The further Leon went into the Heartwood Glade, the more furious he became at Justin’s ‘apology’.  While the apology itself had seemed genuine enough, Justin had not once said anything about feeling sorry for his attitude towards those with Inherited Bloodlines, showcasing that the attitude that allowed him to do what he did with a fairly clear conscience hadn’t changed.  What was more, he showed his true colors when he got to the real reason why he wanted to talk: to try and convince Leon to not get together with Valeria.

Leon, if he were being honest with himself, only wanted Valeria more after Justin said that.  He even toyed with the idea of going to find Valeria as he walked away from Justin just to spite the man.

But he recognized that as a dangerous mindset to have.  He knew that Valeria loved her father, for all his faults, and she wouldn’t appreciate that kind of motive.  Besides, while Leon was hardly the greatest social expert, he was still able to perceive that starting a relationship out of spite wasn’t a good way to make it last.

So, instead of heading off to find Valeria, he instead decided to take a longer walk through the grove to clear his head.  He needed to plan how to get back south to Teira, something which he figured would take at least a week even at the fastest.  He had to get the items he’d buried in his old home, Maia had to meet with the Gorgon, he had to revisit Xaphan’s prison and take the large power storage crystal there, and he had to visit the archives below Argent Palace.

After all of that, though, he didn’t know quite what he would do.  Without any further trouble in the Bull Kingdom that had him constantly moving around, without anyone in the Royal Legions to answer to, Leon felt kind of lost.  He felt a brief pang of loss in his chest as he remembered Trajan; the Prince had done many things for Leon, but one that he was only now starting to appreciate was the sense of order and structure that Trajan gave him.  Leon rarely had to wonder what he was going to do like he was now in that brief year and a half he was with Trajan.

‘Maybe some time to not do much of anything…’ he mused, the idea appealing to him.  Some time alone to be with Elise, Maia, and Valeria while whiling away his days in his enchanting workshop sounded utterly delightful.  He’d have to go further south at some point, if only to investigate the other points on the map from the Cradle, and he had to visit the stone giants at least one more time to hand over their dead.

He’d make time for the stone giants soon, but heading further south wasn’t something he necessarily needed to do with any urgency.  Now that Justin had been taken out of the picture, he could just as easily stick around in the Bull Kingdom for a few years while he spent his time learning from the Thunderbird and Nestor, brushing up his skills and power until he was in a more secure position.  He didn’t want to find himself completely powerless down in the Four Empires where the vast majority of locations on the Cradle’s map were located.

As for what he was going to make with those refined skills and powers, well… he had some ideas.  Upgrades to his flight suit, building magic weapons into his armor, some defensive wards that he’d thought up and wanted to experiment with, and maybe even some things that weren’t directly related to combat if he was feeling particularly adventurous.

As Leon walked through the grove, his thoughts filled with the possibilities of the future, he sensed something that pulled him right back to reality: hints of a powerful aura that was completely alien to the peaceful and serene nature of the grove.  Not violent, not acting against the peace of the Heartwood trees, but definitely something that had him feeling a little bit concerned.

Leon projected his magic senses, and when he saw the source of that aura, he didn’t know if he should be terrified, mildly irritated, or happy that something on his list of things he needed to do was being taken care of so soon.

The Gorgon was in the grove, and she was meeting with Maia.

He paused and simply surveyed the scene.  His instinct was to rush over and investigate, but Maia didn’t seem to be in any danger judging by her body language, and the feelings he could perceive through their connection didn’t lead him to think that she was in any distress.  If anything, she seemed completely at ease, silently speaking with the Gorgon about something.  Hells, Maia and the Gorgon were even in the natural state of river nymphs: without a stitch of clothing on.

At least, Leon initially assumed that the woman Maia was speaking with was still a Gorgon.  It was certainly the same being that his group had encountered several days before, but after a few moments, he saw her step out of the pond that she and Maia had been sharing.  As with all beings of their nature, they had merged with the water, leaving their lower halves invisible to his eyes.

However, when the Gorgon stepped out of the pond, what she revealed wasn’t a long serpentine tail, but a pair of shapely human legs that could entice lust out of just about any lady-lover in the world.  Leon couldn’t help but stare for a few seconds before he shook his head and pulled his mind out of the gutter.

So, the Gorgon was no longer a Gorgon, at least as far as he could tell.  Now that he knew that something had changed, he could sense a similar change in her aura, with it seeming a little more ‘fluid’, if such a term could even describe such things.  It flowed and ebbed with a water-like fluidity, in contrast to the heavier and less ‘active’ aura she had before, which made sense if she were changing from a creature of stone magic to one of water magic.

It wasn’t until the Gorgon—the term no longer applied, but Leon had no idea what else to call her—turned her head in his direction and smiled that he realized he’d been staring and that she’d caught him.  A moment later, Maia turned in his direction and flashed him a brilliant smile and an inviting wave of her hand.

Leon took a deep breath to steady himself and to bolster his resolve not to stare at the nude Gorgon, then began to walk over.  As he approached, a similarly nude Maia held out her arm to him, and when he gratefully took it, she gently pulled him into the water, completely disregarding the water that soaked his clothes.

[What’s going on?] he asked with concern, though with the Gorgon just standing there smiling at the two of them, he wasn’t quite as on-edge as he otherwise thought he would’ve been.

[She was waiting for us to return,] Maia replied, keeping her fingers tightly intertwined with his.  [She wanted to show us that her cure worked.]

“It worked?” Leon asked aloud.

[It did,] the Gorgon replied.  [I am no longer afflicted with the curse of Gorgonism, as you should be able to tell…]

With a theatrical flourish, the former-Gorgon spun around, showing off her enviable body seemingly without a single care.

“It seems… very obvious,” Leon replied as he shamelessly took a closer look—if she didn’t care about her state of undress, then he resolved not to, either.  However, what he at first thought he might see—some kind of sign that her legs were illusory or otherwise not real—he only saw real flesh.  Just smooth ivory skin, toned thighs and calves, hips just right for…

He averted his gaze back to Maia before he could let that line of thought continue.  His river nymph lover clearly sensed his mental state, because she only laughed and pressed herself closer to him with a mirthful look in her eyes.  He guessed that she might have some things to say about his wandering eyes, but given what he could feel through their connection, he didn’t think those things would necessarily be all that bad.

[I have to wonder,] the former-Gorgon said as she finished her pirouette and stepped back into the water, submerging her restored legs about up to her knees, [does this change anything between you two?]

Leon cocked an eyebrow as he looked back to the former-Gorgon.  He felt Maia momentarily freeze up and he picked up out of the corner of his eye a brief glare sent the former-Gorgon’s way, and he wondered what that was about.  Making him even more confused was a hint of fear that he felt in Maia, and a little taste of something that felt like dread.

“No,” he said after a moment spent reeling from the question.  “As far as I’m concerned, this changes nothing.  Hells, at this point, I wouldn’t leave Naiad if she actually became a Gorgon… though I am grateful that it seems we’ll never have to test that…”

Leon gave Maia a teasing smile and she pinched his arm.

[I didn’t think your relationship would change, not from what I can see from the two of you,] the former-Gorgon replied, her lips turning up into an almost motherly smile.

“How long have you been here?” Leon asked.

[A while,] she replied.  [As I was just telling your mate when she arrived, I wasted no time using your blood to fuel my rebirth—none of it remains, by the way, assuming you even care about my reassurances.  I am now almost as I was before I became the monster you knew.]

“Almost?” Leon asked, one of his eyebrows rising as his golden eyes locked on the former-Gorgon in muted alarm and curiosity.

[Almost,] she repeated.  [I’m afraid that these years haven’t left me untouched…]

As the former-Gorgon trailed off, Maia brought her back with a quick question.

[You can’t bond with anyone, can you?]

The former-Gorgon turned back to her kinswoman with a bitter smile.  [No, I can’t, though I’m curious as to how you knew that…]

[It’s in your aura,] Maia replied.  [It feels… closed, if that makes any sense…]

[It does, a little,] the former-Gorgon replied.  [I was never planning on mating with anyone—never really saw much point in it, personally—but still, it doesn’t feel good to have my options now limited.  If I was to never mate, I would’ve felt much more comfortable about it if it were my decision alone, rather than something forced upon me by circumstance.]

“And yet, you became a Gorgon in the first place because you never mated with anyone,” Leon pointed out.  “Was that intentional, or was that not a choice you made?”

[I decided not to,] she replied with a thoughtful look.  [I suppose my choice was made back then, wasn’t it?  Thank you, boy, that makes me feel a little bit better…]

Leon nodded awkwardly.  “Sure.  No problem.  Happy to help, that’s me.”

[I’m sure it is,] the former-Gorgon said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

“So, what was the cure, if I may be so bold as to ask?”

[Did you not look at the scroll I left you?]

Leon gave the former-Gorgon a sheepish look.  “I had a lot going on at the time…”

The former-Gorgon gave him a long, disapproving stare, but she refrained from giving voice to whatever was in her mind.  Leon decided not to press things too much, so he, too, said nothing more.

[I used basically the same potion that was written on that scroll,] she said as Maia pulled it out of her soul realm and unfurled it.

When Leon glanced at it, he saw that it wasn’t overly complicated, but he noticed that nowhere on it was his blood written.

“How does my blood factor into this?” he asked.

[Do you see where it says ‘catalyst’?] the former Gorgon asked with an exasperated sigh.  Then, without waiting for either Leon or Maia to say anything more, she said, [Well, I think I have nothing more to stay here for.  Everything that I wanted to say has been said.  The cure is in your hands, we have no more business.  Good luck to you both, thank you for cooperating with me and for not killing me when you had the chance.]

The former-Gorgon began to walk out into the grove as she spoke, and while he briefly had the thought to go after her and ask her more questions about what she would do next and to get some better details about the potion, he paused.  Maia wasn’t moving, and she still had her hand on his arm.  When his eyes met hers that were filled with great expectation, he found that he couldn’t leave, no matter his remaining suspicions of the former-Gorgon.

And so, only a few minutes later, the former-Gorgon vanished into the trees, and Leon doubted he’d ever see her again.  He was inclined to think that it was a good thing, so with one last frown in the former-Gorgon’s direction, he turned his attention fully back to Maia.

[How are you doing?] he asked his river nymph lover.

She smiled at him and replied, [Better than ever.]

She took a step forward and wrapped her arms around Leon’s waist, using all of her eighth-tier strength to hold him close and not let him go anywhere.  She was still completely sans clothes, but unlike how she usually acted, there was little about this embrace that was sexual, and Leon could pick up on it.  She just wanted to be close to him, so he wrapped his arms around her and held her as she was him.

They stayed like that for a long few minutes, just basking in each other’s company, before Maia spoke again.

[I… was afraid that you might leave,] she said.  [My ‘aunt’—it’s weird calling her that—said that you wouldn’t, and Valeria said that you wouldn’t, but I still needed to hear it from you.]

Leon gave her a disbelieving look, one that was almost hurt.  [That was never going to happen,] he whispered back to her as he pulled away from her just enough so that he could look her in the eye.  [I’ve had other opportunities to leave, I think, and plenty of time to think of a way out of that oath that you had me swear when we first met.  It’s been a long time since I even thought about trying to do so.  I love you.]

[I know,] she replied.  A moment later, her bronze cheeks flushed as her lips were pulled back into a shy smile.  [I… I apologize that I keep making you say it…]

[I’ll say it as many times as you need to hear it,] Leon replied.  [Don’t ever be sorry about it.  If you’re feeling self-conscious or insecure, just come to me or Elise.  We’ll be sure to kill those thoughts dead, because we are not going anywhere without you.]  Leon paused a moment as he glanced around at their Elise-less surroundings.  [… Uh, metaphorically speaking.  You know, in our relationship.  We’re not going anywhere in our relationship… without you…]

Leon regretted continuing to speak almost as soon as he started, and he trailed off as his brain finally kicked in and forced him to stop before he said something stupid.

Fortunately for him, Maia didn’t seem to be offended and just smiled at him as his cheeks reddened.

[I think I’ll be fine with it,] she said.  When Leon gave her a slightly confused look, she clarified, [Valeria, I mean.  I don’t think that she and I will ever have the same relationship as Elise and I do, but… if you love her, and if she loves you, then you two should see where that could lead.  Just so long as you don’t neglect me or Elise, that is.]

Leon wasn’t sure how to respond to that, words just didn’t seem adequate enough.  So, he held Maia tighter and opened up his emotions to their connection as much as he could, letting her feel just how much he cared about her.  His love poured out of him and into her, and her body shuddered in response.

[I have only one condition, though,] Maia added as she swiftly regained her composure, sending a tiny little tremor of panic running down Leon’s spine.  [When we get back south, I want you to teach me how to read this paper.  And, I guess, to read other things, too.]

Leon laughed as he pressed his forehead into hers.

[That, I can do,] he said.

The two stood there in that pond for a long while, basking in each other’s presence, not saying or doing anything more.

—-

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