The moment I stepped out into the sun I was sweating. I opened a couple of buttons on my shirt, usually keeping it buttoned up all the way.

"Oh deary me, my queen, are my eyes deceiving me or are you unbuttoning your shirt?" Dy murmured in my ear, tickling it.

I laughed and looked back up at her, simply by tipping my head up. She was towering over me, arching a brow at me. And then she smirked.

"It is very hot here," Barr said from beside me.

"Yeah, I reckon we need to buy new clothes." Dy had her sleeves rolled up and her shirt buttoned down lower than she used to. I wasn't complaining. She had really pretty collarbones.

We were greeted by the royal guard, all dressed in red and white. Their clothes were loose, probably to try and combat the heat. Their heads were covered by cloth to protect them from the sun and I envied them. They were also all wearing protective specs with brown tinted glasses.

One of the guards stepped forward, placing his hand on over his heart and bowed. He straightened and then said something I didn't understand.

Dy stepped forward, did the same greeting and replied in the same language. I was assuming it was Kabiran.

"They say, they'll escort us to our lodgings. We'll get some food and a bed if we need it. We're free to explore the city as their queen can't see us today."

"They're letting us wait," I said with a low voice.

"Huh?"

"It's a strategy. She's hoping it'll make us softer to trade with."

Dy frowned a little. "Well, there's nothing we can do to change it. We also have to stay polite."

"Yeah, this is what I was brought up to do," I muttered and followed the guards to the cars they had provided us.

Dy sat down on the seat beside me and off we went. The house was barely a house. It reminded me more of a castle. It was massive, made of white stone with the same red roof. In the middle there was a courtyard, the house stretched around it with balconies on the second floor, facing the little lake in the courtyard.

These very green plants were hanging off the railings on the balconies. The sound of water offered a very nice soothing atmosphere. Colourful birds I had never seen before walked around the courtyard, flashing their tails with eyes on them. It took me a second to realise they weren't actual eyes, but just looked like eyes.

"Now those are some pretty birds," Dy said and smiled down at me.

"So pretty."

"Show-offs," Barr muttered and softly ran his hand over Baby's head. "You're a dragon, Baby. Remember that. Much better than dumb birds."

Dy and I exchanged a glance before we were taken to our rooms. They were all on the upper floor, accessed by the balcony.

Dy and I got a room, while Huck and Barr got to share another. Aleks and Raakili got the third and last room.

Dy's and my room was amazing. The doors leading out to the balcony was made of metal and were so intricate with filigree designs, keeping the room nicely airy in this heat.

It was also filled with plants. A bed stood in the middle, pushed against the far end wall. And it looked heavenly.

I let myself fall down on it and sighed very contently. "I'm bringing this back with us."

Dy chuckled and lied down next to me. "I'm taking you," she murmured and swooped her arm under me, shifting me further into the bed. She dipped down and kissed me. I was so surprised, but I welcomed her lips on mine. I was always ready for her.

She wasn't the best at talking, but her showing her love for me was amazing. It wasn't just sex. It was her kissing my throat. Taking her time to get my body to relax under her. I became almost liquid under her hands.

My hands went to her shirt and unbuttoned it. She looked down and followed them with her eyes, a sly smile spreading across her lips. I slid her shirt off her and revelled in the sight of her naked skin. She had lost weight, but her stomach was still soft. She still had those soft hills on her hips that I adored. She was still soft, but she had gained a lot of muscle lately too. Her body was harder now.

I didn't think it would even matter how she looked at this point. The fact that she knew to softly kiss the base of my neck because it gave me the shivers every time, was enough. She knew me so well.

She unbuttoned my shirt and I lifted my back off the mattress to make it easier for her to slide it off me. She kissed me while she did it, not even needing to see what she was doing.

I pulled back and took a deep breath. I lifted my left hand and took my arm off. Dy raised a brow at me.

"What are you doing?"

"That's not me," I said and put my hand on the back of her neck, pulling her down again. She kissed me very deeply and I couldn't hold back a moan.

The rest of our clothes disappeared and Dy pulled up, smiling down at me. "I love you."

I smiled back. "I love you too."

She dipped down and kissed me again, her fingers finding their way down between my legs. I gasped as she pushed them inside of me. She cupped my cheek with her free hand, her thumb running over my cheek. And then she kissed me again.

It was all so soft. She was soft, the bed was soft, her mouth was soft. It was just all really perfect.

I was laying in the garden, in a sort of lounging chair... Bed? It was like a long chair with a backrest. We had been provided with better clothes so now I wasn't as disgustingly hot as I had been before. These were airier. The trousers were still long but they didn't cling to my skin, the fabric was very thin and soft. The same with the tunics. And the embroidery was beautiful, depicting birds and flowers in all the colours of the rainbow.

Dy was dressed in similar trousers but she had ditched the shirt for something very short, and very tight around her chest. And she was hanging from under the balcony on one of the pillars going horizontally from one vertical pillar to another.

She and Barr were working out. He was bored and wanted to join, and I was laying here like a creep, watching Dy's back muscles pull on her skin. And sweat covering her body. And Barr was shirtless. I had never seen him shirtless before, but the boy was not thin. He was packing some pretty defined muscles under the loose clothing he liked to wear.

"What... Are they doing?" Huck asked from besides my chair. He dumped down on the one beside me, his eyes wide.

"Working out," I laughed.

He swallowed hard. "Uh, right."

"Just sit down, get one of these drinks and enjoy the view."

Huck glanced over at me and grabbed a glass pouring some of the sweet lemonade into it and leaned back.

"I'm not enjoying it. By the way."

"Sure. Just like I'm definitely not checking out my girlfriend lifting up her entire body just by her upper arm muscles." I smirked at him and he took another sip of his drink.

"I can appreciate a nice person looking... Nice. Without there being anything more than that."

"Yeah, but you're not. You blush when he's around. He makes an extra effort to not be weird, when you're around."

"You're a very meddling person, you know that?"

I shrugged. "You're both my friends. Friends get the meddling Al."

"We're so fortunate."

"You are. Without me you wouldn't know Barr has been looking over here about thirty times already, making sure you're actually watching him."

Huck frowned. "He wouldn't do that."

"Oh please. He's a guy. Guys wanna show off to people they like. Be all macho and stuff."

"That's a huge generalisation."

"And you didn't deny it. And you didn't deny blushing around him either."

Huck put his drink down on the table and turned his body towards me. "Okay, so I might... Like him. But he's a spirit, you know? It's... I don't even know where to start."

"Start by getting to know him. He's not very different from us, to be honest. Just a bit dorkier." I shrugged a shoulder.

"He's also very determined to get closer to another man," Huck muttered.

"To my brother so they can connect so Quinn doesn't destroy himself or the whole city of Andahavn." I frowned at him. "It's not about love there. It's about an inherent need Barr has to save my brother. One I happen to share."

He bit the inside of his cheek. "But he's a spirit and I'm... Just a mechanic."

"You're an amazing creator. That's what he's so fascinated by. You haven't noticed how he always wants to listen to you talk about your creations?"

He smiled a little at that. "He is very interested, huh?"

"You share a room with him too." I glanced over at him, catching him in looking at Huck. Again. Even Dy didn't check that I was looking this much.

Huck nodded. "Yeah but uhm... I've never had like... A boyfriend before. Or a girlfriend for that matter."

"I don't think he has either."

"I just also really liked Regin and now it's like there's these two guys out of nowhere that I like."

I snorted. "Sounds like the opposite of a problem. Who do you see yourself with when you have to be super realistic?"

Huck moulded that over for a moment. Gave me a good chance to check out my girlfriend again who was now doing sit-ups on the ground, explaining Barr how to do it properly.

"I didn't really think anyone would like me. It'd be dumb to not like, at least, explore it with the one person who actually does seem to like me. One I also like." Huck sighed and then grimaced. "I didn't even know I liked guys before a month ago."

I smiled at him. "Just go for it. Stop questioning everything for once, and just go with what your heart is telling you."

We went out. Rakiili and Aleks would accompany us as our guards and it actually looked like we'd have a fun day. I couldn't wait to explore and just... Maybe unwind a little. I had been wound so tight for the last couple of days, my head was about to explode.

As we hit the main market street, my eyes were about to roll out of my head. There were more colours than I had ever seen before. More people too. Different people. People I had never seen before. A woman sported blue hair and it was all twisted on top of her head. Even her eyebrows were blue. She sent me a calm smile as she walked past me and I felt horribly underdressed compared to her and a lot of the other people here. Everyone were showered in gold.

"Remember to cover where the metals touches your skin," Huck said and pulled my sleeve down, sending me a smile. "You could get burns."

"Oh, shoot. Yeah." I stopped by one of the many booths and smiled at the salesman. I pointed to a scarf and he immediately pulled it down, saying something in Kabiran.

"He's saying it's silk and it'll protect your skin," Dy translated and smiled at the clerk, as she paid him in golden coins. He held it out for me, motioning me to offer him my arm. He wrapped it around my roprosthetic, so it covered both that and my skin.

I put my hand on my heart and smiled, giving him my silent thanks. He smiled back and did the same. We pushed on and this... Whole world was different. More colourful birds were for sale in one stall, something called 'monkeys' in another, right next to spices and tea. And all the chocolate we could carry. When we were here anyways, we might as well indulge in what Kabir had to offer.

When we finally made it to the end of the street, it opened into a large square with cafés offering everything from more of those refreshing drinks. I would kill for one right now and some shade.

I got both without having to kill and Dy and I shared a table with Barr and Huck. Aleks and Rakiili went to sit at a table just for them and ordered some coffee, giving us a little privacy to just be us.

"See, I got this, and I've been looking for a wrench in this size in ages, and they had it here," Huck said all excitedly and showed it to Barr.

"It is a very nice tool." Barr wasn't at all looking at the wrench. He was just staring dreamingly at Huck.

"Did you guys get anything?" Huck asked, the tips of his ears and his cheeks so incredibly dark. His whole face always got darker when Barr looked at him.

"I got this polish for my guns," Dy said and looked super excited about it. "It's gonna make them sparkle."

I couldn't help but laugh pretty goofily at my girlfriend. She looked so cute when she got all excited.

"Why do the guns need polish?" Barr asked. He made it look physically hard to tear his gaze off Huck and look at Dy.

"Keeps all the parts clean so it doesn't clog and then it won't cause a misfire. And it makes them look so nice," Dy explained.

"Is it important they look nice?"

"Not really. But I like my guns and I like properly maintaining them."

"Is this what you would call a hobby?" Barr asked and glanced at Huck.

Huck grimaced and bopped his head from side to side. "I guess, you could call it that. Dy knows everything there is to know about guns and what makes them work. Goes beyond just using them as weapons, I'd say."

Barr nodded, looking like he was thinking it over. "Could I observe you polish your guns?" he asked then.

"Of course. I'd love the company." She smiled and so did Barr. They were both such nerds and it was ridiculously cute.