Ty took a deep breath as he trudged back to the valley, thankfully the trip was shorter coming back since he was more familiar with the area. He'd really bungled this whole thing up, and now everyone was unhappy. Stupid, hormonal kid throwing around power like this? Of course it was going to bite him in the ass. Maybe it was his new adult-brain, but he was putting a lot more thought into this situation, thinking a lot more about the actual consequences of his and his love's actions. All the dumb thrill of charging about in his new powerful deer-bod had faded, and he felt an all-too familiar pit in his gut, like when his dad would come home particularly drunk.
"Camille?" He called out. "Honey?"
"Hmf." Replied the sullen deer woman, not looking in his direction. Ty let out a sigh of relief that, at least, she hadn't hurt herself any further. Seeing her like this drilled a hole in his heart.
"Hey." Ty said, approaching cautiously. "We should talk."
"What's there to talk about?" She spat. "I ruined everything."
"No, no, Camille..." Ty approached closer and placed his arms around her. She didn't try to avoid him, but she didn't do anything to reciprocate either. "This is all my fault. I'm the screw up."
She finally turned to look him in the eyes. "You?" She, ruefully. "You made me so beautiful, so happy! You opened my eyes to, to everything! And when the time came for me to share that feeling with someone else, I -TAINTED- it! I wanted so badly to feel that same ecstasy when you changed me I used those crows like playthings."
"Camille." Choked Ty. "I shouldn't have thrust that power on you so suddenly. I was so caught up in... in the rush of everything I just kept ramping it up more and more. I'm not some perfect and wise demigod Camille, I'm a dumb kid who got the keys to the universe and was thinking with his dick!"
"So undo it." She said, flatly. "Take away my power, leave me as some dumb animal so you can start again, do this right."
"NO!" Said Ty, more forcefully than he meant, his deep powerful voice reverberating through the woods. "I don't know why I have these powers, or what I'm supposed to do with them, if there even IS something I'm supposed to do, but I know in my heart I was meant to find you. I didn't make you fall in love with me! I didn't design you as some perfect lover. You just... became this wonderful, lovely creature who treated me with more kindness I've ever felt in my life! I love you so much, and there's no one I would ever want to spend the rest of my life with! You are not a mistake!"
Camille looked at him with her huge, beautiful eyes, tears streaming down her furry cheeks. "Ty..." She nestled closer to him. "What do we do now Ty?"
Ty looked deep into her lovely green eyes, said "First..." and kissed her, deeply. He focused his power through her body, mending every bit of damage she had caused herself. She gasped as she felt cold, soothing waves move through her body, her hooves mending, her fur regaining its luster.
Ty pulled back and took a deep breath and tried to maintain composure. "Second, we need to admit we don't know what we're doing." He pulled away and stood back up to full hight, working the stress out of his neck. "We're not infallible, we're not gods. We need to understand we can screw up."
"I think we've established that point pretty well." She said, a bit snidely, but just a hint of her sense of humor peeking out from the abyss.
"Well, yeah." He said, kicking at a bit of dead shrubbery. "But that doesn't mean we can't still do wonderful things, or we should give up on sharing our gifts or making something out of this forest. We just need to keep ourselves a little more in check, take it a little more slowly. Baby steps."
"How so?" Asked Camille.
"Well, some important ground rules. What happened between us was a special, wonderful thing, but it was something we built up together. We had a chance to build a feeling of trust, of love between each other. We shouldn't try and force it on other creatures so... roughly."
His beloved nodded sadly.
"From now on, we let those we change dictate the pace of things. We can wake up their minds, maybe give them a small taste to help understand what we're offering, but we never rush them through the process without their consent."
"Thats fair." Said Camille. Thankfully the focus on practical thinking was helping keep her from sinking back into depression. "We can still have fun though, right?"
Ty smiled coyly at her. "I'm certain we'll make plenty of friends who are down to get wild. But we need to respect their boundaries. Every animal is different." He turned to look at the ravaged garden, and sent a pulse of power to revivify the plant life. Slowly, green crept back into the spoiled foliage. He smiled. It was getting easier to do this.
"We also need to think more about the future of the forest."
Camille looked wistfully at her garden coming back to life. "What do you mean?"
"Well, the crow family raised a good point. We need to make sure we won't be detected by the outside world, at least without our say-so."
Camille blinked in realization. "Oh goodness, I never even thought of that!"
Ty winced. "Yeah. Same here. I think I've got a solution though. I could use your help a little though..." He said, holding out his hand for her to take.
"Oh?" She said, feeling unsure, but not desiring to disappoint Ty any more. She took his hand nervously.
"Just focus on what I'm about to say, let your power flow together with mine." His voice was cool, confident, commanding. Even after her sheer misery earlier, Camille felt a twinge of warmth in her nethers.
Ty took a breath, focusing his will. "This forest will become magically protected. No human entering this woods will encounter any of its changed inhabitants, or notice anything made by our power, unless we desire it. Any unwelcome humans who enter will find themselves back where they started, or on the other side. Any plans that would lead to development or deforestation shall alter to avoid these woods. No one will be aware of this guise, unless we allow it."
Camille intoned along with her love, feeling the swelling power build within her core, tensing like an enormously powerful muscle about to spring.
Ty continued. "If a human finds themselves with a decent heart, and a desire to escape the cruelties of the outside world, we will be aware of their presence, so we may choose to help them if we desire."
Camille raised her eyebrows at this latest addition. Ty smiled softly at her. "I wasn't the only lonely kid out there."
She hugged him tightly. "I knew you were good Ty."
"I'm just trying to make things better." He said, shrugging. The magic within them pulsed, and they could even see a shimmer like the aurora-borealis appear around the edges of the forest. "There's our ward. This is now officially an enchanted forest."
"It's beautiful." Whispered Camille.
"Yeah... I didn't even intend for that. Still, now we can make some real changes without worry."
"I thought you said we were gonna take baby steps." She said, grinning at him.
"Of course, but now we can experiment with stuff like..."
Ty shut his eyes and focused, and suddenly, a couple hundred feet away, a stump in the ground began to grow, becoming taller and wider, and wider still. It grew to such a size that the tree it used to be likely would tower over everything. A moment later, windows formed on its side, and a large door carved itself out of the side. The bark on the door peeled away and faded into embers as the wood underneath seemed to writhe, as designs resembling vines covered in blooms scrawled into existence in front of it.
"Oh my gosh!" Said Camille, excited. "A house?"
"As comfortable the outdoors are, I'd like to sleep with a roof over my head. And a bed underneath us."
"Oh~" She cooed. "Will you be able to sleep with a doe like me in your bed?"
He grinned and squeezed her butt, making her squeak in delight. "As lovely as that sounds, honey, It's been a long day. I am, legit, exhausted."
"You're right." She sighed. "I am interested to see how humans sleep."
"Speaking of human." Said Ty. "This body is wonderful, but..." He gestured at himself. "It's kind of an overload."
"Aw..." Said Camille, disappointed. "But you're so handsome as a buck.
"I'm not saying I want to ditch it completely, but I thought of something while I was wandering earlier." He focused, and there was a sudden gust of wind and leaves surrounding him. When it passed, there stood a very different Ty. He appeared as though his original human form had developed into a young man, with a little extra in the musculature department. But he wasn't entirely human. He kept a pair of antlers on his head, a little dulled down, since he legitimately worried about poking someone with those things. His nose and its ridge were still deer-like, and he added some freckles. He kept some patches of fur on his shoulders and arms. He was like some handsome and mysterious fae. He was clad in a draped toga, not dissimilar to Chamille's.
"Thought I'd try having forms set up to switch between. Just feeling things out, trying to figure out what feels 'me,' you know?" He said, looking over his body, feeling it out."
"Well, I admit you are a cute human."
"Thanks babe. And don't worry, I'm still big where it counts."
Camille chuckled and moved closer, once again towering over her humanoid lover, ruffling his hair. "Hmm... and you being so small again is just an aesthetic choice?" She cooed, looking over him hungrily.
"M-maybe." He stammered.
"So are you going to show us our humble home?" She said, expectantly.
He nodded. "I definitely have bigger plans, but for now I just want somewhere simple to lay my head. Let's get some rest, and we can talk about how to make it up to the crows in the morning."
"Ah, yes..." She said, remembering her shame.
"It's all going to work out baby." He said, placing an arm around her mid-section. "Trust me."