Robin came trotting up to Lyra, a rock in his hand and a squalling little boy crying over his shoulder. "I caught him before he could do anything, mistress" panted the submissive servant.
Lyra seized the rock and replaced it in her sealed bag. "Bad rock" she muttered. "Bad rock. And as for you," she turned to the crying boy. "I hope you have a sweet singing voice." She raised her left fist, stuck out her index and middle fingers, moved them apart and then together again. "Snip, snip." she grinned.
As a thirteen-year old boy, Lyra had happily sacrificed her manhood to the goddess, receiving in return her female body. She had never regretted this decision--in fact, over the last couple of decades, she had rarely even thought about it. To her, testicles were rather ugly ornaments that made one vulnerable to extremely painful kicks in the crotch that were among the few vivid memories of the time before her sacrifice.
That was not Luka's attitude. Luka revered testicles the way that only someone who had passed the first seventeen years of their life without them could. The thought of a boy, even one he rather intensely disliked, being cut horrified him in a way that transformation didn't.
"You're going to what!?" he spoke heatedly to Lyra.
"You know" said Lyra "In addition to preserving his voice, the operation might calm the little bastard down. How many times has he tried to grab the damned rock?"
"I don't care. You can't just mutilate him!"
"Why not?" Lyra asked, puzzled.
"Because I won't let you" said Luka, his hand traveling to his sword.
Lyra thought. The barbarian was a formidable warrior, although his lack of battlefield experience would make him vulnerable. But Mika had noticed the angry note in his lover's voice, and Lyra, even with all of her acolytes, didn't want to take on a warrior and a wizard over something that was really not that important. "OK" she said "He's your responsibility. Keep him in order and we won't have a problem."
+++++++++++++++++
"She's an animagus" said Mika, standing over the tree lizard, still a bit shocked from her impact. "She adopted this form to protect herself from the poison. She'll change back when she's ready."
"Can you please do something about my dad?" Shari begged.
"OOK" shouted the Duke, and leaped for the tree.