It was an awkward ride back to camp. Luna had Van take the lead upfront on top of Rosy so that she could talk to Agnès who was holding on to her trying not to fall. Luna seemed to be very excited to make another friend and was talking about everything and anything she could to have Agnès open up.
Even Elena was getting into the spirit of things, following after them and taking up Luna’s offer to join them as well. Helping break the ice and trying to talk about things that the girls could talk together about.
Slowly, after some difficulty, Luna and Agnès began talking about their shared problems growing up and started to bond over the difficulties they had in life. This helped open them up and start talking about more similar interests like their joy of tailoring and herbs. Which surprised Agnès for she thought Luna was more of those headstrong fighter types that didn’t care for such things. But Luna explained that it just happened to work out that way that she came to have an appreciation for such things.
Even going so far as to point out that despite their maid not having a lot of skill in tailoring, Van asked her for tailoring instead of Luna, even though she had more years of experience.
Van got the message, and silently acknowledged it, promising to ask for Luna's help in making clothes the next time he needed it.
After that the small group made their way into the slightly better-fixed fort of Van and his group. Agnès looked around impressed by how much they had accomplished, even if it did look a little run down and that there were a few places that looked damaged.
Van and Luna explained that that was because they were attacked by a horde of stone-kin that destroyed much of their fort and killed most of their people, and that they were just now recovering. Making Agnès go wide-eyed, but she was assured that everything was better now and she had nothing to worry about.
As Agnès was being walked around and introduced to everyone, a small fairy smacked into Agnès’s face.
“Oh Agnès! I am so glad I get to see you! It’s been so long! What are you doing here!? Amie exclaimed, giving her friend a hug then taking some distance to give a proper look at her friend.
“Evergreen!? Is that you!?” Agnès asked in surprise, looking at the completely different fairy than the one she remembered. Wearing a mix of scholarly, noble, and secretary clothes and being far more affectionate than she remembered.
Amie nodded happily. “Yup! It’s me! Oh- if I knew you were going to come, I would have put on something nicer!” she complained, looking down at her amazing outfit.
“You look fine! I’m honestly just glad to see you…” Agnès said, meaning it. It had, after all, been a very long time. Just seeing her friend after so many months almost brought a tear to her eye.
“I’m glad to see you too!” Amie said, giving Agnès another hug. “If only I could introduce you to Lyn!” she complained. “Then this reunion would be perfect!”
“Lyn? Who’s Lyn?” Agnès asked, “Another friend of yours?”
It was Van who answered though. “She’s effectively Evergreen's wife.”
“Wife!” Now it was Agnès’s turn to exclaim. “Wait… you are not married to Van?” looking at her friend confused.
Amie shook her head. “I’m more like…” she tilted her head. “His lover? It’s Lyn that Van is married to, and I'm ‘kinda’ married to Lyn. so from time to time, we have threesomes and stuff. But in actuality, my relationship is with Lyn, not Van.”
Agnès looked very confused by this.
Van noticed that and tried to explain. “It’s not that hard to understand. I’m in a relationship with Lyn, and Lyn is in a relationship with Evergreen, and me and Evergreen have a lovers relationship of sorts, and we both don’t mind sharing Lyn between us.”
“Oh… I see…” Agnès said, but sounding like she didn’t really. “And where is this Lyn? Can you introduce me?” trying to get more points of view to better understand what's going on. Also maybe feeling a little protective of her friend being in a relationship with someone she hadn’t met yet.
Amie and Van gave a sad look. “Sorry… but at the moment she’s busy with other stuff.” and began to explain what Lyn had been having to deal with and the war she was fighting.
“Oh no…” Agnès looked horrified. “I had no idea…” than sounding a little angry. “Why doesn’t anyone ever tell me anything!”
Van nodded, fully understanding the sentiment. “Well… all we can hope now is that she’s okay. I’m sure she will be coming by eventually, so please wait till then.” Van said kindly.
Amie nodded. “Yes, all we have to do is wait. Lyn won’t let us down. I know she won’t.” she said adamantly, with complete trust in her lover.
Agnès didn’t know what to say to that. But saw the hidden worry that Evergreen was trying to hide, and decided to start getting to know her friend again and take her mind off what might be happening to this ‘Lyn’ by asking about other things.
Van was thankful for that, but even he couldn’t help but let his mind drift to thoughts about Lyn and her safety.
---Lyn pov---
Another slash, another wave of bugs cut down to bits. Their guts exploding in the air like fireworks before falling down like sickly green rain.
Lyn had been fighting nonstop for over an hour now, even with her new and improved body, such a pace was absurd. She was half sure this was just her ‘commanders’ way of trying to get rid of her or use her for every bit she was worth.
It still puts a bad taste in her mouth that she had to obey some stuck-up bitch, a resentment she unleashed on the poor enemies that were forced to fight her. But logically she understood that technically speaking, she had no real experience in commanding large-scale battles numbering in the hundreds of thousands…
“Mistress Lyn! Mistress Lyn! The left flank needs you! Orders on top say you have to deal with a spike beetle push or we’ll lose our formation!” an insect-kin yelled, running through the fray to deliver her message.
Lyn inwardly cursed, she dealt another heavy blow to a few more hornets in her way and scanned the battlefield. She then saw the place that had a swarm of spike beetles headed straight for their lines.
With an angry shout, she ordered the few remaining members of her group to stay and hold their ground while she dealt with this new threat. Zipping through the air and swiping at any threat that got in her way, she hovered only for a moment over the charging beetles before sending torrents of lightning their way.
A line of thunder split the swarm in two. But it still wasn’t enough to slow the beetles down. So she then changed tactics and started throwing balls of electricity down upon them, which exploded violently, shocking whole groups of them at a time.
That seemed to do something, forcing the enemy to either go around, climb over, or deal with their own dead or shock troops now blocking their path. Allowing the allied forces to buy enough time to create a proper response to the rush.
Lyn started to pant, her chest heaving in and out. No matter how strong she became, there was a limit. And she met that limit ages ago, now she was running on fumes and ready to turn in for the day before she was called to do anything else.
But before she could even make a move back behind allied lines. A spike fired at high speeds came inches to clipping her wings.
Lyn spun around in panic, searching for the assailant and cursing herself for not paying attention. Soon, she was beset upon by a dozen heavily armed and armored insect-kin warriors, one of them reloading a wicked-looking crossbow.
Lyn gritted her teeth into a grimace of a feral smile at her opponents. Adrenaline running high and already concluding that these new foes were going to be a bit better trained than the last batch that tried to do her in.
“You want a piece of me!” she snarled. “Then give me your best shot!” she shouted, swinging her halberd into position. Ready to do or die. “Amie… Van… I promise you… I will be back to see you…”
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And with that, she charged forward.
---few days later, back at camp---
Van walked out of the tent with Luna on his arm.
“Thanks again, sweetie,” Luna said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “You really know how to put a proper start to a good day.”
Van smiled back and the two made their way to get breakfast. Sitting down with Agnès who was already having her meal.
“Morning Agnes!” Luna greeted. “How did you sleep?” she asked happily, then digging into her morning eggs and sausage. They had been hunting more often, so they could afford the better things in life, such as the meat they were eating right now from an elk they killed yesterday.
“Fine… I suppose…” Agnès replied with a few lines under her eyes. Slowly and methodically chewing on her oatmeal.
“You don’t look fine? Are you sure you don’t want to sleep with us in our tent? It’s a lot more comfortable than those sheets and pillows we gave you.” Luna said, concerned for her new friend.
Agnès shook her head, almost a little violently. “No thank you. If I slept with you guys, you would probably drag me into an orgy or something.”
Luna tilted her head confused. “What’s wrong with that? I don’t mind if you have sex with Van.”
“Well I do mind!” Agnès said a little loudly, then realized that and quickly changed her voice to a more normal tone. “Look… I somewhat expected stuff like this… but not twenty-four-seven! I can't get sleep because everyone is doing it! When one stops… another starts! How is anyone supposed to get any shut-eye with all that noise!”
Luna winced a little, feeling a bit sympathetic for Agnès. “I suppose the tent we gave you is a bit thin… perhaps we can do something about that?”
“Even if you did, that would only fix half the issues I have.” she then pointedly looked at Van. “I thought if anyone, you would be the most similar to me in my way of thinking or at least more understanding… but you are just as bad if not worse than the girls! Sometimes doing as much or more! In broad daylight! Out in the open! Was everything you said to me a lie?” she asked, looking a little lost and betrayed.
Van winced, looking away a bit and rubbing the back of his head feeling a bit ashamed. “Ya… sorry about that…” now looking down a bit sad.
“Hey! It isn’t Van’s fault!” Luna said, getting up and defending her husband. “Do you know what he was like before!? Before we came here, we only had sex like, once a week! Before that, he ghosted me and left me unsatisfied for a whole seven months! And before even that! I would be lucky to have sex with him maybe once a month or so!”
“Van had less sex than the average men! So this change in him is an amazing thing! That should be praised! I understand for you it might be different… but for us ‘normal people’ it's a miracle to have such an amazing male around! And for you to complain when I can clearly see your own body is unsatisfied from not meeting your own needs is just hypocritical!” Luna finished.
Van winced when Luna said ‘normal people’ and saw that Agnès while hearing Luna out before, looked hurt by the end of it. Even Luna realized a few seconds too late what she said, and immediately apologized.
“I'm… really sorry…” Luna began, now feeling really bad. “To you and Van… that was uncalled for…” also realizing that Van would also be hurt by her saying such a thing.
“It’s okay…” Van said. “I know you didn't mean it…” though it was hard to hide his own pained look.
Agnès was looking down now at her food, feeling strangely alone. “It’s fine…” she said, now picking at her food.
An awkward silence settled upon the table as the group ate slowly, whatever joy they had in their meal, already a faraway memory.
But it was that time that allowed Agne’s to put a few pieces together in her mind, as she remembered that Luna not only apologized to her but Van as well. And that she said that Van was not always like he was right now. So awkwardly, her curiosity getting the better, she asked Van what that was about. Perhaps hoping that they can break the awkward silence with a nice explanation that would help everyone get back on the same page, not wanting this kind of atmosphere to plague them for the next few days.
“Oh, well… that...” Van rubbed the back of his neck again, unsure of how to tell her. He told her much of what happened, but even he knew not to tell everything, like that he was now an incubus…
“If… you don’t want to tell me that's fine,” Agnès said, now feeling a little bad for asking something that must be very important, already being able to tell that Van was hiding things from her, so she was a little hurt at not being truthfully answered, even if it was her own fault apparently.
“No, it’s not that but…” he quickly tried to say, but then sighed and looked Agnès in the eyes semi-seriously. “It’s not something I can just tell anyone…”
“Though I feel like I can... Even if I only knew her for a few days… she’s the closest person like me… or at least, who was like me…” he thought sadly. But if he was going to tell her, he felt she deserved at least that much, considering how alone in the world she must feel. He would have wanted someone to share the burden of being different with…
“If you're willing to swear… I’ll tell you… and if I have to be honest… I want to tell you… but that decision, I'll leave to you…” he finished, giving Agnès some time to think about it.
After a few minutes of careful deliberation. Agnès swore on a few things, promising not to tell a single soul. Understanding Van must have a reason for this.
With that done, Van told her what really happened that day and what he had become.
Agnès’s eyes went wide and looking between him and Luna. “I’m sorry… I had no idea…”
Van nodded. “If it was the me of a few weeks ago… I would have been that kind of guy you were hoping for… sadly… it was not meant to be… I'm sorry…”
Agnès shook her head. “There's no reason for you to apologize, I understand everything now… thank you for trusting me…” she said, touched that Van would entrust such a secret to her.
After that, the group began to speak more normally with each other again. Slowly talking about other things and branching out from there. After another half an hour, the group decided to split off and go their own separate paths. Agnès to study the magic circle in the middle of camp, and maybe make friends with Gwen. and Luna decided to go out to hunt on her own.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own? Perhaps you should take a few people with you. Why don’t you wait a few more days until I'm done with work and we can go together?” Van asked, worried for his wife.
“I’ll be fine… I’ll take Rosy with me! And you have an important job to do.” She then leaned in and gave Van a kiss. “Trust me, I won’t do something too crazy…”
Van didn’t trust her. But he supposed if she at least gave her the chance to prove herself. So in the end he gave his consent and bid her good hunting. Luna happily waving goodbye as she rode away on Rosy.
With her gone, life seemed a little less bright… either way… he had work to do…