To lessen the confusion about preconceived fantasy creatures, the instance mentioned in a previous chapter about Azalea's mother marrying an orc has been changed to a Piglin (details of their race will be sprinkled throughout the chapter).
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This time of year, the low- hanging sun bathed the north in perpetual twilight. The sky was splattered with orange and purple and streaked with coldly glittering stars behind a moon unsure if it should be sharing space with the sun.
Jeni didn't know what to do with the feelings welling up inside her. Just a few weeks ago, her life was routine and mundane with no expectation of future change. But now...
From atop the wagon's seat, she looked down at her nestmate resting his head on her lap, his eyes closed. She strongly resisted the urge to fawn over him lest she disturb his glyph practice.
"Why is it so hard to look inside out?!?"
Jeni cocked her head. "Pioneering Azalea asks peculiar questions."
"I almost had it that time!" From where the frustrated fairy sat on Reina's back, she threw a handful of snow into the air.
"This one would like to help but needs further information on what frustrated Azalea is trying to do to raise such a question."
Azalea tapped her finger rhythmically to the crunch of Reina's hooves and the hiss of the metal runners.
"My deep-focus crest allows me to mentally visualize what's happening inside myself, but only me. I want to combine it with my halation ability to see inside of Reina, so her and Life-mate can make love without having to unnecessarily worry about making little Whitehorns."
"This one suggests activating sharp-eyed Azalea's halation behind her eyes instead of in front."
Azalea bit her lip as she pondered the idea. Jumping up, she flittered over to where Jeni sat and squeezed into the tiny bit of lap space between Jeni and Devin. "Can I try practicing on you? It's hard to concentrate when it's so cold."
"This one's body is always at proactive Azalea's disposal."
"Thank you."
While Jeni left Azalea to puzzle out her suggestion, a sudden gust of wind prompted another downpour of thick snow. While fluffing up her feathers, she pulled the blanket higher over Devin and spread her wings to shield both him and Azalea. Satisfied everyone was comfortable, she blinked away the icy wind stinging her eyes.
Reina's steady gait made it seem as if they were traveling through a veil of shooting stars. Puffy flakes tumbled past, obscuring what would normally be a panoramic view of Glacial-lock fjord. Far below, barges trawled up and down the waterway like little leaves bobbing and weaving among the ice-floes.
During her twenty four years of life, the harpy had seldom ventured outside the city walls, primarily because she had no need. However, she had a vague idea where they were, having memorized a map before they left.
They were approximately eighteen miles, or three Reina pee breaks, as was her custom at measuring distance on the Frostwood Highway. A major artery between the coast and the interior land. Their destination was close to the halfway point between Iceford and Merport.
"I think it's working, Jeni!" exclaimed Azalea. Her pointer fingers and thumbs formed a spade, or a lewder suggestible shape if one were to imagine hard enough.
"What did problem-solving Azalea deem the problem to be?"
Still concentrating on her fingers, Azalea answered, "Till now, I was overloading myself with too much visual information, making me dizzy, but using my fingers like this, I'm able to focus on only the space in-between."
Azalea moved her hands around Jeni's belly. The owlgirl's reproductive tract appeared as a vague bioluminescent-outline in her mind. She still lacked the clarity and detail for which she could see inside herself, but she was confident it was only a matter of time before she perfected this technique.
"Thank you for the tip, Jeni! "How did you know that would work?"
"This one didn't, but remembered she was acquainted with a classmate who studied demi-humans' various alternative visual abilities and recalled being told how light enters an individual's head and is seen upside-down by the brain.
"Thus this one postulated that if vision is reversed, maybe perceptive Azalea's unique sight could be inverted."
"I don't get it, but however it works, I can see everything now! I think I can share with you. Would you like to see?"
Astounded with not only Azalea's accomplishment at achieving something she'd never heard of being done but also at the speed in which she had figured it out... she wouldn't dare miss this opportunity.
"This one would like to very much."
With her hands already occupied, Azalea instead pressed her lips to Jeni's in a more intimate kiss than was necessary. Her crest and eyes growing brighter with the added affinic load placed with her body.
Surprised at both the sudden intimate gesture and her vision folding in on itself, Jeni tensed as the outside world faded into dim shadowy form. A mental diagram of her own insides appeared in front of her. She calmed somewhat and closed her eyes to focus on the mental picture.
Breaking the kiss so she could talk, Azalea pressed their foreheads together. "Isn't this amazing? Yours looks so different from mine, especially how long your tubes are connecting to your, um... what were they called? Ovaries?"
Sure enough, near the top were the organs responsible for producing her eggs. Two grape-clustered structures were each connected by a tubular ribbon descending to an oval shaped pouch sitting atop her vagi-cloacal opening.
"The length of this one's oviduct allows for the creation of the shell around this one's ovum. Similar to rolling a snowball on the ground, layers are added on the way down."
"Is that how they are made? Amazing! Does that mean that tiny thing near the top is the beginning of your egg forming?"
With her vision tied to her hands, the fairy positioned where she was looking. A small, round pearl, about the size of a pea, was beginning to form.
"This one believes that is the start of this one's egg, yes."
"Amazing! How long before it looks like an egg-egg?"
"Several days."
"Would you mind if I take a peek tomorrow to see how it's progressing?"
"This one does not mind," Jeni accepted with no reservation.
"Bodies are such amazing things. Oh, right! I should go try this on Reina."
Azalea jumped up, suddenly cutting the connection with Jeni. Grabbing onto the seat to steady herself as her vision returned to normal, Azalea dove beneath the belly of her sizable lover and hovered in place. "Ready, Reina?"
"I guess?"
"Let's see what's going on in there." Azalea pressed up against the shaggy coat and mentally squinted. "Huh. Why is it so hard to see? It's like looking through a rain splattered window. Hmm..." Azalea shifted to the side. "Oh, I see! Your bladder is in the way and quite full from the look of it. Would you mind emptying so I can see better?"
Though a little startled and odd request, Reina knew her fae lover was doing all this for her and Devin. She was happy for Azalea discovering this astounding, yet intrusively insightful, ability. Also it was about time to mark their mileage again. Unable to pee while walking, she came to a halt and raised her tail.
"Thank you, my love." Azalea watched with rapt attention as Reina constricted her bladder, causing the liquid-filled bag to quickly empty, leaving a clearer view of what lay behind.
