“About earlier...” Glade seemed embarrassed and nervous, Reman could almost hear the mare's heart pounding. “I have no idea why I did that.” The lycan pony flinched slightly when she felt her forebear's hand touch the side of her face.

“Glade, look at me.” The Imperial's voice was firm but gentle, the tone one uses when approaching a frightened child. The mare slowly complied with his wishes, she looked into his eyes after ten seconds. True to usual form, Reman didn't look upset in the least, if anything, he looked a bit... happy. A small half-smile decorated his features, like he had enjoyed her earlier actions. The Imperial wasn't acting strangely, at least not abnormally so.

That changed when Reman mirrored her earlier gesture, and actually kissed her. It hadn't lasted four seconds before he pulled back, leaving a slightly dumbfounded Summer Glade.

“We're even now, so you can stop worrying about it.” He worded that in a serious way, however his tone was playful.

“W-what was that?.” The lycan mare was still a little shaken, but not entirely displeased by things. The Imperial rested his forehead on hers, his eyes closed, neither of them moved. This situation was unusual to say the least. Glade relaxed into her forebear, she realized that this may have been the warrior's only leisure in some time. The tender moment was ended abruptly, by none other than Equestria's monarch.

“This time, I'm definitely interrupting something.” Celestia chuckled a little, but had difficulty understanding why she had caught the lycans in rather inappropriate situation, twice. Glade realized why the Princess of Day was known for her sense of humor. Luna was flanking her older sister, and the Princess of Night was having a much easier time wrapping her head around this situation than the Solar Princess. “Just what's going on between you two?”

“Sister, I think it has something to do with their... condition.” Luna had tiptoed around lycanthropy, but still had to get her point across, and she certainly hadn't enjoyed making the two werewolves sound like plague bearers. “Some sort of instinct that drives them to others with the same... illness.” She really needed to word her sentences in a more effective way, but, much to her surprise, neither of the lycans seemed offended by it.

“You're actually very close, but still a ways off.” The two lycans had abandoned their earlier position, and now opted for their current one, which had Glade's back against Reman's chest, with the Imperial's arms wrapped around the mare's stomach. “The alpha male and female share an attraction, as they are the two strongest members of their pack, any offspring they bear are likely to be powerful as well.”

“That is certainly a... scientific way to look at it.” In truth, Celestia could see why Hircine would plug that into lycanthropy, it certainly made sense. If the affliction was hereditary, which it could be, being a transferred by bodily fluids as it was, it would easily produce stronger lycans. If the pack raised offspring in a communal way, the odds of the young werewolf's survival was increased exponentially by the number of lethal protectors. “But that doesn't explain why it's only hitting you two now, why not before?”

“Proximity and biological difference, most likely.” Reman shrugged, he wasn't a healer, nor a student of the Altmer science called psychology, something about it being the science of the mind, whatever that meant. “Glade's progression on the lycanthropy timescale has been faster than any I've read about.”

“It didn't change you as quickly as me?” Glade looked rather confused, she didn’t understand that every race feels the effects of the common strains of lycanthropy differently. The strain she and Reman shared was unique, and may take a random amount of time to effect each individual.

“It took me three days before my first transformation.” The Imperial tightened his grip on the mare, who scooted closer in response. “Glade, you had the benefit of medical attention and anesthetics, I didn't have either, and I was on the run the entire time.” this drew a worried look from all in the room.

“Your family chased you away when you were infected?” Luna sincerely hoped this was not the case, family was meant to one's foundation, a pillar of support in times of need.

“No, I exiled myself.” Once again, the Imperial's eyes took on the hollowed looked they always did when discussing his time time in Cyrodiil. “After I killed the werewolf, which was Zenammu, as we now know, I passed out.” Reman sighed before he continued. “When I woke up, I knew something was wrong. At the time, I had some knowledge of how vampirism was transferred, and feared the same applied to lycanthropy.”

“Your world has vampires?” Celestia cocked her head slightly, clearly amazed by this development. “As in the bloodsucking, immortal, soulless creatures of the night, that kind of vampire, right?”

“Yeah, in fact, a good friend of mine in Morrowind is a vampire, sweet girl, very traditional.” The three ponies drew a blank at the Imperial's casual admission of his friendship with a member of the ranks of the undead. “Equestria has dragons, Unicorns, Pegasi, Alicorns, and magic in abundance, you're talking to a werewolf, that uses magic, and vampires is where you draw the line?”

“When you phrase it that way, yes!” Celestia was, by far, the most shocked of the ponies by this revelation, despite the evidence that Equestria was just as strange as Nirn. The Solar Princess had trouble believing that monsters she had ordered the extermination of, and for good reason, were commonly accepted in Reman's world. “You have vampires running around in the streets.”

“Not true, most have to hide their predatory nature, lest the sheep suspect the wolves.” Reman paused for a moment, and realized just how poor his wording had been. “Sorry, I used the wrong phrase.” He tried to remember what had been said on the matter, but drew a blank. “Never mind, it's gone.”

“I think we're getting a little off subject, here.” Luna jumped at the opportunity to be the voice of reason. This chance presented itself rarely, so it must be seized whenever it rears its beautiful head. “What my sister and I were talking about earlier, the two of you fighting Hircine, we have decided to give our full support, any resources or equipment you need to accomplish your mission.”

“Luna is correct, we've all ready sent for Captain Shining Armor, he'll be here in a few hours.” Celestia recovered from her shock quickly, perhaps it had been a show, the Imperial would never find out in this life. “However, his wife has requested that she accompany him, I hope that doesn't bother you.”

“Your letting his wife get involved?” Now it was Reman's turn to cock his head. “I thought you were attempting to minimize civilian involvement.”

“Reman, you need to know something.” Glade tapped a hoof on the Imperial's jaw, which easily captured his attention. The alpha complied with his counterpart's wishes and lowered his head, leaving his ear next to Glade's mouth. “Captain Shining Armor is married to Celestia's niece, Cadence, she's another Alicorn.” That was all Reman needed to hear before he returned his attention to the Princesses.

“She won't be dead weight, right?” The Alicorns' jaws dropped at the man's rudeness, but he was justified in his impatience.

“All Alicorns have large amounts of magical power.” Celestia had a tone of finality in her voice, seemed she knew what she was talking about. Well, of course she did, Cadence was one of her own, after all. “I'm certain that she will lend a hoof to your aid, she is one of the kindest ponies in Equestria, you know.”

“If there is no other news, I believe we need to approach our next order of business.” Luna knew that they had spent too much time discussing other things, now they needed to get back to work. “We still need to let the Elements know that you are okay.”

“Seems easy enough, but wait, there's more, right?” Reman knew how theses things went, first the easy stuff, then the hard part no one ever tells the adventure they'ed hired until after they've accepted the quest.

“We need to know if they'll come with us to the ritual.”