The services for the evening were just wrapping up as Nirael left the Matriarch's private glade and was rejoined by Lunari and Nilari, seeming to look more like sisters now than mother and daughter, though he could not place why.  Certainly no sign of age showed on either, and while Nilari certainly seemed older and wiser once you spoke with her, none of that showed in her form.  Only the sexy and athletic form of one woman next to the softer and more seductive curves of another.  Nirael spoke to them for a few moments before Lunari suggested retiring to the home for the night, "You look tired Nirael, I think you need rest.  If it is true that the demon is close, we can ill afford to have you fighting sleep at the same time as you are fighting for our lives."<br/><br/>Nilari seemed to agree and the three returned to Nilari's home.  There Nirael spoke of his mistake and how he'd been tricked into sleeping with a woman he thought was Lunari.  Both women were silent for a little while and then looked at each other, some sort of unspoken communication passing between them.  There was no magic, just the unspoken language of two people who knew each other and could read their thoughts, their feelings, from subtle tilts of the head or facial expressions.  Finally Lunari reached out and took Nirael's hand and asked,<strong>"I have to ask you Nirael, because I admit that I do not know Shoni's dogma very well.  But is monogomay a large tennant of her faith, does she require her faithful to be beholden to only one person?"</strong><br/><br/><em>"No, not at all in fact,"</em>Nirael answered honestly.<br/><br/>Then Nilari asked,<strong>"So her faith must mean that it is wrong to make love to someone that you haven't pledged your specific love to?  She must frown upon the fact that you've had sex with random strangers in the past, without declaring that you love them."</strong><br/><br/>Again Nirael shook his head,<em>"No, the opposite.  She espouses the free and open sharing of love, both emotional and physical, but not requiring the two meet as long as that passion is freely shared."</em><br/><br/>Nilari continued, "<strong>So it was that you didn't freely share the passion with the strange woman that has you so upset?  You were raped?  For such an act is illegal in our villiage.  Being coerced or seduced is one thing, but if she forced you..."</strong><br/><br/><em>"No, she didn't force me, I just didn't know who she was..."</em>Nirael said, beginning to understand that these two women did not see the issue as an important an issue as he did.<br/><br/>Lunari laughed light heartedly,<strong>"Oh mother, let us never take him to the midnight orgies then!  He'd have his stomach twisted in knots, not knowing who he was laying with in the pitch black.  Can you imagine how hard he would be trying to track down the dozen or more people that enjoyed his touch after that night?"</strong><br/><br/>Nilari chuckled but her gaze remained securely on Nirael,<strong> "She jests, but I see this as a serious matter.  If you feel you were wronged, once the danger has passed, we can track down this vile woman who assaulted you.  You are under my protection and under my charge, and if you do feel unsafe I will vow to make it right."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Or,"</strong>Lunari said patting his hand,<strong>"You can think of it as another in a long string of random encounters.  Little different than a farmer's daughter or tavern wench, of which you've had several.  In our village women make sure they carry spells preventing pregnancy, and often are trying to catch with child.  The woman may not be slated to pair with another male for a year or more, and have just hoped to take a chance that your seed would be more verile than an elven man's.  If that's the case, it is her loss that you also block your seed.  I think you worry too much about my feelings, or of Nilari's.  But you need to know, if truth be told, we find it more amusing than anything else.  Even you have to see the irony in a changeling man who goes from town to town, bed to bed, and finds himself taken in and used for an hour of passion in almost the same way?"</strong><br/><br/>Nilari's stern gaze cracked then, and it became clear she was fighting to keep the smile off her face.<br/><br/>Lunari finished,<strong>"Come lover, take us to bed and let us tire you out so you might sleep better, and worry no longer about this matter."</strong>