"This place is called Babylon. It’s a tribe we’ve built for not just Amazons, but our Dark Fae brothers and sisters as well.

We hunt together. Sleep together. Share our food, the spoils of war, our bodies... We have created our own paradise. And even though I loved living among the tree-huggers and getting to raise you, girls... There is no place where I would rather be."

Yari and Giselle listened quietly as their mother rustled through her food storage to put together a meal for them.

A few of the natives stood just outside their mothers’ hut. They were yet another reminder of just how important Giselle had become in their absence.

"I got a bit annoyed a few knights ago, and binged all the meat in my storage... Are you girls alright with red beans and rice for now?"

Griselda looked back to find neither of her children paying her much mind. Instead, they were staring at her, marvelling at the fact that she was standing in front of them, alive and well.

"Are you girls still stuck on this?? It’s been an hour already!"

"Mother... We haven’t seen you in twenty years." Giselle reminded.

"Are you telling me you’ll need twenty more to get over it? Gosh, I don’t remember you being so easily hung up on things..." The chieftain sighed. "I can make bread, do you girls want any, or not?"

Both women nodded slowly, finally losing the battle against their hunger and their mother.

"That’s more like it. You girls are too damn skinny, you need to eat more. Especially you, Sunseed. You’re eating for two now."

Yari looked down at her lap, where the large coconut sat unmoving.

After glowing for a bit, the seed had settled down completely. There was no sign of that changing anytime soon.

Yari didn’t understand what it meant.

It wasn’t uncommon for multiple partners to produce children together. The most Yari had heard of was five fathers and seven mothers.

With that in mind, she couldn’t figure out why their child was so slow to be born. The only thing she could attribute it to was the father’s unusual biology.

"Thank you for allowing us to rest here, Chief Griselda."

Yari turned around to find Solomon returning to the dwelling with their wife in his arms.

Her heart warmed at the sight.

’She must’ve been quite weary... Falling asleep in the bath like that.’ She giggled to herself.

"Absolutely not!" Griselda slammed her kitchen knife onto the countertop, splitting the wood like butter.

She pointed a thick, sharp finger at Solomon.

"Listen here, little prince. You are not one of my tribe. You are my son-in-law, and you will address me as mommy, or not at all."

Yari was aptly mortified. "M-Mother! Can you stop harassing him?! Clearly, he is in need of rest and not your exhausting antics!"

Griselda yawned. "Ugh, Solomon, my boy, I don’t know how you do it. If she bickers at me like this, I can’t even imagine how difficult she makes your life."

Giselle’s snickering only made Yari’s frustration worsen.

Though she melted instantly when she felt him press his body against hers from behind. Even freshly bathed, his natural scent hadn’t left him. Her head had begun to feel more than a bit fuzzy.

Solomon wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his embrace, kissing the crown of her head without flinching at her missing hair.

"Your daughter... Is the greatest gift I have ever known. The way that she enhances my life is something that cannot be understated. She is not the first love of my life... but she and Jiaoying are the greatest."

Slowly, Solomon’s hand slipped down into the lap of his fiancée, where their child rested dormant.

"And now, she is to be the mother of my firstborn. I have never once been able to associate the word ’difficult’ with her existence."

Solomon’s words, while sweet, were not fully true. He thought Yari was incredibly difficult when they first met. And when they started dating, he thought keeping his hands off her was even more difficult.

He looked up at Griselda with honest reverence in his eyes.

"You have given me something I will never be able to repay you for. Calling you mother would be one of the greatest honors of my life."

Griselda smiled at the three of them earnestly. "Well, aren’t you sweet... seems you’re all a bunch of flowery little tots. But I will admit that seeing you like this does an old woman’s heart good. Know that you have my blessing, and I wish you three-"

"AUNTIE! MOTHER!"

A loud voice came from the front of the house, followed by a flurry of hard steps.

Nila burst into the room in clear alarm, with Dakota just on her heels.

Giselle immediately threw back her chair and got to her feet. "Oh, my baby..."

She took Nila into her grasp, uncaring of the sweat, dirt, and blood that muddied her form. She assumed a mother’s truest love as she pelted her filthy daughter with kisses and hugged her tightly.

Her eyes snapped open once she realized there was something far more important.

"Y-You aren’t hurt, are you?? Honey, you’re covered in blood, so don’t tell me none of it is yours because I know better, and-"

"Mum... Immortal..." Nila reminded shyly.

Slowly, Giselle blinked. The water in her eyes gradually began to spill out.

"...Of course you are. My little girl is so very strong." She ruffled her daughter’s hair.

"Little... girl?"

Griselda’s voice was so quiet that it was barely noticeable over the sound of the boys entering the home, accompanied by two guards.

She slipped from behind the counter, abandoning the meal she was working on for the last several minutes.

"Is that... my granddaughter..?"

Nila was critically low on energy, so she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed at the moment.

Until her mother wrapped her arm around her, she had no idea what was going on.

"That’s right... Nila, this is your grandmother Griselda. Mother, this is Nila, your-"

There was a loud thud in the room.

Griselda, fallen to her knees, turned her teary face up to the sky and swooned.

"Finally... I HAVE A TRUE HEIRR!!!"