Sherly and Topaz talked later and Sherly said "I am sorry, it's just he was my master first and until I saw you hanging on him, I did not realize how I felt about him. You know when he saw my horns he didn't treat me like I was a monster. When he trained me how to fight, he didn't do so by beating me black and blue. He taught me like he has done with everyone else except he came and trained the dragons himself, all the others he had me train to get to know them and build bonds with them. He is my teacher and master and I am their teacher and master and the army we each gained a large portion that we trained alongside him."
"I thought I just admired him and he has never shown affection to any female and we have never tried to hang on him like we were lovers. And when I saw you do it, I felt like I lost my chance, like I lost my heart. I have never been in love and master is so blunt and he doesn't talk much. He is so straightforward and truthful I never realized how I felt. I think I am in love." Topaz says "I understand how you feel. When I met him at first, I wondered why I felt that he was a sapphire dragon, then he told me his story and I knew I was in love."
"You know his wife before he was trapped was a sapphire dragon and the sword had his stepfather's core in it. So, when he was trapped then he gained his stepfather's core. So, he became a dragon faster than most because he had thousands of years that he was combined with it and when he was released his body was remade out of the stuff of dragons and not of the human. This is why he was trying to contact the dragons is because he knew his body was not the same and he knew he had his stepfather's core in him."
"I don't know if you know this but we are the last sapphire dragons. We can become a mated pair then we can bring back the species. Our species really need this so even though I know you want him I'm not going to let this chance go." Sherly asks "do you love him or just want another sapphire dragon"? Topaz looks at her and says "both I think."
Next Night walks in and looks at Topaz and says "you have had the master here alone with you for a month, did you sleep with him? No, I don't mean literally, I am asking if you mated"? Topaz asks "who are you and why are you asking"? "I'm Night and one of his generals, also his second apprentice, and we have long since claimed him as ours. For you to just walk in and decide to claim him without even talking to us is rude. If you can't tell I'm his pussy cat, and Sherly's his demon."
"So, I need you to back off him at least till we all have a fair chance to find out which of us he wants or if he will take us all as a harem. I don't mind sharing master but it is his choice. I understand he is not in a rush because he has been betrayed. He still is in love with his wife and he still mourns her. We have been kind enough to give him space but if you persist then we will also be acting on our feelings. In the end we might all lose because master is not like most men and only thinking with his tail, he actually uses his head."
"He has taught us all to sing and dance with our hands and swords and voice. Do you think him a simple man." Sherly says "we knew he had a dragon core in him, we knew he was going through changes and we knew he was seeking you out to find out what was happening to him both physically and mentally. We would have waited for him to tell us but I wonder how he will feel about you telling us just to try to one up us? Betrayal? Anger? Disgust?"
"You see sometimes it's not a good idea to speak like you know everything when you have your part in the story but you don't know the whole. The reason we all believe in him is because he is honest, he does not hide things. He has weaknesses and instead of hiding from them he talks about them and tries to fix them. He also forgives our past and with the oath most of us are born again bonding with a dragon's core in our swords and connecting with that is a lot for us mortal folk."
Topaz stands there shocked that these two women thought like this. She nods a couple of times and says "I think I understand how you ladies feel and I think I understand your feelings for Orion. But he is not a man he is a dragon now so if he mates with you and you carry it to term it could literally kill you in childbirth. So, I am the only one who can carry his child and not die. On top of that it can take years for the child to hatch like seven to ten. So, you please try to understand how it is I don't want him to be upset because you die in childbirth."
Both Night and Sherly laugh at her "don't you know we can use magic and shrink it in our bellies? That's a nice excuse but where there is a will there is a way. So, don't try to place yourself above us? Besides how many can you fight at once? Two maybe three. He can take on sixteen at once and Night can fight six trainees at once pointing out their flaws and I can do eight. Just so you know and before any one of us can be ready to have kids this war needs to be over."