It's hours later when they finally return to the treehouse, with dark having already fallen in Restalia. Yesmine is asleep in his arms, curled into his chest. He may have gone a bit overboard when he finally gave in and kissed her.

In his defense, she wasn't protesting. Not that she ever does.

Sometimes he wonders if she minds his tendency to utterly exhaust her--but she'd probably have told him if she did. Yesmine isn't one to keep her thoughts to herself.

He smiles to himself as he lays her in his bed, covering her with the blanket before placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. But there's a frown on his face when he straightens--something feels out of place.

He inhales deeply, and sighs.

A portal takes him upstairs, and he stands at the entry to the kitchen with arms folded across his chest.

"Marr'ia, what are you doing here?" A better question would be how she found him in the first place, but he'll get to that later.

She spins around from where she's fiddling with a coffee pot, bright smile on her lips. She's grown her moon-white hair out, but still wears it loose. She's probably shedding everywhere.

"Denny!" She skips across the kitchen, gray eyes sparkling, silver glow bright around her--indicating that she's in a very good mood. It would be more slate gray if she wasn't.

He catches her wrist before she can wrap him in a hug, and she pouts at him. "I haven't seen you in two hundred thousand years, and you aren't even going to give me a hug?"

As if he ever gave her a hug before. Sensual embraces aren't the same thing.

"What are you doing here?" He repeats, releasing her wrist to cross his arms again.

Marr' Dana's pout deepens, and she tosses the weight of her hair over one narrow shoulder. "I came to see you, obviously."

"How did you find me?"

"I looked!" She taps his chest with a finger, grinning. "It was very difficult, but I succeeded. Are you proud of me?"

Den sighs. "If your husband burns this moon to ash, I'm not going to be happy."

He should have known better than to make a home on a moon. He should have known she would take it as some sort of invitation.

She waves a hand. "As if I'd let him do that. Dar doesn't even know I'm gone."

"Then you should go home before he discovers that you're missing."

"But I wanted to see you!" She tilts her head, a quizzical look entering those eyes--eyes that appear childish, but hide a facade of ancient malice. Not malice, exactly. It's more that Marr'ia is... cunning.

Downstairs, he hears Yesmine begin to stir. The last thing he wants is for either woman to run into the other. Not only would it be awkward explaining to Yesmine that Marr'ia is an ex-lover, but Marr'ia will not be happy to learn that Den is living with another woman.

He doesn't even want to contemplate that situation, and silently hopes that Yesmine will stay in bed.

"You're different," the Moon Goddess says, tapping her bottom lip with one manicured nail. "What's different...?"

Den shrugs. "It has been two hundred thousand years, Marr' Dana. I'm bound to have changed some."

She waves a hand, dismissing his words. "How come you never respond to my messages?"

"Your husband threatened to kill me," he reminds her, his tone dry. Maybe if he reminds her enough times, she'll remember that she does actually love Sindar and leave him alone.

Some things tend to slip Marr' Dana's mind--she's as quicksilver and changeable as the moon itself, and as constant as the tides in that aspect of her personality.

"So?" She tsks. "He wasn't serious."

He had looked very serious. Especially when he kicked Den off the moon and told him never to come back. Of course, Den let him. He could crush Sindar with one finger if he so desired. But he'd wanted to leave, anyway.

Not that he'd had anywhere to go, or done anything useful with himself, until Yesmine.

Den hears the bed move and the sheets slide against each other as Yesmine shifts. He sighs. "Go home, Marr' Dana."

"So formal, Denny. Call me Marr'ia. We're friends, after all."

They are not friends. Friends has never been something they are.

"No," Den disagrees. "We aren't."

She pouts. "I miss you."

The woman cannot take a hint. But then, she did keep him chained to her for nearly three centuries. He doesn't know why he expects her to have changed much.

Downstairs, Yesmine climbs out of bed.

Den gives up on getting Marr'ia to leave, and drops her through a portal, sending her home with a surprised gasp on her lips.

He shakes his head and moves to the coffee pot. She actually knows how to make coffee? Den is shocked, until he sniffs it and realizes that it's so weak a dog wouldn't want it.

He sighs, dumping the mess into the sink before starting a new pot. Yesmine has just crested the stairs, walking into the room, when Marr' Dana reappears to Den's left with a very petulant pout on her mouth.

"That was rude, Denny!"

From the corner of his eye, Den sees Yesmine blink at the Goddess. He sighs heavily.

"I'm not a nice person, Marr' Dana," he says, his tone bored. "You know this."

"We have company?" Yesmine asks curiously, her tone a bit sleepy. Marr' Dana blinks, then whirls to look at Yesmine. Her gray eyes travel from the soles of Yesmine's bare feet to the tip of her carrot top head, and her aura goes from silver to slate gray.

"I didn't realize you had a pet, Denny," she says, folding her arms over her chest.

Den sighs. "Yesmine, Marr' Dana. Marr' Dana, Yesmine. And no, she is not my 'pet'."

"Your maid, then?" Marr'ia turns to face Den with a quizzical look. Yesmine's brows raise.

"No," Den says shortly, pouring coffee grounds into the pot.

Marr'ia looks confused, but the color of her aura tells Den she knows perfectly well that Yesmine is his lover--and isn't happy about it. "Your..." she taps her bottom lip quizzically. "Ooh!" She claps her hands. "You had to capture her for a bounty and just can't turn her in yet."

Den sighs.

Yesmine looks at Den as if asking him if Marr'ia is being serious. He just shrugs one shoulder, stirring grounds into water that he quickly brings to a boil. He's going to need coffee.

"I'm sure you have many friends," Yesmine comments, very dryly, to Marr'ia. Den grins faintly.

Marr' Dana smiles sweetly--too sweetly--at Yesmine. "Why yes, child, I do."

"And I'm sure they're missing you," Den suggests, filling a mug with thick, steaming black liquid.

"No, no, they're fine," Marr' Dana says easily.

"I would imagine they got rid of her," Yesmine comments under her breath, so low that only Den can hear her. He shoots her a wry glance as she moves closer, standing beside him at the counter. Marr'ia doesn't look happy about that at all.

"So anyway," Marr'ia waves a hand, reaching for the coffee pot herself. "How have you been, Denny? It's been so very long since I've seen you."

"Fine," Den says dryly. The coffee mug disappears from his hand as Yesmine takes it, drinking before giving it back. He shakes his head at her in amusement, while Marr' Dana tries to hide a glare.

"I'm so glad to hear it," the Goddess says, and Den has to give her points for effort, at least. Even if she's annoying. "And your job? It's going well? You don't need a loan, do you?"

As if he could possibly need more money. But then, he never did inform the former spirits of Zar that he managed to obtain the entirety of the gods-Fae fortune. They think he burned the Saedium down out of spite, the silly creatures.

They always were beings of frivolity, never meant to do anything but keep things running in Zar in the absence of the gods-Fae.

"It's fine," Den says, lifting his mug to take a long drink. It's barely left his lips when Yesmine snatches it again, leaning her head against his shoulder as she takes a drink of her own. He absently pats her head.

Marr'ia's aura darkens further.

"That's good," she says, sidling closer. As if unable to bear that Yesmine is touching him and she isn't, she loops an arm through his and begins to pull him toward the living space near the railings. "Come, come, tell me all your adventures."

As she pulls Den away, Yesmine stumbles. He reaches back and catches her, steadying her with one hand before he's out of reach.

He sighs. He does not want to be rude. He is trying not to be rude. He is turning over a new leaf.

No matter how many times he tells himself those things, he still wants to tell Marr' Dana to get lost. Yesmine's gaze burns through Marr'ia, but the Goddess pretends not to notice. It will be to her detriment.

Den is trying not to be rude. Yesmine has no such qualms. It will be amusing to watch her rip into the Goddess.

He steps out of Marr'ia's grip as casually as possible. "There isn't much to tell," he says, refusing to sit when she does, even though she pats the space beside her on the small couch.

"Now, now, that's not true." She jumps up, tapping Den's nose with one finger. "No lying to me, Denny."

Den takes a deep, calming breath. Marr'ira frowns. "Are you feeling all right, Denny? Poor dear, you must be so tired, living all by yourself all the time. Sit, sit, let me help you." Den doesn't sit.

Undeterred, Marr' Dana tugs once on his arm, then shrugs and takes a few stairsteps into the air so she's floating behind him. Before Den can turn to see what the devil she's doing, she starts rubbing his shoulders.

"Stars, Denny, you're as tense as a rock, honestly, what have you been doing? You're so stressed."

He really isn't, and quickly moves out of Marr' Dana's arms. "I'm not," he says.

"Blind, deaf, and lack of touch. What other senses are you missing?" Yesmine asks sweetly, moving closer herself.

Marr' Dana smiles sweetly back at Yesmine. "Not as many as you, darling," she says, a bit viciously.

"Oh, it must be taste..." Yesmine looks Marr' Dana up and down, ignoring her comment. Den pinches the bridge of his nose. This could quickly devolve into a verbal brawl.

He needs to separate these two.

"Nonsense," Marr' Dana says, smirking. "I've been with Denny after all."

He sighs.

Yesmine looks at Den, shaking her head. "Cake?"

Den snorts, but before he can respond, Marr'ia starts clapping her hands together. "Yes, cake, I love cake. Go make some cake, little pet."

"You might be right about cake after all," Yesmine comments under her breath before she turns a bright smile on Marr' Dana. "I'm not your pet. Shoo."

While Den is busy trying to process the fact that Yesmine is referring to herself as his pet--which she most certainly is not--the situation begins to deteriorate further.

Marr'ia smiles, sickeningly sweet. "Aww, look, it barks. If I give you a treat will you go away?"

"You're being childish," Den says, waving a hand to silence them both. "Stop it."

Marr' Dana pouts at him. "But Denny, she's being mean to me..."

"And you're being mean to her," Den points out, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Why are you here, Marr' Dana?"

"I've told you," she pouts, draping herself across his shoulder. "Call me Marr'ia."

Den picks her up and sets her down on the couch, away from him. "You need to go home, Marr' Dana."

"Not for a while," she says, smiling brightly. "Now if your pet would just get me some cake..."

"Stop insulting her," Den snaps.

"You want cake?" Yesmine asks, and grabs a piece from that morning--since the platter is still sitting in their chair a few feet away--before walking over to Marr' Dana. She shoves it into the Goddess's face, and Den can't help but laugh.

Marr' Dana, however, is not amused. "Little wretch," she snaps. "Honestly, Denny, do something about her!"

"Enough," Den says, waving a hand. "Go home, Marr' Dana."

"But I don't have to yet!" She whines.

"Yes," Den says, his tone grim. "You do. You do not get to come into my house and insult my friend just because you are under the mistaken impression that what we had is not over. Go home."

Marr' Dana pouts, slinking off the couch to move closer to where Den stands. "You're no fun, Denny. You used to be fun."

He frowns sharply at her. She really cannot take a hint.

"Fine... I'll go..." she taps his chest, and it takes everything in Den to keep from slapping her hand away. "But don't forget me, okay?" She dimples, and before Den has even registered what she's doing, she's kissing him.

He instantly pushes her away, stepping back. With a wide grin, Marr' Dana disappears.

But so has Yesmine.