Depthless Hunger

For several long seconds Kai just squeezed Zae Zin Nim and Omilaena as hard as he could. Normal women might have been crushed, but they both hugged back: Zae Zin Nim's face was buried in his chest and Omilaena wrapped an arm around his neck.

There was absolutely a part of him that wanted to pick them both up and carry them somewhere private, but the majority of him just wanted to talk to them again. So much must have happened to them in the intervening months... Omilaena felt palpably stronger, and while Zae Zin Nim was still stuck at the barrier, she had clearly refined herself further. They must have gotten his message in Blueblade City and followed him, but he wanted to tell them about everything else that had happened.

Unfortunately, because of those events, Kai had to set them both down and focus again. "I want to talk," he said, "but I'm afraid we need your help, Omilaena."

"All the sad sacks outside?" She waved a hand around them and sighed. "You're lucky that I need to practice using the Prana Jewels."

She swayed out into the camp, though given her glance over her shoulder, he was pretty sure that she was wiggling her ass for his benefit. Meanwhile, Kai realized for the first time that Feida and Kulha were staring at him - he hadn't given them a single second of thought since his wives arrived, but he couldn't ignore them forever.

"Now we have a poison specialist and another cultivator," Kai told them. "You might have been right about attacking quickly before, but now we have more options. Let's save as many of both factions as we can and then figure out our next attack."

"Are you sure?" Feida asked, eyeing them suspiciously. "Just who is this?"

Kai ignored the second question and considered the first as he glanced to Zae Zin Nim. "Is there something else we need to be doing first?" She shook her head, so he glanced back to the Manticore tribal leaders and smiled. "We're sticking around for the near future, then. We actually might need the materials in that vault more than you do, so we want to make this work."

They stayed a little longer, discussing the remaining details, but the new arrivals had clearly disrupted all their arguments against them. The entire time they spoke, Zae Zin Nim hovered at his side, eyes staring at him intensely. An ignorant observer might have thought that she hated him, but he knew that was just fixation: she wanted to be closer, but wouldn't do anything in public.