Just in case someone somehow stumbles in here without seeing the age gate, this is the final warning.
If you aren't legally of age, get out now.

Technically, there wasn't supposed to be a coronation feast until after the actual event. But Melia felt that something needed to be done to counter the shock and gloom that covered the palace after her father's death, and a banquet in celebration of all she and the others had overcome in the past few days seemed like an excellent idea. Besides, she had invited them to one just before the Mechon attacked; she couldn't allow them to leave Alcamoth before fulfilling the offer.

She knew that her friends didn't have the resources to attend a formal event, so she had informed them just after breakfast and covered all the costs necessary to get them dressed up properly. The guys were dressed in crisp, identically-styled suits - pure black for Dunban, while Shulk and Reyn had a hint of burgundy and rust respectively, and Riki chose a bright blue with a massive top hat. Sharla had selected a long, flowing dress that started forest green at the top but faded into aqua at the waist and midnight blue at the bottom, and had her hair rolled up into a cone-like shape. Melia herself went with a multi-layered gown that changed from a soft lavender to a regal violet, covering the bare skin up top with a deep plum overcoat, with near-indigo gloves and stockings, deep magenta shoes, and a golden tiara filled with amethysts.

Melia sat at the head of the table, waiting for everyone to arrive. It felt weird to be sitting at the head; everything simply felt so much bigger.

"Your Majesty's honoured guests," a guard's voice arose. Her five friends followed him into the dining hall.

Melia did not have a seating plan drawn up, aside from knowing that her brother was mandated to sit on her immediate left. Not wanting to force the party to split up, she directed them all to sit on her right - Shulk first, followed by Riki, Dunban, Reyn, and Sharla.

Kallian, already seated, seemed oddly taken aback at this decision of hers. "Pardon me Melia, but are you sure you wish to seat your companions in those locations?"

"...Of course." It was pretty obvious to her. Was she seriously supposed to make them sit off in the distance just because they were Homs?

Kallian didn't appear convinced. "Are you quite aware of the meaning of the seat to your immediate right at a coronation feast?"

Irritated, Melia raised her voice to ensure that all could hear. "I do not care what is proper. This man has saved my life several times. No one else could possibly deserve this seat."

"Very well." Kallian nodded and returned to a neutral sitting position.

What was all that about? Oh well, it doesn't matter.

The clock rolled past nine. By now, only Melia and her five friends remained, with even Kallian excusing himself five minutes ago. With no one left to stop them, Reyn and Riki began filling the last bits of their stomachs with whatever was left over from across the table, the others half-heartedly admonishing them.

Melia looked at the time. "This has been a fine dinner, but I think it has lasted quite long enough." She stood up, not caring that technically everyone else was supposed to automatically follow. "I shall be retiring to my chambers now. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Amidst the others' responses, she turned and slowly walked out of the dining hall. Perhaps I should simply go to bed early. There's not really anything else I feel like-

"Ah, there you are, Your Majesty." Captain Denzel was standing in the hall outside, as if waiting for her all this time. "Are you prepared for the Fertility Ceremony?"

"...Pardon me?" She wasn't exactly tired, but she did feel like she was sufficiently unalert to have possibly missed something.

"The Fertility Ceremony. To ensure you are capable of producing heirs."

"...oh." Yes, I suppose that is something that needs to be done at the soonest opportunity. "Very well." She didn't know what the test involved, but presumed it was some sort of (hopefully non-invasive) medical procedure.

"Excellent. I shall escort you." Denzel began leading Melia across the palace.

About ten minutes later, the rest of the party decided to head back to the Whitewing Palace for the night. They all got up and started to leave the dining hall.

"Oi Shulk, what's that?" Reyn pointed down at something.

Confused, Shulk turned around to see that a slightly crumpled envelope was on the floor.

"Looks like a letter?" He bent down to pick it up. "You know, I remember thinking that my seat felt a bit papery. Maybe I've been sitting on this the whole time."

Everyone laughed; it was all too easy to believe that Shulk was clueless enough to sit on an envelope for hours and not really notice.

"This must have something to do with the role of sitting next to Melia," Dunban guessed.

"That makes sense. I hope it wasn't time-limited." Shulk opened the envelope and unfolded the paper inside.

It was indeed a letter. Unfortunately, he couldn't read a word of it; he couldn't even really tell whether the High Entia text was written horizontally or vertically.

"Uhhh..." Shulk turned the paper upside-down; the text looked basically the same. "You guys go on ahead. I'm going to see if I can get some help with this."

Reyn shrugged. "Suit yourself, Shulk." He turned down the hall with the others towards their temporary lodgings.

Shulk inquisitively peeked into the hall after them. The first guard he saw was about twenty paces away.

"Excuse me, sir," he began as he approached.

The guard immediately provided his full attention. "Yes, Mr. Shulk?"

"Er..." It threw him off a bit that the guard knew his name, but he managed to continue. "I got this letter because of where I sat at the banquet. But...I'm not sure if you know this, but us Homs have a different writing system. So I can't read it. Can you help?"

"Certainly." The guard carefully took the letter and began to read.

"Congratulations, sir. You have been selected by Empress Melia to participate in her Fertility Ceremony. The purpose of this ceremony is to ensure that Her Majesty is capable of the most important duty of continuing the imperial line. Once today's activities have concluded, please seek out Her Majesty and direct yourselves to the chamber in which the ceremony will be conducted. May the luck of our ancestors shine upon you."

"...huh. Uh, thanks." Shulk slowly took hold of the letter again, partly considering how he could use what he just heard to learn how to read the foreign script, but mostly wondering what exactly he was supposed to do. "Er, sorry to continue bothering you, but...it tells me to go and seek out Melia, but I don't know where she is."

"I believe Her Majesty has been escorted to her chambers. Would you like me to lead you there?"

"Oh, yes please, that would be nice."

The guard led Shulk through the palace. He didn't pay too much attention to where they were going, but it felt like they kept going further upwards. And it also felt somewhat like he was getting deeper and deeper into an area where he otherwise wouldn't be allowed.

Eventually, at the end of a long and winding hallway, they reached a door. Unlike all the other doors in the palace, it had a handle and did not automatically fade away when approached. The handle had some sort of black device attached to it. Another guard was stationed just there.

"Here you are, Mr. Shulk. Good luck." The escort guard nodded and began walking back to where he came from.

"Ah, so you have arrived for the Fertility Ceremony?" asked the local guard.

"Um, yes." Shulk showed him the letter.

"Very well." The guard placed his hand on the handle. "I will let you in. A copy of this device that has a status light on it is placed on the inside handle. Once you are in, the light will change from blue to yellow. You will not be allowed to leave as long as the light remains yellow. Once it changes, the ceremony is complete. Are you ready?"

"Uh..." Shulk wasn't quite prepared to be locked in a room without knowledge of what to do, but he supposed there was no real alternative. Besides, Melia probably knew all about it. "Okay."

The guard opened the door and quickly ushered Shulk inside, closing the door behind him as fast as possible. Shulk turned around in mild confusion as he saw the inner device's light turn yellow, wondering why he was forced in so quickly.

"HEY!" A purplish blur shot by and crashed into the door just as it clicked closed, which resolved into a very upset Melia pounding the door with her fists. "Let me out of here this instant, you cad! You wait until my brother hears about this treatment! DON'T YOU RUN AWAY LIKE A COWARD! GET BACK HERE!"

A bit terrified of what he had stumbled into, Shulk backed off into the centre of the room. He then began to realise that it was a bedroom - it had a bed, a desk, a closet, a door to presumably a bathroom, and a great deal of décor and trinkets scattered about. It looked every bit the definition of "princess's bedroom".

"rrrrrRRRRRRrrrgh." Her ethersense telling her the guard was long gone and the hall was now empty, the stymied Melia finally turned away and was about to stomp back to her desk when she realised that someone else was in the room with her - though who exactly it was still went unprocessed.

"...er, I...I apologise for that...display of rage." Still smouldering but managing to contain it now that company was present, she moved to her desk chair and sat down hard in it, staring distantly at the near wall.

Shulk wasn't sure how to respond, but he did have one thing on his mind. "Why would your brother need to hear about this?"

A deep exhale. "Yes, I suppose you are right...it would not do for an empress to defer to her brother for discipline..." The realisation came through as she turned around. "...excuse me, but what exactly are you doing here, Shulk? How did you find your way to my chambers? Why were you allowed to enter?"

"Uh, aren't...aren't I supposed to be here?" Shulk held up the letter. "This was on my seat, right?"

Melia got up to take the letter and read it, quickly becoming further disgusted. "Oh yes, the "Fertility Ceremony", also known as "let's lock Melia in her room and not tell her anything about what to do", and then proceed to toss a second person inside and scarper like a base-"

"Woah, woah, woooaaah." Shulk held up his hands in an effort to defuse the situation. "You're not usually this flustered about things. We can figure this out. Just...just get back to being you."

She closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "...yes, of course. Nothing good will come of being continually frustrated." She looked back up at him, slightly aflutter that it was Shulk in her room and not someone else. "And I can't think of a better person to try and help solve such a problem. All right."

Shulk looked around to find an armchair in the corner. He dragged it closer to the desk and sat down as Melia went back to her desk chair.

"Okay, so first," he began, "have you ever heard of a Fertility Ceremony before? It sounds to me like a thing that every emperor and empress has to do."

"I have indeed heard of it previous to this, and it is indeed something that all successors to the throne must undertake. However, it is a very recent invention. In fact, I am the first to undergo it. That is why I have no information as to its nature."

"So why did it get invented?"

"It's...a long story. Are you sure it could be relevant?"

"Who knows? It might be. I'd take any hints I could get."

Melia took another deep breath. "Very well. Tell me, do you recall what my father said when he announced me as successor?"

"Uh...something about being happy. Talking about the tomb. Something twenty years?"

"Yes, twenty years. The length of his reign. I don't know when you first learned of our extended lifespan, but now that you are aware, does that seem unusual to you?"

"...Yeah." Shulk's face immediately wrinkled up upon realising something very weird was afoot. "Wasn't he like 320 or something? How'd he only get the throne twenty years ago? I guess maybe there was a brother or sister that had it first, and he got it when they died. But then you're way older than that, and Kallian's even older-er. Why didn't that brother or sister have kids?"

Melia was reasonably impressed at Shulk's thought process. "You're exactly correct. Before my father, there was Empress Entirmina, his older sister. But after she had gone through the effort to procure a First Consort, she was found to be infertile, and she could not simply pass on the throne without dishonouring her father, as he had previously passed it to her before his death. After much legal effort, it was enshrined that a sibling is allowed to produce heirs should the emperor or empress be biologically unable. Soon after, it was also decreed that all future successors would be tested for fertility upon succession. Therefore, we have the fertility ceremony."

"Makes sense to me. So I guess the next question is, how do you test someone for that? I mean, apparently it's something really simple, if they want a random guy like me to do it instead of a doctor or something."

"Exactly my thoughts. Why trust such an important process to a potential stranger?" Something occurred to her. "No, I suppose not a stranger. After all, the call for you to participate was placed on the seat to my right at a major banquet. Only a highly trustworthy individual would be permitted...of course, that is why Brother was questioning my decision to seat you there, because of the necessary level of trust the position entails."

"So not a random guy, but someone you know very well. Still not a doctor though."

"Indeed." A pause. "Tell me, how would you think to test someone's fertility without a medical professional?"

"Well, uh..." Shulk thought for a moment, his thought process leading into embarrassing topics of discussion. "I guess...um, well it wouldn't be definitive, but...if a girl doesn't...uh, well, you know...if a girl doesn't do her thing every month, then that'd be a red flag. So that'd be...that'd be step 1. So...so do you?"

Melia looked confused for a moment, but then her expression changed to realisation and then utter revulsion. "...ah, yes...that...that would be a thing that Homs do..."

Shulk was now the confused one. "That Homs do? So High Entia don't...uh, don't have...periods?"

Melia continued in a very small voice. "No. Our extended lifespan does not lend well to a...regular cycle of ovulation. Very few half-bloods inherit this trait. They lead miserable lives."

"You're a lucky girl, then. I've...I've seen how bad it can get." His mind wanted to continue thinking about Fiora, but he managed to keep himself on topic. "So how do you work then? Do you...control it somehow?"

"We are induced ovulators. An egg is only released upon..." Melia didn't finish her sentence. Her face went stone cold.

"...Melia? Are you feeling okay?" Shulk waved a hand in front of her face and got no reaction. "Hello? Do...do you need a drink or something?"

Melia slowly curled up into a ball. It looked like a fair chance that she was about to cry.

This looks like something I might need to wait out, Shulk thought. He sat back in the armchair and waited.

Several minutes passed. It didn't seem like Melia crossed the line into actually letting tears loose, though it was difficult to tell. After about four or five minutes, she finally returned to a natural sitting position, her eyes quite wet and her face a blazing red.

She spoke in almost a whisper. "I...I believe I have come upon the truth. You see..." She struggled to continue. "In order to test my fertility, I must undergo induced ovulation. And the meth...the method for...for doing so is...is...is to achieve orgasm." She immediately hid her face in her arms again, every part of her body trembling.

Shulk didn't make the connection for a few moments. "So...so that means...um...wow. Okay. That's...huh." His own face now crimson, he spent a little while coming up with the right words to put his thoughts into, unsuccessfully trying to avoid further embarrassment. "So...why does...isn't there a way for you to...to do it yourself?"

Melia looked up in confusion, but didn't say anything.

"You...you know, do it yourself." Shulk very much disliked the topic of discussion, but as an engineer he was driven to look for the simplest solution. "I mean, why do we need to drag a guy into this when...when you can just...simulate one?"

Melia shook her head, her face somehow becoming even redder, but with the ghost of a smile present. "Shulk, I do not think we can continue solving this problem until we both learn how to speak frankly on the subject."

"...oh." He wrestled with his mouth for a bit. He reasoned it might get a bit easier once he said the first dirty word, so he continued at high speed. "So you're supposed to have sex."

"That is...the conclusion I have drawn. In order to test my fertility, I must undergo the process of intercourse."

"Okay, so my question is, why do you need a guy in the room? Can't you just use a...some sort of substitute object?"

"I...do not understand. Sexual intercourse requires two people of opposite gender, does it not?"

"...Melia, what do you know about sex?"

She looked a bit off to the side. "I must admit I know very little. I was taught everything there is to know about puberty and reproduction, but of the act of intercourse itself, I only know the roles of the genitals and how they interoperate. I...I was not even told what exactly an "orgasm" is, only that one presents itself upon the act's completion."

Shulk thought for a moment. He didn't really want to be involved with this and lose his virginity to someone who wasn't Fiora, but something had to be done, and it might be easier to just get on with it than to try and teach a girl how to masturbate. And actually, if...when they find Fiora again and take her back from the Mechon, she might be pleased to find that Shulk had at least enough experience to avoid the rookie mistakes.

To his surprise, Melia turned his question back on him. "What about you, Shulk? What is your knowledge of intercourse?"

"Uhhh...well...I mean, I know what the deal is, I know what's...supposed to be done and all that. I've just never done any of it. I always thought of it like...a necessary evil of life, pretty much."

"Then we are of the same mind. It is an action we do not wish to undertake, but under the current circumstances, we must." Her head started dipping into her hands again as she continued in a mumble. "...Just like everything I have ever done." At the very least, I am fortunate that it is Shulk who is to join me. I cannot begin to imagine proceeding with anyone else in the universe.

Shulk didn't know how to respond to this; he was going to suggest they just accept it and move on until the last comment came through. He had to reconsider, to try and find a reason that they should want to continue.

"...Melia, when was the last time you were happy?"

She looked up with an unreadable expression on her face. "H-how do you mean?"

"Like, happy. Truly happy, inside and out, just pure glee all over." He figured he might have to provide an example. "Sometimes when I'm in the lab doing research, I would finally crack something that I'd been slowly working towards for months. And it's like nothing else matters for a bit, a rush of success and satisfaction."

Melia racked her mind. She had happy memories, sure, but every one of them felt tainted somehow, whether it be from self-doubt, a subsequent mood change, knowledge of a related future memory, or even simply knowing at the time that the moment would soon end. She couldn't find a single memorable point in time where she could say without question that she was nothing but happy.

"I do not know."

Shulk nodded slightly. "Well, maybe this is what you need then. Because that's what an orgasm is: a feeling builds up, and then it's a big shot of happiness through you. Like someone dumps a bucket of cold water on your head on a boiling-hot day."

"...You have more knowledge on the subject than I do, so I will take your word for it." She shuffled around uncomfortably in her chair, starting to feel a strange warmth between her legs. It was a feeling she'd had a few times before, usually because she'd handled her super-sensitive wings wrong while in the shower, but most recently when seeing Shulk's image in her mind for too long. She never understood what it was supposed to be - but now the idea creeped into her head that perhaps it was lust.

The two of them sat in silence for a moment. They were both waiting for the other to make the first move - Melia because she had no idea what was supposed to be done let alone how to begin, and Shulk because he felt Melia should be in full control of the entire process.

After about two or three minutes of sitting still, Shulk decided that he'd have to act first. He reached forward to carefully grasp Melia's wrist.

"Wha-AH!"

Before she could react, she was pulled out of her desk chair and into Shulk's lap, back-to-front with her shoes left behind, his arms wrapped around her arms and midsection. Once the initial shock wore off, it was found to be oddly comforting. Actually, it felt a lot like a hug, a hyper-rare luxury for her.

"Is...is this a necessary part of the process?"

"Kind of. We can't just get into it, we need to...uh, warm up first. Get all the right body parts ready."

"I see." She was indeed feeling a bit warmer, though she presumed it was anxiety over what was to come more than anything.

Shulk continued to keep her hugged tight. He thought about how Fiora had held him like this two or three times, but he always got out of it before it could develop into anything further (not that he expected it to at the time). In that sense he was kind of at a loss how to continue. He did have one inkling of an idea, however - caressing.

Keeping one arm secure, he moved his other hand to Melia's neck and started faintly brushing it with the back of his fingers. She didn't appear to respond, but she didn't pull away from it either. After a bit he moved to her shoulder, gently making circular rubbing motions, before doing the same to her forearm. He then began rubbing her belly, eliciting an amused giggle. Once his time there was exhausted, he moved down to the lowest point he could reach at the moment, her thigh. Despite having several layers of formal gown to press through, the first touch garnered a light "ooh" as he rubbed around the hem of her stockings. She was certainly breathing a bit heavier now.

Somewhat aroused himself by Melia's slightly-shifting weight in his lap, Shulk decided to go a bit bigger. He reached up and grasped the apex of her right wing.

Melia gasped sharply as her head was flooded with pleasurable tactile impulse. No one else had ever touched her there before. It was a far stronger feeling than simply shampooing her wings, or even touching them accidentally herself.

Shulk assumed the gasp was a negative sign and let go. "S-sorry, did that hurt?"

"N-n-n-n-no. P-p-please c-continue." Her mind was compelled to do whatever was necessary to keep the sensation alive.

"Okay." Shulk began rubbing down the length of each wing's leading edge. It was a surprisingly satisfying body part to touch, probably because Homs didn't have any.

Spending all her conscious thought keeping her wings still so Shulk could continue rubbing them, Melia began losing control of the rest of her body, her hands and feet twitching with every touch. But once she first found herself voicing a breath, letting out a long, quiet moan, she found a sudden moment of clarity. Her body was desperate to keep going, but her brain knew that doing so would be a dead end.

"I-I-I b-believe I am s-s-sufficiently warmed up," she stammered. She was surprised to realise how much her frame of mind had changed in the last little while, from "I want no part of this but have no choice" to "I am quite okay with what is occurring".

Shulk released her from his hug. "All right then. You decide how we're moving on."

Melia stood up, her legs a little wobbly, and surprised herself with a quick and instinctive plan. "I want...I want you on the bed. And I'll...I'll lower myself onto you. But I don't wish to see any...any nudity." She was still not yet comfortable enough to expose herself even under these circumstances, and figured that equality was a good way to avoid any such entitlement on Shulk's side.

"Whatever you say, Melia. This is about you, after all." After removing his shoes, Shulk clambered onto the bed's lavender covers. It was even softer than it looked; it felt like his head was trying to disappear into the pillow it had found.

Trying to act as discreetly as possible, Melia reached under her gown and pulled her short-like bottoms loose, tossing the unexpectedly-damp garment off towards the laundry chute. High Entia did not partake in the practice of underwear - her privates were immediately exposed to air, filling her with a yearning to plug a newly-gaping hole.

Not counting the two nights spent in the Homhom Hotel of Frontier Village, she had never shared a bedroom with anyone else before, let alone a bed. It was quite a surreal feeling to climb onto the mattress to find someone already present. Kneeling beside Shulk's legs, she flipped her gown overtop of his crotch so nothing could be seen.

"You may extract your sexual organ now."

Shulk couldn't help but laugh at the choice of words. A dirty joke Reyn had once made came to mind, but it didn't seem like a good time to use it.

Suddenly, something occurred to him. "Wait a minute. If you ovulate on orgasm, won't that make it super easy to get pregnant?"

"Indeed, that is the biological reason for why it is so." Melia reasoned between the lines. "But we do not have to worry about that. Ever since I took the course on reproduction, I have possessed a post-coitus contraception device. As long as I use it within three or four days, there is no chance of an unwanted pregnancy."

"Okay then." Shulk slipped his hands underneath Melia's gown and opened up his fly. From there it took him a bit to figure out what to do; he had never bothered to learn how to use a fly before. But after a few moments he had successfully deployed his penis to a near-upright position.

"I'm ready."

Trembling with both trepidation and arousal, Melia carefully hoisted her left leg over Shulk's body to enter the straddling position and stabilised herself by putting her hands down on the bed. With only a guess as to where her target was located, she slowly started bending her knees, lowering herself downwards.

The first touch was perfectly aimed, directly in the center of her lower lips. She hovered there for a moment while she composed herself from the shot of adrenaline it produced. Then she continued.

It took surprisingly little force to part herself open, owing the the amount of lubrication her body had produced, and from there she had to consciously pace herself so as to belay the fear of going too deep too quickly. The sensation was almost indescribable - it was like finding the tastiest fruit in existence and forcing as much of the delightful feeling into her mouth as possible.

Before she knew it, her hips came to rest on top of Shulk's, the tip of his member just grazing the back of her chamber. She simply sat on top of him and basked in the bliss of feeling complete.

After a little while, Shulk had to interrupt the moment. "Um, are we...going to continue?"

Melia opened her eyes and looked down at him, now trembling with ecstasy. "C-c-continue?"

"Well you can't just sit there. Have to have friction, rubbing, that's where...that's where it all comes from."

She supposed this made a degree of sense; after all, she obtained far more pleasure from her wings being rubbed than when they were simply being touched. "A-all right."

Melia had a bit of trouble thinking through all the sensation she was being bombarded with, but did manage to reason that it would be difficult to cause much effective friction in a two-point stance. She would have to bend down onto both her knees and elbows. As she lowered herself into such a position, she realised that her face was now quite close to Shulk's...the desire to move in for a kiss was quite strong, but it would take some doing to resolve their height difference enough for their lips to meet.

Once she was satisfied with her new positioning, she began to slowly move her hips up and down. The euphoria stemming from her core strengthened with every stroke, continuously growing more and more beyond the boundaries of what she thought was possible for her body to feel. She could almost sense that her ability to think rationally was shutting down.

It didn't take long for her to accelerate, no longer driven by thought but by pure carnal desire. Every movement travelled the full length of the instrument she had been given, building up indescribable amounts of pleasure for each squelching jolt. No longer able to restrain herself, she started to emit a continuous moan out of her slack-jawed mouth, breathing quickly and deeply.

Shulk wasn't exactly just a sitting duck in all this. He did fully intend for Melia to have full control, but he was a fleshy being too, and just couldn't help himself. Once she got going at a fair pace, he grabbed her rear end with both hands and helped her along, providing his own impetus. He remained silent the entire time - it was just natural for him to make no sound.

After what felt like an eternity, Melia could feel that things were suddenly ramping up even further - the long-awaited orgasm must be near. She tried to tell Shulk that she was almost finished, but only managed to get out a warbled cry, unable to make non-vowel sounds. Shulk didn't need to be told, anyway; he was also close to the finish line. It helped that female High Entia emitted pheromones that served to synchronise the orgasms of their partners - a necessary evolutionary ability given their induced ovulation.

Not long after they realised it, it happened. What felt like the most joyous sensation in the universe splashed over their bodies, causing Shulk to emit a long low grunt and Melia to scream at the top of her lungs. A copious volume of fluid spurted out of their union onto Shulk's pants. For one beautiful moment, nothing else existed.

The feeling passed as quickly as it came; the euphoria was gone, but the mindless satisfaction remained. Melia went slack and collapsed onto Shulk's body, still copulated despite both of them being as limp as a sack of wet socks.

From across the room, the device keeping the bedroom door locked emitted a beep as its light changed from yellow to green. The Fertility Ceremony was complete, and the empress had passed.

After about six or seven minutes of the two simply laying in exhaustion, Melia finally detached herself and rolled over, now laying beside Shulk on the bed.

"I..." She had something to say, but it slipped her mind at just the wrong time. "I can't...my..." She rubbed her face with her hands for a moment, restoring her intended speech. "I cannot thank you enough for aiding me with this unexpected task. It...I shudder to think what would have happened if anyone else had been in your place."

As usual, Shulk didn't quite know when to keep his mouth shut. "Anyone else? I'm sure Dunban would have done a better job. Or Reyn, he actually has experience with-"

"No no no, I mean anyone else." She turned to look at him. "Honestly, I could not imagine a more perfect experience. You've shattered a misguided expectation of mine and replaced it with the door to a world I never knew existed."

"...huh?"

"I thought sex was just a means to an end, a necessary evil of being a gendered species, only because I did not know its true nature. But now...now I see the endless joy it brings, the mindless pleasure it bestows upon its participants. I feel like my eyes have been opened...I feel like only now I know true happiness."

The two laid in silence for a time. Shulk was reasonably satisfied with how things had gone off without a hitch, with an inkling of "let's do this again sometime until we get Fiora back" in the back of his mind. Melia felt her trust and affinity with Shulk had deepened tremendously, making his imminent departure from Alcamoth - leaving her behind to keep chasing the Mechon - all the more heartbreaking.

"...Shulk? May I ask a favour of you?"

"Sure."

She turned her head away bashfully. "I...I know you are to leave Alcamoth soon to continue your quest. And I will...I must remain here to fulfill my royal duties, unable to meet with you for who knows how long. But to only now discover the nature of sex, days if not hours before being certainly unable to partake in it again..." She looked back at him, pausing for long enough to determine that she was sure of her request.

"Would you indulge me?"

Shulk understood her mindset - once, he had just made a small breakthrough with his Monado research, and Dickson happened to take it away to Colony 6 for two weeks for a pre-arranged Defence Force meetup just before he could investigate any further. Being stuck in limbo for so long at just the wrong time was maddening.

"So...so you want to have sex again to soften the blow of us leaving?"

"In a sense...but for another reason. I fear I will be disallowed from having any sexual relations whatsoever until I am married, which...could be quite a while. But we still remain in the context of the Fertility Ceremony...the outside world is unaware of our current status. It is quite selfish a desire, but...I wish to acquire as much sexual enjoyment as possible from this opportunity."

Shulk considered her request. He had to admit that he wouldn't mind another go right now. And if Melia really couldn't remember ever being truly happy in her life before, he might as well help her make the best happy memory possible.

"Okay."

Reyn rolled his arm. "I'm just worried is all. Shulk's never held us up like this before."

The morning sun blazed through the windows of the Whitewing Palace. Reyn, Dunban, Sharla, and Riki were back in their adventuring garb and discussing why Shulk never came back the previous night.

"I'm not any less concerned," Dunban said, "but we can't just ask where he is. We don't want to stir up a panic among those that don't know."

Riki, who was wandering back and forth between the room and the hall, leaped into the air. "Shulk here! Shulk here!"

Indeed, Shulk was finally back. He looked a bit tired, and wasn't as crisp in his suit as at the dinner, but nothing else seemed off about him.

"Well, the man of the hour." Reyn walked out to meet him and clapped him on the back. "It's nine-fifteen in the morning, man. What you been doing all this time?"

"Well, uh..." Shulk held up the letter. "Apparently this letter was a call to participate in some royal ceremony with Melia."

Sharla wasn't quite convinced. "And that took all night? What kind of ceremony was this?"

"Yeah, it did...I don't know what time it was, but it was late. They could tell I was super-tired, so they chucked me into the nearest guest room. Sorry for leaving you hanging."

Reyn continued the questioning. "All right, so spill the beans! What was this ceremony about?"

Shulk shrugged. "Sorry, but I'm not allowed to tell anyone. Big imperial secret. Melia might kill me herself if it got out."

There was tangible disappointment from the other four, but they knew not to press further.

"But can say if Melly win at ceremony?"

"Well..." Shulk thought about it for a moment. "Okay, I think I can say that yes it was a success. It took a lot out of her, though. Might be a while before we see her today..."

Melia slowly woke up. For a moment, she wondered if she had just experienced a super-long and super-realistic dream, but she quickly realised that it was all real - she didn't normally sleep nude on top of the covers with her hair fully unbraided. She looked at the clock. Ten-thirty in the morning, the latest she'd ever woken up when not sick. She couldn't say she was at all surprised - she probably lost five kilograms in the night.

The first thing that came to her mind was how nice her room smelled. Shulk must have found the deodourising agent and sprayed it throughout the room before he left, as she suggested he do should he be first to wake. She also gave him permission to leave without waiting on her, which in hindsight was an excellent idea given what time it now was.

Melia made to get off the bed and immediately collapsed onto the floor. After some investigation, she found that there was still a stocking tied around her ankles. It came loose after a bit of effort, allowing her to stand up, but not helping her walk in a straight line. She idly wondered if her groin muscles would ever feel the same again. She clumsily shuffled to the bathroom and used the toilet - it felt good to output something for a change, instead of taking input.

Her immediate goal was to take a shower and wash all the dried semen off her face. She still had no idea why her first thought upon waking up at four in the morning was "begin licking Shulk's foreskin". She didn't know if he was awake before that, but he sure was afterward, and they made an early breakfast out of each other. The sheer quantity of sexual positions the two had discovered blew her mind - though even more surprising was Shulk's endurance. The amount of liquid he had dispensed during the night seemed to defy the laws of physics - maybe being the heir to the Monado, chosen by the Bionis itself, granted him some lesser-known powers.

Once she reached the shower, Melia saw a glove still wrapped around the showerhead and took it down. Now that was an experience, having her hands bound underneath the cascading water while Shulk took the handheld showerhead and...She felt hot just thinking about it, and so turned on only the cold water. It was tricky to clean her more sensitive areas now that she understood the sensations they generated when touched. Hopefully in time she would learn how to compartmentalise "shower time" and "fun time".

With the shower complete, she dried herself off and began fishing through the drawers to find the EggZapper. Once it was in hand, she dragged the device across her belly until it rumbled, signifying that it had vapourised an egg. For a moment she wondered why there was only one, but it made sense that there was some sort of safeguard against multiple ovulations too close together.

Now that her body was as clean as it could get, she began cleaning up the rest of her bedroom. Her discarded clothes went down the laundry chute, to be automatically washed without anyone seeing them. Any spills and stains on the bed and carpet were blotted with large amounts of water, not removing them but diluting them to the point where they were mostly invisible; the palace's maintenance crew would end up removing them properly later in the course of their normal duties without them being any the wiser.

Only one piece of evidence remained of her romp: the black device on the door handle, its light glowing green and its casing no longer keeping the door locked. After getting dressed and braided, Melia slipped the device loose, presuming she had to present it to Kallian or Captain Denzel as proof of the ceremony's completion. The desire entered her mind to claim the device was faulty and that everything had to be repeated...but no, it would be far too easy to prove otherwise. Besides, she'd had enough physical happiness for a little while. She didn't need to become any further addicted.

With that, she stepped back out into the world, nervous of the reaction to her lateness but newly satisfied with her body and what it could do.