"Lady Tephe!"
"White savour."
"Honoured dragon."
All sorts of greetings followed Tephe as the three of them returned to the city to continue their date.
The phoenixes had already been hugely respectful to Tephe since her arrival; however, after she revealed herself to be the dragon that had saved their entire race, their respect for her had only increased.
Many of them wanted to approach and speak with her; however, their respect for their empress stopped them and they made do with just shouting greetings from afar.
"Someone's popular," Adam said with a smirk.
"Well, I am great," Tephe said proudly while occasionally waving to people who greeted her.
"You could get a similar, if not greater, welcome if you only revealed your identity," Revi said to Adam.
"It's fine, this is Tephe's moment, so let her enjoy it," Adam replied simply.
Revi sighed and shook her head before glancing at Tephe and asking, "So, care to explain what happened back there?"
"What do you mean?" Tephe asked.
"How did you become a green dragon all of a sudden, obviously?" Revi asked in an exasperated tone.
"No idea," Tephe replied simply before thinking for a moment and then saying, "Maybe it had something to do with my dream."
"Dream?" Adam asked.
"Actually, maybe it's better to call it a memory from before I could even take human form," Tephe replied before explaining the dream to them.
"Interesting," Revi mumbles after hearing Tephe's story.
"You have a theory?" Adam asked.
"Possibly, but it's a wild one since nothing like this has ever happened before," Revi replied before continuing.
"It's possible that Tephe's iridescent form gives her more than a power boost; perhaps it allows her access to her green dragon form that she should have been born as."
"Because of her mother, you mean?" Adam asked.
"Exactly," Revi nodded.
"Could it also be the sudden transformation that made her lose control of herself?" Adam asked.
"It would make sense, I mean, she did become far stronger after taking on her green dragon form," Revi replied.
"Lose control of myself?" Tephe asked in confusion.
"You don't remember?" Adam asked in surprise before explaining, "After you emerged from the lava, you never spoke and simply focused on attacking Kalre.
Even after the fight was over, you still went in for the kill and even snarled at Revi when she stopped you."
"Is that why you pinned me down?" Tephe asked Revi in surprise before apologising, "Revi, I'm so sorry, I can't believe I snarled at you."
"It's ok, you weren't thinking clearly," Revi replied while smiling.
"Thanks, Revi, you're the best," Tephe replied happily, making Revi smile, or at least until Tephe's next comment.
"You're way too heavy, though. Maybe you should consider going on a diet."
"A diet?" Revi repeated in annoyance before saying, "Come here, you little whelp."
"Ahhh, Adam, save me," Tephe yelled playfully as she dashed off into the crowd with Revi hot on her heels, while Adam and the crowd watched in amusement.
💫💫💫
Reef Galaxy, Aqua Primus.
"Look, there it's Muriel, I heard that the Sealord has given her special permission to grant any request Diva Lorelie may have," a client who sat at a restaurant whispered to her friend after noticing who had just entered the restaurant.
"That's Kasumi, the famous actress, with her. I had heard rumours she was holidaying here, but it's the first time I've seen her."
"Who's that other woman with them?"
"That's Lady Erkath, she owns Erkath Fashion and is the former Universal Senator for the Hades Galaxy."
"Riigghhhttt, now I recognise her. What's she doing here?"
"Welcome, Lady Muriel. Your table has been prepared for you and your party," the restaurant's greeter said respectfully before adding, "If you would follow me, please."
"Thank you," Muriel replied before she, Kasumi and Erkath followed the greeter to their table.
"Someone will be over shortly to take your order. Please enjoy your meal," the greeter said before departing.
"So how was your trip, Lady Erkath?" Muriel asked as the three women sat down.
"Boring, it's lucky I had a couple of Adams streams to keep me entertained," Erkath replied before adding, "Please, just call me Erkath, you're letting me stay at your lovely home after all."
"I'm more than happy to host you both as well as the others after their arrival," Muriel replied.
"I have to admit that I never thought I would enjoy watching a streamer so much," Kasumi remarked.
"Is watching him all you want to do?" Erkath asked with a smirk.
Kasumi rolled her eyes before saying, "We both know he's only willing to help me because of Rowena, anyway, isn't it you she wanted to hook him up with?"
"We both know she was kidding about that," Erkath answered.
"If you say so," Kasumi replied while smiling.
"Am I right in thinking that Diva Rowena is trying to set you up with her and Diva Lorelie's boyfriend?" Muriel asked in surprise.
"So she jokingly implied while he slept in her lap," Erkath said while shaking her head.
"Excuse me?" Muriel asked in surprise.
"Apparently, she'd just finished feeding on him when she called us," Erkath replied.
"Among other things," Kasumi added with a smirk.
"What?" Muriel asked in confusion.
"The pair just finished being, cough, intimate," Kasumi replied after coughing slightly.
"Lucky guy," Muriel said with a sigh before covering her mouth in horror at what she had just revealed.
"Oh ho!" Erkath responded while both women looked at Muriel with interest before Kasumi said, "And here I thought it was Diva Lorelie you would be interested in."
Muriel blushed and avoided eye contact upon hearing Kasumi's statement, making the other two women share a knowing look.
At that moment, a waiter arrived to take their order and they took a few minutes to order their food and wine to drink before the discussion continued.
Erkath took a sip of her wine before saying, "I'm afraid you won't have much success in your wish to have fun with Rowena or Lorelie."
"What!" Muriel said in surprise before looking away again while mumbling, "I don't know what you mean."
"Uh-huh," Erkath replied with a knowing smile.
"You mean their rule of not having fun outside the group?" Kasumi asked while both women noticed Muriel subtly listening in.
💫💫💫
"So other than the distraction that idiot Narven brought, how did your date go?" Elemence asked with a smile.
Revi had just returned to the palace after ending her date with Adam and found Elemence working in her office, eager to question her about it.
"It was very enjoyable, even with that idiot's interruption," Revi replied as she sat down behind her desk before asking, "How is Kalre?"
"Doctor Aurora just sent her report over and I'm happy to say that Kalre's wing, as well as the gouges in his body, should be healed within a couple of days," Elemence replied.
"Good," Revi replied before adding, "I just hope Narven finally got the message that I'm not interested."
"Considering the rumours now spreading in the capital about you being in a relationship with Adam, I'm fairly confident he got the message," Elemence replied before adding, "Still, I'm surprised you returned here."
"What do you mean?" Revi asked.
"I expected to be working here alone and not see you until the morning," Elemence replied with a smirk.
Revi blushed before pouting and asking, "You think I'm that desperate?"
"After two thousand years of waiting, yes," Elemence replied before adding with a smirk, "Not that you know what you're missing yet."
"We have plenty of time, he's not going to vanish on me again," Revi replied.
"Hmm," Elemence remarked while studying her friend.
"What?" Revi asked.
"You can't fool me, Revi. Why don't you tell me the real reason you didn't spend the night with him?" Elemenace asked.
Revi sighed before saying, "Because Tephe would have insisted on joining."
"And you don't want that?" Elemence asked.
"No, quite the opposite," Revi replied before explaining, "I'm fine with Tephe joining us. It's because I can tell that Adam is still not ready to take that step with her."
"I see," Elemence replied before asking, "So what do you plan to do?"
"Fortunately, I'm going on vacation with them, which will give him time to come to terms with the idea while I gently push him in that direction, along with the other girls," Revi replied.
"I'm assuming you're against the idea of having some alone time with Adam so that you can finally make that step?" Elemence asked.
"I would welcome alone time with him, but you're right. I've decided that I wont take that step without Tephe as I don't want a repeat of what happened," Revi replied before adding in an annoyed tone, "Though after that comment she made, I'm half tempted to take the proceed without her."
"Comment?" Elemence asked with interest.
"Oh, you won't believe what she said to me, listen to this," Revi huffed before saying, "That little whelp actually had the audacity to claim that I'm heavy and need to go on a diet, and she even did it in front of Adam."
"Hey! Why are you laughing?" Revi asked as Elemence broke out in laughter.