“What were you thinking!?” Gabriel’s voice resounded outward from Katrin’s tent. “This is the stupidest thing you could have done!”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Cassandra exclaimed, her voice taught with emotion.

Lelieth opened the tent to see Cassandra looking small where she sat and Gabriel, arms crossed as he looked down at her.

“Cassandra here is pregnant,” Gabriel chimed, tossing up his hands and pacing back and forth. He rubbed at his eyes and groaned. “We have to send her back to the Gilded Empire.”

“Nonsense, are you mad?” Katrin scolded.

“There’s still time. She’d make it before the birth.”

“And if she fell down, the baby could die!”

“Woman! I…” Gabriel sighed, defeated. “You’re right. But I don’t know how we’ll deal with this.”

Katrin rested a hand calmly on Gabriel’s muscular shoulder and met his gaze. “We’ll handle it when it comes.”

Gabriel left the tent, muttering to himself and Lelieth approached Cassandra. “It’s Mika’s, isn’t it?”

Cassandra nodded, tears running down her cheeks. “It was just once. But that’s all it took.”

Katrin handed her a cloth to wipe her tears. “It’s to be expected. He was young, strong, and virile. My heart breaks he won’t be here for the birth.”

“I know,” Cassandra croaked and sobbed. “I can feel it inside me. I can feel it.”

“You’re probably four months along at least. How do you feel?”

“I got sick last night. It was stupid to think I could hide it. I was just scared.”

“This is your first?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s alright Cassandra. We’ll find a way to let people know. The villagers might be curious, just so you know.”

“Cassandra, would you like to come with me to my first class?” Lelieth offered.

“I can’t, but thank you. We’re going to be charting the forest leading to the first mountains today,” she replied, wiping her cheeks and sighing. She walked away as Lelieth watched the villagers move to and fro, going about their lives as if nobody was there, occupying their village.

Gabriel walked by, shirtless with other men as they walked together in a group toward a large clearing.

“What’s happening?” Lelieth asked, avoiding Gabriel’s perfect physique by keep her eyes locked to his.

“The axian men said ‘Kumboh’ and I’m assuming we’re supposed to be shirtless because they all stripped their own off,” Gabriel replied.

A gathering of shirtless men. I won’t complain.

Lelieth followed the men, lifting her dress to keep from dragging through the dirt as they came upon a large sanded area by the shore. There were a series of sawed, polished tree trunks, varying in thickness and size. As well as massive spheres of what appeared to be polished stones, all varying in size.

Then the women arrived, stripping their tops off and exposing themselves.

One axian man clapped his hands to get attention and everyone faced him. He pointed to a younger axian male and they stood together, clasping hands and suddenly every muscle tensed in their bodies. They stood this way for several long moments, veins popped in their powerful muscles, their flesh turned red and Lelieth noticed the sand shifting below their feet, they were sliding back.

Finally, with a grunt, the younger male was thrown to the sand.

“Kumboh,” the axian stated, breathless and chest heaving.

Another axian man hoisted a massive orb of stone, and lifted it up over his head, pressing it up and down many times before he dropped it into the sand. “Kumboh,” he grunted, sweat rolling down his face and chest.

Axian women lifted the sanded tree trunks across their backs, alternating between holding it before their chests and lifting it up over their backs. “Kumboh,” one woman said as she dropped the wood.

“I think it’s the process of what they’re doing. Like exercising,” Gabriel stated. He walked into the sanded arena and gestured to an axian man. Though the axian man greatly exceeded Gabriel’s size and musculature, he walked forth.

Lelieth smiled as the axian man looked his fellow men, his brow furrowed, almost confused why the tiny man was challenging him.

He clutched the man’s hands, locking his fingers with the axian’s and Lelieth immediately saw the sand shift beneath their feet. She couldn’t keep herself from admiring Gabriel’s stomach, toned with muscle and lean with constant exercise. His bulging chest powerful and manly shoulders and arms, she remember how they felt around her back, how it felt to be against the strong chest and she frowned, angry with herself the thoughts ever entered her mind.

Gabriel didn’t last long, gasping as he was thrown down and grunted as the sand shot up at his impact. He clutched his elbow as he stood and grimaced at the pain.

“Kumboh,” the axian man said and wrapped his arms around Gabriel, hugging him affectionately.

Lelieth stood silently, not bothered by the embrace between the two men. But she began to get troubled when the embrace lingered.

The axian man looked down, face worried as Gabriel went limp in his arms. He caught Gabriel’s head and wrapped an arm below his knees and ran off with the captain toward the village.

Lelieth sprinted after them, followed by a small group worried about his safety.

A female axian noticed their arrival and dipped a ladle in a pot, pouring a dark green liquid into a cup and as the male held up Gabriel’s head, she poured it into his mouth and massaged his throat to make him swallow.

The captain jerked awake and the axians smiled at him, warmly.

“What happened?” Lelieth asked Katrin, who had suddenly appeared beside her.

“Simliar to what happened to you when you arrived?” Katrin replied softly. “The aether here in the Isles affects us common folk in various unpredictable ways. The axian people have spent their entire existence acclimating to the aether here. It’s speculation, but I’m assuming that’s why they look the way they do. And since they’re so charged with the aether itself, even their touch has an effect on us.”

“Amazing.”

“I guess the captain’s reaction is falling asleep,” Katrin joked loudly.

“Very funny,” Gabriel retorted and stood up.

Gabriel bravely returned to the arena, surrounded by axian men patting his shoulders, smiling at him while he nursed his elbow.

A woman tapped Lelieth on the shoulder and gestured to her as she entered the arena.

“What? Oh no I couldn’t,” Lelieth protested. The woman gestured again, her blond hair tied up around her head neatly.

“Go ahead Lelieth,” Katrin urged, patting her on the back. “Show her the power of us common women.”

Lelieth lifted her dress, removing it and handed it to Katrin. She didn’t want to expose herself to the crowd, so she wore just her undergarments and approached slowly. The woman’s blue eyes locked on to her gaze, serious and focused, an immense intelligence that Lelieth was starting to notice in all axian people.

She looked around at the crowd, all silent and focused on her. She met the axian woman’s gaze and she raised her hands, fingers spread. Lelieth met hers and they laced together, clasping while the axian woman began to slowly push Lelieth back.

Lelieth planted her heels and returned in force. The push began gently, slowly increasing in force as the woman kindly eased Lelieth into the Kuboh. She felt the sand shift beneath her heels and planted them even harder into the arena.

She pushed back, now pushing so firmly sweat began to run down her face.

The axian’s eyes widened and she grimaced, pushing harder and meeting Lelieth’s equal force.

She cried out and threw Lelieth with such force that she slid across the sand and into the water.

Gasping and sputtering, Lelieth stood up and looked over at the axian woman. She stared out at Lelieth with a hand over her mouth, eyes wide which made Lelieth laugh hysterically.

The axian woman began to laugh with her, inciting so much laughter everyone joined in and the area filled with mirth for what felt like forever.

Lelieth stood amongst the people until the end of the Kuboh, watching axians duel, lift rocks and tree trunks and everyone was sweat slicked.

Suddenly the axians grew silent and turned toward the forest behind Lelieth.

She turned with them to see Hyde approaching, carrying various trunks against his chest. He lowered them with the others and an axian man grabbed his hand before petting his cheek and pressing his head against Hyde’s.

He pulled Hyde’s hand, gesturing to the arena and Lelieth watched him shake his head. The man insisted with another firm pull on his hand.

Hyde looked up and his eyes met Lelieth’s. Her heart raced, her body heated and his blue gaze froze her in place while she stared in admiration of the behemoth of a man before her. He looked back at the man and smiled, nodding his head.

He pulled off his shirt, exposing his torso and Lelieth looked away, body on fire at the sight of such perfection. If Gabriel was perfect, Hyde was a god among men. As he stood in the arena and the largest, most powerful axian man stood to face him it was suddenly very clear just how much more enormous Hyde was compared to the others, towering above them, shoulders wider than anybody else’s, muscles developed beyond others. Why he lived outside of the village, Lelieth needed to know.

If Lelieth had blinked, she’d have missed it. Hyde threw down the man with such speed the man laid sprawled on the ground, eyes wide as Hyde helped him up. Others wanted to push him, and one by one, Hyde threw them down within seconds.

Lelieth’s vision blurred. She stared at Hyde endlessly, taking in every inch of his body, every hard male line. Why did she feel this way? Why so strongly? Not once had she felt such a want toward a man before, it was beyond comprehension, beyond words.

To avoid making a fool of herself, Lelieth walked away, heading back toward the village to wash her face in the basin.

“It’s Hyde, isn’t it?” Katrin asked as Lelieth walked by her tent.

“How are you so good with these things?” Lelieth asked, breathless and bothered.

“I was young once too, you know? I’m too old to be worried about such things. But trust me when I say, I understand.”

“I don’t mean to be too forward. But this is starting to get out of hand.”

“Well, when I was a maiden my mother told me once that the best solution of such feeling is to…” Katrin trailed off, her lavender eyes narrowed. “Do you know?”

“No. What is it?”

“Take the man you want. You’re a woman, you have needs. So take him, obviously he has to want to as well. But you’ve seen him, he’s perfectly capable.”

“Gods above!” Lelieth gasped and walked away to the sound of Katrin’s laughter. She entered her tent and knelt down, clenching at her bed sheets and groaned in discomfort. “This is not good.”