"Are you sure you won't stay longer?" Rea asks me as we prepare to leave the next morning.

"On the way back." I offer. "But, I want to get to Riverton before this storm rolls in." My words make her look from me to the clear blue sky with a hint of skepticism. "It'll be raining buckets by tonight, I promise." I say with a laugh.

"Trust him." Apricot backs me up. "I can feel it building way off to the south."

"I'll spread the word then." She nods. "And, thank you once again for the fountains and the enchantments at the keep."

"I need to keep my favorite mayor happy, after all." I give her a beaming smile before we pile into the van. "Take care, and stay dry." We wave to her, Coen, and Captain Brant as we drive away.

"So, I see someone stayed up late last night." Amelia teases me when we drive past one of the fountains.

"More like you two went to bed early, and I was stuck all on my lonesome." I put on a fake pout. "But it's probably a good thing I did, I do not like the feel of that storm that's building. I'd much rather wait it out in Riverton."

"It's odd that we're getting one from the gulf, this time of year they usually come down from the mountains." She says while peering out the window to the mountains just visible in the distance.

"They're clear for now." I say after a quick magical glance.

"Let's hope they stay so." She mutters. "Last thing we need is two storms meeting."

"I'll keep an eye out, but it should be okay. Even if a big hurricane hits the town, Coen can dig a shelter for everyone. And, between you, me, and the other mages at Riverton, it won't be in any danger."

"I know." A sigh slips from her lips. "I just had to ride out a few too many storms under a creaky wagon. I should know that it won't be an issue now that I have Magic, but there's still that fear in the back of my head."

"Oh, you poor baby." Apricot pulls her into a hug. "Don't you worry, we'll protect you from the scary storm."

"Hahaha." Amelia laughs and plays with Apricot's mop of hair. "Thanks sweetie, but I'll be fine, knowing that a storm was coming was always worse than actually dealing with it."

"Well, if it heads our way, I'll go and teach it a lesson just for you." I pat her on the knee. "Then again, we could always work a bit more on your exposure therapy." A sly grin covers my face as my hand starts sliding up her thigh. "Just imagine how great the sex would be while flying in the middle of a storm."

"Now, that's an idea." Apricot's smile matches mine perfectly.

"We might have to work up to that one." Amelia says with a nervous laugh but doesn't stop either of our hands.

One very relaxing car ride later and we arrive at the gates of Riverton, with half a sky full of nasty bruise-colored clouds not far behind us.

"Marquis Rumex, Marchionesses." The gate guard greets us. "Baron Pepi apologizes for not being here to greet you, but an issue concerning the storm came up and pulled him back to the manor."

"That's fine." I wave the matter away. "Please call ahead and tell them that we've arrived, and will be joining him shortly."

He salutes, and signals one of his mates in the guard shack to do as I said. The roads are a little hectic with people doing last minute preparations for the storm, so it takes us a few minutes to reach the baron's.

"Marquis, Marchionesses." The Baron greets us just outside his home right as the first drops start falling. "Sorry, I wasn't at the gate, but we just received an urgent messenger bird from Hedgecoast. It started flooding this morning, and the inhabitants had to seek higher ground. I was just speaking with the mages to see what we could do for them."

"It'll take them days just to get there." I comment as we walk leisurely inside, after all, there's no need to run from the rain when you have magic. "And that's if all the Air and Water mages take turns pushing a boat." I glance over at Amelia.

"I'm alright, we can go help them if you want." She answers my unasked question.

"Well, it has been a lifetime since I've been to the beach." I joke, making Apricot snort and Amelia groan at my wordplay. "Well, it looks like I'm building a boat. Might take a bit of work, but I should be able to get us there in a few hours."

"Yes, sir." Pepi doesn't question or even seem surprised at my claim. "Is there anything you need from us?"

"Hmm, could we borrow the Earth Mages? This will be a good chance to get to know them before we take on our little mission." I'd take more along too, since I'm betting that everyone is going to want to tag along when we hit Cendassa, but I need to keep the weight down on the boat. "They can shelter the townspeople while we blunt the storm."

"Packston, Dieter, and Liza." He calls out as we enter a large meeting room. "The Marquis is wondering if you'd be willing to take a boat ride." He says with a wide smile.

"Just them?" A young Fire Mage named Nikki Sprouse asks, in a disappointed tone.

"Sorry, but the six people is probably pushing it for the speed boat I have in mind." I explain. "But, don't worry. I'll take anyone with an empty inventory that wants to go when we make the run on the mines." This seems to re-assure her, and a few of the others.

"Now, that is good to hear." The look on her face makes me a little worried about what might happen when we run into some Cendassan troops. "I volunteered for this job because I came from Riverton, and still have family here. I'm hoping to make them pay."

"They will." I say flatly before adding in a firm tone. "But, that mission is going to be as stealthy as possible. I don't want you frying the first guard we come across." I look her square in the eyes until she nods. Spreading my glance to the others, they quickly follow suit.

""Sir."" They all salute as one.

"Alright, let's hit the water." I nod to the Baron and turn around. "Amelia, would you mind driving? I need to redesign the motorcycle engines to work on a motorboat." Saying as much, I take out my bike and rip out the engine and transmission before shoving the rest back into my inventory.

"Are we gonna go as fast as we did on the bikes?" Apricot asks with a wicked grin while looking back at the mages following us to the van.

"That's the plan." I reply with a hint of humor as I hear a couple of them gulp. "May need to cheat with magic a bit though, this is my first time building a boat, after all."

"Would you two quit teasing them." Amelia says in a firm tone, but it's hard to take her seriously with the smile pulling up the corners of her mouth.

"Who's teasing?" I say in mock solemnity. "The people in my lands need my help, it's the least I can do to try and get us there in a couple hours."

"Nnh." One of them whimpers after working out how fast we'll need to travel to cover over six-hundred-fifty kilometers in two hours.

"Don't worry, you guys will love it." I say and open the van door for them. "I just hope that none of you get sea-sick, the storm pushing up the river is bound to make things a bit choppy." I chuckle as Dieter blanches. "Oh, I'm just messing with you, the ride's going to be smooth as silk."

"Oh, suck it up Dieter." Liza pushes him into the bench seat I added to the back for the three of them. "Look at it this way, the faster we go down the river, means less time spent on the water. What's a few hundred kilometers an hour, really?"

***

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Liza screams a couple hours later as the speedboat ploughs through a solid wall of a wave that was kicked up by the winds from the storm.

"What are you screaming for?" Dieter says with a smirk. "There hasn't been a single bump so far, do you really think a little wave is be a problem for him?" He's been cool as a cucumber since we got on the boat, and it didn't even rock underneath us. But, Liza started hyperventilating after we topped a hundred kph.

It got so bad that I had to enclose the cabin and play a movie to distract her. I probably shouldn't have chosen The Perfect Storm, but it was a toss up between that and White Squall, and I prefer Clooney over Bridges. Titanic and Jaws crossed my mind for a second, but the former is too long, even with it taking me longer to get us up to full speed than I thought it would. And, the latter is more of a going to the beach movie.

"How, can you not be freaked out after watching that?" She says with her eyes closed. "And, why did you have to get rid of the walls?" She directs to me, in a quiet voice.

"Because we're there." I announce. "Would have been here sooner, but between the chop, and the outboards being stubborn..." I trail off with a shrug. "Just let me anchor us, and we can go see what we can do for the townspeople. They've all moved about half a kilometer inland to a slight rise." I point to the east as the boat comes to a stop.

Tossing a couple seeds quickly produces a living dock that fuses with the hull to make sure that the boat won't go adrift while we're busy.

"I was afraid that stupid movie of yours would make this all worse for me." Amelia says with a smile. "But, I had no idea the storm would feel like this." She dances up on the deck and twirls around in the pouring rain after leaving my protective umbrella.

"You don't gotta tell me." I laugh as Apricot joins her, not even this weather can do anything to her hair. "I haven't even had to use Blackthorne, I've just been drawing on the storm to smooth our passage."

"Freakin' crazy water mages." Liza mutters and raises and hardens the ground beneath her feet to follow along after us as we dance over the mud like it's solid stone.

"Oh, relax Liza." Packston speaks up. "It was a good story. And, would you really rather have taken days to get here?"

"True." She sighs.

By this time we're close enough that the villagers have noticed my lights, So I call out to them. "Hello Hedgecoast." I block the rain from falling on them where they're huddling under tarps, makeshift tents, and whatever other shelter they could cobble together. "Your Marquis is here to help." A cheer goes up as I dry and warm the lot of them before producing hot food and drink for everyone.

"Thank you lord." An older woman with silver hair, and a straight back approaches me before bowing.

"You must be Ms. Aura Baldwin, yes?" I greet the village head. "I don't see any injured, so I'm going to have Liza, Packston, and Dieter build you some shelter while we go fetch the runaway livestock. Mind watching Mittens for us?" The little guy hops down on the now dry ground and starts begging food from people.

"Yes Lord, and just Aura is fine. And, you don't have to do that. We can round them up in the morning." She starts, but I raise a hand to forestall her objections.

"You're my people, it's my duty to take care of you." What I don't say is that once I stretched my senses out, I found the heart of the storm and it's about to make landfall. "Besides, it should only take me a few minutes, including this poor guy." I show an image of a medium sized mutt perched atop the roof of a flooded home. He's sopping wet, but still clutching a large bone in his teeth.

"Sam!" A boy of five cries out after seeing the projection.

"Don't worry, he's fine." I tell the kid before wrapping the dog in a bubble of Air and pulling him towards us. "Look, he missed you." The dog starts wagging its tail and runs up to the boy as soon as I set him on the ground.

"Thank you Mister." He says while burying his face in the dog’s fur to hide some tears that started to sprout from his eyes.

"Alright, Liza. The rain shield will last another ten minutes." I speak to the excitable Earth Mage. "Get these people some shelter." Order given, I pull the girls to me and create a platform of solid water to carry us away.

"That was a bit abrupt." Amelia says, but Apricot just points into the storm. "...What is that?" Amelia finally says after pushing her sense out into its heart.

"That is how you're going to get Air Magic." The pixie answers her. "No wonder we could feel the storm building from so far away. It was caused by an Air and Water Elemental meeting."

"Are they fighting." We're still near the edge of her perception, so she can't see it as clearly as Apricot or I can.

"That's not how I'd describe it." I chuckle and bring us closer. "Looks like we lucked out with the *Cherenkov* radiation, I'm guessing this is how most Fae bonded manage to Awaken more elements. Though who knows where we'll find more Elementals, let alone get them to fuck."

"How close do you think you can get us?" Apricot asks.

"As close as need be." I start lifting us off the ground. "They aren't paying attention to anything but each other. But, you should open up the link now, and try copying what's happening before they finish up."

"You can do this, babe." Apricot places her hand on Amelia's back and wills the bond open wide. "A bit closer, she's almost got it."

I do as she commands, and after just a moment the echo of that earth shattering ding rings out. The Elementals take no notice, and continue about their 'business'. So, I take us back down while Amelia catches her breath.

"Woo! That is just as much of a rush as the first time." She finally says once we're back on the ground. "What about the animals?" She adds after remembering our original excuse for leaving the encampment.

"They're fine." I re-assure her. "Well, aside from a dairy cow who broke her leg, but I've got them all under rain shields, and a Calm spell. We can go collect them once you're ready."

"Oh, good." She sighs. "Not about the cow, obviously." She adds hastily after Apricot starts sniggering. "But, you can fix her up, so it's no big deal."

"Now that you've seen another example, do you think you can copy it for the rest of the elements?" Apricot asks me after she quits laughing.

"No." I say with a sigh. "I still can't even duplicate the trick with the Light. It must truly be something unique to Fae bonded."

"That must drive you nuts." She says with a smirk before pulling me into a kiss. "Alright, let's get the animals to safety, and then we can show those two how to really put on a show." She gives me a squeeze before dancing away towards the nearest rain shield, which just so happens to be the cow.

"Well, you heard the pixie." Amelia gets her own squeeze in before floating up with her newly gained Magic and following after Apricot. "Hop to it."

I just watch them go for a moment, the rain plastering their clothes down is doing just wonderful things for their figures. "Mmm. Yes, Ma'am." I lift myself up with a thought and race after her. My arms, all four of them, snatch her up from behind, and return her squeeze with interest. Shifting her to one side, I snatch up Apricot a second later.

They squeal and try to escape from my clutches, but I've got them wrapped up tight. And soon they're squealing for an entirely different reason.

***