A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

"Silvy…?" Runa began suspiciously, naturally eliciting a host of giggles from the peanut gallery in Erik's dimension.

His wives still tried to keep their husband's dignity alive by not laughing too hard about Runa's feminine nickname for Erik, but Alice had no such restraint. She was rolling across the ground every time she heard it, and Erik did his very best to ignore the bulging vein in his forehead.

"Yes, Mom…?" he asked, swallowing the desire to ask her to stop calling him that. He'd decided to carry the nickname with dignity, even though he'd make absolutely sure Runa would be the only one to ever call him that.

"You've gathered quite the gaggle of women around you, and your behaviour towards this Katya woman is also a little suspect. Exactly what are your intentions towards them?" Runa asked, raising an eyebrow while her inquisitive gaze was staring him down.

Instantly, Erik cursed inwardly. He'd been doing his best to avoid anything that might make her suspicious about this, but she'd still managed to pick up on something.

"W— Why do you ask?" he chuckled defensively, his eyes wandering, refusing to look at her. Beside him, Elora pursed her lips into a smile. She couldn't help but rejoice that Erik had now become the target of his mother's ire.

"Answer the question, Silvy…!" Runa responded with as much force as her weak body could muster.

Withering under his mother's glare, Erik's eyebrows twitched until he finally groaned and sighed. "There… may be one thing I've neglected to mention… I actually have more than one wife by now, Mom."

Runa's eyes began to bulge. For a moment, silence reigned, as Runa's disbelieving stare was slowly breaking Erik down. Then, she sagged bag into her bed and grabbed her forehead, "I can't believe my son has a harem…"

"I do, but—"

"I'm so proud!" Runa exclaimed with a grin as she lifted the hand from her forehead.

Erik's mouth hung open. Just about to defend himself, he was now lost for words when his mother pulled the rug out from under him. To say he'd been dreading this conversation would have been an overstatement, but he definitely hadn't been looking forward to it.

His parent's relationship had always been a faithful and monogamous one, as had all the others in Frostvik. They'd never even mentioned anything about polygamy. His mother's reaction shocked him a little.

"W— What?" he muttered in utter surprise. He'd expected many different reactions from his mother, but pride was not one of them. Reluctant acceptance, indifference, and dissaproval were all expected, but this…

Elora's eyebrows shot up while her lips curled into a approving grin. Inside his dimension, silence fell, before most of them suddenly started to giggle.

"Something wrong?" Runa chuckled, looking particularly pleased as she turned back to face him.

Erik shrugged helplessly, "I— Maybe? I don't know, Mom… You're afraid anyone I let close will betray me, but you're fine with a harem? It seems contradictory. Besides, you and dad, I mean…"
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Runa chuckled, even as she threw a cautious glance at Elora, "Why? I still think you should keep your guard up, but I was always a little disappointed in your meek, single-minded pursuit of Edda, even before she turned out to be a snake."

Erik flinched a little. He knew she was right, and he was disappointed in himself as well, but it still hurt to hear her say it so bluntly.

Taking her eyes of Elora, she smiled sincerely, yet a little sadly, at Erik, "Your father and I were happy together. I loved him, and he didn't want to share me, so I accepted his wishes but… I have nothing against someone having multiple partners, Silvy. I think it's the natural right of the strong!"

Her smile slowly turned into a wide grin, "In fact, I'm proud you stepped out of your shell. You are my son, after all! Any woman you set your eyes on should be thankful for the privilege, and you have my full support in claiming them all!"

Erik's eyes bulged slightly, and he could actually feel his cheeks heating up. He knew his mother was brazen, but he never expected her to have these kinds of thoughts. 'Exactly how much did she hold back due to my meek past…?'

Beside him, Elora suddenly started to giggle, "I like the single-minded support you give your son, mother-in-law." But then her eyes suddenly narrowed, "But let's be clear here, Erik is no less privileged to have me!"

"Hmpf," Runa snorted dismissively. "I have only one son, and according to your story, there's plenty of fairies out there!"

"You—!" Elora wasn't sure how to answer that flagrant favouritism. Runa could say that about nearly anything. Despite her intelligence, the fairy was inherently pragmatic, and found it difficult to argue with nonsensical, bad-faith arguments.

Suddenly, they both panned their eyes towards Erik, and he got the message. He had to take a side. But naturally, there was only one side to take here.

"She's right, Mom," Erik sighed while hugging Elora a little closer. "I'm privileged to have her, particularly because you're forgetting about her ability to mix bloodlines."

Erik had kept nothing from his mother, so she even knew about Elora's special talent. Of course, he did so only with the knowledge that Elora had taken some precautions to make sure his mother's soul couldn't be so easily affected again.

"In fact, I'm privileged with all of my wives," he continued wisely, knowing the others were watching. Elora nodded with satisfaction, a smug look in her eyes. Inside the dimension, his other wives mimicked their leader.

Fortunately, rather than get annoyed at his refusal to side with her, Runa smirked, "Well, at least you know you're always supposed to side with your wife, even if it makes me resent her a little."

Erik chuckled, and leaned over to kiss his smiling wife. "I'm glad you understand, Mom." Separating from Elora, he looked at his mother with a raised eyebrow, "So, has our story increased your trust of her yet?"

Runa glanced at the fairy critically. Elora stared back defiantly. She'd already lost most of her anxiety over meeting her mother-in-law. It was clear Runa had become jaded due to Edda's betrayal and now found it hard to trust anyone, but that was something she could work with.

She'd already determined what Runa was like, and realized that, in order to put herself in her mother-in-law's good graces, she simply had to show a backbone and love her son. Both were things she could do.

And, as expected, Runa looked at her defiance with a hint of appreciation. Edda was always a little too quick to intimidate to her taste, which was something she and Erik shared back then, and which she now considered a suspicious attribute.

"I'll give her the benefit of the doubt," Runa finally nodded with a small smirk. "But don't think I won't keep my eye on her. Or these other wives for that matter. Which reminds me, you haven't specified anyone. Exactly which of these women you've talked about did you marry? Don't tell me it's all of them? And when did you even hold the ceremonies?"