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Loose Threads
Thirty Six
Still laughing, Seraphina hit the water with a huge splash and disappeared into the spring’s depths. She popped up again, still laughing. “Come get me, Kasumi!” A brightly colored ball plopped into the water next to her head, just missing her and making her jerk sideways to glare at the offender. “Help me!”
Kasumi looked over just in time to see Myrna bend down and carefully pick up another ball to lob overhanded at her sister. She shook her head and waded for shore. “You will have to fend for yourself, Seraphina.” She sat down on a towel near Vanessa. “How old are your twins?”
“They’re almost three,” Vanessa said. “And, yes, they are as precocious as any other pokegirls. I suspect Myrna could hit Seraphina if she really wanted to.”
Saoirse looked up. She’d been given a dinosaur shaped cookie and had been nibbling it into a perfect circle just like she usually did. “Yes, Mother, she could.” She held out the cookie to examine and rotated it in her hands to smooth it further with her teeth. “Father asked us to stay children for as long as we could. He said it would help us and he is right.”
Kasumi chuckled. “I remember when Kozakura was her age. I thought it a wonderful accomplishment when she stopped throwing tantrums.”
“We saw no reason to do that to Mother and Father,” Saoirse said as she examined her cookie again. “We saved our tantrums, as you call them, for each other, usually when we’re with Father.”
Vanessa eyed her daughter curiously. “I didn’t know that.”
“Father understands that it is a normal part of our development and he allows us to get those emotions out by taking us someplace where we can break things that nobody will miss.” Saoirse found another rough spot and began industriously nibbling.
Kasumi cocked her head. “Where do you go?”
She pulled the cookie away long enough to answer. “We go to the place with big rocks.”
Kasumi reached out with her twee, including Vanessa in the conversation as she did. Iain, what is the place with big rocks that you take Vanessa’s children when they need to have a tantrum?
There’s a landfill near McElroy that was used for dumping concrete from building and road demolitions. I take the girls there and let them break big rocks into little ones while they work out things. Theodora has the place fairly secure and I always take guards with us.
I would like to go the next time you take them to this place, Vanessa said.
Iain didn’t seem surprised she was in the conversation loop. I don’t have a problem with that as long as you remember that it’s not little girls playing around, Vanessa. Instead you’ll see baby Legendary pokegirls beginning to experiment with their powers, so don’t be surprised at what happens there.
I will endeavor to keep that uppermost in my mind, Vanessa reassured him.
Good. Can I borrow Kasumi?
Vanessa glanced at Kasumi, who gave her a puzzled look back. She is currently watching the children with me. Let me get a replacement for her and you may.
Thank you. Kasumi, when you are free, please come to the bio production facility on the Theodora.
I will. Kasumi looked at Vanessa. “What is the bio production facility?”
“I don’t know where it is physically on the ship,” Vanessa said. “But it’s where we get the animals for the restocking program.”
“I was not aware of a restocking program. What is that?”
Theodora appeared. “You have not been involved in that, Kasumi, but you were not deliberately excluded. It’s part of the Coatlicue Project and you haven’t had any involvement with Coatlicue. We are seeding the world with prey animals in order to feed both feral pokegirls and, more importantly, native predatory species of the Earth. We’re also experimenting with releasing predators that may help to keep some pokegirl populations in check. Right now Iain is in the aquaculture facility reviewing the menhaden releases this year. That’s a phytoplankton and zooplankton eating baitfish that is fed upon by lots of other fish.”
Raquel came racing up in her centaur form and carefully braked to a stop. She bobbed her head at Kasumi as she folded her four equine limbs and settled down to the ground where she could observe the springs. “I’m taking your place.”
“Thank you.” Kasumi slid to her feet. “Now Nishiko and I need to change from our bathing suits to daily wear and I’ll be off to see Iain. Good day to you both.” She headed for Barton House with Nishiko falling in behind her.
Raquel watched them go before turning to Vanessa. “What’s going on?”
“Iain is dealing with a need of Kasumi’s.”
The Rapitaur frowned. “This isn’t about sex, is it?”
“Indirectly it is, I think, but no, not really. It will make her more comfortable about throwing her lot in with us, which means having children with Iain and that does have to do with sex.”
Raquel chuckled. “The lives of humans would be a lot happier if they’d just realize that almost everything, in the end, is about sex and adjusted their lives accordingly, no?”
Vanessa shifted position slightly to where she could watch Joyce’s three kits and two of April’s busy doing something involving a rather remarkable amount of very wet mud, most of which seemed to be going onto the girls. “Most humans don’t seem to have the neural architecture to be able to handle that massive of an amount of logic on a regular basis.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Raquel stripped off her top and skirt before rising to her feet. “My twee says it’s time to herd the children back here for snacks and lessons. I will fetch the ones on land and you can retrieve the water loving children.” Her tail flicked as she smirked and trotted off.
Vanessa sighed and got up. “Why do I always get the hard job?”
***
“Iain isn’t on board anymore, so I’m taking you to the shuttle bay so you can join him when he returns,” Theodora said as the elevator doors closed. “Transit to the shuttle bay will take three minutes and Iain is already on his way back from the aquatic habitat facility and should be there a few minutes after we arrive.”
“Where are we in the solar system,” Kasumi asked.
“We are at the Earth-Sun L5 point, a gravitationally stable eddy in the solar system where things tend to stay put once placed there. It’s located behind Earth’s orbit. I’ve built several production facilities for animal cloning and development here. Iain is on the aquatic habitat facility.” A hologram appeared between her and Nishiko and Theodora. “The aquatic facility has high volume cloning systems for fish as well as an ocean area where fry can be acclimated before being transferred to the surface and released.”
The door opened and they stepped out into the shuttle bay, a flat area with a few patches of green where plants were growing. A large portion of the ship’s wall ahead was transparent and looked out into space while various sizes of vessels were parked in neat rows throughout.
“Iain should be here in four minutes.” Theodora gestured towards a bench set in one of the grassy areas. “Please sit.”
Kasumi sat down and Nishiko took up station nearby. A few minutes later a small ship passed through the transparent wall and landed close by. The hatch opened and Iain stepped out. “Morning, ladies.” He waved towards the elevator. “’I’m sorry about the suddenness, but I have been meaning to discuss something with Kasumi for the last few days and this seems like a good chance to do so before we run out of time.”
“Why would you run out of time,” Kasumi asked curiously as they headed for the elevator.
“This is the reason we’ve been holding off on going to your home universe and I don’t want to delay that indefinitely,” Iain replied as the door opened. He waved the women inside before joining them. “Theodora, you know where to take us.”
“I do.”
The door closed as Iain turned to face his guests. “If you remember, I told you we’d go to your universe as soon as we could, but a few things had to happen first and my becoming a dragon kind of threw a wrench into the machinery. We’ve worked past it, but I am willing to admit that I was pretty worried that I wouldn’t be able to pull this off, especially after I became a dragon, and there were a lot of projects that had to work before I could put the final plan together.”
“You are not making sense, sir,” Nishiko said quietly.
He chuckled. “You’re probably right. I’m not sure how to explain.”
Kasumi smiled. “I believe someone once told me in a similar situation to start with the fewest words possible and that I could expand from there.”
“That sounds like a pretty wise person,” Iain said. “Remember that I know a lot more about you than you know about me.”
“I do. It was and probably still will be a source of aggravation from time to time. Still, I have accepted it and I am pleased you still want me as your wife even knowing what you do.”
He chuckled. “I’d be stupid not to. Anyway, because of that I know just how much you miss your mother and I also know you’re unhappy with your father because of the responsibilities he dumped on you after her death as well as his behavior since that event.” He smiled. “I wanted to fix both things.”
“Nishiko is correct,” Kasumi said slowly. “You are not making sense.”
“Yes, mistress,” Nishiko said. “I think he is intending to explain. I have been warned that sometimes he becomes too clever to easily understand.”
Kasumi looked at her and nodded before turning back to Iain. “Please continue.”
“As you know, among the things that I retrieved from Shikarou after your divorce were your personal effects, including your mother’s journals.” He paused. “You’re going to find that the two that were starting to fall apart are no longer that way. We dismantled all of them and then put them back together when we were done. We found and extracted a DNA sequence that was familially related to you that was female, but not Akane’s nor Nabiki’s. Using Soun’s DNA, we combined it with this female DNA in a computer simulation and the resulting offspring verified that this was your mother’s DNA.”
Kasumi was staring at him. “You are not making sense, Iain.”
He sighed. “I was afraid of this.”
“We are approaching the lab,” Theodora said quietly. “I think this should wait until we are there.”
“I guess you’re right,” he said heavily.
Soon the elevator door opened and he led them out. “Come this way.” The laboratory was filled with equipment that Kasumi couldn’t identify, but Iain ignored it as he led them to a transparent tank in which the nude body of a woman floated. Iain gestured towards it. “Considering what I said in the elevator, do you recognize this individual?”
Kasumi looked closely at the woman. She was Asian, Nipponese from what she could tell. Her head came up. “Iain, is this my mother?” Her voice was higher pitched than he’d ever heard it.
“No, it isn’t your mother. It is, however, a body grown from your mother’s DNA and aged to the approximate age your mother was when she died.”
Kasumi looked from the body to him in incomprehension. “What is the meaning of this, Iain?”
“Shadow walking is an ability of mine that you haven’t been exposed to. Using it I can go to any place I have ever been to and, as I have discovered, at these places I can go to any time there. Recently I have discovered that I can copy the memory of someone else and use that as a guide to the time and place in that memory.” His eyes met hers. “You remember the specific day and approximate time when your mother died after she was poisoned by Happosai. I want to use that memory to switch this body out for your mother and bring her back here where Theodora can keep her from dying and let her recover from the poison.”
Kasumi stared at him while her mind futility tried to comprehend what he’d just said. Nishiko watched her for several seconds before she reached out to touch his arm and get his attention. “Sir, why do you want to do this?”
“That’s a valid enough question, Nishiko.” Iain looked earnestly into Kasumi’s eyes. “You have asked me what you mean to me. The times you asked me that question, I either hedged or avoided the question as you were still married and busy trying to stay faithful to the memory of that marriage. You didn’t need distracted by me. I know how much you worry about your family. I saw how you agonized over what probably happened to your family during the years that you missed before Dominique adjusted the temporal factors in our gate and you got those years with your family back. I cannot save Mizuho and leave her in the time where she died because that would irrevocably change your past as well as Shikarou’s. Among other things it’s quite likely that if I did, when we went to visit your family again a different Kasumi would be there and you would suddenly have no family. But what I can do is swap this corpse out for your mother and inject her with the antidote to the poison Happosai used on her so that she fully recovers in the here and now. Then I figured we’d take her home and let her take her place with your family, using the explanation that as a Western spirit folk, I used my powers to bring her to the present as a gift to you and to them to make them accept her return.” He smiled. “And I think that you’d like to have your mother at your wedding.”
“I would,” she said quietly. “And Father, Akane and Nabiki should have her there too.” He watched something that looked like surprise appear in her eyes and then they filled with determination. “We will do this and I will go with you.”
Iain blinked. “I’m not sure that’s a really good idea,” he began.
“It does not matter,” Kasumi interrupted him. “I will go. I can help prevent you from making changes to the timeline that might cause problems when we next see my family.” She met his gaze defiantly. “This is not open for discussion. I will go with you or you will not get the memory you need to go at all.”
“While it’s good to see you making a stand on something, I kind of wish it had been over something else and not standing against me,” he said calmly. “We won’t be taking guards with us. This operation will involve as few people as possible.”
“I will take my harem in their pokeballs but they will not be released unless it is a dire emergency.” She gave him a pleading look. ‘This is important to me, Iain, or I wouldn’t demand it.”
Iain shook his head. “Fine.”
She visibly relaxed. “Thank you.” A tiny smile hovered around her mouth. “Do I need to spit in my hand and shake with you?”
He smiled back. “That’s not necessary unless you want to do it.”
“I would prefer not to. When are we going to perform the substitution?”
“In order to minimize the difficulty we will be on your birth world before we go after your mother.” He rubbed his forehead. “I have thought that we should tell your father that you are divorced and then present your family with Mizuho in the next breath to use her return as a distraction. On the other hand that’s probably not fair to her. “
Kasumi looked at him curiously. “Does fairness to my mother truly concern you?”
“It does if it concerns you. Does it?”
She nodded. “It does.”
“Then how do you think we should proceed?”
“We should introduce my mother and then wait until the resulting tumult has passed before proceeding with our own plans.”
Iain frowned. “That will likely take a while. With everything that has been going on your mother is going to be pretty busy for some time. How about we rescue her and then you brief her on what you and your family have been doing and then we take her home where she can hopefully help us while we aid her in the resulting transition?” He frowned. “Was she even aware of the deal your father and Saotome had made in regards to the continuation of the school?”
Kasumi hesitated. “I am not sure. I certainly didn’t know about it until Father announced that Saotome and his son would be coming to stay with us for a while, but as his wife, Mother may have known for some time.” She looked thoughtful. “I do not know when they made their agreement and that is vital to whether or not Mother might have known.”
“If you don’t mind, Canaan can check before she wakes up. That way we don’t surprise her and find out she has a temper like yours.”
Kasumi gave him an innocent look. “You think I have a temper?”
“Kasumi Tendo, soon to be Grey, it was very wise on your part not to try and lie by denying that you do.”
Her sudden smile was mischievous. “I thought so too. That and I do not wish to ever lie to you, Iain.”
“I have and will continue to try and not lie to you either, Kasumi.” He shook his head. “So we’ll save your mother and then we’ll deal with the fallout afterwards.”
“Thank you, Iain. I believe my mother will like you.”
“After all I’m doing for you that helps her, she’d better.” He looked at Nishiko. “I know my plan was to bond you and your harem sisters before we went to Kasumi’s world but with the whole dragon issue I haven’t had the time to get to know you like I should before I ask you to my bed.” The Archmage gave him a surprised look. “Yes, I know it’s not how other men might have approached this, but I want to get to know you as an individual beforehand. I’m just weird that way. So I want to put off getting to know you until after Kasumi and I are married, if you don’t mind.”
“I, I’m not sure what to say, sir.” She gave Kasumi a helpless look. “Mistress?”
“I think,” Kasumi said gently as she took Nishiko’s hand, “that you should appreciate that Iain is not Shikarou and he wants to know you before he knows your body. We have seen so little of honor and respect that sometimes it’s hard to know how to respond to it. You told me that you wanted Iain to bond you. Have you rethought that decision?”
“I have, mistress and it has not changed my decision other than to reinforce it.”
“Then I think you should be happy that he wants to treat you as the person you are, worthy of knowing as an individual in all ways. I am pleased that he wants you to like him, for you are worthy of that and you always have been.” She glanced at Iain. “And so is he worthy of being liked by you, at least most of the time.”
That got her a smile from Nishiko. “Yes, mistress. I agree that he is worth knowing most of the time.”
“Most of the time?” Iain’s tone sounded hurt but his smile was amused. “I’m worth knowing most of the time? Dare I ask about the rest of the time?”
“You probably should not, sir.” Nishiko said with another smile.
“Well, if you say I shouldn’t ask then I won’t.” He looked at Kasumi. “If you do not want me to rescue your mother, just say so.”
She eyed the body of her mother curiously. “If I did say that, and I will not, what would happen to this?”
“In that case it would be destroyed. Its brain was prevented from developing fully and because of that it won’t live more than a week after it is removed from the stasis condition it’s currently in and it will never wake up in any case. On top of that it was poisoned with the same poison that Happosai gave your mother in case he has a way to test for its presence.”
“So without the poison it still would never be a person?”
Iain shook his head. “Most of the clans have rules in place about cloning already living people. The command staff and I discussed it and adopted a lot of those rules for us too. Those who are willing are allowing downloads of their self by Theodora and will keep their DNA on file so if they’re killed we will grow them a new body, but nobody is going to have pre-generated clones waiting. There’s too much potential for abuse. This body falls under those rules.”
“I like that,” Kasumi said. “When do we leave to rescue my mother?”
“I have noticed some minor but detectable differences in the way my magic responds now that I am no longer human,” Iain leaned against the tank the body was in. “I’ve been working to understand and compensate and my teachers and I think in about a week I should be where I was before this happened. After that, we need to gather the clan and we can go.”
“Good,” Kasumi said. “I would like to spend a few days in Tokyo doing some shopping for the trip home. Could I ask that you accompany me?”
“I’ll have to see if my schedule will allow it. Is there something specific?”
“There is. I don’t want to leave you alone on the same continent as Lieutenant Tokunaga until I am your wife and can kill her for her temerity in trying to get into your bed.”
Theodora appeared. “Ninhursag says that is a valid reason and that you should speak with her tonight and that between the two of you she believes it won’t be difficult to make the arrangements for Iain to travel with you.”
“Well, I guess that’s settled,” Iain said. “Someone else will see if my schedule will allow it.”
“Iain,” Kasumi said gently, “I will be very happy to have my mother back, even after all of these years. I believe my sisters will be as happy as I will.”
Nishiko cocked her head. “What about your father, mistress?”
“My father has been a bachelor for too many years,” Kasumi replied. “And Saotome has been a bad influence on him as well, but he needs my mother and she will take him in hand quickly enough.” She looked at Iain. “Were you aware that she and Nodoka were very good friends?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“They were, which means Nodoka will likely be over more often. It will be very interesting having my mother back at home.”
“Well, we’ll go get her in a little more than a week.”
Kasumi gave him a happy look. “I cannot wait.”
***
“Theodora is the one who spotted it,” Iain said.
Kerrik nodded and looked at the image again. “So the world ship is searching out gold. Then why did it leave the asteroid belt at all? There’s lots of gold available there for just a little bit of work.”
Iain shrugged. “Whoever is in charge over there might not know that. Theodora noticed that gold was missing from everything coming near to the ship and so we loaded up a drone with some nuggets that were nearly pure gold and started lofting them in the direction of the ship to see what would happen.”
“And?”
“Now the ship is following the drone and catching all of the nuggets it gets close to. We’re leading it towards Mars while you and I decide what we’re going to do next.”
Kerrik’s ears flicked and he poked at the hologram with a claw tip. “I’ve been spending too much time with my harem. This thing is aggravating me and I want nothing more than to smash it. I should be fascinated and setting up long ranged surveillance of it instead.” He made a face. “Right now I sound more like Raven or Misery than me.”
“We’re all feeling a bit out of sorts,” Iain pointed out. “Yesterday I ate my body weight in chocolate. I should be sicker than hell right now.”
Kerrik raised an eyebrow. “You are talking figuratively, right?”
“No, I am not. Dragons, or at least me as a dragon, loves sweets, among other things.” Iain shook his head. “If I wasn’t actually losing weight, I’d be worried about it.”
“I have found that dragons tend to have blast furnaces for stomachs and the metabolism to keep from getting fat from what they gorge on.” Kerrik’s ears flicked. “And sometimes they have odd dietary requirements.”
“You’re telling me. I have developed a strong tendency to eat bone and I have been eating quartz sand by the cup.”
Kerrik’s ears canted curiously. “And what are you doing with those items?”
“According to what we can tell, I’m dismantling and rebuilding my skeleton to include the additional calcium and the silicon into a crystalline matrix. Theodora ran some engineering studies on what we’ve found so far and it suggests an increase in strength by at least a factor of three without an increase in mass. I also seem to be returning my yellow bone marrow to red marrow.”
“All of which,” Kerrik said thoughtfully, “would be an indicator that you were correct in suggesting your physical age is the overriding factor in your physicality. This is a guess, mind, but my first guess would be that your body is preparing for a series of developmental spurts like those typically seen in the transition from childhood into puberty.”
“I’m starting to agree with you,” Iain said in an annoyed tone.
“About what?”
“While bathing that planet in thermonuclear fire wouldn’t really do anything useful, it would be a pleasant distraction from the problems I am currently experiencing.” He grimaced. “Bad Iain.”
Kerrik laughed. “Yes, that is bad. Thermonuclear weapons aren’t what I’d recommend. M2E conversion weapons or c-fractional strikes produce a lot more bang for a given amount of work.”
Theodora appeared standing next to Iain. “Kerrik, please stop encouraging him.” She turned to Iain. “And you stop listening to him.”
Kerrik’s laughter subsided to chuckles. “You are easily the most protective of all of his women, aren’t you?”
Theodora smiled. “I wear that badge with pride since I am the only one of Iain’s women who realizes just how long together we will have if he is kept reasonably safe. They are thinking in decades and I know our time together could be measured in millennia. I do not want him becoming a monster during that time. I happen to rather like him just as he is.”
Kerrik grinned. “You are the exception, I see.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’re the exception on what women and men want.”
Iain snickered and Theodora gave him a hard look. “Please explain what Kerrik is talking about.”
“I first heard it from a comedian who was discussing the differences between men and women,” Iain said. “It seemed pretty accurate from what I’d dealt with in relationships and so I remembered it. It was that a man and a woman marry or enter into any other long term relationship with different expectations. A man marries a woman for who she is and doesn’t want her to ever change while a woman marries a man for who she sees him as being and then does her best to turn him into that man. It applies to far more relationships than just marriage, too.”
Theodora looked thoughtful for several seconds before snorting a laugh. “In the main that is scarily accurate.”
Kerrik nodded. “It is.”
“Can I use this on Eve one of these days?”
Iain sighed. “I’d rather you didn’t.”
Theodora cocked her head. “That’s not a definitive no.”
“You are an adult. Just don’t get me in trouble when you do.”
Kerrik flashed a smile at them both. “OK, so the ship is being led around by the nose out near Mars while we try to decide what we’re going to do with it. What’s next in your plans?”
“Tomorrow we’re heading back to Kasumi’s birth world. She wants to inform her father that she’s divorced from Shikarou now. I want to watch Soun have a meltdown.” Iain rubbed his eyes. “After that, Kasumi and I are going to marry.”
“Soun is likely to forbid such a union,” Kerrik observed quietly. “He would want her to stay married to the family kami.”
“Kasumi says that after she informs her father of her divorce from Shikarou that she is then free to do as she wishes.”
“She is,” Kerrik agreed. “However, she usually accedes to her father’s wishes.”
“I know,” Iain said. “And if she decides not to marry me then I’ll deal with it.”
Kerrik was watching Iain closely, his ears attentively pointed at his student. “Does Kasumi know you love her?”
Iain’s eyes narrowed angrily and then he forced himself to relax. “No. I haven’t discussed it with anyone and neither should you since it’s none of your business.”
“I am going to have to disagree with you on that,” Kerrik replied. “Kozakura is my granddaughter and Kasumi is her mother which means Kasumi is still part of my family by marriage as well as blood and therefore still very much my business. She needs to know how you feel about her.”
Iain growled loudly. “Telling her now seems like the kind of shitty thing your son would pull.”
“It would be if he could lie about it and tell her when he didn’t feel that way,” Kerrik agreed. “But if he’d actually loved her we wouldn’t be having this conversation because she would still be his wife and your feelings about her would be immaterial. Telling someone you love them when you do isn’t manipulative, it’s letting them see the whole picture, which in this case can be critical when Kasumi decides if she is going to go against her upbringing and culture and defy her father or not.”
Iain glanced at Theodora and she smiled. “We have already discussed my opinion of this and while I agree with Kerrik, you are already aware of my reasons for doing so.”
“I am.” He sighed. “And I will tell her before we go to her home.”
“I could summon her now.”
“Theodora.”
She grinned. “I had to offer. You might have said yes and I am looking out for two members of my clan and my family, once Kasumi marries you.”
Iain glared at her for a second. “Kerrik, are we done here?”
The kami’s ears flicked and he nodded. “We are. Do I need to help baiting the world ship with gold?”
“Only if we don’t come back from our trip to Kasumi’s,” Iain said. “We’ve got a tanker out there to feed the drone that’s luring the ship towards Mars and it can supply the drone for a month at current rates. Now if the ship decides it’s got enough gold that’s a different story but we’ll deal with it if it happens.”
“You’re right.” Kerrik looked around. “And thank you for finally letting me on board the Theodora.”
Iain shrugged. “I couldn’t keep you off her forever and it’s not like I can kill you if you do something I don’t like. That made trying to keep you off my ship just a mental exercise in frustration and I have too many real things to deal with right now.”
Kerrik smiled. “I understand. Speaking of mental exercises in frustration, do you think you’ll ever be able to tell me what Nightraven’s plans are?”
Iain shook his head. “I really don’t know if it’ll ever be possible. She’s not happy that I know what’s going on and I doubt she’d appreciate me sharing that knowledge.”
Kerrik nodded. “Maybe I’ll drop by and ask her if she’ll tell me or let you do so.”
“You do that.”
“I’ll see you in two days for training.” Kerrik vanished.
“How does he use teleportation this far from Earth,” Theodora asked curiously. “We are a light minute from Earth.”
“Kerrik doesn’t teleport like pokegirls do and I’m not sure what the limitations are, although it might be in the Wolf database.” Iain rubbed his eyes again. “I’m going to Zareen’s rock in the garden.” It had been called Zareen’s rock ever since she gave birth while lying on it. “Is Kasumi available to meet with me there?”
“I will ask her.”
“Thank you.”
“She can meet you there in an hour.”
“That works. Does that mean I have time to run by medical for another scan?”
Theodora nodded. “Is there something wrong?”
Iain gave a bitter laugh. “How can I tell right now? I’m not sure what normal is supposed to be anymore.”
“I’ll take you to medical and do some basic checks. If I find anything we’ll schedule you to come back tomorrow.”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever.” Iain headed down the hall to the transport hub.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m irritable.”
“Is that a good mood to have when you’re going to confess your undying love to Kasumi?”
“Considering I’ll become a lich when I die, I suspect my love for anything will not survive my death, so it’s not really undying.”
“Iain, should I tell Kasumi not to come today?”
“The sudden change in plans will just mean Eve or April or someone else or even a group of them will show up to evaluate me.” He glanced at her as she walked alongside him, noting her worried look. “Is it really being cynical when I’m right?”
“That is actually more paranoid than cynical and the answer is still no.”
“I will mediate before Kasumi arrives and try to put myself into a better mood. If I can’t, you can warn her off.”
“Thank you, Iain.”
***
Iain was lying flat on his back with his arms spread perpendicularly to his body and his legs together, making a cruciform shape. His eyes were closed and his breathing slow and even. Kasumi stopped at the edge of the clearing to watch and he spoke without opening his eyes. “Please ask Giselle to go away. And by away, I mean out of the park. Giselle, I’m asking her to do this because I’d like to talk to Kasumi alone for a little while and I’d prefer it if you didn’t eavesdrop on her through her handheld either.”
Kasumi turned to her Pegaslut, whose face was professionally blank. “What is Iain talking about?”
“There is software on your computer that lets your guards remotely activate it,” Theodora said as she appeared. “It has been on there since before you started coming to visit us. It isn’t a hack, either. It looks like the software is incorporated into the operating system, which suggests Selene was instructed to add it. All Haven pokedexes have this software in them, but I have been making sure it’s never on during sensitive conversations. I presume that the software can also be activated remotely by satellite, say from Haven, although no attempts to do so have been observed since you joined the clan. I thought you knew about it or I’d have brought it up before.”
Kasumi was looking at Giselle. “Well?”
“Mistress, we were ordered by His Majesty to use that to monitor you to help keep you safe. Since coming here none of us have used it as it would be considered rude by the Grey clan.” Her lips quivered slightly, which in her was a sure sign of unhappiness. “I was told by Bellona that you knew about this security procedure but not to discuss it as others were not aware of its presence.”
“I most certainly did not know about this as I would have considered it rude for even the Haven Wolf family and protested strenuously.” Kasumi looked at Theodora. “I would like to request Grey built electronics for all of us. I would prefer it if you could copy our data over to the new computers, but if you cannot we will learn to live without it.”
“Copying the data should be easy enough. You will have new units before you go to bed tonight and if you plug all the units into the data network I can copy the data to your new units while you’re sleeping.”
“Thank you. Giselle, please go to the break room that’s outside the park and wait for me there. I am in no danger here.”
Sir,” Giselle called, “is my mistress safe with you?”
Iain’s eyes popped open and he sat up. “Well, that just fucked up the whole meditative calm thing I was working towards,” he muttered as he got to his feet.
Theodora was suddenly standing in front of him. “Giselle meant no harm with her question.”
“I have been alone with Kasumi how many times and she’s asking that now and you’re trying to tell me that she means no insult? I’m going to have to disagree with you and just feel insulted.”
“You were not a dragon before,” Giselle said.
“The whole time you have known me I have always been a dragon, Giselle,” Iain snapped back. “Haven’t you been listening to the gossip? We just didn’t know I was a dragon until recently.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Look, either you trust me or you do not. If you don’t and you’re not willing to leave me alone with Kasumi, then the two of you should probably leave since I am not having this conversation where you can hear it.”
Theodora moved between him and his guests. “I think we should try to do this some other day, Iain. Your temper is getting the best of you. You did ask me to inform you if I thought this might be happening.”
“That was when I didn’t actually think you’d do it.” He gave a shake of his head. “I did ask you to do this and you are a better judge of my mood right now than I am. I bow to your wisdom.”
“I do not,” Kasumi said firmly as Theodora started to speak. “Obviously this is important or Iain wouldn’t have asked me here and I know that I have nothing to fear from Iain. He will never harm anyone in his care and I am in his care.” She looked at Giselle. “You know this and yet you argue about leaving me alone with him.”
“Mistress, right now his temper is very volatile. It is my duty to protect you and I must carry out that duty and not leave you alone with him.”
“Iain,” Kasumi asked, “have you ever harmed anyone here because of your temper?”
“I accidentally burned Eve’s nose once when my magic flared during a pretty strenuous argument.”
“I think I am willing to take a chance with my nose’s safety,” Kasumi said.
“Mistress,” Giselle said stubbornly, “my oath to you is very specific. I cannot leave your side if I feel you could be in danger. You made me swear that just in case you refused to see a danger that I did, which is what I believe this situation is.”
“I am not used to nor am I going to become used to having my wishes thwarted by you, Giselle,” Kasumi said evenly. She glanced at Iain. Can Giselle follow us if you shadow walk with me?
No. But if she’s following her oath should we do this?
Her oath was above all to obey me and I do not like the fact that she seems obligated to only follow the parts of that oath that she feels she should. Will you take me somewhere else where we can be alone?
Iain was not going to get involved in a dispute between Kasumi and her guards unless he had to. However, he did want to talk to her and he didn’t want to wait any longer than necessary. I will. He quickly warned Theodora about what was going to happen.
Her response was instantaneous. Be careful, my love.
“Remain if you wish, Giselle,” Kasumi said as she walked over to Iain. “But understand that we will revisit your oath and what I feel it obligates you to do and we will do it soon.”
Giselle didn’t look happy at the thought. “Yes, mistress.”
Kasumi took Iain’s hand. “What do I do,” she asked quietly.
“Step when I tell you to,” he replied just as quietly. Giselle’s eyes went wide in shock as he wrapped Kasumi in his power. “Step forward one pace.”
They stood on a dusty track three meters wide. Ahead, the road ran to some buildings a few hundred meters away. They were medieval looking, in poor repair and thin tendrils of smoke curled up from chimneys to dissipate in the breeze.
From behind them a deep voice shouted what was obviously a command in a language Iain didn’t recognize. He turned, guiding Kasumi with him to see an anthropomorphic bull holding a leveled crossbow pointed at them. He was wearing a loose fitting chainmail shirt that fell to his knees and was belted at the waist with a sword hanging from his belt. He snapped another command and gestured with the crossbow for emphasis. His instructions seemed obvious; that being for them to go towards the village. Or maybe he just wanted them to turn around so he could shoot them in the back.
“Turn like we’re doing what he wants,” Iain said quietly, “and step with me.”
Kasumi followed his direction and found she was standing with him in his laboratory on the Theodora. “What was that place?”
“I don’t know.” Iain gestured her towards his desk chair. “Please, sit. Theodora, seal my lab.”
“It’s being taken care of.”
Iain rubbed his eyes. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Thank you but I am not thirsty,” Kasumi replied.
“Would you like Theodora to let Giselle know you’re on board?”
She thought about it for a moment. “Yes. I do not want to unduly stress her. We need to have another discussion about where my authority lies, but I see no reason to be cruel to her.”
“I have informed her,” Theodora said, “that Kasumi is on board, safe and unharmed.”
“Thank you,” Iain said.
“Iain, what did you want to speak to me about that required this level of privacy?”
“Theodora was probably correct. I’m making a right hash of this and I should have just let this go today.” He leaned against his desk. “Do you know what a sociopath is?”
Kasumi smiled at him. “Your family has explained what you are and what it means to me and to us at length.”
“So they’ve explained about my bubble concept.” She nodded. “Have they also explained that there are some human interactions that I just don’t seem to be wired to understand?”
Kasumi looked puzzled for a moment. “April mentioned something about that in passing, but she was rather vague and the others didn’t bring it up.”
“That’s not surprising. It would be like a deaf person trying to explain sound to another deaf person.” He rubbed his chin for a second. “It’s also true that I realize that some of these things are important to them and so I don’t really bring it up as much as I probably should. In a lot of cases I can fake it without it being any sort of a lie and they seem satisfied with that.” He frowned. “Compared to other people my emotions are, I’ve been told, off. I understand strong emotions like love and hate. I understand those to the point that I even understand that those people who go about spouting that love and hate are two sides of the same coin have never really experienced either. Real hatred is nothing like real love.” He shook his head slowly. “Sorry, but I’m blathering.”
“It is all right, Iain. I want to understand as much about you as I can and I can see that this is difficult for you.”
He smiled mirthlessly. “The truth is that the difficult part is trying to find a way to say something that doesn’t make me sound like a complete barbarian or asshole, since emotionally I am a barbarian.” He snorted. “It doesn’t help that now that I’ve fully become a dragon, my physical age means that I’m preadolescent as a dragon and it has affected me. Now emotionally I’m not only a barbarian, I’m a childish barbarian, so my words are to be doubly suspect. If I were talking to another sociopath I could just say it and they’d either accept it or they’d decide I was insane.”
“Iain, I was teasing you about being a barbarian. If it bothers you so much, I will never call you that again.”
“See, that’s the problem. I knew you were teasing me. I also think it’s become kind of a pet name that you have for me, since you don’t call anyone else a barbarian. So when it sounds like I’m whining, I’m not. I appreciate the fact that you have a pet name for me. It shows me that you do like me. I just don’t know how to accept it in a socially acceptable manner. It’s just like Ganieda and her insistence that I impress her on a regular basis. It’s her way of showing affection towards me. Calling me a barbarian is yours. I understand that but I find it hard to reciprocate. The other thing, of course, is that I’m in relationships with pokegirls. If I come up with a pet name for one of them, I’d better be ready to find pet names for everyone.”
Kasumi cocked her head. “You have a pet name for Dianthus.”
“Barb needed that special name because it showed her that she actually has value to me and, at the time, it was very hard for her to believe that anyone could value her for anything. The leaders of the inner harem understood that and so they didn’t protest where she could hear it. Now the truth is that she doesn’t need that special name anymore but if I took it away from her, she and many of the others would see it as a sign that she’d lost my favor somehow.”
“Your inner harem protested where she couldn’t hear it?”
He smiled. “Oh, yes, they did so and they did so frequently and loudly. I gave a newcomer to the family and someone in the outer clan a special name that only I could use. There was a lot of bitching about that.” His smile faded. “And once again I’ve managed to get way off topic. I usually don’t do that.”
“Why are you doing it now?”
He grimaced. “I’m nervous.”
She sat back in her chair to regard him thoughtfully. “You are saying that I make you nervous?”
“Right now you do.”
“Considering what I know about you, that is quite the compliment.” She leaned forward, her eyes intent on his. “Why do I make you nervous?”
“You’re enjoying this.”
Her eyes twinkled as she smiled. “I am. I do not normally make grown men nervous. I am just Kasumi after all.” She rose and moved to stand in front of him, trapping him against the desk with her presence. She leaned closer, so that her breath bathed his face as he looked down at her. “Why do I make you nervous? Just tell me.”
He shook his head. “I’m not sure I can do this.”
Kasumi put a finger on his mouth. “Iain, just say the words. I promise not to take offense at them. If I find what you say uncomfortable, we will discuss it until we are both comfortable about the situation.” She looked into his eyes. “While I am enjoying making you nervous, I don’t want you to stay that way for too long. That would be detrimental to our relationship.”
He kissed her finger and she pulled it away with a smile. “Kasumi Tendo, I love you and I was so nervous because I was trying to figure out a way to tell you that without sounding like a complete idiot.”
Kasumi’s eyes went very large and she stared up into his. “Please say that again,” she whispered.
Iain put his hands on her waist. “I love you, Kasumi.”
Kasumi rested her head on his chest. “Iain.” She sighed heavily and leaned her weight against him. She was silent for several minutes before lifting her head to look at him and he was relieved to see the twinkle was back in her eyes. “I believe I can understand why you were so nervous to speak to me. Are you still nervous?”
“I think I’ll always be a little nervous around you, but no, not like before.”
She chuckled. “I think I will like the fact that I make you a little nervous.” Her humor faded. “I must still speak to my father.”
“Don’t forget you’ll also be able to and therefore should speak to your mother,” Iain pointed out.
Kasumi looked startled. “You are right. I hadn’t considered what it would mean to rescue my mother from death.”
“And I’ll need to speak to both of them too, won’t I?”
She nodded. “It would be for the best if we could get their permission before I married you. I do not want to stop seeing my family again.”
“Will there be a yuinou?”
Kasumi smiled. “You’ve been doing research again and, honestly, I’m not sure if it’ll be required. Who did you talk to about the engagement ceremony?”
“Yuko is my resident expert right now since I couldn’t ask you about it. I don’t want to go anywhere near Tokunaga and I have no Nipponese friends I can consult with.” He sighed. “And that brings up a small issue you need to know about.”
“What is that?”
“Yuko wants to be at your wedding.”
“I do not see a problem with that. She is my grandmother and I would like her there too.”
“Your mother has a different Yuko for her grandmother,” Iain pointed out. “She’s dead and your mother saw her while she was dying.”
Kasumi hesitated and then nodded. “I will explain the difference to her. She will understand.”
Iain smiled. “True. Your mother is another smart and pretty Tendo woman.”
“Please don’t say that to her. I remember she was easily embarrassed by praise from strangers and she will not know you at all.”
He nodded. “Then I shall try to be careful what I say around her. Do we continue the myth that I am a spirit folk or fey with her?”
Kasumi smiled. “It isn’t a myth, Iain. You are spirit folk now.”
“Ygerna said I was fey and a doragon is Western.”
“Dragons are powerful creatures in both Celtic and Nipponese magical culture, Iain. You will be accepted as spirit folk among the spirit folk just as easily as you will be accepted as fey among Ygerna’s people.”
“That’s not really all that important to me,” Iain said. “I already have a Sidhe wife and I’m getting a kami one soon. Speaking of which, this is kind of informal and all but even knowing everything that you do about me, Kasumi Tendo, will you marry me and become my wife?”
She stared up at him, her eyes big again as they searched his. Finally she smiled. “I will be happy to, Iain.” Her eyes twinkled again. “And thank you for my first proposal. Shikarou never asked me to marry him.”
“I wanted you to know that I am going into this willingly and that you don’t have to ever feel that you trapped me into anything.”
“I appreciate that.” She frowned slightly. “Does it bother you when I compare you to Shikarou?”
“This may surprise you, but the answer to that question is no.”
“I must admit that it is a little surprising.”
He nodded. “Remember that I know a lot about you.” She just continued watching him. “You have always wanted a family of your own and you wanted a husband as part of that family. You never expected to meet Shikarou, but when you did, he rescued you from demonic possession while your family ostensibly stood around and dithered, which understandably favorably inclined your heart towards him.” Kasumi was still watching him with those dark brown intelligent eyes. “When you decided to marry him, in your mind it was for forever. He was supposed to be the only man for you, even as you knew you could never be the only woman for him. And so you were married to him for over twenty years. It would be surprising if you didn’t compare me to him on many levels. I just hope I continue to come off favorably in those comparisons and if I don’t, I’d appreciate it if you could let me know so I could improve enough to do so.” He smiled. “Am I jealous of the time you spent with Shikarou? I am not. There was no way you could have known I existed for most of those years and if we’d met when you were unmarried I’d have been nearly broke, a Westerner and unable to say more than a few curse words in Nipponese. On top of that, I wouldn’t have had a doragon’s spirit and you probably wouldn’t have looked twice at me.”
Kasumi’s eyebrows had risen as he finished speaking. “You know when you were changed, don’t you?”
“I haven’t told anyone but yes, I did eventually figure out about the time that it happened.”
“Does that mean you know who did this to you?”
“It does, but I have already spoken to that person and I can’t be turned back into a human. The change is irreversible, which is why I have been working to come to terms with what happened.”
“Who did this to you?”
Iain shook his head. “No. Since it can’t be undone, that piece of information would just cause trouble for everyone involved.”
She frowned. “You don’t want justice for what happened?”
“I’d love justice for it. However, the universe isn’t always fair and in this case it doesn’t give a fuck what I want.” His eyes were grim. “I will never forget, though. If, someday I can force the universe to care about what was done to me, then we’ll just have to see what we can see.” He shrugged. “Until then I’m out of luck in that regard.” His smile was brief. “So once again I accept what has happened since I can’t do anything about it, but I don’t accept it gracefully. I just have to remember that even if I get the chance at justice, the universe isn’t fair and the person who did this to me thought my life would be improved by it. In time, I may come to agree with that person.” He looked at her. “And since it made you interested in me, what happened to me has definitely got some rather good aspects to it so I might come to agree with them sooner rather than later.”
“It may have also interested Ygerna in you,” Kasumi pointed out.
“If true, that’s another good thing it’s done for me.” He chuckled. “And I can eat a bunch of sweets and neither gain weight nor get sick from it.”
“Is that an admirable trait?”
“I don’t know about admirable, but it impressed the hell out of Daphne.”
“That makes it useful, but not necessarily admirable, Iain.”
“True.” His grip tightened on her waist for a second. “Anyway I wanted to tell you how I felt about you and I didn’t want an audience when I did.”
“I appreciate that, Iain.” She put her head back on his chest and was silent for a long moment. “I am ashamed that I cannot say the same back to you, not yet.”
“Don’t be. You are not a woman who loves easily, Kasumi, and you just had an experience over that last twenty years that I’d think would make you less likely to make a snap judgement about your feelings. I can say that I believe it would have done that to me, although I would not likely have stayed with Shikarou as long as you did since I am less tolerant of people and I come from a culture that doesn’t teach quiet acceptance of life quite as much as yours does.” He smiled crookedly. “I’d actually be worried about us if you did say you loved me right now because I’d suspect it was because you felt you had to say the words instead of because you actually felt anything like that about me.”
“Is this you know me so well that you can predict what to say or is this the ability I was warned about to be able to say the best thing at a particular time?”
“They could both be aspects of the same ability,” Iain said. He let his hands drop from her waist. “I just hope we can avoid whatever pitfalls are thrown at us.”
“We will,” Kasumi said. She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. “I have been listening to the things that members of my new family say in my presence. While they have not said anything specifically about it, some of those discussions have led me to believe that you are showing me special favor by the amount of time we spend together here in your laboratory. Is this true?”
“I can see why some of them might consider it as such since many of them have never been in here. I guess the important question is do you think it’s something special and, if so, does it bother you?”
Kasumi cocked her head curiously. “How many of them have been in here?”
“Less than a handful of them have been in my lab.”
She frowned. “Why have I been in here so much?”
“It’s because I’m a sociopath.”
Her frown deepened. “I don’t understand.”
“Are you aware that in a relationship where people are trying very hard not to lie to each other, perhaps the questions one asks should be considered because the answer might be, as you put it earlier, uncomfortable?”
The edge he’d heard from time to time was back in her voice. “I asked a question. I would like an answer.”
“Your entire life has been as a nonentity in familial relations.” She blinked in surprise at his sudden shift in the discussion. “First you were a child and then you were a substitute wife and finally you were headmistress at a school and carefully sequestered away. You were always useful, but not really all that appreciated. This is my sanctum and, for the most part, I have kept it inviolate. You have been in here more than any other person besides Theodora and she’s always here as part of the agreement I made in order to have some privacy. Without having to say it, that tells you that you are important to me and not anything close to being a nonentity.”
Her eyes went wide. “This is my version of having a nickname or having you do things to impress me on a regular basis. Bringing me here is manipulating me.”
“It is, hence the reference to my sociopathy and my tendency towards manipulating the people around me. It is also something that you desperately need right now.”
“You expect my needs to change?”
“Everybody’s need change, Kasumi, but, yes, this is temporary. What you really want is a family and, once you join mine, you won’t need being here nearly as much as you do now.” He smiled. “And after our third child is born you’ll realize that you are getting that large family you wanted and you can finally start working towards being happy.”
“As a sociopath you shouldn’t care about anyone else’s happiness.”
He shrugged. “Without getting too deeply into that subject, if the people around me are happy, my life is better, which is what anyone, sociopath or not, wants. And, for the most part, making the people around me happy with me isn’t really all that much work. And, many times, what I have to do is actually a lot of fun.” He smiled. “I expect that I will enjoy the activities necessary to get you pregnant.”
Kasumi turned bright red. “You are such a barbarian,” she murmured. Then she smiled shyly. “I hope that you do enjoy it and that I do as well.”
“That is my hope also, Kasumi.” He sighed. “I also hope that you didn’t mind seeing so much of smart Iain at one go.”
“I did not. It was uncomfortable in part, but that is because none of us want to believe that we can be manipulated. And you are correct that I did ask the question and then I did insist that you answer it when you tried to caution me.” She smiled. “And it is true that it has been wonderful that you are doing all of these things and just for me. No one has before.”
“Just remember that I’m not done yet. I still have your mother to save, your father to buy off, possibly multiple times and then seek your family’s approval of our union. And I’m restoring your summer home.”
“What is my summer home?”
“The place I purchased in Nippon.” She frowned slightly and he grinned. “I take it you aren’t aware that nobody else has a building off of our property here in Texas.”
“You own land in several countries.”
“I do, but I got that land in trade from the governments involved and in most cases they have the chance to buy it back later so I’m not doing anything with it. I haven’t bought any land since we purchased the Sabine Ranch until now and this place is the first one we’ve been developing at all.”
Kasumi frowned before shaking her head gently. “It is a wonder that any of the pokegirls here will even speak with me. Are they terribly upset over what you have done or at me because of it?”
“No.” She looked at him in open disbelief and he shrugged. “You’ve already pointed out that we’re not like the Haven Wolf family. Granted, I don’t see that the information about who actually owns the property is really all that important, but my command staff knows about it. Ninhursag will want to put her stamp on it by way of putting in gardens, but other than a large rosarium she’ll likely insist on she knows she’ll have to come to you for the final decisions on what is allowed and what is not.”
“Why is a rose garden so important to her?”
He smiled. “Rose gardens are her special place where we go to be together and alone.”
“I am to be expected to give another woman a trysting place in my garden?” She smiled before Iain could respond. “She is my sister and welcome to it, as long as I may use it as well. You see, I love roses too.” She blinked and her smile faded. “I am afraid that I am now scheduled for training in half an hour.”
He chuckled. “I am too. I’ve got close combat training under Siobhan.”
“That is excellent as it means we will be training together.”
He sighed. “Please be gentle.”
“I will not. My husband will have to be stronger than I am.” He eyes twinkled for a second when he groaned. “I would like to request now, before we are married, that I be allowed to travel regularly to my family’s home. I am a Tendo and therefore also heir to our martial arts school and I wish to master it and also as much of the Saotome school as they will teach me. Our children will be expected to learn at least the basics of it and, sadly, that is all I currently know.”
“Can I learn it too?”
“From Akane or would you rather I be your instructor?”
“I think I’d rather you teach me. I also hope you’ll teach me more magic.”
“I understand that as soon as my last name is Grey that will happen, Iain. I will become part of your magical training cadre along with Dominique and Ganieda.” She frowned. “Why is Eve not teaching you too? She was an excellent student at my school. Even if this isn’t the same Eve that I knew there, she is almost exactly like one that I taught.”
“She’s a great student but she can’t teach others very well.”
“I see. I was not aware that she had that particular failing.”
“It doesn’t matter. She does make an excellent sparring partner, during which she teaches me a lot.” He glanced upwards. “Yes, Theodora, you are right and we are leaving as soon as the doorway opens.” He looked at Kasumi. “Second call for training and I was told that Giselle and Pandora are waiting outside the lab for us.”
She smiled. “Then let us proceed before April gives us punishment training.” They stood and waited until the doorway opened before heading briskly down it.
Iain Grey
Inner Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Dianthus Barbatus - Elfqueen
Outer Harem
Allison – Umbrea (Outer Harem Alpha)
Daphne - Whorizard
Lynn - Growlie
Chuck – Doggirl
Ryan – Unicorn
Winifred - Rack (German)
Rosemary - Mistoffeles (Uruguayan)
Silver - Pegaslut
Joyce – Milktit
Outer Clan
Melanie – Iron Chef
Siobhan – Nurse Joy (Glasgow)
Queendom / Outer Harem
12 Elves
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
6 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Matilda - White Tigress
Liadan - Twau
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria - Slutton
Rhea Silvia - Chimera
Geradine - Human
Mother s & Children
Vanessa
Myrna
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Canaan
Hannah: Huntress
Rebecca: Huntress
Joyce
Lisa: Milktit
Sherrie: Milktit
Harriet: Milktit
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami-sama
Seraphina: Megami-sama
Zareen
Caltha: Nightmare
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare