Monster Girl World Ch. 10

"Don't cry, Hula. It will be all right."

Hula saw Keemeone's reflection in the water and turned her face away. "Don't look at me!"

"Do not turn your face away, Great Eagle. You have made it this far alone, even though others told you to abandon your quest." Keemeone knelt down next to Hula and turned her head to look at the griffon's scarred face. "This is not your fault. This is the sign of your strength and courage. The price you paid to protect your family. There's nothing to be ashamed of."

"But what do I have to offer your brother? I am neither beautiful, nor am I strong, and I am so brittle that a slime could knock me over." Hula shook her head and sobbed harder. "What else do I have that I haven't lost already?"

"Your pain." Keemeone said. "Ti'am has spent years invisible to all save me, his sister. No one has seen the strong man he has grown into, how handsome he has become, and all those girls only come to him because he is an unbeatable challenge to overcome. He has waited for the right person to see who he truly is...and what better woman than someone who knows his pain better than anyone else?"

She helped Hula to her feet and escorted her back to the forest. "Come with me. I know a place where you can ease your aches and pains. You can meet my brother later."

XXXXXX

Ti'am, the Invisible One, walked through the forest with his bow and quiver on hand looking for some game to hunt. Usually he would be out hunting with the centaurs and their husbands, but his sister wanted him to take it easy after running into that ursa mother two days ago. Ursas were very protective of their daughters, and he got into a very bloody brawl with the monster before he managed to calm her down. His injuries kept him out of the annual buffalo hunts and regulated him to ordinary deer hunting.

When his ribs began aching again, Ti'am went to find the healing pool Keemeone had shown him to soothe his aching wound. It was a pool blessed by an undine who once lived as a protector of the land before leaving to be with her lover. The pool still had powerful healing properties and Ti'am felt rejuvenated every time he bathed in its waters. What's better was that he was the only one allowed to use it...

"Is that singing?" He muttered.

Ti'am followed the melodious humming deeper into the forest, to a place where few animals tread. It was a secret grotto by an ancient tree where few men and monsters had visited. Under the long, twisting branches of the ancient tree was the healing pool that Ti'am privately used. For a moment, he thought it was his sister, but when he reached the pool, he found Keemeone sitting by the pool, not bathing in its waters, but helping someone else do it.

His footsteps were quiet, but in the quiet grotto, they were still loud. Keemeone looked up and smiled at him, but the woman whom she was bathing spun around in shock, revealing her nude body to him.

She was beautiful. A griffon with shiny and smooth skin, with long raven black hair that reached her waist. Her body was strong and powerful, with toned arms that were covered in soft feathers, leading to razor sharp talons, and a powerful leonine lower body with silky smooth fur. On her back were large wings that were folded up against her back, equally soft looking, but strong enough to hold her body aloft in the sky. His eyes roamed her firm stomach and ample breasts, the water making her flawless skin shine, but as his eyes reached her face, he was startled by the bright emerald green eyes of the woman. Eyes that stared at him.

Stared at him, at his face, not at the trees behind him, or the ground, but at him!

"Ti'am." The griffon whispered, her eyes not leaving his.

"Greetings, my brother." Keemeone smiled. "You are discovered at last!"

Ti'am walked over to the pool and stepped into it, reaching over to take Hula's claws in his hands. "For years I have waited to find a woman of pure heart and brave spirit. Only such a one could see me. And now that I have found you, you shall be my bride."

Hula, the griffon who's scars and burns were washed away as she was reborn anew, shed more tears as she pulled the taller man down to kiss him. Finally, she found her happiness again.

XXXXXX

And so, Hula and Ti'am were married. Hula, the Sparkstriker, was given a new name: the Lovely One. Like her husband, she too had kept herself hidden, waiting for the right person to find her, and now that she had that person's love, she was hidden no more.