Duality

"Did you mark her?" Tazaa asked as she stripped off and helped Laenda to wash herself and Merla.

"Yep. Grammie belong Merla. Need more fix. Lot pain. Not want hurt grammie." Merla said. She yawned. "Winter close." Laenda blushed brightly when Merla said that, but it was missed by her wife.

"Why were the discharges darker, Merla?" Tazaa asked.

"Bones. Needed grow. Broken. Thin. Eat more cheese. Marrow. Grammie teeth change. Harder. Chew bones easy." Laenda opened her mouth and let Tazaa look inside.

"Oh. If your bones are more hollow, Laenda, you'll need to eat more to fix them. I see. Strong bones means a strong base." Tazaa said and lightly rubbed her wife's shoulders. She licked her lips, and heard Merla giggle.

"Grammie, be good. Later be nice grammie. Grammie real hungry." Merla said. Laenda's belly growled.

"I've been hungry since she fixed me." Laenda said softly. "The work needs fuel, so I need to eat." Tazaa kissed her cheek.

"I'll go get the boar on, my lovely wife." Tazaa left, while Laenda looked down at her.

"Are you sure you need to sleep all winter?" Laenda said.

"Merla tired. Grammie soft. Warm. Hate cold." Merla yawned again. "Month. Sleep four. Like bear." Laenda sighed.

"Your mothers are going to fall off their branches." She said softly. Merla's eyes started to glow.

"Like our goddesses, I hate the cold. It is a necessity, and you've been chosen." Merla said with a clear voice, quite unlike her childish broken speech. Laenda sighed a bit, but hugged her gently.

"I guess it is a blessing to be chosen, even if it is embarrassing." Laenda said softly.

"Grammmie special. Belong Merla." Merla snuggled in to her belly and chest, happily rubbed her face against the soft flesh, and smiled.

"Grammies love Merla. Merla love grammies."

* * *

"I said I would gouge out your eyes if you keep watching her like that, Taen." Tazaa said firmly. Laenda had gorged herself on half a boar already, and chewed the bones of that boar like they were softened for days in a stew.

"That is a lot of meat, momma." Taen said quietly as she watched her mother crunch the bones without a problem.

"Merla's fix made her hungry. She was damaged, at her base, and needs the bones to recover." Tazaa said and happily watched her wife eat the meat and bones. "I can see her muscles harden again, while she still has that softness she gained." Merla crawled around on the couch, and climbed onto Tazaa's back.

"Make Meena eat, grammie. She scared. Meena belong Merla. Take Meena. Ceree mooney." Merla said and watched Tazaa smile and laugh.

"Alright, Merla. We'll bring her to your birthing ceremony. She will be your adopted aunt, so she'll be allowed close to you there. Maybe you'll see some children your own age, and can play with." Tazaa said. Merla yawned a bit.

"Grammie." Merla whispered in her ear. "Stay with Meena. Ceree mooney. Feel air. Air wrong. Bad." Tazaa calmed her laughter.

"You want me to protect her from something?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah. Big people way up. Watch Merla. Meena mine. Merla watch Meena." Tazaa got what her granddaughter meant.

The goddesses watched over Merla, so she didn't need her protection like Meena did. Tazaa slowly nodded, but she wondered what had Merla agitated like that.

Merla put her lips on Tazaa's shoulder, and though it looked like she had only rubbed her face and tried to go to sleep, Tazaa felt her fangs slide through her skin.

Manna flowed gently through her body this time, not making any outward changes that would cause her to undergo the manna eruptions, but Tazaa could feel how it slid through her body. It was intimate, and touched her entire body from the inside.

Tazaa could feel her consciousness gain a form, a body like her physical one, that was able to stand and see what Merla did to her. Her entire physical self, within and without, was restrained by manna bands under the skin. Her bones, which had been strengthened already, were wrapped with manna that slowly seeped right into her marrow.

She gasped. Her consciousness could feel the agony, but it moved from her physical body to her consciousness so that her body didn't make any outward sounds. Her marrow seemed to burn away, but was actually infused with manna that now radiated outward into her bones.

The bands faded, and just before her consciousness merged within her body once again, she heard Merla's whisper at her ear.

"Grammie eat strong bones. Iron. Get strong bones." Merla rubbed her face on Tazaa's shoulder. "Grammie protect Meena, Merla, grammie. Merla make strong." Tazaa smiled gently, and moved Merla into her arms so she could let her sleep against her shoulder.

"I will protect you, just as I promised."

* * *

"Smile a bit, Tazaa." Laenda said as she held her wife's hand, and Meena's. "It's her birthing ceremony. She's finally able to have one, after being away from us for so long."

"You knew?" Tazaa asked her.

"Of course. She's definitely their daughter. Taen is exactly like her." She snarled a bit. "Chasing a wife before she should. However, Merla went even further, and forced her choice to submit with her power at such a young age." She forced herself to stay calm. "It's not even Meena's fault either."

"It isn't. I am not calm because Merla wants me to watch over you and Meena. She says that something isn't right. There is something in the air that feels wrong to her." Tazaa felt her wife stiffen.

"Should you hold Meena's hand while I hold yours? I don't want you to be unable to react to the danger. If she wants you to watch over me and Meena, she's afraid something will be directed at either of us." Laenda said quietly.

"You're both a package. Wrap around her, and I'll protect you." Tazaa watched as Lyra carried Merla, and had no sense of area, or possible danger.

"What kind of wife did she marry? Everywhere Merla goes, something tries to get to her!" Tazaa said as they walked into the hall. Even Taen seemed oblivious, however, Tazaa was not.

"Attention!" Lady Lixiss called out from the front of the hall. "Today is the birthing ceremony for the young orcs of our tribe. We have three children to celebrate the birth of." Merla looked around and frowned.

"Three? Only two. Merla." She pointed to another who was on the other side of the room. "Her." She pointed to the one in the middle of the room. "That one human."

Lixiss watched as the one Merla pointed to pulled out a dagger and started to run. Towards herself, and the Mother Queen.

"Fuck. I think we found our spy."