Chapter 36: Another family matter

I now have an editor, so you all shouldn't need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore. :)

* * *

Ethan picked up his new sword -- the sharp one, not the training version -- and gave it an experimental swing. It felt exactly like the training version in every respect, with no difference whatsoever. The blade looked to be a bit thinner -- which would probably make it cut better -- but the handling was exactly the same. He gave it a small toss, and then called it back to his hand. It was indeed identical.

He just hoped he wouldn't need it.

He picked up the scabbard, sheathed the sword, and attached the scabbard to his side on the hard-point he'd enchanted that matched with the straps that Alana had enchanted for that purpose.

Alana...

*Hey princess, how are you all holding up?* He thought to her.

*Pretty well.* The wood elf replied. *Rachel found a few hidey-holes while she was stalking you before you married Beth, and we're in one that's near the docks now. We should be safe and undiscovered until you land.*

*How are things looking?*

*Well, the closer it gets to noon, the more people seem to be wandering our way. I think it worked.*

*Good.* He nodded, though she obviously couldn't see him. *I know you enchanted my sword with self-repairing and summoning; did you have time for any other enchantments?*

*No, but those are the two most crucial.* She replied. *I was trying to finish the smaller bits of your armor before I enchanted your sword more, and then I was going to work on Rachel's staff, then I was going to finish.*

*Makes sense.* He reached down and grabbed the backpack that she'd created for him to hold his leather armor. The hand armor wasn't fully complete yet, but most of the rest of it was finished. The backpack was a bit odd looking, but would do. He certainly didn't want to be without his armor in the city, and especially not since learning that Lord Borden had tried to kill both him and her.

The dragon growled.

Ethan closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, and remembered what Kendra had taught him. The meditating helped, but he knew it wasn't a long term solution. The dragon was slowly growing stronger. The meditation helped him keep a lid on it, but the pressure was slowly building in the background. He didn't want to think about what would happen when it broke free.

He shook his head and turned his mind back to the task at hand.

"Dominus, Anthiel says that we're going to begin our descent in a few minutes." Beth said as she approached him.

"Thanks angel." He nodded. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know." She gave him a pained half-smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I kind of don't want to see my father right now. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No." He shook his head. "You didn't do anything wrong, and it's hard when someone you love does. Frankly, I don't blame you for wanting to stay away right now; that was some pretty heavy stuff we all learned yesterday."

The half-smile disappeared from her face. "I wanted the first time we came back here to be a happy affair, you know?"

"Yeah, going home should be a happy event."

She gave him a tiny smile. "I'm already home, I'm just visiting my parents' home."

"You know, I'm really glad I married you angel." He smiled. "I know it was an arranged marriage and we had a somewhat rocky start, but I wouldn't change it for the world."

"Me either." She leaned her on his shoulder. "You literally crossed worlds to bring me back, and I'll never forget that. Marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to me."

The way she finished her sentence made him think that there was more though. "...but?"

"Not a 'but'." She shook her head slightly. "I just wish that my parents... well, my father was more accepting."

She swallowed hard and wrapped her arms tightly around his arm. He leaned his head down and kissed the top of her head, wishing he could do something to comfort her. He really couldn't think of anything, so he just held her.

* * *

Beth leaned over the railing of the Argo as it lowered the last dozen feet into the docking berth. She could see a decent sized crowd had gathered at the docks and they were all looking up at the Argo with curiosity. Several had waved to her, and she'd waved back. She'd even smiled, though it wasn't a truly genuine smile.

Her father wasn't there.

He'd sent Heinrich, but he himself wasn't there.

She didn't know what to make of that.

As the Argo's descent stopped, Serif and Raklan dropped the gangplank into place and Beth took a deep breath and put a cheerful smile on her face. She really didn't want to disappoint the crowds. Besides, it was nice to be back in Gralden. It was her hometown after all.

Ethan -- with his disguise gem off -- offered her his arm and they strode down the gangplank and onto the dock.

The slots into which the airships berthed were at ground level to make loading the airships easier. There was a fence around the berth so nothing fell into the hole, but otherwise the docks were mostly flat. Or at least, as flat as the sloping ground of Gralden would allow. There were dozens of townsfolk who had clustered around the Argo's berth, all craning their necks to get a good look at the new arrivals.

About a dozen Bank guards were clustered around Heinrich, not far from the end of the gangplank. The guards were glancing at the crowd, then at the Argo, then at Heinrich as if they weren't sure what to do. The blonde found herself wondering how this would be going if they hadn't arranged for a crowd to be here. She wasn't sure, but she got the impression that it wouldn't be going nearly this well, even with Heinrich there.

He was in his mid-twenties, although he was sporting a full beard. A sword was fastened at his side and he wore chainmail from head to toe, partially concealed by a surcoat which carried the emblem of a gold coin. He was also over a foot taller than she was at 6' 4" and -- even taking into account the extra bulk added by the chainmail -- it looked like he could wrestle an ox and win. Despite that though, he looked a little surly.

"Hermy." She grinned, using her childhood nickname for him.

The corners of his mouth twitched up slightly, though oddly he looked more annoyed too. She walked up to give him a hug, which he accepted stiffly.

"What's wrong?" She asked pulling back.

"Are you okay?" He whispered quietly enough that no one else could hear.

She smiled, though it was a slightly pained smile. "Ethan is wonderful, my father on the other hand..." She let the smile fade.

Heinrich raised an eyebrow.

"Did you know?" She asked, suddenly realizing that as her father's right-hand man, he likely did.

"Know what?"

"That my father tried to kill Ethan and Alana?"

Heinrich gave her a long look, then turned his gaze to Ethan. "Lord Borden requests your presence at the manor house."

Judging by his tone, it wasn't a request.

"You didn't answer my question." Beth repeated, feeling her heart start to sink.

"If you have a problem with your father, you need to take it up with him." Heinrich replied.

*That's not an unreasonable point angel.* Ethan pointed out telepathically. *Maybe he just doesn't want to interfere?*

*Maybe.* Her face fell and she took a step back from her childhood friend as she tried hard to believe the best of him.

He wasn't making it easy.

"Welcome back Lady Beth!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

The guards moved so she could see the crowd. Given the new position that they'd taken, they seemed far more interested in protecting her from Ethan than from the crowd. However, they hadn't been foolish enough to come between the dragon and her.

"Hello!" She called back, feeling a bit more cheerful at the crowd. She'd always felt better when she could interact with the people of Gralden. "It's so good to be back and to see all of your faces. But, I know you're also here to see someone else; my husband, the prophet of Illuminar!"

She turned and beckoned him over.

He looked a bit taken aback by her exuberant introduction, but came forward nevertheless.

"I realize I haven't been married that long, only two months, but he's been the best husband that a woman could ever ask for." She said to the crowd, then turned and put all her feeling into a kiss to her amazing husband.

The way he returned the kiss took her breath away. She felt herself bent back and swept into his arms. He even used a bit of tongue. If this had been any other time, she would've wanted to drag him into the captain's cabin.

"Wow." She breathed when he broke the kiss.

He looked at her pointedly. "Yeah."

That's when Beth became aware of the crowd again, who were whooping and cat-calling.

She blushed.

Ethan pulled her upright again and she faced the crowd with an embarrassed smile. "He does that."

They all laughed, then one of them shouted. "But didn't you marry a human man?"

She glanced at him, and he nodded, then turned his disguise gem on. The crowd gasped, then after a moment they seemed to recognize his human form, and he clicked the gem off again.

"I was indeed the one who rescued Beth." Ethan said. "And thus I had the incredible honor and great privilege of marrying her and calling her my wife." He looked at her fondly before turning back to the crowd. "Lord Borden knew that I'm a dragon, and honored his contract bounty by allowing me the honor of her hand in marriage."

There was a general murmur of assent and nodding of heads.

*At least the people don't seem to have a problem with you.* Beth thought directly to him. *Though, I wonder--*

"What about your other wives?" Someone else called. "Doesn't Lord Borden hate that?"

Beth glanced at him.

He glanced at her before thinking to her. *It'll probably go over better if you answer this, just don't give too much away.*

Beth got a mischievous grin on her face as she replied. "Well, it's fortunate he isn't married to Ethan then."

The crowd laughed.

"Seriously though, I know my father's position on multiple wives in general, but I have literally never been happier in my life." She leaned up against Ethan, and she felt him put his arm around her.

Nearby, she heard Heinrich let out a sound halfway between a growl and a sigh, and he did it with a scowl on his face. She gave him a smile, which he looked like he wanted to return, but didn't. Instead, he nodded his head towards her father's mansion.

"We need to be going." She called to the crowd. "I haven't seen my family in two months! Thank all you wonderful people for coming out to meet us; I missed you all so much!"

The crowd burst into applause.

Ethan offered his arm when it had died down, she took it, and they followed Heinrich toward Lord Borden's mansion.

*That went well.* She thought to him, a bit of her foul mood lifting.

*It did.* He nodded, then thought to everyone. *Ladies, it just occurred to me that Lord Borden probably doesn't know that we can communicate telepathically. For now, I'd like to keep it that way.*

*Yes sir.*

*Yes Dominus.*

*Yes master.*

*Yes my lord.*

There was a slight pauses, then Kendra added. *Good idea.*

Beth chuckled.

"What?" Heinrich asked, clearly not in a joking mood.

"I just thought of something, that's all." She replied aloud while resisting the temptation to give Ethan a knowing look concerning what Kendra had just said. The impulse vanished as they approached her father's mansion. It had always seemed so welcoming growing up, but now...

She shook her head.

The building was the largest house in town by a significant margin. It was mostly a light grey color with black trim and gold gilding in various tasteful places. The large double door was ornate, but just shy of ostentatious; pretentious maybe, but not quite ostentatious. It had three stories, and she had so many memories of running through its halls as a little girl, so many meals with her family, and so many wonderful times with her father...

...who might've tried to murder her husband.

She looked at the ground and bit her lip. This wasn't the homecoming that she wanted.

* * *

Ethan took a deep breath as he and Beth walked up to the door of Lord Borden's mansion. Next to him, Beth had fallen silent, and it was a more meaningful silence than simply not talking for want of a subject. He looked at their bond, and wished he could do something to cheer her up. Sadly, the upcoming meeting wasn't likely to improve his youngest wife's mood, or his either for that matter.

The mansion's door opened and the steward stood in the way, blocking the entrance with his body. He was an older fellow with graying hair, but looked quite sharp and he was impeccably dressed in clothes that vaguely reminded Ethan of a regency era steward.

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm afraid you'll need to surrender your sword before entering the mansion." The steward said.

Beth stiffened slightly beside him.

Ethan gave the man a long look. "Why?"

"No one but the guards are allowed to be armed in the Lord's residence."

"Gerald, is that a new rule?" The blonde beside him asked. "My father has allowed many people to be armed inside before."

"He has Lady Beth, but regardless, that is the rule now."

"For everyone, or just for me?" Ethan asked, feeling like something was off.

"The rule applies to you, whether it applies to others is not your concern." The steward -- Gerald -- replied with nearly no emotion; certainly not enough for Ethan to get a read on.

He stared at the other man for several long seconds, in his mind running through what had happened the other times he'd been in a city without a weapon. Beth's death and being captured by Lord Delmar stood out, and there was no way that he'd chance anything like that happening again.

"No dice." He shook his head.

"I beg your pardon sir?" The steward said.

"I said no. If he wants to see me, he'll do it while I'm wearing my sword." He looked at the steward significantly, guessing that the man probably had been told about the vault incident, or had figured it out. He didn't look like the type to be uninformed.

"That could cause... problems, but perhaps we could reschedule at some other venue." Gerald replied, then turned to Beth. "Do please come along; your father is anxious to see you."

Ethan glanced at his youngest wife, surprised to see steel in her eyes.

"No Gerald, I'm not leaving my husband." She shook her head. "If my father wants to see me, he can see us together."

There was an awkward silence after this pronouncement.

A very awkward silence.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan noticed that Heinrich's jaw dropped slightly. Even the unflappable Gerald looked slightly surprised. He found himself wondering if Beth had ever turned her father down before getting married.

"I will relay this to your father." Gerald finally said before disappearing inside.

Ethan and Beth exchanged a look.

*My father probably knew you wouldn't want to be without your weapons.* The blonde thought to him.

*And therefore planned to separate us.* He replied without reacting physically.

*I don't like this.* She frowned. *I don't think he would do anything, but I'm sure he'd try to convince me that you're a bad husband or something.*

*You know, I did get you killed and then remarried just days later.* He pointed out.

*Yes, and you're still the best husband I could ever ask for.*

*Even with my dragon outbursts?*

*Even with.*

He looked at her and smiled. "I love you angel."

*And I love you Dominus.*

They waited in comfortable silence for several minutes before Gerald reappeared. "Lord Borden will meet you in the gardens; Heinrich will accompany you." The steward then nodded to Heinrich.

The larger man nodded, then turned and started walking around the house. Ethan and Beth exchanged a look, and then started following him.

* * *

Selene paced the weather deck of the Argo really not sure what to do. As usual, she found herself on the outside of what was happening and not able to help at all. She clenched and unclenched her fist a few times, trying to work out the tension but that wasn't really helping. She kept looking towards where Ethan and Beth had disappeared to, but she didn't figure they'd be back for a while.

The only thing she could think to do was to stow her Glock and its precious 6 rounds in the leather pouch around her waist, in case something happened. She really didn't think it would help, but she had a philosophy about such things: it was better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Speaking of needing things, she made another half-hearted attempted to find her mana. It was frustrating that she couldn't despite both Rachel and Kendra having tried to help. She half-hoped that she'd have an encounter with some powerful magic before she did figure it out, assuming that Kendra's mentor had been right about such an occurrence cementing an affinity in the area of magic that had been used against her. However, that was rather unlikely in Gralden, and she sure as hell wasn't going to wait for it.

So instead, she paced across the deck as she'd been doing for some time now, wishing that she could be helpful in some way.

"You know, you're going to wear through the decking." Anthiel's musical voice observed from the quarterdeck, and she hadn't even looked up.

"Yeah well, at least I'd be doing something." She replied. "You're sure there's nothing I can do to help?"

"Dear, I'm not sure even Beth can help the situation with her father." The high elf replied.

"Fair." The caramel-haired beauty nodded.

She looked around the ship, thinking about the two weeks that she'd spent on it. Oddly enough, it had begun to feel very comfortable to her, and she wanted to do something to help the people who had so kindly taken her in.

"I just hate feeling like a bump on a log." She finally said as she climbed the stairs to the quarterdeck.

"Often the hardest thing to do in life is wait." Anthiel replied as she continued to write in what the Brazilian woman guessed was the ship's log. "Sadly, it's often one of the most necessary things."

The sound of motion from the gangplank drew her attention.

Half a dozen Bank guards had stopped at the gangplank and about a dozen men who looked like dockworkers were boarding the Argo.

"Up here gentlemen." Anthiel called. The dockworkers came up to the quarterdeck, and many of them were staring open-mouthed at the Brazilian beauty.

She sighed.

Men.

"Lord Borden says we need to strip the ship and search it." One of them volunteered.

"I'm sure he did." She mused as she continued to write. "But did he fail to tell you that many of the items on this ship are the personal property of its crew, and thus can't be removed without giving them notice to remove their belongings?"

The dockworkers looked around uncomfortable at each other.

"The gangplank is that way." The high elf pointed, still without looking up and still writing.

"Um, I'm afraid we can't leave without carrying out our orders ma'am." The same man replied.

"I figured you'd say that." Anthiel said, and then she finished whatever she was writing with a flourish of her quill pen. "Here are new orders, signed by me." She held out the paper. "I'm countermanding all previous orders you've received regarding the cargo of this airship, pursuant to the Emperor's edict regarding the reclamation of property on an airship."

"Uh, ma'am, I'm not sure..." He looked at the paper, then handed it someone else, who began to read in a slow, halting way; as if reading wasn't something he did often or was very practiced at.

+ + +

"I, Captain Anthiel Amarina Kiarien, called 'Cloud Song', as captain of the airship known as the Argo, under the Emperor's edict number four hundred and twenty seven pertaining to the reclamation of disputed property on an airship, do hereby officially declare that the personal effects and cargos of this airship are of ambiguous ownership, and unless the crew of said airship shall return to claim their personal items, nothing may be removed from this airship. Therefore, any man, woman, or creature who removes cargos or personal items from this airship may thus be charged with theft, punishable by prison or up to the loss of a hand."

+ + +

He looked up. "It's signed Captain Anthiel Amarina Kiarien."

The high elf smiled. "An Emperor's edict trumps a lord's orders. Now, would you like to leave this airship without anything in your hand, or leave it without the hand itself?"

Selene felt her jaw drop.

* * *

Ethan followed Heinrich into the garden behind Lord Borden's manor house with Beth in tow. The garden was square, reasonably large, and was clearly well cared for. There were both flowers and fruit trees, as well as several flower bushes and a few other plants that Ethan had never seen or heard of before. There was a path made of large flat stones that wound its way through the grass-covered ground.

At the midpoint of the path was Lord Borden.

He was tall, over six feet and possessed an imposing presence even with his back turned. His clothes were immaculate; perfectly pressed and perfectly tailored. His black suit looked like it had both gold thread and gold trim. It wasn't ostentatious, but it clearly displayed the wealth of the wearer.

"Lord Borden, here is Lady Beth and--" Heinrich's face curved in displeasure. "--and the dragon."

The other man acknowledged this with a nod of his head, but didn't turn around. Only after several long seconds of silence did he speak.

"Sixty-one days." He said almost thoughtfully.

"Come again?" Ethan asked.

Lord Borden turned and scrutinized Ethan. As always, he gave the impression of great intelligence and cunning. "You married my daughter exactly sixty-one days ago. Since then, you have accumulated three other wives if the rumors are to be believed."

"The rumor mill got this one right." He acknowledged.

Beth's father made a thoughtful sound. "Fifteen days then."

"Huh?" Ethan and Beth said at the same time.

"On average, you have taken a new wife every fifteen days; slightly more than two weeks." The lord set his jaw. "Do you tire of women so quickly?"

It took Ethan a second to do the mental math, and had to admit that Lord Borden's calculations were indeed correct. It was hard to believe his wedding to Beth was only two months ago. Also, he had to admit that marrying a new wife every fifteen days did at least sound bad.

He opened his mouth to reply, but Beth beat him to it. "He hasn't grown tired of me father, nor I of him."

Lord Borden clasped his hands behind his back, standing up straighter and giving both of them another piercing look, though his eyes ended on Ethan. He returned the gaze, staring unblinkingly back as he felt his dragon side start to rise. He was doing what he could to clamp down on it, but it was not happy about being caged for so long.

"Why did you call us back here?" Ethan asked, not even trying to be respectful about it.

"I warned you Ethan." Lord Borden replied calmly, which was somehow scarier than him losing his temper. "I warned you that the consequences of marrying someone other than Beth would be severe. You chose to ignore that warning. Ask anyone in the Ten Kingdoms; I keep my word."

"Father, I was in one of those weddings as a bridesmaid, and happy to be one." Beth pointed out.

Lord Borden closed his eyes, inhaled slowly, and then exhaled nearly as slowly before opening them again to look at his daughter. "You are young Beth, you don't know what men like this--" He indicted Ethan. "--are like. He will tire of you, chasing ever more women, just like Ithlan before him."

Ethan narrowed his eyes. "Not going to happen."

"Oh?" Lord Borden raised an eyebrow. "Then will you swear an oath before Illuminar right here and now that you will not take an additional wife as long as Beth lives?"

"Well, I can't quite do that." He admitted, thinking of the seven wives that the God of Light had promised he would have. He had no intention of swearing an oath that he would probably break.

"Ah." The lord replied with a knowing look, as if he'd just learned everything he needed to know.

"It's not like that father." Beth interjected. "He's a good husband, both to me and his other wives."

"Oh? Is he now?" Her father nodded slowly but skeptically. "So, does he have a better handle on his dragon's temper now than he did before?"

"Well, no." She admitted.

He narrowed his eyes. "It's gotten worse then?"

Ethan opened his mouth to disagree, but really couldn't. He and Beth exchanged a glance.

"A good husband hmm?" Lord Borden continued. "Then, I'm sure he's taken pains to provide for you, and has some source of coin other than what I left for you on the Argo? Surely a good husband wouldn't subsist on the charity of his father-in-law, would he?" He looked at Ethan's sword. "Surely you thought of that before acquiring a sword that -- unless I miss my guess -- is made from the most expensive material in the Ten Kingdoms: dragon steel."

"I didn't buy it." He said slightly defensively. "I found the scales and had them forged; it didn't cost me a dime-- err, a copper."

"Ah, and it didn't occur to you that such a quantity of dragon scales could provide a comfortable life for my daughter for a long time?"

Ethan didn't quite meet his eye.

"Well then, a good husband would at least make sure he didn't make new enemies right?" Lord Borden continued. "Especially considering Lord Delmar's fascination with you, surely you avoided angering others who might hurt my daughter in an attempt to attack you."

Ethan and Beth glanced at each other, both grimacing.

"Ah." He looked even less pleased with them. Finally, inclined his head in a slight concession. "I suppose my daughter is unharmed, so at least you kept her safe."

Both Ethan and Beth looked down a bit.

"What happened?" Heinrich demanded, taking a step forward and resting his non-sword hand on his sword's hilt.

Lord Borden spoke before Ethan did. "And before you answer, remember that I don't get to my position without knowing how to spot a lie." Somehow, the air about him seemed slightly more menacing.

"Um, well..." Ethan began.

"Yeah, I sort of..." Beth trailed off.

"She kind of... well, died." Ethan finally said.

Heinrich and Lord Borden stared. The former gripped his sword hilt tightly with non-sword hand, the latter's mouth had formed a thin, humorless line.

"Died?" Lord Borden repeated the word carefully and precisely. "Explain."

"Um, well we were ambushed when we got to Arcanum." He said. "I didn't have... I mean, well there were over a dozen of them and only one of me, so..."

"It really wasn't that bad." Beth interjected. "I mean the situation was bad, but I meant dying; it really wasn't..." She trailed off at the looks from her father and the man who originally had been going to marry her.

"We literally crossed worlds to bring her back." Ethan said. "I mean, we fought a necromancer to get access to his portal, went to my home planet, and used the technology there to bring her back. We can do that there sometimes, so I made sure we did."

That had to sound good...

...right?

"So let me get this straight." Lord Borden replied in silent-but-deadly tone. "You allowed my daughter to be killed, and then you attacked -- and thus made enemies with -- a necromancer; the most dangerous kind of mage. Then you left the Ten Kingdoms and used some method other than Illuminar's power to bring her back from the dead. Is that correct?"

"Yeah." Ethan replied hesitantly, almost wishing that he'd never opened his mouth. "But you're making it sound worse than it was."

Lord Borden narrowed his eyes. "Which means you've allowed everyone in the Ten Kingdoms to think you're a prophet of Illuminar, when you knew full well that your power comes from some kind of machine. Can I trust a single word that comes from your mouth then?"

"I kept telling everyone that I'm not a prophet, but no one would believe me." He countered.

"That's true." Beth nodded.

"So, will you swear to me right now -- and in front of a crowd later -- that you are not a prophet of Illuminar?" Lord Borden asked.

'Well, I actually talked to Him on the top of Mount Ianis, so..." He hesitated. "At this point I'm not really sure how all that works."

All trance of humor and good mood had completely disappeared from Lord Borden's face, not that there was much to begin with. "So, you have been telling people that you aren't a prophet of Illuminar, even though you talked to Him and believe you might be? And this after letting others believe you raise people from the dead with the God of Light's power?"

"I don't... no that's not..." Ethan grimaced. "Okay, the facts are sort of right, but the order is wrong. I haven't lied to anyone about the whole 'prophet of Illuminar' thing."

"Your own words testify that you can't be trusted." Lord Borden said with a finality that didn't boded well. "No man -- and apparently no dragon -- has a good enough memory to be a liar, as you just proved."

"He isn't a liar though." Beth was almost pleading. "You're twisting his words."

"I haven't twisted his words, I merely asked questions." Her father replied, sadness briefly crossing his face as he looked at his daughter. "If you let a guilty man talk long enough, he will convict himself with his own words."

He nodded at Heinrich.

The captain of the Bank Guard put his sword-hand on his sword, but didn't draw it. "Ethan, I must insist that you step away from Lady Beth.

Ethan let his hand drop to his own sword and the dragon growled. "If you try to take Beth away from me, I'll rip you limb from fucking limb."

Beth looked alarmed and stepped between them, facing Heinrich. "I am not leaving my husband, and if you ever cared for me, you'll leave that sword in its scabbard."

Heinrich glanced at Lord Borden, before speaking sadly. "You were right; I didn't think it possible."

"I too had long thought that dragon compulsion was a myth." Lord Borden shook his head sadly.

"Father, I am not being compelled!" Beth said in an exasperated tone.

"Oh, would you swear to me that he has never compelled you?" Her father replied.

"Uh..." She hesitated. "Well, he did the one time." Then she added hastily. "But it's not what you think."

"Oh, did you ask him to?"

"Well, no." She admitted.

"So you admit that not only can dragons compel mortals, but also that Ethan knows how to, and has compelled you without your consent?"

"Now you're twisting my words." Beth pleaded. "I know you think that I'll end up like Grams, but Ethan isn't like your step-father."

Instantly, Ethan knew that this had been the wrong thing to say. No matter how well-intentioned Beth had been, the change in Lord Borden's countenance was instant. Subtle, but instant. His expression barely changed, but something about his eyes blazed and he seemed to lose a fraction of control.

"I didn't bring my mother up." Lord Borden's volume rose fractionally. "Which means for you to bring her up, you must somehow think your situation is like hers." He said this in a tone that made it sounded like his mind was made up. He clearly had already been leaning in one direction, but Beth's comment seemed to have cemented it beyond all hope of reconsideration.

"No father, Ethan is nothing like that." Beth said, now actually pleading; almost begging him to listen.

He didn't.

"Step away from him, Beth." Her father commanded.

"No." The blonde instead stepped closer, wrapping her arms around Ethan's non-sword arm.

"Ethan Ejder, You're under arrest for crimes against the territory." Lord Borden said, then nodded to Heinrich.

"Don't make me spill your blood in front of Beth." Heinrich said to Ethan. His hand was on his sword, but he still hadn't drawn it... yet. "Come quietly or--"

The dragon growled. "--or what. You'll do what?" He hissed.

*Dominus, please calm down.* Beth's voice mental came. He glanced at her, and she continued with wide eyes. *Remember what happened the last time you lost your temper around me when swords were involved; please calm down.*

Ethan fought the dragon for control, and on the possibility that Beth might be injured made his dragon side doubt enough that he remained in control...

...barely.

But he did.

"For what crime?" He finally asked. "The Book of Light says two or three witnesses, where are they and what's the crime?"

Lord Borden narrowed his eyes.

"Look, that crowd at the docks; that was our doing to make sure that you didn't try anything before we got a chance to talk. Now, I'm pretty sure you know that my wives said some nice things about you earlier today, and so did we at the docks. We could've been honest and told them that you're being a dick, but we didn't. However..."

He locked eyes with the man. "...however if you lock me up, I'll be happy to shout my side of the story from the fucking rooftops. We can settle this in private like men, or you can watch your reputation go up in smoke as I holler about how you arrested me without cause all the way to the jail."

Heinrich made a fist with his free hand and set his jaw.

Lord Borden looked down his nose at Ethan. "Shrewd; I'd expect nothing less from a beast like you."

"Father..." Beth breathed. "That's my husband, and whatever else you might think, please know that I love him ver--"

"You know nothing." Lord Borden interrupted as he clenched his fist. "Your mind isn't your own, but it will be again. I swear to you." He looked at Ethan. "If you step one toe out of line in Gralden, you'll spend the rest of a very short life in prison."

"And my other wives, and my crew?" Ethan asked, just about done with this conversation.

A muscle twitched in Lord Borden's cheek. "The same will apply to them the moment they do anything wrong."

"And until then?" He pressed.

"They will not be harassed by me or my men until they commit a crime." Lord Borden said after several seconds. "But if they do..." he let that hang in the air.

"Yeah, well; fuck you too." He hissed, then turned on his heel and stalked away, Beth hurrying after him.

* * *

Sarah took a deep breath as she felt the airship's long descent stop, making her stomach feel funny. Selene had once described an 'elevator', and this sounded like what she'd said it felt like when it stopped going down. She didn't like the feeling at all. There was an abrupt bump as the airship's hull clearly bumped into something.

"Adrian, no." Lady Ekthros mumbled in her sleep.

The innkeeper's daughter gave her a gentle shake. Instantly, the auburn-haired woman's eyes flew open and she looked around in alarm, a powerful fire seeming to blaze behind her eyes. After barely a second, she calmed down and put her hand of her heart.

"Oh my word, you startled me." She breathed, sounding like she'd been winded.

"I'm sorry, I just thought you should know that the airship seems to have stopped." Sarah replied, then cocked her head to one side. "Who's Adrian?"

Instantly, the other woman's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that name?"

"You were talking in your sleep. You said 'Adrian, no'."

Lady Ekthros breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, okay. I do that sometimes."

"So who is he?"

"He's... he was..." She gave Sarah a pained smile that didn't reach her eyes. "He's someone that I used to know."

Sarah got the distinct impression that Lady Ekthros wouldn't elaborate even if she begged, so she dropped it.

A few minutes later, one of the soldiers came down the stairs from the main deck. He unlocked the jail cell, drew his sword, and used it to motion them out. "Get moving ladies, and no funny business."

The two women looked at each other, then followed his directions and headed up the stairs to the main weather deck. After three days in the ship's jail cell, the world outside was incredibly bright. Sarah squinted, even though it was an overcast day with no direct sun. The weather deck was filled with soldiers carrying out tasks and moving things about. The airship was about the same size as the Argo, but not nearly as nice or sleek.

"Get moving." The soldier waved them towards the gangplank with the tip of his sword. The two women went, and as Sarah reached the edge of the gangplank she saw where they were.

It was a castle.

A smaller castle -- probably a small outpost of some kind -- but definitely a castle.

It was made from dark grey stone held together with only slightly lighter grey mortar. The walls were arranged in a square, with battlements all around and a walkway for defenders. There were several small ballistae scattered around, probably to deal with dragons. In the center, attached to one of the walls was a large, square stone keep that rose high into the air and also had battlements atop it.

The airship was docked at a high point in one of the walls, almost assuredly built so that an airship could dock. As she walked across the gangplank from the airship to the walls, she looked down and saw a large moat that looked quite deep.

There was a large courtyard inside the walls and it had stables on one side, what looked like barracks on another, and a blacksmith. The floor was essentially dirt, though there was a healthy dose of manure mixed in from the stables. She couldn't help but notice that there was a set of stocks in one corner with a man's head and both his arms sticking through them.

She shuddered.

She would hate to be in something like that.

"Get that fine ass moving!" The soldier who was guiding them barked.

Sarah briefly felt slightly flattered despite the situation, before she realized that he had been talking to Lady Ekthros. The girl's shoulders slumped even more.

The soldier guided them down along the wall towards a set of stairs, and Sarah found herself wishing that she was a mage. The walls were at least a dozen feet high, and she knew mages could use magic to throw people around. If one of them had been a mage, it would've been easy to do that to everyone on the walls, and even the airship.

Sadly...

The soldier guided them down the stairs, across the courtyard, and up a set of stone steps leading to the keep. There was a small drawbridge about ten feet long at the top of the steps and a large doorway with a portcullis on the far side of the small drawbridge. Beyond the doorway was a room made completely of stone with only one other exit, which also had a portcullis.

The soldier guided them through a couple rooms and to a set of winding stairs. Up and up they went. Sarah counted at least five different levels, the second to last of which opened into what looked like a laboratory of some kind. There were glass beakers on several tables, what looked like an assortment of precision tools, and even several sets of restraints for people along one wall. There were also two wide, flat wooden boards set perpendicular to the wall with restraints on them as well.

The soldier made them climb to the top, and into a room with a long row of cells, none of which were occupied. It occurred to her that anyone who wanted access to the prisoners would have to fight through virtually the entire castle to get to them.

He forced them into a cell that was barely the size of her room at the inn and locked it behind them. "Now, I don't want to hear nothing from you, ya' hear?"

Sarah nodded, Lady Ekthros gave him a withering glare, but also nodded. Without another word, the soldier turned and left the room. The innkeeper's daughter let her back rest against the wall and slid down, wrapping her arms around her knees when her butt hit the floor.

"Are you okay Sarah?" Lady Ekthros asked, sitting down next to her and putting her arm around her.

"I will be." She replied, remembering Gabriella's promise. "I just wish I knew what they were going to do."

"Yeah, me too." The auburn-haired woman replied with a sigh.

"I heard that some arch mages can read other people's minds." Sarah said after a few minutes. "If only one of us was one, then we would know."

"That would be amazing, and so useful." Lady Ekthros nodded.

Sarah nodded and then went back to her thoughts. She had this silly fantasy that Ethan would hear that she'd been taken and then come rescue her. It was silly though. Even if the prophet of Illuminar heard, he surely had more important things to do, like help those miners who were being attacked by orcs. Besides, even the prophet of Illuminar couldn't possibly fight through all of the soldiers outside.

She wished he could though.

* * *

Ethan stalked through the streets of Gralden, silently fuming at Lord Borden's asinine stupidity. The asshole really needed to be taken down a peg. He found himself flexing his claws, having to resist going back there and explaining how much of a moron the lord was being with them. He'd been walking for almost a minute when his human side realized there was someone who was probably feeling worse than he was.

He turned towards his youngest wife.

She had a brave face on, but he could see right through it. She looked ready to crack and break down crying.

"Hey, come here." He stopped and swept her into a hug and she just completely flopped into him. Everyone had been giving him a wide berth before because his disguise gem was off, but now they looked with curiosity too. He guessed that they probably knew who he was since word of his arrival had spread, which accounted for the lack of panic.

"I'll be okay Dominus." Beth said, her voice wavering in a very 'not okay' sort of way.

"I'll be with you every step of the way, no matter what." He promised softly.

"I know." She whispered, then kissed his cheek. "Can we go meet up with the others? I'd really like to see them right now."

"Absolutely." He said, then thought to everyone. *We should all meet at the Argo, unless someone has an objection.*

*I can't wait sir.* Alana's mental voice came with a sigh of relief.

*Will we be allowed back on the Argo?* Kendra asked.

*Probably not, but we'll figure that out when we're all together.* He replied.

He took Beth's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Come on angel." She nodded and walked beside him, head down and not saying a word.

They arrived at the docks a few minutes later.

A few minutes after that, the rest of his wives arrived. They all congregated near the Argo's gangplank, but didn't board the ship.

"God, you all are a sight for sore eyes." He grinned, giving each one of them a tender kiss.

"How did it go Bee?" Taloni asked when he had finished.

Beth shook her head sadly.

"That bad?" Selene asked as she left the Argo to join them, with Anthiel right behind her.

The blonde nodded.

"Honestly, it was a total cluster fuck." Ethan sighed. "It ended with him saying that if any of us break the smallest law here, we'll never see the light of day again."

"I would assume that includes boarding the Argo?" Rachel grimaced.

"Unfortunately, that's a pretty safe bet." He nodded. "Shit, I didn't even think about where we would stay, or what we would eat, or how we would pay for..." He trailed off and looked around at the six beautiful women looking at him expectantly.

"I fucked up." He shook his head. "I've got no idea how to provide for you all. I don't even know where we'll sleep tonight."

"At my house." Anthiel interjected.

Everyone looked at her.

"Wait, what?" Ethan asked.

"Oh don't look so surprised." She said with a smile. "I knew Lord Borden would impound the Argo, and so I asked my husband if it was okay the night we got the letter from him. He said that we could make up the guest room with an extra-large bed, and Mirella is very interested to meet you all as well."

"Who's Mirella?" Beth asked.

"You'll see." She said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"How did you ask your husband?" Rachel asked. "Portalling letters is extremely expensive."

Anthiel gave her a sly smile, but didn't answer the question. "You all are welcome to stay at my husband's house as long as you are in Gralden, or at least until you get things sorted with Lord Borden."

"Really?" He asked.

She nodded. "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't serious."

"Thank you Anthiel; really, I mean that." Ethan said sincerely. "I literally wouldn't know what to do without your very generous offer."

"Yes, thank you." Alana gave the high elf a hug, which was actually rather amusing to watch because of the height difference. Everyone else expressed a similar sentiment.

"I've already told Serif and Raklan to stand guard, so the Argo won't be bothered while we're gone." The high elf said. "Now, shall we?"

The walk to her house wasn't long, and only took about ten minutes. Ethan noticed that his wives, Selene, and even Kendra seemed to have clustered around Beth a bit. They weren't speaking, but it looked like a show of sisterly solidarity. Kendra and Selene were on the periphery of the group, looking like they wanted to help Beth, but also looking a little unsure of themselves; like they had no idea what to do or say and thus didn't want to interfere.

"This is it." Anthiel announced.

The house wasn't large, but it looked nice.

Like most of the houses in Gralden, it looked much like a medieval Tudor-style house. However, something about the house reminded Ethan of the Japanese style houses he'd seen in samurai movies. He wasn't sure what it was, but something about it made him think of that. It was set pretty far back from the main row, and had a small garden in front of it. Someone had clearly taken a lot of care with the garden, and there were beautiful flowers growing in it.

"It's nice." Beth said, a small smile on her face.

"Thank you, though the flowers are Mirella's doing." The high elf said walking to the door and opening it. "Come on in."

Ethan stepped in right behind her, and saw what looked like a living room. Again, it wasn't large but it was very nice. The furniture looked like it was of the highest quality, but nothing about anything screamed extravagant. In fact, it had a slightly Spartan feel; a 'less is more' kind of thing. The decorations were very tasteful and beautiful, and the whole room had an elegance about it. Again, he was vaguely reminded of a Japanese samurai movie. There were seven chairs arranged in a slight semi-circle facing a couch with a coffee table in between them.

The thing that took center stage in the decoration was a large, exquisitely done portrait of what he assumed was Anthiel's family. It looked almost picture-like, which was impressive. In the portrait, Anthiel had the arm of a male elf who stood confidently, though he was a bit shorter than she was and thoroughly average looking.

Locking down, he saw that same elf sitting on the couch and looking at him with a bemused expression...

...and there was an alarmed looking female high elf straddling his lap.

Fortunately, they were both fully clothed, but he guessed that if they'd arrived a few minutes later they wouldn't have been. The female elf straddling his lap looked fairly young -- maybe the human equivalent of late twenties or early thirties -- and was quite attractive. In contrast to Anthiel's silver hair, her hair was a magnificent shade of mahogany, a few shades darker than Rachel's roots. Her skin was quite fair, and her expression was mortified.

She made to scramble off of him, but Anthiel's husband had his hands on her hips and he held onto her a moment, after which she stopped.

"Mirella." The elf said to the elven woman on his lap in a calm, confident, and collected voice. "You've done nothing wrong, nor anything to be ashamed of. Take a deep breath and relax." He sounded more amused than anything else.

The high elf -- Mirella -- took his advice, taking a deep breath and relaxing before calmly getting off his lap, making sure her dress kept everything covered as she did so.

"Mirella." Anthiel said in a happy tone as she swept forward and pulled the slightly shorter elven woman into a hug. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too Anthiel." Mirella replied, hugging her back tightly.

It looked like there was a lot of affection between the women, and they smiled at each other when the hug broke. Moments later, her husband stood and Anthiel wrapped him in a hug; a hug that quickly approached the edge of being appropriate for polite company.

"Ethan, ladies, this is my husband Ralgar Kiarien, called 'Fleet Admiral'." She said.

"Ethan I've heard a lot about you from Ani." He stepped forward and extended his hand. Again, he was a thoroughly average looking elf, but he carried himself with a poise and genuine confidence that rivalled Anthiel or Lord Borden.

"Nice to meet you." He replied, trying to wrap his mind around someone calling Anthiel 'Ani'. The informal nickname just seemed to clash with the elven pilot's personality.

"This is my second wife, Mirella." He indicated the other high elf.

"Nice to meet you too." Ethan said, caught slightly off-guard that Anthiel's husband had another wife. "I must admit, I didn't know that you existed."

"Um, yeah I don't really..." She had a kind voice, but didn't quite meet his eye. "I kind of prefer that right now."

"Uh, fair enough I suppose." He said. Her downcast voice stood in stark contrast to what had seemed to be a happy demeanor the moment after the door had opened.

*Sir, he didn't mention her elven title after her name, as is usually done.* Alana pointed out to them all.

Hmm.

She was right.

"Also, please excuse the portrait." Ralgar said, indicating the painting of Anthiel and Ralgar with their family. "The artist hasn't been in the area recently, so it's missing an important person." He looked fondly at Mirella, who blushed and looked down, but she looked pleased anyway.

Anthiel set her hand on her fellow wife's shoulder. "Would you mind entertaining our guests Miri? It's been over two months and I'm feeling deprived."

Mirella actually smiled. "I'd love to, thank you."

"No, thank you." Anthiel got a mischievous smile on her face, then looked at her husband and raised her eyebrows.

"If you'll pardon me Ethan, I do believe my wife requires some attention." He said, and then without warning scooped Anthiel off her feet and into his arms. Anthiel yelped slightly -- not unlike his teen wives occasionally did when he swept them off their feet -- then the over one hundred year old woman laughed like a blushing bride as her husband carried her out of the room.

"I knew you were coming today, I just didn't know it would be this early." Mirella said, seemingly still a bit flustered, but looking quite happy. "Could I offer you some tea and crumpets?" She looked at Beth with an expression of utter sincerity. "I find they help with a troubled soul."

"Thank you." Beth said, her calm façade breaking. Her lower lip quivered a bit and she blinked her eyes, which were getting more moist by the moment.

Ethan walked over and wrapped his arms around her, and his wives followed suit creating a group hug. She broke down and started crying into his arms as he and his other wives held onto her. Kendra and Selene were on the periphery again, both looking unsure what to do, and both looked like they wanted to help. He made eye contact with each, and nodded his head fractionally to indicate they were more than welcome to join.

They did.

Awkwardly, but they did.

Kendra especially looked uncomfortable with all the physical contact, but she clearly liked it too. By contrast, Selene looked like she simply didn't know how to do it and was fumbling through. It was actually kind of sweet to see them both looking so uncomfortable but trying to help anyway.

He kissed the top of Beth's head, wishing that he could do something more to help.

It took the blonde a few minutes to calm down, and by the time she was starting to get ahold of herself Ethan smelled a wonderful scent on the air. The heavenly scent was enough to make the distraught blonde look up.

Mirella was returning with a large plate of... well, he wasn't sure. They looked a bit like English muffins, but clearly weren't. In her other hand, she was balancing a tray with eight teacups and a full tea kettle.

"Let me help." Selene stepped forward and Mirella let her take the plate, and together the two of them set them safely down on the coffee table.

"Please, take a seat and make yourselves at home." Mirella said, indicating a chair for him to sit in.

Ethan got the impression that she really enjoyed having company to entertain, and that impression was reinforced when he looked more closely at the chair arrangement. She had indicated a chair for him that was slightly larger than the three on either side, but only slightly. To his chair's left hand side was a chair with a green pillow, and the chair beyond that had a red pillow, and the one beyond that had a charcoal grey pillow. The chair on his chair's right hand side had a royal blue pillow, and the one beyond that had a lilac pillow, and the one beyond that had a pretty amethyst-colored pillow.

He sat down and his wives each took the chair that had their color on it, with Kendra taking the amethyst chair and the Selene taking the charcoal grey colored chair after a few seconds of hesitation. He had to admit, the charcoal grey looked really good with the Brazilian woman's skin tone.

Once they were seated, he looked at Beth.

His youngest wife's tears had stopped, but she still looked sad. He didn't blame her. He put his arm around her and rested his hand on her shoulder.

She gave him a small smile and whispered. "Thank you."

"Any time."

The blonde turned to Mirella. "How did you know, about the colors and such?"

"Anthiel told Ralgar, who told me."

"Did she portal a letter or something?" He asked as he leaned forward to look at the food on the coffee table.

Mirella shook her head. "From what Ralgar says, he's not the only man that can communicate with a wife across long distances."

"Oh. It never occurred to me.... huh." He nodded. "Yeah, that makes perfect sense. I guess I kind of forgot other people could do that too." He looked at the food. "This looks amazing."

"Please, help yourself; we have butter and plenty of jam flavors." Mirella indicated the treats as she sat down on the left side of a large couch which faced the chairs. The couch had room enough to comfortably fit three people, though the other two spots were unoccupied.

"Oh, you have strawberry rhubarb jam!" Alana exclaimed, and Rachel looked equally as excited.

"And blueberry!" Beth's face lit up.

"Is that Elderberry?" Taloni asked as she leaned forward.

"Oh, and that looks like apple." Selene grinned.

"And currant." Kendra said, her face a strange combination of a smile and frown as she looked at their host. "You have everyone's favorite jam, and butter for Ethan; how did you know?"

Mirella smiled. "I might've asked Ralgar to ask Anthiel to find out."

"Ah, that explains the conversation about jams and jellies that Anthiel started the other day." Ethan said as he realized that was some next-level effort to be a good hostess. Oddly, he got the impression that it was the kind of thing that Sarah might do. A smile crept onto his face despite himself when he thought about the innkeeper's daughter. He found himself idly wishing there was another chair next to Selene for her.

* * *

Selene thought the crumpets were wonderful; crispy on the outside and all gooey on the inside. She'd never had them before, but enjoyed them immensely. The apple jelly had some cinnamon in it too, which made it extra wonderful. She wasn't sure how to feel about the seating, though she did love the charcoal grey color of the pillow on her chair. It complemented her skin tone nicely.

She looked at Ethan and his wives, who were enjoying the crumpets with much thanks to their host. The mood was happy-ish, but subdued.

"So, what happened with Lord Borden?" Selene asked when she'd finished her crumpet. "Other than his threat at the end, you really didn't say."

Ethan glanced at Beth, then his eyes flicked to Mirella for a moment and he raised his eyebrow at his youngest wife. The blonde teen hesitated, then nodded.

"Well, it went like this..." He recounted the conversation, with Beth adding a few details.

"Sir, I can say with one hundred percent certainly that Lord Borden was completely wrong about absolutely everything." Alana said firmly when they were done.

"He was, master." Taloni agreed.

"He was wrong about most of it, but I'm not sure he was wrong about everything." Ethan said as he leaned back in his chair. His posture wasn't exactly slumped, but neither was he sitting perfectly straight.

"Oh?" Selene asked. "What was he right about?"

"Providing for you girls." He replied. "He was right that I've basically been living on his charity. I'm flat broke. The only thing that I own is the gold cube, and that's not..." He clenched his fist, and his next exhale came out more as a growl than anything else. He got ahold of himself after a moment. "I've got four wives and a daughter on the way, and I don't have a job, business, or income of any kind."

"Okay my lord, then he was wrong about everything except that." Rachel said. "We just need to make him see that."

"I don't think we can." Ethan sighed.

"I think Ethan is right." Selene interjected. "It sounds like the chances of convincing Lord Borden are basically zero, which leaves all of us in a tight spot, which wouldn't be so bad if there weren't some miners down south counting on us."

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah..."

The caramel-haired woman thought about it for a moment and then shook her head. Without the Argo, there really wasn't much that Ethan could do about anything. Even after almost three weeks in the Ten Kingdoms, she still found it hard to believe that she was concerned about helping a dragon get his airship back so they could go fight some cannibalistic orcs.

It was surreal.

"I forgot to ask." Beth said after several moments. "I forgot to ask if he actually tried to... to..." She trailed off, glancing at Ethan and Alana. Taloni gave her a side hug from the chair next to her.

"Yeah, that would be worth knowing." Ethan nodded.

"Do you think the wood elven king could help with our not having an airship problem?" Selene asked, her mind still on how to get down south so they could help the miners with the orc problem.

"He probably would if I asked." Ethan replied. "I would really hate to ask though."

"How about my father?" Alana asked hopefully.

"Maybe?" He shrugged. "The King gave me a portal stone, so I suppose that I could ask him... Oh shit; it's still on the Argo."

"I can get it for you." Anthiel said as she and her husband emerged from another room. Selene noticed that the high elf's normally perfect hair and clothes were ever-so-slightly out of place, and she looked both slightly flushed and very happy.

Someone had just gotten laid.

"However, you might want to think about it for a few days before you ask." Anthiel continued as she and her husband joined Mirella on the couch; him in the middle, his wives on either side of him.

"Now, I understand that you've all been under a lot of pressure lately and have some decisions to make." Ralgar said with an easy confidence. "I've always found that a diversion helps when I have a difficult decision to make. Would anyone be up for a game?"

Almost all of Ethan's wives and the man himself nodded.

Ralgar smiled. "Has anyone ever heard of the game 'pente'?"

* * *

Beth seized on watching the game as a way to avoid thinking about their present situation. It was a deceptively simple game, played on a leather board with a grid of lines. Each player took turns placing colored stones on the grid intersections, trying to get five of their stones in a row while trying to prevent the opponent from doing the same. However, you could also win by 'capturing' your opponent's stones five times.

The game was simple to learn, but complex to master and obviously required a lot of strategy. Ethan, Rachel, Selene, and Ralgar especially seemed to enjoy it, and they played for much of the afternoon since Ralgar's set had four different colors of stone. Each of the other wives had tried a couple times, but they weren't nearly as interested.

Beth mostly watched and tried not to think about the fiasco with her father earlier. Unfortunately, watching the game was wasn't nearly as distracting as she would've preferred.

She shook her head.

How could her father do that?

"Hey, how are you holding up?" Taloni asked quietly.

She looked at the Fey and let the sadness in her eyes show. "I don't know. I feel like everything is bleak, and dark, and I just don't know what to do."

"Aww, I'm sorry." The honey-blonde replied.

"Me too." Beth whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

"Tria." Ethan announced as he got three stones in a row. The game required that you announce this because the goal was to win by skill, not by stealth or trickery. Then he stopped and glanced at her.

*Are you okay angel?*

*Honestly, I don't know.*

*Anything I can do?*

The blonde sighed. *I don't think so.*

He reached over and gently brushed her bare upper arm with the back of his hand. *Sorry.*

*It's not your fault, but thank you.*

*Why don't you and I go for a walk or something?* He asked.

*Sure.* She shrugged. *But I'd hate to interrupt your game. How about when this one is over?*

"Tessera." Selene announced as she got her fourth capture.

*Shouldn't be long.* Ethan replied, which proved to be more right than he knew.

"Pente." Ralgar said a moment later as he got his fifth capture, winning the game.

Ethan, Rachel, and Selene groaned. The elf was quite good and he won most of the games, mostly by captures. He was an excellent teacher though, and often explained why he made his moves to help them understand the game better. Ralgar definitely won far more than they did, but they seemed to enjoy playing anyway.

"Come on, let's take that walk." Ethan said getting up and turning to the others, then saying with a lopsided smile. "Deal me out of Ralgar's next victory."

Rachel grinned. "Never give up."

Selene chuckled, and then said in an oddly masculine tone. "Never surrender."

Ethan laughed, then said to the Brazilian woman. "Thanks Mathesar; err, Captain Taggart."

"One of those movie things?" Rachel asked.

The two earthlings nodded.

Everyone else shook their heads.

Ethan took Beth's arm and led her out of Anthiel's home, but they had barely gone a dozen paces before Beth stopped short as she saw... Her jaw dropped.

"What's wrong angel..." He trailed off, probably seeing what she herself had seen.

About a dozen yards away was a woman who looked exactly like what Beth saw in a mirror, only about twenty years older. She had the same golden blonde hair, the same long legs, and the same blue eyes. She was pacing back and forth on the street, wringing her hands together and muttering under her breath.

"Mother?" Beth breathed.

The woman turned to them, and started wringing her hands even more. She cast a furtive glance back towards the Bank, then looked back at her daughter.

What was she doing here?

Why was...

Beth looked up and down the street to see that no one else was around. It appeared that her mother had been pacing in the street for some time, though the blonde didn't know why. The only thing she could think of was that her mother had wanted to visit her at Anthiel's hose, but then why hadn't she come in?

Beth took a tentative step forward. "Mother? Are you... I mean, why are you here?"

"I um..." She glanced at her daughter, but then her eyes shifted to Ethan and she took a small step backwards. "Is he... I mean, will he...?"

*Your mother knows that you married a dragon, right?* Ethan thought to her.

*She does.* Beth thought back. *So why...?*

*It depends on what your father has been telling her about me.* He replied, and she could almost hear the growl in his mental tone.

"It's okay mother, he's a really great husband and I'm very happy." Beth said.

"That's..." She hesitated. "That's good." She frowned and pursed her lips though.

Ethan sighed and then looked at Beth. "I'm going back inside, let me know if you need anything and I'll be there in a flash."

She nodded, then looked back at her mother. The moment the door had closed behind Ethan, the older woman let out a deep breath that Beth hadn't seen her take. She stopped wringing her hands so much and smoothed the front of her dress. Moments later, she actually got a smile on her face.

"It's good to see you Elizabeth."

Beth felt herself relax a bit too. "It's good to see you too mom."

The elder woman opened her arms and stepped forward, and Beth rushed forward to give her a hug. Suddenly, she felt like she was five again, and the worries and cares that had plagued her for the last few days -- heck, the last few months -- seemed to fade away a bit.

After several seconds, her mother whispered into her ear. "While he's not watching, we can make a break for The Bank. The town guards will protect us."

Beth felt her heart sink.

She closed her eyes as she felt them get watery and she slowly shook her head. "No mom, I'm not going to run from my husband."

"Why? We can escape and make sure you're safe. He can't get into The Bank's vaults and I know your father would--"

"No." Beth said forcefully as she let go of her mother and stepped back. "No. I'm not going to run from him because I don't want to run from him. I definitely don't want him near The Bank's vaults; not after what happened the last time."

"You don't want...?" Her mother cocked her head to one side and her mouth was hanging open slightly. After several moments she shook her head slightly. "It doesn't matter. You must let your father take care of this. He always takes care of everything and you should trust him."

"That's the thing mom, I don't want him to take care of this, because there's nothing to take care of." The blonde teen said firmly. "I love Ethan mom. I. Love. Him. He's a great husband and I thank Illuminar that I met him and that He brought us together."

"You're a teenager Elizabeth." The older woman countered. "You don't know what you want, but your father will take care of it."

Beth took a deep, calming breath. "How is he going to 'take care of it' mother? I'm married to Ethan; married. This isn't a childhood crush or childish fling. I'm married. How is father going to take care of that?"

Her mother took a tiny step back, and then crossed one of her arms to hold the other elbow. "Um, there's... I mean, maybe a..." She mumbled something so quietly that Beth couldn't hear.

"A what?"

Her mother mumbled again, and this time Beth thought she caught it. "A divorce mother? Really?!"

"Well, I mean..."

"Dear Illuminar in heaven mother!" Beth said, trying hard to keep her voice at a reasonable level. "He's never beaten me, abandoned me, or failed to make sure I had food, clothing, and shelter. Plus, he hasn't ever -- and wouldn't ever -- deny me sex for an extended period, so I have no grounds to divorce him even if I wanted to, which I most certainly don't!" The final few syllables came out a little louder and little more shrill than she'd intended.

"Well, but... but maybe he could divorce you?" Her mother countered in a small voice while not meeting her eyes, though her tone was hopeful.

"Divorce me!" Beth threw her hands up in the air. "Let's see, what could he use as grounds to divorce me?" She raised her hands and ticked them off. "First, I definitely didn't lie about being a virgin before we got married, so he can't use that. Second, I wouldn't even think about denying him sex for an extended period, so that's out. Third, do you really think I'd have sex with another man? Do you really think I would commit adultery mother? That I'm such a horrible woman that I'd become an adulteress?"

"Well, no..." Her mother still wouldn't look her in the eye. In fact, she appeared to be examining her shoes rather intently.

"Okay, well the fourth reason he could divorce me is if I exposed myself to another man." She shuddered in disgust at the mere thought of another man seeing her naked, and her skin started to crawl too. "I'd die before doing that, so there's the fourth reason gone. And given that there's only five, you must think you can use the fifth. Is that it?"

"Well, I mean you could..." Her voice sounded small, almost mousy.

"I am most definitely not going to abandon him mother!" She said much louder than she intended. She took a deep, calming breath and tried to think of what Ethan would do. Well, what he would do without his dragon side's influence anyway.

*Are you okay angel?* His voice sounded in her head.

*For now.* She replied, feeling like one of those 'deflated balloon' things Ethan had once described.

"I just don't want to see you end up like Grams." Her mother finally said.

"Oh, dear Illuminar in heaven mother." She huffed. "I'm not going to end up like Grams. Ethan loves me. He loves me more than I ever knew it was possible for a man to love a woman."

Her mother cocked her head to one side. "Really?"

"Yes." The blonde teen replied, her voice softening. "Yes he does."

Her mother made a thoughtful sound. "And..." She hesitated. "And you're happy?"

"Yes." She nodded, then added as an afterthought. "Well, I was happier when father wasn't trying to split me up from my fellow wives."

Her mother inhaled a bit sharply and seemed to stiffen slightly. She cast a nervous glance toward Anthiel's house and seemed to grow more nervous. A quick glance showed why; there were a bunch of faces in the window watching. Ethan, Alana, Taloni, Rachel, Kendra, and even Selene were watching and looking concerned. For some reason -- she wasn't sure why -- but for some reason it occurred to Beth that if Sarah had been here, she would've been right next to the rest of them, and just as concerned for her as they were.

That made her smile.

She turned back to her mother. "I really am happy mother, and I really like my fellow wives. You know how much I've always wanted a sister right?"

Her mother nodded.

"Well, I think I have an idea what that might be like now, and it's wonderful."

Her mother opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and then spoke in a small voice. "But your father said that you... well that you mentioned Grams and so he thought..."

"Yes, I specifically told him my situation wasn't like Grams' situation."

"Oh." Her mother shifted her weight a bit and glanced at the window before looking back at her daughter. "Are they really nice to you?"

"They are." Beth nodded. "In fact, they nearly died trying to save me once."

"They did?"

She nodded, thinking back to the fight with Gonorran and how close it had been. "Yeah. One of them now has a permanent scar from the fight; a fight that she voluntarily entered into in order to save me."

"Oh." Was all she said in reply; she didn't seem to know what else to say.

There was silence for several seconds before her mother spoke again. "Did you tell your father any of this?"

"He didn't give me a chance; you know how he can be."

"I do." She nodded in concession. "And... and you're happy?"

"Yes." Beth said, smiling a genuine smile for the first time since coming back to Gralden. "Yes I really am."

Her mother nodded. "And..." She glanced at the window, then back at Beth before whispering. "And... and he's not like Gram's husband? He's... he's never hit you?"

"No, he hasn't." She said, then realized that wasn't technically true. "Well..."

Her mother gasped.

"No! No it's not like that." Beth said quickly as she blushed furiously. "It's just that sometimes I... Um, in the bedroom I occasionally... um..." She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"Oh." Her mother went beet red. "That."

Something about the way she said it made Beth that think that her mother might also...

Ugh!

Gross!

She closed her eyes trying to get that mental picture out of her head. She shivered in disgust. "Geez mom, I didn't want to know that!"

Her mother chuckled nervously.

There was an awkward silence for several seconds before the older woman broke it. "He's really a good guy?"

"He is; he's the very best of men." Beth replied honestly.

Her mother started to smile, then faltered and it turned into one of those half-smile, half-frown faces people make when they can't decide between the two. "Your father will never believe it." She said quietly. "After growing up with Grams, he... he's..." She shook her head.

"I know." Beth sighed. "Is there anything you can do? Anything I can do?"

"I don't know." She replied. "I don't think so."

"I was afraid of that." The blonde teen sighed, then looked towards Anthiel's house. "Did you want to... I don't know, visit for a bit?"

"I should probably get back soon." Her mother replied. "I did spend rather a lot of time trying to work up the courage to knock on the door."

"Okay." Beth gave her another hug, which the other woman returned with interest.

"I'm so glad that you're back Elizabeth." She gave her a tight squeeze before letting go. "Charles is dying to see you too."

"I'd love to see him too." She said, then thought for a minute. "Can you think of anyone who might be able to get through to father?"

"The only person I can think of is Heinrich." She replied apologetically, then added. "You know, he's still in love with you."

"He's nice, but he's not Ethan." Beth sighed. "But if he's still interested, that'll make it hard to convince him."

"But maybe easier than your father." Her mother pointed out.

"Hmm, maybe." The younger blonde mused.

* * *

Alana listened to Beth recount her conversation with her mother in Anthiel's house as Mirella prepared dinner. The smell was actually quite distracting and she found her mouth watering more than once. Despite that, she felt like -- and she couldn't think of another way to say it -- but hearing it made her heart hurt. She couldn't believe how Beth's father was behaving, and if her father had behaved that way towards her when they'd met...

She didn't know if she could've handled it.

It would've been devastating for her. She couldn't imagine how it was affecting Beth, who actually had a real relationship with her father. She found herself staring out the window as the conversation turned to other topics.

"Alana?" Mirella said gently.

"Hmm?" She shook her head and looked around, realized she'd been in her head for some time. Rachel must be rubbing off on her.

"Dinner is ready, but you don't need to eat now if you don't want to." The high elf said. "I can always reheat something later if you'd like."

"No, I could eat. Thank you." She stood up and followed the mahogany haired elf into the dining room, where everyone else already was. She stayed mostly silent throughout dinner and simply let her mind wander. It was only occasionally brought back into the room when Rachel, who was sitting next to her, occasionally -- and probably accidentally -- brushed her leg with hers.

It was incredibly distracting.

Wonderful, but distracting.

Their hosts ended up sitting mixed in with the guests, with Ralgar and Ethan especially spending some time talking about the finer points of penté. The wood elf was near the end of the table, and sitting across from her was Mirella.

About halfway through dinner, the mahogany-haired elf leaned forward slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about my father."

"Oh?"

The wood elf nodded.

"Are there problems there too?"

"Sort of, but not really." She replied, and then gave Mirella the abbreviated version of the history, and it seemed like she had heard a tiny bit of it, but not much detail.

"Hmm." Mirella nodded when Alana had finished.

"You're thinking something." Rachel said to their host.

Her lip drew into a thin line, and she seemed hesitant to speak.

"It's okay, I promise I won't be bothered." Alana said.

Mirella hesitated several seconds, wiggled her head side-to-side for a second, then spoke. "Um, I know the wood elven culture a bit since I spent some of my early years around them. I was just wondering if your father, Navaro, if he..." She frowned slightly. "You sure you want me to say?"

"Well, now I have to know." The wood elf replied leaning forward in her chair and resting her head on her hands.

"Okay." Mirella took a deep breath and then continued. "Well, I was just trying to decide if your father is an amazing elf or a really selfish one."

Whatever Alana had been expecting, it wasn't that.

She blinked.

"What?"

Suddenly, the whole table seemed to have turned their way.

"What's wrong?" Ethan asked, probably having felt her shock over their bond.

Mirella repeated herself and Ethan looked as shocked as she felt. "How do you figure?"

"Well, he's the heir to House Nalfigar right?"

"Yes." Alana nodded.

"So then, he has thousands of elves counting on him, possibly tens of thousands." Their hostess explained. "It's very admirable that he wants to marry your mother and has been so careful to provide for you. But have you considered what it could mean for House Nalfigar if he does marry Kalaya?"

"What could happen?" Beth asked, and the wood elf was glad the distraught blonde was showing curiosity in something again.

"It could ruin House Nalfigar." Mirella replied. "It would greatly reduce the honor of the house in everyone's eyes. Businessmen would be less likely to do business with them, so they'll grow poorer. With the loss of honor, wood elves everywhere will be less likely to listen to them, so they would lose a great deal of influence. Those things together would result in them losing a lot of power. Eventually, they will probably be reduced to a minor house at best. They might never recover the lost momentum, and could eventually fade away altogether. It wouldn't happen overnight, but it would greatly weaken House Nalfigar and put thousands of people out of work, or even in danger since Nalfigar has many enemies."

The hostess looked around the table to see that all of the guests were staring at her. She averted her eyes, hunched her shoulders, looked down, and spoke quietly. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Ralgar asked.

"For..." She looked around.

"For... what?" Her husband repeated kindly and gently, but firmly.

She looked unsure of herself for several seconds before her husband spoke up again. "You did nothing wrong Miri. In fact, I think your observations were quite astute and I'm proud of you for them."

She made a half smile at that, but still looked a bit down.

"Mirella." Ethan interjected. "We have a saying on Earth that goes like this: 'don't shoot the messenger'. It means that just because someone made you aware of bad news, it doesn't mean the bad news is that person's fault. Therefore, there's no reason to be upset at the person."

"I appreciate you saying something." Alana added. "Yeah it was hard to hear, but you made some good points and I'm grateful."

"Really?" Mirella asked.

Ethan and Alana both nodded before the latter spoke. "I just had never thought of it that way before."

"I should add that he's a really good man for wanting to marry Kalaya, and be in your life." Mirella added.

"On that we agree." Ethan said.

Alana looked at her husband and thought to all of them. *I really hadn't considered that; how it could affect so many people that is.*

He nodded. *Yeah, I'm really starting to hate that bloody honor culture.*

"Ethan." Anthiel interjected. "Unless I miss my guess, you're about to go on yet another rant about the wood elves' honor culture. Before you do that, have you considered that it has some positive sides as well?"

"Like what?" He replied, and Alana was curious about them too. So far, they'd seen nothing whatsoever to indicate that.

"Family." Ralgar said. "Even if a member of your family is shamed, the rest of the family will never stop taking care of them. The wood elves have some of the strongest family bonds I've ever seen in my travels. Nearly all are inseparably committed to each other and will support each other to the death."

"It's dishonorable to not take care of your own family." Anthiel explained. "A wood elf will defend his family to the death, regardless of the state of their honor. Further, did you notice even a single homeless person in Nalatia? Any real poverty? A single child without a parent, or at least a guardian?"

Alana thought back and, come to think of it, she couldn't remember seeing any of that, or hearing of it either. That was odd given how large the city was.

"Huh." Ethan cocked his head to one side. "Yeah I can't think of any, though it was hard for Alana and me to see her mother."

"Yes, but consider that Alana is the wife of the prophet of Illuminar." Anthiel pointed out. "She didn't really need to be 'taken care of' in that way. If she had arrived in need of help, the Kalon family would've helped her regardless of her state of honor. Should she ever be in danger, they would be there to defend her. And remember how protective Halvaer was of both Kalaya and Alana, and how he was happy that Alana had found a good husband."

"That's true." Ethan conceded.

"They take care of their own." Ralgar nodded. "Kalaya is shamed yes, but still cared for. The wood elven culture is vastly different from human culture here in the Ten Kingdoms, and I suspect even more different from the culture from whence you hail. It has flaws -- some of which are lamentable and horrifying to us -- but don't assume it doesn't also have its bright spots too. Like any individual, the wood elven culture is a mixed bag; plenty of good marred by some great flaws."

"The world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters, Harry." Selene mused, and from her tone Alana thought that she must be quoting something.

Everyone looked at her.

"It's from a book on Earth." She woman explained. "One of the characters explaining exactly what Ralgar just said: people aren't all good or all bad, but a mixed bag of both. I imagine cultures are much the same."

"For example." Anthiel said. "From what I've heard of the culture on Earth, there are many wonderful things about it. However, you've also said that there's a lot of people who are lonely because they don't have strong bonds with their family or community. It also sounds like at least half of the families are broken up, causing much hurt to all involved."

Ethan and Selene both winced before the latter spoke. "Guilty as charged."

"That would never happen in wood elven culture; the family bonds are too strong and too deep." Anthiel continued. "And although they don't have that particular problem, they do have others. No culture is perfect, and what's that phrase that you occasionally use? 'Every paradise has its serpent' or something like that?"

"That's it." He conceded.

"And just to clarify, I'm not saying that all cultures are equal." Ralgar added. "For example, there are some cultures that practice ritual murder, or cannibalism, or other barbaric atrocities. Some cultures are objectively better, but no one should assume that his culture is better in every way simply because it's what he knows."

"Fair." Ethan nodded slowly.

Alana leaned back in her chair to digest what she'd just heard, and especially what Mirella had said what might happen if her father and mother were wed. Suddenly, her wish of seeing her parents married had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

* * *

Kendra listened to the entire conversation, frankly wishing for something like what the wood elves had. What she wouldn't give for a family like that. She would even be willing to put up with their silly ideas about honor to have a family that wouldn't give up on her, but would instead fight for her no matter what. She looked around the table at the other members of the Argo's crew and couldn't help but wonder if they would do that for her.

Would they fight for her?

She couldn't help but wonder.

She was pretty sure Taloni would, but she wasn't a fighter. She was glad of that too since her innocence was one of the best things about her. The dragon huntress was pretty sure that if the Fey was ever forced to kill someone, even in self-defense, she would lose that innocence. That was something that Kendra could never allow.

But the others?

Hmm.

Would Ethan fight for her? Would Alana? What about Beth, or Rachel, or Selene; would they? She certainly hoped so. She would certainly fight for them and she hoped that they would also want to fight for her. They were definitely good enough people that it might be possible.

But would they?

She mostly listened throughout the rest of the dinner. The conversation moved away from cultural differences to airships, and eventually Ralgar's experiences in Lord Borden's Navy. Taloni especially seemed interested, and she, Anthiel, Ethan, and Selene formed one group talking about that, while the rest of them talked about other things.

After dinner, Mirella brought out a soufflé that was absolutely brilliant for dessert. Seriously, it was among the best desserts that Kendra had ever eaten, and she had dined with lords while on assignment.

It was getting quite late after dessert, and eventually Ethan spoke up. "I can't thank you enough for all your hospitality; seriously, I really appreciate it."

"It was our pleasure." Anthiel replied.

"And it's been mine too." He said. "You all have been great, especially you Mirella. I've never felt so welcomed outside my own home."

The Mahogany-hair elf beamed, which didn't look like a common occurrence for her. She had the look, mannerisms, and flinch of a woman who'd been hit far too often by someone who was much larger than she was. Kendra was sure that it wasn't Ralgar though; possibly a previous relationship?

"If it's okay with you, do you mind if we turn in?" Ethan asked.

"I'll show you to your room." Mirella offered.

"Room, as in singular?" Selene whispered to Kendra.

Uh-oh.

Not long after, Ethan, his wives, Kendra and Selene followed their host towards the guest room.

"I'm sorry, but this house only has two bedrooms." Mirella apologized for the... fifth? time as they reached the door. "I tried to fix it up as best I could though."

She opened the door.

It was nice.

The room had been decorated in a simple, elegant style that was very cozy. The room's walls were a warm, comforting tone and there was a small table with a few chairs around it. Someone -- almost certainly at Mirella's direction -- had pushed two bedframes together and sewn at least two quilts together to make a bed that was large enough to fit all of them. Kendra certainly wasn't planning to sleep in the same bed with a dragon though, and she very much doubted that Selene would either.

"I have two bedrolls in here too, in case someone isn't comfortable on the bed." Their host added, apparently having anticipated that fact. "I would've laid out more, but we didn't have them. Sorry." She looked truly apologetic, almost as if she'd done some harm to them that she felt bad about.

"Thank you so much; this is perfect." Ethan replied.

Mirella smiled widely. "Have a wonderful night. Oh, and if you get hungry during the night, I made some biscuits and left some cheese in the kitchen with both wine and water."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a fantastic host?" Kendra asked.

She beamed. "Thank you."

Everyone said good night and Mirella closed the door behind her.

"So, sleeping arrangements." Ethan said, then turned to Selene and Kendra. "I assume that you two would be just as uncomfortable as me if we were all sleeping in the same bed."

The two women nodded.

"Okay then, how about this." He said. "I'll take one of the bedrolls and all the ladies can share the bed."

There was simultaneous chorus of protests from all his wives, and he had to raise his hand to stem the deluge.

"I absolutely will not force two women to sleep on the floor while I'm in a bed." Ethan said firmly. "Call me sexist if you want, but I just wasn't raised that way. There are only two bedrolls in here, so obviously all my wives and I can't sleep on the floor."

Alana opened her mouth, probably to object, but then hesitated. "I hate that you're right."

"I call dubs!" Rachel exclaimed.

Everyone looked at her.

The redhead looked at Ethan. "It was 'dubs' right? That Earth thing you say when want to claim something before other people?"

Ethan and Selene chuckled before the former replied. "Dibs. It's called 'dibs'. But dibs on what?"

"The other bedroll." Alana sighed. "I wish I would've thought of that."

"Unless Beth wants it." Rachel volunteered. "I'll give my dib to Beth, given... you know."

"No, it's okay." The blonde replied. "I had Ethan all to myself last night and besides..." She looked around. "Can I call 'dibs' on being between Alana and Taloni? I'd really like my fellow wives next to me tonight."

"Absolutely." Alana gave the blonde a hug, and Taloni joined seconds later.

Kendra felt herself get slightly choked up watching, imagining that they were doing that to her.

It would be wonderful.

Incredibly wonderful.

A few minute later, Ethan and Rachel were securely installed in their bed rolls, and the rest of them were on the bed except Kendra herself. Selene anchored one side, with Alana next to her, Beth next, and Taloni on the end. Well, the end for now anyway. The dragon huntress still hadn't worked up the courage to actually climb into the bed with another living person.

That had never happened before.

Well, the orphanage; but that hardly counted since she'd been so young. Since leaving there, she'd never shared a bed with another living soul. The closest that she'd come was sleeping next to Ethan and Taloni after their escape.

Now...

"Come on Kendra." Taloni said sweetly, then yawned. "I promise I won't bite."

She hesitated.

"You are an interesting woman Kendra." Ethan said, amusement written all over his face. "You've slain dragons, fought arch mages, and are fearless in battle, but nervous about sheets, quilts, and the sweetest Fey I know."

"Aww, thank you master." She beamed.

Kendra took a deep breath, then stepped around the bed, lifted the covers and slid under them. She left a good foot between her and Taloni though, not wanting to crowd her.

"Come... co..." The Fey yawned. "Come here." She reached out and gently tugged the dragon huntress arm, indicating that she should move closer.

Kendra skootched a few inches closer.

"Closer please; I need to snuggle with Beth too." Taloni said.

The dragon huntress skootched a bit more, and then after another tug, even a bit more. She was laying on her back, and not really sure what to do, since she'd never been in bed with someone else before. At least she was still fully dressed, though the long sleeves and especially the vambraces weren't the most comfortable thing to sleep in.

"Perfect." The Fey teen said, then flopped her arm across Kendra's torso and snuggled up to her right arm.

The first thing that struck Kendra was how warm the Fey's arm was. Not so much in the sense of heat, but more in the sense of comfort and... and just warmth. She didn't know how else to describe it. For some reason, Taloni hadn't snuggled up against her like this after their escape. But now she was and Kendra found a thought flitting through her head.

Is this what heaven was like?

She didn't have any other frame of reference. She couldn't think of anything else to compare it to; or anything else that she'd heard of that could be this wonderful. It was the simplest thing; something that she was sure many people took for granted. But for her... for her it was worth fighting through a whole hoard of dragons to attain. She would've given anything she owned to have this again, and would've given everything she'd ever possessed to have this on a regular basis.

Beside her, the Fey started snoring so quietly that you almost couldn't hear it.

If you listened closely, it didn't sound like a human snoring though. It had a subtle rhythm in it that almost reminded her of a cat purring. It wasn't the same -- not remotely -- but it vaguely reminded her of that. The dragon huntress felt all the stress and tension in her body slowly drain away. She felt her muscles relax and her eyelids grow heavy.

What she wouldn't give to have this again.

In the back of her mind, a thought flited forward tentatively, as if worried about being squashed. It occurred to her that Ethan and his wives had this every single night. As she laid there luxuriating in the simple sensation of having someone who cared about her sleeping next to her, another thought followed the previous one. This thought was also tentative, as if worried about being attacked for simply existing.

The thought was that this was so wonderful, so rapturous, so sublime that she almost thought it would be worth marrying Ethan just to have this. Not with him of course -- she would never want to snuggle with a dragon -- but maybe with Taloni. She knew the Fey girl would never willingly sleep away from Ethan, and of course she would never dream of trying to take her from him.

That only left one option.

For a chance to have this every night, for the first time ever she was sorely tempted to consider it. Her stomach still protested strongly, but her heart... Her heart could think of nothing else. She wanted this every night for the rest of her life.

That was her last thought before she drifted off to sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED...

* * *

Just FYI, 'Pente" is a real game that I played growing up, and it's a lot of fun. I submit new chapters on the last Wednesday of every month, and they usually drop after the 2-3 days review process. Thus I'll submit the next chapter on August 31st, and it'll probably drop on September 2nd or 3rd.

I'd like to extend a very special thanks to two of my readers, one of whom didn't want to be credited by name. So "Anonymous" and Joseph: thank you so much for your support. I really appreciate it.

STORY TAGS: dragon, magic, medieval, elf, teen, romance, virgin, harem, cuckquean