Several weeks went by with no issues. However, the new arrivals, or rather, elves returning to their rightful home, a place they may always feel safe, stopped. No more were coming, and Night Silver could tell. She could sense the pain that her children suffered, off in those far away lands. It was like someone was stabbing her right in the heart, and twisting side to die.
"Should I just go out there and end this conflict right now?"
Brightness was the one who was about to answer. He stopped and waited to think of the answer for himself. This is a rare feeling, I don't actually know how to answer now. How could I, her mate, not support her. I really did get lucky before, I don't deserve her. He remained quiet, still unable to answer.
Night Silver's face, once the definition of perfection, now the definition of sorrow. "I know I shouldn't feel this bad, so many of them came back home to me. And hugging each and every one of them… I felt relieved."
This was when another silence fell upon Night Silver's massive bedroom. Many of the rather young children came to sleep in their goddess mother's bed. Something that happens so often that it's hard to keep up with now, but she manages. Though, this time there was one other child, she wasn't really a child, but to the goddess, everyone might as well be one.
This woman was actually the village head from before, she had been invited to sleep in this very bed with her mother. "Mother…" She muttered slowly, opening her eyes. "I'm sorry… I couldn't save anyone else…"
Night Silver turned and laid back down, holding the woman close to her bosom. "You did all that you could. I can hardly expect more from you." Gently stroking the back of the woman's head, she smiled. "Even if it was just you who managed to return home, I would still smile. For my heart aches a little less now. Even so, I worry for all of my children… Thus my pain is not gone."
The woman asked, burying her face into Night Silver's bosom like a little kid would. "Could you save them now if you went?"
"That isn't the issue. If it were, my heart would never ache as it does." This was not the answer the woman expected, and it showed when she looked up in confusion. "Not what you expected? Well, the reason why I don't go now, is because they don't want my help now." She answered.
"I don't understand, Mother. But I'm sure you have your reasons. So, in my brothers' and sisters' stead, I'll enjoy mother's time, while praying they'll see the light of reason and return to their true home." She then went silent, the two of them cuddled like mother and child for a while when the woman spoke up again. "Mother, I'll make sure to have as many of my own as possible! I know we aren't replaceable, but surely the more there are, the joy will ease the pain. Even if only a little, it'll be worth it!"
Night Silver smiled, and held the woman closer, and warmer. "You don't have to do that. I'll still love you regardless. That love can never change in amount." At first the woman was about to cry. "I've already reached the highest I can. There is nothing higher than this amount of love. So, if you have children, they will then be granted the same love I have for, and my children. Yours will never go down."
"Can it change forms?" The woman asked? "Like, can I love you as a woman too?"
Night Silver giggled, and kissed the woman's forehead, and then her lips. "You can start. I won't stop you from pursuing such feelings. But I'll urge you to know, I have not taken another woman as my wife since Undine. Your late second mother."
"I see, so you're saying there's a chance then!" The blushing smile was absolutely blinding.
That night went far too quickly for the woman, however, time rests for no one. Not a single person. However, while it felt all too short, the woman cherished that time with all her heart. She awoke to witness a bright new dawn, and decided to tackle the day.
Night Silver stood in the morning glow, the light shining off her radiant skin, glistening with her natural beauty. Her face, filled with a determination to ward off the aching pain in her heart. She noticed the woman waking up and turned round to look behind her with a smile that could only be described as… Divine!
"Thanks to you, I've decided on one of the requirements to earn my favor." She said as a few of her fae children flew over and rested upon her bosom. "If I take everything into consideration, I believe that it is possible to assuage the ache in my heart." She said with a smile, petting the fae's heads. "I'd like to expand my people's population as much as possible. Even if I have to do it myself. Though, those born of my loins take a long time to mature. So they won't continue procreating for a while after." She continued, looking out of the one sided glass like window, towards the morning's horizon. "I wonder what my people will do now? Will they continue on as normal? Or will they increase their desire for more of their own offspring? I look forward to seeing the results."
The woman, still stunned with the vision of such a perfect body, managed to think about what she wanted to do after hearing those words. "I'll find a man right away! I don't care about race now! We are all Nadairians!"
It was from that moment onward, that a second, even more significant increase in child rearing began. It soon became just as rare to see a unicorn, as a non-pregnant woman. They were still around, but it was usually the older and less able individuals. Occasionally you'd see a young woman without a belly, but these were split into two types, women having just given birth, and women who prefer to enjoy the company of other women… In other words, they don't have a man in their relationship. And of course, there were relationships made entirely of men. Both were equally incapable of rearing offspring of their own accord.
"This is all for the future. I love this world too much to let it die."