"You don't have any concerns or issues?" I asked, a little surprised by him agreeing so quickly. "Maybe your own requests or even want to ask some questions about the conditions?"
I can make requests? Atlas titled his head as he stared at me.
Did he think that he couldn't make requests too? I mean I probably could have explained this better to him, but if I was going to make conditions Atlas would have to agree to, I wouldn't be so rude not to agree to his.
As long as they were reasonable of course.
"Yeah. This isn't some one-sided thing." I explained. "You can add some conditions too. As long as they're reasonable, I don't mind agreeing to them… Like Ahi added to my mate condition that I try to keep to elemental beastmen only.
"I agreed to it because elemental beastmen are stronger and I'd need less mates if my mates were elemental beastmen. Of course, if I landed up liking someone who wasn't an elemental beastman, we'd discuss it to see if it'd work out."
I see… Atlas mused. He was quiet for a moment before he said, I don't have any requests.
I was about to speak when Ahi suddenly asked, "How are you communicating?"
"Telepathy… Um Atlas can speak in your mind. Dragon ability." I added the last bit upon seeing Ahi's confusion. "If you give him permission to enter your mind, he can speak to you too. He doesn't use his real voice because it hurts."
Atlas nodded in agreement. "Yes… that…"
"I see…" Ahi mused. "Guess I'll give you permission Atlas to enter my mind then. It would be good if we're able to communicate better."
Atlas nodded his head in agreement.
"Yes. I suppose so." Ahi murmured, clearly answering something Atlas had said.
It was kind of cool to see the telepathy in action, even if it made everyone speaking to Atlas look a little like a crazy person having a conversation with themselves.
"I agree to it too." Xavier suddenly spoke up. "You can enter my mind, so we can communicate easily too."
Atlas turned his attention to Xavier and it was quiet for a moment before Xavier suddenly said, "This is a little freaky… Does everyone in the palace speak to you like this?"
"Oh… I see…" Xavier mused to Atlas' response.
Seeing this suddenly made me a little curious about something. "Atlas, can you speak to only one person at a time or does your telepathy extend to multiple people at once? Like you could talk to all of us at the same time."
I never tried that… Atlas answered. Never needed to speak to more than one person at a time. When I did, I used my real voice.
I gaped at his words, surprised he hadn't experimented with his ability. Personally, I would have gone crazy with that ability just to see what I was capable of doing with it.
Maybe that was also why I hadn't gotten any powers. The system was too worried I'd go haywire with it.
Although, I did wonder if the system would give me any abilities in the future. Perhaps through special skills. There was clearly some room for powers and abilities. Of course that could also just be my wishful thinking.
But I was going off a tangent here and needed to get back to the topic at hand.
"Maybe you should try it." I finally said. "That way we can all be part of this conversation."
Atlas nodded his head in understanding. The room went quiet for a moment before I suddenly heard a faint voice, Can you hear me?
"Yes." All three of us answered.
Bit hard… May need to practice. The voice stated.
"That's fine." I replied. "So then, you don't have anything you want to add to our courtship agreement. No questions or anything?"
Atlas shook his head. Everything is fine. Agree to it all.
"All then. Guess we're officially courting then." I smiled. "We should take this time to get to know each other."
"But you should eat something first. The meat is getting cold." Ahi murmured, holding up a bowl with some meat slices in it. "You can talk after eating."
My stomach grumbled in agreement, making me blush. "Fine. But you guys better eat too."
"Of course." Ahi smiled softly at me as I took the bowl from him. He then turned to Atlas. "Will you be joining us?"
No. Ate already. Atlas answered. You go ahead and eat.
Ahi nodded in understanding, grabbing a hard boiled egg. He carefully peeled it before eating it, making me smile. It seemed between the many ways I'd taught Ahi on how to make eggs, omelets and boiled eggs were his favorite.
As for Xavier, he was going for the meat as usual. The three of us ate, Atlas watching us for a moment before closing his eyes. I raised an eyebrow at it, but guessed he didn't want to watch us eat.
Normally, I'd feel too awkward to eat like this, but hunger won this round. I really wanted to eat before the day got busy. And I knew it would be busy.
"Oh yeah, Elisa, we should probably head to my mother's palace once we're done with breakfast." Xavier said. "We'll just pop in for a quick visit so she doesn't get too upset and then head to the local market. I'm sure you'd like to see that."
"Yeah I'd like to." I nodded my head.
I wanted to see what was on offer and maybe make some plans for that new quest of mine. I had yet to look over it fully, but I knew I would need a lot of resources for the coming winter.
"Do you want to come with us, Ahi?" Xavier asked, pulling me back to the conversation.
"No. I'll go hunting." Ahi responded. "You go enjoy the market. You have my crystals?"
"Yeah. They're in my bag." I answered before asking, "Are you sure about not joining us?"
"I'm sure." Ahi smiled. "You have fun at the market. I'll come with you next time."
"Alright, I'll keep you to that promise." I stated before turning to Atlas. "What about you Atlas? Do you want to join us?"