Quick note: Zephyr looked greatly like his mother, Artemis. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Wow... That is an incredible amount of history and lore to take in all at once," Benjamin marveled at the expansive story he had just been told, his eyes wide with wonder and amazement.

Of course, he was now fully dressed in clothes that covered his body from neck to ankle.

He continued; "And Marina is from the Zephyr clan, the Zephyrians, is that correct?"

Lulu nodded her head in confirmation, her expression thoughtful as she added her own piece of knowledge.

"In fact, though she never confirms it herself, Marina is rumored among the elders and the scholars to be far older than what any of us think," she said, "Some say she has been alive for tens of thousands of years, or perhaps even longer than that. But there is no evidence to back that fact."

"Yeah, yeah, and while we are on the subject of age," Martha eagerly entered the gossip stream, leaning forward with excitement in her voice, "if you do the math carefully, and compare the historical events recorded in various sources, you will realize that ’The Legendary Mage, Lotus’ was somehow around and active during historical events that occurred even eight thousand years ago.

"That is far longer than her supposed age would allow. It makes no sense when you see it on scrolls, but yet the records are quite clear about her presence at those events."

"So much mystery surrounds all of them, so many secrets and hidden truths that we may never fully understand," Heka held her chin thoughtfully in one hand, her brow furrowed. "Haha, fledglings of only five hundred years like us cannot even begin to fathom the depths of time and experience that women like Lotus and Marina have lived through. We are children compared to them, infants barely taking our first steps into history."

[Five hundred is like infant to Lotus...? Aren’t they just indirectly making fun of my much shorter human lifespan? Though, I doubt I have a lifespan anymore.] [Ben]

"It would very much explain why Marina and Lotus often treat our Mother like a small girl, like a little child needing guidance and scolding," Lulu interjected into the flow of conversation, her voice thoughtful as she made the observation, "despite Mother being only apart from them in age by a few centuries, apparently.

"Mother is forty-two hundred years old and Lotus is supposedly around five thousand years old. But the difference in how they carry themselves and how they interact is striking. Lotus looks far more mature than Mother, even though on paper they are not that far apart in raw numbers. The disparity is jarring, no?"

"Lotus told me, when I was a little girl, that she was thirty-five hundred years old," Martha added with a pout on her lips, clearly feeling deceived and by this memory. "That should make her around four thousand years old now, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. But that liar, telling me such a falsehood when I was young and believed everything she said without question.

"An Amazon’s natural lifespan, the normal limit of our years without special intervention, is supposed to be no older than five millennia at the absolute maximum.

"Purer bloods like us, with our strong lineage and direct descent from the original children, could potentially break that barrier through our superior heritage. But we should look a bit like the elders when we reach those extreme ages — kind of wrinkled and shriveled up, our bodies bent and weathered by the crushing weight of so many centuries.

"And yet Lotus does not look like that at all. She looks vibrant and beautiful, as if time has simply stopped for her entirely."

Heka frowned at Martha with disapproval in her expression, her lips pursed in a thin line. "C’mon, please do not disrespect the elders."

"Whaaaat? At three thousand years old, normal Amazons are already going blind and losing their edge in combat, while Big Sis Sara is only half their age in raw numbers and yet she looks like she could still go another ten thousand years."

Lulu glanced at Benjamin, her blue eyes carrying a weight of knowledge as she continued her explanation in a measured tone.

"The point that Lulu is trying to make is that purer blooded Amazons are highly unusual and more divine in nature than the common ones. Mother is even a direct daughter of Irina herself.

"She will probably live for what feels like eternity. And probably us too. Lulu thinks we might share in that extended longevity, but we cannot know for sure until we truly pass the age barriers ourselves."

She paused, letting the weight of her words settle into the air of the room, before continuing in a softer voice.

"However, considering the little evidence we have, Deva, Marina, and Lotus might all be older than tens of thousands of years—perhaps far older—and are just not saying anything about their true ages."

Benjamin noted that Lulu, in this moment of speaking, surprisingly seemed adult and wise despite her youthful face.

There was a depth to her voice and a weight to her words that made her seem much older than her physical appearance suggested.

"So..." Benjamin began, "everything you have just told me reinforces my original point, that we should not gang up on Marina and force her to sleep with me?"

"Yes." Lulu nodded her small head firmly, her bob-cut hair swaying with each movement. "We could assault Deva, her younger sister, without consequences — Deva is powerful but not overwhelmly so, and she might even secretly want the attention despite her shyness.

"But Marina is very unusual. Attacking her would be... unwise."

"No, even with Deva... that is still not acceptable, we should not assault anyone," Benjamin waved his hand in a dismissing gesture as he stood up fully from the bed.

His feet touched the cool floor as he rose and looked down at the three women still seated on the mattress.

He had faced the girls directly, his expression softening into a warm and genuine smile that spread across his entire face, reaching his eyes and crinkling the corners.

"I... truly enjoyed our long night of gossip and sharing stories. We sure caught up on everything I missed while I was away," he said, his voice full of warmth and affection. "And being away from you guys for all those days made this reunion all the more worthwhile and satisfying. Every moment of it was precious to me, okay?"

He flashed a toothy smile at them, a bright and confident grin that made all three of their hearts skip several beats in their chests, their faces flushing with warmth and their breaths catching in their throats.

[Damn, they are adorable when they react like that. I should tease them more often] Benjamin thought privately inside.

Then he continued speaking, his tone shifting to something more serious but still carrying that edge of playful confidence.

"I want to go see the Grootslang now, this ancient serpent creature you told me about, and pay my respects to it... To see if we can have a reasonable conversation.

"Since all of you are being selfish, I will leave you alone for now... But when the right time comes, your vaginas will be mine for the taking. No mercy."

Then, in the space between one heartbeat and the next, between one blink of an eye and the following blink...

The girls kept staring at Benjamin’s smiling face, at the spot where he had been standing, their eyes fixed there, until... The dawning realization slowly spread across their features.

"Huh?" Martha’s eyes widened dramatically at the sight — or rather, at the lack of sight — her mouth falling open in shock. "H-He’s not there anymore!"