Arad stood, pushing Eris back to the water, “Aella first, Mira is second, and you last,” He stared at them, “Probably not all tonight, so make it a shift each day if you must,”

“Hehe, it’s Aella and Me today,” Zephyr flew down, circulating around Arad’s head like an annoying mosquito.

Thud! Arad caught her in with his hand, “Aella, can you tie her down?”

Aella shook her head, “Sadly not. I’m not strong enough to completely overpower her.”

“Why would you want to chain me down?” Zephyr cried, “Me, such a lovely little fairy,”

“A little fairy, yes. But I doubt the lovely part,” Arad stared at her, “You tried to kill us the first time we met,”

“That is one thing, and this is another! I have to make sure Aella has a daughter so I can transfer my contract to her when she dies. It’s not an easy life being a contracted spirit,” Zephyr cried, struggling to escape Arad’s fist.

“Then you don’t have to worry about it,” Arad said, letting go of Zephyr.

Zephyr floated down, landing on Aella’s chest, “AH! I can finally move my legs. I almost died,”

Zephyr stared at Arad, “I doubt you can with how non-existent is your experience. I fear for the family’s future,” She glared at Arad’s eyes, and he glared back at her.

The bath started shaking, and the wind around it howled as Zephyr slowly floated toward Arad’s face, “I will show you how to do it right,” She growled.

Arad stared at Zephyr, taking the jest away. She still is the wind spirit. A true monster who shouldn’t be underestimated, and she’s serious for once. To her, Arad having a daughter, and an elf on top of that isn’t a possibility, but a must.

“Zephyr! Stop!” Aella glared at Zephyr, trying to catch her, “Aella, don’t worry,” Zephyr said with a smile, “We won’t fight. It doesn’t make sense.” She floated down and sat on her head.

“I just want him to know, it’s a must, and I won’t back down on it,” Zephyr glared at Arad, “And if you won’t guarantee it, I can always kill you and have Aella find another partner,”

Arad sighed, “Fine, but it’s still up to chance.” He looked at Zephyr, “You can’t make it a sure thing,”

Zephyr smiled, “Of course, you need to have a lot of children. Me and you have the same goal, why not work together,”

Arad smiled, “Got yourself a deal. Know any way to make that easier?”

Zephyr scratched her head, thinking, “Deep dragon turtles are a delicacy between the dark elves, and their flesh is known to help conceive twins.” Zephyr looked at Arad with a grin, “You can hunt one, can’t you?”

Aella, Mira, Eris, and the maids all stared at her, “Wait what?”

“Deep dragon turtles are massive creatures. You can’t even ask someone to buy their meat for how expensive it is, let alone hunt one.” One of the maids cried, “It’s a delicacy that even Royals barely get unless they are hunting for heirs.”

Arad nodded, “Should be simple,” He smiled, “Where can I find them?”

“It’s a bit far away, we should leave it for later,” Zephyr smiled, “We should focus on solving the main problem with elves first.”

“What is it?” Arad looked at Zephyr.

“Elves’ reproductive problem doesn’t stem from the men, but from the women. They only have their period once per year, which means they only have one egg a year inside them. Add to that how fragile the egg is and how hard it relies on the mother’s hormones to survive. Some elve women went without a prior or an egg for decades just due to stress or lack of interest.” Zephyr smiled, staring at Aella, “I doubt she has even considered that till this point,”

“I did,” Aella cried, trying to catch Zephyr. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝑙．𝑐𝘰𝘮

“When an elf women get horny, their raw strength increases and their intelligence reduces. That only happens for a day or two of the year, but you have to hunt for that time to get it consistently,” She stared at Aella, “Have experienced that lately?”

Arad blinked, “There was this time she drank a potion called Tears of someone. Tears of Gracie if I’m not mistaken,”

Zephyr sighed, “Then it’s over. If you did it that night it should have been set in stone now. Time would tell,” She flew and sat on Arad’s shoulder, “Let’s get out of the bath. I have much to teach you.”

Arad stood, walking toward the changing room and the girls followed him. The three maids inside got to clean the bath as the ones in the changing room pulled out the clothes that Aella brought with her.

Arad looked at the clothes, some of them he didn’t recognize. A velvet robe adorned by golden stitches in the shape of roses. A white dress, simple yet elegant made of clothes so soft that Arad feared he might damage. And lastly a gold and emerald robe with leaf patterns on it, and surprisingly, quite tight.

Arad stared at them and then at the girls, “Is this what you bought?”

“No everything,” Aella replied with a smile, “We still have a bit more,” She giggled, and Arad stared again at the clothes, “They look nice. Nothing like them exists in Alina,”

Mira tilted her head, “Of course, this is the capital,” She lifted the white dress, “This is mine, simple yet clean. Don’t you like it?”

“I do,” Arad replied, “And I suspect the red is for Eris and the green is for Aella?”

“How did you know?” Aella stared at him.

“Greens suits you more than red,” Arad smiled, turning toward Eris, “I want to say that dark brown like the ones Mira had might have looked better on you, or something dark purple, but this red has its charm,”

Eris giggled, “Well, I wanted something in the color of blood. It would be bad if it got stained,”

The maids stared at her, confused, and Arad sighed, “It won’t,”

***

Night fell, and it was dinner time.

Inside the large dinner hall, Arad sat with Aella, Eris, and Mira around the long dinner table, looking around at the maids lined at the wall. “Are we eating alone?” Aella asked.

One of the maids walked forward, “Lady Isdis wanted to dine with you, but she went with her father and mother to visit the late king’s estate. Her grandfather and mother have been worried sick about her.” The maid looked to her side, staring at the royal family drawing on the wall. “The other princes are also occupied by their work. Tonight, you’re the only one in the castle besides the youngest princess. And she doesn’t love getting out of her room much,”

Arad nodded, “She loves reading stories to her pet mouse,”

The maids stared at him, “How do you know that? No one should,”

Arad scratched his head, “I heard it from Isdis,” he looked away. In reality, he connected to the mouse’s thoughts when he scanned the whole castle for the assassin earlier. The real reason the youngest princess isn’t going out is that she’s scared of the dragon slayer in the castle, aka him.

“Is that so?” The maid stared at them, “Dinner is ready,” She said as the food started coming out of the kitchen.

Right after dinner, Arad retreated to Aella’s room. The first calm night he had in a while.