomers he had heard today before then launching into happily telling everyone of the times Alicia had inadvertently got her maid in trouble causing something to shift and Lilly seemed to relax again.

Everything was going perfectly. The kids had made themselves known again when they were led back by the smell of the food. Though they ran off to continue their games, they came back periodically to snack and prove, suspiciously, that they were in fact not up to anything that would be considered naughty.

Hours passed, and people inevitably went from sober to tipsy, then to comfortably drunk.

Talious looked like she was trying to drown herself in alcohol as she sampled everything in abundance, but no matter how much she drank, she remained the most sober out of all of them besides Temra, who was stuck drinking from the kids' selection.

The only thing that worried Kai was he kept feeling someone watching him, and he would turn to see Lilly giving him a strange look he couldn't read, before she would look away sharply.

He was sitting on one of the roofs many loungers, taking a break from the social effort and looking up at the constellation of cores above when he heard people approach.

"Shh, I have an idea," he heard Syl say in a too loud whisper that only a drunk person could manage.

He looked down just in time to catch a surprised, rosy eyed Aoife as she stumbled onto him.

Syl stood behind her with her hands outstretched.

"Oops" she said, mimicking Kai's own words from the end of his fight with the Panther of Karta.

He caught Aoife reflexively and held her with one arm so that she wouldn't roll off onto the floor and hurt herself.

Niamh's eyes flashed when she saw her cousin in his arms, and she turned to Syl with a grin. "my turn!"

Syl nodded once and then made a show of pushing her onto Kai.

Niamh dramatically fell onto him, rolling to his other side. The move forced him to catch her before she fell onto the floor, despite the idea of letting her fall for putting on such a show crossing his mind.

"Not sure I Like you pushing women on me. What's this about?" he asked, cupping the two, surprisingly light, more than tipsy women in his arms as they actually wriggled, scooting closer so that they were away from the edges of the wide lounger.

"We were wondering what you thought of our acting today?" Aoife asked with big puppy dog eyes.

"Did you think we were interested?" Niamh asked, mimicking her cousin's expression.

Kai looked up at Syl to see her nodding along.

"Very convincing, definitely fooled me. I bet anyone listening in bought it."

"So you think we were trying to fool you?" Niamh asked.

"Totally bought it. Totally fooled me into to thinking you were interested in me," Kai said, doing his best to appease the two drunk women snuggling into him.

"He's trying to be kind and platonic. Buuut," Syl said with a smile. "He know's you like him, that you really, really like him," Syl said in a drunken singsong voice as she dropped down to sit at the bottom of the lounger.

Kai realised he had never actually seen Syl when she was drunk, and he started to worry what kind of woman she might be when her inhibitions were cleared away by alcohol.

"It'll be all the girls if I'm not careful," she said with an overly dramatic pout.

"You know that won't happen right," Kai said, trying to reassure her.

"Awww, not even a little?" Niamh said, giving him a poke in the chest as she settled into his side.

He was tempted to let go and let Niamh roll off the lounger.

"Ooh, Aoife, feel how firm his chest is!"

Now he was really tempted, and he started to wonder why they made these loungers so wide as his chest was poked and prodded from both sides by two very dunk women.

Sure he knew why; he had cuddled with Syl and Alicia a few times over the last few weeks, so they he had suggested they make them wider just for that.

But now it seemed his own suggestion was backfiring on him.

The three of them giggled as they all started poking him, Syl even pointing out what she called the good spots to the other two.

Kai was unable to break free without throwing someone off him, so he looked around for support, another option to escape. But no one was paying them any mind at all.

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That was then he got distracted, and all the poking and prodding became a secondary thought.

He let out a "hmm" as he saw something interesting.

Meave was staring wistfully at Cillian of all things as he in turn grinned like an idiot while talking with Lilly, Alicia, Temra and Kardain. Their group gathered near the edge of the roof where they could watch over Leah and Sicily play tag with two dragons and another two Kitsuné of all things in the garden below.

Aoife must have noticed what had seen. "She likes you a little, that wasn't completely an act today. But, just between us," she said, whispering the last part conspiratorially. "She has always had a soft spot for the idiot. Ever since we were little. She is actually the reason we agreed to come along and help Cillian on his crusade to become an adventurer."

"He however, doesn't understand the difference between first, second, third and or fourth cousins," Niamh explained.

"For Kai's benefit, you might want to explain what your connection actually is," Syl said as she started unlacing one of Kai's boots absentmindedly.

"Oh, you don't know do you?!" Niamh said a little too eagerly, "Put it this way," Niamh leaned over and kissed Aoife on the cheek before curling back into Kai's side, "We are very distant cousins."

"They found Cillian and my sister kissing in a store room when we were little. Cillian got thrashed by his mother and he has never looked at Maeve the same way since."

"That's tragic… just her and Cillian? I never would have guessed," Kai said thoughtfully as he watched Meave run her finger around the edge of her glass as she looked on.

"Yeah, whenever our families met up, those two would always team up or hide together when we played games," Aoife said with a grin. "Depending on the game we would let them win or have as much time as they needed."

"If we were at all noble, our two families would be considered branch families I think… separated decades ago but maintaining the Korabain family name out of reverence for the long forgotten hero who had started our official family lines and another dozen more unofficial line. Unfortunately for him, my dumb brother is the man of our generation. Special." Niamh said, once again coming in to clear things up for Kai.

"So your family forbids it? A relationship between the two?" Kai said, putting the pieces together.

"That's the thing. My mother, my aunts and grandmother all see him as a valuable bargaining chip to elevate our side of the family. My main task besides keeping my brother alive is making sure he makes the right connections… I think Aoife's side would celebrate the union. Aoife, Sorise and Maeve have been through a lot and they just want them to be happy. While my side, well, lets just say they were hoping for someone like Alicia, a princess turned empress."

Things went silent for a moment as Kai thought and ignored his boot being pulled off.

"I could elevate Maeve to a peer of realm. All of you but Cillian, that way if he really had to find partners of a higher station Maeve would be an obvious choice. What do you think of that idea?" Kai said, his mouth moving a little too fast for his mind.

"She already has a plan. Or at least she had one," Aoife said softly. "She's a little torn these days." She punctuated the end of her sentence by giving Kai a poke.

"Oh?" Syl said as she started on Kai's other boot.

He knew she was planning a tickle attack, but he let her think she was being sneaky, as if her tugging his last boot off hadn't been obvious.

"She wanted to win his heart by proving herself to him. So much so he would take her no matter what our family thought. I'm secretly in on it, shh, don't tell my mother," Niamh whispered conspiratorially.

"She thought acting along today, cosying up to you, might even make him a little jealous," Aoife said.

"Jealousy is a fools tool, it twists the mind and breaks the heart. It can start innocently enough at first but it can turn ugly quick. Everyone gets hurt," Syl added sagely.

No one argued with her.

Knowing a tragic romance when he heard one, Kai immediately thought Alicia would be annoyed she had missed this conversation.

Feeling his attention through the bond, she turned and looked their way.

Having both Aoife and Niamh cuddling into him, he nearly panicked, but she just giggled and pointed his predicament out to her group before blowing him a kiss and turning back to look down on the children playing .

Kardain, Cillian and Temra all chuckled along for their part, but Lilly, her eyes narrowed slightly before she turned her attention back to Alicia and the others.

Kai sighed, "Alicia loves this stuff, she is going to be so pissed… I mean, This has to be heart breaking for Meave, seeing him chase woman after woman like an idiot while she is right there silently waiting for him to remember their youth," Kai said as he checked a saw that, yes, Maeve was still sitting there starring off at her clueless cousin.

"Not really, you know what it is like, No man ever settles for one woman. We harden our hearts and pray we can stand the others that take his. That's what my mother always said when I asked her," Aoife said as she let out a sigh.

Kai saw Sly's lip curl, and she seemed to think on Aoife's words before saying, "Alicia comes from Alea, she would agree with you. But myself and Kai… It's complicated how we ended up with Alicia. I practically pushed her on Kai as I tried to get him to open to me again, it was a confusing time and luckily I think we were fated."

"We never actually do anything, you can trust us!" Niamh said quickly. "We were serious when we said we would keep others away."

"I know… and that is what scares me," Syl said softly.

"Wait why?"

"Because I know I can trust, you… but as with Meave and Cillian, I know what unrequited love feels like."

"But I thought you had only ever loved Kai," Niamh said suddenly before a moment letter saying, "oh." When she figured it out on her own.

There was an awkward silence.

"Where is Saoirse?" Kai asked, trying to change the subject.

"Ester offered to give her a massage,"

Kai twisted, adjusting his shoulders. He said, "I could go for a massage."

"Not that kind of massage silly," Aoife giggled.

"Ah," Kai looked from one of them to the next, each of them giving him the same mischievous nod. "Good for her… how serious is it?"

Syl abandoned Kai's boot as she couldn't quite get it off, and she got up to lay on the lounger next to him.

She flopped back and pulled one of the many cushions into her chest and let out a sigh of frustration before saying, "Not everything has to be serious. We thought I was dying, and we still messed about… not that you can remember."

"What's this?" Niamh asked as she sat up, twisting around so she could look at Syl. "You were dying?"

Syl turned and opened her mouth to say something, but her tongue caught and she said nothing.

Kai tried to explain, "It's from before we came to Alea, we… she… I…" He found it was difficult to elaborate, but he pushed on through the systems forbidden knowledge filter that restricted them from revealing too much, "Her job… it meant we saw each other often but I would forget stuff in between."

"We spent a long time getting to know each other… I was going to die eventually… still we grew close and complicated as we messed about. Nothing serious because of the circumstances. Near the end I grew scared and wiped his memory with abilities I no longer have," Syl said carefully.

"And now we are happily married," Kai said cheerfully, hoping to lighten the mood and that the two on top of him would get the message.

"Yeah, I'm permanently attached to Kai. I don't have a real body thanks to Bob. And can't give Kai any real children-" Syl said, her sentence abruptly cutting off as she realised what she was saying.

Kai felt a pang of pain through the bond that Syl crushed immediately.

He looked at her, but she smiled.

A quick glance over to Alicia told Kai she had felt it too as she glanced their way, concern leaching through their combined connection.

Syl sent reassurance to both of them as she waved to Alicia, the two of them understanding each other instantly as Alicia turned back to the group she was in.

Aoife and Niamh had also picked up on something as they stopped stroking his chest through his shirt and were currently giving each other a very serious, sober look.

There was a long silence as they all took the time to think.

"Sometimes I wonder if its why we were sent here…" Syl said, smiling as she looked at him laying there with Aoife and Niamh. The smile not quite reaching hey eyes as she went on. "I convince myself he was trying to give me something I couldn't have, but I can't help but feel jealous from time to time, confused. And everyone so amazing and I feel like I need to adapt. Do as the romans do and take Kai in the same direction so that he can have what he deserves…"

"Syl…" Kai said, failing to find the words he needed to comfort her. He wanted to say that she was all that he needed, but that didn't sit right when they also had Alicia, and he wouldn't give that up for the world.

"I've observed millions over a millennia. I've seen it work time and time again and fail just as many. But still, I live to embrace the future, and the future could be forever for people like us if we walk the right path. So things, they can't always be serious. What I'm trying to say is I'm certain I'll get a body that can bear children. I know better than most that it's possible within the multiverse. But I also know that the weight of the time that could take can be crushing." Syl said softly as she looked at the three of them, her eyes glistening.

There was a long silence.

"I've killed the mood, You two want to know a secrete? its nothing so serious as all that was."

"You can tell us anything, the mood be damned," Niamh said seriously.

Syl grinned, "Kai's secretly into the two of you and he checks you out all the time but he is too clueless and stubborn to realise he is doing it. He thinks now that he's married that that's not allowed. As if me and Alicia don't do the same."

"We've noticed," Aoife giggled.

"I don't!" Kai said a bit too quickly as he sat up to protest, as what Syl had said was still sinking in. "Wait the same?"

"The best part, he knows you like him, that you really, really like him," Syl sang.

Kai sat there stunned, not knowing if Syl was serious or if she was teasing them to lighten the mood.

Niamh and Aoife giggled along, Niamh picking up a cushion and trowing it at Syl as she too burst into laughter.

"I too, have grown fond of teasing Kai as much as the rest of you," Talious said as she wandered over. "But this is a bit much don't you think, all I can hear is a lot of sighing while your hormones are stinking up the place. Wich is saying a lot because I like the natural scent of your domain."

Both Aoife and Niamh froze, their ears twitching and their faces going flush as they gave each other a wide-eyed look.

"Ooh, busted!" Syl cried before she fell back snorting as she covered her mouth and she tried to stop herself from laughing.

"You know I never really understood your kinds mating rituals. Dragons rarely mate with each other. Parthenogenesis and all that. Going into actual heat is rare and far between for a dragon, Talious said as she gave the four of them a long look.

She made a point of sniffing to smell something.

"All I can smell over here is lust, desperation and sadness. If I didn't know Kai was so painfully honourable something. I would expect the lot of you to sneak off for a good therapeutic rut. That's what you do at celebrations like this… or has that changed since the last party I was invited too? Probably, it was centuries ago. Which makes me wonder, is sex for your kind really that fun? For my kind its all tooth, claw and broken scales, trust me, I've seen the aftermath," Talious continued as she took a seat next to Syl.

"Wait, Talious. Are you a virgin?!" Syl asked as she rose from her laid back sitting position, her cushion tumbling to the floor, forgotten.

"Such concepts are beneath my kind," Talious said, and she downed her drink as she got up to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" Syl cried, as she grabbed the dragon's trailing hand and pulled her back down onto the lounger where she proceeded to tickle the surprisingly ticklish dragon.

"Don't worry, we will protect her," Aoife whispered into Kai's ear while Syl was distracted.

Kai looked to her and then to Niamh as she too gave him a subtle yet overly exaggerated nod that only someone far into their drinks could manage.

It was then that Kai realised he would have to abandon all hope of having a simple life, of a simple love, simple friends and the simple family that he dreamt of back home on Earth.

Really, he should have known that things would never be simple for him the moment he met Syl. Or when he crossed the void and came to an alien world with alien people and an alien culture.

He really needed to get over the culture shock; Syl was doing her best to do the same from day one.

Simple was, when he reflected, his boring, depressing past life. Even without magic, the things he wanted were always going to be complicated.

Trying to keep things simple had made him a passenger in his own life.

Only when he embraced the complicated had he married Syl and Alicia and taken control. Become an emperor and not just a pawn.

It was obvious that he needed to do more. Simple simply no longer existed for him.

And maybe that was a good thing, no matter how confusing it was at times.

Still, he would maintain his principles. He just needed to figure out what they were looking over to Syl as she tickled a dragon in human form, then over to Alicia as she glanced back at him, then around at all his friends and companions present. He decided his first principle was to protect what he had.

There was no way he would just go all Cillian and take up with any woman who batted an eye in his direction.

Things maybe didn't need to be serious, but it was important to him that they mattered.

Doubt suddenly crept into his mind. Was he being foolish? Was that worse?

'Everything will be okay if you keep thinking like that,' Syl said, the words coming through the bond as she smiled at him.

'Agreed,' Alicia added.

'Damn, am I still such an open book?' Kai mentally groaned.

'To Syl maybe? I don't have as much practice as her, but I still got the gist of what you were thinking. And I have to say as someone who seriously thought about being you're mistress and not your wife. I think as far as your first suitors to be concubines go, I have no complaints. I like them. They have no political intentions. '

"Concubines!?" Kai blurted out loud.

Everyone turned to look at him like he were a madman.

'Calm down Kai, nothing's set yet, but if you start shouting things like that you'll give them hope. Wich will be unfair if you really have no intention of taking things any further then a base friendship. You're lucky they're smart enough to figure out we are having a private conversation,' Syl reprimanded him.

'We have been watching them ever since we noticed their genuine interest in you. Since Syl caught you checking them out as they dived into the lake. We fear the day some woman will present themselves for some political reason you can't just refuse. But those two, they're not clawing for possession, power or wealth,' Alicia added.

'I would nev-' Kai tried to protest but he was interrupted.

'Never say never, you taught me that,' Syl said quickly.

'Kai, what you need to realise is that to them, pursuing you, its completely natural, even expected. Its only out of respect for us that they have been holding themselves back. You're now an emperor on a polyamorous planet, what did you think was going to happen?' Alicia chuckled. 'Syl said it happened on your world all the time when we talked about this months ago, your history is replete with it. We agreed it was inevitable and the best thing we could do was make sure it didn't change you.'

'That, and because of how clueless you are, that the women you chose, we also chose…'

Kai wanted to argue that they were enough, but he was stopped by a sudden system notification.

Trait Evolving

Clueless > Clueless Emperor You continue to prove time and time again that you are clueless when it comes to women, now things are further complicated by your position of power.

Women who realise you are Clueless will be 25->40% more likely to forgive you for being Clueless and 0->5% more likely to be attracted to you.

Kai groaned in disgust at seeing the changes in the trait. That five percent felt uncomfortably like brainwashing to him.

He felt another notification as the system added something else to the traits description.

(Note: this trait is not amplified by the system but by you, your clueless personality, your race and your unique biochemistry. Effects listed in this trait are natural but are being amplified by something you know as your aura. As your aura grows and evolves, so too will this trait.)

<The System Does Not Brainwash>

He really needed to prioritise learning about auras. Maybe he could control this? Learn to prevent its effect on others?

"What is it?" Aoife asked.

"I'm truly fucked," was all he said as he pushed his personal system to share the trait with everyone, thinking maybe, just maybe, if they knew his aura was somehow effecting people, they could better resist and forgive him.

"So that's what smell was," Talious said, giving him a strange look.

"Okay, That extra five percent could be troubling, I don't think we can let Kai go outside without supervision," Niamh said to Syl.

Her tone sounded a little too serious, and she seemed entirely sober when she said it.

The worst part was Syl was nodding in agreement.

"But it's good to know were not being brainwashed," Aoife giggled.

The women all nodded in agreement.

"How do I get this trait?" Cillian called out from across the rooftop.

"Maeve, for spirits sake, leash that boy," Kai muttered quietly.

"Boy? He is older than you," Niamh reminded him.

"What raises a question." Syl said thoughtfully.

"What?" Niamh asked curiously.

"Which of you is acting their age?" Syl said smoothly. "Do you think Kai should loosen up a little. Act more Alean?"

"Trust me, if Kai loosened up a little, I don't think I would be that interested. Aoife just really really likes his ass."

"Hey!" Aoife cried indignantly. "It's not just that. He has honest eyes and a nice smile..." Aoife seemed to realise who she was resting on as her cheeks flushed and she berried her face in his chest as her ears twitched violently.

Kai saw that Cillian had managed to convince Lilly to come look over the lake with him. Seeing the two of them alone on the edge of the lakeside roof decking, he had an idea to escape.

"Excuse me," with a thought he moved across the domain to appear beside the two of them.

"...I'll happily teach you to swim, you can't even drown. and don't worry if you don't have anything to swim in, Syl love's sorting out stuff for people to wear." Cillian was saying when Kai appeared.

"Had to get away," Kai said as he glanced back to see the girls were okay and they hadn't fallen to the floor without him.

"Oh hi Kai. What brings you over here? Niamh and Aoife unable to convince you your loyalty has wiggle room?" Cillian said in a drunken slur.

"Okay, you deserve this."

"What?"

Kai opened his arms wide.

Cillian glanced at Lilly in confusion, then embraced Kai in a hug. "Not sure what this is for but okay."

Kai jumped off the roof, Cillian yelping in surprise as he went down with him.

Kai returned to the roof as soon as Cillian stopped struggling and started to tread water on his own.

Travelling through the domain by thought instead of the stairs, he reappeared next to a concerned Lilly.

His raiment rapidly dried off as it absorbed the water, and Kai turned back to look down on Cillian staring back at him in surprise.

"Is he okay?" Lilly said as she looked down over the edge.

"He is fine. Taught him to swim a while back." Thinking of what Cillian had been talking about when he had appeared, Kai added, "He was right when he said you can't actually drown here. So if you were interested in learning to swim Its probably the safest place on Alea... You and Leah will love it. But ask Alicia or someone else."

Lilly nodded slowly as she watched Cillian make his way out of the lake below.

With people gathering to have a lighthearted laugh at a sopping wet Cillian, the little bit of frustration building in Kai melted away, and he excused himself.

When he passed Meave, he couldn't help but notice her smile. Moments ago, she had looked sombre as she hopelessly watched on as Cillian shamelessly made moves on another woman.

Kai stopped, gave her a wink and summoned one of the large fluffy towels and gowns they used for their regular pool parties and handed it to her.

She froze for a moment as she realised Kai's intentions. HShe seemed to hesitate for a moment, but she quickly made a decision and giving him a nod she ran down to help the idiot.

When Kai turned back to the lounger he had left, he was met with a number of knowing looks and a slow clap from Syl.

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