So they sat, and they talked. Temate with Timbear, Toni with Honey and Milis, and Surrender slept. At least that's what she seemed to be doing, but she was listening. She curled herself up onto a small rock which caught a slim beam of light, enjoying the warmth. She twitched her ears listening to the two conversations, each with completely different tones.

  To her left were Timbear and Temate, serious and short as they discussed dangers in the forest. Their conversation went something like this:

  First, Temate spoke. “So, what do bears need help with anyways? I don’t want to put anyone in danger, their safety is my priority.”

  Then Timbear. “I believe there is trouble with spiders in Bearbhaile, that may be doable but Mayuk’s kin should handle that. I would ask you to check in on some troubles outside, if you might.”

  Temate hrmmed for a moment before replying. “I suppose it depends, are there no bears who could do such work though?”

  “Under normal circumstances there are, but we prepare for Hibernatory. As such many of those in Bearbhaile capable of such tasks are busy gathering food and supplies for the winter months.”

  “Much like bears in our world but on a grander scale.” Surrender heard a snort in reply, then Temate continued. “So what are the priorities?”

  “I would like further knowledge of our dangers, I know the goblins are growing rowdy and aggressive. Especially in the west, and the rot on the wind comes from that way.”

  “So how would we do that, I’m not keen on sughtering goblins…” Temate trailed off in his usual thoughtful manner. Surrender thought that was strange, why not just say all you think? If you don’t know, wait till you do, it wasn’t hard! It was dangerous too, to say things without knowing what you want to say.

  “There is a collective of forest spirits to the west. They are very in tune with the forest and likely know more of what’s happening.”

  “Go there, talk with them, maybe help them out if they need it, sound about right?” Temate continued. Surrender heard another snort, Timbear had probably nodded as well.

  “Well that sounds simple enough, how far is this pce?”

  And it continued like that, some of it was interesting. They figured out that the humans would need maybe a week to travel to the collective. Timbear expined about Leshy, spirits of the forest which inhabit pnts and their natures. Then there was something about the difference between Materia and Idea which hurt Surrender's head.

  “An interesting question young Mate. It is a simple concept really, the nature of realms which tie to Materia is to grant more meaning to form. Inversely a world tied to Idea grants more meaning to intention.”

  Temate grumbled a bit. “I think I get the… idea, but could you give an example?”

  Surrender opened her eyes at the confirmatory grunt from Timbear. She saw the big bear pointing to Temate’s strange sword.

  “Your bde, versus my cws, that’s a good example. Which do you think is sharper?”

  Temate pulled the bde from his hip and held it up. “I’d guess mine, probably. I’ve kept it sharpened and it was designed to cut thick wood and the like.” Timbear grinned, that made Surrender shiver, that face seemed wrong on a bear.

  “Then let us see.” Timbear picked up two thick branches from a stack made beside his hollow. He pnted each into the ground and motioned toward Temate. “Go ahead, cut this in two.”

  Surrender eyed the branch as Temate examined it. It stuck up nearly half Temate’s height again, and was almost as thick as he was at its thickest point. Cutting that wouldn’t be easy, but Temate hefted his bde and swung.

  To Surrender’s great surprise, the bde nearly went all the way through in one strike. On the second swing the branch, which was practically a small tree, snapped in two. Temate checked the edge of his bde then sheathed it.

  Timbear smiled, “Two strikes, quite a sharp bde indeed!” Surrender thought she could hear the sarcasm in his voice. Temate seemed to as well, as he frowned.

  “I suppose with that attitude you can do better?” Temate replied.

  Timbear nodded, then the giant bear stood. He towered over them, twice as tall as Temate. His fur ruffled as he shook himself, preparing his arms, then his cws. With one strike, faster than Surrender’s eyes could follow, the tree was shorn into 5 pieces by four cws. Surrender heard a yelp of surprise from Toni and the other bears, Temate simply whistled loudly.

  “Alright, that’s impressive, though I can’t help but feel your size helps.” Temate smirked up at the rge bear who ughed a bit as he settled back down.

  “That is true, but if you examine the cuts you will see they are clean. A sign of the sharpness more than my strength.”

  Temate nodded and looked up at Timbear. “So, if I’ve got this right, your cws are sharp as they are because you… believe they are?”

  Timbear ughed slightly. “No, that would be ridiculous, there is a difference between Faith and Idea, though they are brothers.”

  Temate frowned slightly as he sat down as well. “Then what? How do you convey intention in a world of Idea?”

  Timbear tapped a cw to his chin and reached over for a piece of the wood he cut. He took it and held it up. “What is the purpose of this wood?”

  “I suppose it depends on what you want to use it for. Could be to burn, could be to shape into, I dunno, a bow?” Temate looked up at Timbear curiously.

  Timbear nodded, then began to carve the wood with quick, experienced motions of his cw. “You see wood, the material, and decide what it’s meant for. I do not. I see only a shapeless mass. While the material will influence it, as both are necessary to make reality, it is not its truth.” Timbear finished carving and Surrender was shocked at what she saw.

  A small bde remained, shaped like a bear's cw set into a piece of knotted wood.

  “Do you believe this bde can cut?” Timbear handed the wooden cw to Temate who held it and frowned thoughtfully.

  “I suppose not, it doesn't even have an edge.” He replied.

  Timbear nodded and waved to the half pieces of branches still stuck in the ground. “Cut.”

  Temate did, he walked up and held the cw out. It was a small bde even in his hands, but rather rger than Surrender had thought it would be. He brought it down, attempting to cut into the wood at an angle. Temate and Surrender both raised their eyebrows as it carved into the wood, not as deeply as his bde might have, but still surprisingly deep.

  “I-it’s sharp?” Temate seemed half incredulous. He pulled the bde out and ran it along his finger, hissing and sucking at a cut on his hand.

  “Yes, when I shaped the wood I willed it to shape to my intent. That is the difference, you do not truly believe, yet the talon of wood is sharp because it carries my intent.”

  Temate’s eyes widened in recognition. “Like enchantment, the stronger the will, the greater the intent carries through?”

  Timbear nodded. “I do not know how this realm’s rules may differ, it is one in which Materia and Idea share the stage yet, the realm is unset so far. However the basic rules of Idea will shape things as much as material will provide a foundation.”

  The conversation continued for a while longer but Surrender’s head was already spinning at the information. As much due to the density of the topic, as the complexity of the nguage. Sure she understood Timbear just fine, some form of magic, maybe that Idea thing? Regardless, something allowed her to quite easily understand the bears.

  Temate and Toni were different matters, she’d learned their nguage but she still had to think a bit about the words meaning. Especially when they were words she had not heard before. Gremlin’s natural talent with tongues did a lot, her instincts helped, but she still had to process the meanings.

  So Surrender turned her intention away from the dense discussion of Temate and Timbear, and focused on Toni’s discussion. She liked Toni, Toni was a sweet, caring girl and sort of reminded Surrender of her mother. At least in that she was caring and a little bit bumbly with her words.

  She was also very pretty. Surrender honestly couldn’t decide whether she found Toni or Temate more attractive, physically at least. She liked Temate more otherwise, he had this way of making her feel safe even around all these huge bears. That and he worked well with her new [Power] which her mother said meant… something.

  [Tower’s Shadow] was a strange [Power] to Surrender for two reasons. One it relied on another, bigger, creature and Surrender had always been alone. Simply put it essentially made her less noticeable when another, rger, friendly creature was also noticeable. It also made them more noticeable, essentially passing her attention to them.

  That was strange enough, it meshed perfectly with her new big friends. Particurly after she learned about Temate’s [Towering Presence] [Power]. The second thing was that it was new, and not because she’d just Empowered it. It had recently appeared in her Empowerment space, at least she hadn’t seen it before.

  What was Surrender thinking about? Oh yes, Toni was pretty, and she was talking to Honey and Milis.

  “Man, that was so fascinating! Are all bears cws like that?” Toni asked the two.

  “Indeed, though none are quite so fearsome as the Warden’s” Honey replied, Milis had a different response.

  “Hold on now! No changing topic, you were just getting to the juicy details, come on spill!” Milis pushed Toni. Surrender smiled a little at the blush on Toni’s face and closed her eyes to listen.

  It wasn’t a particurly interesting conversation, but it was funny to listen to. Toni awkwardly described how she and Temate had mated the night before. Surrender suddenly understood why the two were naked in bed together. She felt a little stupid that she hadn’t figured that out, especially with the funny smell in the room.

  Slowly Surrender listened and waited, cozy and warm on her rock as she enjoyed the noon light. She let her tail wrap around herself, scratching gently across her body as she murred quietly. She smiled and drifted off to sleep, the st thing she heard was Toni’s excmation.

  “MILIS! NO!”

  Temate couldn’t help but ugh a little as they made their way back to Bearbhaile. Toni had given him a brief run down as they walked, as he had done for her. Apparently, Honey and Milis both could tell she and Temate had slept together. Then they conspired to drag the story out of her, despite her many attempts to distract them.

  That wasn’t even the funniest part though. What really got Temate ughing was that Milis had convinced Toni to ask Temate a question. A rather absurd question for Temate, but one that had him in stitches with how awkward she’d been when asking. Simply put Milis wanted to know if Toni would share him for a night.

  Which sure, she would certainly be willing, but Temate knew Milis being a bear was uncomfortable for the poor girl. She hadn’t quite adapted to the idea of bears as sentient, sapient creatures. Thus they fucked and were capable of communicating interest, but most importantly could consent.

  Temate couldn’t pretend he wasn’t curious, though he didn’t find bears attractive, especially Milis. She was just too big. Not intimidating or anything, just he preferred to throw his partners about a bit. To squeeze them and bend them and all that stuff. Sure he could make her do stuff but not with the physicality he liked.

  Still he might have considered it if he were on his own but he wasn’t. He looked over at Toni who was clearly uncomfortable and not in the ‘she’ll like it but it’s pushing a boundary’ uncomfortable. So Temate gave her a reassuring smile and put a hand around her shoulder pulling her in.

  “Don’t worry little one, I’m not gonna fuck a bear.”

  Toni ughed awkwardly. “G-good, I was worried there, after all I did promise to help with… that.”

  Temate nodded. “I told you, I won’t do anything you’re actually uncomfortable with, and you clearly are at the idea. So it won’t happen.”

  Toni rexed at that and leaned into him. “Thank you… Daddy” She practically whispered the st word. That made Temate proud of her, he could tell it wasn’t an easy thing for her to say so openly. It was always hard for most, especially in the beginning, but the fact she was trying was heart warming.

  He leaned in to whisper back. “Good girl.” Just those two words, he knew their power, and could feel her shiver at them. He smiled at her again and she smiled back as they walked close for a minute. Until a tail came down and tickled Temate’s nose making him sneeze and Toni ugh.

  Temate looked up at Surrender, leaning over his head and smiled up at her. He reached up and patted the small gremlin who grinned back at him.

  “I good too?” She asked and Toni ughed again.

  “Yes Surrender, you’re good too.” Toni grinned and reached up to scratch her chin. She couldn’t reach the top of the little gremlins head without standing on her toes.

  The three walked the rest of the way back to Bearbhaile in silence. Other than some gasping and muttering from Toni as Surrender shifted down to her back. Only so that both of them could reach the gremlins ears at the same time. As they arrived at the edge of Bearbhaile, Toni grabbed Temate before he could follow Honey and Milis down.

  “Hey…” She trailed off for a second and Temate paused to look down at her. Surrender hopped off of Toni’s head and plodded over to the side of the pit. Temate could see Toni’s head thinking over something she wanted to say. He waited, turning to face her so she knew she had his full attention.

  Then they heard a roar.