Avery arrived at the Ashen Canyon just as the sun began to set. Climbing the crumbling road proved to be more challenging than she anticipated, with the cobbled rocks crumbling beneath her every time she made decent progress.

  But that was over, and now she stood before the broken bridge where Lucy reportedly fell. A deep frown burrowed itself onto her face. Now that she was here, now that she could see the chasm that supposedly took her clansman, her faith was starting to shake. The fall was longer than the one she endured during her battle with the Purlikins, and she could hear the rushing water from below. Her initial instincts told her that the situation was grim. But she shook it off, slapped herself in the face, and forced herself to believe in the unlikely.

  "Lucy would not die so easily. No Opazyr would!" she barked.

  But in the back of her mind, she knew that Lucy wasn't on the same level as the rest of their family. She was green, with a smaller mana output. Her mana control was only slightly better than a trained soldier. When it came down to the facts, Lucy was simply weaker than what would have been expected of her.

  She threw those thoughts away for the moment. Now was the time to be a woman of action, not worry. She knelt down at the crumbled bridge. It was a long gap, about 60 feet across. Whether she could leap across was questionable, but she had a plan.

  She took a few steps back, shaking her hands to prepare them for what was coming next. She took off with extreme speed, vaulting over the stream without an ounce of hesitation. She was falling short of the gap, just like she expected. She fell down into the chasm, slapping the other side of the wall mere feet from the raging water. With mana-filled fists she punched holes in the rocky wall, bringing her to a violent stop. She cursed herself, maybe the plan wasn't as smart as she thought. Her wrists were screaming at her, but she could tell they weren't injured.

  She inspected the wall as she clung to it. It was completely smooth, climbing up naturally was impossible. She sighed, steeled herself, and then began to climb up in a way most absurd. She used her mana to turn her hands into climbing picks, puncturing her fingers into the stone wall to pull herself up. She was being fueled purely by her desire to survive, and by the time she reached the top, she was a gasping, shaking mess. Using her mana in such a brutish way truly exhausted her. To top it all off the sun had abandoned her, leaving her with the lonely night sky as her only company. She gathered up the last of her strength and stumbled her way down to a secluded pathway not too far from the entrance. She just had to hope that no one would find her while she got some rest, for she planned to be mobile again once the sun rose.

  Back at the Agamic Settlement, Maria and the group had finally begun to settle in. All five of them had gathered around a cozy makeshift fire. At first, they were worried about the smoke being problematic, but Naviiur assured them that the cave was constructed in such a way that smoke would not get trapped.

  As they sat, they naturally fell into their cliques. Maria and Veronica sat together, respecting each other's boundaries with a small border of personal space. Meanwhile, Lucy and Anise were practically laid on top of each other, casually cuddling as if they had been a long-standing couple. This left Naviiur as the odd one out, sitting alone on his own bench looking rather at peace with himself.

  He took a sip of water out of an old mug, his eyes shifting from duo to duo. His eyes failed to hide his curiosity as they drank in the new sight before him.

  "So, Conjugates. It's the first time I've ever laid eyes on your kind. Tell me, are you always this... Touchy?" He motioned to Lucy and Anise. Lucy was poking and prodding Anise's face, while Anise couldn't keep her hands away from Lucy's unique white hair.

  "Yeah, actually," responded Maria. She crossed her arms and legs and leaned on Veronica to drive home her response. The younger squeaked with surprise, but quickly shifted her position to accommodate Maria.

  "We Conjugates enjoy loving each other," she continued. "Our goddess made us some real indulgent types, and ain't no greater indulgence than the flesh."

  Naviiur raised an eyebrow. "Indulgence of the flesh? I don't think I follow. Surely you don't mean—"

  "—no, we don't eat each other. Well, at least not in the way you're probably thinking about."

  The others watched as Naviiur rested his head in his palms. His face became stoic with concentration as he racked his brain so hard Maria was sure she could hear the cogs turning inside his head.

  Maria held out her hand to try and grab his attention. "Hold on there, man. You don't have to think about it so hard. We can just explain it to you. We're not shy about it."

  "Please do," he said in a defeated tone.

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  "It's simple, Conjugates receive a lot of pressure from the act of procreation." She explained. "We're people of intimacy, although some women are more impulsive than others."

  "The fact that you gain pleasure from procreation is... Odd, but my brothers always told me Conjugated had an ever-increasing population. I suppose that makes sense if you enjoy the act of making children."

  "We don't have children every time we have intercourse. There are ways to do it without leading to pregnancy. But there are also those of us who do enjoy being mothers."

  "So your mating ritual feels so good that you'd do it for recreational purposes?"

  Lucy rolled onto her side, the conversation had picked up enough steam to pull her away from her coddling. "Yes, it's a regular part of our lives. But I'm assuming that's not the case for men. I heard you're kind reproduces alone. How does that even work?"

  Naviiur smiled, happy to answer questions in this trade of knowledge. "Well, we reproduce by cell division. In essence, each Agamic is a copy of his father, but the father can change aspects of the son to suit their needs or tastes. For example, my pink hair was given to me purposely to set me apart from the rest of our clan."

  Veronica was enamored with his explanation. "You control the look of your child? I don't think women could use that kind of power responsibly."

  "So, how do you do it? The cell division I mean?" Lucy asked.

  Naviiur stood up, turning his back to the group. There was a brown spot at the base of his neck similar to a birthmark but far too perfectly shaped to actually be one. He gently tapped it to draw attention to it. "This right here is where Agamics are born. The father begins cell division and devotes his time to properly developing his son. This process can take hours to days, depending on the level of reproduction. It takes approximately seventy-two hours, uninterrupted, to make a fully mature spawn. Most opt to make a juvenile and let it develop on its own, which cuts the time down to about six."

  "That's incredible. But where's all the energy coming from? Do you use mana?" Anise asked, resting her arms on Lucy's side as if she were a table.

  "Spawn permanently cut into a portion of their father's mana supply, yes. But what we really need is raw mass, so it's very common for an Agamic to have a great feast either before or during the birth process."

  "I'm jealous..." Veronica murmured.

  Maria pulled the soldier into a one-armed hug. "It sounds efficient, doesn't it? But don't be too jealous. There's a reason it takes us so long to give birth even with two people. Everything's got its place."

  Naviiur tilted his head. "Call me curious, but how does mating between two Conjugates work?"

  The gals exchanged awkward glances, and ultimately all eyes fell on Maria, as she seemed to be the most comfortable with Agamics. The mercenary let out a groan, feeling like she had to do everything.

  "Alright, so, every Conjugates is equipped with these things we call genitalia. Everyone has two sets of them, one is for receiving essence, and the other is for giving essence. For a little girl to come into this world, one Conjugate must give their essence to another."

  "If you have both sets of genitals then why can't you use them on yourselves?" Naviiur asked like a child who was lost in a lecture. He sat down, taking up a focused position. One hand on pushing on the knee, the other hand holding up his head as he leaned in. He was engrossed.

  "It doesn't work like that," Maria said bluntly. "The goddess Eyra thought that mortals should be grounded by compassion and love, so any Conjugate child that is conceived from self-impregnation will not make it to term. It's simply her will."

  Naviiur nodded along, "And how long does the whole process take?"

  "The act of intercourse doesn't take very long at all, but Conjugates who received the other's essence must carry it within her for three months. Only at the end of those three months will a baby come into this world."

  "I must admit. That does sound terribly inefficient. What's the benefit to such a long and complicated process?"

  "Do me a favor and stand up, Naviiur," Maria grunted as she stood up from her bench with a proud, smug smile.

  The Agamic did as he was asked, and the mercenary walked over and stood right beside him. The difference between them was immediately obvious. Naviiur was a mere 5'8" and Maria was nearly 6'4". Her body was also more muscular, with broad shoulders and equally wide and strong hips and legs. Naviiur's slender muscles looked meager in comparison.

  "The reason why it takes so long is because Conjugates have stronger, more complicated bodies." She took off her cuirass, revealing the dusty brown tunic underneath. "From my time in the sunlight realms, I got to see a lot of Agamics. Conjugates are a foot taller on average, and we weigh about 40 pounds more than your kind."

  "It's all starting to make sense now," Naviiur murmured. His eyes trailed up and down Maria's body, analyzing every facet of it.

  Maria felt like she was being dissected. There was no desire in the Agamics eyes, no lust or passion. He was simply parsing information from her form. It felt violating and dehumanizing, but she didn't take it personally, for how else was an entity that didn't understand the concepts of love and lust supposed to look at her.

  "Oh, by the way. What are those things on your chest?" Naviiur asked, casually poking Maria in her left breast. It caught her off guard, causing her to instinctively pull away.

  "Oh! Uh. T-they're breasts. They're mainly for feeding our infants," she stammered awkwardly, much to the Snickers and giggles of Anise and Lucy.

  "By the gods, your kind has so much going on with your biology. But I suppose it's working out. Your people are abundant, your bodies are strong, and from the little my brothers have told me, your Settlements are staggering. Maybe Amal was wrong after all." Naviiur seemed to contemplate everything he knew about the world. Maria could only guess how he was processing all this information.

  "Don't get too ahead of yourself. Conjugates have plenty of problems. And you're gonna get to see them real soon."

  "Right, I suppose I'll be fighting a lot of them starting tomorrow." He chuckled lowly, giddy at the idea of doing combat with these creatures he found so fascinating. "I can't wait! I wonder if your people are as strong as they were in the era of my brothers?"

  Maria gave him a rough, but well-meaning slap on the back. "Then you'll be taking charge, magic man! We're counting on you." She gave her comrades a sly smirk. They had found a willing combatant to take the burden off their shoulders. All they could do now was hope that he could live up to the task.