Imagine her head on her body, if only she had her breast, that nose doesn't belong on that face. Vincent had heard these words before and even spoken them a few times while observing the customers with the rest of the staff. Ariel wasn't the type of woman they tended to have such conversations about. Had a more compact version of her walked into the restaurant he would have been happy to admire the view. Yet the idea that this was only the beginning for her was far more enticing than he expected. She was magnificent now what would she be by the time it was over? Would she surpass her mother? Such thoughts left Vincent's mind as Ariel turned around and slipped her bottom down. She did indeed have a very nice toned rump.

Walking over to the bath that was more of an indoor lake from Vincent's point of view Ariel dipped her fingers into the water and slowly ran her fingers through it. As she lightly stirred the solution she charged it with a tiny bit of magic producing a soft green glow and a subtle floral scent. Once the intensity of the light came to match that of a bright moon Ariel slipped herself into the water giving a slight sigh as she felt the gentle caress cleansing and nurturing her skin. The relief she felt as the tension left her body was a surprise and made her giggle. "I was so scared whenever I found you laying there. At first I thought perhaps you and your family had come under attack and you'd flown for help then I noticed your wings missing. I didn't know what to think about that."

Can she hear me? Was the first thing Vincent was made to wonder before remembering her talking to him while he was on the table. These women clearly had superb hearing. If she wouldn't be able to hear him he doubted she'd set him this far away. "I'm not sure how I got there but I am certain I never had wings. Will this bath be enough to prove I didn't have wings before?"

She had made some mistakes while speaking with Vincent. She didn't want to risk upsetting him so she'd tried to entertain the notion that he never had wings. Now that didn't seem necessary as she could feel the argument in his voice. Coupled with the feeling of relief she was experiencing this brought a giggle from her. "One bath will be enough to begin the restoration of your wings. The most obvious sign is that the corrupted healing which was used to hide your scar will be undone and the nerves in your back that go to your wings will be restored. Your back is going to become very ticklish."

Normally it would have upset him if someone other than a doctor thought to know more about his body than him. That he was being told he didn't know something so fundamental about his own past even more so. This time he was made to chuckle though and actually felt himself growing more relaxed. "Ariel are you a healer?"

"No but I have training in a variety of disciplines including healing. My mom has been training me to be a guard for a while now and she's one of the best so you know you're safe with me."

Vincent actually felt his mouth twitch as he grinned. "Except she hasn't trained with you in over a year. Where you receiving training from the regular instructors?"

For a moment Ariel thought to remind Vincent they were talking about him not about her but his relaxed tone convinced her otherwise and her pride. If knowing more about her made him feel more comfortable that was good. It would help in the healing. Plus she was quite happy to share her accomplishments. What she didn't like is him remembering that she hadn't trained with her mother in quite some time. "I spent some time practicing with the instructors yes. A lot of the time I helped with the trainees because most of the instructors didn't really have anything to teach me and the ones that could were often busy. How about you? What do you remember about becoming a chef?"

"Let's see. I remember quite a bit but one story I like to tell is whenever one of my instructors took us to sample a variety of foods we hadn't tasted before. One of the things we had to try was a raw oyster. At first I didn't think it was a big deal but the more I looked at it and thought about it the worse it got. I actually ended up wishing I was closer to the front so I could just eat it and get it over with before things got worse." It surprised Vincent whenever he heard Ariel snickering. "Hold on I haven't gotten to the funny part yet."

"You were going to just eat a twenty kilogram molluscs?" As she looked at Vincent Ariel wasn't surprised to see surprise on his face. She had apparently just found a fault memory.

"Twenty kilogram? More like fifteen grams. I guess that's another difference between the world I remember and this one. I mean come from." He had known her for less than an evening and he was already arguing with and eyeing the mountain sized girl. Not only was he arguing with her but he was enjoying it. She had given him no reason to fear her other than her massive size and several to trust her but given how easily and the variety of ways she could end him he had to wonder about his sanity behaving so casually towards her so soon. He had no doubt his old fear would return soon enough especially if she wanted it to but with how she'd been treating him and now smiling at him he couldn't bring himself to be that scared.

Ariel’s mood had been steadily lightening as Vincent spoke with her casually but she had also began to feel something was off. It was good to hear him feeling better but she knew it was wrong. With his missing wings and altered memories she’d been certain he had been horribly abused but that wasn’t the type of damage you recovered from so quickly. Even with the altered memories there would be damage to his subconscious. She had been too caught up in the moment to think of it before and even now saw no benefit to mentioning it to him. It did leave her wondering how this had come to be and if perhaps there was more to his story than she thought. “Oysters aren’t. Oh! I know what’s going on.”

Now that they were out running it Vincent could hear the sound of Ariel’s movements. When she turned the sound of the rushing water reminded him of waves slamming into a cliff. Though in this case it was the cliff slamming into the waves and easily winning. “What’s that?”

“The spell my father cast on you is True Tongue but it doesn’t actually change the words but rather changes the words those interacting with you and you hear. It’s not a perfect system. For example when I say oyster you’re clearly hearing something different from what I’m actually saying. What the magic did is take the list of criteria for an oyster from your mind and then find the closest match within my mind. That’s what I heard. It’s one of the dangers of True Tongue and it has brought on some considerable breakdowns in communication over the centuries. My mom was just hoping that by the time the magic began to expire we could restore your memory.”

After a moment of silence Vincent gave his head a nod. It was clear to him Ariel knew more about magic than he did so he wasn’t about to argue with her. He was wondering what the world was like outside this building though. Were all the creatures of this world giant? “Ariel does that mean they’re animals bigger than you?” It surprised Vincent whenever Ariel was made to sputter and began to giggle a moment later while covering her mouth. He wasn’t certain if that was a yes or not but whatever it was the answer would be drastic. He wasn’t certain what to think when she stuck her tongue out at him for a moment.

“Did you see my tongue?”

“Yes.”

“I’m not sure of the exact number but I’d say around four fifths of all animals are much smaller that my tongue and I’m including fish in that list.”

Vincent was made to jerk back as he listened to Ariel snickering. He had known the answer would be yes or no but he didn’t expect the human women to be that much larger than anything else on the planet. It at least gave him some information about the world outside of this building. He would have asked how the women feed themselves but he’d seen Ariel using magic several times already. Perhaps they used magic to alter the plants or did they need to eat? He didn’t have time to ask her as Ariel beat him to it.

“So if the women you remember aren’t large enough to carry you and you don’t have wings how do you get around in the world you remember?” As she spoke Ariel felt herself almost say the world he was from. The way Vincent’s mood had improved compared to how he should have behaved if he underwent such horrific events had shaken her certainty. There was also the strange reaction of the mureye. What would it mean if he was right and had come from another world? He had mentioned that the men from his world made up of roughly half the population. As she considered this Ariel’s right hand began to rub the inside of her thighs.

“We have. Okay what you explained to me about True Tongue has me wondering what this will sound like to you. We have these self propelling four and two wheeled enclosed vehicles that we use to get around on paved surfaces. The vehicles are called cars.” Vincent could only imagine what was going through Ariel’s head as he heard her snickering and this time she couldn’t quiet it down. “Is there anyway you could tell me what you’re thinking of right now?”

Ariel couldn’t answer right away as she knew if she tried to open her mouth she’s going from snickering to openly laughing. Rather she covered her mouth and tried to keep herself from shaking too much as she did her best to slip further into the water. It was several minutes of struggling to control her laughter before she could respond. “I can’t tell you the exact word without removing the magic and that would be bad. I’m not sure if you’ll even hear this but to me you said a plaything. We have these little playthings that are shaped like animals but can run around.”

Vincent was made to roll his eyes. He wasn’t certain how much of that he’d gotten but it made him grin as well. “So what’s going to happen to me once you realize my memory is genuine?” He had been considering it for a while now but hadn’t asked it. Now he needed to ask. After the milk bath was over he’d have even more evidence after all.

“Please don’t be afraid. We’ll and I’ll still protect you.” Before continuing Ariel took in a deep breath and tried to truly consider the question. Men were highly valued so she knew that letting one go wouldn’t be well received. It would be easy to expend resources on a male that was staying with them but one that wished to depart would be much harder. Even she found the idea of letting him go distasteful.

“It will take time but if you are from another world you’ll likely be housed here while we look into a way to return you home. If what you say is true this has likely happened before and we’ll need to find out what was done then anyway. If a method was found in the past will research it to confirm it’s true and determine any risk then if it’s acceptable and affordable we’ll return you home.”

As Vincent listened to Ariel it was easy to hear the doubt and concern in her voice. It troubled him but he preferred an honest answer over a pretty lie. They could also easily hide the truth. “What happens if it’s not affordable? Is there anything I could do?”


“There is. You would have to take a wife and as part of the deal she’d help you secure resources to send you home. Your responsibilities and her dedication to returning you home would have to be negotiated. If that is what you wanted to do.”

“I see. That sounds difficult.” Vincent wasn’t sure what to think when he saw Ariel shake her head no and bite down on the tip of her thumb for a moment.

“It wouldn’t be as hard as you may think. You said half your population is men. How many people are on your world?” As she spoke Ariel turned to look directly into Vincent’s eyes though in truth she wanted to look away. She didn’t want to frighten him but she wanted him to know he could trust her so she would be honest even about the ugly things.

Confusion set in for a moment as Vincent considered Ariel’s question. His lips parted but before his tongue could move realization came. “They would want to see if they can return me home in hopes of finding a way to follow.” Vincent had gotten that not every woman was massive as Ariel or Ellayn and perhaps not even Janice but he was certain all these women were titans. What would it mean if even the smallest of their number reached his world? He could feel his heart rate speeding up as he thought about Ellayn. She had been described as guard captain. If this was some utopian society of all benevolent beings you wouldn’t need guards. They had also been quite willing to accept the notion that he had been mutilated and his mind altered.

“I’m sorry to upset you by talking about such ugly things but I want you to trust me.” It was clear to Ariel that Vincent was distressed and it was getting worse. Fortunately she had left him far enough onto the table that she knew she could reach him if he tried to jump to his death. Walking over to him didn’t seem like a good idea right now.

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He didn’t know how long he’d been in the milk bath. His conversation with Ariel had slowed and they had remained silent for quite some time as he considered what he’d learned. They’d continued to observe one another but he’d only been snapped out of his haze whenever he heard the water rushing over her body and heard the sound of her first foot step upon the ground. He’d never even heard thunder quite so powerful. It hadn’t taken her long at all to dress herself given her clothing and in a moment she was next to the table. He was surprised whenever she placed some red pants and a shirt next to the bath. “Where did those come from?”

“I used my herbalist magic to restructure a leave into something comfortable for you. Now are you ready to show me where your wings are growing in?” Ariel kept her voice optimistic but in truth she wasn’t certain anymore. The mureye, Vincent’s emotional recovery rate and the complexity of his memories were three huge strikes against him having had his memories altered. It was enough to be very worried despite how impossible it seemed. If he didn’t have any hint of wings Ariel didn’t know if she could argue the point anymore.

“I’m not really certain.” As Vincent set there he wanted to go home to the world he remembered. He’d rather enjoyed it there. However, it wouldn’t be the world he remembered if it allowed a bunch of mountain sized women to follow him back. Even if they didn’t stay Ariel had told him they wouldn’t be leaving empty handed and he believed her. There would also be the damaged caused by even a short visit.

“Well I’m sure glad you’ve enjoyed soaking in my milk so much! But I can’t just let you stay there.” Ariel tried to keep her voice cheary and she made no move to pick Vincent up as she waited for him to respond. She felt some relief when he laughed and even more when he stood up. “Here you go.”

Vincent watched as Ariel placed a strange looking cloth next to the bowl though he didn’t need to think to realize what it was for. She’d been dried by just walking over to him. The water hadn’t been able to adhere to her body. He on the other hand needed a towel. When he picked it up he was happy to find that it was even warm as he began wiping himself down he was also surprised by how effective it was at cleaning off the milk.

She didn’t ask Vincent to show her his back. Instead Ariel just waited and let him dry himself off. She was so engrossed that she didn’t even think of his milk soaked underwear. He took far longer than was needed but as he turned his back to her a slight yelp escaped Ariel. There was no sign of scarring or anything that would indicate the return of wings. Her first instinct was to pick him up and rub his back or blow on it to try and tickle him. At this moment it should be extremely sensitive to touch. She held herself back though and turned her head so that she wasn’t looking at him. “Be sure to take off your wet clothes.”

When Ariel didn’t mention his missing wings Vincent took in a deep breath and quickly removed his underwear before slipping on the pants. “Thanks for the pants but did you forget the undergarments.”

Turning her attention to Vincent Ariel tried to not let her surprise show. The evidence was simply overwhelming at this point. She at least needed to speak to her mother about this discovery. “I forgot them but I’ll make you some later. I guess I’m too used to only having one article of clothing covering any one part of my body. What’s so funny?” Ariel’s surprise was added to when Vincent was made to chuckle.

As Vincent looked at Ariel’s bottom he wouldn’t have exactly called her covered. It would have been acceptable on some beaches but even there it would have been considered risky in many environments. Yet it was apparently the type of clothing Ariel liked to wear around. “You’re not going to change clothes?”

“Not right now but I’m feeling like a red later.” Ariel gave Vincent a moment of silence and a smile before she continued. “Vincent we’re going to have to go speak with my mother now. I don’t see any evidence of wings on your back, your memories seem so complex and certain, you’re not showing any of the emotional trauma clipping would cause and well they’re other things. It’s all just too much. I don’t believe we need to look for the woman who hurt you anymore and may have some other things to consider.”

He wanted to talk but Vincent found that he couldn’t. He felt his entire body freeze up. He’d been thinking about his situation the entire time but it was still hard to talk about. Could he somehow be used to allow these women to reach his world? What  might have he unleashed upon his planet? “What’s going to happen?” It was strange but Vincent felt better as Ariel smiled at him a true friendly smile.

“We’re going to protect you and we’re going to talk.” Reaching down Ariel placed her hand before Vincent though she knew he couldn’t climb onto her hand on his own. “May I pick you up?”

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Ellayn had been reviewing records of all the men known in Manevin including their images and so far she hadn't found any that fit Vincent's description. She also hadn't found any that had gone missing or shown any strange movements. In truth she hadn't been expecting to find anything. Nothing was more carefully guarded than a male and as the guard captain she would have heard about it long ago if one had gone missing or was suspected of being abused. It had seemed far more likely that Vincent had been abducted from another city or traveling with his alpha wife when something had happened.

She'd began to suspect his altered memories was to convince him to go along with a new wife. If he believed he was someone else it would be much easier. Why had he been given such strange memories? Lex had offered an interesting idea. Perhaps they didn't want Vincent wondering about his missing wings or about his mother. Making him believe his mother was dead would have worked just as well but the missing wings was an issue. The only reason she could think of for removing a man's wings was to make it harder for him to escape abuse if not impossible.

Getting more information from Vincent would have been nice but she didn't want to stress him. They were both certain that it was best to leave him with Ariel so that she could help him heal physically and emotionally. Her daughter had a soft touch that Ellayn felt like she'd lost at some point or perhaps never had though Lex often disagreed with her. Despite having confidence in their daughter both mother and father had been shocked when Ariel had shown up and explained that Vincent had some things he wanted to tell them and even more surprised whenever they'd heard what it was.

Lex was currently sitting atop Ellayn's right breasts leaning against her chest his right foot lightly tapping her flesh as he considered what he'd been told. While he wouldn't say Vincent looked comfortable he sure looked better than he did just a little while ago so he was in agreement with his daughter. Vincent had been frightened rather than traumatized. It was a strange thought to him. He could hardly imagine not feeling safe around Ellayn and Ariel though he had to remind himself that not everyone shared that view. Ellayn was loved as the guard captain but she was loved at a distance.

Ariel smiled as she felt Sagacity go into motion and move to set beside Vincent in her palm. She knew that her mother was considering the information they'd provided her with and wouldn't want to talk until she was finished. During this time Ariel liked to keep quiet herself and let her mother thinking. Fortunately her fluid nature was there to help with this.

Vincent had been a bit startled thinking that it was Audacity come to speak again but this nature was different. She'd taken hold of but held his right hand gently and given him a smile.

As she spoke Sagacity kept her voice low and directed. Ellayn could still hear them but the low volume was considered polite and wouldn't disturb her thoughts. "Please be patient. The guard captain is considering the situation. As a member of the Civic Health Committee her words carry much weight and she's been given a lot of information."

"So she's not upset?"

Ellayn couldn't help but giggle as she looked towards Vincent. "With you absolutely not. I can see three possibilities. You're a member of a native group of males who lack wings and have their minds prepared so that if you're lost they'll be altered to prevent discovery. I honestly find this the least likely of the possibilities. The second is that you're a natural male who was cursed so that your wings couldn't be regrown. As someone studied in such curses this idea is laughable. Which leaves the notion that you are indeed from another world as the most possible of the three. I." Ellayn took in a deep breath and looked towards her husband which brought a comforting pat from him. "Thank you."

Part of Vincent was grateful Ellayn had such an open mind but part of him was worried as well. Ariel seemed to be certain that her mother would protect him but he didn't know either of these women all that well. He'd tried telling himself that this was out of his hands given that he was literally in Ariel's hand but that wasn't helping. "Is it possible that the healing bath your daughter prepared wasn't strong enough?" Vincent actually felt himself blush whenever he heard a sharp snort from Ariel and Ellayn was made to giggle.

Normally it would not have pleased Ellayn to hear her daughter insulted like that. However, she had no doubt that Vincent didn't mean any insult and from the way Ariel responded it was clear she agreed. Had another woman said such a thing to Ariel she'd either been her daughter's equal in combat or she'd had a broken jaw. Yet the only consequence of Vincent's insult was a blush. "You really are very new to our culture. Vincent you just dealt my daughter a great insult. You're quite fortunate she finds you so adorable." The look of alarm on Vincent's face only increased Ellayn's amusement as she watched him.

When Vincent turned to face Ariel he was quite surprised to find that her face had become flush. He also received confirmation that his fear of her could indeed return very quickly. "Ariel I didn't mean to insult you! I."

It was clear to Ariel that Vincent was beginning to panic and she couldn't just remain silent. Rather she felt silence would make the situation worse. "You're so cute whenever you frightened! You’re even better when you’re comfortable and open and especially when you’re being playful.”

Had Ellayn tried to comfort Vincent she would have told him that he’s safe and spent time petting on him. Ariel’s method was clearly superior to this as he began to laugh almost immediately and seemed to readily warm up to her. She didn’t even need to pet him but simply hold him in her hand. It made Ellayn a little envious and very proud of her daughter. When she looked down at Lex she could see that he felt the same way.

The fear that he was about to be squished between Ariel’s fingers or swallowed alive vanished so rapidly Vincent wasn’t certain they were ever there. As he looked up at her smiling face he could remember making her blush though and didn’t doubt he’d offended her. “Well please forgive me for my insult and I’ll do my best not to make that mistake again. So are there any other insults I should be aware of?”

“They’re a few but they shouldn’t come up during this conversation. I’ll try to fill you in on the details later.”

After a moment more of levity Ellayn chose to bring the conversation back to its true focus. “My daughter is trained as a healer and the healing bath itself is a very robust formula. What you effectively accused her of is having subpar breasts and while they’re not an equal to mine.” Ellayn was made to snicker as Ariel shot her a mean look. “They are quite nice.”

“Laugh it up mom. You just wait until I have a husband of my own. As for the other two possibilities. Well the thought that a group of men without wings could go hidden from the women of this world is just.” As she spoke Ariel could feel her grin growing until it actually began to hurt. “Just no. We would have found them long ago.”

“Why is that?”

“Well for one thing we have spells meant to locate men. Often they’re used after a war to make sure that none of them are left behind in the rubble, hidden somewhere or simply lost. Even before the fighting begins such spells are often used to avoid killing any of them or to do our best. Plus you might have noticed we’re pretty observant whenever it comes to men.”

“I thought that extended to everything actually.” Vincent felt himself blush whenever he noticed both of the women giggling. It was Ellayn who spoke up though.

“That would be very troubling if we noticed every little creature that ended up under foot. Having to hear them each time they ended up underfoot would be very distracting especially while working.. As for the curse if someone had made such an advancement in the use of such magic we would all know about it by now. Such power would be used for far more than to influence a single man.”

“We’d be able to alter our bodies and lock the traits in place without the use of the blessing.”

“Indeed and more. So as hard as it is to do. We believe you Vincent.”

Using her free hand Ariel gently stroked Vincent’s back for a moment. “So what do you believe we should do mom? I already talked to Vincent about the dangers of trying to return him home.”

“Are you certain of that?”

“Yeah.” Ariel felt herself growing uncomfortable as her mom looked at her. “I mean I thought I did.”

“What if I were to tell you that the key to sending Vincent home is to swallow him alive and digest his body so there is nothing tying him to this world?”

Ariel was made to recoil slightly and didn’t even try to hide the doubt in her voice. “Mom that’s just insane! That would kill him!”

“How would you know? There would be no remains. On a similar note if Janice comes back to us with a spell to send him home how do you know it worked and simply didn’t leave any remains?”

“I.” Ariel glanced down at Vincent for a moment suddenly feeling very foolish. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that one.”

While Vincent didn’t like the talk about being eaten alive Ellayn had made a rather good point. Even if they did supposedly find a way to return him home there was nothing saying that he would survive the trip. It might even end up sending him to another world. Another world that could be far less pleasant than this one. “So there is no way to know the spell is going to work?”

“Darling?”

Lex had been content to listen for a while but stood up. HIs wife and daughter were both very well versed in practical magic but their theoretical magic was a bit weaker. Such magic was often the hobby of men often aided by their wives. “It depends on the situation. If we’re talking about a complete separation with you and your world of origin then the return spell would not only need to be able to open a portal between worlds, which I’ve never heard of succeeding, but it would have to be able to guide you back to your world of origin. Now if you have a connection between your world and this it may be possible that just opening a doorway would let it pull you back to your world of origins at unknown speeds with unknown force. Thus to insure your safe return we’d need to be able to anchor you to this world and either push you faster or slow you down.”

As Lex spoke Vincent got the strong impression he had studied such magic and soon saw the danger of both methods. If either of them were possible then someone could follow him through to his world except in the second case if we went through without any safety measures. “Those are some risks we hadn’t considered. You’ve studied such things Lex?”

“I’ve studied teleportation which relates to your situation. At this point we struggle to move nonliving things instantaneously from one location to the next without destroying it and reliably. Ellayn once helped me move a ball from my desk to another five meters away. It appeared at the second table three weeks later. Proposing to send someone to another world is even more complex than that.”

“Hold. Hold on a moment! Three weeks? Why was that?”

“I have some theories but that is something we’re trying to figure out even now. I do believe I understand your concern though. I don’t know how to put this gently. We have no way of knowing how long it took for you to arrive here. The longest delayed teleportation known was just shy of a year. You could have taken far longer to arrive here.”

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If he tried to return home or perhaps even by being here he could bring an apocalypse upon his world depending on if this women could follow him back and how they chose to behave. Even if that wasn’t a problem he might return to find this wasn’t the world he remembered, he could end up on the wrong world and he may not survive the trip. It could be that he didn’t even begin the trip but was destroyed in the attempt. As Vincent lay on Ariel’s right thigh he covered his head and took in a deep breath.

When she’d spoke with Vincent about him going home Ariel had thought she’d went over the worst of it. Her father had brought up several concerns that made it far worse though and now she was the one expected to comfort him. At first she’d been delighted to have her parents believe her but now she was annoyed that they’d not been gentler with the truth. It didn’t help that she was even less certain of what she should do as she looked at Vincent. He had made some cultural mistakes but now she realized she didn’t know anything about his culture either. What if her attempts to help him only hurt him more?

What all had he left behind? Ariel had thought to tell him that at least he hadn’t had a wife he left behind but quickly silenced herself realizing how foolish that was. He was from a world where apparently men worked regular jobs and traveled around without a wife. He could have very well had many friends and she had no doubt he had a family. She knew that he had already realized that he may never see his mother again. Perhaps he was even thinking about never seeing his father again. Were they more of a constant in their children’s life than they were in her cultures?

Ariel felt two of her fingers tingling as two of her fluid natures tried to take form at the same time and she repressed them. She wanted to handle this herself as she felt her heart going out to Vincent. “I can’t begin to imagine the pain you’re going through and I know that we’ve just met but I want you to know I’m here for you. If there is anything you want to say or talk about I’ll listen.” As she spoke Ariel could feel something wet on her leg and knew that Vincent had began to cry. With his sobs reaching her ears she began to gently rub his back allowing her fluid natures to help. She was grateful that Audacity was behaving herself.

“Thanks.” It was all Vincent could get out in that moment. At least he wasn’t alone in the wilderness though in that case he could hope for rescue. He knew they were being honest but much of his hope of returning home had been crushed when he spoke with Ellayn and Lex. As his thoughts began to darken Vincent felt his eyes growing heavier even more quickly than that. Once again he smelt the scent of flowers and without considering what he was doing pressed his face into Ariel’s skin. Was it the bath? He remembered she’d made the water glow and it had smelt nice. It smelt very nice and his eyes were heavy. Her skin was soft and warm to. Soon sensation overwhelmed memory and Vincent just lay there.

If she could have simply sedated Vincent she would have. Typically Ariel was happy with her healing skills but at the moment she regretted her only choice was to put Vincent to sleep. In his current condition it had been quite easy. He was so unfocused and broken up at the moment he hadn’t even noticed what she was doing and she was grateful for that. As she picked him up she had her natures gently roll him over so that he was laying face up. It surprised her to see that he was smiling but it made her heart lighter to. “You have a nice dream Vincent and let those bad feelings go.”

As she made her way to her room Ariel retrieved a small bottle of scented oil and took a moment to rub it along the edge of her belly button before slipping Vincent inside and retrieving a vine. The oil was meant to help a male recover from exhaustion and she hoped would soothe Vincent while the vine she quickly worked into a thin band that she secured around her waist to prevent Vincent from trying to climb out. She was certain that he wouldn’t recover from the sleeping spell before she woke up but with him being from another world she had to be careful. What if he was more resistant to magic than men naturally were? Nothing made her think he was but it was best to be careful.

Despite everything though Ariel couldn’t help but feel giddy as she lay down upon her sleeping mat. She had an unwed male sleeping in her bellybutton. The thought sent a shiver of excitement through her body. Not only was he an unwed male but he had an even greater need for her protection than normal. He had no wings and knew so little about their world. Soon Ariel began to gently brush her hand over the ribbon as her heart went out to the little man sleeping in her bellybutton. She both wanted him and she wanted to protect him. He was so vulnerable but he had been such fun to talk to whenever he began to relax. She couldn’t help but wonder what he’d be like if he was truly relaxed.

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