“So...” Talan said while sitting at the kitchen table.

Sonata and Aria looked at each other and smiled sheepishly at Talan.

When Talan woke up he realized he was alone. Sonata was gone, already downstairs preparing a meal for Aria and himself. The hole in her chest had healed, though there was still a noticeable indentation where the gem previously was. Aria was the same, though her injury was less severe.

After Talan came downstairs and sat at the kitchen table, there was a good ten minutes of silence. Aria refused to meet his gaze, and almost walked out of the room were it not for Sonata forcibly making her stay. Sonata herself merely smiled at Talan and went about as if nothing ever happened. Obviously reluctant to discuss everything.

“I guess we’ll start off with the basics,” Talan said with a sigh. “What the hell are you?”

Sonata sat down at the table and motioned for Aria to do the same.

“Talan, we’re sorry we deceived you. When never wanted this to happen.”

“And we never intended for you to be in danger,” Aria said.

Talan raised his hands, motioning for them to be quiet. He pressed his hands to his head and groaned. “My head still hurts, but it’s not like I asked if you were fish monsters from outer space and you said ‘no.’ Just tell me what you are.”

“What we are isn’t easy to pronounce in your language, but the ponies called us Sirens,” Sonata said.

“Ponies...?” Talan asked.

“Yeah, Sunset is one. She’s a unicorn, but ended up in your world just like us. Her friend with the stripe in her hair is also a pony.”

“We come from the land of Equestria. It’s another world populated by several creatures, many of them are sentient.” Sonata explained.

Talan pressed his head to the table, “Why are you here?”

“We were banished by a pony wizard named Starswirl,” Aria said.

“Why were you banished?” Talan asked.

Both girls paused, “We used our powers, our voices... to turn ponies and other creatures against each other. We fed from their conflict... it was what sustained us for a time. Adagio was the one who gathered us together and wanted us to do it.”

Talan looked up and pushed back from the table. As he did, both girls frowned with pained expressions on their faces.

“So... you’re like the Siren’s from Greek myth... you use your voices to lure creatures and people. Then you feed from their conflict?”

“Yes... but we never hurt anypony.” Sonata said. “Aria and I never wanted to go that far. We always refused when Adagio wanted to.”

“So that means...” Talan began, putting two and two together, “Every time you sang to me, I was under your magical spell?”

“No!” Sonata and Aria said in unison, “We never used it on you, not intentionally.”

“You turned on Adagio, why?”

“Because she was going to far, and she was going to hurt you,” Aria said. “Sonata became your friend, she said you were nice. I didn’t want to come around. I didn’t want to befriend you and make myself weak. I didn’t want to let my guard down, but I did anyway. When the battle was first announced we manipulated events so we could steal Twilight and Sunset’s power and travel back to our world. But, as things progressed, we saw Adagio was off the deep end. She became obsessed. She was never like that before, despite the bad things she’s done.”

“Talan... can you forgive us?” Sonata asked.

Talan looked at them uneasily, “What’s with the holes in your chests?”

Aria touched her hand to her where her pendant used to be, “They were part of us, Talan. They augmented our power. Without them, our magical voiced are severely diminished.”

Talan nodded, “I... you saved me, and who knows how many others by stopping Adagio. Sunset helped you, too. So she must have been forgiving. I guess... I forgive you. I just need time to think about this.”

Before he got up to leave Aria nudged Sonata, “Oh, right!” she said. “Talan, when you’re done resting, come downstairs. We want to show you something.”

“Alright,” Talan replied.

Talan walked upstairs and shook his head. He went into the bathroom cabinet and took some headache pills, then fell onto his bed. He grabbed his phone and went to text Babs, but couldn’t think of anything to say. There was too much on his mind. With a groan he shut his eyes and turned over. Sleep came faster than he imagined.

Talan woke up later and looked out his window. It was getting to be the end of midday. He yawned and went downstairs to find the girls waiting for him.

“Aria, Sonata, I can’t be mad at you. Not after all you’ve done. I’m not in the position to judge your past. I can’t, and won’t do that.”

Sonata walked over to him and rubbed his shoulder, “Aria and I were talking. We’ve decided it’s time we stopped deceiving you. We’re going to show you the truth. Go upstairs and get your swim trunks, we’re going to the beach.”

Talan raised an eyebrow, “Alright, I suppose I could use a dip. Are we bringing dinner?”

Aria and Sonata looked at each other with a smirk, “Yeah, Talan. We’ll bring something.”

Talan grabbed his stuff and shoved it in his duffle bag, then joined the girls outside as they walked through the park to the secluded beach behind the community.

As Aria and Sonata took of their clothes revealing their purple and blue bikinis, they cautiously observed the water on each side of the beach.

“How secluded is this place, Talan?” Aria asked. “There aren’t any boats or other people that use it?”

Talan shook his head, “Only boats that are allowed here are ones owned by people who live in the community. Other kids used to use this beach, but they’ve since grown up and moved away. The rest prefer to go to more public beaches, you know, with more people.”

The girls nodded to each other and smiled, “So, who’s going first?” Sonata asked.

“I will,” Aria said. “Hopefully I won’t scare him as much.”

“I’m not scary!!” Sonata said with angry puff of her cheeks.

“What are you two talking about?” Talan asked.

Aria simply winked and walked into the waves. Sonata stood by Talan and gently rubbed his shoulder, “We’re offering you a chance to swim with us, the real us...”

“What?” Talan asked.

Sonata smiled down at him and motioned to Aria, who was now chest deep in water, “It’s not something many creatures ever get to do, watch...”

Talan’s eyes widened as Aria disappeared under the waves. A purple light flashed under the water and traveled further out. Then, Talan jumped.

An equine shaped head emerged from the water. It was big, just as big as what he saw flying around at the show. It had a long nose and a dorsal fin on it’s head almost like a mohawk. The way it’s head was barely out of the water reminded Talan of a prowling crocodile.

Talan backed away and shook his head, “No way, nuh- uh, that thing... that’s-”

“What’s wrong?” Sonata asked.

“I don’t like big things in the water with me...” Talan said. “The black abyss of the ocean is a subject of my nightmares. I don’t like wondering what it’s hiding, and that looks like something I would find there...”

“Shh... it’s alright.” Sonata reassured him, “That’s Aria, she would never hurt you.”

Talan forced a nervous laugh, “You say that...”

A soft, low sound came from the ocean, causing Talan to turn and look. Aria crooned in a low hum as she raised her head slightly out of the water.

“She’s calling to you,” Sonata said.

Talan was curious if Aria could even talk in that form, or was she only capable of communicating through bestial sounds like that? He had to admit it was rather soothing to hear. He was beginning to feel at ease.

“You’ll be here if something happens?” Talan asked.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Sonata said. “Come on, there’s nothing to be afraid of. You’ve been swimming with us before. It’s not that different now,” she said with a slight giggle.

Talan slowly took her hand and walked into the waves. Sonata stopped when she was up to her knees and motioned him forward. “Go on!”

Talan saw the creature floating out in front of him, every primal instinct he had said he was staring a predator right in the face. In the water he was helpless, if it wanted to it could snap him up for dinner in less than a second. However, it didn’t move. It floated patiently, never taking it’s eyes off him.

Talan slowly swam forward a little more, testing the boundaries. He was out in deeper water now. Since the sun was still up the water was crystal clear. He went under for a moment to get a look at the whole thing. Aria’s body was quite big. Talan guessed at least thirty five to forty feet or more. She sported two hooves and a scaly fish like tail.

“What are you staring at?!” a voice screamed inside Talan’s head.

Talan grabbed his head and winced, “The hell?!”

“Oh... sorry, too loud? It’s been a long time since I did this sort of thing.”

The voice was clearly Aria’s, yet it was three of her talking at once, and all in his head.

“You can talk... in my head?!” Talan gasped. “Telepathy?”

“Magic!” Aria said with a chuckle, “But yeah, basically.”

“How?!” Talan asked. “You can’t read my mind can you?!”

Aria chuckled audibly this time, a deep rumble from her large chest, “If I could do that, I wouldn’t have asked you the first question. I can’t read your mind. I can only speak out and hope your brain can sense my words. Lucky for us it can, pretty cool huh?”

“Well, that’s not weird at all. But I’m talking to a gigantic sea monster, so what is normal anymore?”

A low growl emanated from Aria as she inched closer.

“Uh, not a monster! A beautiful, rare, sea creature. Uh, Siren. I wasn’t meaning to stare, it’s just that you’re... well, big...”

Aria looked at herself and swam closer, more quickly this time. “Are you calling me fat?!”

The more Talan heard her voice, the more he realized he was overreacting. They weren’t going to hurt him. Despite their appearance, these were indeed the girls he’d become friends with over the past two weeks. Talan smiled, he knew Aria well enough to realize she was just trying to break the ice.

“I mean, no? But... you are pretty big. Maybe lay off the perch, or groupers, or whales...”

Aria’s eyes widened, her reptilian lips curling into an actual predatory grin, “Good idea, perhaps I should try lean meat... how about little human boy?”

Rows of sharp teeth glistened in the sunlight as Aria swam forward, her mouth opening wider and wider. Talan swam back and turned around to swim away faster. However he didn’t get far. A large purple fin rose up out of the water and pushed him back toward Aria.

Talan looked underwater and saw Aria had stretched her tail behind him. Clearly it was longer and more flexible than he expected.

A long reptilian tongue snaked forward and pressed itself to his stomach, then licked him all the way up to his head and hair. Talan didn’t know what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t this. The tongue wasn’t rough, or coarse. It was actually quite soft and smooth. He laughed a little as she did it again.

Aria’s lips recoiled in disgust, she made a whining sound and stuck her tongue out, spitting the sea water a fair distance.

“So I don’t taste good?” Talan asked.

“You taste awful!!” Aria replied. “Good thing we eat other things, I’d never survive off humans. Hey Sonata! Come see!”

Talan was startled as Aria’s tail flattened and lifted him out of the water. It was like sitting on a flat platform, he was surprised at how sturdy it was. A blue light flickered under the water further toward the shore. He hadn’t realized he and Aria had floated further out. His jaw dropped when Sonata revealed herself above the water.

She was not at all what he was expecting. While Aria looked similar to the projected image at the Battle of the Bands, Sonata looked strikingly different. For one, she was much larger than Aria. Her head, chest, hooves, fins, everything was bigger. However, she lacked the solid frame that Aria had. She was more slender, and longer. Talan looked around and saw parts of her body looping and arcing above the surface all around him. Sonata was less of a seahorse and more of a sea serpent. In the end, he could still tell it was her. There was no mistaking it. She elevated her body out of the water so she was looking down at both Aria and himself.

Her lips curled into a smile while Talan held out a hand. It was all in the eyes. Though they appeared different now, they were still very much the same. Sonata had the same soft, comforting blue opals that calmed him just by looking at them. Aria’s radiated confidence and ferocity, yet a security as well. Being around her meant nothing in the entire ocean would ever harm him.

Sonata bent down and sniffed Talan, blowing air through her nostrils. He couldn’t help but chuckle as she nuzzled his stomach and gave him a small lick. Sonata had a similar reaction to Aria. She frowned noticeably and stuck out her long tongue.

“Talan you taste icky!!” she whined.

Talan couldn’t stop the smile that burst onto his face. He was experiencing something nobody else had before. He was swimming with Sirens, sea creatures from another world. And best of all, they were his friends.

“Well sorry, Sonata.” Talan said. “If I could taste like a taco, I would.”

Talan screamed as the tail he was sitting on launched him into the air. He fell unceremoniously into the water and saw Aria looking down at him.

“What the hell, man?!” Talan shouted.

“Let’s go for a swim, Talan,” Aria said, she lowered herself in front of him and smiled.

“We’re already swimming.”

Talan felt something touch his feet and saw Sonata gently nudging him with her nose.

“Climb on, Talan. Aria is fast, much faster than me. You’ll have so much fun!”

Talan examined the fins on Aria’s head and back, “Those look razor sharp.”

Aria rolled her eyes and flattened the fins to her scales, “Come on, Talan. You’re not scared are you?”

Talan narrowed his eyes, “Scared, hah! I’ve always wanted to ride my very own personal sea horse.”

Talan tried to climb onto Aria’s back and neck, but slipped on her scales and fell backward into the water. Luckily Sonata was there to gently nudge him into position. Talan settled down on his stomach at the back of Aria’s head. He looked for something to grab on to, realizing he’d probably fall off without anything. As if she actually did read his mind, Aria flicked her ears back so Talan could grab hold. They were thinner at the base just like a horse’s.

“Hang on,” Aria said while moving forward.

Talan gripped tighter and looked back. Sonata was above the waves up to her chest. She waved goodbye as Aria began to move faster and faster. She lowered her head to the water as her body started to undulate back and forth, propelling her forward with tremendous force.

Talan moved his body along with hers, trying not to be so rigid.

“Having fun back there?” Aria asked.

“This is amazing!” Talan shouted as the waves crashed by.

“Knew you’d like it,” Aria said with a giggle. “Oh look, we’ve attracted some new friends.”

Talan gasped as he saw a pod of dolphins appear around them. Two on one side, and three on the other. He knew there were dolphins around where they lived, but he never had gone so far out to see them.

He got a little water up his nose when Aria submerged, then jumped out the water. Now they were joining the dolphins in the fun. Talan loved it, each time she dove under and jumped back up felt exhilerating.

They continued racing around until Talan noticed they were heading back toward the beach. Aria jumped up one final time and went straight into a wave. After that she stopped on a dime, causing Talan to fly from her head and hurtle through the air. Talan screamed, bracing for impact. Hitting the water at this speed was like hitting concrete. Just before impact, Sonata appeared below and caught him.

Talan impacted her belly and was surprised at how soft it was. He expected some hard muscle and tough scales, but her light blue texture was more like the squishy underbelly of a turtle than a fish. He wondered if Aria was similar.

Sonata fell onto her back and craned her head up, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just glad you caught me.”

“Aria knew I would catch you, I love playing with little fish,” Sonata said with a giggle.

“I’m a little fish, am I?” Talan asked, while standing up and crossing his arms.

Sonata merely grinned and stuck out her tongue, “Aria wants to explore a bit, so she gave you to me. I’d like to get some sun on my scales, you don’t mind do you?”

Talan shrugged and laid down on her soft stomach, “Not really, suppose I could get some, too.”

“You’re the best, Talan. I promise we’ll do something fun afterward.”

Talan yawned and couldn’t help smiling when Sonata laid one of her hooves gently across him. He appreciated the loving gesture and allowed himself to drift off.

About an hour later, Talan woke up and stretched. He saw the sun was starting to set, but there was still plenty of light. He realized he was moving up and down, not because of the waves, but because of the steady breathing of his current seahorse bed. Sonata was breathing steadily, her chest rising and falling with Talan on it. Every so often she’d make some small noises, something he found very adorable. He gently pushed away her hoof holding him close, then slipped back into the water. It was nice and warm.

Talan swam away from Sonata and followed her long, swaying tail. He guessed she was sixty to seventy feet long. He wondered why she was different now. All three had the same form at the battle. Could it be that losing her gem forced a transformation? She didn’t look as strong as Aria in this form. At least not physically, but he could be wrong.

Talan swam underneath her tail as it lazily moved back and forth. The small fin at the end catching the light as it reflected off the water. Talan grabbed hold of it and chuckled when it kept moving from side to side, slithering in place. Like her stomach, most of her tail was also soft. Talan found it funny that her Siren form reflected her personality, at least somewhat. Soft and caring, yet strong.

He ran his hand down it and laughed when it shivered at his touch. He did it again and watched it twitch. She was ticklish. Talan continued running his hand gently down the smooth scales, and was caught off guard when the tail fin casually knocked him away. He recovered and looked to see if Sonata was still asleep.

Talan decided to test the waters again. No sooner had he started he was pulled under with his legs bound. He looked around and was forced to the surface as Sonata’s tail wound around him, encasing him in a shimmering blue cocoon. The body of the siren soon joined him and chuckled audibly.

“Didn’t know you were such a ticklish Siren,” Talan said as the coils moved around him.

Sonata shook her head and frowned, “I’m not, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just had an itch, like some little fish or sea crab was crawling on me, and look what I caught!”

Talan squirmed as her fin covered his face, “Wait til I tell Aria about it.”

“You can’t do that!” Sonata shouted. “She’ll tickle and tease me all the time when I’m in this form!”

“Guess you’ll have to let me go then,” Talan said with a shrug.

Sonata frowned, “Oh, but you’re so cute. And are you sure you want to do that around our new friend?”

“New friend?” Talan asked. “What new frie- HOLY CRAP!!”

A gray fin swam near Talan about ten feet away. It was big, too. He screamed and tried to get out of Sonata’s embrace, but she held firm.

“Get me out of the water! Now!” Talan shouted.

Sonata, who didn’t take her eyes off the shark, slowly moved Talan over to her shoulder and uncoiled him. She gently pushed him up to the top of her head and looked up.

“You’re safe up there, but you’d be safe in the water, too. This little guy doesn’t want any trouble.”

“Little guy?!” Talan shrieked. “That’s a huge shark!”

Sonata let out an audible croon as she swam slowly toward the shark, who had been circling them a few times.

“Aww, he’s not even an adult yet. He’s just curious, I doubt he’s seen anything like me in these waters.”

“Make him go away!” Talan said while holding her ears in a death grip.

Sonata slowly swam away from the shark, eventually it lost interest and went on it’s way. She looked up and felt Talan shivering atop her head. Sonata bent forward, gently dumping him into the water in front of her.

“I’m sorry, Talan. Things like that just don’t bother me. I should be more aware of things that scare you, and humans in general.”

Talan swam back and pressed himself against her chest, “I just... sharks, jaws, teeth, those eyes. It’s scary.”

“Aria and I would never let anything hurt you, Talan.” she said while looping her tail loosely around them both, “Not Adagio, not those bullies, and not anything in the sea.”

Talan turned around and pressed his head against her soft underbelly. He needed to relax. He knew how most fish acted, the bigger you are, nothing is going to mess with you, and Sonata was huge.

“Alright,” Talan said. “I’ll relax, so what fun did you have in store?”

Sonata tilted her head to the side, then a smile burst onto her face.

“Have you ever been flying?” she asked.

Talan remembered the image of them flying around the Rainbooms, “Uh, can’t say I have. Are you going to fly like at the battle?!”

Sonata frowned and shook her head, “Unfortunately no. It takes a certain type of magic to do that, and without our gems we can’t do it. But... YOU can still fly...”

“Uh, how?” Talan asked.

Sonata giggled, a beastly sound rumbling from her chest, “Hold your breath!”

In an instant Sonata dover under, along with her long looped up body. After a moment, Talan felt her tail gently wrap around his feet. He took that as a good time to take a big breath. Her tail wound up to his waist and slowly pulled him down. He pressed his hands to the coils and looked at her. Sonata was inverted, her body facing up toward him, and her entire length of tail coiled into a spring.

Talan’s eyes bulged as he put two and two together, just as Sonata smiled and waved goodbye.

Every powerful muscle in her extremely long tail tensed and pushed, launching Talan with such force he flipped several times. The world turned upside down as he barreled through the air. His stomach jumped into his throat. Eventually gravity took hold and he came falling back down. Just before impact he grabbed his knees and crouched over in a cannonball, impacting the water with a tremendous splash.

When he broke the surface, Sonata was instantly at his side.

Talan gasped and shouted in joy, “That - was - amazing!! Holy crap!! I feel like a kid again, like when we would go to my relative’s place and use the blob on their pier.”

“Blob?” Sonata asked.

Talan tried to explain it while treading water, “It’s this inflatable thing, a blob, someone sits on one end while another jumps on the opposite one. The force shoots the person sitting into the air.”

Sonata smiled and clapped her hooves together happily, “So this is as fun as that?”

“Are you kidding?!” Talan exclaimed. “This is like one hundred times better, do it again! Higher this time!”

Talan soon found himself coiled up and ready to be launched. Even though he knew it was coming, all the air still left his lungs as he was catapulted skyward. This time he didn’t tumble, instead soaring straight through the air. He spread his arms like he was actually flying, then went into a dive as he fell.

The third time he went higher still, yet didn’t have the same grace. As he plummeted to the water he winced for what was surely to be a hard impact. But to his surprise Sonata elevated herself out of the water and caught him, taking the force of the impact herself.

After doing it a few more times, Talan decided to take it easy. The sun was going down, and they were losing light. Sonata saw he was tired, having been swimming around and treading water for hours. She curled part of her tail into a hump for Talan to sit on and rest.

“So those gems on your chest,” Talan said. “Those aren’t like your hearts, or something?”

“Not our hearts, no,” Sonata said. “But they’re a part of us, part of our magic. All of our species has them.”

“Will you be okay without them?”

“I think so,” Sonata said. “They should grow back eventually, until then we’ll have to do without some of our magic. We can’t use our voice powers of compulsions and song anymore.”

“Shame,” Talan said. “I liked your singing, except for the mind control part.”

“I can still sing,” Sonata said with wink.

Talan slid off her tail and swam over. He wrapped his arms around her chest as best he could and sighed. “You’re awesome, Sonata. Thank you for everything. This has been the experience of a life time.”

Sonata cooed a soft tone and nuzzled him, “You’re welcome, Talan. You’ve changed our lives just as much. Climb on, let’s get back to shore.”

As Talan got into position he looked further out to sea, “Where’s Aria, isn’t she coming back?”

“She’s exploring the reefs and wrecks, apparently. Aria has always been a free swimming Siren, she’ll come back when she’s ready.”

As they were swimming back Talan looked at the clouds and remembered. He crawled down to her eye and smiled, “You can control the weather, can’t you?”

Sonata shook her head, “I can call storms, but I can’t control the weather completely.”

“How do you do that?”

Sonata stuck her tongue out and bent it backward to lick Talan, “I ate a unicorn wizard who knew how to do it.”

Talan laughed, figuring she was kidding, “Uh huh...” he said.

“I didn’t eat a pony, Talan. Geez. But he did teach it to me.”

“That’s cool, a whole other world... you’ll have to tell me more about it sometime.”

“I will for sure,” Sonata said. “Well, here we are. Time to hop off.”

Part of Talan didn’t want this to end, but he knew it had to. Talan slid off and gave her one more big hug, then swam to the shore. With a flash of blue light Sonata joined him in her human form and tousled his hair. Talan helped her pack things up, then they headed home.

When Talan got back he picked up his phone to check in with Babs. To his surprise she had sent him a few texts wondering where he was. He replied, then received another message from her. She wanted to see him, tonight. It sounded important. So Talan took a shower, then informed Sonata where he was going.

Talan pedaled over to her house and left the bike in her front yard. After ringing the doorbell Babs let him in and gave him a big hug.

“Is everything alright?” Talan asked.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Babs said. “What happened to texting me?”

“Yeah, I forgot. Sorry. Things have been a little hectic, but everything is fine.”

“Those girls, your friends. Are they alright? You were concerned about them.”

Talan nodded, “They’re fine. Just took the loss a little hard. What did you want?”

Babs rubbed her hands together nervously and walked into the living room, she sat down and crossed her legs, motioning for Talan to sit next to her.

“My friend is coming to visit,” Babs said. “Remember how I said I only have one friend from New York I keep in contact with? She’s coming over, probably tomorrow.”

“That’s great!” Talan said. “You’ll have more interaction than just me. It’ll be nice to see her, yeah?”

“Yeah... it will...” Babs said.

“Something wrong?” Talan asked.

Babs averted his gaze and looked at the floor, “Well... she and I were... more than friends.”

Talan’s eyes widened, “You’re saying you’re... but you like me?”

“I’m not a lesbian, Talan,” Babs said. “I’m Bi, err maybe, I don’t really know.”

“Wow...” Talan said. “I never would have thought.”

Babs chuckled, “Aren’t fit girls like me thought to be lesbians? Isn’t that a thing?”

Talan shrugged, “Well, I guess, but that never really crossed my mind.”

Babs turned Talan’s face toward her, “I just wanted to tell you before she comes. I’d like for us all to hang out, and I didn’t want you figuring it out without any mention.”

Talan nodded in approval, “That’s thoughtful, Babs. I appreciate it. So, you obviously like me, and you dated another guy. When did you find out you liked girls?”

Babs rubbed her shoulders and got up. She walked to the window and leaned against it, “Open relationships were the way things were there. Usually one guy and several women, as I told you. Well, one of the other girls in the group was one I had known for a long time. We went to the same private schools and hung out a lot.”

“So a close friend that predated the clique?” Talan asked.

“Oh yeah, we go way back.” Babs said. “So one night when we were all hanging out on the rooftops, I was just kinda sitting by myself. This was after he picked another girl over me. That was my problem, not realizing at the time that we were all in an open relationship. I was mad at first, but then the anger turned inward at myself.”

“Why?”

“For not realizing that’s what was going on. It was incredibly stupid of me. Anyway my friend was there, and we kinda went to another part of the building and hung out. That’s when it started, I think.”

“What happened after that?” Talan asked.

“Well... I’m not really comfortable saying,” Babs said. “Let’s just say something bad happened, and my friend was there to help. After that, our bond strengthened to a level it had never been before. It was like magic, Talan. Stupid as it sounds. We both knew it. We weren’t the same, so we kissed. It just felt right. We experimented a little after that.”

“Experimented,” Talan said with a chuckle. “Every teenage guy’s fantasy.”

Babs chuckled, too. She appreciated the levity. “Yeah, that’s true. Anyway that’s what happened. We’re more than friends. So... what do you think?”

“Okay... I’m a fairly straight forward guy,” Talan began. “So, I guess that means I need to get some things cleared up.”

Babs nodded, “Alright.”

Talan got up and walked around. He stood under the arch leading from kitchen to front room and leaned against it. “I’m not really the jealous type, Babs. But... I gotta ask, where do I fit into this? I’m your boyfriend, do I need to compete with her for your love and affection? I mean, how could I even do that? I can’t match the bond you have with her.”

“You don’t need to,” Babs said. “That’s a different type of love. Not better or worse, not stronger or weaker. Just different.”

Talan considered that, “I suppose that makes sense, that’s a different view of it.”

“We never dated, we never thought of each other in that way,” Babs explained. “We were friends plus just a little more, that’s all.”

Talan walked back over to the couch and sat down, “Well, I suppose I’m okay with it. I’m new to this sort of thing, but as long as we have feelings for each other and we have fun? I’m good. As long as things don’t get too sketchy.”

Babs smiled and sat in his lap, “I feel the same way, and it’s your job to let me know when things are sketchy, alright?”

Talan chuckled, “I have such a lack of experience I probably won’t even know when it happens. So take it with a grain of salt.”

Babs shoved him and crossed her arms, “Don’t think that way, Talan. Just because you lack in experience doesn’t mean your opinions are worth jack. I have feelings for you. You’re a sweet guy who treats me great. We’re having this conversation because I care about you. But you’re under no obligation to be okay with all the things I like or do. Get me?”

Talan nodded, “I get you, I get you. If I have a problem I’ll speak up. As for this, you told me upfront. Now I won’t be gobsmacked if by chance I walked in and you two were making out or something.”

Babs slowly moved and straddled Talan’s waist, “What if we were making out, then asked you to join...?”

Talan was gobsmacked, “Uh... hehe,” he laughed nervously, “Come again?”

Babs stretched, then ran her hands through his spiked hair, “Talan, what do you know about polyamory?”