A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Erik and Elora looked at each other gleefully, both now realising the implications of Elora's discovery. Meanwhile, Alice, still sitting on Erik's shoulder, glanced from Elora to Erik and realised she was missing something.

She started to pout, and crossed her arms indignantly on top of Erik's head. "Stop being weird and tell me what's going on! What's this have to do with the stuff you two get up to behind closed doors?!"

Considering the family she was now a part off, Alice was very aware of what sex was and felt little shame in talking about it… although she did consider the idea disgusting and seriously questioned why anyone would waste their time with such things.

Erik chuckled and looked up at his shoulder-mounted daughter with genuine happiness. "It means I can finally start sharing Elorium with you and my mother."

"And with the rest of us without the need for sex!" Elora added, smirking mischievously at Erik's almost imperceptible disappointment. "Which is especially useful for those entering seclusion, like Emma, because she'll be able to improve with Elorium without needing to exit seclusion."

This news got Alice's attention immediately. "Really?!" she cried out with clear excitement at the prospect of growing stronger faster. But then she suddenly narrowed her eyes at her adoptive parents. "So that's why you didn't want to share it with me! You never explained why you couldn't!"

She pouted a little and rested her chin on her arms, which leaned on Erik's head. "I thought you just didn't want to share with me…" she muttered sadly.

Erik instantly groaned with guilt and felt like the young girl's weight on his shoulders suddenly increased tenfold. "That— I'm sorry you thought that, Alice, I— That was never—"

A playful giggle interrupted his stammering. "Hehe, I'm afraid your father is still a bit of a prude when it comes to you, Alice." Elora pointed at herself proudly. "I, for one, wanted to tell you the truth from the start!" Then, she shrugged helplessly and sighed dramatically. "Unfortunately, your father can be extremely convincing after our clothes come off."

"You—!" Erik exclaimed, his eyes bulging slightly. "Don't just tell her that!"

"Why not?" Alice immediately asked, her eyes narrowed accusingly as she bonked Erik on his head. "Don't you trust me enough to tell me everything?! I'm not a little kid, you know?! I'm thirteen now!"

"I—" Erik stammered helplessly, feeling like he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

His natural protectiveness teamed up with the 'Daddy stuff' and gave rise to a strong desire to not talk about sex with Alice. Unfortunately, Elora was of the opinion that being open with children was important… and Erik found it hard to argue, because on a purely intellectual level, he could only agree.

He looked helplessly at Elora, and even Seraphina, for help, but found no respite in either woman. Elora just snickered at him, while Seraphina simply looked away as if indifferent, despite the obviously barely suppressed smile tugging on her lips.

With no help coming, Erik groaned and palmed his face. "Ugh, I— I'll try to be better about this in the future, alright, Alice? I'm sorry…" he pleaded, his eyes turned up to look at his shoulder-mounted daughter.

Snorting victoriously, Alice grinned proudly and nodded.

With that settled, Erik then glared momentarily at Elora, promising swift punishment at the first opportunity. Naturally, the fairy simply responded with a playful, even expectant, air-kiss.

Erik rolled his eyes, but then quickly got back on track with an awkward cough. "Anyway…" he muttered, before explaining the circumstances to Alice. "Elorium is too volatile to directly store and distribute, so the only way we've found for me to share it is through…" he waved his hand, still feeling awkward about it, "…you know…"

He quickly moved on before anyone could respond. "We do this through cauldron sigils, which are extremely good at stabilising and transferring energy between people, and now it seems your mother may have found a way to share this stable, transfer-ready version of Elorium without…"

Once again, he did the strange hand gesture without saying anything, causing both Elora and Seraphina to snicker behind their hands. At the same time, Alice rolled her eyes and bonked his head again.

Afterward, Elora took over. "Your father is correct," she grinned proudly. "Although I'm not sure where he got this 'may have' nonsense from. I, for one, have a little more faith in myself."

Erik smirked. He couldn't deny that Elora's track record spoke for itself, yet she'd not been infallible over the eight years he'd known her.

"Alright, with that, I think we've had enough stalling!" Elora uttered excitedly, before waving Erik towards the floating gem. "Go try it! Just charge up some Elorium in the cauldron and touch the gem. It should be sucked out immediately!"

With a little more scepticism, yet no less underlying excitement, Erik stepped forward and did as she asked. From his shoulders, Alice observed curiously.

Erik touched the gem, and… it happened exactly as Elora claimed.

The Elorium in his cauldron sigil was gone, and the gem shone a little brighter. He barely even noticed the draining. Yet, the process didn't leave Erik entirely unaffected…

None of the women in the room noticed the effect on him, however. Rather, they all simply reacted with excitement. Alice quickly jumped from his shoulders with a wide grin and headed for one of the training seats, which was no adorned with glowing runes leading out from the gem.

"Thanks Dad, thanks Mom! I'm going back to training!" she simply exclaimed, sat down, and immediately activated the isolation barrier.

Erik and Elora looked at the black barrier with blinking eyes, before starting to chuckle simultaneously.

Suddenly, the fourth person in the room coughed and cocked an eyebrow. "So…" Seraphina muttered awkwardly. "I—"

"No."

Unfortunately, all she got was an immediate and harmonious denial from both Erik and his beloved fairy.

Elora glanced at Seraphina indifferently, a far cry from the way she looked at Erik or Alice. "Erik still needs to take the time to charge this gem, and he's far too busy to waste it on mere servants… especially stubborn ones like you."

Seraphina instinctively snarled a little at Elora's dismissive tone, before being whistled back by the Bond of Service, causing Elora to sneer.

Meanwhile, Erik shrugged and nodded. "If there were no cost to me, I'd let you use it, Seraphina, but as it stands, I have enough to do and need to prioritise those who've actually hitched their fate to mine for the long-term."

He glanced at her with a cocked eyebrow. "So… unless you've changed your mind?"

Snorting, Seraphina rolled her eyes, turned around, and went back to training without a word.

Erik watched her go with a small smile on his lips. Perhaps he'd earn himself some favourability points with her if he'd allowed her to use it, but he doubted something like that would actually make a real difference in the battle for her heart. No, desire and frustration were far better gateways to love.

He turned back to Elora, who shrugged indifferently. "I've added a filtering protocol to the sigil, and it uses our profiles. Basically, only those whom we allow will be able to use it." She raised an eyebrow. "My sister-wives, your mother, and Alice, I'm assuming?"

Erik nodded, then stepped back up to the gem with outstretched hand. "Sounds about right…" he sighed," which means I should probably spend a little time charging this thing."

"Hehe, good luck!" Elora answered before quickly disappearing. "I'm going back to the library!" she continued through their bond.

Rolling his eyes, Erik pressed his hand against the gem and settled in for a few hours of cycle-charging. Meanwhile, he was starting to feel the effect this had on him…