Author's Note: Thank you all for the reviews! I'm so glad the last chapter was uplifting for everyone. :) It's so helpful that every one of you have told me in your reviews if a chapter is sweet, sad, funny, made you hate Bernard, etc-it lets me know if I'm triggering the emotions I want to get across.

The Favorites number for the story is approaching 20 and reviews are climbing! Whoo hoo! :)

Juudjv, check your PM.

It had been the most perfect two weeks of her life. She and Milori didn't do anything extravagant, but that made it all the more special. Because he was able to tolerate the heat better than before, she took him into summer on one of the cooler nights and asked the fireflies to all fly at once. The awe on his face melted her heart before he turned and kissed her.

On another day, he had taken her to winter and tried to teach her how to skate-it turned out she was hopeless, although he sweetly promised it was only because it was her first time. But she didn't mind-she needed him to hold her close to keep her upright. And because she was so wobbly, her wings instinctively kept trying to push up against her cape. Milori had worried about her wings getting cold, so he had taken her back to spring and gently used silk to tie down her wings. They had stood toe-to-toe when he was tying the knot in front of her, his brow furrowed in fierce concentration as he made sure it wasn't too tight for her wings and that he didn't catch any strands of her braided hair in the knot. She hadn't been able to resist suddenly kissing him for his tenderness. Their skating lesson ended up being delayed for an hour.

Their favorite thing to do, however, was bake cupcakes...well, bake a few-it often led to a flour fight that she usually won when she'd catch and kiss him. And then he'd enjoy having her lick batter from his finger. Somehow they always managed to only get a handful of cupcakes out of each batch.

Tonight she was lying in the spring meadow, curled up to Milori, who had just returned from a cold shower in winter to cool down.

She laughed softly to herself.

"Hm?"

She reached up and stroked his damp hair. "I like your hair wet."

"Why?" he laughed in amusement.

"It just seems so homey," she shrugged and then tucked her hands under her cheek on his shoulder.

"Aren't you cold?" he smiled.

"A little but I don't mind." She absently stroked his cool chest.

He reached over and pulled his cape made of Mountain's feathers over her-he seemed to bring it along during their evenings out and it always ended up on her. It engulfed her and smelled just like him.

"Do you wear this in winter?" she inquired, breathing in his scent deeply.

"Rarely because then I can't fly. Did you like the blueprints for the cabin that Mary showed us today?"

"Mmm, I did. Although, I'm not quite sure it qualifies as a cabin with how many bedrooms there are," she smiled. She craned her head back and looked up at him. "Did you?"

"I did, actually. I never envisioned living in a cabin, but I think it will be nice. And we need the space for having babies."

She blushed and resumed stroking his chest. "What's your home like?"

"It's similar to the underground part that you saw. It's made out of ice and terribly cold right now being the dead of winter; otherwise, I'd show you. It's quite sparse of furniture and things being I'm hardly ever home anyways." He looked down at her. "I trust you'll make the cabin feel like home with flowers and those female touches." Then he winked.

She wasn't sure what was wrong with her, but she couldn't stop blushing lately.

"Did you do something different with your hair?" he asked suddenly and sat up to study her.

"No," she smiled.

"Ah, I know what's different," he said and lifted up a gold chain with a small crystal butterfly dangling.

She gasped and sat up.

"I found this crystal in a cave and thought it was too pretty to leave behind. Gliss helped freeze it for me so I could chip it onto a butterfly. Then Mary showed me how to polish it." He clasped it around her neck.

"Milori, it's beautiful." She stroked it in admiration and then looked at him. "Thank you."

He smiled, proud she liked it. "You make it prettier."

She beamed. "You spoil me." She leaned in for a kiss.

"Good," he whispered against her lips.

She smiled so much the past weeks that she marveled, as she wandered through the summer meadow one late afternoon with Thomas trailing behind, how her face didn't split in two. Milori wouldn't tell her exactly when he was going to ask her to mate-he said it needed to be at the right moment and a surprise-but he did promise it would be in the next couple weeks now that the tinkers had started making good progress on actually building their home.

The cabin was on a small hill on the border of spring and winter. Mary and the tinkers had deemed the spot perfectly sound and the winter fairies had verified their side sound as well. Milori had the cabin built around the bed chamber because he wanted to make sure the bed was precisely in the middle of the border so he could sleep by her at night. There were two bedchambers in each season for the children, and the kitchen was designed to hold anything she could possibly want for cooking-not that she had time to cook more than a few nights a week, but Milori said he wanted to help her make time for it being she loved to cook and he loved to eat her cooking. But her very favorite part was the living room. She had never had a living room herself, but it was her favorite part of Mary's home. Milori was even having a fireplace built, although she obviously couldn't use it and heat up his side of the house, but it was a homey addition that he was more than happy to put in for her.

Her eyes were suddenly covered from behind by cool hands. "Guess who?" he whispered in her ear.

She fingered her butterfly necklace around her neck absently. "Thomas, I told you only in my chambers when Milori isn't around."

He dropped his hands and gave her bottom a playful swat. "Minx," he laughed.

She turned with a giggle. "You know you'll forever fail at that game."

"Why?" he smiled and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She rested her hands on his chest. "Because you're the only one who does it to me, and your temperature and accent give you away," she laughed softly and stood on her toes to brush a kiss over his lips.

He frowned. "I don't have that much of an accent."

"Honey, you certainly do, and I love it. It gets stronger when your voice gets husky." Wrapping a hand around the back of his head, she gently guided him down to her lips. "Very sexy," she breathed and kissed him.

"Is it now?" he asked, intrigued and growing increasingly preoccupied with her lips. "I think we need a honeymoon. For a week after we mate."

She giggled as she leaned back in his arms but he simply leaned down to capture her mouth. "Where?"

"What do you mean where? You aren't leaving my bed for a week."

She gently swatted his chest and he straightened to look at her. "That's completely improper to discuss something like that now," she scolded playfully. Then, to his surprise, she suddenly pulled him close, forcing him to take a step forward and lean down for her hungry kiss.

"Mmmm, fiesty, my lady?" he smiled between kisses. He pulled her closer, thoroughly enjoying their interlude.

A trumpet sounded.

She suddenly pulled back so fast that he almost lost his balance. "Oh no!"

"What?" he asked in confusion, trying to follow how they had suddenly stopped a very nice conversation.

She grabbed his hand. "I'm supposed to announce the start of the games!" Clarion started flying.

Milori flew up and started heading with her to the Pixie Tree. "You're announcing them?"

She turned to him with a smile. "You are too-for the winter fairies."

"What? I didn't know anything about the winter fairies coming. Or announcing."

"You do now!" she grinned and flew faster.

She sat with Milori during the games. Last time he had come, he had clapped and had a good time. This time, however, he was yelling at the teams during the winter games.

"No! What kind of call is that?!" He threw up his arm when the referee called a foul. Then he saw Clarion laughing and Mary and Gary staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Mary said quickly. "I just didn't know lords get worked up about hockey."

Clarion snorted trying not to laugh. Her hands flew over her mouth in embarrassment, and they all burst out laughing.

By the end of the games Milori was starting to look a little flushed, so they bid everyone goodnight and Clarion flew him back to winter with Thomas as her escort home.

They stood, separated by the border but holding hands after he gave her a kiss. He bent over her hand and gave a gentle kiss on her fingers. "Sweet dreams, my lady. I love you."

She smiled shyly and looked up at him from beneath her lashes. "I love you. Goodnight, Milori."

"I'm sorry, I'll take you home next time," he said, frustrated with himself.

"It's alright. Thomas can see me home, and it's not that far anyways. I shouldn't have kept you out of winter for so long."

He leaned into spring and brushed a kiss over her lips one more time. "I can't wait for us to be together so we don't have to say goodnight," he whispered and ran his fingers through her loose hair tenderly. "I miss you most at night."

She smiled with tears in her eyes. "Stop or you'll make me want to try sleeping on ice tonight."

He kissed her brow.

"Get further into winter." She backed up and blew him a kiss.

He smiled but swallowed hard and laid a hand over his heart. "You make it hard to go. be careful."

He watched her leave.

She was nearly home with Thomas when they heard a screech echo in the sky.

"Go!" Thomas screamed. "It's a hawk!"

Clarion looked up into the sky and saw it soaring down directly at them.