Rogue walked slightly behind Sting into the Fairy Tail Guild Hall. He let his hair fall forward, shadowing his eyes so he could look about without being obvious.
He wasn't spying, he was just interested. Fairy Tail had sistered with the biggest guild in Bosco and was doing exchanges so there were usually exotic Boscan mages about when he and Sting could find the time to visit so they could go to the Palace.
He could see at least one he was sure wasn't regular Fairy Tail, a tall wiry man with red hair that fell to his waist and bi-colored eyes wore the distinctive white and blue of White Sea though he had a Fairy Tail emblem on the bicep of his shirt.
"I don't have time!" A young voice cried and both Sabertooth mages had to stop short as a young girl with long blue hair raced past them, a white exceed chasing after her "Wendy! You make time for lunch!" the exceed cried.
"I like her dress." Frosch said from her place in Rogues arms. He glanced down at her affectionately, "I would be happy to get you dresses Frosch." He told her, she shook her head and he sighed, following Sting in proceeding toward the door down the hall behind the bar.
Nobody even looked at them anymore when they came to Fairy Tail, it was an odd feeling, the discovery of the Palace was tremendous, and he was eternally grateful to Master Makarov for sharing it with Sting and himself. Their guild still didn't understand their recent frequent trips, he imagined they would taper off on their pilgrimages to the Palace once the insatiable hunger for knowledge and feeling connected to the Dragon world was eased in its current intensity but he wasn't going to hold his breath.
It wasn't remarkable he wanted to be here, it was Stings need for it that made it obvious his own need wasn't odd. Sting cared about little other than partying, women and fighting, no necessarily in that order.
The Light Slayer feeling driven to visit the Palace meant the drive was compelling on a level even Stings usually somewhat shallow drives couldn't supersede, like they did with everything else.
The little dragon slayer and her white exceed continued to argue ahead of the two slayers from Sabertooth, it was an odd audio since the girl was running down the narrow staircase so her voice reverberated oddly back to the two older slayers.
"I don't want to miss a minute! Bickslow said she got here over an hour ago! I've never met another female slayer! I thought I was the only one!" Her voice carried back to them and Sting and Rogue exchanged looks.
A female slayer?
Stings grin was pure wickedness and Rogue rolled his eyes as his friend picked up his pace.
Wendy burst into the Lacrima room, Charle barely had time to reach her and get a paw on her before the lacrima pulled her through the portal. The exceed tried to get a good glare on the girl but as soon as the library appeared around them the girl was off again.
"Ora! Where is the female slayer?!" Wendy called. Ora appeared over Wendy as she slid to a halt in the hallway outside the library.
"Solar Dragon Slayer Emzadi, daughter of Janistanza is currently in the practice arena." Ora replied.
Wendy turned and raced toward the practice rings. Sting and Rogue appeared just in time to hear the end of what Ora told Wendy and to see the girl turn and run.
Grinning at him, Sting took off after the girl and Rogue rolled his eyes again, refusing to run, instead walking briskly after his over eager Guild Master.
When they reached the practice area Sting and Rogue both turned their heads away from a blinding blast, watching a massive practice wyvern moving in on it's target.
Sting froze where he stood and Rogue made a face of knowing impatience, he had sort of hoped the female slayer they were heading toward was a youngster like Wendy so Sting wouldn't get too interested but judging from his friends expression luck wasn't on his side.
Turning mildly interested eyes on the ring he had to turn his head again as a massive blast of superheated light and fire roared against the shields that kept the magic used by those practicing from escaping and causing damage to the Palace.
When he was able to look again even he froze for a bit.
The female slayer wasn't a child, that was certain. Her elegant body was decidedly all grown up. She was clearly Boscan, with deep mocha colored skin. Her clothes…they had to be some sort of traditional garb but Rogue had never seen anything like what she was wearing.
Holding her ample breasts was a gold and silver chain and scale bikini top held up securely by relatively thick white leather straps that went to a thick glittering gold band around her neck. Also coming from that band were the sleeves…if you could call them that. Composed of both thin elegant gold chains and sheer white silk that flowed loosely around her arms with slits in the fabric from wrist to elbow and elbow to shoulder.
Three gold chains fanned out from a gold ring that rested beneath and between her breasts and those connected to the barely there golden scale… bottoms…he wasn't sure what one would call it, it looked like gold scale panties. Chains adorned her flared hips and waist, bearing small gems in blue, white and topaz here and there and leggings of the same sheer white silk flowed loosely around her long legs, easily seen through.
A band of silver adorned her left thigh and she had gold bands at her ankles that bore more blue and white gem stones.
Long golden hair was partially held back off her face by a gold band and shimmering blue and white ribbons were laced through her tresses. She had tattoos of gold in her dark skin, clan symbols, and the distinctive symbol of White Sea with a gold Fairy Tail symbol in the center of it over the swell of her left breast.
Long nails painted gold and rings on several fingers glinted as she moved, as did the ornate bracelets she wore and the blue gems dangling at her ears.
"God she's a walking wet dream." Sting breathed.
Rogue shoved him, hoping to get his friends mind out of the gutter, and secretly hoping his own would escape it too, Sting wasn't kidding.
"Emzadi! Emzadi Pradesh! I'm Wendy!" The girl had reached the stands with seating where people could sit and watch those in the ring.
Emzadi…it was an exotic name, fitting for the woman who it fit so well. The womans head turned and stunning orange eyes flicked over to Wendy, the woman pulled a perfect finger nail to her ruby painted lips to ask for silence as her hair moved and Rogue could feel her magic building around her arms, could see churning light and fire start to lick over the woman.
Pulses of blinding fire came flowling down her arms and she would seem to catch them, build the power in her hands, her fingers almost caressing the seething flames before she sent them into the Wyvern and leapt nimbly out of the path of its swinging barbed tail.
She almost seemed to dance with the Wyvern, countering its every move, pressing herself into it's space in a dangerous way so it could reach her but when she slid in close to its chest to dodge a wing the beasts dripping jaws parted and long sharp teeth reached for her.
Shockingly, she dove into the bite, her arms spreading, one hand bracing into the top of the beasts mouth while the other caught the inside bottom jaw and then "Solar Dragon…Roar" right down its throat.
The simulation exploded and when Rogue was able to look back at the ring the woman stood smiling, spinning on a bare foot to face Wendy who hopped the barrier and ran toward the woman.
"Lei'She ne Dracona mise" The woman greeted Wendy warmly, clasping the girls hands in hers.
"I thought I was the only one, I mean the babies are here but…I thought I was…the oldest, the only.." Wendy said softly.
""Ahh, no mise, I understand, until Bixy told me about you I thought I was too! It is so very good to have a Le'She Mise!" Emzadi hugged the girl and cocked her head, looking up at the two wide eyed Sabertooth slayers.
She leaned close to Wendy "Far too many of them eh? The world needs more of us."
Wendy looked up in surprise, she'd been so focused on making it to the Palace before Emzadi could leave that she hadn't noticed the other slayers.
"That's Sting and Rogue from Sabertooth." She told he older woman. Emzadi smiled "Fioran boys are always the same, wide eyed and slack jawed when they meet a Boscan woman, cute isn't it? Well, they may be so weak in the mind because they are looking at such remarkable Queens to be." Emzadi smirked and winked at her and Wendy frowned slightly,
"You're not a Queen?" She asked, she'd thought since the woman was an adult she was a Queen Slayer.
"Ora, am I a Queen?" Emzadi called. The familiar orb appeared "Emzadi, Solar Dragon Slayer, daughter of Janistanza while you have dominated many males, you remain unmated, so you are not a Queen." Ora replied.
Wendy looked up at Emzadi blushing and a little wide eyed.
"I am undefeated, so I remain, unmated. No man can dominate me, though some have tried, I've killed all of those who have attempted to claim me…as I am sure you will Lei'She Sky Dragon. It is not as easy for a female to mate as it is for a male." Emzadi grinned, walking now with Wendy to the stairs to come up from the floor of the practice ring.
"Why would that be?" Sting asked, past his temporary stunned silence he decided it was time he start talking with the vision walking up with the little Fairy dragon.
"Females must be claimed, Lei'She Dracen, and once the ritual begins, the male must defeat us, overcome us and dominate us in order to claim us…" She walked right up to Sting, shocking the Light Slayer who was normally completely at ease around any woman, Emzadi grabbed the collar of his jacket and pulled him right to her, ruby lips curved in a dark and deadly challenging smile.
"And female slayers are far from delicate, once a male triggers the ritual to claim us, we are either claimed, or we kill the male, females do not fight for dominance…we kill for it." She released Sting and turned suddenly warm orange eyes to the girl beside her
"Even a lovely healer like Wendy, who's heart is not the fierce fire my own is, will kill if a male who tries to claim her can not truly dominate her. It is instinct, ancient and soul deep, every female Dragon wishes to become a Queen, and while we can have sex, produce offspring, without mating, if a male wants to truly possess a female Dragon, make her his, he most dominate her, defeat her in battle, and once that battle starts, the females instincts take over and she will hold nothing back." Emzadi said
Wendy was frowning, looking up at Emzadi "Is…have you…have you done that? Had to…kill a man that wanted you?" She asked. Thinking suddenly about Romeo, and her own rapidly approaching first mating season.
Emzadis orange eyes calmed, the ferocity cooling and turning more tender as she saw the distress in the younger slayer.
"I have…the first man who tried to claim me was one I held dear…I was young, I didn't think I could hurt him, he was strong, I thought stronger than me and I was confident my feelings for him would give me the ability to hold back if I had to…"
The Orange eyes turned sad "I was wrong…the battle was short, when I awoke my older brothers were there, you have met them, Kaleb and Cristoff, Cristoff tried to save the man…but could not, he was gone by the time they could get near. You can not help what instinct demands of you. No male can claim a female slayer unless he defeats her, dominates her, until he does, we can not place our mark into him, if we do try before he defeats us, no mark is placed, we can not claim a male until he has claimed us first."
Wendy felt tears stinging her eyes, she had thought…she'd thought she could just claim her mate like the males did…
Emzadi hugged the girl, seeing the realization hitting her.
"Your mother did not teach you this hard reality, I never knew mine, I've a lacrima within me so I never knew Janistanza. I learned the hard way. Some from Cristoff, and he knew precious little about how the female side of things worked so could only offer consolation after my hard won knowledge came." Emzadi said. She looked at Sting and Rogue with cool eyes "You've no idea how much easier it is for males." She smiled faintly then and took Wendys hand "Come Lei'She Mise, I wish to go shopping in Magnolia, my Boscan attire seems to…" She cast a knowing smirk at the two men "distract Fioran men."
Sting and Rogue watched the pair leave and retreat into the library, saw the flash come out into the hall that heralded their departure through the lacrima portal and Sting whistled.
"Holy shit… I need to get one of those Boscan outfits for Yukino." He chuckled. He looked at Rogue and slapped his back, making Frosch squeak in his hands.
"You know, she might be open to the idea of a nice lay Rogue, she's Boscan, hell if it weren't for Yukino I'd sure be after some of that." He snickered.
Rogues growl surprised even himself but he fixed a nasty glare on Sting regardless. "Don't talk about her that way." He snapped, walking off and leaving Sting standing smirking knowingly behind him.
"Wait…what the fuck was that?" Sting demanded, jogging to catch up as Rogue swept into the Library and set Frosch down where Lector was already pulling out some of the board games.
"Shut up Sting, I just don't like your constant womanizing." Rogue growled.
"Bullshit, you've never cared before, I've said about a thousand things in front of you just about Yukinos tits and ass and you've never blinked an eye." He was smirking and Rogue annoyance was growing, he started scanning over books on the shelf closest to him hoping Sting would take the hint.
"Yukino is your mate Sting, you can say what you want, it's a good thing you admire her." He returned.
"Naw, I've said similar things about other women, hell I pointed out Lucys tits last time we were here, she's mated and married to Iron dick and you didn't give me that…fuck…that was a fucking warning growl, a challenge, don't deny it, I felt that shit as much as heard it." Sting pressed.
"I have no idea what you're on about Sting, I was annoyed, that's all, I'm getting more annoyed by the minute too, I want to get back to my research, we only have 4 days here." He snapped.
Sting moved off and sat in one of the chairs watching Rogue and Rogue did all he could to ignore him.
He had no idea where that growl had come from, he usually didn't give a damn what lewd crap spilled out of Stings mouth, sometimes he enjoyed the views his friend pointed out to him, he'd even acted on some of Stings encouragements to take shots at women, usually with satisfying results too, he wasn't as prolific as Sting had been before he mated with Yukino, but Rogue had had his share of women.
Maybe that was it, he sensed Sting trying to live vicariously through himself and didn't want the pressure. It happened now and then, Sting would see opportunities he would have acted on before and would try to pressure Rogue into taking them. Usually it didn't bother him though.
Just when Sting had made it seem like Emzadi, who was clearly a strong Dragon Slayer, was no different than some tart met in a bar he'd gotten pissed, seriously pissed, like he wanted to grab Sting by the throat and tear his wind pipe out, had that damn image and impulse flash in his mind.
Emzadis scent had been completely distracting him too, she smelled incredible, like warm spice cake. She was tall for a woman too, nearly as tall as himself. With legs that seemed to go on forever. A Boscan member of White Sea on the exchange program most likely, he wondered how long she would be in Fiore.
The growl had just been him…wanting Sting to stop pressuring him after women, yes of course, that was all it was.
Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxo
Emzadi walked with Wendy, Levy and Nola. Her two sister in-laws were far too small compared to her to offer her any clothes to wear so she had opted for her brother Bickslows fur lined cloak to cover herself. It was cold, and the men of the Fioran towns tended to trip and run into things when she walked about in her Boscan clan attire.
She'd brought outfits for Levy and Nola, very much to the liking of her brothers. It worked well as a gift for all parties involved.
While her clothes seemed, to Fiorans at least, to indicate she was a woman of lose standards (It was very much the opposite in Bosco where clan attire made it clear a woman held herself to high standards and expected to be treated well.)
Emzadi wasn't even as frequent a seeker of male attention as her sister Xally. Knowing what she knew about her needs as a Dragon Slayer sort of kept her from getting too much involved with men.
Instead, she focused on her magic, on her skills with her weapons of choice, bow and short swords, and sometimes she helped Farron or father with their work with the clans on the Grass Sea.
With Farron now set to marry the Fioran princess and Kaleb now promised to the Fioran mage Sorano, their father was putting a little pressure on his daughters. Less on her though than Xally, Arman had already helped Emzadi recover from the failed attempts of two men to claim her. This year she planned to accept Oras invitation to ride out the mating season in a Queens chamber within the Palace, a place designed to handle what a female Dragon went through during mating season.
Cobra had asked her to work with Wendy too, and she'd rushed to do so as soon as she understood the young female slayer was looking at her first possible season. It wasn't a certainty, the first season for Emzadi had come when she was 13, but some females didn't start until as late as 16. Wendy would be 15, so it was likely.
The harsh realities of being a female dragon slayer where love was concerned were something Wendy needed to know and understand so she didn't have to endure what Emzadi had. Killing a man you love. It was something no woman should have to endure, but Emzadi had done it once. The second man that had tried for her had been a powerful older mage, she had warned him off, her father had, Kaleb and Cristoff had thoroughly educated him on the dangers of pursuing her, but the man had been determined.
Emzadi imagined it was better with him that she had not loved him or really cared about him when he had come to the isolated island on the Grass Sea where she usually spent the mating season. His end had not been swift, he'd been strong, the battle had been extreme. When Emzadi had regained her senses and returned to herself she had been injured pretty badly and the island was ablaze, she'd found the man, what was left of him, partially encased in a rock she had melted around him…
Kaleb had been there, waiting off shore out on the grass with Xally, and when she had come to the shore and sent up the flare they had hurried to her. Xally had only glanced at the man and Kaleb had handled that while Xally had tended to Emzadis injuries.
She had not cried that time, like she had before. But she knew without doubt that whatever man there was that was meant for her would have to be very strong, a man who could challenge both the power of the sun and a woman who knew how to wield it.
She envied Cristoff his mate, his lovely wood make mage could not overcome the Lunar Slayer, he was very powerful, but for him, that wasn't needed, for him, only the bond, the love, was needed for him to set his mark and take his mate.
When they returned from their trip to the fashion district Emzadi was in jeans and a fitted black sweater and was set with a wardrobe of Fioran clothes she'd found comfortable enough she could work in them. She was a little amazed by the need to cover up Fioran designers seemed to have, but she couldn't say any of the women she'd met looked less appealing or uncomfortable.
They returned to the guild for dinner and she sat with her family, snatching up little Emma to get in some much needed cuddle time with her niece and noticing the slayers from the Palace earlier were both there, sitting with Natsu and Gajeel.
The darker one kept catching her eye, she wasn't entirely sure why, she tended to lean toward brighter men, like his blonde companion, though the blonde had the scent of a female on him and the presence of a mated slayer in spite of his earlier leering.
She enjoyed loud brash men like her brothers, men who laughed. The dark slayer didn't seem to be her type at all so it confused her why she kept noticing him. He was attractive, she couldn't fault his appearance or his body, what she could see in spite of his clothes indicated a typical slayers body. His pale skin and how he seemed to prefer letting his hair shade his eyes, like he lingered in shadows, as a Solar slayer it was very foreign to Emzadi.
Maybe she would seek him out, satisfy her curiosity, she'd scented his desire for her in the Palace, he'd watched her fight and it had turned him on, seeing a female that could fight often did that to male slayers, it had always turned Cristoff on, he tended to pursue women he saw fight well for his frequent trysts.
Tasting him could cool her strange interest in him, she smiled to herself, a simple solution, and all of her travel and shopping and training had her needing the release some good sex would provide. He was a dragon slayer, she'd never laid with one of her own kind before, she imagined it could be…fun.
