Chapter 40: Ruth

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

* * *

"Is that all of it?" Ethan asked as he held Kendra's hair so it didn't fall into the puddle of vomit that had resided in her stomach up until a minute ago. Ordinarily, he might've been rather insulted that a woman literally threw up after having sex with him. However, he understood that Kendra had some struggles that other women didn't. Besides, she'd seemed to enjoy it until he had released the compulsion that had been keeping her stomach calm.

She nodded and then shuddered as she spat out what he assumed were the last vestiges.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"For...?"

She sat up, moving away from the puddle of sick and gesturing to it. "That."

"Well, I might've taken it as a reflection of my performance if you weren't so insistent that you enjoyed it." He winked.

She blushed scarlet, then cocked her head to one side and looked at him with confusion in her eyes. "You held my hair."

"Well yeah; I assumed you wouldn't want to get vomit in it."

She teared up slightly, and then tried to surreptitiously wipe those tears away. "I'm not supposed to get choked up because someone held my hair while I threw up."

"I know how hard this has been for you." He shrugged. "Plus, I'm not dumb enough to get mad at you for not liking my dragon side. I don't even like the asshole most of the time."

She gave him a half smile, then averted her eyes. "Can I say something that's stupid?"

"Of course; I do all the time."

She glanced at him and half-smiled for a moment before her face became more serious and sincere. "I think that a husband holding his wife's hair while she vomits because she just had sex with him is one of the most pure expressions of love I've ever heard of."

She was being honest; absolutely genuine.

She radiated sincerity.

"It's been like that our whole relationship." She continued quietly, not meeting his eyes. "You've been nothing but wonderful to me and I've been..." She took a deep breath and sniffled slightly. "I've been a horrible, standoffish, and occasionally murderous bitch to you and--"

"Stop." He held up his hand. "You don't need to apologize again."

"But may I please finish Drago?"

He almost commented on her new nickname for him, but figured this wasn't the time and so nodded.

"You just gave me one of the-- no, the best experience of my entire life. The only other one that comes close is the night you said that I could make the Argo my home. You've done so much for me and I'm so far in your debt that I'll never be able to--"

"Stop." He held up his hand again and shook his head. "You need to stop thinking that way, and I mean right now."

"What way?"

He smiled kindly at her. "We got married today, and thus all of that 'I-owe-you-and-you-owe-me' stuff went right out the window when we did. That's not how a good marriage works. In a good marriage, I do what's best for you and you do what's best for me; always. We don't keep score. All debts and 'I-owe-you's were wiped out the moment we said 'I do', so consider us even; now and forevermore."

"Really?" Her voice cracked slightly as she spoke.

"Yes." He replied firmly. "If we want to have a good marriage, it would probably help if we didn't start by keeping score."

She nodded, still wiping the tears that were leaking from her eyes, though she was smiling too. "Thank you, that... that sounds wonderful."

"Speaking from experience, it is." He nodded. "So please, let's have no more of this 'I owe you' stuff."

Kendra's eyes suddenly became even more watery as her smile grew wider. She blinked several times trying to clear them. After several seconds she started wiping her eyes with her hands, trying to wipe the tears away.

It wasn't working.

They kept coming.

"Come here." He opened his arms.

She started to move his way, but then grabbed her stomach. "Maybe I better not." She grimaced apologetically. "Sorry."

"I hope you get over that, but I understand."

She nodded, then grimaced slightly again. "I don't know anything about being a wife." She averted her eyes again. "I'd like to be a good wife, but I don't know how. I was never trained for it and I don't... I don't know how."

He smiled at her. "You've already nailed step number one to being a good wife."

"I have?"

"Want to be one, and try to be one."

She sighed in relief, then grinned slightly at him. "That's two steps."

"Even better." He grinned back.

She closed her eyes, got a contented smile on her face, took a deep breath, and then moved in his direction slightly. However, she started to go green almost instantly and put a hand on her stomach.

"I could probably deal with your nausea permanently via compulsion." He suggested.

She bit her lip and averted her eyes.

"You don't want me to?"

She hesitated a moment, then shook her head slightly. "I um, I didn't mind the temporary compulsion just now, but permanent..." She frowned, though still didn't meet his eye. "I would like to see if I can get over it by myself first. Is that okay?"

He nodded. "Just aim away if your stomach wins."

She chuckled, then glanced at the gross puddle. "That's going to stink pretty soon. Stink worse I mean."

He nodded. "Yeah, we should get that cleaned up as soon as possible. I know the sheets are self-cleaning, but I highly doubt they'll vaporize the solid bits."

"Ethan." She looked at him, her eyes shining as she wiped the tears from her smiling cheeks. She sniffled slightly too, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. "Oh, I must look like a mess."

"Yeah." He nodded, but added with a smile. "A beautiful mess."

"You can't mean that."

"I do." He replied, thinking that she was beautiful; sick, snot, and tears notwithstanding. She either ignored his response, or more likely didn't know what to do with it.

"Were you really serious about not owing each other anything?" She swallowed hard. "I mean, that we don't need to keep track of 'I-owe-you's and such."

"I was, and I am."

She smiled at him, and it was a smile that reached deep into her eyes. "I'm glad that..." She glanced at the captain's cabin door, beyond which they'd gotten married not long before. "...that we..."

She bit her lip.

He smiled. "Me too."

He noticed that she wasn't covering herself anymore; not her breasts, nor her slit, nor her scars. She seemed relaxed, or at least not hiding herself from him.

It was good to see.

Moments later, they both wrinkled their noses at the smell.

He made a face. "Yeah, help me get this sheet off the bed and I'll find a nearby stream or something to rinse it in."

* * *

Sarah swallowed hard as the old woman got right up in her face. It was even more unnerving because the innkeeper's daughter was again strapped to the horizontal bed-like wooden boards in the old woman's laboratory.

"Come on dear, tell me what really happened." Her tone was polite, but somehow that made it more menacing.

"I already told you; it's a demon." Sarah pleaded. "That's all it is; I swear."

The old woman scowled. "Don't be silly girl; demons don't exist, so there must be another explanation."

Sarah blinked and her mouth fell open. "You don't believe in demons? But then, who are Saidow's minions that the Book of Light talks about?"

"This world is so backwater." The old woman shook her head. She made a thoughtful sound, tapped her foot, and then looked at the innkeeper's daughter with an evil grin. "Tell me, or I'll let the guards have some 'fun' with you and the bitch you're sharing a cell with."

Sarah blanched. "You... you can't. I'm betrothed and--"

"Does it look like I give a shit?" The woman interrupted in a quiet-but-deadly tone.

"But... b-but I already told you."

The other woman shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'll go find some guards who are looking for a good time."

"Wait!" Sarah called after her as she left the room.

The old woman didn't even look back.

* * *

Ethan tucked his wings slightly to make it safely through the tree canopy and dropped the last few feet to the ground beside a large stream. The mid-afternoon sun was shining through the leaves onto the stream he'd landed next to, soiled sheets in hand. Thanks to the fact that they were self-cleaning, he just needed to give them a good rinse to get the solid bits out and the enchantment should do the rest.

Magic is wonderful.

Still, it was gross.

A few minutes later, he was holding two sopping wet but much cleaner sheets. He wrung them out to eliminate the excess water, then turned to fly back to the Argo.

That's when he saw them.

There were two kids standing there watching him, seemingly rooted to the spot. He hadn't noticed them when he came in to land because of the tree canopy, and they both had open mouths and wide eyes. At their feet was what looked like some kind of castle made from river mud, so they'd probably been playing by the stream. The older one was a boy of about ten, and next to him was a girl of maybe six or eight. He assumed they were siblings since they closely resembled one another.

"Hi." He said as he waved, grinning instead of smiling to avoid scaring them with his dragon teeth.

The girl shrieked and started running, but the boy didn't move. He looked at the sheets in Ethan's hands, then up through the canopy at the Argo, which was slowly getting closer.

"Are you..." The boy looked at the sheets again. "Are you the dragon?"

"Well, I'm a dragon, but who do you mean by the dragon?"

"The prophet of Illuminar." The boy said with hushed awe. He was still standing there with his legs shaking slightly, though his face was resolute. "Are you him?"

Ethan hesitated.

He'd talked to an angel, had a conversation with God himself, and had gotten predictions about the future. Illuminar had even told him that he'd been pulled into the Ten Kingdoms to correct a situation that had gone on quite long enough. He supposed by all objective standards, it wouldn't be wrong to call him a prophet. He still wasn't comfortable with it though.

Eventually, he evaded answering the question directly. "I've certainly been called that by a lot of people, why?"

The boy's legs stopped knocking and he got a wary smile. "Then could you please come help Ma'ma and Pa'pa? They really need your help."

Ethan stared.

"That's what Illuminar's prophets do right?" The boy asked hopefully. "They help people because that's what Illuminar -- blessed be He -- wants?"

"Uh..." He hesitated. "What do your folks need help with?"

"They might not want me to tell you, but they might tell you. Please mister prophet sir, could you please help us?"

Ethan nodded.

He just didn't have the heart to say no to a ten year-old kid that was pleading for help on behalf of his parents. He looked at the wet sheets in his hand. "Let me fly these back to my airship, and then I'll come right back and you can take me to your parents.

The boy looked like Christmas had come early.

* * *

Kendra touched the soft fabric of her new dress and could feel tears coming to her eyes... again.

Why did her eyes feel like a leaky bucket lately?

She held up one of Beth's mirrors and looked at her reflection, scarcely able to believe that she was looking at her own reflection. All of Ethan's wives plus Selene had gathered in the captain's cabin after she'd changed into the new dress that Alana had offered her the moment she'd exited the captain's cabin. Kendra had changed into it and they'd all come back in to see. They were all looking excited for her.

"When did you finish it?" The dragon huntress asked.

"Yesterday. I needed a distraction from..." The wood elf trailed off. "Um, I started working on it much harder once we returned to the Argo. Rachel and I designed it, do you like it?"

"I love it." She said, wiping the corners of her eyes. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to fight in it, but I love it."

"That's the best part, and I'm particularly proud of this idea." Rachel grinned. "Push a tiny bit of mana into it to activate it."

The raven haired woman took another look at the dress as she did so. It was the prettiest color of purple, the exact shade of a darker amethyst. The dress was ankle length with a large number of pleats in both the 'skirt' portion and long sleeves. It was very sleek and quite elegant, and she just loved how it looked on her. The only odd thing was that Alana had insisted that she step into it, instead of pulling it over her head.

The moment she'd activated the dress, the pleats on the legs and arms folded of their own accord, and she realized why Alana had wanted her to put it on feet first. The lower half was actually two pieces that looked like a regular dress before activation. But after activation it became two halves that looked more like a pair of slightly loose pants than anything else. Likewise, the sleeves -- which were loose and slightly billowy before activation -- tightened up enough to stay out of the way, but loose enough to not interfere with movement.

She could go from dancing at a ball to fighting in a heartbeat.

It was perfect.

"Oh not again." She said as she started tearing up again.

"I'm glad you like it Kendra." Alana said with a smile.

"I suggested the color." Taloni beamed.

"It's perfect, thank you." She looked at Ethan's wives, who were now her fellow wives.

She could look forward to seeing all of them for the rest of her life. Ethan had promised to never leave her, and she knew the rest of his wives would rather die than leave him. She would have them for the rest of her life. A group of wonderful women -- near sisters -- for the rest of her life.

Her eyes started leaking again.

She was about to try reigning in her emotions when she remembered that she didn't need to.

Not anymore.

"Thank you all so much." She said. And then to her own surprise as much as anyone else's, she threw her arms around Taloni and Alana who were standing closest to her. Beth and Rachel moved in and made it a group hug, and Selene followed moments later, though she looked a bit unsure and awkward. Kendra found herself at the center of a group hug, and the five women hugging her were without a doubt the most wonderful women that she'd ever met.

She sighed.

It took more than a minute before Kendra let go. Her face was a bit of a teary mess, but they were happy tears.

"I really don't deserve this, but thank you." The dragon huntress said, her voice cracking slightly.

"No one deserves this." Beth indicated the women around them and the Argo itself. "But thank Illuminar we have it."

The other ladies all agreed except for Selene, who got a strange expression on her face as she suddenly looked anywhere except at the other women.

Rachel smiled at Kendra. "As the formerly 'newest wife', I can tell you that it gets easier."

"Good, because I still feel like I don't deserve--" She started to say, but Ethan telepathically contacted the group chat at that moment.

*Um ladies, I might be taking a slight detour...* He said, then explained about meeting a boy who wanted help for his parents.

"What's Ethan got to say?" Selene asked after several moments, obviously guessing why they'd all fallen silent.

Kendra explained, then the caramel-haired beauty pursed her lips. "I don't suppose there's anything I can do to help?"

"I'll ask." Kendra replied, then thought to Ethan. *Selene wants to know if there's anything she can do to help.*

*Um, I don't think so?* He replied. *I'm hoping I can take care of this quickly so we don't even need to stop the Argo; those miners need help. If she came down, that would mean a fair bit of extra time to stop the Argo and lower the ladder, which would delay us quite a bit.*

She relayed the message to Selene, whose shoulders slumped slightly and she nodded.

The caramel-haired beauty looked around for a moment, then sighed. "I guess I'll go see if Raklan or Serif wants to spar; get ready for when I can actually do some good."

She gave them a small wave and shuffled out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"She's usually the first one to want to help." Kendra mused after she'd left.

"Yeah, she seemed very frustrated when we were stuck in Gralden because she wanted to get down south to help those miners." Alana agreed. "I really like and respect her for that."

There was a general chorus of agreement among the ladies.

"It makes sense though." Beth nodded. "I mean, with how beautiful, smart, and hardworking she is, she could've done almost anything on Ethan's world. Yet she chose to become one of those 'fib' agents."

"I think master said that it's the F-B-I, not the F-I-B." Taloni said. "But I agree; she's an amazing person and we're lucky to have her with us."

Another chorus of agreement.

"And the way she trains... wow." Rachel nodded. "Even I'm not that dedicated."

"I wish I was more like her." Beth sighed.

No one disagreed.

* * *

Selene sighed after first Serif and then Raklan declined to spar, citing ship duties. She felt completely useless and wished she could do something to help, but couldn't. She hated the idea that the rest of the crew knew how little good she was doing. She wanted them to think well of her because they were such good people. Sadly, she just knew that they didn't; how could they?

They were too good to dislike her, but she wished that they thought well of her and respected her.

She shook her head.

Damn.

She was about to start aimlessly pacing the deck near the bow when Ethan landed on the weather deck with an armful of wet sheets. His wives piled out of the captain's cabin to greet him.

"I'll take those." Kendra volunteered.

"You might want to hang them to dry." He suggested as he started handing them over.

"I'll take them master." Taloni said brightly, intercepting the sheets before the raven-haired woman could accept them. "You just have a good look at Kendra."

He did, then did a double take and whistled. "Damn! Kendra, you look amazing."

She blushed slightly, then did an awkward curtsey. Ethan lifted his hand and twirled a finger, indicating that she should twirl. The dragon huntress did, and the lower portion of her dress flared up a bit as she did so. It looked like it was a half-circle skirt, or perhaps a bit less, so it didn't flare out too much. However it flowed very well. It would be perfect for dancing and would look very elegant while doing so.

Ethan wolf whistled. "Nice. I'd love to stay longer and admire you, but I told Ben I would be back soon."

"Ben?" Selene asked.

"The boy who wanted help for his parents." He replied.

"Could I come master?" Taloni asked. "I could fly down with you, and you might seem a bit less scary if I was on your arm."

He scrutinized her for a moment. "Sure, but grab the weight reduction necklace and bring it with you. I'm hoping this doesn't take long, but we might have a fair amount of flying ahead of us if it does."

"Thank you master." She beamed, hopped up to kiss his cheek, her wings letting her linger for a moment, then skipped off into the captain's cabin with the sheets in her arms.

He looked at Alana. "Like I said, I hope this is quick. If not though, I'll let you know and you can tell Anthiel to stop the Argo for a bit. I'm hoping it won't be necessary, but I'll let you know if it is."

"Yes sir." She nodded.

Ethan turned to Kendra. "I'd love to talk more, but I need to get going. Will you be okay for a bit?"

She nodded. "Yes Drago."

Selene resisted the urge to roll her eyes; it appeared that going to bed with Ethan meant you came up with a ridiculously servile name for him. She had read -- and greatly enjoyed -- more than one erotic story with such Dom/Sub dynamics. In fact, she sought out those stories out on a not-infrequent basis; but it wasn't the same in real life.

As she thought about it, she realized that she'd also sought out more than one 'harem' story too. She frowned. Yeah, erotic fiction was definitely different than real life. Just because something was her kink in a story didn't mean she wanted it in real life. That was a definite no; she had no interest. None of any kind. Her bet with Anthiel came to mind, but she didn't think that was the same thing.

Not at all.

Ethan turned to Rachel. "You too beautiful; I know you're dealing with a lot considering everything we learned about your father. But I'm just a thought away if you want to talk, or we can talk more when I get back."

"Thank you my lord." She nodded.

"That goes for you too Beth." He turned to the blonde. "You handled things with your father wonderfully, but I know it still tears you up inside."

His youngest wife gave him a pained smile.

Then Ethan turned to Alana and opened his mouth, but then closed it. A few seconds later the wood elf nodded with a grateful smile on her face. Judging by the confused looks on everyone else's faces, he'd talked to her alone.

"I'm ready master." The Fey came bounding out of the captain's cabin, tucking the weight reduction necklace into a cleverly concealed pocket in her dress. Alana had apparently been clever when making them since they all had pockets, which Selene thought could only be a good thing.

"I know you're all dealing with some stuff." Ethan continued, and the Brazilian woman noticed that he looked at her too for a moment before he continued. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but I don't feel like I can just say 'no' when someone asks for help, especially a kid."

"That's not a bad thing." Selene said, and the others agreed.

"Okay, I'll be back as soon as I can." He said, then stepped forward and gave his first four wives a tender kiss.

Kendra put a hand over her stomach and looked a bit green, but not nearly as much as she had in recent days. Oddly, she had a look on her face that was somewhere between disgust and anticipation, with a hint of a smile.

Ethan stopped in front of her and hesitated. "Forehead?"

She nodded, keeping her mouth closed and looking simultaneously a bit green. He gave her a quick peck on the forehead. She screwed her face up for a moment, then seemed to relax a bit and she looked a bit less green.

She sighed slightly before opening her eyes and gave him a half smile. "Thank you."

"Any time." He grinned, then turned and jumped off the side of the ship with Taloni right behind him.

The caramel-haired beauty stepped to the railing to look over it and saw him spread his wings as he dove back towards the forest. Taloni's wings were beating so fast that they were a blur as she took off after him. Before long, they had slipped through the canopy and were out of sight.

Selene sighed.

She felt a bit jealous of the Fey who could be so useful on the ship. She had been doing most of the piloting lately, she also did inspections of the Argo's sails and rigging because it was so easy for her since she could fly. She was an incredible healer, incredibly sweet, and she could fly.

Fly!

Alana had enchanted all of Ethan's weapons, Beth could do that 'astral projection' thing in addition to her encyclopedic knowledge of the world, Rachel had saved their lives a bunch of times, and even Kendra was turning out to be incredibly useful on the ship.

However, Selene herself wasn't.

Or at least, she didn't feel like she was.

The worst part was that she didn't know how to be more useful either. She'd spent every spare minute sparring, and even finally learned how to move her mana around. She hung her head as she thought about her mana. Apparently, her mana had a bit of a 'pattern' to its flow that literally no one else's did. She hoped that wouldn't affect her ability to use it, but she had an all-too-familiar feeling in the pit of her stomach that it would.

"Copper for your thoughts?" Rachel's voice came from behind her.

"I just feel useless." She sighed turning towards the teen mage. "I don't know how to do anything that would help; I don't have any skills that are useful on this world."

"Oh." The redhead leaned up against the railing. "Well, I don't know if I can help you feel better right now. However, if what you're feeling stems from a lack of useful skills, then I can certainly help you develop those skills."

"Oh?" Selene asked hopefully.

"Yes." Rachel smiled. "Did you want to start practicing magic now that you've learned to move your mana around?"

"Yes please." She smiled from ear-to-ear.

* * *

Ethan and Taloni followed the boy -- Ben -- through a small section of woods and out onto a badly maintained road. They walked for only a quarter mile or so before the boy turned and started walking down a path that lead towards a small house surrounded by a field of partially grown crops, though Ethan wasn't sure what kind of crop.

The house was quite small, being single story and maybe twenty feet on a side. It looked like it had seen better days, yet also like it was lovingly cared for too. There were flowers out front, though they looked like cultivated wildflowers. Everything was clean, but the house looked like it was in need of repair for want of materials. The thatched roof especially looked like it could use some TLC. It reminded him slightly of how Sarah's inn had looked.

Sarah...

He felt his heart simultaneously both lighten and sink lower as he thought of the wonderful girl. It was stupid; he'd known her for a grand total of a couple hours, and yet--

He was shaken from his reverie by a scream from within the house.

"DRAGON!!!" A feminine voice shrieked. "Talven! There's a dragon near Ben!"

Moments later, a young man of about thirty burst through the door of the house, drawing a sword from its scabbard. Both sword and scabbard had clearly seen better days. The scabbard was all beat up, but clearly well oiled. Likewise the blade had several small notches in it from prior use, but it was well-oiled and free from rust.

"Ben! Get away from that dragon!" The man -- Talven presumably -- shouted.

Ben obeyed his father and ran from Ethan, but not in a scared way. "Father, it's the prophet of Illuminar. He's come to help us."

"I'm no threat to you or your family." Ethan said, raising his hands to show he wasn't going to hurt them.

Talven held up the sword and pointed it at Ethan, though they were separated by at least a dozen yards. "Don't come any closer."

Ethan stopped and sighed.

"Pa'pa, he really is the prophet." Ben insisted.

"Prove it." Talven said to Ethan, not lowering his sword.

Ethan almost wanted to chuckle. The man's stance was too narrow and he held the sword in such a way as to make both attack and defense difficult; a fighter he was not.

"Give me a second." He said, raising his hand and calling his war hammer, which was back on the Argo. Not long after, it zoomed through the air and landed in his hand.

Talven's mouth fell open.

Ethan started charging it, and waited until it had enough charge to produce a visually impressive lightning bolt. Once it was charged enough, he threw it into the air and released the charge.

Crack!

The electricity arced down from the hammer to the ground with a loud sound, though not deafening since he hadn't charged it much.

"Good enough?" He asked the other man as he called the hammer back to his hand.

Talven lowered his sword. "The p... the proph..." He took a deep breath. "You're here; thank Illuminar -- blessed be He."

"Blessed be He." Ethan echoed, not because of any particular religious conviction, but because it seemed like the right thing to say at the moment.

A woman in her twenties came out of the house with a baby on her hip and a shocked expression on her face. The couple stared at him for several seconds before their son broke the silence.

"I told you Pa'pa; he can help."

"The Prophet of Illuminar -- blessed be He." The man's jaw went slightly slack as he looked at Ethan. "I'm sorry I threatened you, I... I didn't know."

"I don't blame you, not one bit; I would've done the same to protect my family." He gave them a smile, which in hindsight might not have been the best move since it revealed his sharp teeth. He corrected it to a grin and they relaxed slightly.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners." The man said after a few moments. "My name is Talven, and this is my wife, Salma, and my son Ben." He indicated each in turn.

Salma curtsied while still holding the baby. "Pleasure."

"I'm Ethan, and this one of my wives, Taloni." He indicated the Fey.

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you, won't you come in?" Talven said a few moments later. "We don't have much, but we would be honored by your presence."

"Thank you, the honor is mine." He replied, and then thought to his wives. *Hey, Ivernia doesn't have some weird honor culture like the wood elves do, does it?*

*No Dominus.* Beth replied. *Why?*

*Just checking.*

Talven waved him into his house, and the inside was much like the outside. Everything inside was clean and well-cared for, but they were clearly hard-up for coin. He noticed that their clothes looked thin, though clean. They were mended in a few places too, but the mending was done well.

"So, what can I help you with?" He asked.

"What did Ben tell you?" The man asked.

"Not much, just that you needed help."

"The taxes Pa'pa." Ben 'whispered'. "Tell him about the--"

Talven put a hand on his son's shoulder. "He's not wrong, I've had some trouble-- I'm sorry, I should've offered you something to eat first." He turned to his wife. "Salma, what do we have to offer them?"

She tried to hide her grimace, but wasn't entirely successful. "Just the crust of a barley loaf."

"I actually just ate." Ethan lied. "I'm really not hungry at all."

"Nor am I, but thank you so much for offering." Taloni added, obviously catching on.

Salma unsuccessfully tried to hide a look of relief. Now that Ethan was looking at the couple, they looked to be a bit thin. Not dangerously so, and not enough that he'd noticed right away, but they definitely were. The children looked a bit better, and he guessed that the parents were underfeeding themselves slightly for their kids' sake.

"Seriously though, how can I help?" He asked, suddenly very keen to do so now that he knew they were good people who really needed it.

"It's the Reeve." Talven said heavily.

"Reeve? What's a Reeve?" Ethan asked.

"The man who collects taxes, he..." Talven hesitated.

"He's a Saidow Spawn who takes more than--" Ben started to say.

"Ben!" His father said sharply. "You'll not use that kind of language in this house."

"Yes father." The boy said instantly and fell silent. Ethan didn't get the impression it was from fear though; more like the boy loved and revered his father.

"The tax man is cheating you, huh?" Ethan guessed.

Talven nodded.

Salma grimaced. "It's hard enough to make a living with all the taxes, but when he collects more than he should..."

"Which is always." Talven said bitterly.

"How bad are the taxes?" Ethan asked, finding it hard to believe that taxes alone could reduce a couple to this level of poverty.

"Well, there's the crop tax, where we have to give them a portion of the harvest." Talven replied.

"A large portion." Salma added bitterly.

Her husband nodded with a scowl. "Then the land tax for farming the land, the house tax for having a house, the sales tax whenever we buy or sell."

"The tolls on every road whenever you want to go someplace." Salma added.

"The annual head tax, which we have to pay for the children too." Talven said with a sigh, then started ticking more off on his fingers. "The local tax for living in the barony, the army tax to maintain the military, the city tax for--"

"Okay." Ethan broke in. "I got it, they're trying to squeeze blood from a turnip."

Salma and Talven looked at him.

"It's an expression from where I'm from." He explained. "How can I help?"

"The Reeve took extra taxes this year--" Talven began.

"Like every year." Salma cut in with all the warmth of a mid-winter blizzard.

Her husband nodded. "He said they were to help fight against orc attacks and a potential invasion by Lord Kalus to the south." Talven explained. "But everyone knows they won't send troops to fight the orcs, and Lord Kalus is an honorable man who'd never invade."

"Kalus... Kalus." Ethan frowned, then thought to Taloni. *How do I know that name?*

*Master, the man at Sarah's inn said that Lord Kalus had helped the miners by sending some men to help fight the orcs.* She thought to him.

"Right, okay." He said aloud. "So the local Reeve is taking extra taxes, and pulling the food right out of your kids' mouths to do it; that sound about right?"

The couple nodded, bitter anger clearly just beneath the surface.

Ethan growled, thinking about how he'd feel if someone was doing that to his wives or unborn daughter. "Where can I find him?"

"He's in town and you can't miss the building; it's the largest in town." Talven said.

Ethan frowned. "The tax collector has the largest house in town? Yeah, that sounds above board."

Talven looked confused. "Above what kind of board?"

"Never mind, it's a figure of speech where I'm from." He frowned. "And I take it he cheats more than just you two."

They both nodded.

"I'll talk to him."

"But please don't tell him that we sent you." Salma whispered urgently, like she was worried about being overheard. "He might raze our home if he knew."

Ethan's eyes went wide. "He'd burn your home down if he knew you told me this?"

Salma nodded fearfully.

"He might." Talven confirmed.

"In that case I'll keep your names out of it, but I'm definitely going to talk to him." Ethan clenched his fist. "And he won't enjoy it."

* * *

Sarah whimpered slightly as two large guards hauled her up the stairs to the prison cell where Lady Ekthros was. They opened the door and tossed her in, giving both women appraising looks as they did so.

"I hear the old lady might let us have some fun tonight!" One of them leered.

Sarah blanched.

Lady Ekthros sucked in her breath.

"See you in a little bit." He grinned. "I think another one of the boys wants in on this."

"I claim first with the young and ugly one." The first guard said.

"Why in Saidow's lair would you want that cow?" The other replied.

"Tighter. Young bitches are always tighter."

"Whatever." The other rolled his eyes as they left.

Sarah stepped back to the furthest corner of the tiny cell, slid down and wrapped her arms around her legs. The digs at her looks had hurt, but what would hurt even more is... is...

She shuddered.

She'd never felt a man's touch before; not that way. And while she hadn't exactly been looking forward to her wedding night with Rindrin, he would've at least tried to make sure she enjoyed it. He probably wouldn't have succeeded, but he would've tried. It would surely be better than whatever those guards were planning anyway.

She sniffled as her eyes got watery.

"Hey." Lady Ekthros said, sitting down beside her and wrapping an arm around her. Sarah couldn't help but notice her dark grey eyes again. They were pretty, in a 'hauntingly beautiful' sort of way. She still wondered what had caused them to lose some of their color though.

"Hey, it'll be okay." The lady said as she gave Sarah a comforting squeeze.

"How?" She replied. "I just hope I get scared enough that..." She let the words die on lips as she realized what she was saying. She didn't need to be afraid because of her problem, but she was afraid. She was afraid of what would happen if she got scared enough, but even more afraid of what would happen if she didn't.

* * *

Ethan flew low and fast towards the town, seething that someone could be so corrupt and cruel. Obviously this 'Reeve' -- the tax collector -- could be, and he wasn't even surprised. It turns out that tax men are about the same level of corrupt on every world; shocker. But still, to talk to someone who was suffering because of that...

He clenched his fist tighter.

*Master, what are you going to do?* Taloni asked from beside him.

*I'm still working the details.* He replied, making sure not to fly so fast that she couldn't keep up on the short trip. His delightful third wife was far more maneuverable in the sky, but not nearly as fast as he was. *However, I think it'll involve putting the fear of God into that son of a bitch, that's why I grabbed my armor backpack and sword.*

The Fey beside him nodded. *How is your dragon side master?*

He cocked his head to one side.

Now that he thought about it... *The dragon seems to have gone dormant. I mean, it's still there, but the instincts aren't pushing for control like before.*

*I'm so glad master.* She beamed. *You see, you did need to marry Kendra.*

*Right again.* He conceded, then noticed their destination coming up. *Okay, time to drop.*

The two flyers dropped down about a quarter mile from the town and walked the rest of the way, Ethan activating his disguise gem long before he was in sight of the town. Like the other roads, this one was in bad shape. It wasn't impassible, but he shuddered to think what some of those potholes could do to a wagon wheel.

It made him wonder where all the taxes for road upkeep were going.

The town itself had a similar feeling to Talven and Salma's house. Everything seemed like it was well cared for, but not in good shape anyway. Many of the people looked cheerful, but their clothes were often a little thin, frayed, or patched. It wasn't depressing, but it did stoke his anger a bit to realize it was probably this way because of the oppressive tax burden and corrupt tax collectors.

"Good day my man." A cheerful fellow said, tipping his straw hat as they entered town.

"And a good day to you sir." Ethan nodded back.

The fellow smiled genially and continued on his way.

This happened at least half a dozen times. Everyone seemed mostly cheerful despite how poor the town looked, and not a single person -- man, woman, or child -- was anything less than perfectly inviting and cordial. Taloni got a few curious looks -- probably because of her wings -- but no one treated her any different to him, except a few young girls who seemed enamored of her wings.

"You know, I'm really starting to like Ivernia; Lord Farbrottan and his Reeves notwithstanding." He mused.

"I agree master." She grinned at him.

The tax collector's house wasn't hard to find. It was easily the largest and fanciest building in town, and almost depressingly so. It had a commanding view of the town square, and was a full three stories tall, which was much taller than the other buildings. The gold trim especially peeved him. Ethan had no problem with someone who got rich through hard work and smarts, but he had no patience for men who did it through theft; especially through tax theft.

"Tee, stay here just in case things get hairy." He instructed. "If it becomes a fight, I want you to fly to the top of a building and get out of sight."

"Yes master." She nodded, then stood up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Be careful, and I love you."

"I love you too honey, and I will." He smiled back, then glowered at the large house and began to stalk across the town square towards it.

"Excuse me young fellow." An older man of about sixty stepped into his path. "You have the look of a young man spoiling for a fight, and you should know that the Reeve isn't the man to be picking a fight with. No sense dying without cause."

Ethan cocked his head to one side.

This older fellow seemed truly concerned that Ethan might get hurt.

"He's right." Another fellow said. "Messing with a Reeve in Ivernia is about like messing with a dragon in his cave; you'll get no farther than the entrance and get burned for your trouble."

"I appreciate your concern, but he needs a major correction."

"Well, I won't stop you if you're determined." The old man said. "But we've got no healer here anymore, so if you get hurt by the guards you'd be in trouble."

"Noted, and thanks for the warning." Ethan said, then walked forward until he was about twenty feet from the entrance.

"Zalaus!" He called loudly, having learned the Reeve's name from the young couple.

There was a brief pause, then five people exited the building from the large double door. The first four were obviously guards of some kind, and each had an arming sword on his side. The three-foot long swords matched the guards' clothing in overall look; far better than the rest of the town around them. Fortunately, none were wearing armor, which would be good if it came to a fight.

He hoped it wouldn't.

The last man was maybe forty and more waddled out than walked, his expansive waistline was quite impressive for a man so young. His clothes were brightly colored and looked quite expensive. He had a gold ring on his finger, and overwhelmingly gave the impression of some weaselly fellow in middle management; a sad little king of a sad little hill.

"You want something, peasant?" The Reeve asked with disdain while twirling the gold ring on his finger.

"Yeah, I hear you've been cheating the people in this land out of their hard-earned money." He said, not even trying to hide his disgust.

Zalaus sneered, then waved his guards forward. "You should learn some respect. Perhaps a few days in the stocks will teach you."

Ethan looked at the four men who'd moved forward. None of them looked like fighters, but there were four of them and he didn't want to kill anyone if he didn't have to.

"You might want to reconsider." He said to the four guards as he rested his non-sword hand on the hilt of his war sword.

"There's four of us and one of you." One of them scoffed.

"So get a few more and it'll almost be even." Ethan shrugged calmly, then looked at the Reeve. "Here's what going to happen. You're going to go through your books and make an accounting of everyone you've overcharged. Then you're going to pay them back in full, even selling your own possessions to make up the difference if you fall short. Then you'll never take even a single copper more than you should in the future, or you'll have to reckon with me."

"And who the fuck are you to threaten me?" The Reeve replied.

"The name is Ejder... Ethan Ejder." He replied calmly.

The five men hesitated as one.

"Bullshit." The Reeve finally called, then looked at the men. "Kill him for impersonating a prophet of Illuminar."

Ethan grinned.

Shock and awe seemed the way to go.

He disengaged the sticking enchantment that held the backpack containing his armor to his back as the four guards drew their swords. Before they'd even started forward, Ethan clicked off his disguise gem and summoned his armor. It flew into the air, swirling around him slightly as each piece honed in on its proper place and locked itself in place.

Everyone in the town square froze.

Then Ethan leaned forward slightly and put all his anger at the people's mistreatment into a powerful roar. The dreadful sound reverberated throughout the town square, and probably the whole town. The Reeve, Zalaus, looked like he'd been turned to stone as nothing about him moved, except the growing yellow spot on the front of oversized trousers.

The guards were frozen by the roar.

Everyone was.

After several seconds, Ethan let up and took a deep breath.

Still, no one moved.

He almost chuckled as he casually drew his war sword and gave it an effortless flourish, ending in one-handed low guard as he looked at the petrified guards.

"Now, who's first?" He asked as if they were merely discussing the weather.

The guards all dropped their swords and fled like the devil himself was chasing them.

Ethan chuckled as he returned his war sword to its scabbard and looked at the man he'd come here to see. "Now, about those taxes..."

* * *

"When they come, if I get scared enough..." Sarah swallowed hard. "I might be able to..." She took a deep breath, but Lady Ekthros spoke before she got a chance to continue.

"The stories are true, aren't they? You really do have a demon."

Sarah bit her lip, then nodded.

"That might save us, but at what cost?" She countered. "Do you really want to use the powers of darkness? Wouldn't Illuminar -- blessed be He -- frown on that?"

The innkeeper's daughter looked down so she didn't have to meet the other woman's eyes. "But I can't let them hurt you. You've been so good to me, and..." She trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence. She really wanted to protect Lady Ekthros, and her problem provided a way to do that. Little though she liked her problem, she was very grateful for it sometimes.

The other woman looked at her shrewdly for a moment, then frowned. "But if what you're saying is true, then you might kill them."

Sarah bit her lip and looked at the floor of the cell. "I know, and I don't want to but..." She took a deep breath. "...but I can't let them hurt you."

Lady Ekthros scrutinized her for several seconds before speaking again. For some reason, Sarah felt like she was being... analyzed? No, that wasn't quite right. Evaluated? No, that wasn't it either, but it was something similar to those though.

Finally, Lady Ekthros spoke. "But they have wives and children. I overheard some of them talking; one whose wife had just recently given birth. You wouldn't make his wife into a widow, would you?"

Sarah hesitated.

"And what of the baby?" The auburn-haired woman continued. "Would you make him into an orphan? You know how much the people hate Lord Farbrottan's soldiers; the widow and her baby would have a rough go of it without him to provide for them. She might struggle to feed her baby; you wouldn't want a baby to go hungry would you?"

The girl shook her head. "But then what can we do?"

Lady Ekthros slowly shook her head. "I'm not sure, but maybe we can--"

She was cut off as the door to the room opened and three rough, dirty and unkempt men came into the room. Two of them were the guards from earlier, and now that she was looking properly she noticed that they looked like they hadn't bathed in quite some time. They were all leering at the women with wicked smiles on their faces.

Sarah gasped and took a single step backwards. She would've taken more, but the tiny cell didn't allow it.

"You ladies are in for a rough night." One of them leered with a mirthless chuckle.

"Yeah, the old lady told us to not be gentle..." Another said as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.

Sarah gulped.

"I say we take 'em one at a time, all three holes at once." The last man suggested.

The innkeeper's daughter blanched.

Suddenly, her heart seemed to freeze in her chest as she contemplated how that was possible. It took her a minute to realize what they meant by 'three holes'. When she did, she reflexively clenched her butt cheeks and clamped her mouth shut.

"Take me instead of her." Lady Ekthros blurted out.

"What?" One of them looked confused. "It's a buffet butch; we're going to enjoy both of you."

"But I won't fight you, I'll do anything you want if you leave the girl alone." The auburn-haired woman countered. "Anything you can think of, I'll do it if you leave her alone."

The three men hesitated.

"I've got experience, and can make this a night you'll never forget." She pressed on. "Trust me, you won't regret it."

"No!" Sarah blurted out. "Lady Ekthros, you can't!"

"Please?" The older woman got down on her knees facing the other men, completely ignoring Sarah. "Please, I'll do anything you want, any way you want, as many times as you want; just leave her alone."

The three men looked at each other.

"Willing is better." The first one pointed out.

"True, and the girl is kind of ugly." The second one admitted.

The third one scrutinized the kneeling woman. "Anything?"

She nodded.

"Scat? Piss? And you'll smile and say: 'please sir, I want some more'?"

Lady Ekthros swallowed hard, but nodded.

"You... you can't." Sarah said struggling to her feet.

"Stay back!" Lady Ekthros said in a commanding tone that stopped the younger woman in her tracks. "I'll be okay, let me do this for you."

"But..."

"Aww shut the fuck up." One of the men barked as he unlocked the cell and roughly pulled the older woman out, slamming the cell door shut behind him.

"We're going to have some fun with you." He leered as he grabbed the lady's hair and half-dragged her out of the room, leaving behind a still-stunned Sarah.

* * *

"Ethan! Ethan! Ethan!" The crowd chanted as the object of their chanting stood there rather awkwardly not knowing what to do or say. He was still standing in front the Reeve's house, and it seemed like the whole town had started cheering and chanting once the shock from the roar had worn off.

"Please." He raised his hands to quiet them and clam them down. "Please."

That seemed to only egg them on further.

He resigned himself to standing there awkwardly as they cheered themselves out. It took a few minutes, but they did. Then they all moved in to shake his hand, and the women seemed determined to hug him, dragon though he was. Finally, after a good fifteen minutes he'd shaken everyone's hand at least once, and some of the more eager men's hands two or three times.

"We can never thank you enough Mr. Prophet Sir."

"May Illuminar -- blessed be He -- bless you even more."

"I'll be praying for you."

Those were the most common sentiments, though one of the braver young women had a slightly different idea: "Would you ask my father if you can marry me?"

"Thank you, but I have enough wives right now." He replied, and she looked crestfallen. That was about when he remembered the lateness of the hour, that the Argo was still moving, and that there were still a few things that needed settling.

"Can I have your attention?" He called loudly, and almost instantly the entire place went dead silent as everyone waited with bated breath. He almost chuckled at how fast they'd all quieted down this time, when before they hadn't.

"Um, who's the most honest man in town? Someone that everyone respects?"

Everyone looked around for a several moments before someone called with a chuckle. "The honorable Zalaus!"

Everyone laughed.

Ethan chuckled at the name of the corrupt Reeve he'd just confronted. "Seriously though, who?"

Someone gave the older fellow that had warned him about confronting the Reeve a gentle push forward, and there was a collective nodding of heads and many statements of approval. He seemed universally respected, which was perfect.

"Can you oversee the reapportionment of the taxes?" Ethan asked him. "You know, make sure Zalaus doesn't try to pull anything underhanded?"

The man nodded. "That I can, and I'll make sure everything is returned to its proper owner."

"I'd appreciate that." Ethan said.

He glad-handed for another few minutes before the crowd started to disperse. When they'd thinned a bit, Ethan leaned closer to the elderly man and spoke quietly. "Hey, do you know Talven and Salma?"

"Not in any special way, but I've met them."

"Is there any way you could help them with their food situation? To me, it looks like they've been undereating to make sure their kids are fed, and I hate to see good people suffer."

The elderly fellow nodded. "I'll make sure they're among the first to get their taxes back, plus half the town owes me favors. Starting tonight, they'll not go hungry again; I can assure you of that."

"Good." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Now, I need to get going. We're headed down south and I need to catch up to my airship."

"Down south?" The fellow raised an eyebrow. "The orcs at the mines?"

Ethan nodded. "We'll do what we can."

"Praise Illuminar -- blessed be He -- for sending a warrior prophet." The old man said sincerely. "May the God of Light guide you on the path of light as you travel."

"And you as well." He replied, then thought to his Fey wife. *You ready to go honey?*

*Absolutely master!* She beamed, and there was a smoldering tint to her voice.

He turned to look at her, and she was looking at him like he was the sexiest thing in the world. He didn't need to feel her arousal over their bond for him to know exactly what she wished they were doing right now.

He nodded in the rough direction of the Argo and they took to the skies, the crowd below bursting into applause as he did so. Taloni linked up with him and together they started making their way back to the Argo as the reds and oranges of sunset began to appear in the western sky.

*Something on your mind?* He thought to her.

*Master, seeing you help all those people and then the way they reacted to you...* She closed her eyes for a moment and he thought he heard a little moan come from her lips.

*So, I take it you'd like to do something about that when we get back to the Argo?* He grinned.

She grinned back, but then gave him an apologetic look. *I would love to master, but I think Kendra and Rachel, and maybe Alana will need to talk to you first.*

*You're not wrong.* He nodded, then gave her a long look.

*What?*

*You are one of the most selfless, giving women I've ever met; did you know that?*

She beamed. *Thank you master!*

* * *

Kendra was trying really hard not to prance around the Argo in her new dress under the beautiful reds and oranges of the nearly-set sun. She realized that technically there was nothing stopping her, and that in all likelihood no one would think less of her for it. However, she still felt uncomfortable doing it. For about the hundredth time that day, she ran a hand down the smooth fabric and turned just fast enough that the bottom of the dress flared out a bit.

She loved that.

She couldn't help but smile. She hadn't worn a dress in months, possibly years, and had never felt comfortable wearing one because they were hard to fight in. This dress wasn't, and she loved it. She used a drop of mana to activate the dress and then did a forward roll and came up in a fighting position, then deactivated the dress's enchantment and it went back to being a beautiful dress.

"Dang, I need one of those." Selene grinned as she watched.

"Well, I'm sure Alana would be happy to make one; she's nice that way." The dragon huntress replied.

"Yeah, but they're a bit expensive." The caramel-haired beauty replied.

Kendra raised her eyebrow.

"In terms of relationship status." She explained. "I'm not looking for a diamond ring, or whatever they use as an alternative to indicate engagement here in the Ten Kingdoms."

"Ah." The raven-haired woman replied. "I don't think marrying him is strictly required to get a dress."

Selene shrugged. "Maybe not, But I feel like it's becoming a requirement."

"You'd look great in a charcoal gray dress, like the color of the pillow that Mirella had on your chair."

She nodded. "I'd like that, but not enough to get married in order to get one."

"Speaking of enchanting..." Kendra turned to see Alana sitting cross-legged on the weather deck near the captain's cabin. She had Rachel's staff on her lap, had her eyes closed, and was slowly moving her hand over it; probably enchanting it. She did this for about a minute longer before she stood up and tossed it to the redhead.

Oddly, there still seemed to be a bit of tension between the two of them. Not a lot, but a bit.

The dragon huntress shrugged and walked over to the wood elf. "Alana, I've been meaning to ask you a question."

"What's up?"

"Could you do some enchanting on my sword?"

"Oh?"

Kendra nodded. "I've seen how effective it is that Ethan can call his back to his hand. I'm pretty sure there's enough room for the enchantment in my sword too, being that it's made of dragon steel."

"Sure, bring it here and I'll check."

A few minutes later, she had retrieved her sword and the brunette had finished examining it.

"Yup, there's room." She nodded. "I can get to it as soon as I finish Rachel's staff, then I'd like to finish with Ethan's sword."

"What about my sword?" Ethan asked as he dropped onto the weather deck with Taloni right behind him.

"We're talking about finishing enchanting it." Alana replied after he had given her a kiss.

Kendra bit her lip slightly, wanting the same treatment but she could already feel her stomach protesting. Not as vehemently as it once had, but it still did.

"I'm sure master would be happy to kiss you too." Taloni said to Kendra with a knowing look in her eyes.

He looked at her and nodded. "All you need to do is ask. Or suggest. Or just give me the vaguest inclination that you'd like one, and I'd be happy to oblige."

She felt her cheeks grow warm as she nodded slightly, too embarrassed to ask. He stepped up to her, right into her personal space, leaned down, and gave her a tender kiss on the forehead. She grimaced slightly as her stomach protested, but not enough that she was worried about losing its contents. Certainly less than it had with a similar kiss before he'd left.

"So, sword enchantments." She said, hoping the complete lack of subtly in her topic change would do the trick.

"Yeah." Alana said. "I think I'll have time for a frictionless enchantment, and also hardening and stiffening enchantment before we arrive at the mine."

"Stiffening?" Ethan asked. "I can see why frictionless would help cutting, but why a stiffening enchantment?"

"The stiffening is part of the hardening enchantment." Alana explained.

"And stiffer swords are always better." Kendra added.

Taloni giggled.

Ethan and Alana both grinned at the dragon huntress, sly smiles playing on their faces.

"You know what I meant." She said as her cheeks got rather warm. "When the sword impacts something, part of the force is usually wasted flexing the blade. But with a stiffer blade, you can put all the energy into cutting the target so it cuts better. It's even more important in thrusting, because otherwise the blade..."

She trailed off at the amused looks on their faces.

"I'm just saying that you want the blade to be stiff because bending will limit penetra--" She stopped as her cheeks got downright hot.

"Got it, stiff swords perform better." Alana winked.

"Especially in the thrust." Taloni giggled again as her cheeks went slightly red.

"I'll have to keep that in mind when I practice my..." He winked at them. "...swordsmanship."

Kendra blushed furiously as the other women looked amused.

Damn it, she shouldn't be this embarrassed. She'd flirted before on missions and been trained to take everything stoically without getting her emotions involved. However, she was finding it progressively harder to do that here on the Argo.

Her home.

"Kendra, do you have a minute to talk?" Ethan asked gently.

She nodded.

He looked at her with a smile for a moment and then extended his hand. She hesitated for a moment, then took it. Her stomach protested, but not badly at all. Oddly, she liked how his smooth scales felt on her skin. There was something about it that really felt nice, him being a dragon notwithstanding. He gently led her towards the front of the ship, and she followed willingly.

She followed a dragon willingly.

She still couldn't believe it.

She couldn't believe what they had done just hours before. Still, she couldn't help but smile a bit when she thought about it, even if her stomach wasn't entirely on board... yet.

"I just wanted to make sure that you're okay." He said when they had stopped. "I don't usually run off in the middle of a wedding night-- well, a wedding 'late afternoon'."

"I'm good." She said almost automatically, and it took her a moment to realize that she meant it. She was good. She was better than good in fact, she was... was...

She looked up at him and half smiled as she realized what she was. "I think I'm happy. Huh." She cocked her head to one side. "Is this what happy feels like?"

His eyes went unfocused for a moment, probably as he checked their bond, and then he spoke. "Yeah; yeah it is."

"I like it."

"Me too." He nodded with a chuckle.

They stood there for almost a minute without saying a word. She looked at him, thinking of everything that had happened in the course of their relationship. It hadn't even been two months yet, and in fact was just over seven weeks. It seemed like an impossibly short span of time for all the changes that had happened between them. But they had. They had and she couldn't be more grateful.

"I think I owe your dragon side a debt of gratitude." She finally said.

Ethan raised his eyebrow.

She nodded. "I really needed your dragon side at first, to give me the push that led to us getting married. I don't know how to do this whole 'being married' thing; the wife thing. But I wouldn't have that happy problem without your dragon side. Without it, we wouldn't be here."

He nodded. "Yeah, Illuminar said something like that; about wives five and six needing my dragon side more than my human side, at least at first."

"He was right." She hesitated, then took a deep breath. "Can I ask for a favor?"

"Absolutely."

"Can... can I sit next to you at dinner tonight?"

He grinned.

* * *

Ethan took a bite of the salt pork, keenly aware of the raven-haired woman sitting next to him. She had this strange half-dopey, half-embarrassed smile on her face and would occasionally steal a glance at him when she thought he wasn't looking. It was after dark, and the light from the Argo's lanterns and the coals in the firepan did wonderful things to her beauty.

Her skin was a bit darker than the rest of his wives, being similar in tone to a combination of a Latina woman and the olive skin of Mediterranean women. Her jet black hair wasn't as long as the rest of his wives, but it was wonderfully smooth. That combined with her dress made her look amazing in the firelight as she sat next to him.

She wasn't quite touching him, but she occasionally brushed her elbow or arm against him, and he didn't think it was on accident either. Each time she seemed to struggle slightly with her stomach, but her reaction was also far less than it had been, and seemed to decrease in severity with each successive touch.

"Well, I suppose you've collected five of the dragon balls." Selene said sullenly as she looked at Kendra sitting next to him. "Two more and you get a wish from the eternal dragon."

Ethan chuckled. "Technically, I've had seven since I bonded with Kendra, since I started with two."

Everyone else stared at them.

"It's a--" He began, but Alana interjected.

"A movie thing from earth; we know." The wood elf shook her head, as did most of the other crew members.

"Actually a TV show -- Dragonball Z -- but right." He said. "Speaking of Earth, we still have an invasion to try to stop. Any ideas how we can beat this Smithbond character?"

Everyone either shook their heads or replied in a negative.

"Honestly, I'm not sure that having a plan will work." Selene said. "There's just too many variables to consider. About the only thing that might get this started is if I walk up to the base with my hands up saying 'I'm from Earth, please don't shoot'. That should get me into the base, and since they know I went missing they should've seen my face. I should be able to get back to Earth because Smithbond almost certainly wouldn't come here; the chances of being stranded are too high."

"But what happens after that?" Rachel asked. "A plan for getting into the base is all well and good, but you'd need to kill Gonorran and destroy the portal. That's a tall order with no weapons and no backup, especially since he's a necromancer and won't be limited with mana the same way you will be."

"I know." The Brazilian woman replied. "But what other choice do we have? Assaulting the portal's endpoint here would be a suicide mission."

"I can be pretty sneaky, and a proper bow and arrow combination is nearly silent." Alana countered.

"Not with night vision and thermal." Selene shook her head. "They'd see you coming from a mile off."

"Thermal?"

Ethan explained the concept, and several of his wives' mouths fell open.

"They can see heat?" Beth's eyes went wide. "How does that work?"

"No idea, but Selene is right; it's absolutely out of the question." He ended looking at his first wife.

Alana frowned. "Yeah, I can see why."

"So I guess it's my plan then." Selene sighed. "Just show up and hope for the best."

"I don't like that plan at all." Ethan said. "I feel like you'd be walking into a deathtrap."

"The alternative is to do nothing, and does anyone really think that's a good idea?" Selene asked.

No one spoke.

"One request though." The caramel-haired beauty added. "Can we stop by Sarah's inn first so you can try that angel sword thing on her demon? I'd love to see her freed before I leave."

"Sure." Ethan nodded, then turned to Beth. "Which reminds me, we need to schedule an Astral Plane date so I can see this sword for myself."

"How about first thing in the morning?" The blonde replied brightly.

"It's a date." He grinned.

"Also." Alana interjected. "I've almost finished enchanting Rachel's staff, then I can get a start on those strength-enhancing vambraces that Ethan promised to Selene. I should be able to finish them by the time we arrive at the mining camp."

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." Selene smiled, though it was a subdued smile. Ethan guessed she was still thinking about a potential mission to Earth, which accounted for the subdued expression.

Silence fell after this, though it was a comfortable silence.

Ethan yawned more than once as he finished his food. He was looking forward to seeing Sarah again more than he would like to admit. He looked around at the people gathered around the dinner fire, and could imagine her sitting here, eating and talking with all of them. She probably would've helped make dinner and brightened up the mood with her smile.

She had a great smile.

He sighed and shook his head.

"Sarah again?" Selene asked.

He looked up to realize that everyone except Raklan was looking at him.

He sighed. "Am I that obvious?"

"Yes." All of his wives chorused while Selene, Anthiel, and Serif merely had knowing looks.

"I'm sorry." He sighed.

"Don't be master." Taloni said brightly. "Illuminar said that you would have seven wives; it's perfectly normal that you want one of them to be a woman you're attracted to."

He nodded, but didn't reply.

*Okay, what's eating you sir?* Alana thought to the group chat.

He looked around at them with a grimace on his face. *You all are so wonderful and I feel like... like I'm somehow insulting you by being attracted to her. I mean, I have four-- no, five wonderful wives, and yet I'm still thinking about a betrothed woman.*

*...and?* Rachel pressed. *I feel like there's more going on than just that.*

*You really want to know?*

*I do sir.*

*Me too Dominus.*

*And I master.*

*I do as well my lord.*

*I'm interested Drago.*

*Drago?* Taloni interjected. *That's perfect for your nickname for master! A Drago is a dragon Lord!*

All of his wives smiled at her exuberance, then Alana looked back at him. *Go ahead.*

*I feel like I'm somehow saying -- and I want to be one hundred percent clear that this isn't the case -- but I feel like I'm saying that you girls aren't enough; that I'm somehow not satisfied with you and need someone else, which isn't true.*

*We know that.* Alana replied simply. *Right ladies?*

They all agreed.

*So why does it bother you if it doesn't bother us?* The wood elf asked simply.

He looked at her. *But it does bother you Alana; you've alluded to as much before.*

The wood elf didn't quite meet his eye.

*See, that's what I'm talking about.* He drew his lips into a thin line. *Tell me Alana; tell me what's bothering you about this, because you've been cagey when it's come up before.*

She didn't answer.

She still wouldn't meet his eyes either.

He looked at her to see her examining the decking underneath her. Rachel slipped her hand into the wood elf's hand, and the latter gave the former a small smile, but his first wife still didn't reply.

*That's what I was worried about.* Ethan hung his head. *I'm sorry Alana, I really am. Once we've dealt with Sarah's demon problem, I plan to stay as far away from her as possible for the rest of our lives. You're just too important to me.*

No one said anything.

Alana glanced at him for a moment and gave him a half smile, but didn't reply and looked away quickly. Oddly, she didn't seem quite happy with his pronouncement. None of his other wives seemed to know what to say either.

The rest of dinner was a muted affair.

Everyone pretty much ate in silence until the plates were empty. Selene had a sort of frown on her face as she looked at Ethan and his wives, and he guessed that she could tell something was going on.

Eventually, Ethan stood up, but he didn't feel like going to bed. He wandered up to the quarterdeck and looked up at the stars for a bit. That reminded him of a conversation he'd had with Alana a long time ago. Stars; he'd once told her that if someone waited for the clouds to clear so they could see the stars, the results could be pretty great.

Now...

He exhaled heavily.

He really didn't like what his attraction to Sarah was doing to his other wives, Alana especially.

"Ethan." Anthiel's musical voice came from behind him. He turned to see her standing there with a sympathetic look.

"Ethan, sooner or later the 'honeymoon phase' of all relationships ends, and problems of one kind or another arise." Anthiel said. "I don't know exactly what's happening, but remember: the best part of a relationship is never the honeymoon period."

"It isn't?"

"No." She said firmly as she shook her head. "It often feels like the best part because of the emotional high, but that doesn't last. The best part of a marriage rarely comes before the tenth anniversary, and after the twentieth anniversary is more likely. It comes from having history with someone, and shared experiences, and struggling through things together. It comes from going through your world's 'hell' with each other and coming out on the other side stronger for it. Like building a muscle, it's the struggle that builds strong marriages, not the ease."

"That makes some sense." He conceded.

"I've been married for a hundred years, and can testify from personal experience." The high elf replied. "So when something happens and a marriage gets hard, the right thing to do is to dig deeper and work harder on it. In the end, that's how a good marriage is built and gets stronger; through the struggles of life. Remember that."

He nodded. "I will, thank you."

"Good." She smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think a certain wood elf could also benefit from hearing this."

He chuckled.

The high elf gave him a knowing smile and then descended the stairs down to the weather deck. Ethan resumed looking at the stars for several minutes before he heard the creaking of the stairs behind him.

"Ethan?"

He smiled; it was Alana.

He turned to face her. "You know, I think we seriously lucked out with our pilot."

She smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, we did."

"What's up?"

She bit her lip, but walked forward to join him at the ship's railing anyway. "It's not that I don't feel like I'm enough; it's that I -- and your other wives -- actually aren't enough."

"What?" He blinked. "Where in the world did you get that idea?"

She took a deep breath and looked at him. "I'm an enchantress Ethan; without my skills in enchanting I think we all would've died a long time ago."

"Absolutely." He agreed, thinking of her enchanting his weapons and all the times they'd been saved because of them, not to mention his armor.

"Beth can do Astral Projection, and if she couldn't we all would've died against Kyrupto, and you would've died more than once. Taloni is a brilliant healer and she's saved your life at least once. I get the feeling that she'll save us all a lot more before this is over. Rachel is a mage, and she's saved us all before, especially during the fight with Gonorran. Kendra saved you, Taloni, and Rachel against Lord Delmar and Lady Ekthros, and she will probably save us all a lot more now that she's staying on the Argo and you two are married."

"Okay, I'm with you so far."

"But those are all skills." She said. "I talked about this with Rachel a bit the day you met Sarah, and she pointed out that each of us have something that you need, and I'm okay with that; Rachel helped me to be okay with that. It took me a little while, but I realized that's not what really bothers me."

"What does then?"

"Those are just skills, not relationships." She said. "There has never been anything about your relationships with me or your other wives that felt unbalanced." She paused. "Okay, that's not true. I felt like it was slightly unbalanced in my favor, and with Sarah I've lost that."

"Huh?" He cocked his head to one side.

"Beth and Taloni have always said that even though you love us all equally, you and I are more like soulmates; that we have something extra special, something the others will never share. But with Sarah..." She trailed off.

"With Sarah... what?"

Alana took a deep breath, then looked up at him. "Will you hold me?"

He smiled widely and opened his arms. "Always."

She fell into him, relaxed nearly completely and sighed. "I love this."

"Mmm, that makes two of us."

He held her for several seconds before she continued. "Sarah can understand you in a way that I can't; in a way that I never will be able to because she can really, truly, and deeply understand your dragon side and the darkness you've struggled with. I can't. She can be something for you that I can never be."

"Oh." He frowned as he continued to hold her.

"I'm not enough, but not because there's something wrong with me." She continued softly. "Ironically, I'm not enough because there isn't something wrong with me. I'm not enough because she can give you something that I never can, and I don't want to... to lose..." Her voice cracked a bit and she swallowed hard.

"You won't lose me." He replied firmly.

"I'm not worried that I'll lose you." She shook her head. "I'm worried that I'll lose..." She looked up at him. "Can I be really selfish for a moment?"

He nodded. "Yeah, go ahead."

She searched his eyes for several seconds, and he was once again struck by how beautiful her rich hazel eyes were. "I'm worried about losing my... my 'spot' as your... not your favorite -- I don't think you have favorites -- but my spot as... I don't know, your... your..."

"My...?"

"I don't know how to explain it." She shook her head. "I feel I'm closer to you than the others, partially because I've been around you the longest; since the beginning. We have such a strong connection and I never felt that was threatened by your other wives."

"But...?" He asked, feeling like there was a 'but' coming."

"But I'm worried your connection with Sarah will be stronger than your connection with me because she has a part of you that I can never have, but the reverse isn't true. She can know you in a way that I can't, but there's no way I can know you that she can't."

"You don't want to be replaced?" He asked.

"That's not it." She shook her head. "I know you'd never leave me. Ever." She spoke with absolute conviction, then her tone softened. "But I guess what I'm most worried about is watching you get closer to Sarah than you are with me." She sighed. "I know that's selfish, and I know I'm being hypocritical because I'm closer to you than your other wives are." She frowned. "I love how close you are to your other wives, and I want you to get closer to all of them, but I..." She looked down. "I want you to be closer to me."

He gave her a gentle squeeze. "I love how close we are too, and yeah; I wouldn't want to lose that either."

The wood elf swallowed hard. "I just don't... I don't want to end up on the outside looking in because you got closer to her than you are with me. I don't mind if you're close to her, I really don't. In fact, I want you to get closer to her because I think it would be good for you, for both of you. But I just..." She trailed off.

"You just don't want to feel left out?"

"Yeah..." She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I think that's it."

He gave her a small smile, then reached down and gently cupped her face with his palm and stroked her cheek with his thumb while he held her with the other arm. "Alana Ejder, love of my life, there's no one and nothing that could ever take your place in my heart. Ever."

She gave him a pained smile. "I know, but... Oh how to explain this." She frowned for a moment, then snuggled into his chest. "Many years ago, before my adoptive parents died, we all went into town to meet some of their friends, most of whom also had kids. The adults were talking for a long time and the kids played together, but I didn't really fit in. I played with the other kids, but they all knew each other and I didn't know them, or their games. I felt like an outsider. I tried staying by the adults but I was young enough that I didn't understand most of what they were talking about, so I felt like an outsider there too."

"I've had similar things happen." He nodded. "Being the fifth wheel I mean."

"Fifth wheel?"

He explained what it meant and she nodded. "Exactly, I don't want to be a fifth wheel to you and Sarah. I don't want to feel left out like that. I don't mind if you have Sarah -- in fact, I want you to have her because I really do think it would be good for you; for both of you -- I just don't want to be left behind; I don't want to be a fifth wheel."

"You won't be." He said gently. "I'm never going to marry her, and you wouldn't be a fifth wheel if the impossible occurred and I did marry her."

She smiled at him, and though the smile reached her eyes, it didn't light them up as much as it usually did. "I'm glad to hear you say that."

"But?"

"That helps me feel a little bit better, but not completely better." She gave him an apologetic smile. "That goes double because I would feel just horrible if you ended up not marrying her because of me."

He felt both his eyebrows rise as his mouth fell open. "You would?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I saw the way you two look at each other, and see the way you smile when you think about her. She really understands a part of you that I don't -- that none of your wives do -- and I think you need that. I don't want to keep you two apart, and I would feel just awful if I somehow ended up doing so."

He stared at her.

"I'm serious Ethan." She said, fixing him with that stare that revealed her iron willpower, though there was a gentle vulnerability to her gaze too.

Ethan stared for several seconds, not sure how what Alana had said at the beginning of their conversation could've led here. He worked his mouth for several seconds before he finally got a question out.

"Why?"

"Consider how you might feel if you were keeping two people apart who not only loved each other, but also were perfect for each other and genuinely good for each other." She leaned her head against his chest, and gently rubbed her cheek against it. "As worried as I am about what might happen if you marry her, I'd rather face that than keep you two apart." She looked up at him. "You need her Ethan, you really do. You need someone who understands what you've gone through, who understands that side of you... and she can."

He didn't reply.

He didn't know what to say.

He turned it over in his head, trying to make sense of it and see a way out where everyone would be happy. The first option was of course that Sarah married Rindrin. However, he knew that wouldn't make her happy. She'd probably make the best of it and even lead a reasonably happy life, but it wasn't what she really wanted. If he was honest with himself, that's not what he wanted either.

Option number two was that Sarah somehow ended up not betrothed to Rindrin anymore, and stayed unmarried. He knew that wouldn't make her happy; she wanted to be married. He supposed that option 2.5 was that she married someone else besides Rindrin after her demon problem was dealt with. She could be happy if she found the right guy, but he somehow doubted she would.

Option number three was that Ethan himself married her, but then Alana... He frowned. His first wife had actively pushed them together by making the innkeeper's daughter sit next to him at the inn. She'd done that even though she'd probably been struggling with this even back then.

Unbidden, a smile came to his face as he looked at her.

"What?" She asked.

"You are an incredible woman Alana Ejder; absolutely incredible." He looked at her fondly, remembering all the things they'd been through together. There had been so, so much. He hadn't known that she existed four months ago, and yet now he couldn't imagine living life without her.

"Thank you." She blushed slightly. "It'll sound stupid if I say the same thing back to you now, but it's true."

"Thank you." He replied, and looked deep into her eyes. She had such beautifully rich hazel eyes. "Come what may, I will always love you Alana Ejder, my beautiful bride."

She closed her eyes and smiled, then leaned her head against his chest. "I love you too, my wonderful husband."

He closed his eyes and sighed, then got an impish grin on his face. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to jump out a window..."

"Brat." She rolled her eyes and shook her head at the reference to the first time she'd told him that she loved him, after which -- under the dark halo's influence -- he'd jumped out a window.

He chuckled.

She sighed and leaned into him again. "You know, Anthiel was right; I do feel closer to you right now, despite... well, you know."

"I feel the same." He replied. "And you know what, I like the idea that as good as things have been, they'll get better in the future."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I mean, our marriage has been wonderful, but if it'll get better the longer we're married, and we're going to live for over a hundred years... it seems like we have some good times to look forward to, even if we hit a rough spot occasionally."

"As long as we don't give up and we keep working on our marriage." She smiled at him. "I can do that."

"Me too." He smiled back at her.

He didn't feel like the issue had been entirely resolved, but he felt better and Alana certainly looked more peaceful. Not perfectly peaceful, but more so. Her emotions seemed to have calmed a little too. He could still feel some uncertainty and doubt over their bond, but now there was an undercurrent of peace undergirding everything else she felt.

It was good to see.

* * *

Kendra had no idea what to do with herself. At this point in the evening, she was usually getting ready to go below deck and sleep in her hammock. However, she was married to Ethan now. Did that mean she could sleep in the captain's cabin with his other wives? She hoped so, but at the same time hoped not to.

She wanted to because one of her very best memories was falling asleep in the same bed next to Taloni. Having another person in bed with her had been indescribably wonderful. Literally. She didn't have the words to describe how much she had adored it.

But...

...but then she would probably take her dress off while she was sleeping and they would see her scars. She definitely didn't want that. Further -- and perhaps worse -- she knew that if she woke up next to Ethan, she might vomit. Her gag reflex was getting better, and quickly, but she didn't want to tempt it right now. She certainly didn't want to vomit all over the bed again, or -- worst case scenario -- on one of her fellow wives.

"Kendra." Taloni called. "Come on, it's time for bed."

She hesitated, which caused the Fey teen to hover over. Not walk; hover. Her wings became a blur and she hovered over like someone might do on a casual walk.

"What's wrong?" She asked when she'd arrived.

"Um, I'm just nervous I guess." The dragon huntress replied, which wasn't actually untrue.

Apparently, the Fey teen wasn't fooled. She raised her eyebrow and said with a chuckle. "Just pretend you're charging into a dragon's lair to fight instead of to sleep, and you'll be fine."

Kendra chuckled slightly. "Does he still do that thing where he covers you all with his wings?"

Taloni beamed. "Of course he does, in fact..." She trailed off and frowned slightly. "How'd you know he does that?"

The dragon huntress felt her cheeks get a bit warm as she answered. "I was doing surveillance on him for a while."

"Oh."

"I'm not sure that..." She hesitated, partially thinking about how the wing thing might make her nauseous, but more thinking about her scars. "I might need a bit more time before I'm ready for that."

"I can't wait until you are; it'll be wonderful to have you there with the rest of us."

Kendra nodded, but didn't reply. She wanted it so badly, but her scars...

She didn't want anyone to think she was ugly. She already knew that she was the least attractive of all Ethan's wives; she really didn't want them to know it too. She shook her head slightly; the Aldmiri had worked hard to train the goal of being beautiful out of her. She supposed that it was such a part of feminine nature that they couldn't get rid of it completely.

"I take it I'm losing my roommate." Selene said as she joined them. It looked like she was trying to pass it off as a joke, but it didn't look like she found it very funny.

"Not just yet." She replied.

"Gag reflex?" The caramel haired beauty asked.

Kendra nodded, but didn't elaborate.

* * *

Selene was trying to keep her thoughts to herself, and was doing a pretty good job of it. Ethan had married yet another woman. She flexed her fingers to prevent herself from making a fist; it just wasn't right. She might've occasionally enjoyed some erotic fiction with that as an element, but this was real life, not fiction. She knew it was their lives, and she wouldn't ever want to interfere. As her dad was fond of saying; 'not my circus, not my monkeys.'

But it still bothered her.

What bothered her even more was that her mission to Earth was likely to be a one-way trip unless she joined them. She really didn't want to. If Ethan was a man instead of a dragon, and could stay faithful to one woman, she would've liked to throw her proverbial hat in the ring. As it was...

She shook her head.

"Something wrong?" Taloni asked.

The Brazilian woman shook her head again. "No, just thinking. I should head to bed. Night"

"Goodnight." The Fey teen replied with a smile.

"I'll be down in a bit." Kendra said. "I just want to talk to Ethan first; make sure he's okay with me sleeping downstairs."

Selene raised her eye. "You know, you don't have to ask permission. He doesn't own you and you aren't a slave."

"I know." The dragon huntress replied, but she didn't seem bothered that she was asking for his permission. The most charitable explanation was her training, which seemed very military-like. The least generous was that this was Ethan's dragon side showing itself again.

The caramel haired beauty waved and then headed below decks.

Based on what she'd heard and witnessed, every time Ethan took a wife to bed, that wife went from being independent to submissive. Rachel had done it, Kendra had done it, and by all accounts Alana had as well. Taloni struck her as being naturally submissive, so that wasn't as bothersome. And Beth... She could see the young teen going either way.

Still, it was too much of a coincidence to ignore.

It seemed like sex cemented the bond, and that was the last thing Selene wanted to do, assuming she bonded with him in the first place. However, it was looking like she needed to for her mission to eliminate the portal and Gonorran. She shook her head as she ducked through the cloth curtain into the ladies area. She'd once been horrified at the idea of killing Gonorran without trial, now it didn't bother her nearly so much.

That wasn't good.

She flopped down into her hammock, determined that she wasn't going to become like the rest of Ethan's wives... if only she could figure out how to avoid it.

* * *

"Okay Kendra, I'll see you in the morning." Ethan said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his tone after the dragon huntress had explained her reasons for wanting to sleep below decks instead of with them.

"Goodnight Drago." She smiled, but didn't leave. Then she glanced at him and bit her lip slightly.

"Kiss?" He asked.

She nodded, though looked slightly green. Less than normal, but still a little bit. He locked eyes with her, forcing her stomach to calm like he had earlier.

"Drago?" Her eyes went wide.

"I just thought you'd like to enjoy a real kiss." He explained, not moving closer. "Should I stop?"

She bit her lip again, then shook her head fractionally.

With their eyes still locked, he leaned in to place a tender kiss on her lips. She initially leaned back just slightly, but when their lips met she made the softest sighing sound and then didn't resist at all. In fact, she leaned into the kiss slightly. Their eyes were still locked, and he was looking into her beautiful deep brown eyes.

He straightened up when the kiss broke. "I'm going to hold it for another few seconds to give your stomach time to calm down; we don't want a repeat of earlier."

She shook her head. "No, we don't." She smiled slightly. "Thank you Drago... is it weird that I'm calling you that? Is it okay?"

He nodded. "I've gotten used to my wives developing pet names for me when I take them to bed the first time." He nodded, then looked at her pointedly. "Good girl."

She blushed, and the corners of her mouth started pull upward, seemingly despite herself.

"You like it when I call you that?" He asked.

She blushed harder, hesitated for several seconds, then nodded.

"Should I do it more?"

Her cheeks were approaching the color of Rachel's roots, but she nodded slightly after a moment's hesitation.

"I'm going to drop the compulsion." He warned her, then did.

She closed her eyes and put her hand on her stomach, but it didn't look like she was going to vomit like she had earlier. In fact, she looked just mildly queasy; a vast improvement in only a few hours.

"Better?" He asked.

She nodded. "Give me some time and I won't need help."

"I'll look forward to that day." He smiled.

"Me too."

"Good night and sweet dreams... my good girl."

She blushed again as she smiled. "And you." She hesitated for several more seconds, her eyes flicked towards the door to the captain's cabin, then she sighed and turned towards the stairs to the lower decks.

Ethan sighed; he'd taken care of talking to two wives, two more to go since both Rachel and Beth were having father issues they might want to talk about. Well, three if he counted talking to Alana and Rachel together about their kiss. He couldn't help but smile as he thought about that. They both really liked each other, and he liked that they did.

Then there was Beth.

He really wanted to do something about her relationship with her father. Sadly, he didn't know what to do. He shook his head and went into the captain's cabin to see that all of his wives except Taloni and Kendra were already there. Alana and Rachel were sitting on the bed, though oddly not talking or sitting quite as close together as they usually did. He really needed to talk to them soon, either separately or together. Beth was flopped back on the bed.

"Hey." He said, then yawned.

They mirrored his yawn, and then he too flopped down on the bed. "It occurs to me that we should probably write a letter to Elder Goman and tell him about Lord Delmar being the black dragon."

"Good idea." Rachel nodded. "I can do that in the morning."

"Awesome." He gave her a thumbs up.

"I wonder if Lady Ekthros knows." Beth mused. "That Lord Delmar is a dragon that is."

"She almost certainly does." Rachel said bitterly. "She's incredibly well informed and a manipulative bitch too. I learned that the hard way growing up. She has an incredible talent for tricking anyone into believing anything, and I wouldn't put anything past her."

"Yeah, we should have a conversation about how to deal with her soon." Ethan agreed.

"I vote seven feet under." Rachel suggested. "But even with all of us working together that would be a tall order, especially because she's an arch mage."

"We can talk about it with everyone at breakfast tomorrow." Ethan agreed, just as the door opened and Taloni slipped in.

"Master, I know it's my night to sleep in your arms, but can I not tonight?" She asked.

Everyone stared at her. Of all his wives, she was the last one he would've ever dreamed would make that particular request.

"Yeah, but why?"

"I think that Kendra will do a Rachel master."

"Fair." He chuckled, and her reasoning for the request now made perfect sense. Then he cocked his head to one side as something occurred to him. "This will be the first night in... six weeks? That I haven't had a wife in my arms while I fell asleep."

"Well, how about you 'have' all of us in your arms tonight then..." Alana said with a sly grin.

No one objected.

* * *

Selene thought about the problem for a while until Kendra came down and slipped into her own hammock. Afterwards, the Brazilian woman laid awake for well over an hour trying to figure out what to do.

Eventually, she heard movement and looked up.

Kendra was sleepwalking.

Her eyes were open, but glassy and seemed unfocused. Not wanting the dragon huntress to fall overboard, Selene got up too and followed her, just in case. She couldn't help but smile to herself; this sounded eerily similar to Kendra recounting how she'd followed Rachel the night before the redhead's wedding.

Like in that story, Selene followed the other woman out onto the weather deck, watched her hesitate outside the captain's cabin, and then watched her slip in.

"Déjà vu." Anthiel said from the quarterdeck.

"Yeah, I suppose so." The caramel haired beauty shrugged.

"Care to join me?" The high elf pilot asked.

"Like Kendra did?"

"Well, it's going so much like last time that I'd hate to break the tradition."

Selene chuckled then climbed the stairs to the quarterdeck. "So what did you and Kendra talk about?"

"How much she'd fallen for Ethan without realizing it." Anthiel replied, and Selene felt like the high elf was watching her like a hawk.

"That's where she and I differ." Selene replied honestly. "He's a good guy, and I would be interested if he wasn't a dragon and could stay..." She trailed off, deciding not to finish the sentence with 'faithful to a woman'. "If he wasn't so thoroughly outside the monogamy camp."

Anthiel made a thoughtful sound. "You're very committed to that, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am." She nodded.

The high elf looked at her for several long seconds before speaking again. "But you still like him."

She nodded. "But at the end of the day, we want different things. He's already got five wives, and I'll be damned if I'm going to be wife number six. I'm not willing to share my husband with another woman, much less more than one; I just won't."

Anthiel made a thoughtful sound, then spoke without condescension or judgement. "We've already established that the idea of him bedding his wives -- plural -- turns you on."

Selene felt her cheeks grow warm as she recalled the tiny bet the two had made; a bet that lost her a copper because it did in fact turn her on.

The pilot continued. "Is it possible you're not as opposed as you think you are?"

She shook her head. "No. Just because something turns me on a bit doesn't mean I'm going to chase it. I mean, do you chase every hot guy you see?"

"Fair."

Selene was glad the high elf stopped there, because, she didn't want to get into what turned her on. If she didn't use private browsing all the time, she'd be worried that someone might see her browser history. That person would certainly never look at her the same again.

"So, you'll go back to Earth, take care of the portal, and then say goodbye to the Ten Kingdoms forever?"

"I hope so. The only hiccup is that I'll need to be able to talk to the people here, which requires bonding and then..." She trailed off as she considered what an unpleasant requirement of bonding was, at least if she didn't want to leave a rampaging dragon behind.

The trouble was that Ethan needed to have sex with her if they were going to bond, and Selene certainly wouldn't volunteer her V-card to Ethan just because it was necessary for a mission. No, she really needed a way around that; a way to satisfy his need for sex without actually having sex with him, or even marrying him.

Hmm.

What if...

She cocked head to one side as an idea occurred to her. It might actually work too, and would mean she could avoid having sex with him, but she didn't know enough about how bonds worked when sex was involved. Fortunately, there was someone right next to her who probably would know, or at least have a good guess.

She looked at Anthiel. "I have a couple questions."

* * *

Sarah paced nervously in the cell, trying not to bite her fingernails. Lady Ekthros had been gone for hours; since the middle of the afternoon and it was now well past nightfall. She kept throwing worried looks at the door, hoping that she would be back soon.

What if she wasn't?

What if they'd killed her and it was her fault? She didn't know how she could live with that. The auburn haired woman had been so incredibly kind to her, and protected her, and right now Sarah owed her everything. She literally had no idea what she would do without her. If she had gotten hurt because of her...

Finally, she heard movement.

Two of the guards from earlier returned carrying Lady Ekthros between them. She looked miserable, haggard, and like she'd been crying for hours. Her eyes were red and puffy, and that wasn't even counting the massive bruise that was forming on her cheek, or the black eye on the other side. Her dress looked ripped in several places and it obviously hadn't been put back on her quite right.

One of the two men unlocked the door and then they unceremoniously dropped her on the stone floor. She caught herself, but barely. Sarah knelt down, wanting to help but having no idea what to do.

The look in the older woman's dark gray eyes was heartbreaking.

"Are you--" She stopped as she realized how stupid a question that was to ask. Of course the other woman wasn't okay.

"I'll... I'll be fine." The lady replied, though the innkeeper's daughter thought she was putting on a brave face.

"I'm sorry, and thank you." Sarah said after a moment.

"You were ready to do worse for me." Lady Ekthros replied, then tried to move and whimpered. She put a hand on her butt and grimaced.

"Are you... did they..."

She nodded. "Tell me a story, something to distract me; please?"

"Uh, um." Sarah paused, not sure what story to tell as virtually every story that she'd ever heard chose that exact moment to go completely out of her head.

"Tell me... I don't know... How you got your problem or something." Lady Ekthros started to move, but winced and stopped.

"Um..." Sarah hesitated. Normally, the last thing she wanted to even think about was how she'd gotten her problem. Normally she buried those memories as deeply as possible, but after what Lady Ekthros had done for her...

"Um, I wasn't very old." She began. "It was before my monthly bleeding happened the first time. I was... well there's a hot spring near my father's inn that's deep in the forest. It comes out of a rock and then flows to a small overhang that's about six feet tall. The water is hot when it falls, but not too hot and it's really nice."

The other woman gave her a half smile. "A shower; that's called a shower where I come from."

"Well I really loved it, even though it was deep in the forest and far from the inn." Sarah continued. "Father always said going there was a bad idea, but I didn't listen and..."

She swallowed.

Lady Ekthros moved slightly and then winced in pain.

The noise prompted the innkeeper's daughter to keep going, since the other woman's selflessness had saved her. "I was playing there, and I guess that they heard me; I was playing rather loudly that day. I had finished and was dressed when two men came at me out of the forest."

She swallowed hard again.

She took a long, slow shuddering breath before forcing herself to continue. "They gagged me and one threw me over his shoulder. I tried kicking and fighting, but it was no use. I just wasn't strong enough and I was so afraid."

"What happened next?" Lady Ekthros asked.

"When we got far enough away, one of them stopped to relieve himself." She said. "Some little woodland creature surprised him, and he slipped and I guess he ended up landing in poison ivy. He was trying not to scratch his hip area for..."

She trailed off as she realized that this might've been what Gabriella meant when she said that Illuminar had protected her from being... well from them forcing themselves on her. He had itched himself for the rest of his short life, and that had almost certainly put him off the mood.

She closed her eyes and thought to Illuminar. *Thank you for protecting me. I don't understand why you didn't protect Lady Ekthros too, but thank you for protecting me and please help her. She needs it so much.*

"...for?" The other woman prompted.

"For quite a while." Sarah replied. "They took me to a small camp and tied me up in a tent. I was there for... a long time."

"How long?"

"Um, maybe two days? They barely fed me or let me relieve myself."

"Oh you poor thing." Lady Ekthros said, then winced herself.

"Then um..." She took a deep breath. "Then they took me out and tied me to a wooden table inside a cave. They had blocked the entrance off with a thick blanket and it was lit only with candles." She shuddered. "There were so many candles."

"Oh?"

Sarah nodded. "There were also strange symbols drawn on the floor and there were four men wearing hoods and long robes." She bit her lip. "One of them had a very large knife."

"Then what happened?"

"My hands and feet were tied to the corners of the table so tightly I could barely move." Sarah could feel herself starting to shake slightly, but forced herself to continue for Lady Ekthros's sake. "They were chanting louder and louder in a language I didn't recognize. One of them stepped up to the table and slowly raised the knife."

Sarah froze.

She tried to keep her lips moving to tell the story, but she couldn't get the words out. Suddenly, she felt almost like there was a weight on her chest, or something tied around her torso making it difficult to breathe. She could feel her heart racing in her chest. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps as she remembered everything about that moment, as if she was still there.

The knife had been glinting in the candlelight.

The men had been chanting.

She couldn't move.

Dear Illuminar in heaven, she hadn't been able to move and he was about to bring the knife down. She was going to die.

She could see the robed man preparing to bring the knife down into her chest... when suddenly time seemed to slow down.

*Are you scared little one?* A raspy, wispy voice said, but she hadn't heard it with her ears.

She nodded.

*I can help with that you know; make it so you never need to fear anything again.* The voice said. *Would you like that little one?*

She nodded, too frozen in fear to do anything else.

*Then do we have a deal? You'll invite me in and I'll make it so you never need fear anyone ever again?*

She nodded as the raised knife started coming down in slow motion.

*That's not enough little one; you have to say yes; you have to agree that we have a deal.*

"Yes." She whispered.

She heard the strange voice cackle in triumph...

...then she screamed.

Her entire body had suddenly coursed with some strange, cold darkness that both numbed her limbs and made them feel alive at the same time. She felt like she was dying, and yet she'd never felt more alive. She'd never been more scared, but had never been so free from fear at the same time. She'd never felt so free, yet so helplessly trapped. It was like someone was pouring fire into her veins, but the fire was freezing her instead of burning her. She felt like the most powerful girl in the Ten Kingdoms, but completely powerless at the same time.

Her arm moved of its own accord, breaking the cord which bound it like a single strand of hair. It reached up impossibly fast to stop the knife which was slowly being driven downwards.

Her arm impacted the man's arm.

Crack.

The sound was low, almost silent and muted, but also seemed deafeningly loud. The man's forearm bent at a strange angle, like he had a second elbow. She heard his scream of pain, but could do nothing about it.

She couldn't move, yet she was moving.

Her body broke the other bonds as easily as the first and Sarah shut her eyes as her tiny fist swung toward the man who was at least three times her size. She could block out the sight...

...but not the sound.

The crunch was sickening.

So was the warm spray of viscous liquid that landed on her face and arms.

She wanted to vomit. She wanted to die, knowing what she'd just done... but her body wouldn't stop. She couldn't make it stop. Nothing she did stopped her body; nothingcould stop her body from unleashing the carnage that followed.

"Sarah? Sarah can you hear me?"

She could hear the voice, but it was coming as if from a long way off. She was vaguely aware of her body in the present hyperventilating as she almost gasped for air. She was vaguely aware that she was both being held and gently shaken, but she was having trouble separating the memory from the present.

"Sarah, Sarah it's Lady Ekthros."

The innkeeper's daughter was gasping for breath.

"It's just an anxiety attack Sarah." Lady Ekthros said in a soothing voice. "It'll be okay; you'll be fine."

She didn't feel like it.

* * *

Ethan felt a bit groggy as he slowly returned to the waking world from his night's sleep. It had been a distinctly unpleasant experience to fall asleep without one of his wives in his arms, and he wasn't keen to repeat it any time soon. Even when he'd been captured, Taloni and Rachel had been there. But despite the fact that his first four wives had been in the bed with him, none was in his arms when he fell asleep...

...but one was now.

He opened an eye to see a beautifully chaotic mess of jet black hair that could only belong to Kendra. He smiled, remembering a similar morning with Rachel. However, Rachel had been clothed while Kendra most certainly wasn't. He could feel her naked skin pressed up against him as he held her in a spooning position.

He carefully moved his hand and gently brushed her hair out of her face so he could see her properly. The sun hadn't risen yet, or even started brightening the sky since it was still in the pre-dawn hours, but he could see her well enough with his dragon eyes.

She looked so peaceful.

Her face was free from any trace of worry or concern. Her lips were slightly parted and occasionally she would let out a soft, almost imperceptible sigh. She looked happy; content. He'd never seen her this relaxed, and wondered if she'd ever let her guard down this much before.

Somehow, he doubted that she had.

He smiled, laid his head back down and tried to suppress a yawn. It only partially worked, and he was still feeling groggy so he closed his eyes, figuring he'd fall back to sleep or at least doze. He really enjoyed having Kendra in bed with him, and especially in his arms.

He was only barely aware that he'd drifted off, but was awakened some time later by a most unpleasant sound.

Blech!

Ethan jerked awake as the sound of vomiting reached his ears. "Kendra, are you okay?"

"Mmm?" The dragon huntress mumbled, and he opened his eyes to see that she was still spooning sleepily with him and most certainly wasn't vomiting.

But then who...?

He turned his head to look. Beth, Taloni, and Rachel were similarly waking up, and of course Kendra was in his arms. But Alana's head was over the side of the bed, and she was holding her hair away from her mouth as she spat what appeared to be the last remnants of sick out of her mouth onto the floor.

"Are you okay?!" He asked, extricating himself from Kendra and hopping onto the floor to rush over to her while avoiding the small puddle of vomit.

"I've been better." She mumbled.

She was holding her stomach and looked... well like someone who'd just thrown up.

"Taloni!" He called urgently.

The Fey was there in a flash and put her hands on the wood elf.

"She seems to be fine." Taloni said after about a minute. "I can't feel anything wrong at all. I suppose it could be an infection, since those are nearly impossible to detect in someone else's body."

Alana shook her head. "I don't think it's an infection." She spat again. "I've been noticing that my breasts have been a bit tender the last day or two too."

"Morning sickness?" Beth suggested. "It's been about six weeks since your wedding night, so the timing is about right."

The brunette nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

Ethan let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good."

His first wife gave him a look as she wiped her mouth and made a face, no doubt at the taste, or smell; or both.

"Okay, the morning sickness isn't good." He conceded. "But I'm glad it's not something serious."

The wood elf groaned. "You look forward to throwing up non-stop for a few weeks and then we'll talk about serious."

"I might be able to help." Beth offered. "I've read a few books about this and there are some herb mixtures which should help. You'll probably still get nauseous, but shouldn't vomit nearly as much."

"Oh I could kiss you." Alana breathed a sigh of relief.

"Please don't right now." The blonde made a face after glancing at the small puddle of sick.

"We should get this cleaned up." Ethan said, then looked at everyone. "That means clothes."

All of the women grabbed their dresses except Rachel and Kendra, both of whom seemed to prefer to stay under the sheets. Alana and Taloni respectively handed them their dresses, and the two more reserved women managed to slip them on while staying covered under the sheets. He had noticed that about Rachel of course, and he knew Kendra was nervous about the rest of his wives seeing her scars.

He looked at his elven wife and couldn't help but smile as he looked at her. She didn't have a baby bump yet of course; that was still a few months off. But she did have morning sickness, and for some reason that made things click in his brain like never before.

"You're pregnant." He said as he looked at her.

"That's not news; you were there when it happened." She winked.

"Yeah I know but..." He made a thoughtful sound. "I know this might sound weird, but seeing you get morning sickness really made it hit me. Not just here--" He indicated his head. "--but here too." He indicated his heart.

Then his eyes went wide. "Holy shit; I'm going to be a father." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"And you'll be a wonderful father." Kendra said from the bed, though he certainly hadn't been expecting her to say that.

He turned to her. "How do you know?"

She shrugged. "I just do." She looked down and put a hand on her stomach, over her womb, then looked back up at him. "Can I have a baby boy?"

Ethan's eyes went wide. "Come again?"

The dragon huntress blushed. "I don't mean now, but maybe someday in the future? I didn't realize it until just this second, but I want to have a baby boy." She had a subtle, probably involuntary smile playing about the edge of her lips and she looked nervous, but hopeful too. "Could I please Drago?"

"Uh..." He hesitated for just a moment. "You sure that's what you want?"

She nodded.

"Then I suppose... yeah. Okay." He nodded, then smiled. "Not right now, but after we deal with Lord Delmar, sure."

She smiled at him, though her cheeks were quite red.

"How about the rest of us?" Beth asked hopefully. "I don't care if it's a boy or girl, but could we all have your babies too?"

Suddenly, Ethan was confronted with three additional pairs of eyes, all looking up at him doe-eyed and with a combination of expectancy and hopefulness.

He nodded. "Once we're not in so much danger, absolutely."

As one, they all sighed.

"Right now though..." He turned back to Alana. "We're having a baby." He said like it was the first time he'd realized it. It wasn't, but it was hitting him all over again.

"We are." She smiled, though she didn't look entirely better.

"We need a name." He said after several seconds. "Every baby needs a name; a great name."

"We also need to get out of here; that smell is awful." Beth waved her hand in front of her nose.

"No problem." Rachel looked down at the pile of sick and extended a hand towards it. Moments later, ice crystals started forming. Moments after that, it was frozen solid. Ethan guessed the redhead released the heat into the room because it got fractionally warmer.

"That'll stop the stink for a few minutes." The teen mage announced, then rubbed her hands together excitedly. "Now, let's talk names."

That led to a rather lengthy discussion of names, with almost everyone suggesting a lot. Ethan had never realized just how different names in the Ten Kingdoms could be until that moment. While Rachel and Beth suggested mostly names that he was at least familiar with in passing, Alana, Taloni, and Kendra all seemed to mostly be familiar with names that sounded quite foreign to his ears.

After nearly twenty minutes, Alana shook her head. "I like a lot of those names, but something about them doesn't feel quite right, not for her." She put her hand over her womb.

"What about family names?" Beth suggested. "Your mother's name is Kalaya; that's a pretty name."

The wood elf hesitated before shaking her head. "That could get confusing."

"How about on your side Dominus?" The blonde asked.

"Oh!" Alana exclaimed, then looked at Ethan. "I know what I want to call her, if it's okay with you sir."

"What?" He asked.

"I really like your mom." The wood elf said. "And I thought her name was pretty. Could you name her that?"

"Wait, could I name her that?" He raised his eyebrow. "Don't you mean 'we'?"

"No." Alana shook her head looking very confused. "You're the girl's father; of course I'm going to suggest names, but ultimately it's your choice what to name her."

"It is?"

"Of course Dominus." Beth said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Fathers always have the final say in what their children are named."

"Could we name our daughter after your mother?" Alana asked, again sounding hopeful.

"Sure." He nodded, thinking about how happy that would make both mother and grandmother. Besides, his mom did have a good name.

"Um, what's your mother's name?" Kendra asked.

"Ruth." Ethan replied. "Her name is Ruth."

"That's a pretty name master." Taloni smiled.

"I agree." Alana smiled from her seat at the edge of the bed.

Ethan knelt down so he was in front of his first wife and put his head at the level of her womb. "Hello Ruth, I can't wait to meet you."

"I think she's excited to meet you too sir." Alana replied.

He lifted his hand and rested it on her stomach over her womb. "Hi there little girl. You'll have a lot of doting relatives soon."

"She will." Rachel grinned.

"Now, you need to focus on getting bigger so I can meet you." He said softly, then looked up into Alana's rich hazel eyes. "I'm really looking forward to that."

She sighed. "Me too sir, me too."

He stood up and offered a hand to the wood elf, who took it and stood. "Now, I think we need to make sure the mother is well fed so the baby grows faster." He winked.

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, I'm hungry too." He led the way to the door and out onto the weather deck.

Anthiel, Serif and Selene were sitting around the breakfast fire, which was in its metal firepan, and they were eating breakfast. Selene appeared to be fidgeting a bit as she ate, though the others seemed normal enough.

He had barely left the captain's cabin when the Brazilian woman stood up. "Ethan, I've been thinking about it and -- if you're willing -- I think there's something we need to do as soon as possible. This morning if we can."

"Oh? What's that?"

The caramel haired beauty took a deep breath. "I think we need to bond."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Note: This chapter began on day 89 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms, and ended on day 90. 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 December 28th, and it'll probably drop on December 30th or 31st.

I'd like to extend a very special thanks to two of my patrons, 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