“Oh, cool. Elven poetry, huh?" He looked over to Janette then and grinned. "There was a young elf from Nantucket..."

The girl's momentary discomfort was blown away in a sudden Laugh at his joke, and he gave her a playful wink before Algra walked into the tent behind him. Much to Gregory's amusement, the orc did something quite similar to what he'd done after she saw Valise and Janette settled only a couple of feet from each other in apparent serenity. She too seemed to have thought she'd wandered into the Twilight Zone.

“Hey, Algra," said Gregory. "We have a new tent-guest for a while. That cool?"

Algra looked between the three of them for a moment, then she simply shrugged and walked over to kiss him in the customary manner she'd developed when she wanted him to fuck her senseless. He pulled away after a few moments to catch his breath and looked back toward Valise and Janette apologetically.

“Er... I guess we'll be outside then." He managed to get the words out just before Algra reclaimed his mouth and they stumbled out of the tent into the night together.

As it was, Janette didn't need to worry in the slightest about Gregory getting a little too horny for his own good in their tent with their new guest. The announcement of the Grand Proving filtered through to her via Algra, and she didn't see much of Gregory at all for the next few days. When he did return to the camp from the training grounds it was to collapse into bed with a few fleeting kisses to the lips of his companions. She worried that he was getting too exhausted to fight, but Algra insisted that he was definitely in the right headspace for the final proving.

In her short time on Arolius, Janette had learned how to compartmentalise her fears for her boyfriend's wellbeing and instead throw herself into her own work. In the mornings, she normally trained with Lydia, Fiona and sometimes even Talina in the ways of a courtesan.

Much of her afternoons and evenings were spent tending to Valise, and learning more about the elves from the pale woman's rather beautifully illustrated book. She'd initially started up the task to make sure Valise's mind was occupied away from her own experiments with the scrying pool liquid. Then, the first time she'd picked up that book, she'd found it utterly fascinating. Especially when she learned the extent of what the elves had found possible with their goddess, and more importantly, their magic.

At night, she would often receive an update from Emmet and Talina on the situation with elder Wren. The elder had been relatively quiet since his meeting with his master. The explosion in the jungle that Valise and Talina had caused seemed to have drawn the attention of the shaman council toward his secret. As such, he was being on his very best behaviour for the time being. Talina also often reported on the activities of Rolk, who had been excessively horrible to almost everyone he'd come across since hearing the news of the Grand Proving. Other orcs had started making a point to avoid him and his pack whenever they stormed their way down the avenue. Apparently, he wasn't at all pleased with the fact that his pack had been paired in a challenge against The Runts, whom he considered to be lower forms of life.

Though her days were constantly eventful, Greg's excessively busy schedule had left her feeling a little lonely. It seemed that his impressively large cock had left something of an itch inside her that only the beast itself seemed to be able to scratch. Since he wasn't able to quite tend to that itch as much as either of them would have liked, she found herself growing irritable. Algra certainly helped quieten her libido from time to time, but Algra also trained with Gregory and The Runts. It meant that she saw more of him than Janette did, and knowing the pair of them they probably spent every break they took from practicing going at it Like rabbits.

This didn't help Janette's irritation one bit, and one evening it almost spilled out entirely onto an unsuspecting Emmet. It had started that morning when she discovered her usual tutoring session with Fiona and Lydia had been cancelled. Asking why this was, the only answer she could find was that Gregory had ordered it. She considered marching down to the training glade and asking him just what in the hell he thought he was playing at, but decided instead to give him the benefit of the doubt. Then, Valise also refused to offer her the daily Lesson she'd been accustomed to, again on Gregory's orders.

That actually sent her off toward the training glade, feeling as if hot steam would erupt from her ears at any moment. The young man might have found himself on the receiving end of a severe telling off, except he wasn't there. Guessing he was at the proving grounds, she managed to restrain herself from going there and risking embarrassing him in front of the other orcs. Instead she stewed in silence, waiting for him to get home at which point she was probably going to throw something at his head.

She was sitting at the desk in their tent, alone, wondering whether she should throw a pillow or a chair at him, when Emmet arrived alone with an apologetic look on his face.

That was the final straw.

“Janette, I am sorry to-" he began.

“Oh come on! You've got to be shitting me here!? Let me guess, our meeting tonight is cancelled, but it's alright because fucking Greg said it was fine?" She hopped onto her feet and stormed toward the old man with an anger that he probably didn't quite deserve.

Emmet paled slightly at the rage of the fiery girl with her icy gaze shooting daggers at him. Clearing his throat to buy himself some time, he kept his tone distinctly diplomatic and hoped very much that she wouldn't punch him in the nose.

“The master has asked-"

"Oh right, the master asked. You know what? I think the fucking master is getting a bit too big for his leather Speedo. Where the fuck is the master right now? I'm thinking I might shove some damn humility down his throat, along with a spiked mace."

Emmet gulped audibly.

“Ahem. Gregory very kindly and humbly asked for your presence in the glade. May I escort you there?"

"Oh, he's going to get my presence alright," Janette growled before neatly slipping past Emmet and bolting toward the training glade in a cold fury.

Emmet let out a long breath he didn't realise he'd been holding in. "Ah, to be young and in love." With that, he rolled his eyes and went to bed.

Janette rudely shoved her way through the jungle, breaking any branch or shoot that so much as dared to cross paths with her. Through the foliage ahead, she saw the glow of firelight and a Greg-shaped shadow passing through it.

"Gregory Hopkins! Just what in the fuck do you think you're...?"