They made it to the river under the moonlight. Pest refused to leave the trees so Fanli ventured in and undressed by herself. She couldn't believe how much work he was now compared to usually.

She took off her skirt and underwear and trapped them with a rock. Depending on the season, the current was strong usually, but this time of year lowered the water-flow to little more than a babbling brook.

Standing half-naked felt strange so she took the top off. It was when she started washing that she heard the breaking of sticks below someone's feet.

Her body tensed and she fished for a rock in the water as she stood, ready to defend herself.

What she saw of the outline calmed her.

She dropped the rock and held out her hands to him. "Come. It'll be good to give you a proper wash. I couldn't get your hair well at the time."

Pest looked down at the water. He tested its temperature with his foot then stepped in. Much like her clothes, she kept him in, albeit sitting. He was still huge even without standing but she used her hands to gather water together and douse his head.

At least for a moment, he looked happy. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

She patted his shoulders. "Don't be. Let's just get you calm so we can make sense of this." His shiver was a concern. "Did you throw away your seed?"

"What?" He pulled away. "I haven't touched myself at all. How—"

"No." Fanli laughed. "Not that seed, you dumb ogre. The one I put in your hand."

His blank expression answered her.

"I'll find you another one tomorrow. Here, try lying down so more water gets to you. Without asking the water nymphs to increase the flow, this is the best we can do."

He rested back and she cleaned him entirely.

Once he sat up again, he still stared down at himself. "How come I look so different—different from other ogres?"

Fanli decided to focus on her original plan of cleaning Pest's scent off. It wasn't his fault but unbeknownst to him, this was sometimes a way ogres marked territories in the past. She was no territory and she desperately wanted to remedy this.

"Fan?" He looked up at her.

At first hesitant, Fanli admitted. "Because you're a virgin."

He choked out a laugh. "What?"

Embarrassed, she turned her back to him and crouched down to bring water to her body faster.

"In a sense. As an ogre at least. Once we're of age, around now, we start to explore mating. I don't know enough details of males. I just know that after mating, they start learning to morph into other creatures—into human. Each attempt breaks the muscles of our body. Wings are a fairy's magic...."

"Yes. I know."

Fan nodded. "Well, our muscles are ours."

"But even you don't look like the average ogre."

He stopped short but she was already annoyed. "You mean no potbelly?"

For once, he hesitated. "Well, that and no slouch. No round shape."

"All a consequence of repeated transformation. The more malleable the body, the easier it is to transform. And we ogres don't care how we're shaped once we return to ogre form. We value other things."

"Don't care." Pest scoffed. He paused then asked, "Is that why you don't learn transformation more? To—to keep your literal figure."

The awe in his voice angered her and she turned to him. "You can laugh all you like. But being able to transform into anything, even a dragon in a last-ditch effort to fight for your life may one day come in handy to you."

His eyes widened. "If it'd mean a gut, a drooping jaw, and a knot on my head, then no. Never."

In this instance, she wasn't sure what part of his drivel fueled her anger more.

He noticed his offense a bit too late. "I'm not being shallow—"

"You are being shallow. Because you are shallow."

"Wait. No. Wait."

When she stood to retrieve her clothes, he caught her by the waist, pressing his face there.

"Wait."

Fanli refused to look down at him.

"I—I don't think you're as convinced at your own words as you'pretending." He gripped her waist to keep her in place. "Listen. Let me talk first."

She didn't want to. Standing out here naked was dangerous and she thought to remind him of which, but he shivered again and she found herself stroking his arms. He was getting worked up.

"Ogres are plenty strong without transforming," Pest attested. "So I don't believe they can get stronger after the fact. Won't they—won't they just blow up to...appear like a dragon, but never be one? Like...like a lizard puffing itself to look twice its size?"

His words hurt her but only because of the truth in them.

"I mean, do we get a dragon's strength if we look like a dragon? Because you were still a bit strong as a human."

No, they didn't. Rather than admit to the truth in his words, she focused elsewhere. "There's no we. I'm the ogre. You're the fairy."

Pest had nothing to say.

At his next shiver, she waited for him to argue against her ignorant words. He was an ogre. He was more than behaving like one in his inability to calm without a treasure. She needed to find him a new seed and would do so quickly.

"Come on."

"I can't move," he admitted. "What's wrong with me?"

So many things.

Finally, she forced his grip loose and bent to meet his gaze. "You need a treasure. Something gifted with sincerity. There's nothing more sincere than life. So when I give you another seed, you're not to let it go until it blooms. That will awaken your magic and you'll need it to form ogre treasure."

"Ogre treasure," he echoed. "How come you don't?"

That was a good question. Fanli had a few theories as to why she wasn't feeling the lament—because Pest was literally wearing her treasure. But that would force her into his proximity and that wouldn't do.

Pest shivered so violently that he toppled forward, bracing himself on his hands. "It hurts. It actually hurts."

"I will find you a seed. Please hold on. Don't move from this spot. Promise me!"

When he finally nodded, she hurried from the water and raced towards the trees. She must have been a sight, scanning the grounds for something. Finding the one had already been such a task.

It couldn't be one from a fruit, but rather, something shelled naturally. A sunflower drooped in the distance and she hurried to it. The size of the seeds would be big, easy for Pest to grip. He'd probably dropped the other one without even noticing he'd been holding it.

She examined the flower and decided on taking two seeds at least.

That's when she heard the grunt. And not just one. A second one came. Ogres. And they were closing in.

Fanli grabbed what she could and ran for her life.

She cared less so about being out naked after dark and more about someone finding Pest and misunderstanding what he was.

Upon reaching him, she shoved him to sit up. "Pest. Get up. You must stand. Get up."

He flopped over, lifeless in her hands.

"Damn you." She cursed herself next when she crouched to hold his face. How a gift was offered mattered greatly. As a seed was a gift from the land, it held magic. A parent offering it to their child meant it was from the heart. It wouldn't last long, as it was every ogre's first attempt and therefore unskilled, but it wasn't given over with a note of panic or terror.

Therefore, Fanli forced herself to calm.

"Pest?" She put a kiss on his brow. "Pest?"

He answered her by tilting his head back. Between her fingers, she held one sunflower seed.

"This is for you. And you cannot let it go. Do you promise?"

Eyes heavy lit, he nodded.

The moment it was in his grip, he breathed easier.

"You're so much trouble," she complained. "Come. Let's go back."

Once he was on his feet, she hurried to find her clothes. There was no time to wring them out and sunrise was ages away. She'd have to get back to the house naked. If they moved quick enough—

"Oi. What are you doing here? Humans are on the warpath," a voice thundered.

The second one hefted his club on his shoulder. "Followed the scent of ogre piss only to find you playing in a river."

Fanli didn't spend much time with her own people, she could admit, but she recognized the two of them.

They were the ogres from the bar, free of their human transformation. The size of them brought back flashes of fear from that day. It was Pest's criticism why she watched the two of them now. There was a slight hunch and they wore the loincloths of their kind. The knot on their heads were shallow, too, so she guessed they were only a few years older than her.

When she saw them up close, however, she realized her folly. They recognized her, too.

"The whore," the first one drawled.

Their eyes scanned her up and down and she sighed inward. Of course, they'd find her like this.

Something startled them and Fanli turned to see Pest's outline as he approached. His attempt at rescue reminded her of his small tusks and she scrambled to stop his foolish plan.

As soon as she reached him, she turned with her back to him and pulled his face down into the nape of her neck, hiding him in her hair.

He dragged in a deep breath though he didn't move from his slouch needed to reach her.

Fanli readied herself for a fight, but the two males didn't advance.

Finally, one said, "Oh. Sorry, brother. Hadn't known she was taken."

The other took a step back rather than forward and Fanli understood.

Pest was big—even by ogre standards. They saw these muscles as an indication of magic level, and therefore feared it. It didn't matter that they had no idea that Pest wouldn't be able to use even a smidgen of it in a fight now.

Pest's hands came to hold Fanli's waist as he swayed with her. She took that to mean yet another seed was gone.

To her surprise, the two ogres backed away.

"It's good to see you giving one of your own a chance for once," said one of them, though she didn't know which, before turning to leave.

Once they were gone, Fanli felt cold despite Pest's warm body at her back.

What had they meant by that?

She would have asked if not for something warm jabbing her side.

"Don't even think about it," Fanli warned. She turned on him, ready to shout about the seed but two fingers held it up before her. "You have it?"

He gave her a big smile but his eyes weren't on her, but instead, her chest. Finally, he met her gaze.

"Is there a reward for keeping this?"

Fanli wasn't impressed. "Your life."

His grunt in response came with a sigh. She gathered her clothes and turned to make her way back to the house, unsure of what the best course of action was. They'd have to wait for Wen's family's return to get help. Wen...what would she say when she saw him?