AN: Well, not much I can say on this I haven't said in other stories. I really don't know what happened here to be honest. Well I do, I hit possibly the worst case of writers block I ever had mixed with an extreme amount of RL mess. This chapter has been written and re-written so many times before it finally reached the state that I felt like I could release it in. I am really sorry to everyone whose had to wait so long for this chapter. I am not going to put a timeline on the epilogue but I plan to try to work on it as hard as I can. Also please see the AN at the bottom of this story too for more important info.

Edit: Removed a squib section that got missed when I was cutting out some stuff from beta editting.

Disclaimer: I don't own DLWMG, though apparently Okaydo agrees with the Cathyl-Kimihito ship.

Arc 4 Chapter 2: A Gift fit for a Minotaur

The air puffed in front of Kimihito's face as he breathed out. His lungs were burning and his arms creaking in pain as he lifted another sandbag and dumped it onto the wall. The pelting rain drove against his body. Thunder rolled through the dark heavens above.

It wasn't the most pleasant day Kimihito had ever had, but he had to keep going. Behind him Cathyl and Rick were driving a pair of shovels into the ground. The two filling the bag Popuri was holding. When it was full the bag was then handed to him, and another handed to Merino. With the water level of the river near Popuri's farm rising by the moment, if it hadn't been for Cathyl being able to fill a sandbag with a single work of the shovel they'd have been lost long ago.

Lightning cracked over head as a gust of wind blew Kimihito's hood back and a splash of water from the rushing river splattered onto him. Even with everyone here they were working as hard as they could to deal with the unexpected storm. Apparently, according to Popuri and Rick, these weren't exactly an unknown occurrence around here. He wished someone had told him that before he moved! He didn't remember any storm this bad back when he was a kid.

Though admittedly, his grandfathers and now his own farm was situated on the high ground enough to not have to worry about this kind of thing. Another splash caused him to have to shake his head to clear his vision even as he could see that at the very least, the water wasn't rising as quickly anymore, most likely because it had started to spill over the far bank. He was rather thankful that they didn't need to cover the entire bank on their side either. It was just the part they were at right now that was lower than the rest.

Still that didn't mean he could slack off now, taking the next sandbag he threw it onto the wall. The water running down from his face and hair was slipping in past his jacket and into his clothes, leaving him damp and cold, only the burn of exercise driving it back for now.

"You're doing great everyone, just a bit higher and we should be fine!" Popuri shouted over the driving rains and wind. Even as she passed another bag to Merino. The sheep girl not looking anywhere near as winded as Kimihito was. Darn liminal physiology.

The sky flashed white. a tree in a nearby field was struck by lightning, the thunder booming around them not even a second later. The burning tree's fire soon extinguished by the rain and the flood waters that pooled around it's base.

"I don't know how much longer we can stay out here." Kimihito growled through his soreness. "That lightning might be coming for us next."

"We just got ta work faster!" Cathyl somehow managed to hear him.

The minotaur punctuated her statement by driving her shovel deep into the ground. Dirt filling sandbag after sandbag almost faster than Popuri could prepare and hand them off. Kimihito on the other hand kept pushing himself further and further. Sandbag after sandbag, even as a few jets of water sprayed through the barrier, inevitable with something as roughshod as this.

Then the last sandbag was placed. "There! That's enough." Rick said, the water no longer rising against the barrier as the far fields were turned into a temporary swamp. "Come on, we need to get inside."

Pulling the unused bags and the shovel with them, the group set off in a run through the wind and rain. Reaching the warmth of Popuri and Rick's farm a minute or so later. The howl of wind sounding around them even as the house shook a bit.

Kimihito was thankful they had moved the chickens inside before they had left the farm or the damn things might have blown away in this wind. Looking over at Kimihito as they stood just inside the farm he asked. "Do we want to try making it home?"

Cathyl seemed to be considering it. Before she could respond Popuri grabbed them both and pulled, or at least tried to pull, them further inside. "No! You two can stay here till the storm blows over. It's totally unsafe to try heading back now. Anyways, we owe you two a warm bath and dinner at least."

"Heh, well if ya put it that way, guess we'll hang here for a bit." Cathyl replied with a grin, finally giving in to the pulling when Merino started to get in on it. The sheep girl at their back pushing them forward.

"Yeah, you two did that for us, we aren't going to just let you walk right back out into that rain." Merino said. The liminal seemed like she was about to say something more when Lillia, the matron of Popuri's farm came in. She was a sickly looking woman. Lilla's physical weakness didn't keep her from having a rather stern frown on her face as she looked the group over.

"Rick go get towels and everything for the bath please. I've got to find something for Cathyl to wear while her clothes are drying." The woman said, surprisingly seriously. Kimihito had to wonder just how the woman would have been if she wasn't so sick she was barely able to walk at times. Though the frown turned into a smile when Rick did as his mother asked and she turned to Kimihito. "As for you Kimihito, you should be able to borrow some of Rick's clothes for the night. Don't worry if you have to take them home, you can return them tomorrow if that happens. Now Cathyl, please come with me. I'm sure we have something that we can do for you!"

-ISoaN-

It'd be a few minutes later when the bath was ready, and Kimihito got to learn that with how much land the farm had, they not skimped on making a nice bath. As it was the place was actually big enough for all five of the work crew, and probably a fair bit more to use at once. More like a large pool or a public bath then anything else.

As it was all five of them were indeed in the bath at the moment, Kimihito having borrowed one of Rick's bathing suits, and the boys and girls separated by a drawn curtain. Probably for the best really, though Kimihito was a tad disappointed to miss out on the sight of Cathyl with quite literally a few sheets worked into makeshift coverings.

"Thanks for the help again Kimihito. Without you and Cathyl the farm would be underwater at this point." Rick said with a sigh as he washed his hair.

Kimihito was just content to for now, rest and let the warm water work the kinks out of his back. Though he did wave a hand toward Rick. "Not a problem. We weren't going to just let you guys flounder here."

"Still, thanks-" Rick started, sounding like he was going to continue, only to stop when they both heard an odd noise from the other side of the heavy curtain.

"T-That's not quite a-appropriate, not with them just on the other side of the curtain." Merino replied to an unknown question or display. Seemingly not realizing that her voice had climbed enough for them to hear.

"Aww come on, you got to hear about how it's going on my end." Cathyl replied, also just a bit to loud so they could hear. "I want to know how things are going with Rick. You two gotten to second base yet?"

Both Kimihito and Rick blushed at that. This was not something they really wanted to hear, at least not with the other present. The two looking toward the curtain with a blush. Then the two toward their towels. A few moments later they had the towels wrapped around their ears.

That was better.

-ISoaN-

Kimihito coughed once, then twice, then turning into a series of hacking sounds. Flopping back against his bed with a sigh and a sniffle Kimihito was not having the best of days.

"I still can't believe a little rain like that made ya sick Kimi." Cathyl said. The minotaur was sitting nearby. Bringing a cold towel up to his forehead she gave him a sigh. "Really, ya humans are just so soft sometimes."

"Next time maybe you should stack the sandbags then." Kimihito replied weakly. "All that splashing water's what did it."

"Ehh, just get better will yeah?" Cathyl replied with a slight blush. "It's sunday you know and you're not in any sorta position to help with that."

Kimihito flushed a bit himself, but that might have just been the fever. "Sorry."

"It's fine, call me if ya need anything more. I'm going ta start dinner." Standing up, Cathyl headed out of the room, closing the door to their shared bedroom with a sigh.

It was taking near everything she had to not practically smother Kimihito at the moment. For all she was playing it off her kind didn't really get sick. Seeing him looking so weak worried her to no end. She damn well wasn't going to let a cold end up taking the first truly nice human she had met from her.

Of course she knew that sicknesses like this were just normal things for humans, but there was still an irrational part of her that couldn't just shove that to the side.

Then she realized she had been leaning up against the wall beside the door this whole time and flushed with a bit of embarrassment. Kimihito wasn't some wimp, he'd pull through fine, and she shouldn't be worried about the human. More specifically she shouldn't be this worried.

So instead she was incharge of making dinner. The minotaur went to check the fridge for what they even had. Before eventually settling on well, eggs and salad. They didn't have much in the fridge. Kimihito would normally do the shopping in the morning but with how he was feeling she hadn't had time to go and do it herself.

At least they had a relatively constant source of eggs now with the chickens doing well in the barn. As the rather meager meal she was working on was cooking the minotaur girl's thoughts started to wander. Her thoughts this time though drifted to well, much less worry, much more 'dangerous.'

Namely the thought of having a mildly helpless boyfriend in the next room over sent small thrills through her. Her thighs rubbed together almost unconsciously as she considered just what she could do with him.

Then the timer went off and she was wretched back to the real world. Flipping the eggs and almost immediately slipping back into her daydreams.

"I think my minds trying to tell me something." Cathyl muttered to herself. Her and Kimihito had been to the point of dating for a while now, and well she certainly didn't mind the progress they had been making. Indeed, she had been deliberately keeping them on a slower pace. Now she was starting to hit the end of how long she could hold back.

Cathyl bit on her lip, despite her appearance, bold steps weren't exactly her kinda thing. If she had to admit it, she was actually rather timid when it came to all this. Still, if her body was acting like this then…maybe the time for caution was done.

Turning down the heat on the stove to keep the now cooked eggs warm, Cathyl was quite happy Kimihito was stuck in the other room. There was no way he wouldn't make a joke at her expression right now. Well, actually he probably wouldn't. She just didn't want anyone else to see her blushing and pressing her fingers together nervously.

Then she half slapped herself, she needed to get a grip! She'd go into this properly! Looking down at the apron Kimihito had somehow gotten her at the same time he had gotten his own much smaller one she got an idea.

-ISoaN-

LEMON INCOMING

Kimihito was not having the best of days, sure, he certainly didn't mind having his liminal girlfriend playing nurse all day. It was just too bad he had to be sick. Though really he was fairly sure Cathyl was overblowing this, he didn't feel that bad. It wasn't anything worse than just a standard 24 hour flu.

Still, he was a bit light headed, even if he played it up just a bit for her sake, and his throat did hurt. He'd rest today and tomorrow he'd be right back up and fixing some of the damage that rainstorm had done to the roof.

Pushing himself up against the headboard as he heard the heavy footsteps of his liminal partner coming closer he wondered just what she had made. His thoughts left him completely off guard when the door opened, and revealed Cathyl in an apron.

Only, an apron.

Kimihito might have stuttered out something that sounded utterly dweebish. He remained silent thanks to the utterly captivating sight before him he managed a slightly more distinguished gobsmacked silence.

"Like it?" Cathyl said with a semi-embarrassed smile. Stepping closer in a motion that threatened the integrity of the ties that held the apron in place.

Kimihito's response was to continue to make a complete ass of himself as he silently stared.

Embarrassment was quickly turning into embarrassed annoyance in the minotaur girl. "You better say something soon Kimihito."

The somewhat growl promising a very pissed off girlfriend in the future snapped Kimihito out of his daze. He had to cough for a moment before saying. "I-It looks amazing. You look amazing."

"Good, now eat up quickly." Cathyl softened up at that, though the blush remained. The liminal putting the plate in front of her host.

Kimihito had the oddest feeling this was a set up for something, or it could just be Cathyl not feeling comfortable going anywhere further. He'd be a tad disappointed if it was the latter but he wouldn't complain. The sight of so much of the minotaur girl's skin was already pretty damn solid for him.

Finishing the food, and putting the plate to the side he had to wonder at something. The toast had made his already dry throat even moreso. "Umm, Cathyl, could you get me a…."

The reason Kimihito was trailing off was that the minotaur was currently midway through pulling the top half of the apron down. "I-I thought you could umm...drink directly from the tap…"

Cathyl's blush grew and she couldn't help but look away. "That sounded much better in my head."

Kimihito blinked, and gulped. He was fairly sure Cathyl had already been swapping her milk for the stuff they bought from the store but he guessed he was about to get confirmation on that one. "I-I'd love to."

The next thing he knew Cathyl was hugging him against her cleavage. "Then g-get started. Today's Sunday s-so I have a lot b-backed up."

He didn't wait any longer, or he was sure either him or Cathyl would spontaneously combust. He gave a bit of foreplay as he brushed his tongue over the bud pressing against his lips. His hand drifted to Cathyl's other breast, giving it a pinch he knew she liked from their weekly milking sessions.

Cathyl's moan above him meant that he was doing something right, and when he actually applied a bit of suction the flow started. He got all the confirmation he needed as well. The sweet milk spreading across his tongue and down his throat even as his hands pinching and squeezing caused more to run down his hand and arm.

The sick boy felt something else, a heat coming with the milk he had never quite felt before. It wasn't just his normal arousal at the situation, that had already been causing him a rather hard to hide problem since Cathyl walked in. Instead it was something else and he felt his body almost for lack of a better word, roaring to life.

"N-Noticing it Kimihito? If our milk is d-drank directly it well, h-helps 'stamina.'" Cathyl said as she noticed his stiffening at the heat. Her hand drifting to push down the sheets and his pajamas, wrapping around his growing problem. "This certainly seems to be noticing."

Kimihito didn't know it, but Cathyl was somewhat marveling at the heat he was giving off, before she started to stroke him. Working him off even as she forced him to switch breasts. His hands starting to roam as well, sliding down her sides to remove the rest of her apron and expose her entirely.

Before he could reach down to her more sensitive areas Cathyl jumped several steps ahead. Climbing up onto the bed the minotaur girl straddled him, and Kimihito felt the tip of his erection brush up against somewhere even warmer. Then he felt himself surrounded in warmth.

"Haaaaah..." The liminal girl moaned, evidently the years of hard work in her life had helped the two avoid one of the difficulties of a first time.

Kimihito was now presented with not just the sensation of himself inside Cathyl, but also the sight of the tall girl exposed entirely above him.

"I think it just got a bit bigger." Cathyl said with a grin. "Always good to get c-confirmation you find me hot."

Kimihito finally got passed the small legion of frogs in his throat. Smiling up at Cathyl and even managing what he felt was a rather awkward wink. "You shouldn't need confirmation for that."

Cathyl chuckled a bit at that, before rolling her hips. After that time quickly started to lose meaning as the two moved. Cathyl's milk was indeed quite effective, and the two went at it again and again.

LEMON OVER

-ISoaN-

The next day Kimihito awoke from probably the most comfortable sleep in his life. The sensation was helped quite a fair bit by his pillow, blanket, and bed rolled all together. Sometime during the night Cathyl had pulled him even closer and he was currently resting atop the larger liminal. Cathyl's iron grip kept him from exactly moving anywhere despite his wakefulness, so he took the opportunity to think.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, his thoughts were focused on what life might be like going forward. While they had been dating, they hadn't done anything beyond some skinship and well, the milking. This was...many steps beyond that. Judging by how Cathyl was still hugging onto him like he was her personal favourite teddy bear, and he was rather sure he had passed out first the night before, Kimihito was pretty sure she didn't regret what happened at least.

The man would have to be lying hard to himself if he was going to try to say he regretted it either. It might have been a bit early, but he wasn't going to complain. Though...he was thinking he'd need to do something soon. Maybe he could go into town and ask the mayor, if he remembered right there was a bit weird of a tradition around that.

Then he felt Cathyl starting to stir beside him, and a moment later the minotaur girl opened her eyes and let out a long yawn. "Mmmm, feeling better? Ya certainly look glowing."

The smile that accompanied Cathyl's words caused Kimihito to stop short for a moment. Whether it was still the afterglow, or something else, she looked positively stunning at the moment even with her hair still mussed from the night before. Though he also got to see something that he was pretty sure nearly nobody did. Last night he had managed to slip Cathyl's hair free of the bindings she had kept it in and even now the long locks were splayed out over her shoulders as she propped herself up on her elbow.

"Definitely, and I could say the same about you." Kimihito said with his own grin. "You look amazing by the way."

The raven haired man couldn't help but dart in and give his girlfriend a kiss, drawing a rather adorable blush on the cow girl's face.

"W-Well, good!" Cathyl looked away, Kimihito finding the expression rather cute. Though a moment later the boy would find himself pulled into an even deeper kiss, leaving him quite breathless. "I hope ya don't mind but I'm hoping that'll be a regular thing."

"Like that would be an issue." Kimihito grinned back after taking a moment to breath. Unfortunately, before the two could start again, there was the sound of the rooster crowing, and they realized that their duties for the day really should be done first. "Though I think we'll have to feed the chickens before they decide to come looking for food."

-ISoaN-

A few hours later, after the chickens were fed, Cathyl was checking the plants and Kimihito was in town getting some food for the rest of the week. The former unaware of the latter's intentions.

Kimihito walked passed the supermarket and knocked on the mayor's door. "Hey Mayor Thomas, you there?"

The house beyond was quiet and no response came after a few minutes.

Letting out a sigh, Kimihito lightly groused to himself. "Hmph, the old man must be wandering around town."

Heading over to the park where the old man usually was at, Kimihito couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at a pair of girls that were running down the road ahead of one of the grandaughters of another local farmer. It wasn't their outfits that drew his attention, even if the twins apparently dressed quite a lot like Cathyl or Merino, it was more the fluff and horns that pointed out they were obviously not human. Seemed that the village got another two liminals living within it. Though they didn't seem intent to stop and chat as they passed by, being chased by the young human girl.

He couldn't help but grin a bit at the sight as the three disappeared around the corner. It was always nice to see the liminals getting more and more integrated. Miss Smith had sent him a message that apparently they were considering laxening the requirements on liminals so they might just see even more of them soon.

Finally, reaching the town square, he saw the mayor sitting on one of the benches.

"Ahh, Kimihito, what brings you down to the square! It's not often I catch you off that farm of yours these days." Mayor Thomas said with a wave. The old man giving him grin and signalling for him to come over. "Though, I must admit, if I had a beauty at home like you do I'd definitely not want to be out to often."

"Actually, I came into town to talk to you about something." Kimihito sat beside the diminutive old man on the bench. "And more specifically I came to talk to you about Cathyl."

The mayor looked concerned. "Ohh she didn't get sick did she? That would be dreadful after you two really helped out the poultry farm. Thank you again for that by the way. Most of the rest of us were making sure Yodel's farm didn't flood too."

"No no, I was sick for a bit but she's fine." Kimihito waved off the mayor's concern. "I was actually more wondering about something I overheard my grandpa talking about. He said he gave his grandma a blue feather?"

The Mayor sputtered a bit, forcing Kimihito to give him a few slaps on the back. "You younguns, moving along so quick these days." Thomas recovered after a few more coughs. "But young love always is a thing to see. Did your grandfather mention what exactly that kind of feather means around here?"

"Well, he mentioned about giving it to grandma a bit before she moved in." Kimihito offered, he had an idea what it meant but he wasn't sure.

"Yes." Thomas nodded. "Around here it's the equivalent of giving rings for those fancy city folk. Though back in your grandpa's day everyone would have balked at things like you and your girlfriend living in the same house before marriage. Still, if you are ready to take that step. There's a bit of a tradition around here."

Kimihito leaned forward, looking out over the park, though his attention was firmly on the mayor's words as the man continued.

"There was at one point where we were thinking about keeping a few in town just to make it a bit easier, but a community decision at the time made us decide not to. So you'll have to do it the same way your grandpa did. Going and getting the feather yourself!"

Kimihito blinked. "Wait, you mean like, going out and plucking it off a bird?"

"Or finding some feathers near their nest yes." The mayor said, leaning in conspirationally. "The government doesn't know this, but this town's known about the liminals for quite a while. There's a small flock of harpies that live in the woods near here, and they are the source of the blue feathers."

Kimihito somehow managed to blink harder. "Harpies? So what, I just go up and ask them?"

"Heh, if it was that simple it wouldn't be much of a tradition. For one, we don't keep a map of where they are so you have to find them yourself. Two, well, there's a reason the blue feather became so symbolic. Only someone that really wants to marry their one can get one, the rest usually end up seduced by the harpies and kept there as mates."

"..." Kimihito stayed stock still for a moment, looking like he was going to try to say something, before sighing. "That is quite the tradition. Well, guess if that's how it is around here…"

"Don't worry lad, I'm sure you'll do fine."

-ISoaN-

Kimihito spent the grocery laden trip home wondering just how in the hells he was ever going to get enough time to go hunting the woods for a bunch of harpies. Really maybe he could just explain it outright to Cathyl but that would spoil the surprise.

Lucky for him though, the solution presented itself on its own. He had passed the mailman on the way home and hadn't thought of it. When he actually got inside he found Cathyl going over the mail with a notable pout on her face.

"What's the matter?" He asked, stepping closer to the liminal curiously.

"Nothing, just bad timing. My mom wants me ta come back for a visit, I'll probably be gone a week. Maybe a bit more." Cathyl still pouted though. "And just when things were getting really fun."

"I'm guessing I can't come along then?" Kimihito asked as he started putting the groceries away.

"I wish, but there's no guys allowed back home unless they are someone's father, otherwise they can't leave. So I mean you could come along, but we'd be there for at least nine months. Don't worry though I'm sure you'll get a chance to visit later."

Cathyl's last sentence brought a blush to Kimihito's face, and her own after she realized what she had implied. The minotaur blushing brighter by the moment but wasn't retracting her comment, and Kimihito didn't know quite what to say. Though this did give him the chance he needed.

After nearly a minute of increasingly awkward silence, Kimihito finally broke it. "W-Well, that's fine then. When do you plan to leave?"

"Apparently my mom's already sending Miss Smith up this way, so I'll be leaving tomorrow. Guess it's better though, this way I'll get back faster too."

Kimihito felt a shadow move over him as he put the last of the food away, and turning around he saw Cathyl towering over him with a grin.

"Though that does mean we have all day t-to...do that you know." While she started strong, the Minotaur ended up flushing and stumbling over her words rather quickly. Though she covered it a moment later by picking up Kimihito, hauling him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and carrying him toward their bedroom.

-ISoaN-

Cathyl sighed and leaned against the window of the Human-Liminal Exchange Service van as it drove through the endless fields that was the american midwest. Really she was happy to be seeing her family again, but she wasn't kidding when she said things had just been getting fun. While she had been rather terrified of how things could have gone when she decided to well, do what she did, it had turned out great.

The minotaur couldn't help herself now though, liminals had well, a rather active sex drive. She hadn't known what it was like before so it was easy to suppress it, but now? Now that she knew how it all felt? She wanted to get the driver to turn around, get back on the plane to Japan, and as soon as she got home jump Kimihito and not let him go for a whole week.

At the very least if they kept on going like that, she was pretty sure that they weren't going to have issues bringing Kimihito along next time she came home for a visit.

Looking at the passing landscape she realized they were getting close now, and soon the van passed through into the outskirts of the village. Minotaur girls of various heights, ages and build worked the fields, or went about their daily life. Honestly, it was quite a peaceful place, not even the noises of tractors or the like to interrupt the air.

Soon the van pulled up in front of a familiar single story farmhouse and the government driver unlocked the vehicle. Cathyl nodding to the woman and stepping out of the vehicle before it turned and left. With a sigh she walked up to the gravel path to the farm house before the door flew open and the youngest of her sisters barreled out of it. Barely fifteen the girl was still rather short but full of energy. Moments after Cathyl was crashed into by the miniature missile the rest of her family was outside as well, Cathyl finding herself mobbed by a half dozen other cowgirls.

-ISoaN-

Kimihito watched the van drive down the road and into town. From there it'd be off to the airport and Cathyl would be out of the country for a week and a half. It wasn't terribly to much time, but it hopefully would be enough to find those harpies and get a blue feather.

Step one, was figuring out where the harpies actually were. He knew they were around the village somewhere, they couldn't be too far, but he'd need to go ask the few married men in the village.

Namely, that meant the local botanist, a man called Basil. He was a nice enough guy, though he tended to be roaming around the wilderness around town. Heading into town he hoped maybe he could manage to catch the man before he headed off.

Instead though, he'd end up being rather lucky, and ran into the man on the road. The bearded older man was face down in his notebook as he walked down the dirt path.

"Hey, Basil." Kimihito flagged down the man. "Can I ask you something?"

"Mmm?" The man paused for a moment and looked up from his notebook. "Ahh, Kimihito, sure sure as long as you don't mind walking and talking. I'm just heading out into the forests again."

"Okay," Kimihito started to follow Basil as they started walking again. "Actually, the forest is probably where I'll be going soon anyways. You uhh, went through the Blue Feather thing right?"

Basil looked up from his notepad again, before blinking. "Yes I did, I can only guess why your asking." The man gave a grin before chuckling. "I guess you're wondering if I can tell you where the harpies are?"

"At least giving me a general idea if you could." Kimihito asked as they walked. "I don't even know where to start."

"Heh, well I can do a bit better than that. Come along and I can at least get you pretty close."

Kimihito nodded, following Basil as they headed toward the woods beyond his farm.

"Ohh I've been meaning to say Kimihito, your farm looks like it's coming along nicely. It's been grand watching it growing better and better every week when I pass it by." Basil said with a grin to the younger man.

"Thanks, though I'd be nowhere near this well off if it wasn't for Cathyl." Kimihito rubbed the back of his head.

Basil's grin grew just a bit. "And guessing our little town's going to get a new member in full soon then. Hope you know that weddings around here are a town wide event. Hope your ready for a lot of pats on the back."

Kimihito just blushed a bit awkwardly, but didn't say anything against his words, resulting in him getting the first of said pats.

"Though first you gotta get to those harpies. Don't worry they are nice enough girls, but they do get into their 'role' a fair bit if you end up having to talk to them. Keep it in your pants though and you'll be fine."

"Thanks...I guess?" Kimihito wasn't quite sure how to answer that.

"Seriously though, don't accept an invite for tea or anything."

-ISoaN-

"Here we go."

Kimihito jumped a bit. The man had fallen asleep on his feet practically, zoning out the long droning one sided conversation Basil had been having with him. There was only so many things he could hear about plants and still care.

Looking forward though he found they weren't quite in the forest anymore. They were, but they were facing a cliff that seemed to climb into the clouds.

"This...is the place?" Kimihito asked. The hesitation in his voice rather obvious.

"Yep." Basil started. "It's pretty intimidating but the harpies are up at the top. If you can get up there you'll be able to get a feather. One other thing. Do not accept help from the harpies to get up there. That counts as a 'loss' as far as they are concerned. Help coming back down is fine though."

Kimihito nodded. "Help going down, not going up. Okay. How far up does it go?"

"Ehh it's not to bad, just keep focusing to the next ledge instead of thinking that." Basil replied. Giving Kimihito a pat on the back he'd turn to head back. "See ya back in town, good luck."

Kimihito looked at the wall of stone again and gulped. Well, he wasn't going to back out of this now. It wasn't actually quite as bad as it might have seen when he looked at it closer. It wasn't like there was stairs or anything, but he could see what seemed to be a series of handholds built into the cliff. The grips likely carved in long ago for other villagers.

Taking a few deep breaths, Kimihito approached the wall fully and grabbed the holds. As he made the way up the wall, he became thankful for the farm work. Working on the farm had given him strong arms and legs.

One hand over the next. His feet followed to keep him from falling back down. Kimihito tried to drive thoughts that Basil never had told him just how far up the mountain went from his mind.

The first break seemed to come early though, it couldn't have been more than a few minutes of climbing till he came to a large ledge. He flopped down on the grass there. His arms were burning just a little bit, his breath a tad ragged. It was nothing he couldn't stand though.

He gave himself a minute before he pushed himself back up and stared at...an even larger wall of stone. The farmboy craned his neck to look up for the next ledge. With a roll of his shoulders he set to work.

Even with its extra height, it wasn't beyond his capabilities. Kimihito once again focused on putting one hand beyond the next. The man working his way up through the air until he once more he reached a lip.

Only to see another even taller cliff face before him.

This was going to be some work…

Minute after minute, hour after hour, he pulled his way up the mountains. Each cliff face was getting more tiring, and he was practically wishing that a harpy would come along and offer him a lift as he found his arms turning to jello.

Then he pulled himself up onto another plateau, only to find that it was the last one. Rolling onto the grass he saw no further cliff face, just a cave, a moment before his body gave up for the moment and he passed out.

Or at least that was his body's original plan. Instead before his vision went, he heard an effeminate squak. A harpy was near.

Kimihito pulled his head up. The harpy feather! He had to get that or this whole climb was for nothing.

Some people had different ways of grounding a harpy in case they were the sort to fly off, leaving a would-be suitor featherless. The farmboy chose a net. It had only made the climb harder, but it was worth it. He held it in both hands and, forcing himself on his feet, slowly tiptoed forward.

Around a boulder was one harpy in question. Blue of hair, sitting on a rock, giving her talons a manicure, and...venting some woes?

"You'd think that after climbing all the way here, any man would want to stay with us right after! But noooo. It's always that other special someone they got. Hmph!"

That's right, Kimihito thought, slowly stepping forward. He still was so short on air, but he held his breath. Just keep talking.

"And they want me to stand guard and humour anyone who comes up? 'Oh Iia, it's just today'. Girls, it's always 'just today!'"

Closer, clooooser, and the exhausted farmboy was looming over her, just as her grumpy tirade was hitting its peak. His hands were sweating.

He loomed over her.

His net loomed higher.

And...

"WHAAA!"

The harpy shrieked as she was ensnared. In reflex she kicked Kimihito with her powerful legs, and rolled comically off the rock.

When she stood, she flapped her wings. No flying for her. "RUDE! I'm supposed to offer you a lift up the mountain first!" She dropped all mopiness and snickered cunningly. "Well you know the rules! You want your feather? You gotta catch me!"

The chase was on. For fliers, harpies were fast runners, and Iia was quick on her feet. Kimihito dived at her, but she leapt up high in the air, apparently good at jumping too!

"OOF!"

Only to graze the cave's roof. As she did, Kimi made his real dive, grabbing hold of her talons

"Here, birdy birdy!" He shouted as they came tumbling down.

The fall wasn't exhausting, but it did send them rolling. The harpy would try to kick away, but Kimi climbed determinedly just as he'd climbed the cliff earlier. Now he was in a good position to pluck from her, and as his hand gripped the first feather, a great reprieve hit him.

I'm just kidding, they stumbled down a ramp.

"Oofs" and "Ahs" coming from them both, the two would spiral down towards the end of the cave, where a quaint house awaited them. Many a blue-feathered harpy was there as they gossiped, until one pointed towards the barreling duo heading right for them.

She pointed out too late.

By the time Kimihito stopped, he was holding one solitary blue feather, worth more than diamonds to him, in his hands, and at least twenty more were blanketing his face. He lost vision.

-ISoaN-

Waking up with a start Kimihito felt very, very stiff. Even trying to sit up drew a pained groan from the man. "Guh, guess that's what I shoulda expected climbing all that stuff. I'm just lucky I didn't fall."

Then he blinked and remembered that he had actually made it to the village proper. The human noticing that there was a harpy sitting nearby. Compared to Cathyl this girl looked almost childlike in her proportions, but her eyes betrayed that she was probably at least his age.

"Hmph I can't believe a guy like you managed to get up the mountain without help. I mean yeah you look like you've been doing some farm work." The harpy looked at his arms, and Kimihito would realize he wasn't wearing a shirt. "But what, you've only been here a year or two right?"

"Good guess, and where's my shirt?" Kimihito replied with a bit of a frown. How rude.

The harpy shifted and tossed his shirt, and pants, back at him with her foot. "We took them off to clean it. You were super sweaty and dusty, not like that last guy that came up here."

"Sis! Stop being rude to him. He got up here so he's plenty strong." Another harpy said as she came in. This one bore a strong resemblance to the first one but was a bit taller. "Good work by the way! Though guessing you aren't here to stay with us are you? After all that running for a feather earlier..."

The harpy stared at him with what seemed to be an attempt at puppy dog eyes. Her wings hugged underneath her chin.

Kimihito shook his head before throwing his shirt on.

"Darn, here just for the blue feather then. We're really going to have to move one of these days at this rate." The harpy sighed. "Unless you got any friends you could send our way?"

"Ehh, I think the guys in town are pretty well taken at this point." Kimihito shrugged. "Though the village probably would let you girls stay there. Everyone knows about you it seems afterall."

"Humph, moving off our ancestral mountain, I mean really." The first harpy pouted in the background.

The second harpy meanwhile cut her off before she could say more. "Anyways! You made it to the top of the mountain and got a blue feather so you get one free ride back down the mountain. Unless you want to stay for a night?"

Kimihito had to shake his head again to the hopeful looking harpy. The liminal sighing and looking deflated before she perked back up. "Okay then, I just had to ask. Now you get your pick of any one harpy to take you down to the bottom. I don't recommend sis she might just drop you."

The first harpy seemed to think about it for a moment, before shrugging. "...I might."

-ISoaN-

One airlift down to the base of the mountain and a long walk later, Kimihito was back home, with only the better part of a day having passed by.

He should have waited, because now he had all this time to worry about how he was going to present it to Cathyl.

AN2: So some potentially bad news for all. Due to a career change I may be dropping off the face of the earth for a few months this year, not exactly different then normal but yeah some prewarning. There's also a very solid chance that the arc after the Tio-Manako-Lala (votes still up till the Epilogue is posted) arc will be the last one that will be voted on for some time. As after that I think I'll focus a bit on a few ships I've been sitting on before returning the votes.

So get your votes in! Tio is currently ahead with 41 votes, Manako's in second with 34, Lala in third with 32, and Smith in 4th with 28. The total of 189 votes on the poll is shocking, thank you all for your interest in this story even if I've been really bad about giving you all updates.

Thank you everyone that has favourited and followed this story, as well as those that have left reviews, for your support, feedback and encouragement.