If Mark was just bringing her and the baby, he could strain and get them to Otherworld under his power. They chose to take the cab instead-not that it would go anywhere, but that it would work as a conduit between the worlds.

Lugh was clearly impatient to meet them as the cab waited outside Mark's home before either of them called it. Mark and Maria looked at each other as they began putting various things inside the cab.

"Crassy, been a while." Préachán chirped at the driver.

The headless ghoul seemed to leer at the crow. "When was the last time you put yourself in this death trap?"

"A long time."

From Mark, Maria had learned Crasboeth craved collagen, so they brought a whole tub of it from the health and wellness section as their fee. He didn't even leave behind the canister, not even after they placed it in the front seat with him.

The back seat was crowded with the folded bassinet and baby essentials. With Mark or Lugh, clothing wouldn't matter, but she brought a full diaper bag for Ethelyn, not wanting to wait for them to change her, if necessary.

Mark had stepped in last, closed the door long enough to talk to the driver, then opened his door behind himself and pulled everyone out into the long hall, where he busied himself with carrying all the extras.

Maria glanced at him and did a double-take. "What in the world?!"

The crow reverted to his original form in this realm. It wasn't the dark monster or the man, but a taller being. Black feathers peeked through his ash-blonde hair. Little buds of black-and-white tufts peppered his bare shoulders, ribs, hips, and outer thighs. He wore a loincloth much like Lugh did, and his feet were clearly a bird's, but nowhere near as dark as they would normally be.

"Let me look at you!" Maria turned towards him and stretched up to reach his face, and he obliged her by leaning down. His eyes were not human, being wholly a black sea with a milky blue refraction layer-save for the pupil. Mark's nose was longer, and slightly hooked, and his face was a hair narrower. Best of all, he lost the innate terror he exuded that Maria thought she had become immune to until she found the lack of it in him. He was Préachán, nothing else suited him in this realm.

Maria laughed and kissed him with the bubbling joy she only remembered Lugh invoking. In an instant, she realized that joy wasn't because of him, but because of herself. She was lighter in this realm.

"A Throne is weighted down by humanity. And my creation is weighted down by demonic powers. Neither can have dominion in my realm." Lugh spoke from behind her in that voice that whipped around from every direction.

Maria refused to jump. Instead, she looked to where Mark's eyes darted, then turned to run into the arms of the man who helped her make Ethelyn. She grabbed his necklace and pulled him towards her lips where she showed him both what she remembered and learned while keeping herself a quarter-turn away for the little one's sake.

A soft growl escaped the God's throat and he pulled her in to tame her excitement until he felt the bundle in her arms. He broke off contact only for her to fiercely kiss her way down from his mouth to his collarbone. Lugh fell into a hearty laugh. "Lass! Enough already! Let's get you three set up in the great Pavillion and then you two are going to have to explain to me why you're so deeply into both of us."

Maria followed behind his wide back, staring at the expanse of muscles as they rippled. She wanted to bite every single one of them. "I am grateful that Mark allowed me to love him, then remember my love for you without marring that."

In the great Pavillion, there was the massive bed Lugh had first let her fall on, all those months back. To the side, there were chairs set up for easy rest as they spoke.

Lugh chose a seat that was just shy of a throne-belatedly, Maria realized that that's what it was-and held out his hands for his daughter. She placed her in his arms, then set down on a lounge chair and watched the two of them nervously.

"You named her Ethelyn?"

"Just like you asked me to."

The crow found a rocker more to his liking and proceeded to sit in it like he didn't know how to use one properly: one leg over an armrest, an arm over the back and a foot skidding across the floor without traction as he rocked energetically.

"Ethelyn, come forth." Lugh said it with a croon, like he was coaxing a bud to open.

And he was. The child who spent most her day sleeping opened her eyes and blinked like a little owl who didn't want to be awake for sunrise. Then she grew, rapidly, flitting through images of a small child until she couldn't be contained on her father's lap.

Ethelyn stood and turned to face Lugh, she filled in the same style of clothes as he wore: bracers, loincloth, and boots. Her hair was in small mad braids graced with bits of the woods around them, which she covered her chest with-the only point of difference between the two of them. In her hand was a spear with a head made of obsidian, stylistically cut into the shape of a conch with serrated edges. It was a beautiful deadly thing, and she held it with pride. "Father."

The warrior glanced about, nodded at the crow who clumsily stood and bowed. She stopped as she faced her mother before whipping back around to Lugh. "Father, you shouldn't..."

The woman collapsed back into the baby as rapidly as Lugh stood up to catch her. He handed the baby to the crow, then pulled Maria to her feet. "I'm sorry for that, my dear."

Maria's jaw never quite shut, rather in shock at the level of power Lugh wielded, Her child grew then shrank, and the two men acted like that was normal. "What in the world just happened?"

"I checked on a possible future of our child, to see how she turned out."

"She looked just like you." Maria smiled softly at Lugh, pleased at how alike the two of them were. Too bad there were no pictures of Lugh as a child, for her to compare to Ethelyn.

"She inherited my powers. I wanted to see if there was a chance she did."