The festive mood of the party we were having clashed horribly with the anxiety I was feeling while we got ready to do the ritual to regain my memories. Everyone from my inner circle, except for Silva, was here, as well as some of the closer succubi to my family. I was forced to walk around and mingle while Nelly prepared the ritual upstairs near my bed where it would happen. My stomach twisted itself into knots while I wandered around and tried to keep myself occupied.

In the corner, I could see Meena and Twill talking with Tenna and her new apprentice, Gwen, the arctic fox girl that I had rescued from the old capital. Next to her was Quinn. He was her boyfriend of a few months now, another guy I had found in the raid on the slaver's guild. Kino was here too, Tenna's other apprentice. I haven't come to visit the smithy in a while, so I decided to go talk with them.

Gwen lit up when she saw me and pulled me into a hug. "Hey there, Lilith! It's been ages since I've seen you! How are you doing?"

"A little nervous, I admit," I replied to the overeager foxgirl.

I felt her cock stir against my leg through the hug, and she quickly pulled back in embarrassment. "Sorry! She's been on a hair trigger lately. Quinn keeps me satisfied, but I've just been so horny. I should tell you about this thing he does with his tongue—"

"Gwen! Please, don't gossip about our sex life," Quinn said with a flushed face.

Gwen tilted her head curiously. "I thought you said it was alright if I talked about it with my sisters? Lilith is a succubus too, I thought it would be okay..."

Quinn flushed and looked at me. "Lilith saved my life down there with you, so it feels a bit different with her... At least don't talk about it in front of me."

"This little guy doesn't seem to mind it," Gwen said while groping him through his pants.

"Oh fuck..." Quinn whimpered.

Next to us, Morrigan cleared her throat. Her face was a little red from the conversation she was cutting into, but she had a serious look on her face. "Remember the rules, no sex at the party today. We're trying to have a relaxed time before Lilith faces her past. If anyone starts having sex, the entire party will turn into an orgy again. If you have to take care of things, you can leave and return when you're done."

Gwen took her hands off of Quinn and sighed. "I'm sorry, Morrigan. We'll try and behave."

Quinn huffed. "You say we like I did anything."

Gwen pulled Quinn into a hug from behind and nipped at his neck with her teeth, eliciting a gasp out of the guy. "You're walking around here all sexy-like. How am I supposed to keep my hands off of you?"

"Maybe we should leave and come back," Quinn said with a flushed face.

"That would probably be for the best..." Morrigan said.

"A quickie then. Come on, the smithy isn't too far away," Gwen said, pulling Quinn along.

Quinn waved at us as he left, but didn't argue as the two quickly exited our living room together.

"Those two sure are spirited," I said to Morrigan.

She nodded. "Gwen hasn't had as many partners as most of the succubi because her attention is so focused on Quinn. If we still had the system, I'm sure her sexual appetite trait would be much lower level than most of the other succubi. In a way, it's good we can see what it's like for a succubus to stay mostly monogamous."

"It doesn't seem very comfortable based on how horny she was. I'm not going to butt into their business, but it might help Gwen if she joined a few of the orgies at the brothel," I said.

Morrigan chuckled. "Poor Quinn is already getting drained dry by Gwen. I doubt anyone would be able to take their hands off of him if he joined one of the orgies. I'm sure they would even let Quinn join some of the family-only ones since he's so close with Gwen. He hasn't decided to become a succubus yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up choosing to join the family in a year or two."

"If not, that's fine too. He could marry into the family instead if he liked," I said with a laugh.

"Let's go talk with someone else for a while," Morrigan said as she pulled me along.

My eyes gazed at the stairs that led up to the bedroom and my stomach twisted into knots again. Then Morrigan stopped so suddenly I almost bumped into her.

When I looked at her, she had a worried expression on her face. "Lilith, are you sure you're okay? We've been trying to help you relax before you do this, but you've only been getting more tense since we started."

I frowned and looked at the stairs again. "I'm just worried... I want to do this, but it's hard not to feel anxious about it. I just keep having thoughts about it like, 'what if she was right and I'm better off without the memories,' and things like that."

Morrigan pulled me into a hug. "I know. But you're strong. I believe you can handle this. You've been able to handle everything else that we've been up against so far. Don't let her words get to you."

I kissed Morrigan's neck and squeezed her back. "Thanks, Mori. Thanks for believing in me."

"Now, let's go talk with Sibyl. I don't think you've had the chance to chat with her in a while, right?" Morrigan dragged me off towards Sibyl and Raya, who were talking with each other on our couch.

The two of them perked up when I came over, and Sibyl waved at me with a huge grin. "Lilith, you're finally doing it, ey? I'm happy you've come to a decision about it."

I sat on the couch next to her. "It was a hard decision to come to, I just hope I'm not making a mistake."

Raya reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure you'll be fine. I'll stick around to talk with you afterward if you need the help. I know this is hard, but I think you're making the right choice."

Sibyl nodded. "You can handle it, Lilith."

With a mischievous grin, Raya picked up Sibyl and stuck her on my lap facing me. "Why don't you pet my kitty to feel better?"

The short black furred catgirl blushed at the treatment, but didn't move to get away. The idea was amusing to me, so I indulged her and dragged my hand across Sibyl's smooth black fur. Her almost pouting look didn't change, but she suddenly started to purr. A deep resonating vibration rumbled through her body as I continued to stroke along her back.

"She gets embarrassed when I do this for her, but she loves it so much she never complains about it," Raya stage whispers to me.

Rather than argue, Sibyl leaned forward and buried her face in my breasts and continued to purr as I kept stroking her back. The rumble was calming and grounding. Looking down at the short catgirl on my lap reminded me of how much she had changed from when I first met her. She used to be a tall intimidating wolf woman, and Raya's unofficial auntie. Now she was this painfully cute girl who liked to be doted on and teased by her much younger lover. The two of them had an interesting dynamic, but their love for each other was undeniable and obvious to anyone who watched them interact for any measure of time.

Eventually, Raya got jealous and pulled Sibyl over into her lap. Sibyl had a bit of a smug face when she looked up at Raya, but the kitsune didn't comment on it. She just began to stroke Sibyl instead. The catgirl just closed her eyes and leaned into Raya at the touch, and any semblance of conversation we had kind of died once the two began to focus on each other.

Morrigan smiled and decided to drag me away from them as they cuddled on the couch. If nothing else, the moment I had with Sibyl calmed me down a lot. "I wonder if I had cats in my previous life..." I said as we wandered toward the kitchen.

"You did seem to calm down a lot while Sibyl was purring against you." Morrigan hugged one of my arms and leaned on me. "That was pretty cute. I wish I could purr the way that she can."

I looked over to her and smiled. "You could probably learn to do it with shapeshifting," I reminded her.

Morrigan's eyebrows rose and she laughed. "I guess I could! I'm rather happy with my new body, so I never really thought about changing anything, but something like that might be fun every once in a while."

"Where's Torien?" I asked.

Morrigan pointed to the kitchen. "She's hanging out with Lori right now over there. Should we go see what they're up to?"

"Sure."

When we entered the kitchen, the atmosphere seemed a lot more awkward than I was expecting. The two of them both looked over to us as we stepped through the door. Lori's had that look on her face she sometimes got when she was teasing her nieces, and Torien was flushing so hard she looked like she was going to burn up.

"Is this a bad time?" I asked.

Torien coughed. "Nope! Everything's fine. We weren't talking about anything. Right, Lori?"

Lori's grin widened. "Nothing of consequence, don't worry about it."

"I don't think I want to ask what this is about," I said flatly.

Torien sighed in relief while Lori couldn't stop herself from giggling. Whatever they were talking about had Torien rather flustered.

The two of us sat down across from them at the table. Unlike a lot of the party guests, Lori was someone who spent time with us often since her schedule was the same as Torien's. I began to pick at the snacks that had been made for the party while the three 'triplets' began to talk. As fun as it was to play with the idea, the twins looked up to Lori so much that I didn't think that would turn into anything more than something to joke about with others. Torien especially had gotten really close with her since she had become her de facto apprentice in scouting and stealth combat. The two worked together a lot while culling the demons that got too close to Traehall.

I just listened to their conversation about work when Cecilia and Fellia came through the door. Fellia smiled and waved at me when she entered, and I smiled and waved back. "Would you like to sit and chat with us? We're not talking about anything private."

"I would love to! It's been a while since we last talked," Fellia said as she sat down next to me. Cecilia chuckled and sat across from her.

"Are you two prepared for the trip soon?" I asked.

Cecilia nodded. "I have everything prepared and packed. We'll be able to leave as soon as you're ready."

"I'm excited to spend some time with you again. It's been a while. I'm sorry for how forward I came off before. I just had a lot of trouble expressing myself after everything I had been through," Fellia said, apologizing.

I placed my hand on hers. "I'm sorry I wasn't more understanding. I was a little overwhelmed at the time. Hopefully we can have a fresh start when we leave for Goldenhearth soon."

"Is the plan still to leave tomorrow?" Cecilia asked.

I shrugged. "I won't know how I'm feeling until after it's done."

There was a small knock on the door frame. "Speaking of, Nelly is ready for you, Lilith," Kal'daeryn said.

I turned around and nodded. "Okay, I'm coming." I stood up and everyone followed. Morrigan and Torien grabbed both of my hands as we went upstairs. Everyone was following, curious to see what would happen during the ritual that would help me regain my memories.

When I entered my bedroom, Nelly was standing there in her priest robes of Velenthel. This was a more formal outfit than the traveling priest robes she normally wore. She was standing in the middle of an intricate ritual circle given to her by her goddess, drawn on the floor in magic chalk. The circle was made up of sigils and runes I didn't recognize, as if the entire thing was written in a different language than I was used to reading. That was more or less the truth. This ritual circle could only be activated by Velenthel's priests, and each god and goddess had their own unique ritual circles like this.

"Lilith, please stand in front of me," Nelly said.

I walked up to her and stood awkwardly in front of her. The anxiety in my gut had come back with a vengeance, and I felt more stressed out than I remember being in a long time, if ever. Something about all of this was getting to me.

Nelly put both of her hands on my shoulders. "Once I activate this ritual, there is no going back. You'll become drowsy, and Kal'daeryn will help you onto the bed to rest. You'll dream for a while, and when you return, the memories of your past life will slowly be restored over the next few days. This is your last chance to change your mind. Is this the path you choose to walk?"

I took a deep breath and gathered all of my courage. "Yes. I've already made the decision. Let's do it."

Nelly nodded. "Good. Raya, please."

Raya stepped forward and with a flick of her wrist, the eight candles surrounding the ritual circle were lit. Nelly nodded to her in thanks. Without letting go of my shoulders, she spoke a quiet prayer to Velenthel, and the ritual circle she was standing in began to light up. From the center spreading outwards, the circle glowed in the signature green light of her patron goddess. I could only stare transfixed as I watched the most intricate ritual magic I've ever seen be activated. Once the ritual circle finally filled to the edges, it began to shine brighter and a wave of lethargy came over my body. I almost stumbled, but Nelly continued to support me with her gentle hands.

Kal'daeryn stepped behind me and helped me onto the bed. I felt drowsy and exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open long enough for her to shift me into a comfortable position. The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was the faces of all of my closest friends, watching over me and ready to help as soon as I woke up.

My eyes shut, my muscles relaxed, and I began to dream.