WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 38

 One year. 567 days. A lot could happen within that frame of time.

The process of getting our sect registered did not take long thanks to Erica, who brought up the matter at the earliest chance she had. With it being seconded by Tungsten, who was the second in command for the largest sect among the six, Brave Vesperia became a recognized sect within just a few days time.

There were naturally a few kinks that we needed to work out even after being recognized. Our base of operations when we had been the Explorer’s Guild was Vesperia, but that city had been annihilated and no one could expend any effort to rebuild it. We set up a base Capistrana. Our reasons were twofold.

One: Capistrana was the closest city to Nevaria.

Two: The Sekbeists who invaded Nevaria were still located deep within the Northern Mountains.

Our goal was to seek and destroy every trace of the Sekbeists within the area. We were after revenge, and Kari and I often took several squadrons into the mountains for sole purpose of eradicating any Sekbeist element we could find.

Because we were no longer the Explorer’s Guild, several of our sect mates decided not to join. I think even if we had retained our primary purpose as explorers of ancient ruins, they still would have declined, given that the Sekbeists could only open Warp Gates from those ruins. The danger level was simply astronomical for non-combatants.

Of the members who survived, only a few remained with us: Axel, Felicia, and Markus. Those three were the only ones who stuck around.

Since our mandate had changed from exploring ruins to defeating the Sekbeists, the missions we took also changed. We offered protection details for caravans, the subjugation of Demon Beasts, and of course the defense of cities under siege from Sekbeists.

Most of our quests actually came from Erica and Tungsten. They knew of the strength Kari and I possessed, so they made good use of us to help root out Sekbeists wherever they were found. As the number of quests we successfully completed grew, so too did the number of people looking to join our sect. We didn’t accept everyone. Since our group took on dangerous assignments, we only accepted people who proved themselves in combat by lasting at least five minutes with either Kari or myself.

Around 80% of the people who attempted to join us failed.

There were a few surprises. After our sect became famous despite its small size, a number of Dwoergs joined us. There were six in total. Each one said they couldn’t just go back to life as they knew it. They, like us, wanted to get revenge on the Sekbeists.

There was Gilm, a powerful warrior who wielded an ax bigger than he was; Bul, whose kin had been slain during the ransacking of the mountain palace; Sundur, a well-known blacksmith and the one who’d made the weapons and armor Kari and I now wielded; Immig, a Rune Master who specialized in using Rune enhanced weapons; Nosaim, a bare knuckle brawler with enough physical strength to destroy a building with a single punch; and Gladar, the only Dwoerg I had ever met who could dual wield polearms.

According to them, the Dwoergs were trying to return to their normal way of life, to move on and rebuild, which was why they had left. Until the Sekbeists were gone, they couldn’t bring themselves to return to how things had been.

I got along with Sundur the best. He and I could speak for hours about weapons and armor enhancements. Thanks to him, all of our members were equipped with the very best weapons and armor we could give them.

We didn’t have any mythril. That didn’t exist in this world. However, Sundur had been able to substitute mythril by using the hide of a Metallica—an A-rank Demon Beast with an alloy shell that was nearly as strong. The metal made from a Metallica was called Adamantite. It was the strongest substance known to man, but it wasn’t used in smithing because humans lacked the techniques needed to smelt it.

Sundur didn’t have that problem.

Among the Dwoergs, Kari actually preferred talking to Immig, which I believed stemmed from her interest in Runes. According to Immig, Runes was the magic of his people. They used Runes to enhance their armor, create elemental attacks similar to Spiritual Techniques, and even bend time and space. The Warp Gates that all the sects of Midgard used were basically mockups of the Warp Gates his people had created. They were, in his words, “something that a Dwoergling would be capable of creating.”

“There be nine worlds: Miðgarðr, the world of the humans; Niðavellir, home of us Dweorg; Útgarðar, home of the lightning giants, the Lintilskudd; Ljosalfheim, home of the Ljósálfar, the light alves; Rikevrann, primordeal realm of fire; Sfærevann, primordeal realm of water;  Mørkeverden, the dark realm where it’s been said that the dead dwell; Vindenket, home of the dragon kin, the Drakvar; and the last realm, Gudeverdenen, the realm of the Guddomelig.”

At that moment, Kari and I were seated on a sofa and sharing food and drink with Immig, who was telling us about the nine worlds. We were drinking a light blend of tea. Immig had a large mug of black coffee sitting before him.

“Seven of these nine worlds corresponds to a different element: Earth, lightning, light, fire, water, darkness, and wind.” As he spoke, Immig held up his fingers, counting them on his hands. “The only two worlds that do not correspond to a specific element are Miðgarðr and Gudeverdenen. Humans are not truly aligned with any element. Meanwhile, the gods are aligned with every element.”

As Immig stopped speaking to take a drink of his coffee, Kari leaned forward with a keen look of interest. “How do the nine worlds work in regards to each other? I know you can create Warp Gates to travel between worlds, but I have no idea how to picture the way in which these worlds interact.”

“Hmm…” Immig hummed for a moment before smacking his lips. “Imagine the nine worlds like you would a set of plates.”

“Plates?” I blinked.

“Plates.” Immig confirmed with a nod. “You have Miðgarðr, which is the largest plate, down at the bottom. Following Miðgarðr is Niðavellir, then Útgarðar, Ljosalfheim, Rikevrann, Sfærevann, Mørkeverden, Vindenket, and finally, Gudeverdenen. Each realm above is smaller than the realm below, so you have something very similar to this serving plate right here.”

I looked at the serving plate sitting on the table, which had three tiers of round plates floating above each other, held up by a pole in the middle. With that information in mind, I tried to imagine how nine worlds would look stacked on top of each other like that. Needless to say, the image of several flat worlds floating above each other seemed far-fetched.

“I’m assuming you don’t mean the worlds are flat but are using the reference of plates as a sort of metaphor,” Kari said.

“Indeed. Ye are correct, lass.” Immig stroked his beard. “Worlds are of course round. However, it is good to imagine the nine words as plates stacked on top of each other. Makes visualizing how it all works easier.”

“How does the Warp Gate allow people to travel between worlds?” I asked.

“Hmm… Warp Gates are tricky business,” Immig admitted. “Even I’m not so sure about the mechanics behind it, but I do know enough te understand the basics. For example, the reason humans can’t or shouldn’t be able te travel te another world is because they are beings of the lowest world. Beings from a world below cannot travel te the worlds above them. So for example, a Dwoerg like meself could never travel to Útgarðar because I am a being from the level beneath it. The only beings who are able to travel freely to worlds above them are the Great Overlords—rare existences born with an unnatural power.”

“I see.”

I cupped a hand to my chin and thought about that. Hreidmar had once said that the reason Kari, Erica, and Tungsten had been able to travel to Niðavellir was because of my presence, meaning I was an existence higher than the Dwoergs—or at least half an existence higher. I wasn’t really sure how that all worked. I also didn’t know how I’d been able to take the others with me, though part of me assumed no one knew it was possible because no one had actually tried.

“That sounds incredibly interesting,” Kari said, clasping her hands together. Her eyes were sparkling again. “I would very much like to visit and explore those other worlds.”

“Good luck with that,” Immig said with a shake of his head. “I don’t even know how ye managed to reach our world, though I guess if yer man could bring ye te ours, he can get ye te the other ones.”

When Kari suddenly turned her gaze to me, I shook my head and waved my hands. “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t even know how to activate the Warp Gates, much less travel to other worlds.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out together.” Kari was beaming at me. “Once the war is over, you and I can—hurk!”

Kari’s cheeks suddenly bulged mid sentence. Before I could ask her what was wrong, she bolted from the red leather sofa and rushed to a door on the far side of the study. It was a private toilet. This area we were in was technically my office, though Kari was the one who used it more often than not. While the room itself was sparsely decorated, it did have several large bookshelves and a lot of books.

“That was odd,” Immig muttered.

“I’d better go check on her.”

Grunting as I stood up, I left Immig to finish his coffee and wandered over to the toilet. As I reached the door, the loud sound of retching echoed from the other side, causing me to pause with my hand halfway to the door. It sounded like Kari was puking out her lungs.

“Kari? I’m coming in.”

The door was unlocked. I opened it and stepped inside, where I immediately zeroed in on the toilet—or rather, the woman leaning over it. Kari’s golden blonde hair was shielding her face from me. She had a hand under it to try and keep her hair from her face as she vomited. From inside the bathroom, her retching sounded several decibels louder and about a hundred times more disgusting.

I didn’t say anything at first, instead choosing to kneel beside Kari and rub her back. That was really all I could do. As I wondered whether or not she was sick, the woman continued releasing the contents of her stomach into the toilet. The acrid scent of vomit filled the air. I ignored it.

“Ha… ha… ha…”

“You okay?” I asked Kari as she stopped puking.

“I… I think so,” Kari mumbled, still leaning over the toilet. “I just suddenly felt really sick.”

“Do you think you have a fever? Maybe we should check in with a water specialist.”

“No.” Kari shook her head. “I don’t think that is it. I actually have an idea about why I feel this way.”

“Oh? What is it?”

I personally couldn’t think of any reason for her to feel like this myself outside of being sick, but when I really thought about it, neither Kari nor I had ever been sick before. Spiritualists had powerful bodies. While we weren’t immune to sickness, we had a strong resistance to disease. The more powerful the Spiritualist, the stronger their resistance.

“I missed my last period,” Kari admitted.

“Oh, I see.” I nodded along. “You missed your last period, so—wait. What?”

Leaning away from the toilet, Kari gave me a wan smile. “You know that I was using a simple Spiritual Technique my mother taught me to stop my period? It relies on the movements of everyday life to keep it activated, so it is always active no matter what unless I decide to stop using it. Well… awhile ago, I decided to stop using it.”

“How long is a while ago?” I asked.

Kari shrugged. “About three months.”

“And you didn’t think to tell me this?” When all Kari did was blush, I ran a hand through my hair. “So… you are pregnant?”

“I think the chances are very high.”

Taking several deep breaths, I tried to think about this situation logically, but I really had no idea what to do. I’d never considered myself father material. Heck, I didn’t have a father or even a remotely fatherly figure in my life. I never had one. That being the case, I couldn’t see myself being a good dad. At the same time, if Kari really was pregnant…

“Can I ask why you decided to stop using that anti-pregnancy technique?” I asked.

“I… guess I just wanted to have a child,” Kari admitted while looking away. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about ever since we returned from Niðavellir. I actually tried to bring it up with you several times, but something kept holding me back—fear, I guess. I know you’ve never had a father or father figure in your life, and I was afraid that you would tell me you didn’t want a child.”

Well, she had me there. I couldn’t deny that had she brought it up, I probably would have been against the idea of having a kid. Kari was also pretty impulsive when it came to certain matters. I was sure she’d gone with the “I can always apologize later” thought process when she made this decision.

“What am I going to do with you?” I muttered with a sigh.

“Um, I’m sorry,” Kari murmured. “I should have consulted with you about this first.”

“You definitely should have.” Kari flinched, and I felt the tension in my shoulders ease slightly when I saw how repentant she looked. I could never stay mad at her for anything. “But… well, what’s done is done. I’d like you to get a check up to see how far along you are. Also, your absence is going to leave a hole in our fighting strength, so we’ll need to accommodate for that since you can’t fight while pregnant.”

“I… I didn’t think of that,” Kari admitted.

“Yeah. I figured that.”

As I began thinking of all the things we would need to do now that Kari was pregnant, I couldn’t help but release a sigh.

I really didn’t want a kid.

***

The loud clang of metal echoed around the courtyard as Kari and Fay locked weapons. Gauntlet met ranseur in a flurry of sparks and squealing metal, but then the two jumped back and almost seemed to disappear at the exact same time. A series of loud clangs! resounded across the courtyard several more times as the two would slow down to attack, speed up as they used the Flash Step, and then slow down again.

I watched from the sidelines as Kari and Fay sparred with each other using nothing but weapons and the Flash Step, taking careful note of how well they moved and their attack patterns. They had improved greatly in their use of the Flash Step. I’d say they had finally completely mastered Stage One. That meant it was about time to teach them Stage Two.

A few days passed by slowly. It was almost shocking. The 20+ days I had spent in the Demon Beast Mountain Range seemed to have gone by in the literal blink of an eye, but barely five days had passed in Nevaria and it felt like forever. I wasn’t going to complain though. These past few days had been nice.

Most of my time was spent either training myself, helping Kari and Fay train, or working with Lin on her studies. Sometimes Lin would join the two girls in training, but she seemed to lose interest as time went on. Of course, being a Lamia, her strength and Spiritual Power increased naturally with age, though I still felt like she should work on mastering her abilities through training.

Clang! Clang! Clangclangclang!

Several loud noises forced my attention back on to Kari and Fay. I stroked Lin’s hair as the redhead lashed out with a series of powerful punches that used the rotation of her entire torso to generate incredible force. Kari was forced to back away. A ranseur was meant to be used at a certain range and couldn’t attack from up close, which gave Fay a unique advantage.

Despite being disadvantaged, Kari was unwilling to admit defeat as she used the shaft of her weapon to deflect Fay’s blows, one hand near the blade and the other near the base. A punch to the right was deflected when Kari spun the ranseur around. Fay retracted her fist, then threw out her other fist, but Kari rotated her ranseur in the opposite direction and countered that too. The force of her counter was such that her opponent stumbled away, giving her time to distance herself before going on the offensive.

“This is nice,” Lin murmured softly as I ran my fingers through her hair.

“I’m glad you are enjoying it,” I said with a sardonic smile as I looked down at Lin. The Lamia girl was lying on the ground, but her head was in my lap. The gentle thumping of her tail couldn’t be heard over the din of battle, but I could see it if I turned my head. “You look like you have been feeling a little down lately.”

I hadn’t had sex with either Lin or Kari since our first nights together, but it wasn’t like we hadn’t been enjoying each other’s company. Both of them were affectionate. Lin would often snuggle up to me with the guise of keeping warm, while Kari wouldn’t even bother creating a justification to nestle herself against me.

I did wonder if I should be more forward. Both of them had given themselves to me, so I felt like I could afford to be bolder, but then I would think about how Fay and I hadn’t slept together yet and pull back. Part of me wondered if it was okay to sleep with Lin and Kari but not her. I was marrying all three of them, so it didn’t seem right, but at the same time…

“This princess… might be feeling a little homesick,” Lin admitted softly. She shifted around until she was lying on her back instead of her side. Now looking at me with her golden eyes, she continued speaking. “She has been dreaming about her home lately. It has been making her feel down. Just a little.”

I immediately noticed the strange mark on her chest. The symbols was intimately familiar to me. Kari gained these symbols on her chest whenever we had sex, both in this life and in my previous life. However, they always disappeared immediately after she orgasmed. I wondered why Lin’s were sticking around. Was there something special about her?

Lin, Kari, and Fay had also expressed shock when they saw the symbols on Lin’s chest. Kari had spent an entire day going through the library to see if she could find out what the symbols were. She hadn’t found anything, however.

The symbols looked sort of like a Rune. It vaguely reminded me of a combination of Kenaz and Ingwaz. While Kenaz meant vision, revelation, knowledge, and technical ability, it also represented passion and sexual love. Meanwhile, Ingwaz was a symbol of male fertility, gestation, and internal growth. It represented common virtues, simple strengths, family love, and human warmth.

“Your home is the Endless Desert, correct?”

“Yes.”

I hadn’t even considered traveling into the Endless Desert yet, though I knew I’d have to at some point, but that would only be after the Demon Beast Invasion was repelled, which wouldn’t happen for another year and a half. Still, if Lin was feeling homesick, maybe a quick visit wouldn’t be too much? It was something I would have to think about. The Endless Desert was a big place, so any “visit” we took wouldn’t be quick.

As I thought about whether or not traveling into the Endless Desert would be feasible, and Kari and Fay continued to spar in the courtyard, another figure entered through a corridor on our left. I turned my head to look at Dante. He stopped before Lin and I, looking at the two of us with something of a wry grin.

“You two look comfortable,” he said.

“Mm. This princess is very comfortable,” Lin replied in a listless voice.

“Is something up?” I asked.

Dante nodded as his lips twitched into a smirk. “There certainly is. I’ve gathered a team to salvage the remains of the Giant Rock Golem you fought. How do you feel about going on a little expedition?”

***

It seemed this expedition consisted of an entire caravan. When me, Kari, Fay, and Lin arrived at the gate leading to the Demon Beast Mountain Range, it was to discover six carts being pulled by Mares waiting at the entrance.

They were standard carts meant for carrying cargo—wood carts with four wheels that were about six meters long. None of them had a top, but if we were going to salvage something as large as a Giant Rock Eater, then a top would probably get in the way.

It looked like some of the carts were actually full already. I could see a few carrying provisions, barrels filled with food and probably even some that had wine. This was actually how I used to travel back when I was the sect leader of Brave Vesperia. It was impossible to live off the land with this many people, so having provisions was necessary. An army marched on its stomach as the old saying went.

A number of people were walking around the carts to inspect them. Almost everyone was wearing the leather armor of a Nevarian Spiritualist. When I activated Spiritual Perception, I could see that a number of men and women were quite strong, though all of them paled in comparison to Kari, Fay, and Lin (who had the most Spiritual Power out of all of them). While most of these people wore leather armor, there was at least one woman wearing the steel armor of a Nevarian Spiritualist captain.

“Instructor Brynhild!” Kari shouted in surprise and delight as she raced toward the woman.

Hellen Brynhild, a woman with a squarish face, broad shoulders, and a mannish chest, smiled as the blonde girl came up to her. Because of how masculine she was, a lot of people often mistook Hellen for a man. Considering I’d been mistaken for a woman several times, I felt like I understood her plight, though Hellen never seemed to let that bother her like being mistaken for a woman did me.

“Princess Kari,” Hellen greeted. “I hear you’ve been going on quite a few adventures.”

“Yes!” Kari began happily chatting with her previous Spiritualist instructor, regaling the woman of her harrowing journey through the Demon Beast Mountain Range. Hellen nodded along and listened with a gentle smile on her face. It made her seem more like a big sister than an instructor.

“Those two seem to get along well,” I said to Fay and Lin.

“Yes, they do.” Fay nodded. “Hellen Brynhild was Kari’s private tutor for awhile. I guess they grew close then…” She trailed off after a second and glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. I wondered if something was wrong, but then her cheeks burned fiercely and she took a single step away, putting some distance between us. “Anyway, it is only natural that they would be close.”

Trying to hide my frown, I nodded and accepted her explanation well enough. I had already guessed most of that from the few times I’d seen Hellen and Kari interact.

I looked around for Dante and found him speaking with the gate guards at the front. The guards were nodding along as he spoke to them, and then one of them gestured toward the two small towers on either side of the gate. Of course, I called them small, but I was comparing them to the watchtowers in Midgard, which were about three times bigger. Someone inside of the watchtowers must have seen the gesture because the gates slowly creaked open moments later.

“All right, everyone!” Dante shouted to get the caravans attention. “We’re heading out now! Stay in formation and don’t wander off!”

“Sir!” the many Nevarian Spiritualists shouted as they snapped off a salute.

The procession moved a lot more slowly than our smaller group had when we were traveling with Catalyna. While I couldn’t count the number of people with just a quick head count, it looked like there were at least twice as many people in this group as there were in the one she had led. That was to say nothing of the carts.

Our group was in the middle of the formation, which I’m sure was Dante’s way of protecting Kari. I wasn’t too bothered by this. Since our goal this time was just to salvage the remains of the Giant Rock Golem, I honestly didn’t want to fight with any Demon Beasts.

We ambled along the mountain pass before coming up on the ravine. As I was wondering how they planned to get these carts across the ravine, Dante ordered several Nevarian Spiritualists to the front, and I realized with a start that they were earth users. They stomped their feet in unison, performing what almost seemed like a strange dance. Then they slammed their hands into the ground right before the ravine.

“This is—”

I watched in surprise as a large chunk of earth suddenly protruded from our side of the ravine. It traveled across the great gulf, all 20 meters of it, and merged with the other side, creating a bridge.

“Is this your first time seeing Cooperative Spiritual Arts?” asked Hellen as she and Kari came up to our side.

“It’s not,” I said, “but it is the first time I’ve seen Cooperative Spiritual Arts used this way.” As I spoke, Dante was ordering his people across the bridge. The caravan moved slowly, careful not to let the carts fall off or the weight greater than the makeshift bridge could hold. “I’m used to seeing people use it in conjunction with attacks, and they normally don’t use the same element but elements that complimented each other. For example, a person usine a Spiritual Fire Technique to create an attack, and then another person using a Spiritual Wind Technique to fan the flames and increase its power.”

“I’ve never heard of someone using a Cooperative Spiritual Techniques like that before,” Fay murmured in shock.

“You haven’t? I thought that was a fairly common way of using it,” I said.

“It is, but only Nevarian Spiritualists and members of the Imperial Royal Guard have any real talent at it,” Hellen said. “So of course someone who isn’t a member of those two groups wouldn’t know about it. I’m surprised you know.”

I couldn’t say anything to that, so I just shrugged.

The Caravan moved some more, and our group walked across the makeshift bridge. It looked pretty thick, but I wondered how sturdy it really was without anything to support it from the bottom. Fay also seemed to be wary. She moved a little closer to me despite having stepped away earlier, though she jumped away again after we walked to the other side.

I didn’t want to let on that her actions hurt. Pretending I hadn’t seen what she did, I spoke with Kari, Hellen, and Lin as our caravan moved.

It took nearly the entire day to exit from the forest, but we eventually reached the entrance to the Pteranodon Valley. Dante ordered everyone to set up camp. The Nevarian Spiritualists all acted in unison like a well-trained unit, unloading the packages containing their tents, setting up fire pits to cook the provisions they’d brought, and even bringing out copper plates, mugs, and utensils.

Kari, Lin, and I set up the tent we’d been given. It was bigger than most to accommodate for Lin, whose six meter long body would not fit inside of a normal tent.

After we finished setting up the tent, I looked around because I realized that Fay was not with us. I found her several meters away, staring out at the valley with a complicated expression on her face.

“Fay?” I called out.

“Hyah!”

“Uh…”

I frowned when Fay nearly jumped out of her skin. Spinning around, she placed a hand over her chest as she faced me, her shoulders heaving as she took several heavy breaths.

“E-Eryk,” she stuttered. “What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”

“I didn’t sneak up on you,” I said, my frown growing. “I was walking normally. You were so lost in thought you didn’t even notice my approach.”

“O-oh…”

“Are you feeling okay?” I asked.

“Y-yes. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“Because you’re not fine.” I took a step forward, but I paused when she took a step back. “You’ve been acting strange for the past few days, and I’m very worried about you. Will you talk to me? If you tell me what’s wrong, maybe I can help you.”

Fay looked almost like she was considering it, but then she shook her head and gave me an uneasy smile. “I’m sorry, but I… uh… I’m not really sure I want to talk about it right now. Anyway, I think I’m going to help the others set up the camp.”

I stared at Fay’s back as she took off back toward the camp. The ache in my chest grew just a little bigger as I wondered if the reason she was acting like this was because of something I had done. Had I hurt her without realizing it? The thought that I might have done something to upset Fay bothered me.

Footsteps echoing behind me made me turn my head to find Kari walking up to me with a gentle smile. I didn’t say anything as she came up to my side, reached out, and grabbed my hand. As her smooth, warm fingers slid into mine, I squeezed her hand back.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Kari said after several seconds of silence. “Fay is currently debating with herself.”

“Debating about what?”

“About whether or not she should sleep with you.”

“Ah.”

I wasn’t sure what I could say to that, and when you have no idea what to say, the best option is often to keep your mouth shut.

Kari continued speaking. “I don’t know if you are aware, but Lin bragged all about how you and she made love all night long a few days ago. She was extremely happy. However, I think that bothers Fay. She wants to give herself to you, but she is too embarrassed to actually go through with it.”

So that was it? I was actually a little relieved to hear that. If this was the problem, then there were several solutions I could think of to solve it.

“Do you think I should proposition Fay like I did with Lin?” I asked.

“If you did that, I’m sure Fay would either faint from embarrassment or run away from you.” Kari shook her head, even as a faint and wry smile caused her lips to curl. “For all the aggressiveness she displayed when she was chasing after you, Fay is a very pure girl. I’m sure the idea of having sex is very embarrassing for her. Even the thought of giving herself to you is embarrassing.”

That actually made me frown a little. I thought about how Fay and I first met, how she’d contracted Spiritual Poison, and how she’d had to strip down and let me touch her body to remove it. Given what happened between us, I’d have never imagined she could be that embarrassed by the idea of sleeping with me. That also made me a little ashamed though. I was sure now that Fay had simply been so desperate to cure her Spiritual Poisoning that she’d born with the shame of baring her body to me.

“What do you think I should do?” I asked.

“Just wait for a little while,” Kari said. “At the moment, Fay is simply dealing with some inner turmoil, but she will get over it eventually. Once she does, then you can get her in bed with you.”

“Hmm…” Since I trusted Kari on pretty much all matters, I decided to listen to her advice, though I also had a question for her now. “Is this also the reason you haven’t slept with me since then? Because you don’t want Fay to feel pressured or left out?”

“Of course not.” Kari clasped her hands behind her back, leaned over, and smiled at me. “I haven’t slept with you because I’m waiting for you to come to me. You can’t expect me to always be the one chasing after you. Girls like it when the guy she loves is a little aggressive, you know?”