"PUSH!" Toni we're almost there!" Temate shouted from beside her, his [Iron Order] lightning in her veins, forcing her to push damn it! One st stretch. Almost there.

  "Done." Her body seemed to hear the voice before her brain did, instantly colpsing to her knees next to the cart. She started gasping for air, colpsing down onto her back. She spyed her arms and legs out wide as she could, to enjoy the feeling of the cool loam and earth on her sweating back.

  "'Ere ya go ss, goo' job." Pipuck soothed her, holding a wooden cup of water out in their small, abaster hands to her. She sat up with a deep breathe, took it, and swallowed it in one motion. Pipuck refilled it from one of the water bricks on the cart and returned it.

  Toni drank, rexing on her ass as she watched Temate directing the goblins in making camp. A habit he'd gotten into now that she'd taken over the st two hours of cart pushing over the st week.

  "I can't believe he did that all day, every day." Toni wheezed, still not fully recovered from the grueling push here.

  "'E's a bundle of muscle and gri'." Pipuck replied with clear amusement in their voice. "I never 'ad to do physical bor. Watchin' 'im an' tryin' some 'ere an' there, I can't 'elp bu' be impressed."

  Toni nodded, not taking her eyes off Temate, off the gleaming ivory of one hand sticking out of it's long bck sleeve. Remembering the attacking Notmate from a week ago now and smacking herself mentally once again. It had both arms.

  She began to stand as Temate made his way over to her. He shook his hand to indicate she should stay sitting but she stood anyway. He smiled a new smile she was getting used to, annoyed instructor.

  "Toni. Sit and rest." He ordered, and she sat back down. She would have gred at him, but she knew he was doing it cause she needed it, not cause she was fragile. If he'd thought the tter he'd never have agreed to push her like he had.

  "We're a little less then a day away." Toni pointed out, as if Temate didn't already know how far they'd come.

  "We are." He sat himself down, cking the grunt he'd made everytime he bent when they first came here. He'd also lost much of, but not all, the softer edges he'd had when they'd arrived. She kinda missed that, but survival and heavy bor will do that to a person.

  "Timbear should be near here right?" Toni asked, she knew Temate wanted to stop by there on their way back. Since he was the one who'd actually sent them to the Leshy and the Grand Ceil. She wanted to apologize for burning the cw he'd made for them, personally.

  "Yup, by my guess we're maybe 6 hours from Bearbhaile, and an hour or two from Timbear." Temate thanked Hema as she brought them a meal. She was clearly pregnant now, bulged belly hidden by boar hides.

  "Hema, let someone else do that!" Toni grumbled, but she already knew the response.

  "I goblin. I fine." Was exactly the response she, or any of the now pregnant tribes women, gave. Sure they rode on the cart if they got tired, but for the most part they still moved about and worked, even practiced sparring. Sioh was the only one not showing any sign of child.

  "How's Chiel's egg?" Temate asked, as if his mind travelled the same path of thoughts as Toni's. Chiel had entered the egg before he and Sioh could... y'know... God why was Toni still so shy thinking about...

  Y'know...

  "Chiel grow good, egg strange. Not know what become!" Hema seemed excited by that as she sat down in Temate's p and began feeding him. A small jealous fire started in Toni's gut, but even hotter was the excitement watching that caused.

  "No one can find out?" Toni asked, looking up to Temate with a raised eye.

  "Not me." Temate shook his head in reply. "I can tell what it is mechanically, but that doesn't tell me what he's becoming."

  "And no shaman who can do, never had. Shaman rare goblin." Hema continued the expnation as Temate took a bite of some thick, heady stew. The same exact stew Toni was nibbling at.

  "Well." Toni sighed and took a bigger bite as her weariness made way for hunger. "I guess we wait. Speaking of growing things, Temate?"

  Temate grinned at her and reached into the cart. He hefted the medium sized pot, a pot Toni had presumed the creature within would grow into, out and next to her. As it thunked down next to Toni the small rose petal composed face looked up at her and smiled.

  She smiled back and began feeding it in between bites of her own stew. Rose, the name she was currently using to refer to her pnt baby, which was what she'd realized this was after awhile, smiled and wobbled about. They had grown significantly more in the past week, Toni swore they'd hop out of the pot and start walking around anytime now.

  They smiled at her, and she smiled back, two thick bundles of pnt mass and thorns reached out to grab her hands. The thorns were soft as they touched to her hands, like small digits grabbing her. She knew they didn't have to be soft, she'd seen Rose impale a number of insects from where they rested in the cart.

  "For now, pns going in, Hema the goblins have been informed right?" She forced herself back to focus now she had Rose by her again.

  "Yes!" Hema nodded enthusiastically. "We follow Kea around Bearbhaile, not go cause dangerous. That take us north, we wait there, then go city." Hema quickly walked through her mental understanding, looking for all the world like a child who felt they'd just learned some great secret.

  "Good, Temate, Pip, Ren and I-" Toni began.

  "Timbear in morning, then go Bearbhaile if need. Meet goblins by night." Surrender finished as she practically materialized from the shadows on Temate's shoulder. Her tail grabbed the bowl from Hema as she took over feeding Temate. Her disdain for the goblin very clear on her face.

  Hema for her part simply stood up, walked over to Toni, and plopped into her p. There she took Toni's bowl of stew and slowly spooned it into her mouth. This too wasn't entirely a surprise. The goblins all prefer to serve Temate, but they'd belled Toni, Ren and Pip as his seconds. Thus they served them when Temate needed nothing, or was already being served.

  It had been a weird adaptation for Toni. A lot of things had over the past couple weeks, since she came to this world, even. Funnily enough, walking around in an almost sheer, see through, sexy fairy elf dress thing, with no underwear, had been easiest. Kea was the biggest thing.

  She wasn't all that insatiable surprisingly, but she openly teased and flirted with Temate in ways that enfmed Toni. Both in the good way and the bad way. They'd had talks about it, but the girl did not have her modern sensibilities.

  "Well if it's a problem do something about it. Either fuck him so hard he never looks elsewhere, or just accept that, as angry as it makes you, it makes you equally horny." Was the gist of what their talks had boiled down to. When she'd tried to expin boundaries and limits, she had just been told that a boundary only exists if you can defend it.

  So why hadn't she told Temate to stop sleeping with her every other night? Sometimes right where everyone could see the two?

  Because she was fucking right. Temate had asked her multiple times if it was a problem, clearly aware it was bothering her, and she had known then. She knew if she told him to he would stop. She knew if she really really wanted to defend that boundary that's what she needed to do.

  She didn't.

  Because it was so fucking shamefully hot. Surrender and the goblins felt more like sharing. They were a collective team dedicated to Temate's needs, wants, and he to them. With Kea it felt like she was stealing him away. Establishing herself as 'top bitch' in a weird way, except that Surrender did defend her boundary, violently.

  Though Surrender's was just 'no, I'm top bitch bitch.' And forcing her to acknowledge that. So Toni let herself fall into the bottom rung of the unspoken hierarchy and hated it. And fucking loved it.

  "Toni?" Temate said, waving a hand in her face to get her attention.

  "Huh? Sorry I trailed off there for a second." Toni blushed at the knowledge of where her mind had gone. "Did I miss something?"

  "Not in particur, I was just about to head to bed, the goblins finished setting up." Temate replied. Toni nodded and took his hand and they headed off to sleep in their tent, hung in the middle of the goblins camp.

  After nearly a week of argumentation Temate had finally convinced them to circle camp. Granted, Toni had been the one to expin the proper tactical superiority of a circled camp rather then an independent chief's tent. They slid comfortably into their cozy, hanging hammock tent.

  "Hey Mate." Toni whispered. "Thank you, for pushing me I mean." She said, as she had every night since she'd started pushing the cart.

  "You're the one who wanted to 'be able to wrestle a bear' Toni. I'm proud of you for sticking to it, strength training can be brutal without proper gear." Temate spoke, his chest a rumbling quake under her hands as he did.

  "And you just helped. No questions." She whispered back, holding him closer. "Most people would say I'd had a traumatic experience and to wait."

  "Most people are idiots." Temate let out a thick, quiet belly ugh. "And I'd do anything for you. No questions." He continued. And she knew that was true.

  The next morning their small group was on it's own again. For the first time in over two weeks Temate, Pipuck, Toni and Surrender were alone. Though it hadn't been such a simple thing to organize in the end.

  Partially because Toni fought herself for nearly an hour over whether to bring Rose with them, or leave them with the goblins. In the end Temate agreed to carry Rose who rested at the top of his bag. A rge mushroom sealed the pot down and decorated it at the same time. Rose seemed fascinated by the mycelial shield.

  The second problem was Kea, who was being obtuse about leaving with the goblins.

  "Well I look forward to your punishment ter Master." Kea purred, pressing her self into Temate's side. He sighed and brought a hand down lightly on her head, causing her to make the biggest, poutiest face he'd ever seen.

  "I didn't say I'd punish you if you didn't stop. I said I don't reward this behavior, two different sentences." He pointed out.

  "Oh but you do reward me for this all the tiiiiime." Kea practically bleated the st word out, hands running down Temate's chest. Toni had been about to step in when Temate had clearly had enough.

  "Kea. Go. Or you'll be dry the rest of the way back to Occiden." He said, throwing an [Iron Order] in for good measure. He'd gotten more comfortable using that [Power] as of te. Especially after his talk with Toni, the night she'd been... Attacked.

  The memory gave him a glowering expression which still seemed to be less terrifying to Kea then the idea of him not fucking her for however long it was back to her city. Without a word she stepped back, bowed, and practically sprinted away to catch up with the goblins already moving.

  "I'm not such a good guy Toni." Temate said, gently cleaning her back as they sat, alone, in the hot spring. The body of the faceless thing which attacked her gone now, having fully burned when they absorbed it.

  "You absolutely are you big dunce." Toni ughed as she leaned back into him. "I don't believe for a second you'd actually manipute me or who I am in order to get your way. If it didn't also benefit me equally or more!" She said with a prod of a finger into his nose. "Boop!"

  He ughed at that. Bringing his own finger back up to boop her nose.

  "So you think I'm being too hard on myself?" Temate asked.

  "Listen, you think about it, but you don't do it. I trust you, do what you feel you need to in order for all of us to survive and thrive. Trust that if you push too far, I'll tell you, or Surrender will, or Pipuck. We're not children and we're all doing the same thing. We just don't worry if what we're doing is 'maniputing our friends to our own ends'." Toni sighed, which turned to bubbling water as she sank into the water.

  He pulled her up and lifted her head as he leaned over her. There he kissed her, long, slow and passionately. After the kiss she was redder than the fme she maintained above their head.

  "W-what was that for?" She whined.

  "Thanks." He murmured back.

  The rest of the memory was much more private, and also he didn't have time to reminisce over right now. Not as they approached the hollow where Timbear should be.

  Should being the operative word there. They nearly missed the hollow, except for the vast empty cavern in the roots of a tree. Empty of it's dweller and sleeper, and empty of an entire tree. One of the great trees here had been colpsed, cut from it's trunk to flop down in the direction of Bearbhaile.

  The top half had been further lopped off, leaving only the bottom half of the tree still resting here. Temate looked around in first surprise, then concern. Before he could even give the order his team were investigating.

  "Cw marks, big, on the edges of the tree." Toni extended her pointer finger out towards the tree, her new [Keen Eye] picking out the details before they entered.

  "Down for a little over a week." Pipuck said as they began examining the stump.

  "Den cold. Timbear not here long time." Surrender said, padding around inside the root den the warden once inhabited. They examined the clearing as thoroughly as they could, but there were no signs of struggle or any cause for concern. Other than the strangeness of the scenario in itself.

  "You think Bearbhaile is..." Toni proferred a thought that Temate had been having as well. Why would Timbear, the Warden of Bearbhaile, not be in his den? If Bearbhaile was in danger.

  "Probably, I guess we head there, everyone good for a long jog?" Temate asked the group and received a series of nods.

  "Ah- I don't know if I can make i' all the way there on my little legs." Pipuck said as they raised one finger instead of nodding.

  "I'll carry you." Both Temate and Toni said at once.

  "Mate I-"

  "May be going into a dangerous situation. I want you at peak performance after the run, I can carry Pip or Surrender for hours without issue. You're stronger, but the size difference is much smaller and they off bance you. So no Toni. I'll do it." Temate put point after valid point into her brain and Toni nodded.

  She'd known all that, but watching Temate pick up Pipuck and saddle the Spiras on his shoulders, she couldn't help but wish she could do that without issue too. That and he was already carrying Rose, but they didn't seem to cause him any problems. So Pipuck sat with Rose, slowly feeding them a midday meal in Toni's pce as they ran.

  They made good pace. Surrender was quick, and she seemed nearly tireless, constantly keeping ahead to scout. Temate wasn't very quick, not over long distances, he couldn't maintain high speed for nearly as long as Toni could. So they moved fast, but not quick, cutting 6 hours down to about 4 in the end.

  Four which was stopped early by Surrender hurtling from a tree to stop them in their tracks. As Temate opened his mouth to ask what it was she made a quiet gesture and then a gesture to get them to sneak. They settled down, her [Enshadow] covering them as they began to creep forward.

  They could hear the river ahead, the one that Honey had called a stream when they'd first met. The one which flowed over the top of Bearbhailes entrance. The giant hole in the ground which led down to the greater caverns the bears dwelled in. It rumbled in the silence and stillness of the forest.

  That was the second thing Temate noticed that gave him pause on their approach. After Surrender swinging down to stop them. It was very quiet. The type of quiet you only got when a great predator was near, or a great disturbance. The third thing he noticed was the thing on the edge of the pit.

  Taut, lean muscle was covered by a pale, sickly white yer of skin. Not a single ounce of fat hid the muscuture or bones of the creature which seemed to gleam in the midday sun. For some reason, that upset Temate. He'd expected the thing to be blind in the daylight, to burn like a vampire.

  Yet the Darkling didn't.

  At least not until a gout of fire burned across it's head. The Darkling reared back, opening it's mouth to bellow at them. A shadow shifted across it's throat as Surrender cwed it and it seized up colpsing to the ground.

  Temate strolled up and over the creature, seeing it seizing over and over, still alive. He took his machete, already unsheathed and hefted it up. A cruel, long edge of jagged bone coated it and he smmed it into the creatures throat. With a gurgle and a splutter the creature died.

  The st thing Temate saw that was concerning was what the creature had been crouched over. Thick fur matted with blood and marked where bdes had scored it open. A bear, still young by Temate's guess, y dead at the top of the ramp leading downward.

  As the body of the Darkling Temate had just granted final mercy burned from the inside out, three pale heads twisted up from their meal of another bear to look up at them.

  Force2reckon