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Grey Chronicles
Fourteen
(10/04/06 0945 Covenant, Kingdom of Haven)
“Thank you, Gwen. That will be all.” Kasumi said curtly as she gestured her three guests towards some chairs. “Please have a seat and I’ll prepare tea.”
The Neo Iczel hesitated for a second. “I’m supposed to stay, highness.”
The tall brunette standing near the doorway scowled. “She said leave, Gwen. You can wait outside and I’ll make sure your charges don’t wander away without you.”
“Nishiko, I am a knight and you aren’t my boss,” Gwen snapped.
“Dame Gwen?” Iain kept his tone conciliatory. “I promise I will not leave without you, even if Kasumi just wants to show us something. Not trying to get you in trouble, remember? Besides, Ninhursag and Eve will be here there too and I’d never leave them to go haring off someplace here. And if they went with me they’d be sure to drag you along too.”
Gwen looked into his eyes and relaxed at what she saw in them. “Thank you, Clan Leader. I’ll be right outside.” She slipped back through the doorway they’d entered from and gently shut the door.
Kasumi watched the exchange with interest. “You treat her with respect. That’s good to see.”
Iain started to say something and stopped with an effort. He thought for a moment and went with the pat answer. “Thanks.” He waved Eve towards a chair as Ninhursag took up station behind him.
“What were you going to say, Clan Leader?”
“My name is Iain and I understood you wanted to visit with Eve, not listen to me prattle on incessantly.” He sat next to his wife. “Eve Grey, this is Kasumi Wolf. Kasumi, this is my wife, Eve Grey.”
“Now my curiosity is definitely piqued, Iain. My father in law says you are someone I should get to know, which in of itself is curious. He has never recommended someone to me before. What were you going to say to me?”
Iain glanced at Eve. The Megami-sama shrugged. “I suspect that Iain doesn’t have something nice to say and is trying to be polite. Do you really want to hear whatever it is?”
“I think I do.”
“I was going to say that you shouldn’t be so dismissive of Gwen.”
Kasumi looked mildly surprised. “Was I?”
“You had already seen him with Elizabeth and therefore you knew what you were getting into when you compromised Shikarou and forced him to marry you, so I find it odd that you’re upset at Gwen for carrying Shikarou’s child. He didn’t have to accept her request, so you being so dismissive of Gwen and Nishiko being short with her and you allowing Nishiko to be that way is probably the only way you can think of to take your anger with him out on her.” His eyes met hers. “It’s rude.”
Kasumi’s face smoothed into professional blankness. “Kerrik was correct. You know things that it should be impossible for you to have knowledge of.”
“Hopefully he also told you that I’m not a threat to your family.”
“Would there be a problem if he had not?”
Iain nodded. “Only in that it would be a race to see if I could kill you before you killed me.”
Nishiko gasped. “You do not speak to her highness that way!”
Iain got up. “I should probably wait outside with Gwen.”
“Why is that, Iain?”
“Because Nishiko either knows what lives under that pretty exterior or she’s completely clueless about her mistress. If she knows, then she’s being disingenuous and if she doesn’t know it isn’t my job to educate her. In either case, my presence here is likely to prove disruptive to your visit with Eve.”
Kasumi turned to look at the Archmage. “Nishiko, please prepare the tea. Iain, Nishiko is fully aware of who I am. She was surprised because few others recognize it and even fewer are willing to state it in my presence. I would appreciate it if you did not leave.”
“I take it that you didn’t set up this meeting to spend time with Eve.”
Kasumi smiled slightly. “We all know that Eve may have been named Danielle at one time but that she is not the Danielle that I knew and I am not the Kasumi that she knew. Kerrik was very careful to explain the distinctions, something that I appreciate. To me, she is as much a stranger as you are. As you suspect, I wanted to meet with you and Eve to assess your impact on my family. You are powerful enough to represent a destabilizing force and information was needed.”
“I’ve already done the whole destabilizing force thing and I’m not interested in doing it again, Kasumi.” Iain returned to his chair and took Eve’s hand. “I want to settle down and raise a family, hopefully undisturbed while doing so. Indigo won’t leave us alone and I will protect myself from them, but I don’t care about causing trouble for the Wolf family. If Indigo would leave us alone I wouldn’t care about them, either.”
“We supply Indigo forces with equipment and weapons.”
“I know. I’m actually kind of glad you do.”
Eve frowned at him, her expression of surprise mirrored on Kasumi’s face. “What?”
He spoke to his wife. “Indigo League Army forces having pokegirl gear makes them enough of a viable threat that you and Vanessa don’t try to convince me that we should leave them be or, gods forbid, help them out. They’re still not overwhelming except in numbers that would have been overwhelming whether they had pokeballs or not. After all, for the Indigos and the Texan rebels both, thirty pokegirls with five tamers is pretty much the same as thirty pokegirls with twenty tamers. Tamers here receive no training in pokegirl capabilities and have no bleeding clue in how to use a harem effectively, so it’s the pokegirls that make the majority of the firepower and supply the tactics while the tamers just provide the dick and very little tactical input. There is a slight chance that the additional equipment will get more of my clansmen injured and possibly a few killed, but the survivors will be motivated to fight back as hard as they can. And the presence of that equipment will also motivate the local Indigo rebels to slip a knife in some Indigo soldier’s ribs and take his stuff.” He smiled a shark’s grin. “After all, a soldier killed by Indigo rebels is just as dead as if my people did for him and the killing is a lot less hazardous to my people. And if the knife wielding Indigo rebel takes the soldier’s pokegirls and uses them against the league, so much the better for me.”
“I am impressed, Iain.” Kasumi paused as Nishiko returned with the tea trolley. “I would not have expected such callousness from you, considering your reputation.”
Iain’s mouth set. “I’m not sure what Kerrik told you about me, but I and my harem are fully cognizant in how to best use our pokegirls in battle. In addition to that, we are completely supplied with modern pokegirl technology. I know there are going to be injuries on our side, but with everything we’ve got in the way of healing magic and technology I expect our fatalities to be minimal if not nonexistent. I am taking a calculated risk, not consigning my clansmen to certain death. And I will be fighting beside them, which will give them an added incentive to prevail.”
“I see,” Kasumi said softly.
Eve leaned forward to pick up her tea. She decided it was time to change the subject to something a little less emotionally charged. “Kasumi, when do you expect to open the school again?”
A warm smile spread over Kasumi’s face. “If we remain on schedule, and I do not see why we cannot, the Wolf Institute will be open for students in the spring of next year.”
“That’s wonderful! I hope that when the time comes we’ll all be friends and our children can attend.”
Iain focused on his tea as Eve and Kasumi’s discussion went into depth about the friendship that neither had had with each other, but which was almost identical to their experiences and so was providing a strong foundation for a new friendship between them. He’d remember the discussion for later, but while they were talking, he and Ninhursag could use their twee and delta bonds to game out the possibilities and risks inherent in meeting with Shikarou.
***
(10/04/06 1130 Covenant, Kingdom of Haven)
A blue haired Elfqueen opened the door. “His majesty,” she began only to break off while she looked Ninhursag up and down. She seemed slightly rattled that there was a lot more up than down involved. “His majesty will see you now.” Her eyes widened when Ninhursag rose and held out a hand for Iain. She carefully looked the silver haired Elfqueen over and did not appear to be pleased at what she saw.
Iain took the hand and was pulled to his feet. “Thank you, Lynn. This is Ninhursag, my maharani.” Eve had returned to her pokeball for this meeting.
Lynn was looking at him curiously. “How do you know my name?”
Apparently either Shikarou hadn’t been briefed by Cassiopeia and Selene or he wasn’t passing what he knew along to everyone else. Iain suspected it was the latter since Branwyn and Poppet would not ignore information either AI possessed about him and would share with their husband whether he wanted to hear it or not. And since Cassiopeia knew pretty much what Kerrik knew, she knew enough to warn others that Iain knew things that he shouldn’t. However, if Lynn wasn’t in the loop it wasn’t Iain’s job to read her in. “I’ve been spending time with Kerrik.”
“That makes sense,” she said slowly. “Please come with me.”
Iain turned to Gwen. “Thank you for taking the time to escort us.”
The Neo-Iczel flashed a smile. “I’m not done yet, sir. I’ll be waiting for you when his majesty is through with you.”
“That sounds ominous.”
Her smile widened and her eyes twinkled. “Does it?”
Iain chuckled. “Be that way.” He turned to Lynn. “Let’s go.”
The Elfqueen led them down a long hallway. “You are not going to have a formal audience with his majesty in court,” she said almost apologetically. “Those are only held twice a week on Monday and Wednesday.”
“I’m fine with that. I didn’t plan on this meeting anyways.” Iain looked around. Apparently Havana’s Museum of the Revolution hadn’t been too badly damaged and Shikarou had taken up residence in it. The vaulted ceiling of the hall towered above them and restoration work was obviously proceeding at a good pace. Before it was a museum, it had been the Presidential Palace and had last been the home of Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, the president turned dictator that had helped to spark the takeover of Cuba by Fidel Castro.
Lynn stopped outside a door. “It’ll be just a moment, clan leader.” She slipped through the door and was back less than a minute later to motion them inside. The room they entered was large but cozy, decorated with dark hardwoods that gave the room a warm feeling accentuated by the faint smell of sandalwood and jasmine. A large desk dominated the end of the room, but a sitting area in the center was bounded by an overstuffed couch and some comfortable looking chairs.
Lynn didn’t join them.
Shikarou was sitting in one of the chairs. He was wearing a comfortable looking shirt and pants dyed a deep blue. The way the threads glistened suggested to Iain that the fabric was silk, which was in keeping with Shikarou’s character. His inky black hair was bound into a braid that nestled into the chair beside him and because he was comfortably leaned back, his ears were almost invisible against his hair. A white Mini-Top wearing a crop top shirt and tight shorts over which was draped a harness festooned with weapons stood sentry against a wall. Shikarou gestured at the couch. “Please, have a seat.”
Ninhursag guided him towards the other chair and Iain knew she’d also recognized that sitting at the couch would put both their backs to the Mini-Top. As he sat down, the Mini-Top chuckled. “They’re paranoid enough to be Tirsuli.”
Shikarou smiled. “Or members of our family. Greetings, Iain Grey, I am Shikarou Wolf. Thank you for coming at such short notice.”
“You’re not upset that we’re late? If you are, don’t take it out on Gwen. It’s my fault.”
“Kasumi called me just after you left and was rather firm that I not be upset because you wanted to keep your appointment with her instead of talk to me. I can understand and appreciate a desire to keep one’s obligations. Besides, she’s a lot prettier than I am.”
Iain nodded. “Shikarou, this is Ninhursag, my maharani. Ninhursag, this is Shikarou and the Mini-Top is Nanu.”
Nanu looked surprised. “I’m impressed. You’ve done your homework.”
Shikarou laughed. “You have no idea, Nanu. Iain here is a lot like my father and somehow he knows just about everything about us that we can imagine even though he shouldn’t be able to.”
“I wouldn’t say everything,” Iain said quietly. “But I do know a lot. I assure you, however, that I don’t tell tales.”
Nanu’s ears flicked. “You know I’d like some proof. What can you tell me that you can’t possibly know?”
Iain frowned. “No hitting? You hit when you’re unhappy and I don’t like being hit by people I’m not bedding.”
Nanu grinned. “You do know a lot. Fine, I promise no violence no matter what you reveal.”
“I accept your promise. Amber Hannah Cunningham.”
Nanu gasped loudly as her eyes went wide with shock. Shikarou watched her closely with marked interest. “I take it that’s something nobody should know?”
“That was my name as a human before I went through threshold. There’s no way anyone could know that. Hell, I’d forgotten it until reminded.” She came over and dropped down to stare into Iain’s eyes. “Who the hell are you?”
“To be honest, I’m not sure anymore. Once I was human and now, now I’m just Iain. Who and what Iain happens to be or is becoming is something I’m very interested in discovering.”
Shikarou’s ears flicked idly. “Why is it that I should not let any of my psychic pokegirls around you? Father didn’t explain that one.”
“I have some kind of automatic mental defense that keeps psychics out. Anyone who is not bonded to me and who tries to scan my mind seems to die from the attempt. Stardust is likely to take that as a challenge and I don’t want her brains melting out her eyes and nose. Branwyn is likely to take it as a challenge too. It’s the reason Kerrik knows I’m safe from mental probes by our enemies.”
“You have enemies in common? Already?”
Iain shrugged. “Besides the leagues trying to conquer Texas, any of Kerrik’s enemies who see me with him will just add me to their list of enemies or try to recruit me to betray him. When recruiting me fails, they’ll go back to the first option. As for me, I don’t really have enemies on this world. It probably won’t last.”
Ninhursag snorted. “And we’ll do to them what we’ve done to your other enemies so far.”
“It does keep their numbers down.” Iain frowned. “Um, why are we here?”
Shikarou made a face. “Poppet, Branwyn and Bellona insisted that I meet you. They all wanted to attend this too, but I decided that would be a bit too much. They can meet you later.”
Iain managed to keep from rolling his eyes. “Why did they insist we meet?”
“They feel that you have the potential to be a destabilizing force for Haven.”
Iain shrugged. “Every person has that kind of potential.”
“Not everyone has an orbital manufacturing facility, Iain, or access to dimensional magic. How did you get here, by the bye?”
“Magdalene taught us how to come here and gave us the coordinates. Your Magdalene.”
Shikarou looked surprised. “There are others?”
“There are an infinity of universes out there, Shikarou, and many of them have analogs to the people you know. There are a multitude of Magdalenes in the ones close to here. I just happened to meet the one who is married to this Kerrik.” Iain smiled slightly. “In the Glasgow universe there is another Shikarou, Poppet and just about everyone you know. They just weren’t anywhere near Glasgow when the Zombabe incident occurred and the magical barrier would have kept that world’s Stardust from detecting your presence even if she’d known to look.”
Shikarou blinked. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“It’s not something that normally comes up in conversation, although you should have had an inkling after the two different and yet very similar Ranma universes.” Iain shrugged. “You’ve been busy and you’re an outstanding mage, but you don’t have a lot of experience with dimensional traveling. I don’t either, at least not yet, but I do think about that sort of thing a lot for my writing.”
“I see.” Shikarou shook his head. “I’ve had discussions with my father where his explanations made my head hurt. I suspect that I’d have similar conversations with you.”
“I seriously doubt that. I’m not nearly as knowledgeable as Kerrik. Besides, I try not to confuse people if I can. Kerrik sometimes enjoys playing inscrutable Kami.”
Nanu burst out laughing. “You got that right.” She’d moved over to stand next to Shikarou, mirroring Ninhursag’s position with Iain. “Hey, what can you tell me about Branwyn and Poppet? You know all of their juicy details, right?”
“I know a lot about them, if that’s what you’re asking,” Iain said slowly. “But remember when I said I don’t tell tales? That includes divulging personal information about people without their permission. It’s rude, first of all, and second, could get me in a lot of trouble with people who have the power to make that displeasure known in ways I would not enjoy, much less survive.”
Nanu laughed again. “Damn, you’re no fun.”
“That’s not true,” Ninhursag said. “He’s a lot of fun for us.”
The Mini-Top gave her a speculative look. “Do you know things about Poppet and Branwyn?”
The Elfqueen smiled. “A little, but I won’t talk about them either. We do not want to go to war with your family.”
“We don’t want to go to war with anyone,” Iain said gently. “All we want to do is live in peace. Well, as much peace as more than one pokegirl can live in.”
Nanu’s ears flicked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You put two pokegirls together and they vie for status. That competition is seldom peaceful, even if it doesn’t erupt into outright violence. Tamers usually don’t know all about the multitude of games that are going on inside their harems at any given time.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yeah. Pokegirls intrigue as naturally as they breathe.” Iain turned to Shikarou. “Look, like I said, I’m not a threat. I don’t intend to become a threat. I like your family. There are a lot of good people in it and I hope we can be friends even if we don’t become relatives.”
Shikarou’s ears came up to point at Iain. “Relatives?”
“Magdalene has been talking about hooking me up with one or more of her sisters. That would make me your uncle in law, which is kind of creepy. Besides, as soon as everyone in your family figures out I’m immortal too, I kind of expect them to begin introducing me to their daughters.”
Nanu’s eyes narrowed. “Kasumi doesn’t know yet?”
Iain shook his head. “It didn’t come up.”
The Mini-Top smiled smugly. “I don’t suppose I could convince you not to tell anyone else, could I?”
“No, but it’s not something that I wander around announcing.”
“Good. Keep to that program.” She looked thoughtfully at Shikarou. “You too.”
Shikarou regarded her suspiciously. “What are you planning?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Iain snorted. “Ignore the bunny behind the curtain. She has nothing to do with the great and powerful Oz.”
Nanu grinned. “Exactly.”
Shikarou rose. “I think we’ve wasted enough of Iain’s time.” He folded his hands together and bowed towards his guests. “It’s been a pleasure to meet you. I hope you and your family will return soon.”
Iain nodded. “We’ll see what we can do.” He hesitated. “Please don’t be offended, but can I give you some unsolicited advice?”
Shikarou’s ears stilled. “I’ll listen to it.”
Iain glanced at Nanu. “I don’t suppose we could speak alone?”
Shikarou shook his head. “No.”
“Very well.” Iain paused for a second to marshal his thoughts. “Kebi died two decades ago and death affects people in different ways. She’s unlikely to remember being dead, which will help a lot with your situation, but in the intervening years you have changed as an individual and, more importantly, your harem has grown closer together and changed composition. Hierarchies have changed and Kebi will be the odd woman out, the newcomer and of the lowest rank in the harem. She will not understand why things aren’t like they were and might be more than a little unhappy about it. Right now she’s the welcome return of someone loved who was lost, but that will quickly pass and then she’ll be the new girl and nobody will be willing to give up their status to her in order to make her happy. I would suggest giving her a twee immediately because it will help her to acclimate with as little stresses as possible. Unfortunately, as little stress as possible does not mean there isn’t going to be considerable stress for her. Some therapy time with a psychic who is not part of your harem may also help her.” He grimaced. “I have a member of my harem who was dead for some time and she might be able to help you gain some insight into what will be going on with Kebi.”
Shikarou blinked. “You do?”
“I opened a gate to the lands of the dead to speak with a friend who had died and Pandora snuck out behind me before the entrance closed. She later ended up in my harem. She, unfortunately, remembers quite well the entire time she was alive and dead and it has left her with several psychological issues.” He grinned. “Dorothea might like her. Pandora was once a Seraph.”
Shikarou’s ears flicked. “Was a Seraph? What is she now?”
“She’s an Archangel.”
The Kami frowned. “Doesn’t that mean she had to be a Fallen Angel?”
“Right in one.”
“Who redeemed her?”
Iain winced. “You do know that makes her sound like some kind of coupon or game token, right? She and I were responsible for her evolving to Archangel.”
“Congratulations.” Shikarou started to say something and stopped. Finally he spoke. “You’re right that I didn’t solicit that advice, but there’s a lot in there that I think I should listen to. I love Kebi and I want the best possible for her. Thank you, Iain. You and the rest of your clan are more than welcome here in Haven.”
“I’ll pass the word around, Shikarou. Your family is more than welcome in my lands as well, as long as they remember that Texas is at war with three different leagues and I live practically on the border with one of them. The violence hasn’t come to my door yet, but,” Iain gave a Gallic shrug.
Shikarou grinned. “Anyone attacking us will be lucky if they only lose the limb. Besides, my father is the same way, it’s just that you’re involved with Indigo and he’s smacking around Sunshine. But I’ll pass the word.” He gestured towards the door. “Gwen will escort you wherever you want to go for the rest of this visit, but I’ll also issue orders that you don’t need an escort for the next time you come here. You can hire a guide but if my father trusts you I will too, so no escort is required.”
***
(10/04/06 1845 Grey Ranch, Texas League)
Pandora tapped Iain on the shoulder. He looked up from his truewizard tome to see her scowling at him. “What psychological issues?”
“Excuse me?”
“You told Shikarou and I quote: ‘She, unfortunately, remembers quite well the entire time she was alive and dead and it has left her with several psychological issues’. I don’t have any psychological issues.”
Canaan burst out laughing. “Oh, right,” she said so sarcastically that Pandora flushed. “You don’t have any psychological problems from being dead. Granted, some of your problems came from before you died, but still, girl, you’re so fucked up it’s not funny.” She grinned. “Ok, that’s not true. You’re so fucked up it is fucking hilarious.”
The Archangel’s face hardened and her eyes narrowed so much that they looked shut. “I am not. I killed people before I died and my behavior has nothing to do with psychological problems.”
Canaan looked at Iain. “You sure she wants me to do this?”
“She sounds like she’s asking. Better check though, just to be sure.”
“I’m standing right here!”
“Pandora, are you saying you really want me to list your psychological issues or shall we just end this discussion now so you can feel vindicated?”
The Archangel straightened up and folded her arms. “Go right ahead and tell me what’s broken.”
“Yeah, your body language says you’re so going to be receptive to what I have to say,” Canaan sneered. “So why should I bother? You can just wonder.”
“Tell me!”
Fangs gleamed in the Splice’s grin. “All right, when Iain’s busy with someone else and you and I fuck, we fuck. We get all hot and sweaty and nasty and it’s fun.”
Pandora turned bright red. “Canaan!”
“You wanted to hear this, you’re going to hear this,” the Splice snarled. “So you shut up or I’ll tie you up and you can listen to me anyway.” Pandora’s mouth snapped shut. “But when your time with Iain comes around and you crawl into his bed, out comes the paraspray and he gets to fuck a corpse. Just because he’s got an affinity for necromancy does not mean he’s got a fetish for necrophilia.”
Pandora gave Iain a desperate glance. “I have to be restrained or I could hurt him!”
Canaan’s mouth twisted like she wanted to spit. “Restrained is not the same thing as limp. If you are determined to be restrained with Iain then use restraints. We have some that’ll hold girls a lot stronger than you. I know. I’ve tested them personally. But you should be able to control your strength. I’m a lot stronger than you and I can. The only time I insist on restraints is when I know he’s going to do that thing with his tongue that made me almost crush his skull with my thighs.” She snorted. “I know you’re not a genius like I am. Nobody is. But even your limited intellect should be able to figure out that it’s the paraspray issue that keeps you from getting any of the extra tamings Iain likes to hand out.”
Pandora froze. “I, I,” she stammered. She looked like she was going to burst out crying.
“Let me help you out, dear,” Canaan said cuttingly. “I’m going to reveal a secret to you, Pandora. Delta bonds are psychic bonds. You ever think about that?” Pandora looked confused as Canaan continued. “And I’m a genius and a powerful psychic. Put those together and you have a psychic pokegirl who figures out how she can use her delta bond with Iain to go into his mind and from there she can slip into the mind of anyone else who has a delta bond with him, even dark pokegirls that she can’t normally scan.” Pandora’s eyes went wide. “See, you’re not stupid. You figured out immediately that means I’ve been in your tiny mind.”
Iain put his head in his hands.
Canaan either didn’t notice or care. Or perhaps both. “So I know that you want those extra tamings and you’re hurt you’re not getting them. Not that that’s a real surprise. Almost any pokegirl wants all of the dick she can get and it’s only worse if another pokegirl is getting some and she isn’t. But what you haven’t figured out is that Iain, no matter how strong his feelings are for you, isn’t keen on fucking your dead body. Apparently he was never into sex dolls, even ones with purple hair.”
“What can I do,” Pandora almost wailed. “I’ll kill him.”
“Get over it,” Canaan snapped. “You killed a man accidentally. Big deal. You’ve paid for it over and over, but that’s not what’s going on now. Iain knows you killed this fellow. That’s all you seem to talk about sometimes.” She rolled her eyes. “Iain knows and you know Iain knows and more importantly, you know. The last thing you will ever do, Pandora, is hurt Iain while fucking. If you ever get close, you’ll probably panic.” She shook her head. “More importantly, Iain is not going to put himself in a position where you could lose control like that and kill him. You have to help him.”
Pandora looked lost. “Help him?”
“He has to know what you like and what you really like. The only way he can learn which is which is to have you able to give him feedback so he knows when to ease you into restraints. Once both of you are comfortable with where your limits are only then can you really cut loose with him.”
Pandora’s face went white as she stared at Canaan. Her eyes flicked sideways until she could see Iain with his head in his hands. She flushed scarlet. “Ohmygod!” She fled.
Canaan’s sneer vanished when Pandora was no longer visible. She moved to sit down next to Iain. Her voice was conversational and held none of the emotion she’d been lashing the Archangel with. “Do you think I went too far with her?”
Iain lifted his head. He sighed. “Do you think what you said will change anything?”
“I have been in her head, Iain. If I didn’t think it would give her something to mull over for a while I wouldn’t have said it. I’d have just told her to piss off when she started to harass you. I think it’ll help her.”
He leaned against her side. “Then I don’t think you went too far.”
***
(10/05/06 0800 Austin, Texas League)
The sound of the bell ringing as the door opened brought Buck Hartman out of the back. “Good morning, April.” He grinned. “Are you here to buy some more land?”
The Duelist carefully made sure the door had clicked shut before answering. “No, I’m not. I’m supposed to be meeting Lorena Robinson here. She wants me to visit her property for some reason and since I don’t know where it is she suggested we meet at your place.”
“Would you like a cup of coffee while you wait?”
“Thank you but no. Lorena was supposed to be here already so I shouldn’t. Hopefully she won’t be long. How’re you and Sally?”
“We’re good. Sally’s making a delivery to Houston this morning but I’ll tell her you came by. She’ll be annoyed that she missed you.” A thoughtful look crossed Buck’s face. “I’ve talked to my nephew Dave recently.”
“How’s he doing?”
“He and Nanette are doing fine. Have you a factor for Austin?”
April looked at him in surprise. “You want another business?”
“Me? No. I don’t get enough fishing time as it is. My sister Ellen, however, needs something stable. She used to manage a bookstore and she’d be a good store manager for you.”
“Is this Dave’s mother?”
“That’s my other sister, Pam. Her and her husband are farmers and happy as clams. Right now Ellen is making a living gleaning from the ruins of Old Austin. She’s really not cut out for the work since she’s not willing to adopt a pokegirl.”
April looked surprised. “You know if she won’t tame a pokegirl and she’s in the ruins then she’s just marking time until a feral gets her or, worse, gets killed by a tamer who thinks she’s a feral.”
“That’s why I want her doing something a lot less hazardous. She’s already had a really close call with a feral that chased her. She liked running the bookstore and she’d like running a general store. At least that’s what she tells me.”
“We don’t have a factor in Austin. We were just going to sell in Port Arthur, but having another store here would only be a minor logistical problem. I’ll make the arrangements with Iain and he’ll contact you to meet Ellen. Remember he has to approve of all his agents since they represent our name.”
Buck looked relieved. “Thank you.”
“So, is her name Ellen Hartman?”
“No, it’s Ellen Thompson. Her husband Gene died in the war.”
“I’ll let Iain know who will be working with us and you’ll have to set up a meeting.”
The door opened and Lorena hurried inside. “I’m sorry I’m late,” she said as she panted loudly. “Where’s Iain?”
April gave her a cool look. “You didn’t ask him to come here. Just me.”
“Oh. Sorry. I assumed he’d come too.”
“You were wrong, but it’s ok. Iain’s busy right now anyway.” April looked at Buck. “Don’t forget to contact Iain.”
“I won’t.”
“Are you ready to go?”
Lorena looked from April to Buck. “What do you need to contact Iain for?”
“It’s for business, Lorena. If it were something official, you’d know about it.”
“Business, huh?” Lorena shook her head violently, making her long black hair swing almost angrily. “You want to buy a dairy?”
April opened the door. “No, he doesn’t.” She led the president of the Texas League outside. “Which way?”
Lorena pointed north. “We’re going that way.” They headed up the street. As they walked she eyed April’s pistol and equipment belt. “Not a lot of pokegirls like firearms.”
“I do. For most of my life I was an Ingénue and they’re pretty pathetic on the pokegirl combat scale. I wasn’t useless by any means, but my skills were best served in a noncombat role. I learned to shoot, but wasn’t licensed to carry a gun.” She smiled briefly. “And on an almost entirely unrelated note, most humans and pokegirls can’t identify other breeds on sight. If they mistake me for a human, they’ll figure that I can’t hurt them much and they’re likely to ignore me until I reveal that I’m not. I’ve practiced until I’m an excellent shot, but the pistol’s greatest value is in the camouflage it gives me.”
“That’s very cunning. I like it.”
“Iain likes to say that people see what they expect and expect what they see and that surprise is when someone sees something but doesn’t realize what it means. So why did you ask me here?”
“We own a dairy. Since there aren’t any uneaten cows around here, we’ve got a milk producing pokegirl that we’re trying to use. They’ve got horns, a tail and enormous breasts.”
“Sounds like you have Milktits. They’re the best milk producing breed.”
“Really? I didn’t know what to call them.”
“Do you have a pokedex?”
Lorena shook her head. “The ones we have are for the troops. I didn’t think it proper to appropriate one for my use even if I paid for it.”
“I’ll sell you one at cost and I can have it delivered before I leave your dairy. So what’s the problem?”
“The, uh, Milktits are getting into my crops and there’s a lot of wastage at the dairy. How do you train a pokegirl to stop misbehaving?”
“Did you try talking to them?”
Lorena nodded. “We did. It didn’t stop the problems. That’s why I asked you here to take a look and offer some suggestions. I’ll pay for the consult.”
“Who is the alpha?” When Lorena gave her a blank look she tried again. “How many Milktits do you have?”
“We’ve got fourteen of them.”
“A group with that many will have established a hierarchy. Which of the Milktits is in command of the herd?”
“How can you tell?”
“She’s the one who tells the others what to do.”
“None of them do that.”
“This is getting strange.” April frowned. “In any group of pokegirls there’s a leader. At least one of them will insist on it and will fight the others if they disagree. I think I’ll have to see the setup before I can try to figure out what’s going on.”
The Robinson property was nearly two miles outside of Austin. As they turned up the drive towards the buildings, April glanced at Lorena. “You don’t have any combat pokegirls?”
“No.”
“How do you make it to town?”
“Carefully. There’s not a lot of feral activity between here and Austin and we’re always armed.”
April shook her head. “Please consider getting a combat pokegirl. I don’t want to help you with your dairy just to have you get eaten.”
“I’ll think about it.”
The Robinson place was composed of a nice house, an attached shop of some kind and a large old looking barn. Everything was in good repair and April could see some Milktits grazing out in a field. One lifted her head and watched them heading for the house for a moment before going back to stuffing her face with grass.
Lorena led her towards the shop. “I want you to meet my husband Aaron first. He can fill you in on all of the details.”
“Why can’t you?”
The woman raised her stump. “I’m in agony today. No matter what anyone tells you, phantom pain is real pain. Some days the pain is better than others but today is one of the worst. I had the arm burned off by a pokegirl and right now I feel all of the pain from when that happened. It’s bad enough today that I’m going to need to take some of our remaining pain killers and they tend to knock me out.”
April eyed the arm. “Can I take a look at it? I have a medical background.”
Lorena looked uncertain for a second and then stuck out the stump. “It’s completely healed, or so I’ve been told. The pain is supposed to be all psychosomatic.”
April carefully cradled the arm in her hands and closed her eyes as she employed a technique she’d been taught by Irena before the Night Nurse’s death. “Some of the pain has a physical basis. The end of the arm isn’t draining properly and that’s putting pressure on the remaining nerves.” She remotely activated one of her healing cards and bathed the stump in curative magic.
Lorena sighed in pleasure. “Oh, that feels good. The local healer won’t come out this far.” She rubbed the stump. “Still, I want you to meet Aaron and then I’ll show you around.”
When they found him, Aaron was planing down some boards in the woodshop. He was rail thin and had that enduring feeling about him like a good piece of steel. His short cropped hair was flecked with silver and wood dust. After Lorena introduced the two of them he gave April a grave look. “Do you think you can solve our problems with the milk girls?”
“They’re called Milktits and I should be able to. If I can’t, I can probably find someone who can.”
Aaron nodded, looking at his wife. “You want me to show her around, Lorena?”
“I’m all right now, Aaron. April has healing powers and made my arm stop hurting.”
April cocked her head. “I’m afraid what I did is only temporary. The fluid is building up because your arm doesn’t have enough lymph drainage at the end of it. It will happen again.”
Aaron and Lorena exchanged a look. “Is there anything permanent that can be done for my wife? I’d give anything to make her stop hurting.”
April hesitated. Iain? Quickly she explained the situation. Is she our friend? I don’t like leaving people hurting like this.
No, Lorena isn’t our friend, at least not yet. However, Eve will be there in ten minutes or so with Lorena’s pokedex. In the meantime, see if you can find something that we can charge for the work. This isn’t going to be free.
I understand. April shrugged. “Something might be possible, but I won’t know for a little while. Why don’t we get back to the reason you wanted me to come here.”
A few minutes later April and Lorena stood watching the fourteen Milktits that comprised the dairy. All were adult and all were nude. They were in the middle of a field of thick grass, busily pulling up handfuls of vegetation and eating everything they could reach.
April frowned. “They don’t want to wear clothes?”
Lorena looked curiously at her. “No. When we first got them I put some clothes out for them, but they never showed any interest. Is that strange?”
“Well, I wear clothes, although if someone in our group doesn’t want to wear them she doesn’t have to. But I’ve been told over and over that pokegirls from the Revenge War wanted clothes because it made them believe they were more human. It doesn’t mean that all of these would be that way, but out of this many girls it’s surprising that nobody wants them.” She set her shoulders and strode forward. “I want to talk to them.”
“Watch your step,” Lorena cautioned as she fell in with April. She gestured ahead of them at a glistening puddle of brown droppings. “Poop.”
“Oh.” April began scanning the ground in front of her as she headed for the Milktit herd. All of the Milktit were very near human, with human ears, tiny horns and tails tufted with hair the same color as their pubic hair and the hair on their heads. They showed none of the animalistic variation that feralborne pokegirls would show in later generations. Even their hair was of normal human colors, with brown predominating. Most of them didn’t bother to come up from stuffing bundles of grass into their mouths, but a couple stopped eating and moved slowly towards them. April raised her hand. “Hi.”
Still chewing, the closest Milkit regarded her for several seconds. “Hullo.” Her voice was melodious but strangely devoid of inflection, still that could have been due to the grass still in her mouth.
“How are you today?”
The Milktit was silent for a few seconds. “I am good.”
“Why don’t you stay out of Mistress Lorena’s gardens?”
Another pause. “Good. Hungry.”
April frowned and turned to Lorena. “How often do you two tame them?”
“We don’t have to. They tame each other every night.”
“You do so have to. If you don’t they’ll slowly go feral.” April’s eyes widened. “Which is what I think has happened here. I think all of your Milktits are feral, or mostly so.”
“How can you tell?”
April gave her a disbelieving look. “Did you see how long it took this one to answer me? Milktits aren’t normally genius level intelligence, but they are about as bright as a normal person.”
Lorena shrugged. “We’ve had them for six months now and they’ve always been like this.”
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Either you’ve got the only group of completely retarded Milktits on the planet or they’re completely feral or so close to feral that it makes no difference. It’s why they get into your garden and spill milk when you don’t want them to. They can’t be reasoned with.” April smiled slightly. “It’s an easy fix. You and Aaron have to tame them all.”
“I don’t have sex with women,” Lorena said flatly.
“Yeah, we’re discovering that’s a common problem here,” April said sardonically. “It seems that as a group human women don’t want to have sex with other females. It’s not as common where we came from, although it’s not at all rare. So it’ll have to be Aaron who awakens them. Once they’re all aware he should only have to tame each of them once every week to keep them from starting to go feral again.”
Lorena’s mouth dropped. “All of them?”
April nodded. “Yes. They need it. It’ll make them much more useful too, and you can order them to stay out of places where you don’t want them to be.”
“I think doing that might kill my husband. He’s not as young as he used to be.” She folded her arms, laying the stump over the top of the other arm. “And he’s my husband. He’s supposed to cleave unto me.”
“Pokegirls require taming. Taming your Milktits will solve pretty much all of your problems with them and will vastly improve their utility. Otherwise, at best they’ll stay the way they are. At worst, one of them will evolve into a Minotaura, kill you two and trash your place.”
“What’s a Minotaura?”
“It’s a bigger and stronger version of a Milktit that doesn’t give milk and is combat oriented. Feral ones will protect the herd from danger, which could include you yelling at them for being in your crops. You need to tame them or get rid of them.”
“I can’t get rid of them. The dairy is the foundation for our farm.” Lorena closed her eyes for a moment before they snapped open. “I know. You tame them.”
April was shaking her head before Lorena was through speaking. “I’m a pokegirl. I can’t awaken their minds.”
“What about Iain?”
“You want Iain to fuck your pokegirls?”
Lorena grimaced. “I might be able to conscience Aaron sleeping with them, but there’s no way he can do them all at once, even with those stamina things you sold to the TDF.”
“You don’t have any children?”
Lorena pointed towards the house. “See those gravestones? All my children are buried there.”
April was not going to be guilted. “So hire someone else to awaken your Milktits.”
“Whoever does this is likely to bond them, isn’t he?” April nodded reluctantly. “And if he tells them to go with him, they will, right?” Another reluctant nod. “I trust Iain not to do that. He’s got too many pokegirls already.”
“I don’t really think this is a good idea,” April began.
Lorena cut her off. “What if I gave you a Milktit?”
“What?”
“What if I gave you a Milktit for taming the rest of them? You don’t have any and you’ve got a lot of people to feed.”
April started to refuse and stopped as she considered something. She was pregnant with a litter of Duelist kits and they’d need fed. It was a point of fact that she would be unable to produce enough milk to feed more than two babies and it was likely that she’d have more than that. A Milktit would mean she wouldn’t have to give her daughters to Eve to nurse if she didn’t want to.
Thinking of Eve reminded her that right now Eve was the only member of the harem who could feed Iain milk from her own body, giving her a unique place outside of the normal harem hierarchy. A Milktit would even the playing field for April and the rest of the harem if they desired, removing Eve’s special status.
She turned back to the Milktits and looked them over with an appraising eye. One of them was pregnant and another might be. Both were early enough in their pregnancies that Lorena might not have noticed. Some extra kits would give April breathing room when hers were born, otherwise she was concerned that she would be smothered with attention by the others who wanted children of their own. Iain?
What is it April?
I want to make a deal with Lorena for two Milktits. One is for her arm and the other is payment for you to tame all of her Milktits. After that her husband can keep up with them.
I’ve kind of got a full plate already. Why can’t he tame one a day or something like that?
It didn’t come up and I don’t intend to suggest it. This would be a one time deal for the two Milktits. I want both of the Milktits so we have them for all of the pregnancies we’re planning. The ones I want are both VNH and so won’t look anything like Hathor.
I thought you didn’t want me with other pokegirls.
I don’t, but this is important, Iain, or I wouldn’t ask for this.
There was feeling of grudging acceptance. Two Milktits is a dairy. And with cattle we have access to natural rennet for cheese production. Fine, I’ll fuck all of their Milktits one time and one time only.
Thank you, Iain. “I want two Milktits, one for the tamings and one for Eve working on your arm.” She pointed. “Those two.”
Lorena barely glanced at them. “Deal.”
Eve appeared and Lorena jumped, swearing loudly. At the noise the Milktits sprang away and raced across the grass for a hundred meters or so before stopping and going back to feeding. The Megami-sama regarded the black woman curiously. “Hello.”
“Lorena, this is Eve. She’s a member of my family. Eve, this is Lorena Robinson, the president of the Texas League and, more importantly, a dairy farmer.”
“Hello, Eve.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Lorena. What did you need me to do, April?”
“Lorena has hired us to fix her arm.”
Eve blinked. “Iain suggested as much but I thought we weren’t doing medical work outside the family.”
“This is a special case.”
“I see.” Eve looked at Lorena. “May I examine your arm?”
“It seems everyone wants to touch my stump today,” Lorena said amusedly as she held it out. “Usually people don’t want to even look at it.”
Eve cradled the damaged limb in her hands. Her eyes became unfocused for a moment as she used a technique to analyze the arm. “Whoever amputated your arm was in a hurry. It’s a pretty rough job. The healing is complete, which may present another small problem.”
Lorena looked both worried and curious. “What do you mean?”
“Pokegirls have varying levels of healing power; just like in a group of humans with a single skill in common each will have a different ability in that skill. My healing powers are several magnitudes of ability more powerful than April’s, but not even my power will do anything with already healed tissue. Not even a Nursejoy can do much with healed tissue.” Her eyes met Lorena’s. “Do you understand that what I intend to do is the complete regeneration of your arm?”
“What?” Lorena’s voice was a squeak.
“I have the ability to force your body to regrow your arm in its entirety. That is what April has bargained with you for. However, regeneration only occurs in damaged tissue. The easiest way to facilitate this is to cut off the end of your stump so I can grow your arm back. I won’t have to remove much and I would, of course, render you unconscious first if you wish.”
Lorena jerked her stump free. “No! I’ve dreamed too many times of having a whole arm. Sometimes the dreams are so real that I can’t tell them from reality until I wake up. I have to be conscious so I will know this is real.” Her eyes met April’s. “Aaron will have to witness this too.”
“He’s her husband,” April muttered.
“I would want Iain there for me,” Eve replied. “Then let’s go where we can do this.”
A few minutes later they stood around a table in Aaron’s woodshop. April had filled Aaron in about the arm as well as Iain’s coming to deal with the feral Milktits. Aaron’s eyes held a slightly frantic look as he pled with his wife. “Let Eve knock you out, honey, please?”
“No.” Lorena’s face was firm and tranquil. “I have to be awake, Aaron.”
Eve put her hands flat on the tabletop. “Aaron,” she said soothingly, knowing that Lorena was listening intently. “I am very fast and there will be very little time for her to feel pain before the regeneration numbs the limb. It has to or the regeneration itself would be unimaginable agony as the nerves and tissues grow.” She glanced at Lorena. “Regeneration stresses the body, so you will feel tired for a day or so after the process is done. Also the hand will be as strong as it was when it was removed, but after so long your control of it will be erratic. You will have to relearn to use your new hand and arm.”
“How long will it take?”
“Growing the arm will take less than a minute. Learning to control it could take months.”
Lorena thrust out her arm. “Do it.”
“April, immobilize her arm and form a tourniquet with your hands.” Eve watched as April took the arm halfway between the ruin of the elbow and Lorena’s shoulder. She immediately clamped down with her three times human strength, rendering the arm still. Lorena winced. Eve summoned a ten centimeter long energy blade and struck in a blur, removing the last centimeter of arm. Blood spurted and then oozed as April squeezed harder. Eve dismissed the energy blade and wrapped her hands around the injury before Lorena could more than gasp. Her hands glowed as she poured healing energy into Lorena’s body. A glow shot out of the stump and formed a hand and arm. Flesh flowed up to fill the glowing areas. The glow died away to reveal an undamaged arm as Eve let it go. “April.”
April released Lorena, who staggered into Aaron’s embrace. She lifted her new arm and promptly smacked him in the face with it. He laughed and pulled her close. “You still remember that you’ve done that often enough.”
Lorena began to cry with reaction.
April touched Aaron on the shoulder. “We’ll bring Iain back tonight to tame your Milktits. After that they’re yours to deal with. I’ll bring a pokedex with me and I’ll show you how to use it before I leave.”
***
Iain Grey
Living Harem
Ninhursag - Elfqueen & maharani
Eve Grey - Megami Sama
April Grey - Duelist & beta
Dominique - Blessed Archmage
Pandora - Fiendish Archangel
Canaan - G Splice (Hunter Amachamp & Alaka-Wham)
Zareen - Nightmare
Raquel - Fiendish Rapitaur
Sofia - Peekabu
Vanessa - Evangelion
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
Slutton
Ranch employees
Daphne - Whorizard
Lynn - Growlie
Chuck - Doggirl
Ryan - Ponytaur
Winifred - Rack (German)
Rosemary - Kitten (Uruguayan)
Allison - Umbrea
Silver - Ponytaur
12 Elves
2 Elfqueens - Dionne & Adrianna
Lake Employees
Heltu - Wet Queen
6 Wet Elves
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