<46>
As she breached the landing, she immediately noticed Lyrah’s door had been left wide open.  Her footsteps were slow, and she acted as if something surreal had taken place.  The room had indeed been cleansed from top to bottom, and upon the bed sat the towels, as mentioned, and a washbasin on a nearby desk.  To think that it had all been prepared for her was almost beyond her comprehension, and after shutting the door behind her she quickly went about dampening a towel and refreshing herself wherever she felt she needed to.
A quick glance in a nearby mirror helped her tuck away a few loose strands of her mane, and once satisfied with her appearance she took a deep breath, put on a smile, and stepped back out into the hallway.  All seemed mostly quiet, though gentle voices could be heard coming from Drenan’s room.  To her surprise, his door was ever-so-slightly ajar.  Shele swallowed hard as she slowly approached the door.  A sliver of flickering light streamed across the floor from it, and with measured hoofsteps she stopped in front of the crack to take a curious peek inside.
The light was dim, but warm, in the sizeable room, and it was just enough to define Drenan and Lyrah as they sat atop the bed together.  The powerful paladin’s muscular upper body was propped up against the headboard as Lyrah comfortably straddled his lap.  Both were still fully clothed, though the pair were rather vigorously pawing at each other’s garments.  Their muzzles were locked in a deep, continuous flow of kisses, and gentle moans and groans punctuated each break for breath.
Shele took in all of this for several long moments, almost unbelieving of what she was seeing.  To hear claims of such intimacy was one thing, but to witness them was another.  She found herself unable to take her eyes off of them, but she was certain it was what they’d intended.  Drenan was too careful to leave his door open during such a private activity for it to be unintentional.  No sooner had such a thought crossed her mind that Lyrah broke the couple’s kiss, turned one eye toward the door, and winked coyly before returning right back to Drenan.  The motion sent quivers of fear straight down Shele’s spine, though the act was followed by one of Lyrah’s wildly-waving hands off behind her, gesturing toward a wooden chair that had been set up a few feet from the foot of the bed.  A plush-looking, jade-colored blanket covered the entire chair, almost as if it were a throne made just for Shele’s viewing.
The druid felt her cheeks grow red hot, and without a word she pushed the door open and tentatively stepped inside.  Both tauren glanced her way as the door creaked, though they were immediately back upon each other as if nothing had happened.  Shele politely closed the door behind her and latched it before stepping to her little throne and taking an awkward seat with her legs crossed.
Father and daughter continued their intimacy unabated.  Lyrah moaned softly into the kiss as her lips slipped down to nibble on her father’s, which in turn prompted a playful slip of his tongue into her mouth.  Lyrah reeled back and giggled, and in response her hands ran down his chest to the fringe of his shirt.  “I can’t wait much longer,” she echoed into his ear.  What normally would’ve been a whisper was just loud enough for Shele to hear across the quiet room.
“Just relax,” Drenan rumbled lovingly in return as he lifted his arms to allow her to free him of his cloth bonds, though Shele felt that the words were somehow meant for her as well.  Lyrah immediately had her hands back on his chest, and in turn Drenan couldn’t resist slipping his own grasp down her back to fiddle with the fringe of her own top.  
The druid drew a deep breath as her legs hesitantly uncrossed themselves.  Color still flooded her cheeks, but a small smile returned to her face as she drank in the loving sight before her.  Still, she dared not speak or disturb them in any way.  She knew better than to impose.  As the moments passed she grew less aware of her surroundings, and before long she was comfortably sunken into the chair.
Lyrah couldn’t resist a glance back at Shele as her father pulled her top up and over her head.  The shaman grinned coyly and regarded her father again to puff out her now-bare chest and press it tenderly into his face.  Drenan happily reveled in her warmth and softness as his hands ran over her soft orbs and pressed them together as he pulled his head back.  His eyes never left his daughter as his muzzle slipped forward to softly take her left nipple into his mouth and suckle gently.
The shaman reacted with a long, drawn-out moan of satisfaction as her body tilted back reflexively.  Her head turned skyward and her eyes closed to absorb the sensations more deeply, though her hands still held tight to Drenan’s shoulders.  Her hips began to softly shift back and forth along her father’s lap, though it was clear she couldn’t go past that familiar, sizeable bulge between his legs.
Shele gasped quietly as she watched Lyrah move, and without realizing it one of her three-fingered hands slipped from its arm rest to pull the fabric of her robes up slowly.  The air of the room was quite warm, and the more exposed she became, the more that warmth seemed to fill her entire form.  Suddenly her fingertips brushed something far softer and warmer, only to realize how truly soaked her nethers already were.  She took a brief glance down at herself and back up to the couple, and once certain they were too wrapped up in each other she let one finger gently glide over her nether lips.
As enthralled as Drenan was with his daughter, his pose made it easy enough to glance past his daughter’s shoulder.  He expected Shele to appear interested, sure, but when he caught a glimpse of her spread legs he couldn’t stifle a reflexive, gentle flinch.  The bulge between his legs suddenly became truly painful, and he quickly looked back to his daughter and mouthed the word ‘Pain’ to her.
<47>
Lyrah’s hips ceased their grinding, and with fumbling hands she quickly reached down to unbuckle his leggings.  The restricting leather separated quickly to allow his straining manhood to stand at much-less-painful attention.  “Better?” Lyrah whispered gently and softly rested one hand along his shaft.
Drenan exhaled deeply in relief, though a sharp inhale of pleasure followed at her touch.  “Much,” he added with a nod and followed with yet another kiss.
Shele might’ve giggled had she been more aware of the situation, but her watchful eyes fell further and further into a strange trance as more and more flesh became exposed to her.  In all her years she’d never seen either of them as exposed as they already were, and while she’d had suspicions as to what Drenan might have been endowed with, the actual reveal was far more than she’d anticipated.  “By the Earthmother,” she breathed quietly, one of her fingers absently slipping past her own folds as she watched.
Lyrah just barely caught her exclamation, but she couldn’t hold back a slight grin of satisfaction from it.  Her hips resumed their gentle grinding along his lap, but this time she reached down with her free hand and flipped up its fringes.  For once she’d actually bothered with at least one undergarment, though the panties she wore were meager at best.  The yellow-colored silk matched her kilt nicely, but the small triangle of fabric did little to cover her dampened nethers.  A thin line of fabric ran between her plump cheeks from behind, so to Shele it looked almost like she wore none at all.
It was Drenan who quickly reached to the waistline of her kilt, and a soft pull yielded little in terms of results.  Lyrah giggled again, this time slowly lifting herself up to stand over her father’s lap, allowing him to reach up and slowly wiggle the kilt down over her bottom to fall upon the bed below.  The shaman steadily stepped out of the kilt and tossed it to the floor, and her thin panties quickly followed to leave her standing nude above him.  “Better,” she added in satisfaction, though she looked down at her father with faux disapproval.  “But not the best.”
The paladin took in the sight of his daughter with ever-intense delight, and the added sight of Shele past Lyrah’s spread legs was almost more than he could handle.  Lyrah slowly bent over at the waist before him and reached down to grab his leggings with both hands and steadily walk backwards until she’d removed them from him entirely.  To the floor they went.
With both tauren nude before her, Shele felt almost silly with her robe still on.  She found intense pleasure at watching both Drenan and Lyrah, and suddenly she bit her lip and clenched up as her first climax hit her hard.  Her head jerked forward and her eyes screwed shut as the warmth of satisfaction encompassed her body.  Maybe a minute later her eyes opened again to find Lyrah sitting back upon Drenan’s lap… though oddly enough, the two were closer than before.  Drenan now laid flat on his back, and his hooves were now right at the foot of the bed.  Shele’s robe had fallen open loosely from her sudden jerk, and without realizing it her open hand had slipped within and taken hold of her left nipple.
Lyrah’s hands pressed down onto Drenan’s chest firmly as she ground her hips down against him.  His manhood was flat between her shifting nethers and his abdomen as she slicked it with each stroke.  It wasn’t entirely out of the question for Lyrah to act somewhat dominantly, though she was taking charge far more than she usually did.  The paladin hardly minded, though he was never one to sit completely idle.  His own hands clung to her plump bottom hungrily, one of which left it suddenly to return in the form of a sharp spank.
Lyrah’s next moan took the form of a half-moo of “Daddy…!” from the gesture.  Her body tensed above him as she looked down lovingly at her father.  Her upper body lowered down to him and seductively hovered her considerable chest above his lips, though she pulled away at the last second and slid down to kiss him instead.  Her weight shifted as she kissed him and her bottom rose up into the air slowly, tail swishing as her father’s erection was left to spring upright beneath her spread legs.
Two of Shele’s fingertips swirled amongst her nether lips rapidly as the third simulated a thrusting motion in and out of herself.  The grand view before her caused her to reflexively lean forward until she was barely a foot from the foot of the bed.  Her robes slipped down off of her shoulders in kind, leaving much of the front of her body exposed to the open air.  Shele’s body was far different from Lyrah’s, but she was certainly not without her own attractive qualities.  Much of her form was lithe and slender, and had she not been in such a compromising position she would have been deemed graceful.  Time and lack of support had given added weight to her chest, though her size paled in comparison to Lyrah’s.  Her pale gray-white fur contrasted sharply with the soft-pink nipples that perfectly punctuated her matured orbs, and the long tail her robes had hidden twitched between her hooves with each pleasurable jolt that hit her body.
Drenan lifted his head just enough to catch sight of Shele between Lyrah’s legs, and Lyrah herself even tipped her head down just enough to see past her own chest to glimpse the druid.  Both tauren returned to exchange glances with one another, and after another deep kiss Lyrah stood again, carefully turned around to boldly face Shele, and began to crouch down atop her father’s waiting manhood.
Shele’s breathing grew more ragged as she watched.  She wanted so badly to say something, anything, to ask Lyrah why she was being so bold, but she could find no adequate words.  She was the visitor, the onlooker, and she could only enjoy herself as she watched the tip of Drenan’s tool as it disappeared slowly between Lyrah’s dripping folds.
<48>
Lyrah and Drenan both let out gasps of intense pleasure, and with measured motions Lyrah began to bob herself up and down softly, slowly but steadily taking in bit after bit of her father with each downward shift.  Her hands slipped forward to brace herself upon her father’s ankles, leaving her to gaze directly into Shele’s eyes with surprising intensity.  Drenan’s hands slipped to Lyrah’s rump as she moved lower and lower, though he was powerless to do much more than groan in delight at the intense sensations his daughter brought him.
Shele watched Lyrah in complete awe.  Despite Lyrah’s stare, Shele found herself unable to stop touching herself.  If anything, Shele simply worked her fingers even faster as the hand upon her breast visibly pulled at her own nipple firmly.
The shaman’s intense gaze slowly softened into one of hazy pleasure as she went lower and lower, until finally her rounded rump came to rest tenderly upon her father’s lap.  It was not the most comfortable penetration she’d ever experienced, but not only did it feel good to be filled by her father, she found herself far more focused on watching Shele’s reactions.  Her backside lifted up several inches before quickly thrusting back downward onto him, her body falling into a soft, steady rhythm of bobbing along his thick length.  Her mouth hung open ever-so-slightly as moan after moo-oan left her lips, her focus remaining ever on Shele.
Shele’s gaze flitted from Lyrah’s to her hefty chest, down to her nethers and back again, apparently unable to take in the full sight all at once.  Lyrah and Drenan seemed far closer to her now, and the muzzle of the bent-over Lyrah was barely a foot from Shele herself.  The druid found even more pleasure as she squeezed a second finger inside herself, her hand pumping in short, swift strokes as her thumb circled her clit wildly.  She could feel a second climax threatening her being.
And then, all at once, Lyrah did the unthinkable.  Shele’s body lurched forward just a bit in preparation for the oncoming burst of pleasure, and as she did so, Lyrah suddenly shot a hand forward to Shele’s cheek and pulled her forward into a sensuous kiss.
Shele’s eyes shot open wide with shock.  The kiss itself was the final straw as Shele’s second climax ripped through her body, this one far more intense than the first.  The druid immediately fell into the kiss and stood upright from her chair.  Her robe fell away to leave her nude before the loving couple, and the hand upon her breast left her to take Lyrah’s cheek in kind.  Shele’s knees wobbled fiercely as she struggled to keep herself aloft, though Lyrah had to suddenly upright herself and break the kiss as Shele flopped forward onto the bed between Drenan’s legs, writhing in pleasure.  Long, drawn-out moans punctuated Shele’s twitches, and it took her a solid minute before she was able to regain any semblance of control over herself.
Lyrah’s giggle of concerned amusement melted into another moan as she sank herself back onto her father, though she remained seated there as Shele worked through her own orgasm.  Drenan let go of Lyrah with one hand to prop himself up a bit, his eyes going wide at the sight of Shele.  “Is she alright?” he asked quietly.
“I think so,” Lyrah mused, her own cheeks burning hotly.
Drenan raised an amused eyebrow.  “What did you do?”
“N-nothing,” Lyrah stammered and looked back at her father.  “W-why?”
“Are you… sure?” he asked and punctuated his last word with a grunt and a firm jerk of his hips upward.
The shaman moaned sharply and flailed a bit to keep herself upright.  “It… it was just a kiss….”
Before Drenan could respond, Shele found her bearings enough to return herself upright, look Lyrah in the eye and boldly lean in for a second kiss.  Shele’s hands reached out to lace her fingers with Lyrah’s, and as the shaman began to bounce atop her father yet again, Shele gently got onto her knees atop the bed.  Both female tauren met each other with a string of vigorous kisses, and soon enough their hands let go of each other to clutch each other’s waists.
Drenan could only watch as Shele’s arms came into view above Lyrah’s rump, and right then he understood more of what was going on.  He had never expected Shele to join in -let alone for Lyrah to be okay with it- but ultimately it felt wrong to deny his daughter the chance to explore herself.  While he couldn’t help but feel a little defensive -perhaps even possessive- he knew Lyrah still loved him, and Shele was her chance to give something new a try.  The trio remained in their places for many long moments until Drenan reached out to firmly hold Lyrah in place, stopping her bouncing.  “Not like this,” he breathed softly and gingerly guided Lyrah up and off of him.  His erection was utterly drenched with remnants of his daughter, and with firm hands he playfully pulled Lyrah away from Shele and guided her to lay flat on the bed.  Shele appeared frozen in place with deep color in her cheeks, but before she could speak he returned with, “Go to her.”
Shele’s words caught in her throat, but she didn’t hesitate at his request.  The naked druid climbed closer to Lyrah and spread her legs wide, her muzzle closing in on her quim seductively slowly.  The shaman let out a slight whimper of need, uncertain of what to expect until Shele’s warm muzzle flatted against her nether lips.  Her tongue slipped past her lips to glide amongst Lyrah’s tender folds, and barely moments later Lyrah began to gasp and moan in sheer pleasure.  It was clear that Shele knew exactly what she was doing, and Lyrah happily reaped the benefits of her skill.
<49>
Lyrah found herself spellbound by Shele’s tongue.  The sensations that racked her body were far different than what her father did to her -not necessarily more intense, just different- but she couldn’t deny the allure of the woman who had practically been her mother all her life.  Lyrah’s hands went to her breasts to squeeze and pinch at her own nipples, unable to think of anything else to do to help things along.  The pleasure was practically blinding, at least until she felt something warm and wet slip next to her cheek.  Her eyes opened to look over and up at her father as he knelt next to her head, and without word or protest she took his erect, sloppy manhood and popped the tip happily into her mouth.
Drenan lurched forward and held himself upright with one hand as the other traced over Lyrah’s free breast.  Concern was now entirely gone as he looked down upon his own daughter as she lovingly licked and sucked his thick length.  For a moment he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing -that his very own little girl was now his lover, and that she and her mother figure were in the same throes of passion that she had shared with him- but that realization simply intensified the powerful waves of warmth that rushed through him with each touch of her tongue.  Her hand at the base of his shaft slowly made its way to his considerable balls to softly tease and touch them, though the longer it went on, the less coordinated she became.
Shele was relentless in her licking.  One hand had a firm grip upon Lyrah’s left thigh as the other slipped up her belly and back down to press a thumb against her clit.  The druid seemed to enjoy Lyrah’s taste beyond measure, and not a drop of Lyrah’s nectar appeared to touch the sheets with Shele between her legs.  Lyrah’s pinned leg struggled to be free, but Shele would not let her escape as she worked her magic, and without warning Lyrah’s back arched sharply, followed by a stifled, moo-like scream of ecstasy while her first orgasm shot fire and lightning through her muscles.  She had no hope of keeping her father in her mouth as she came, and it was thanks to Drenan’s quick reaction of mashing his muzzle against hers that kept her from flailing enough to injure either of the two elder tauren.  The deep kiss they shared lasted the full duration of her climax, and it took Shele almost that entire while to lap up every bit of nectar Lyrah had released in response.
It took Lyrah a few deep breaths before she could open her eyes again and smile weakly up at her father.  “Two down…” she whispered coyly as Shele suddenly began to climb atop Lyrah’s prone body.
Shele’s hips swayed as she climbed, her gaze meeting Drenan’s as she took a brief seat atop Lyrah’s plush belly.  “One to go, you dumb bull,” she teased him and planted a far gentler kiss upon his lips.
Drenan tenderly returned the gesture and nodded in understanding.  The muscular male climbed off the bed to allow Shele to finish her venture upward until her drenched quim hovered mere inches above Lyrah’s muzzle.  The paladin slowly climbed up from the foot of the bed to kneel between Lyrah’s weakened legs, and the head of his manhood quickly went to her well-licked womanhood.  His powerful hands ran up along her thighs to her waist as he began to sink himself back inside her, prompting moans from both father and daughter alike.  
The latter moan, however, was muffled suddenly as Shele lowered her hips downward, pushing herself firmly against the shaman’s muzzle.  Shele looked down at Lyrah who returned her gaze with wide eyes, and with a gentle nod from the both of them Lyrah began to lick and tease Shele’s nethers as best as she could with her inexperienced tongue.  The druid’s moans quickly joined Drenan’s, and mere minutes later Lyrah had Shele cooing constantly in sheer delight.
Lyrah struggled desperately to keep her tongue moving as much as she could, but with her father’s length continuously thrusting in and out of her she found it difficult to maintain her concentration.  One hand reached up to grasp Shele’s thigh as the other went outward to clutch her father’s hand, squeezing both tightly as she slickly licked between Shele’s clit and slit again and again.
Drenan kept his focus on his daughter as best as he could.  His gaze flitted between her nethers and her breasts as he rocked her body with his deep thrusts… but every so often he couldn’t resist a glance at Shele’s bare rump.  It taunted him from its perch above his daughter’s head, and indeed it did make him wonder why he hadn’t found more interest in Shele over the years.  His occasional glance slowly shifted into a stare, and without thinking his open hand shot forward to give Shele’s rump a vigorous smack.
Shele squeaked in surprise, but much like Lyrah she followed with a deep moan.  She tilted her head back to look at Drenan coyly.  “You… like?” she gasped between moans, and as graceful as ever she leaned her upper body backwards to show off her own bare chest.
Drenan could lie to her no longer, and he nodded weakly amongst the pleasure that continued to shroud and overwhelm his senses.  The bold hand reached out to clutch Shele’s bottom this time, though the squeeze lasted only briefly before his fingers traced up her body to cup her right breast and pinch her nipple.  Her chest was just large enough to keep Drenan from containing her flesh with one hand, and the sight of the softness as it spilled over between his fingers brought forth that familiar pleasure of building climax that he so desperately desired to feel.  “Close…” he breathed between moans, his thought enforced by the increased speed of his thrusts.
All three flooded the room with intense moans, groans, and gasps of pure pleasure.  The flickering candle had dropped a good inch since they’d began, and their time was nearing its end as all three steadily prepared themselves for one final burst of pleasure each.  Thrusting grew faster and faster, licking grew more vigorous, and then… the moo-like cries of ecstasy sounded out all at once.  Drenan drove his hips forward fiercely as his seed burst forth, flooding Lyrah’s nethers and womb without shame or hesitation.  Lyrah’s back arched again as she was wracked with pleasure, flooded with delight from the feeling of her father’s warmth as it filled her, and in turn she happily drenched her father’s manhood with a final burst of her own juices.  Shele’s lithe form devolved into a quivering mass as her third and final orgasm hit her, inadvertently dousing Lyrah’s muzzle with her slickness, the shaman unable to drink it in, distracted by her own reverie.  
All at once, all three collapsed in on each other in one big pile of quenched lust and deep love, and it took several minutes for them to regain enough sensation to reorganize themselves into a proper cuddle puddle.  Lyrah found herself in the middle as she clung tightly to her father, though with one hand she reached behind her and held Shele firmly against her back and rump.  Not a word was exchanged between them, but at that time no one saw any reason to speak.
<50>
        Lyrah was the first to awaken the next morning, but as her sleepy eyes opened she found herself almost completely immobilized.  She laid flat on her back as both elder tauren laid on their sides facing her, all three still completely nude, and both elder tauren had their heads above hers with their foreheads pressed against each other.  She was completely surrounded by her father and Shele, and with a happy sigh she quietly wondered if this was what it would’ve been like if she’d grown up with her mother as well.
        The shaman was content to remain between the pair for many long minutes until her father finally stirred.  The ever-playful Lyrah rested a gentle hand upon his nethers and shifted onto her side to plant a proper good morning kiss upon his lips.  Drenan reflexively returned the gesture, and as his eyes opened he could hardly contain a smile at his own daughter.  “Well good morning,” he whispered and glanced over at the nearby Shele nervously.
        “Morning,” Lyrah returned and followed his glance.  “You okay?”
        Drenan bit his lip as his eyes seemed to flicker from happy to… uncomfortable.  “Uh…” he hesitated and did a second take between the females, growing even more fidgety.  Suddenly he started to back off the side of the bed, appearing almost wild-eyed.
        “Dad?” Lyrah asked in immediate concern.  Drenan found the floor beneath his hooves, and without another word he darted out the door as quietly as he could muster.  “Wait!” Lyrah whisper-yelled, and as quickly and quietly as she could she made her way off the bed from his free side and pursued him.
        Once Drenan made it to the first floor he wildly thundered down the back hallway.  Lyrah was several yards behind him, but she continued as he bursted out the back door and made a full-tilt beeline for the outhouse and slammed the door shut behind him.
        Lyrah panted heavily and ceased her sprint as the door slammed shut.  She couldn’t hold back a hearty laugh of relief, her upper body hunched over with her hands on her knees to catch her breath.  After a sigh of resignation she slipped behind one of the two trees in the yard to do her own business, and just as she went toward the small pond to wash up Drenan pushed open the outhouse door in his own relief.  “Apologies, sweetheart.  I’m afraid it couldn’t wait.”
        The shaman giggled as the father and daughter both dropped to their knees by the pond to wash their hands.  “It’s alright, daddy.  I guess I got worried.”
        Drenan returned with a deep chuckle.  “You worry too much.”
        “I wonder where I get it from,” she retorted playfully.
        “Fair’s fair,” he relented and stood, offering a hand to help Lyrah up as well.  A small, awkward silence occurred between the two before he added, “So, uh… what did you think?”
        Color returned to Lyrah’s cheeks.  “It… was different,” she admitted.  “I dunno if I’d wanna do that all the time, but… it was nice.”  She looked up at her father and smiled as she reached out and clung to his burly arm.  “I’m kinda glad Shele did what she did.  If I’m honest, she’s actually really good at that… that thing she does with her tongue.”  Her cheeks flared up even more at her own words.
        Drenan simply thought she looked all the cuter.  “I’m glad you liked it, and I agree.  She’s a wonderful female, but…”
        “Shh,” Lyrah cut him off.  “You don’t have to say it.  I know.  I love you too, daddy, and I don’t want this to change anything between us all for the worse.”
        “Agreed,” he reiterated as the pair began to head back toward the house.  “I’d never seen her like that before.  It was… different.”
        Lyrah’s ears drooped at this.  “Did you wanna… you know… be inside her?”
        Drenan hesitated slightly before answering.  “I was not about to jeopardize our relationship that way, even if the potion hadn’t suppressed my child-producing abilities,” he explained with an offhand chuckle.
        “But… is it that different from what she did to me?” Lyrah prompted.  “I mean, she was kinda inside me with her tongue, and I, her.”
        The bulky paladin shrugged awkwardly.  “I had eighteen years of chances to act, and I did not.  It is not my place to change that now.”
        “Do you like her?” Lyrah asked simply.
        Another shrug.  “She is a wonderful female and friend.”
        The shaman suddenly stopped walking and put her hands on her hips, still unflinchingly stoic about being nude.  “Did you want to mate with her?” she persisted sharply.
        Drenan looked away to one side toward the ground as his face scrunched up briefly in frustration.  “Instinctually, yes.  Otherwise-”
        Lyrah immediately turned sympathetic again.  “Then why didn’t you?  This shouldn’t have just been my chance, this should have been yours too.”
        The paladin softened again, his look almost pleading.  “It… it didn't feel right, Lyrah.”
        “If it didn’t feel right for you, then it should not have felt right for me,” she stated, her blue eyes softening in sadness.
        Drenan immediately scooped her into a bear hug.  “No, no, that’s not what I meant.”  He pulled back just enough for her to look up at him.  “Sweetheart… Shele was the first one to come to our aid when your mother died.  If I had fallen for her… I… it would have felt as if I had just found a replacement for her no matter how genuine it might’ve been.”  His own azure eyes began to show the faintest hint of tears.  “I… I couldn’t just fall into Shele because she was so close.  I couldn’t just… just…”
        Lyrah offered her father a light smile, and as his words trailed away she lovingly kissed him yet again, returning his embrace properly.  As they broke apart, Lyrah added, “I’m… I’m sorry, dad.  I didn’t… didn’t think about it like that.”  She sniffed softly and pressed her head into his chest.  “I know you never would’ve replaced mom.”
        Drenan sniffed in kind and did his best to fight back his tears.  “I hope you don’t ever think that you’re-”
        “No,” she cut him off sharply.  “I know I’m not.  You’re my dad.  I’ve loved you from day one.  This… this mating is just another level of that, but I understand.  I guess I… I feel like I’m the one who pushed you into this now.”