"Thank you."

Brightfire says "You have always acted in the best interests of my people. So, I trust you, but you should have told me yourself!"

"I would have, eventually. Myria just told you before I wanted you to know. Actually, I planned to have Core explain it to everyone, since she is an elf. Not to mention that even if you accept me, I won't be around much and Core will be in charge for me."

Brightfire says "So, you really will be abandoning us once we reach the peninsula?"

"Not abandoning, but there will be a lot of things for me to take care of. Even if I am your king, there are a lot of other people depending on me."

Lin says "Not to mention the war against the demons to prepare for. Brightfire, you know what Ash has to deal with, at least as much as I do."

Brightfire says "Yeah, sorry. I am just upset and taking it out on you."

"It's alright. Considering I will die sooner rather than later, it would probably be better if I wasn't the king. Still, I will abide by whatever the elves decide."

Brightfire says "I am almost positive that they will want you as king. It would take something major to change that. Besides, I don't think my father would want to be the king."

"That is part of what would make him a good king. For that matter, I don't want to be a king either. However, it is not something I can avoid even if the elves don't want me. Come to think of it, would you want to be the elven queen?"

Brightfire says "No way! I already feel overwhelmed just trying to set up an order of knights. Being the queen would be way beyond my abilities."

"I am also not qualified to be a king, but luckily I have a lot of good people I can depend on to help me. If it wasn't for that, I would probably go down as the worst king in history."

Brightfire says "I don't think that's true. I think you would make a good king. Otherwise I wouldn't support you no matter what you have done for my people."

"There is no point in arguing about it, we will find out in due time."

Lin says "For what it's worth, I also think you will make a good king. You care too much about others for you to be a bad king."

"Thank you. I hope you are right since I have no choice but to become a king. I hope you realize that I am going to be counting on your help."

Lin says "You know I will help if I can. Especially with anything magical."

Brightfire laughs and says "You are as dense as he is at times, Lin. I am pretty sure he means he wants you to be his queen."

Lin says "What?! Really?!"

"Well, yeah. That's kind of what I was leaning towards, but I wasn't going to be quite so blunt about it."

Brightfire says "It wouldn't be fair if I was the only one to end up shocked."

Lin says "This is too sudden, I don't know what to say."

Brightfire says "Too sudden? You should have known this was coming when you decided to become his partner. If he is a king, then you as his partner must be a queen."

Lin says "It is sudden though. I didn't know Ash was the elven king until Myria told us and it was only a few days ago that Ash told me about uniting the beastmen and becoming their king. However, you are right, if I want to be his partner that will mean being the queen."

"It's not too late to change your mind."

Lin says "Don't even start that! I am not going to change my mind, you are stuck with me!"

Brightfire says "So, then you will be the queen."

"Don't stress over it. You still have until we reach the peninsula to get used to the idea."

Lin says "What worries me, is how are the beastmen going to react to you having a human queen? For that matter, I doubt the elves will be happy about it either."

Brightfire says "I can't say about the beastmen, but the elves who know you respect you. Once they get used to the idea, I don't think there would be any problems."

"Frankly, I don't care what anyone thinks. If they don't like it, they can find another king or they can challenge me."

Lin says "No, I don't want to cause problems for you!"

"You won't. Besides, don't forget about Myria. She can handle the beastmen if they want to cause problems."

Brightfire says "So, you are going to have at least two queens?"

"Yeah, probably. I hadn't really thought about it all that much. Does that mean that you have decided to take yourself out of the running?"

Brightfire says "Yes. While I like you, I don't like you enough to share you with others. Especially now that I know it would mean being a queen. Although, you having a queen from each of the races wouldn't be a bad idea. At least as far as ruling goes."

"No way! Each tribe of beastmen considers themselves a separate race. Do you know how many wives that would be? Not happening!"

Seeing my reaction, both Lin and Brightfire start laughing, which helps with the tension. Brightfire is fairly worked up after the conversation and takes the opportunity to leave the soulscape. Lin looks like she has a lot on her mind, so I leave her alone and return to playing with the kids.

The kids eventually get tired and leave, Lin is already gone so I end the soulscape. When I open my eyes I don't see her, so I head upstairs to our room to look for her. She is waiting for me in bed and it doesn't look like she has changed her mind.

In the morning we wake up late and have breakfast with the kids, as usual. Once we are done eating, Lin asks me to get her a supply of wood, she wants to copy more books. So, I go out, pull up five trees, and cut them into decent sized pieces for her.

Lin says "That should be enough. Thank you. Enjoy your exploring."

"We will. We should be back around lunch time. If we are going to be longer, I will contact you."

Lin says "Alright. Try to stay out of trouble."

I give Lin a kiss, then head outside and drop shapeshift before calling for the kids. Without Lin to help, I cheat and use my mana to get the kids on my back. Once they are harnessed and ready, I take off violently to give the kids a thrill.

As soon as I have some altitude I start doing acrobatics and making the kids scream. They are loving it, especially when I drop down and weave between the trees. The scarier the ride I give them, the more the kids scream in excitement.