Damon and Talia came to the living room, and they found Yasmin there with Meg.
"Is the room to your liking?", Meg asked. "If you need anything, let us know."
"It's wonderful.", Talia responded.
"Don't treat her like a guest.", Yasmin reminded Meg. "This is her house."
"I don't treat her like a guest.", Meg snapped back. "I treat her like Alpha. Since Talia was not here for a while, I don't want her to feel awkward."
Talia smiled at this banter between Yasmin and Meg. It showed that they are getting along well.
"Where is Axel?", Talia asked. She wanted to talk about giving him the Alpha position.
"He is dealing with some urgent matters. Axel will join us soon.", Yasmin responded and gestured toward several plates on the low table that had snacks on them. "Please, help yourself. I hope you can feel at home and I don't need to urge you to eat. I can show you where the kitchen is and other amenities."
Talia smiled at Yasmin who was acting as a wonderful Luna. "We can do the tour later when others join us."
Damon and Talia sat on the sofa, and Damon was quick to start picking snacks and feeding Talia.
Talia wondered when would be a good time to give baby-related presents to Yasmin, and then James and Cornelia entered.
Yasmin was also busy putting snacks on her plate.
"Do you have any food restrictions because of pregnancy?", Cornelia asked Yasmin, and then she looked at James who had a palm-sized plate in his hand, filling it with snacks from the table, and Cornelia knew that was for her. Silly werewolf.
Yasmin rubbed her perfectly flat belly. "They are doing fine. I can eat whatever I want."
Talia paused. While getting pregnancy-related information from Doctor Travis, he told her a few things. Pregnancy for werewolves lasts five months, even when the female is human. Considering that Talia discovered Yasmin's pregnancy three days ago in the human realm, shouldn't that be three months for Yasmin? Yasmin should be more than halfway along, so… why didn't she have a big belly? Or was it different for witches?
"Did you see a doctor?", Talia asked Yasmin.
"Healers are checking on me every few days.", Yasmin responded with a smile, and she noticed Talia's puzzled expression. "Is something the matter?"
Talia cursed internally for allowing her confusion to show. Doctor Travis said that pregnant women are emotional and they should avoid stress. Wouldn't hinting that something was wrong, be stressful for Yasmin? But Yasmin was already looking at her, so she couldn't brush it off.
"I was just wondering, how far along you are."
Yasmin was not sure how to respond to this. She caressed her belly. "The healers said that everything is fine with my babies, and they are growing well."
Talia facepalmed. How did she forget that they don't have ultrasound machines here? In order to avoid more confusion, Talia decided to explain, "The time here passes thirty times faster than in the human realm. Considering that three days passed for us, that would be at least three months into your pregnancy. You are carrying twins so your belly should show. That's all."
Yasmin never gave much thought related to the time difference between realms, but... "Are you saying that my babies are growing slower than they should?"
Cornelia spoke, "Maybe the time passes thirty times the speed, but the energies here are not matching it."
"What does that mean?", James asked. Did that mean he had less time with Cornelia than he thought?
"Energies make everything move. They affect the flow of a river, the strength of the wind, the speed at which we age, as well as our perception of time.", Cornelia started explaining. "The flow of energies here is almost the same as in my realm, but it's not thirty times faster than in the realm of humans."
Everyone was processing this in silence, and James summarized, "You are saying that even though the day and night here pass thirty times faster compared to the human's realm, creatures are not aging at the same rate."
"Correct.", Cornelia confirmed. "Time is relative. Think of it as a movement. The faster we move, the slower we age. In theory, if we could move at the speed of light, we would stop aging." Cornelia smirked, obviously proud of herself. "I read that on the internet."
She spent hours cooped up in the room with a tablet in her hand, researching history, humans, and anything else she found there.
Several books in the library of the Silver Flame Coven describe humans as creatures without any specific abilities. However, from the information she found online, Cornelia realized that humans are perceptive, curious, and ingenious.
Humans can't feel the energies, how witches can, but they see the things happening around them and they developed technology that helps them accomplish things they couldn't with their bodies. In a way, Cornelia was fascinated by humans, and she hoped for a chance to find out more about them.
"Wait, wait", Talia said. "You are saying that even though three months passed, Yasmin is not three months pregnant?" It didn't make sense.
"If she is in the human realm, it would be three months into her pregnancy.", Cornelia said. "But Yasmin spent that time here, where energies flow differently, and you can't apply your measure of time to this realm."
"You seem disappointed.", Damon said to Talia.
Was she disappointed? "I'm just trying to wrap my head around this information."
"Maybe the creator didn't intend for us to pass through portals and spend time in different realms.", Yasmin said.
"Or maybe he did.", Cornelia chimed in. "Every realm has its advantages."
Damon frowned at this. "This validates that we need to be cautious when revealing to the world existence of other realms. For us, the difference in time and aging doesn't mean much, but short-lived humans would definitely not stay in their realm if they can come here and extend their lifespans. With their technology and numbers, it would be a matter of time until they find the entrance to this place." He shook his head. "Imagine the fortune one would make if they can monopolize access to the portal and control who gets in or out."
Talia puffed her cheeks in frustration. Her wish was to get everyone together, but with every next step, she found more reasons to back down.
"I get it.", Talia said grumpily. "People are greedy and vicious, and they won't hold back from harming others in their quest for power. But…" Her expression stiffened. "Is that the reason for everyone else to suffer? Hundreds of members from the Midnight Guardians pack are withering here without their mates because they fear what awaits them on the other side of the portal. Don't tell me that everyone is evil. I'm confident that most of our pack members are not power-hungry villains. They want to find their mates, and live with their families, without looking over their shoulder if they will be hunted. That's not too much to ask. How can we make it happen?"
Talia noticed that Axel was standing at the door with a small smile of approval of Talia's words.
"That's easy.", James said, getting everyone's attention. "We live in a world where power rules. Do you want to change things? Get to the top. Be the most powerful one and suppress everyone who opposes you."
