This work is fiction. The work has no relationship with any person existing at any time anywhere whether real or imaginary or copywritten. Everything in this work is mea culpa.
This work is the property of Kerrik Wolf (saethwyr@ (SPAM) hotmail.com). Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
You should not read this work if you are under the age of legal consent wherever you reside. This work may or may not contain any and/or all of the following: death, cannibalism, dismemberment, violent acts, implied sex, explicit sex, violent sex, rape, blasphemy (depending on your religion), BDSM, torture, mimes, necrophilia and just about anything unwholesome that you could consider.
Feedback is encouraged. I enjoy hearing from people. Positive feedback will be appreciated, cherished and flaunted in front of people. Negative feedback will be appreciated, cherished and listened to, that I might continue to grow. Flames will give me a good laugh. Feedback may be delivered to: saethwyr@(SPAM)hotmail.com. Please remove (SPAM) to contact me.
Loose Threads
One Hundred Forty Seven
Nishiko laid the tea tray down and settled down in front of it to serve as Kasumi looked at Kozakura. “How did your meeting with him go?”
They were still on Six, the world Kasumi had grown up on. Kozakura took the teacup that Nishiko offered her as she looked out over the wheat fields for a moment. “He signed us up for sailing lessons.”
Kasumi glanced over her shoulder to where Keanellos was sitting in the shade of a tree and peering into one of the irrigation canals to give them some privacy while they discussed him. “He asked me about clothing for being on the ocean and I sent him some for all of you, but I did not know about there being sailing lessons.”
“Lady, he said that he wanted us to get to know each other by working together on something that none of us knew anything about,” Nejiko said.
Ayame looked curiously from Nejiko to Kozakura. “How did that go?”
Kozakura chuckled. “It was surprisingly fun. It was a beginner’s course and we are already signed up for another class where our lessons will continue at the intermediate level.”
Kasumi nodded. “What is he like as a person?”
“Father was strong,” Kozakura said. “He was so strong that it makes it hard to find a man who is as strong as he was. I had started to despair that I would ever find someone that strong who also had Father’s good attributes.” She sipped at her tea; her ears focused on her mother. “I didn’t like Iain-sama when I first interacted with him, even before he knocked me out and broke my jaw. I felt he was stealing my mother away from her family, where she belonged. I thought he was tricking you somehow into seeing him as much better than he could ever be. I decided to pursue him, in part, to show just how dishonorable he was to you because I knew that he would not turn me down. His kind is weak and cannot resist that kind of temptation.” She paused but Kasumi merely smiled encouragingly at her as she waited patiently. “Then I dishonored Father and he gave me to Iain-sama. During my time with the Grey clan, I learned that Iain-sama was much stronger than I had ever thought. He was so strong that he could be weak without it making him weak.” She frowned slightly. “I am not saying this well.”
“I think you’re mistaking gentleness with weakness,” Kasumi said. “Iain is so sure of himself that he can be gentle with those inside his bubble without it making him less.”
“Whatever he has,” Kozakura said, “it drew me. Keanellos has the same feeling about him.” Her eyes focused on Kasumi. “Is Iain-sama smarter than you are?”
Kasumi’s eyebrows rose for an instant. “I do not know. He is very intelligent.”
Giselle chuckled from where she was standing sentry. “Iain is smart enough to never openly challenge anyone else’s intelligence.”
“I think that Keanellos is smarter than I am or Nishiko is,” Kozakura said quietly.
“You know that he can more than likely hear us from where he is,” Ayame noted.
Kasumi looked over her shoulder again at where Keanellos was still surveying the water filled channel and spoke in the same voice she’d been using during the conversation. “Can you?”
Keanellos nodded without looking up. I do not wish to interfere, but may I comment, he said to them all with his twee.
“Please do so,” Kasumi said.
While both my father and mother are incredibly intelligent and I can only hope that I have inherited at least some of that intelligence, I have had my twee since I was only a few minutes old and so we are fully integrated. I believe that Kozakura is mistaking that integration for my level of native intelligence, whatever it may be. Full integration allows me to access information, retain things and react to external stimuli at a rate that she has not yet attained, having had her twee for only a few decades.
“Join us,” Kasumi ordered.
Keanellos rose, brushed off his pants and came over. “Kozakura?”
She smiled and gestured to the place next her on the side away from Nejiko. “Mother is right. Join us.”
Keanellos settled gracefully down in the indicated spot. “Thank you.”
“How old are you and how long does it take for full integration,” Kasumi asked.
“From what we can tell, it takes roughly fifty years to integrate fully,” Keanellos said. “It’s faster for infants who get twee early. And I’m halfway through my fifth century. I could get an exact count but it’s not important to elves like it seems to be for humans.” He blinked when Ayame offered him tea. “Thank you.”
“Why sailing lessons,” Kasumi asked.
“When someone has something that they feel they do well, doing that with someone else becomes a competition. Competitions are, by definition, adversarial. We have not yet formed a group so we cannot work together to defeat others. Father suggested that Kozakura and Nejiko don’t like losing and I know I don’t like it either. I don’t want to compete with Kozakura or Nejiko like that, especially not in the beginning. None of us knew anything about sailing and I thought it would be a good way to get to know them as they got to know me.”
“How did that work?”
Keanellos glanced a Kozakura, leaned forward and smiled conspiratorially. “Your daughter knows many bad words,” he said in a stage whisper.
Nejiko swallowed tea down her windpipe and coughed as Kozakura’s ears went flat before she slapped Keanellos on the shoulder hard enough to make him jerk and drop his teacup. “You know more curses than I do!” She blinked, staring at him, looked at her mother and blushed bright red. Her eyes snapped to the floor. “I am sorry, Mother. Please forgive me.”
Kasumi’s eyes twinkled. “Look at me.” Kozakura slowly raised her eyes to look at her mother. “I am not Shikarou,” she said gently. “However, you did strike my guest. Should I give you to Keanellos for six months too?”
“That would be a bad idea,” Keanellos said quietly.
Kasumi smiled. “Why would that be a bad idea?”
“You’d get both of them back pregnant.”
Kozakura’s head snapped around. “You,” she sputtered. “You gaijin!”
“Yes, I am a foreigner,” Keanellos agreed calmly as he got a napkin and mopped up the spilled tea. “And I am not going to lie to Kasumi. Father said that was as bad an idea as getting involved in a land war in Asia. Although I’m not sure what that means. I suspect it’s another one of his inside jokes that I will have to have explained to me later.”
Nishiko grinned. “It is an inside joke.” She suppressed her smile and looked seriously at Kasumi. “Lady, this could solve the problem that Kozakura kept trying to use as justification to you when she was seeking permission to pay court to Iain. If Keanellos is correct and she becomes pregnant, then Kozakura would finally have an heir to present to His Majesty King Stephen. It would take a lot of pressure off of him to produce an heir of his own. Most importantly, it would mean she would have no reason to keep trying to convince you to give your blessing to her wish to have a child with Iain.”
Kozakura stared at the Archmage in horror. “Nishiko!”
Kasumi laughed. “Kozakura, look at me.” Kozakura slowly looked into her mother’s eyes. “I am not Shikarou. I would never give you to anyone, for you are a free woman and Grey clan does not take slaves.”
Kozakura took a deep breath as she relaxed. “Yes, Mother.”
Kasumi’s mouth quivered for a second. “Keanellos, what is your impression of my daughters?”
Kozakura looked puzzledly at her mother. “Daughters? You wish him to spend time with Mariko too?”
“Nejiko is as my daughter, Kozakura. I accepted that years ago after I saw how close the two of you are.”
“We call their relationship battle sisters because it is most often found in military units,” Keanellos said. “But it is a lifelong arrangement that continues for the group no matter how their lives change. They share everything, including a husband or man and children.”
Kasumi looked thoughtful before turning to Giselle. “I think that’s what we have.”
“I agree, lady.”
“I’ve never asked you or the others if you want children. Do you?”
Giselle nodded. “Yes, lady. Nishiko and Ayame do as well.”
“Then we must speak to Iain about it. Today.”
“Yes, lady.”
Kasumi turned back to Keanellos. “You did not answer my question.”
“No, I didn’t. And I would like to not answer it.”
Kozakura looked at him, her ears flicking uncertainly. “Why?”
“How we might feel about each other is our business. It’s not your mother’s and it’s not Father’s. If the three of us, together, decide to tell them something about our relationship, that’s fine. But I would be violating yours and Nejiko’s privacy if I were to tell anyone anything about us without your permission and approval.”
“You are not going to produce a wife that you have not told us about, are you,” Nejiko asked suddenly.
“I don’t have one to produce. You already know about my former mate.”
Nejiko nodded and looked at Kozakura. “I like him better than Iain-sama. He has none of Iain-sama’s faults.”
Kasumi frowned. “Faults? Which of Iain’s faults are you bringing up?” Nejiko hesitated. “I will not take offense. I am well aware that my husband is far from perfect, either as a human or as a Nipponese.”
“Kasumi-sama,” Nejiko said quietly, “you are the biggest of Iain-sama’s faults. Keanellos does not have attachments that include Kozakura’s mother and many other women. He is currently unattached and would have much more time to spend with Kozakura,” she glanced at Kozakura, “and me.”
“I believe the word that would describe what you are suggesting much better than the word fault,” Ayame said, “is drawback.” She picked up the fallen teacup and placed it to the side before filling another cup and offering it to Keanellos.
Nejiko nodded. “Yes,” she said gratefully.
“I do sometimes wish that Iain had fewer demands on his time so that he had more time for us,” Kasumi put her cup down. “That includes the other women in his life. However, he would not be the man that I love if he didn’t rise to the responsibilities that he is faced with. Keanellos, are you like that?”
“I believe I am,” Keanellos replied. “And I know that Father has plans to put my skills to use for the clan here, but I am not looking to become a tamer and have a harem, unless Kozakura and Nejiko, for some reason, want me to.”
Kozakura’s ears flicked. “What does Iain-sama intend for you to be doing?”
Keanellos gave her an apologetic look. “I am sorry, Kozakura, but I cannot tell you anything about Father’s plans. They are classified and I am not authorized to read you and Nejiko into them.”
“And if I insisted?”
“This is clan business and I am sworn to secrecy, Kozakura. If you cannot accept that,” he turned his head to meet her gaze, “at least we found out early so we can end things before we’re in a relationship.”
“If we marry, will these duties take you away from us?”
“I cannot say anything, Kozakura.”
“Kozakura,” Kasumi said firmly.
Kozakura looked towards her mother. “Yes, Mother?”
“If you marry Keanellos, you and Nejiko will be helping him with his duties to the clan.”
“You know what he will doing?”
Kasumi nodded. “I have a general idea of Iain’s plans in that regard.”
“Can you tell me about them?”
“I cannot. The plans are classified as need to know only and you and Nejiko are not clan. Additionally, currently you have no need to know.”
“But you can tell me that whatever Keanellos is doing would involve me if I am his wife?”
“I can. Keanellos could not even tell you that much.”
“Why couldn’t he tell me that?”
“I am much of much higher rank in the hierarchy of the clan,” Kasumi said simply. “And Iain and I discussed the situation after I met Keanellos the first time. I was given permission to tell you what I have.” She smiled. “Iain intended me to use this information to manipulate you into forming that relationship with Keanellos and to become clan.”
“By telling us that,” Nejiko asked, “aren’t you worried that it will drive us away from him?”
Nishiko chuckled. “It will not. You and Kozakura are already favorably inclined towards Keanellos. Now you know that will also lead to you satisfying your curiosity about something that we are explaining you will never learn more about otherwise.”
Keanellos shook his head. “Father is manipulating me?” He laughed. “Of course he is. He’s been manipulating me for his goals since I was a child.”
Nejiko eyed him. “You were not part of these plans to manipulate Kozakura-san and me, were you?”
“I respect you and Kozakura. I would never be part of any plan to do something like that to you. You’d be very angry with me if I did because you would eventually find out about it. What I desire from you both requires you to not be that angry with me, especially when our relationship is in its formative stages.”
“You are treating this as a military campaign, aren’t you?”
Keanellos smiled. “It’s what I do best.”
Nejiko surprised him with a smile of her own. “You are very good at it.” She looked at Kozakura. “I still like him better than Iain-sama.”
Kozakura glanced at Keanellos. “Me too.” She looked at Kasumi. “Mother, thank you for being as forthcoming as you can with us. Is there anything else?”
Kasumi nodded. “Yes, there is. What of your family, Keanellos? Do you have siblings?”
“I am the eldest. My youngest sibling is Regwyn and she is currently the crown princess and heir to the throne. However, Mother is pregnant and Regwyn is pursuing other interests. My middle sibling is my brother, Sardan.” He shrugged. “Sardan is Sardan.”
“I am afraid we do not know Sardan so that means nothing to us,” Kasumi put her teacup down. “Please elaborate.”
“All of Father’s children are blessed by Eilistraee and Mielikki,” Keanellos said evenly. “Sardan decided, at that point, he wanted to spend his life in service to the Lady Dancer and he became a priestess of hers. He has also completed the training to be a High Mage of Vyshaan but resigned from his post almost immediately to pursue some special projects for Father. I have not spoken with him for some time.”
Kasumi looked interested. “What special projects?”
“I know that he is involved with Skylord, but I believe his part in that is coming to a close. I do not know if that project is classified and I cannot discuss it further in front of Kozakura and Nejiko.”
“It is not classified,” Kasumi said. “I am surprised that someone from Faerun would be involved with it, however.”
“Sardan is fascinated by technology,”
“May I ask what this project is,” Kozakura asked.
Kasumi nodded. “You may. One of the problems we are discovering is that the clan is spread too thinly, and that was even before claiming the new lands in Louisiana and Mississippi. We discovered a place with dinosaurs and other creatures that can be tamed and are obedient. However, they were only adapted to living in that place and places like it. Skylord is a program to bring them to One and other places where we are so that they may serve as steeds, cargo carriers and force multipliers in our current and future battles. Properly trained, they will help us locate and fight the ferals in places where we cannot or should not use our technology.”
“I know of several breeds of dinosaur pokegirls,” Kozakura said. “But they can be found anywhere.”
“Not pokegirls,” Kasumi said quietly. “True dinosaurs and creatures, mostly predators who will help control the feral population.”
“I have never heard of such a place,” Nejiko stated.
“We do not normally speak about it,’ Giselle said. “It is very dangerous, very challenging and very fun.”
Kozakura blinked. “Fun? How can such a place be fun?”
Giselle smiled. “You are a wolf spirit with the blood of a dragon. In many ways you are like us, the powerful pokegirls. Like all of us, you never truly relax. Always, we hold something back for fear of harming someone important to us or a bystander. Now imagine a place where you can, for the first time ever, use all of your power as freely as you want, without fear of consequence. A place where, if you do not use your power to its utmost, you will not succeed and you may not even survive. A place that demands you unleash all of your power and use all of your experience to rise to the challenges that it presents. How can such a place not be fun to such as us?”
Kozakura turned to Keanellos. “Have you been to this place?”
He nodded. “I went there once, for a brief time. There are places there that are insanely dangerous.”
“So you are not familiar with this place?”
He frowned. “Not very. Why?”
“It sounds like a good place for us to learn to work together, like with the sailing lessons, since none of us know it well. I would like you to take us there so that we can see if Giselle is correct.”
Kasumi’s eyes twinkled. “I believe that I can get you permission to go there.”
“Good.” She turned to Keanellos. “I would like to return to One and I would like you to come with us. I want you meet my brother and uncle. My mother obviously approves of you and I want to see what they think of you too.”
“I am at your disposal in this,” Keanellos replied. “I am staying at a bed and breakfast here on the island and I can check out today.”
“Please do. We will leave as soon as you are ready.”
“Should I cancel the other sailing lessons?”
Kozakura nodded. “Yes. We can finish them another time, but I want you to meet my family before we do more things together.”
He rose. “I shouldn’t be more than an hour. I’ll contact you by twee if the owner gets longwinded again.”
“Why are you not staying at a hotel,” Ayame asked.
“I am still uncomfortable around large amounts of technology, especially that involving electricity and electronics. The idea that lightning has been tamed and put to such prevalent use is something I am still becoming accustomed to.” Keanellos replied. “The bed and breakfast was said to be traditional Nipponese and very restful. While it’s not what I am used to, it was quiet and unsophisticated, which I appreciate while I am learning about worlds with more technology than I am used to.” He smiled. “I’ll let you know when I’m ready to go.” With that, he turned and jogged for the road.
***
“There is a dragon inbound,” Iain said quietly to Winter’s Dream. “She’s trying to be sneaky and coming up from downwind so she can get our scent and we can’t get hers.” He sent her the imaging from the satellite overhead of the dragon winging toward them.
Winter’s Dream hissed softly. “That is Zetre and he is a drake. I don’t think that is his real name but it is what he calls himself and it’s all I know him by. He is the one who had me whoring myself out for scraps of food.”
“I hear in your voice that I shouldn’t ever get between you and him,” Iain said wryly.
“No, you should not,” she said grimly. “Can I try my new idea out on him?”
“Be my guest.”
She smiled at him as she smoothed her dress down over her hips. “You are a very considerate drake.”
“You really want to try that out on someone and I am more than willing to offer him up so you don’t think about trying it on me.”
“You helped me with the idea. I am certain you have already come up with a defense against it.” She waited a few seconds before smiling again. “You are not denying it.”
“I’m not going to lie to you. I’ll just be ready in case it doesn’t work like you hope it will.”
Caintigern appeared, followed a few seconds later by Nightraven. “The satellite warned us about the intruder. Do we let her reach us?”
“Winter’s Dream recognizes him,” Iain slightly stressed the last word. “And she doesn’t like him so she’s going to try a new idea out on him.”
“Is this idea lethal,” Nightraven asked.
“If it works as she intends, very much so. It depends on how fast he can react to surprises.”
“He should be coming into view soon,” Caintigern said.
Winter’s Dream turned to face the northeast and raised her hand. A few seconds later, Zetre appeared on the horizon. He was keeping low and pushing hard to fly at a speed somewhere between a normal pace and a sprint, obviously in an attempt to either surprise or ambush them. Iain nodded to himself as the outer barrier of wards informed him as the drake crossed it. Satellite observation was great, but when invisibility was an option, it couldn’t be the only safeguard employed.
Winter’s Dream waited until Zetre was half a kilometer away before Iain felt the surge of magic. A sphere of translucent liquid appeared around Zetre, moving with the drake. A heartbeat later, it exploded into a coruscant display of lighting that filled the sphere and dozens of meters around it and was bright enough to be blinding to anyone staring directly at it.
The sphere dropped in an arc as Zetre did until the lightning died out. Then it vanished, leaving his scorched corpse to tumble to the earth below.
Winter’s Dream grabbed Iain up in a hug. “It worked!” Her eyes were hard as she released him. “Do you think he suffered?”
“I don’t know.”
“I hope he did!”
“Then he did.”
“That was an interesting method,” Nightraven observed. “How did you do that?”
“While training on the Island, I’ve been looking through the books in Iain’s library,” Winter’s Dream said. “Iain and I had been discussing how hard it was to quickly kill one of the People because of our magic. He said that the best way would be to keep our victim from being able to respond to what we were doing. One of the ways he suggested was to,” she frowned, “completely overcome the target’s central nervous system before they could react to what was being done to them. I took an idea from his formal magic spell books and he helped me make it work.”
“It’s a modified version of a formal magic monster summoning spell,” Iain added since he knew that Winter’s Dream hadn’t answered Nightraven’s question. His teacher had that look around her eyes which suggested it needed answered and quickly. “It creates a water globe around the target while also summoning/creating two hundred Cnidaria of the type used on the Arks inside it. They’re crammed up against the victim’s body and almost instantly react with their usual aggression by unleashing a lot of electricity that hopefully overwhelms the target’s CNS while barbecuing it. It has the added benefit of when the lightning stops, it’s because the Cnidaria don’t sense foreign life around them and you know the target has either escaped or is dead.”
“I can sense that he is no longer alive,” Nightraven said. “What about contingencies?”
“The People have never explored the branches of magic regarding bringing the dead back to life,” Iain said. “Or, if they have, the information isn’t widely disseminated. I believe that’s true since the library I assembled after the extinction of the People didn’t have anything on it and neither did Caintigern’s library of what the Queens and Princesses study. On the worlds of the People, only you and I know much about that magic and could have taken steps not to stay dead if there’s an accident or we’re murdered.”
“I believe you are correct,” Nightraven said. “I didn’t study it until I encountered someone who refused to stay dead after I was on Faerun. Dispose of the body.” She frowned and shook her head. “Here you are not my student. You are my mate and partner. Please dispose of the body before it can draw predators or attention. Winter’s Dream and I will go to this drake’s lair and see if he has anything we want.” She looked at Winter’s Dream. “Come.” She walked far enough away to safely shift and took to the air.
“Winter’s Dream?” The dragoness looked at Iain. “Nicely done. It was so fast he never had a chance to react. You’ll have to practice how you employ the magic so you can get faster if you want to use it more often and you still point, but still, nicely done.”
Her eyes lit up with pleasure. “Thank you, Iain! And thank you for helping me answer Nightraven. I still do not know how to best answer her questions when she is teaching me.”
“I’m still her student and I’ve had a lot of practice. Get with me later and I’ll give you some pointers in dealing with her.”
“I will.” She ran a few steps and jumped, shifting in midair and climbing hard to follow Nightraven.
“How much of the work with that technique did she do?” Caintigern was watching Winter’s Dream fly away. “It is quite original and I haven’t seen her be that creative before. It is more something that you would envision.”
“We were talking about how to quickly take down a wary dragon and I explained it would involve either surprising it so much that it freezes up for long enough to be killed or if somehow its brain and neural system could be temporarily overcome. That led into a discussion about how nerves carry information which led into how to best disrupt that transfer, which led to lightning. She’d recently stuck her nose in the water to get a drink and gotten electrocuted by Cnidaria. She came up with the idea of using them to immobilize an enemy and I guided her to the monster summoning spells and how they worked. So I guess it was a collaborative effort with me doing maybe sixty percent of the work.” He shrugged. “She’s as smart as you are and more willing to experiment and think outside of the box.”
“You admire that in her. How am I better than she is?”
“You’re older, more mature, a proven mother, better educated in magic and much more powerful than she is.”
Caintigern chuckled. “You did not hesitate before answering. Nicely done, my drake. Do you require assistance in burning the corpse?”
“I’m going to gate it back to Twenty Eight. That’s the number of the Ark we’re using as a jumping off point to here and where we’ve been taking Winter’s Dream to train. I’ll put it someplace where the wildlife can clean the corpse up.”
“Will there be sheep? I have found I really like the taste of their meat.”
Iain smiled. “And if I told my mate that I already knew that and had tamed some sheep for breeding so she will have mutton available whenever she wants it?”
“I would say that my mate is very intelligent and then ask if any of them are ready to be eaten now.”
“There is one, a spare ram that I don’t want. Will that do?”
“You don’t want him to add depth to the genetic pool for the sheep?”
“I have four rams and ten ewes for that. This one has some confirmation issues that I don’t want incorporated into the line I’m breeding.”
“Then I will be glad to help you ensure he doesn’t get among the ewes. Why do you have so many sheep?”
“Winter’s Dream likes them too, so I want plenty for you both.”
“Good.” Caintigern took his hand. “Let us be off so I can have a sheep.”
***
“It’s looking like I’m going to need to go back to One,” Iain said.
Nightraven looked up from her tablet. “Why?” All four of them were on Twenty Eight and working on the infrastructure they’d need to proceed further with their plans.
“The Island doesn’t have any gold or silver where it’s easy to get to and I need both for the satellites.” He reached for his water. “Or I could just bring satellites here. I can have them fabricated there much easier and quicker than the very basic production operation I’ve built here.”
“If you do go, can I go with you,” Winter’s Dream asked. “I would like to see another world and meet these people that are so important to you. I have never met aliens.”
“How long will you be gone,” Caintigern asked.
“Here? Maybe five minutes. There? It shouldn’t take more than a week to gather the things I’ll need.”
“I could transmute some of the stone here into silver and gold,” Nightraven noted.
“You could. Then I’d have to smelt it, refine it, dope it with the appropriate items, some of which are even rarer here than gold and silver are and then manufacture it into the satellites.” He rubbed his nose. “And I still need to go back to One. While our chances of living through this have gone up, they still suck and I need to brief my command staff about what’s going on in case we don’t return.”
Nightraven put down her tablet. “I do not want you telling them.”
“That’s just your instinctive secrecy gene firing,” Iain replied. “They need to know. More importantly for you, our plans are at a point where outside influences will have minimal effect on what we’re attempting. Even if someone there is secretly Blacktooth’s bestie, which none of them are, and calls her with a warning the instant I tell them what’s going on, it won’t change anything.”
“You are going to defy me on this no matter what, aren’t you,” Nightraven observed. “Of course you are since it’s part of what I need you to be for me as well. I cannot interfere because of my oath.”
“That’s not true and we all know it.”
Nightraven’s lips twitched. “True. I will not interfere. I have enough enemies to want to avoid adding my mate to that list. If nothing else, it would doom our plans to save the People and the Royal bloodline.”
“What is this oath,” Winter’s Edge asked.
“Iain understands that any of us could wipe out his family,” Caintigern said. “He loves them and would sacrifice himself willingly to keep them whole. We offered and gave oaths to keep him from worrying that we would harm them.”
Winter’s Dream turned to Iain. “Do you feel that strongly about me?”
“No. I like you, but I haven’t known you long enough or well enough to love you like I love them.”
“What about Nightraven and Caintigern?”
“I’ve had some trust issues with them both that we’ve worked through. Like with you, I am courting them but I don’t want to have children with them yet.”
She nodded. “I will take this oath too.”
“I appreciate that and will oath you before we leave.”
Winter’s Dream looked surprised. “You will let me meet them?”
“I want you to meet them. I want Nightraven to meet them and I’d like Caintigern to spend more time with them.”
“Why?”
“They are people you’d like if you got to know them. If you like someone, you are less likely to destroy them or even consider destroying them.” He smiled. “Besides, acquiring a little humanity would benefit all of you.”
“Perhaps after we succeed and our mission is over,” Nightraven said. “Until then, I need to focus on what we are doing here and on the worlds of the People. You have given me hope that I never had before, hope that we can keep my mother from being murdered by Blacktooth’s forces. Once my family is safe, only then will I consider weakening my focus on saving her and the rest of the People.”
“And I hope that we can save the People and my daughter,” Caintigern added. “Tell them what you must, but only what you must. Bring back cookies.”
Iain chuckled. “I will.” He looked at Winter’s Dream. “Let’s get you to take that oath and then we’ll pack for the trip.”
***
Theodora appeared as the gate closed behind them. “Hello Iain,” she said cheerfully. Who is this woman? I presume she is the reason you are not returning on the Theodora or the Danger Room.
“Winter’s Dream, this is Theodora. She is a guardian who helps protect family and guests here.” Uploading memories and instructions.
“Caintigern told me that I should use a human name,” Winter’s Dream said. “She said that I should ask you to give me a list of names that I could use to pick one. Please give me that list.” She smiled. “Oh, can you send it by twee so I don’t have to pore over a scroll or book? Thank you. I like Niamh. I will use that name.”
“Greetings Niamh,” Theodora said. “I am Theodora and I welcome you to the Grey Clan capital.” I have called a meeting of the command staff for tonight at 2200. Do you wish Niamh to be there too?
I don’t think so. “Niamh is here to meet my family while I gather some items I need for a project.”
“I’ll spread the word and help Niamh when she meets someone new.”
“Is Rosemary busy right now?”
Theodora cocked her head. “She’s on her way.”
“Thank you.” He turned to Niamh. “As we discussed, I’ve got some things I have to do but it turns out that most of them won’t happen until later today. Rosemary is going to be your guide but I’ll go with you for a little while if you don’t mind.”
“I do not. If you didn’t trust me, I would not be here.”
Iain smiled. “Very good.” He paused when Rosemary appeared. “Rosemary, this is Niamh. She’s going to be our guest for a few days.”
Rosemary smiled at Niamh. “Hi! I’m Rosemary Grey and I will be your guide, at least at the beginning of your visit.”
Niamh help up a hand. “Please stand still. I have never seen someone who is not of the People before.” She walked around Rosemary slowly, looking her over. Then she looked at Iain. “Is this one of the ones that you love here and are working to protect?”
Rosemary’s ears flicked and she gave Iain an interested look. “Well, am I?”
“Yes, you are.”
“You’ve never said the words to me.”
“That has nothing to do with how I feel about you.”
“I still want to hear them from you, but not now.”
“Soon, promise.”
“Promise accepted.” She grinned. “May I move now?”
“Yes.” Niamh closed her eyes for a moment and suddenly she had cat’s ears and a tail. Her eyes opened to reveal that they were slitted as her ears flicked and rotated. “Your hearing is better than mine.” She frowned and her eyes returned to normal. “But my eyesight is better than yours.”
Rosemary stared for a second before grinning. “That’s awesome!” She glanced at Iain. “Can you do that?”
“I made a promise to April not to become more pokegirl-like without her permission.”
“Could this be useful for you?”
“I’d have to test to know. I suspect it could be.”
“Then I need to talk to Ninhursag about April’s phobias.” The Mistoffeles grinned toothily at Niamh. “I like you. What would you like to see first?”
Niamh grinned back. “Everything!”
Is she safe around children?
She should be.
“Everything at once is a little difficult,” Rosemary said thoughtfully. “So let’s start with the kids and then we’ll go from there.”
“I understand what it means to be a guest here,” Niamh said quickly. “I will not harm anyone, especially not the children.” She smiled widely, showing she’d even given herself Rosemary’s dentition. “I do not want to fight Iain. He is very cunning and would crush me quickly.” She winked at him. “If nothing else, I have not figured out how to defend against the technique you taught me that I used to kill Zetre.”
“You’ll be fine,” Iain said. “Let’s go see the children first.”
***
Iain looked around the room. “I’m calling this meeting to order. Yes, it’s later than normal for one of these meetings. It was the first time that Theodora was able to get us all together and it was important enough to do so now. Otherwise, I’d have had her tell you to drop whatever you were doing and called the meeting as soon as I returned.”
Ninhursag nodded. “We understand that this important. What is it?”
“Theodora, Daya, I want you to remember the information about Nightraven and Caintigern that I told you about.”
Daya shook her head. “My word. Everyone, please don’t be angry with Iain. It isn’t his fault.”
“That sounds unpleasant,” Vanessa noted.
“I’ll keep this as short as I can,” Iain said. “I have been keeping important things from you.”
“Are you invoking privacy,” Kasserine asked curiously.
“I am not. This is restricted information, but you need to know it and, if you feel it’s necessary, you can disburse it.” He took a sip of water. “Unfortunately, there’s some kind of detailed and convoluted background and means this isn’t going to really be all that short. “First, I am a dragon. Caintigern is a dragon. We are of the same dragon species, from a race that calls themselves the People. This you already knew. What you didn’t know is that Nightraven is also a dragon of the People. So is Winter’s Dream, I mean Niamh. Caintigern is Nightraven’s grandaunt. Nightraven, Caintigern and, recently, Winter’s Dream have all been working on a project with me.” He chuckled. “Bear with me since she’s only been Niamh since this afternoon.”
“How long have you known her?”
“A couple of months. All three of them have taken me as their mate.” He smiled in the sudden silence. “Now I can tell you the backstory.”
“There’s more,” April asked. “How much more?”
“A lot. This story covers several thousand years, although I’m not in it for most of it. The People are a matriarchy with a Queen. Like with the goblins, at least until recently with them, descent is only matrilineal and the male contribution isn’t tracked. Drakes are usually entered into a creche program to be raised with other drakes while dragonesses are raised to be contributing members of society.”
“Usually,” Kasserine asked.
“It’s not widely talked about but some drakes are killed at birth if the dragoness doesn’t feel like dealing with him.”
“That’s barbaric,” Lucifer said.
“For humans, maybe. For the People, it’s what they’ve always done. Drakes do get to participate in society and they have regular low class jobs or are artists or athletes of one stripe or another, since a bored dragon is a destructive dragon, but their real purpose is to breed more dragonesses. Meanwhile, they’re second class citizens. However, I’m getting beyond the immediate scope.”
Iain took another drink. “The daughters of a Queen are Princesses. Because members of bloodlines are all related by matrilineal descent, powerful members of the Royal bloodline may also want to become Queen and they can take the title of Princess too to start the process. Princesses train to be Queen and to become strong enough to eventually kill the Queen to take her place. If she cannot kill the Queen, her life is forfeit. Yes, it’s barbaric. It’s also not unprecedented in human society. There are whispers of Princesses who were never strong enough to kill their Queen and other whispers of Queens who knew it and didn’t fight back hard when their daughter came to kill them so their immediate line could stay on the throne. Is everyone following so far?”
“It’s a horror show,” April said quietly, “but yes.”
“It gets worse,” Iain said. “Caintigern was a Queen and her Princess was never going to be powerful enough to kill her. Caintigern wasn’t ready to die, but she was tired of being Queen. She decided, for the first time in the documented history of the People, to abdicate the throne and place her daughter, Princess Stillwater, on the throne in her place. Something to remember is that the People are all truewizards and, as such, immortal unless they take their own lives or are killed. Queens tend to rule for thousands of years. They have many daughters, not all of whom become Princesses. Those who do not become Princesses move on to other, highly ranked positions where they have dragonesses of their own. The Royal line had spread far and wide to the point that many of them were not highly placed in society. They were essentially commoners with some special rights, but they could still become Princesses to later challenge the Queen if they were ambitious enough and willing to bet their life on their ambitions because they were of the Royal bloodline. Nightraven is a commoner member of the Royal bloodline. She was interested in some research of her own and followed a scholar that she had met off world and to another dimension to where she thought this scholar had established a research library. There, Nightraven hoped to become her student. That meant she was not on any of the four worlds of the People when things came apart and was after Queen Stillwater had been on the throne for at least a few centuries. After abdicating, Caintigern then began exploring the universes looking for a place to settle down for her own research.”
“How does this tie together,” Kasserine asked.
“After Queen Stillwater took the throne, Nightraven was off looking for her missing scholar and Caintigern had gone exploring, a member of the Queen’s retinue, a dragoness named Tharilat had an epiphany, Tharilat, who been nicknamed Blacktooth, was not of the Royal bloodline but decided she wanted the throne for herself. She assembled a bunch of her bloodline and assassinated Stillwater. She then sent her forces to murder every member of the Royal bloodline that existed while she took the throne. Sometime during this, a warding was set up to inform Blacktooth if any of the Royal bloodline, most specifically Caintigern, appeared on the worlds of the People. Orders were issued to her troops to kill any Royal who returned. During the massacre, Nightraven’s mother managed to get a warning to her before she was killed, so she knew not to return home.”
“Eventually Nightraven settled in Faerun with some pretty dark ideas of revenge. But she knew her line was dead and also that she needed to reestablish the Royal bloodline to support her when she returned home. She was the only member of the Royal bloodline that she was aware of and so it meant she had to have children. Because of this, it became her practice to take promising truewizards who could be potential mates as students to train and evaluate them for the position of consort. She did take a few female students and it could be that she figured that, as lesser races, she could just turn them into males if necessary. We’ve never discussed it.” He smirked. “Yet.”
“She must be the one that turned you into a dragon,” April stated. “Why?”
“The People are huge into blood purity,” Iain said simply. “A mixed blood dragon is not a member of the People and can never become one. Breeding with anything that is not one of the People is anathema. First Stallion was one of the People and he would be a huge pervert and outcast from the People’s society if it was ever found out he was producing children with the unicorns he’d created. So if Nightraven was going to have children with me, or with any student, that student would have to become one of the People. Just for the record, I was not consulted before she changed my spirit, but it was over a thousand years ago in my timeline and I am more dragon than human. I would not give up being a dragon.”
“You said once that Nightraven would never tolerate being discussed,” Kasserine noted. “You couldn’t tell us anything about her because she’d exterminate us. What has changed?”
“Nightraven took an oath not to do something like that and she approved me telling you this. There’s a problem with that because the People don’t have the same honor system that we do and a dragoness can change her mind about anything and do whatever she wants if she feels she’s powerful enough. Only the social rules restrain them, just like us, but their society isn’t anything like ours. However, I needed to tell you this in case I don’t come back.”
April scowled. “What are the odds?”
“Up until recently, I was giving us less than a ten percent chance of success and less than two percent that I’d survive it, even if we did win. Now, I think we’ve got an eighty percent chance of success and about the same that I don’t die, even if we do fail.”
“If the initial odds were so low, why even consider doing what she wanted,” April asked.
“It was obviously to protect us,” Ninhursag said. “We are the one thing that Iain would willingly give his life for. Why did the odds get so much better?”
“The entire mission changed and also Winter’s Dream, I mean Niamh, joined us.”
“How did the mission change?”
Iain took a long drink from his glass. “We discovered that something, during the thousands of years between Nightraven and Caintigern leaving the People and us planning to attack them, something had happened and that the People were extinct as a race. As far as we knew, it was just us three, and that if you counted a foreign born drake as a member of the People. What happened? I am not sure.”
“How did the mission change?”
“The mission became to save the People from extinction and only secondarily to punish Blacktooth’s line for what their progenitor had done.”
“Time travel,” Kasserine said. “You are very good at identifying cusps of probability and altering timelines.” She smiled. “Just as you did for me and Ava. I feel sorry for my analog who never had the chance to meet you, but I would not change places with her for anything. Where did you decide to intervene?”
“After Caintigern had decided to abdicate the throne but before she carried out her decision. In theory that would keep the Royal bloodline on the throne and Blacktooth would still be alive for Nightraven to murder, even if she hadn’t really done anything yet. We’d just have to justify it to the Queen Caintigern so she didn’t try to protect Blacktooth as her subject. They do have laws against just randomly murdering people, and some fairly sophisticated magical forensic techniques available. We came out a little earlier than I like, but Caintigern assures me she’s already decided to put her daughter on the throne in her place and that’s the crucial event.”
Vanessa eyed him curiously. “How does Niamh help?”
“She’s been on First World recently and knows the situation there. I won’t be going in nearly as blind as I’d been worried I would have had to.”
“Of course you are going in,” Lucifer observed. “Alone?”
“In the beginning, yes. All three of them have twee and will be able to monitor and intervene if necessary. I intend to meet the Queen and explain to her what’s going on before the others join me.”
“Why would she meet you?” April chuckled. “You’re an impressive drake of course.”
“That’s the hope.”
“Is there a plan B?”
“I’m sure there is. And C and D and E,” Theodora said. “Iain always has backups for his backups.”
“If it keeps him alive,” Kasserine noted, “we all know that we will help him plan even more backup plans.”
“Did you come here to brief us,” Ninhursag asked.
“Ostensibly I’m here to get some satellites to put into orbit around First World, but yes, this was my real reason to come back now.”
“Ostensibly,” April asked.
“We’re staging from an Ark. While I’ve found three universes with an Ark program around Earth, this one is one of the ones in the system with some of our Arks and there’s a huge manufacturing infrastructure present that Theodora and Daya control. Yes, the numbered Arks are all in the same universe, but they’re individually numbered for convenience. I could have gotten satellites from the local manufacturing base quite easily. However, you need to know what’s happening and I need to tell you this in a face to face. If I don’t come back, I’ll get word to Daya and you can be ready to evacuate if it becomes necessary.”
“You will survive, mister,” April said firmly.
“Yes, ma’am. Order received and understood,” Iain replied. “I will carry it out.”
“You do that.” April’s demeanor sobered. “What can we do to help?”
“Be as supportive as you are now. Nightraven and Caintigern don’t want any of the lesser races involved with what they’re doing. I don’t either, but it’s so you don’t get crushed when dragonesses fight. I know you could be incredibly helpful. It’s just that they tend to be a mite hard on the terrain and everything in it. Now if I could find some strangers to feed into the maelstrom that’s coming and if they would give me another percentage point or two of surviving, I might be willing to tempt Lucifer’s wrath over their deaths.”
“Niamh is friendly enough,” Vanessa noted. “And she loves the children.”
“Niamh is very nice,” Iain agreed. “And she’s an outlier to the point that she has exiled herself from the People because she can’t stand their behavior. She’d decided to never have children until Nightraven tempted her with my rules about kids.”
“Do you love any of them?”
Iain shrugged. “They all meet what I want in a partner. It’s just that they still do things that make my mind ask what I am I doing around them. It’s just so fucking hard to trust them.” He smiled. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve accepted and like the fact that I’m a dragon.” His smile faded. “I just wish I’d had a choice in the decision. Up until recently, their behavior still reminded me that I don’t have a lot of choices about how I interact with them and it rankles. A rankled Iain is not a loving Iain.”
“What changed?”
“They treat me more as a dragoness and less as a drake.” Iain rubbed his eyes. “I realize that that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it explains everything.”
“They treat you more as a powerful pokegirl and less as a human,” Lucifer said. “As we should probably be treating you.”
Iain smiled. “No comment. This is an update on what’s been going on with me, Nightraven, Caintigern and Niamh. I am not going to turn it into a bitch session about other things.”
“See,” Vanessa said with a grin. “Smart.” Her grin died. “Just come back to us. If you need some faceless strangers to die so you can return to us, I think Lucifer and I might be able to find you some guilty ones we wouldn’t protest about too much.”
Iain smiled. “You are all incredibly wonderful women that I don’t deserve. But I’m not letting you get away.”
“Good,” April said. “How long can you stay?”
“I’d like to stay for the next thirty or forty years but Niamh heard me tell the others that I’d be here no more than a week. Theodora, I want enough O&I satellites to cover six planets as well as six small stations with full stealth. They can double as the communications constellation. And by small station, I mean spy station small. These people have good enough telescopes that Niamh was able to use one on the surface of Fourth World to observe Fifth World long enough to use the sighting as a destination point for a teleport. That’s how she got to Fifth World.”
Vanessa blanched. “I did that to get to Luna the first time with Typhonna for our duel. That’s incredibly risky. I missed the moon and had to fly the rest of the way there before I went back for my foe.”
“She almost died in the attempt. I don’t doubt that most people die if they try to do something like that. I know I’d have to be very desperate to even consider something that crazy. She is very glad that I can open gates, so she’s not completely mad.”
“If you will take preassembled stations that are large enough to move themselves to the other planets you want covered,” Daya said, “we can have one large package ready to go before tomorrow afternoon. That will include a large ball of nanites to harvest some asteroids in the system for replenishment, to harvest material for the stations to repair themselves and extra satellites if you need them. You can gate them to the Ark system and then to the People’s system where they will deploy in stealth. Everything will have a self destruct in case an outlander occupies it.”
“Put it together. I will also want a Dikon filled with the cookies Caintigern likes the most. I’m still staying a week.”
“April and I will reschedule everyone so you can spend some time with them in turn,” Ninhursag said. “That’s for us and to remind you the reason you’re following April’s order to survive.”
“I won’t argue against it.” He looked around the room. “That’s pretty much it.”
Ninhursag stood. “I’ll end the meeting with this, Iain. Violate your rules, violate our rules, violate every rule you might even think you have to so you can come back to us. We can deal with any fallout afterwards and we can deal with it together, as it should be.”
“That sounds like a good plan. I’m in.”
“Good. Rosemary and Niamh have been getting along well, so we’ll let her keep chaperoning Niamh around. I can spell her with Matilda if need be.”
“Let her know what a great responsibility she’s assumed so she understands just how much trust we’re placing in her,” Kasserine said.
“That’s an excellent point,” Ninhursag noted. “I will.” She looked at Iain. “The schedule is going to be tight, so no unscheduled fucking, mister, unless it’s Niamh.” She laughed when he pouted and stuck out his tongue. “Oral is still fucking.”
“Fine.” Iain’s eyes twinkled. “Meanie.”
“Yes, I am. Now this meeting is ended. What’s next for you?”
“I have a meeting with Kasumi about something and then it’s to bed with Ygerna.”
She kissed him gently. “See you tomorrow then.”
***
“I want to meet her.”
Iain raised an eyebrow as Ava smiled serenely at him. “Which her are you referring to?”
“Winter’s Dream.”
Iain’s other eyebrow joined the first. “Where did you hear that name?”
“Not from Mother or anyone else. I had a dream last night that was a visitation from the Lady Dancer. She whispered Niamh’s real name to me and told me that I had to meet her.”
“When?”
“Now.”
Iain hefted the picnic basket. “This is our private time.”
Ava reached up and caressed his cheek. “Husband, I love you as much as I love Mother and sex with you is wonderful and always something new. But my goddess calls me in this and I love her with all of my being.” She smiled sweetly at him. “You are her priestess and her Chosen and you understand duty often comes before anything we might want for ourselves. Niamh can join us on our picnic.”
Iain chuckled softly. “I always forget just how mature you can be when you’re wearing your priestess hat.”
“I am a reflection of my goddess,” Ava said simply. “As she can be flighty and frivolous at one time and as serious as death at another, so can I. As for foregoing sex with you today, I am not concerned about it. You and I will have many children. I have been promised this by you, whom I believe and trust and I have also been promised this by Eilistraee, who I also believe and trust. Mother has hinted that you have some dark trials ahead. I understand, perhaps better than any here except for Theodora and Daya since they have your memories, that you have already undergone many dark trials as our goddess’s Chosen. We will have those children, which means you will somehow survive what’s coming. I have faith in that.” She grinned. “And we will have lots and lots of sex to have those children, so I am willing to give up this day to my goddess.”
Iain took her hand. “You are an incredible woman and I am blessed that you are a part of my life. What about Dancer?”
“Dancer would confuse Niamh too much since she’s a moon horse and Niamh sees all quadrupeds as prey. She will learn otherwise, but today let’s keep things as simple as possible for her.”
“And Rosemary?”
“If necessary, I will deal with Rosemary,” Ava said. “She can come with us if she is willing to remain silent, otherwise she will be relieved and you can become Niamh’s escort for a little while since Rosemary isn’t really acting as Niamh’s guard.”
Iain checked his twee. “Niamh and Rosemary are in the berry garden.”
Ava tugged on his hand. “Let’s go!”
***
“Do you dream very often?”
Rosemary paused and looked back at Niamh, her ears flicking sideways in curiosity. “I don’t know about you dragons, but we dream every night, even if we don’t always remember them. I know I didn’t before I got my twee. Dreams are how our minds address things we were thinking about before we go to sleep and dreams help the mind categorize and sort memories for later retrieval. My twee and I had a talk about dreams and now it helps me remember all of them, no matter how fragmentary they are.”
“I don’t know if the People dream every time they sleep or not but I had a very vivid dream last night. It had two women in it that I have never seen before, and I feel it was important.” Niamh cocked her head. “Now that you’ve told me, my twee is enhancing my memories of the dream so I can see what I might have missed. I was asked a question by the woman who was incredibly tall. I don’t know what the question really was, but it was important that I answer truthfully.”
“Did you?”
“I believe I did, but I was told that today I would begin to reap the fruits of that answer and that it would involve the other woman, the one with the black hair and pointed ears.”
“That sounds like either Kasserine or Ava,” Rosemary said. “Were the eyes of this woman green and speckled with gold?”
Niamh shook her head. “No, she had one eye that was black and the other was white.”
Rosemary’s ears flicked. “That sounds like a description of Ava. She’s one of our family that you haven’t met yet.” She looked past Niamh and blinked. “And here she comes with Iain. I believe the phrase is curiouser and curiouser.”
Niamh turned to watch as Ava marched up, towing Iain behind her by the hand. The elf looked at her. “You will come with us.”
“I understand and I will,” Niamh said quietly.
Ava looked at Rosemary. “You may come as well, as long as you understand that this is meant to be and you may not interfere. If it means you must be silent, then be silent.”
Rosemary looked at Iain. What is going on?
Priestess business. That’s why she’s so serious.
Does this explain why Niamh just told me that she dreamed about Ava last night?
Maybe. Come along and find out but do what Ava wants in this since you’re not Niamh’s guard.
Rosemary smiled at Ava. “I will come. I will try to stay out of this unless I decide that you’re trying to coerce Niamh into something that she may not understand. She is our guest and I am her escort, so I cannot allow that kind of behavior towards her.”
Ava nodded. “That’s equitable. Come along then.” She flashed a grin. “You can even have lunch with us. Iain brought a chocolate pie along.”
“Pie is good. Lead the way.”
A short time later found them in a wooded glade in the old growth portion of their woods. Ava looked at Iain after the food had been laid out and eaten. “Would you provide some music? I brought a flute.” Iain summoned his staff and it shifted into a Celtic harp. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“I and my staff worked out how to form this and the shakuhachi while I was gone,” Iain said as he ran his fingers over the strings in an automatic habit of checking the tune. “We’re still working on the guitar. It’s not my staff, it’s my inability to visualize it properly.” He began strumming a soft melody.
Ava looked at Niamh. “Last night you had a dream about Eilistraee, my goddess. She came to me in a vision and spoke to me about it.”
“I remember part of that dream,” Niamh said. “I was asked a question by a very big woman with silver hair and black skin. She had ears like yours. But I cannot remember the answer I gave her or what the question was.”
Ava smiled at the dragoness. “You are mistaken, Niamh. Eilistraee did not ask you a question at all. My goddess was drawn to you because you had a question you wanted to ask her. You have spent your entire life looking for something. You were never sure what that something was or where it might be found, but you were certain that you needed to find it. That search brought you to Iain and he brought you here.”
Niamh’s eyes widened. “You are right. In my dream, I asked her a question and not the other way around. But I do not remember what the question was that I asked her. Can you tell me what it was?”
“I can,” Ava said gently. “You asked her if she would gather you up to her bosom and love you. Her answer was, of course, yes.”
Rosemary’s ears flicked. “She’s becoming a worshipper? Is she also becoming clan?”
“One step at a time, Rosemary,” Ava said. “Please, just listen. I am not finished with Niamh just yet.” She looked at Niamh. “Once Eilistraee had gathered you to her bosom, she asked you if you were ready to fully open your heart and give her your love in return for her favor.” Iain stirred but subsided and continued playing when Ava shot him a sharp glance.
“I was,” Niamh said enthusiastically. “And I am.”
“Then you will spend most of your remaining time visiting here with me. I will instruct you in your duties and responsibilities and, at the end, I will ask you that question again. If your answer is still yes, then I will ordain you as a priestess of Eilistraee. Iain, please get me a copy of the Lady Dancer’s religious documents for Niamh.”
Iain nodded. “Yes, High Priestess.”
Ava gave him a startled look but quickly hid it. “Thank you. Niamh, we will meet again tonight so that I can begin your instructions in our prayers.”
“Thank you, Ava,” Niamh gushed. “What should I do now?”
“Continue on with Rosemary as your guide.”
“I will. Rosemary was showing me the great grapes. I never encountered something like them before and I’d like to study them more.”
Rosemary rose gracefully. “I would be happy to take you back to the berry patch.”
“Then let us go.”
Ava watched the two rush off and waited until they were well out of sight before looking at Iain. “High Priestess?”
“Dancer mentioned once that you ordained her.”
Ava smiled. “I did. Drelegara had few priestess of Eilistraee. Her worship was more in the north of Evermeet, which is where I learned about her when I was much younger.”
“You ordained me,” Iain said. “You’re our high priestess.”
“You have been a priestess for much longer than I have,” Ava protested. “You should be our High Priestess.”
“I am a Chosen,” Iain replied. “We’re very rare but there are still rules about that. Chosen stand outside the hierarchy of the church and they do so for several very good reasons. “
Ava glared at him. “Damn it, that’s not right. You should be our High Priestess.”
“You’re still a minor for a few more days,” Iain dismissed his harp back onto his arm. “I should tell Kasserine that you’re cursing.”
Ava glared again. “As your High Priestess, I order you not to rat me out.”
“Ok.” She looked surprised and he grinned. “I wasn’t going to tell her. You’re an adult to me in every way that counts, and you have been pretty much once since the day we met.”
“Then why aren’t I pregnant?”
“You gave your mother a promise and I, as your husband, would be remiss in allowing you to be foresworn. Soon, my dearest Ava.” He smiled. “In the meantime, we still have some pie left. Want to split it?”
“No,” she got up and sat down next to him. “I want to share it. You feed me and I’ll feed you.”
Iain Grey
Harem
Ninhursag Grey - Elfqueen & maharani
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique Grey - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Zareen - Nightmare
Sofia - Ria
Vanessa – Evangelion
Lucifer – Megami Sama
Ganieda – Snugglebunny Splice
Heather - Elfqueen
Marguerite – Unicorn
Scheherazade – Dread Wolf
Irena – Sanctuary Goth
Lynn – Dire Wolf
Rosemary – Mistoffeles
Dianthus – Elfqueen
Candace – Nurse Joy (kami)
Bellona – Dragonqueen
Elizabeth – Vampire
Matilda - White Tigress
Sorrel - Armsmistress
Outer Clan
Golden Cloud – equine unicorn
Arianrhod -Fey Goblin Female
Satellite Clan
74 male Goblins
89 female Goblins
Queendom / Outer Clan
1048 Elves & Elfqueens
Dionne - Elfqueen
Adrianna - Elfqueen
Heltu - Wet Queen
14 Wet Elves
Dead Harem
Eirian - Silver Dragoness
Aurum - Gold Dragoness
Skye - Blue Dragoness
Emerald - Green Dragoness
Beryl - Red Dragoness
Julia - human
Ling - Cheetit
Liadan - Twau
Natalie - Blazicunt
Maria – Slutton
Alabaster – Dragoness (white)
Onyx – Dragoness (black)
Lapis – Dragoness (blue)
Garnet – Dragoness (red)
Iolite – Dragoness (purple)
Malachite – Dragoness (green with white swirls)
Viersunuth great wyrm blue true dragoness
Talyl – drow commoner
Zarza – drow commoner
Sabrae – drow commoner
Sintree – drow commoner
Alyfaen Dinaen – drow, matron of House Dinaen
Phaerxae Dinaen – drow, former matron of House Dinaen, mother of Alyfaen
Tadalareth – drow drageloth, daughter of Alyfaen, stolen by House Janaleth
Mother Children
Vanessa
Myrna (Age 4)
Saoirse
April
Dorothy: Duelist (Age 3)
Meara: Duelist
Regan: Duelist
Lucifer
Olivia: Megami Sama (Age 6)
Seraphina: Megami Sama
Miram: Angel (Age 5)
Zareen:
Caltha: Nightmare (Age 0)
Kim: Nightmare
Xanthe: Nightmare
Epona: Nightmare
Philippa: Nightmare
Nott: Nightmare
Nyx: Nightmare
Sofia
Anna: Ria
Esmerelda: Ria
Monica Chambers
James: Jamie Harris kid (Age 2)