Pov: Damian
I didn't mean to end up here.
I'd aimed for a planet with a healer after a... disagreement that left me half-dead.
I missed.
Badly.
I still remember the crash.
Pain—searing, relentless. It tore through me like fire under my skin. I slammed into the ground, rolled across soft moss and cracked roots, and finally went still.
"Fuck," I gasped. I'd escaped. Barely.
Each breath felt like a knife to the ribs. I tried to block it out and focus on something else—anything else.
The air was thick with sweetness, almost sickly. The sky above me pulsed in hues of lavender and rose, clouds rippling like silk. Too perfect to be real.
Where the hell was I?
I coughed, smoke curling from my lips. I couldn't shift again. Couldn't even lift my arm. I was too far gone.
Then—
Rustling. A voice, light and curious:
"You're…new."
I cracked one eye open.
A figure hovered above me—female, winged. Midnight-black curls framed a glowing face, her eyes gold.
"You're bleeding. A lot," she said, leaning in.
"…Thanks for the update," I rasped.
Her eyes lit up. "You speak!"
I tried to sit up. Failed.
She reached out and pressed warm fingers to my side. There was a faint glow—not enough to heal, but enough to make the pain fade just a little.
"My name is Kaelira."
"Damian," I managed.
She beamed. "Damian. That's now my second favourite word."
I huffed a laugh. It came out more like a wheeze.
Then, without a hint of effort, she slid her arms under me and lifted me like I weighed nothing.
"I'm taking you to my favourite spot," she said. "It's where I help injured wil-o-cubs. The lake will help you feel better. Trust me."
Not that I had a choice.
But something in me did trust her.
She was small—my feet dragged along the ground as she carried me. There was no way it was muscle; she was far too tiny. Her black curls framed a delicate face, red lips vivid against pale, almost glowing skin. She wore a long, flowing dress that brushed her bare feet with every step.
And there was something else—something deeper. A strange, quiet power radiated from her.
She brought me to what she called her favourite place: a glimmering lake nestled between flower-drenched banks and spiralling trees.
Still holding me, she stepped into the water, each movement calm and sure. She gently lowered me in.
The lake was warm—comforting, even. She supported me with ease, keeping my head above water while the rest of me soaked beneath the surface.
I could feel it working. My power trickled back. Wounds began to close. Energy returned, slow but steady.
"What is this place?" I asked.
"Oh!" She tapped herself on her head, "Sorry—I know you talk, it's just still a little shocking," she said, helping me float on my own. "This is my favourite place. It's near the sugar blossoms. Everything here is beautiful, but the lake's special. It heals. It makes you feel good."
"And this planet?"
"I call it Bloom. It's my home," she said, eyes locked on me. She looked like she was… vibrating?
"Do you mind if I ask you a question, Damian?"
"Sure—"
"What are you? How did you get here? How can you understand me and respond? Are there more like you? Do you eat fruit? There's this one that changes colour and it's delicious—do you want to try it?"
Yeah… she had definitely been holding back. No wonder she looked ready to explode.
"How long have you been here?" I asked.
"I don't know. I've been here… forever, I think. I don't remember anything before. Just that this is home."
"And your family?"
"Family?" She tilted her head. "Oh… You mean others who live here?"
I nodded.
"There's the wil-o-cubs, Fluffhops, Luna Flies, Duskhorns—"
"Okay, got it. You named them, didn't you?"
"Yeah! How did you know?"
"…Lucky guess."
"Can I call you D?"
It had been a long time since anyone gave me a nickname.
"Sure."
Now? Bloom is my home. And so is Kaelira.
We spend our days running through forests, racing under starlight, lounging on mossy banks with nothing but sky overhead. No war. No blood. Just peace.
At least, until recently.
Now I've got a new problem:
What books have I been giving her?
It started out innocent enough. She'd gotten obsessed with human stories—especially romance. After the first one from Nythera, she was hooked. I asked a Velari merchant to bring her more—same vibe, same genre, easy.
Or so I thought.
"Damian."
"Mhm?" I mumbled, half-asleep in the grass.
Kaelira was sitting beside me, cradling my hand as she flipped through her latest read. Her wings glowed softly in the light, her curls tumbling around her shoulders.
She glanced up. "Why does hand-holding make someone's heart race? Is something wrong with them?"
I cracked one eye open. "No… Sometimes when people care about someone a lot, even small touches feel intense."
"But I hold your hand and nothing happens." She looked genuinely concerned.
I sat up, smirking. "Kae, I love you—"
"And I love you, but my face isn't burning."
I flicked her forehead. "Let me finish, Featherbrain. Love and being in love are different. That's when the weird stuff starts happening. Not like what you and I have."
"You and I?"
"I'd fight for you, bleed for you, maybe even die for you. That's loyalty. Protection. Family, in a weird magical-wolf way."
She tilts her head, still waiting.
"But romantic love… that's something else. That's when someone sees every part of you — the good, the bad, the broken — and doesn't run. When their presence settles you, and their absence wrecks you. When a glance feels like gravity, and you'd rather go through a storm holding their hand than stand in sunshine alone."
She blinks. "Have you felt that?"
I look away.
"No. I've just watched too many idiots fall face-first into it. And once they do, they're never the same. It's like they rewrite their world around one person. Everything else starts revolving differently."
"That sounds…"
"Dangerous," I cut in. "Beautiful. And probably awful."
"But I think… when it's real, it's worth it. Even if it hurts."
But recently, her questions have gotten… dangerous.
"Damian?"
"Yeah?"
"They said she felt heat between her legs… is she sick?"
I blinked. "…No."
"Is it true lovers sometimes bite each other? Why would that be romantic?"
"…Kae."
"Do people really… touch each other there when they're in love?"
"…Give me that book."
She held up the offending novel. Bound to the Duke's Desire.
I reached for it. She snatched it back like a squirrel with a nut.
"Give it back, D. You can read it when I'm done."
I stared at her. She stared back, entirely unbothered.
I should've screened these damn books.
Now I was stuck being her teacher—for this kind of thing.
Later that evening, Kaelira was curled beside me on the mossy bank, wings softly glowing in the twilight, her nose buried in yet another human romance novel. I could tell because every five seconds, she gasped like she'd just read a sacred prophecy.
"Damian."
"Mmm?" I was half-asleep, one arm behind my head.
"Why do lovers always 'tremble with longing'? Is that a symptom of something?"
I cracked an eye open. "No… It's just dramatic language. They mean emotional longing. Mostly."
She frowned, lips pursed in thought. "So they're not cold?"
"No."
"What about when the heroine says, 'I yearn for his touch like the desert craves rain'? That sounds... painful."
"That's metaphorical, Featherbrain."
"Oh." She nodded solemnly, then suddenly sat upright and declared in a sultry tone, "Damian, I burn for you like the moon burns for the tide!"
I stared at her. "Please never say that again."
"Why not?" she asked, completely serious.
"For one, the moon doesn't burn for the tide. That's not even how gravity works."
She waved a hand. "You're missing the emotional intent."
"I'm intentionally missing it."
She sniffed and turned back to her book. A few minutes passed in silence before she asked, "Why does she say her thighs clenched every time he walked into the room? Did he do something to them?"
I choked on absolutely nothing.
Kaelira looked over, concerned. "Do you need water?"
"No. No, I'm good." I coughed into my sleeve. "It's... a physical response to attraction."
Her head tilted. "So your legs tense when you're near someone you want to mate with?"
I groaned. "That's one way to put it."
She nodded thoughtfully and started scribbling in the dirt with a stick. A diagram. I caught the word thighs beside a stick figure.
Then she stood up, book in hand, and raised an eyebrow. "The next chapter is called Velvet Heat and Bruised Lips. Do you think it's a combat scene?"
"I'm almost certain it's not."
She gasped. "Is this the part where they bite each other?"
"Kaelira."
"Should I practice on you? I promise to be gentle."
"No, absolutely not!" I sat up, flailing an arm between us. "No biting!"
She pouted. "You're no fun."
"And you've been corrupted by paper and ink."
Still, she slid back beside me, resting her head on my shoulder with a little hum.
"If you won't let me bite you… will you at least read the next chapter with me?"
I sighed. "Only if I get to censor anything with the word velvet in it."
"Deal," she said, beaming. "But you'll regret it. This Duke is very emotionally constipated. I think you'll relate."
"…You're lucky I'm too tired to teleport."
After a while, I found the strength to teleport. Kae's curiosity was endless. I did not have the skillset to deal with this.
"Stop" I put my hand up stopping her mid rant.
I stared at the sky for a moment, then muttered, "Give me a second."
And with that, I turned to smoke and vanished—straight to Nythera.
Someone out there had better know how the hell you explain sex to a thousand-year-old girl with a kitten's curiosity and the reading list of a hormonal teenager.