A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

Erik smirked at the fairy's revelation. "Well, it can't be any worse than the choice I just made. What exactly are we deciding?"

Elora shook her head and pointed forward with a smirk of her own. "Let's talk about that later, when our current child isn't waiting for us."

Erik chuckled and started walking towards the training room again. "Heh, right." Before reaching the hallway, he glanced at Elora playfully. "Getting back on point, though. To think I wouldn't punish a mother of my children is naive! How will I keep a harem in check, otherwise?"

In fact," he finished, his eyes glimmering with excitement and promise, "I don't even mind if the child is conceived during a punishment…"

Smirking, the fairy met his gaze with challenge and defiance. "Do your worst…" she whispered enticingly, not one to leave a promise like that unanswered.

Grinning at each other, their group walked slowly through the circular main hall towards the training room. Before they reached it, Emma raised an eyebrow. "Have you… thought about how you'll tell Alice about your plans?" she asked softly, but insistently.

Erik, Astrid, and Elora all turned to blink at Emma strangely. "Couldn't we just… tell her?" Erik asked, unsure what she meant.

Pouting, Emma looked at him with something that almost approached blame, not that she ever truly would. "Of course not!" she grumbled. "Her whole life is about to change…"

Erik halted in his steps, looking a little bewildered as he glanced between Emma and the training room ahead, the latter of which held Alice. "I mean… Yeah, the family is about to expand, but—"

"No, no," Emma stubbornly denied, shaking her head. "She's about to get a sibling!" She frowned seriously at the three people around her. "I know none of you had siblings, but it changes everything, especially when you're the older one!"

She looked over towards the training room with a difficult expression. "I may not have experienced that myself, but… I've talked with Big Em about it. After being the centre of your parents' world for several years, you're… suddenly not anymore. And that can hit hard."

She looked over at Erik again, sternly. "But most importantly… She might become worried because she's not your biological daughter."

Erik parted his lips, but no sound came out. He closed them again and frowned thoughtfully. The fact that his normally so soft-spoken and few-worded wife was clearly trying to impress the importance of this matter onto him was more than enough for him to take her words very seriously.

After a moment, he sighed and nodded. "You're right, Emma… We'll find a good time and way to tell her."

Emma's stern expression melted as snow under the sun. Smiling brightly, she nodded without another word, and their group continued to move into the training room.

Unsurprisingly, Alice was impatiently waiting for them. Tapping her foot and folding her arms, she stood in the middle of the arena, pouting. When Erik and the others finally entered, she narrowed her eyes and planted her hands on her hips. "Finally!" she cried out. "If you're gonna move that slowly in battle, you'll stand no chance against me!"

Chuckling, Erik leapt halfway across the room to land across from her with a heavy thump. "Those are fighting words, little fur-ball!" he grinned, hands clasped behind his back. "I hope you can back them up!"

Alice, in her wereverine form, crouched down into a combat stance, smiling ferociously and showing off her dangerous fangs. "You bet! Today, I'll force you to change shape and face me in animal form!"

Erik's grin widened. He'd have to disappoint her, but he loved the fire in her belly. If this were a play fight in a normal world, he would probably at least pretend she forced him to transform, but… this was neither a play fight nor a normal world. No, Alice was high on her breakthrough, and she needed to be reminded of the difference that still existed between her and the third rank lest she become even more reckless than she already is.

Still, he wanted to see her go all out. "I'd very much like to see that, little fur-ball, but we both know it's not going to happen." Alice released a challenging growl, but before she could respond, Erik cocked his head. "But… if you manage to impress me, we'll take your training on the road for a while."

Alice blinked and turned from battle-ready to curious. "What do you mean?"

Erik smiled at her. "Well… After we return to Enkare Nkai, I'll spend a little time to get the Elorium core out of my soul," he explained, tapping his sternum. "But after that, I'll travel around Africa for a little while to… meet with some people and set some things in motion. Astrid will stay in Enkare Nkai during that time, and this fight will decide whether you'll stay here to train with her… or come with me."

He'd already spoken with his wives about this, so none of them were surprised. When he left, Astrid would remain here to aid in the defence of their territory and help train the strongest of their warriors.

Elora would come with him, of course. After her place in his soul was restored, they'd once again be unable to be very far apart from each other, after all. Naeku would likely come as well, though he hadn't spoken about it with her yet, as she was still in seclusion.

He suspected she might break through to the third rank before he left, but then she'd still have to fuse her desert and nature affinities. Plus, having her with him would lend a certain level of legitimacy if he met with other rulers. Though Erik was the indisputed ruler of both Enkare Nkai and Maghreb, he was new, and Naeku was not.

Emily was still away on her own mission, of course, and finally… he'd expected Emma would be unwilling to budge from his side, but the truth had surprised him.

Though she clearly didn't like leaving him without a maid, she was planning to use this time to train his first, full-time, non-wife maid, who'd serve him under her. According to her, she would make absolutely sure this trip without her would be the very last time he'd ever be without a maid.

After explaining the stakes to Alice, the young wereverine unsurprisingly became even more animated and excited. "Really?!" she cried out with wide eyes, losing her combat stance to hop up and down. "A- And you won't force me to stay in the dimension like most of the time, right?!"

"If you impress me, no," Erik smiled warmly, but then raised an eyebrow and grew a little more stern. "So long as you do listen to me. When I tell you stay close to me, you'll stay close to me, and when I tell you get into the dimension, you'll do so. Understood? One mistake will have you thrown in here for the rest of the trip."

The excited Alice barely listened to that last part, nodding rapidly. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely! I'll be good, Dad! I promise!"

Losing his stern expression once again, Erik grinned before beckoning her challengingly. "Don't promise anything yet, little fur-ball. You need to impress me first!"