Free The Fire and the Storm - Metric Pro Edition: Fiction, Dragons, Elves, Unicorns, Magic by Mr Wayne Edward Clarke

friend that the spirit of the sword chose for her own sake, as her affection for Talia and Mark was duty-bound and spelled.  Of course it helped that Quewanak was the only being in the settlement besides Talia whose touch was able to invoke Ria from the sword.  Having two people who could do so afforded Ria many more hours of consciousness than she would normally have enjoyed, since Talia could not hold her sword for every hour of the day, and Quewanak did not need to sleep.
    Sometimes Mark commanded their little militia, sometimes Yazadril did, or Alilia,  But they all learned from every experience, and their skills increased rapidly.
     
    There came a day in their third month on Hiliani when Mark and Talia were visited late in the evening by Hilsith, Yzell, and Alilia.
    “Be welcome.” Talia said as she waved them in with a smile.
    “I hope we’re not interrupting?” Yzell asked as they were seated in the living room.
    “No, we’re just studying Somonik’s history of the first demon war, as translated and transcribed by Quewanak.” Mark explained, showing them the twenty-seventh volume of the one hundred and thirty that detailed that ancient conflict.
    “Good.  I know it’s late, so I’ll explain why we’ve come.” Yzell said as she accepted a cup of herbal tea from Talia.
    “Alilia is conflicted because she desires something very much, yet she does not wish to desire it.  She confided in Hilsith as her Healer, who counseled her, and recommended that they ask me about aspects of her problem, which they did.
    “Alilia has told us of the breakup of her marriage to Gorsh, her vow of restitution and service to you both, and the times when you have shared your bed with her.  There are things you may not be aware of.  Talia, Alilia loves you very much, in addition to the many other emotions she feels about you.  And Mark, Alilia is desperately in love with you, along with all else she feels for you.  Furthermore, since the time when she thought her son Bezedil was lost to her, she has strongly desired to have another child.  Yet she has low fertility, and Bezedil is the only child she bore in over four thousand years of marriage.
    “Mark, either your fertility is astounding, or your fertility with Talia only is astounding, or it was an incredible fluke that she managed to become pregnant by you the very first time you made love.  That pregnancy was ended by the curse, and then you began using a contraceptive spell, and then she became pregnant again on your first try when she stopped using the spell.  That eliminates the possibility that her first pregnancy was a fluke.  You are incredibly fertile, either with Talia alone, or with any female elf, or possibly with any female humanoid, including giants, dwarves, gnomes, and sylvan.  As a researching midwife engaged in the study of inter-racial fertility and elven fertility in general, I am of course very interested in the possibility that I might be able to isolate the property of your sperm that allows an elven female to become pregnant so easily, without decades of devoted mated love.
    “I’m asking this on my behalf as a researcher, and I’m asking this on Alilia’s behalf because she doesn’t feel comfortable with asking it herself.
    “She asks that the two of you will allow her to become pregnant by you, Mark.  They asked me if she could become pregnant by you, and I think she could.  And I ask that I be allowed to observe and record the conception with every diagnostic spell that we can bring to bear.”
    There was a long silence.
    Alilia, who had been sitting staring down at her cup of tea with disciplined calm, softly spoke.
    “I know that neither of you love me, though you do like me well enough, which is amazing, considering all that’s transpired between us.  I know you do find me to be attractive, and I think I can be confident that you’ve both enjoyed the erotic times we have occasionally shared.
    “If you do this for me,