Chapter 51: Lies, Damned lies, and Statistics

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

* * *

Ethan blinked his eyes, trying to keep them open as he flew through the air. He looked down and sure enough, that demon-possessed man was still chasing him, running nearly as fast as Ethan could fly. More than once, Ethan had considered trying to find some large terrain obstacles that the man would have to climb over to slow him down, but there weren't any nearby; this part of Ivernia simply didn't have them. There were rolling hills, but that was about it and they weren't enough.

*Kendra, you had some advice about not being prey; any input would be helpful.* He thought to everyone.

*Normally I would suggest leading him into an ambush, but you don't have any support nearby.* The dragon huntress replied. *Your next best option is to choose a battlefield that will benefit you more than him.*

*Any ideas about that?* He asked as he yawned. The adrenaline was wearing off slightly and he was feeling his exhaustion.

*I assume he's about like Sarah in terms of ability?* Kendra hadn't ever met her, but she had heard the stories in great detail.

*Yup.*

*Grenades?* Rachel suggested. *Or lightning from your hammer?*

*No, he could dodge the grenades too easily with his speed.* Kendra replied. *Or worse he could throw them back.*

*I don't have many of them either.* Ethan added. *And lightning is a no-go as well. It's never been an issue before because I've always been reasonably close, but I need to be somewhat close to target it to a person. If I got that close, he could throw something through my wing like Sarah did and then I'd be in real trouble. I certainly don't want to get close enough to risk it.*

There was a long pause before Kendra spoke again. *Perhaps a shallow body of water would be a good idea. The extra resistance from the water will slow him down and help nullify his speed advantage.*

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief at the brilliant suggestion. *Kendra, when was the last time I told you that I love you?*

*Just minutes ago; you said you loved all of us.*

*Well, it's true. I love you Kendra. If I make it through this--*

*When.* Alana interrupted, her tone firm. *It's not 'if' you make it through, but when you make it through.*

*Then when I make it through this, it'll be because of my brown-eyed beauty.*

*Thank you.* Kendra replied, and he could both feel the cozy, warm feeling from her through their bond and hear her sheepish pleasure at his praise. *But that idea does come with a danger; he might try to drown you.*

*So a shallow body of water then, like a pond.* Ethan mused. *I know he could drown me in less than a foot, but about three feet will be deep enough to slow his movement but shallow enough that it'll be harder for him to drown me.*

*You might want to enchant your lungs to hold more air.* His resident enchantress suggested. *That would help in case he does tackle you underwater.*

*That's a good idea, but I don't have a way to replenish my mana without you ladies around.* He replied. *I might need the mana I have to heal injuries.*

*Lung tissue isn't very dense.* Kendra said clinically. *It might not take much to increase it significantly.*

*Let me check.* Ethan did, moving his mana around a bit and setting up the enchantment but not applying it. *Yeah, not too much.* He frowned for several seconds. *I'll increase my lung capacity a little and save the rest in case I need to heal.*

*Good idea my lord.*

*Please be careful Master.*

*Yes Dominus, we can't lose you.*

*Yeah, please don't die.* Selene added, her mental tone full of false bravado with a strong undercurrent of concern. *I'd rather not have to deal with five distraught widows.*

*I'll do everything in my power to make sure you won't need to.* He replied.

*Make sure you do.* Alana chimed in. Her tone was strong and almost threatening, but also hopeful and almost pleading.

*I will.* He replied, then started looking for a small pond in which to fight a demon-possessed man.

* * *

Knock, knock!

"I'm betting that'll be Amy." Fiona said as she bounced her adorable Conner on her lap a bit, her voice sliding into baby talk. "Isn't that Amy? Isn't it little guy?"

The baby screwed up his face and smiled widely. It almost looked like he was trying to laugh but had forgotten how. He did make a bunch of adorable happy sounds though, as babies often do.

He smiled just like Sean.

The sight simultaneously made her smile and made her heart ache. Well, ache worse. Ever since Sean had died, she had felt an almost physical ache. It wasn't normal grief though; it was more than that. She had been very close to her father when he had died and it had hurt, but not like this. When Fiona and Sean had bonded at their wedding, she had felt him become a part of her.

So when he had died...

She sighed as she looked at her beautiful boy. Her child brought a lot of happiness into her heart, but it felt like a part of her had been broken off when Sean had died, or maybe like it had been cut off? It felt like a part of her was missing, like there was a hole in her heart that wouldn't be filled.

"Hi, come in." Sarah said from the doorway after opening it to reveal Amy standing there holding a large wicker basket. The innkeeper's daughter seemed even more cheerful than normal these days, which was saying something.

"Hi." Amy said to her, then looked at the copper-haired woman. "Hi Fiona, hi Conner."

Conner made a happy-baby noise.

"Hi Amy, how are you doing?" Fiona replied.

The girl had a small but genuine smile as she replied. "Better now. I wasn't having a very good day until Sarah visited me."

Behind Amy, Sarah's smile got even wider.

"So, I'm hearing that you want to be painting the room?"

They both nodded and Sarah spoke. "You should see Amy's room Fiona; it's amazing!"

"Aye, I'm betting it is. So, what were you wanting to paint in here?"

"Well, I was thinking that some flowers on the wall would be really nice." Sarah replied. "And maybe a sun higher up on the wall? It would be sad to have flowers with no sun to shine on them." She looked at Fiona. "Would that be okay? I mean, it's your room."

Fiona chuckled. "Sarah, it's our room. But yes, I'm thinking that would be lovely."

Sarah's smile widened even further and Fiona didn't think it was because of the approval for painting.

"The sun at what time of day?" Amy asked. "I could do just a yellow sun at midday, or a sunrise, or a sunset. What do you want?"

"Could we do some combination of them?" Sarah asked after a moment.

"What do you mean?" Amy replied.

That question led to a very long and involved brainstorming session between the two artistic girls while Fiona watched with an amused smile. Before long, it was hard to tell who wanted the room painted more, Amy or Sarah. The idea slowly grew and grew over the hour that they talked. The longer they talked, the more often one of them would giggle or squeal with delight. Fiona had never heard Sarah do either before and it was a right fine thing to be hearing from her.

"So, we'll do a sunrise on the ceiling over on the spring wall." Amy summarized as she indicated the east side of the room, which happened to be Fiona's side. "Then we'll do the sun at noon in the middle of the ceiling, but there the sun will be behind the clouds so we don't have more than one sun. Then over on the west side -- the autumn side -- we'll do sunset-like clouds on the ceiling, but again with the sun hidden behind the clouds."

Sarah beamed as she indicated the east wall. "And then we'll have the morning flowers which have just started opening to welcome the sun over here on the spring side of the room." She then pointed to the south side. "On this wall, we'll have the summer flowers in full bloom." Then she indicated the west side. "And then on the autumn side, we'll have some flowers like Mirellas which close at night mixed in with the trees whose leaves are the gorgeous colors of fall."

Amy clapped her hands together excitedly. "And then on the north side of the room, we'll do a winter theme with evergreen trees and a few bare trees covered in freshly fallen snow so they look beautiful."

"Oh!" Sarah exclaimed. "Could you make it look like it's snowing?"

"Absolutely!" Amy was nearly luminescent she was so excited. "And then on the ceiling -- at some point when we can afford it -- I'll use some paint that's enchanted to absorb light so it glows for a few hours at night, and then paint the stars of the night sky on the ceiling so we can see the stars while we're falling asleep."

"This is going to be so wonderful!" Sarah exclaimed, then did a pirouette as she moved her arms in a graceful fashion.

Fiona smiled, then cocked her head to one side as she realized something. "So Amy, how much will this be costing? 'tis sounding wonderful, but rather elaborate and that usually is meaning expensive."

For the first time since Sarah and Amy had started brainstorming, their visitor's face was less than perfectly happy. "Oh, um..." She frowned.

"I mean, I assume it'll be taking a long time and a lot of paint." Fiona added. "Neither Sarah nor I are overflowing with coin, so..."

Amy looked at the two of them. "Uh, hmm..." She looked at the wicker basket she had brought which definitely didn't have enough paint to accomplish what they had talked about. "I've never done anything this big before so I don't know."

"And that's a lot of paint to be bringing down two floors and across the building." Fiona added, an idea occurring to her since she knew how happy this was making both Sarah and Amy. She had also been suspecting that Amy was living alone, a fact that Sarah had confirmed after meeting with her earlier.

"It's not too much if I only take what I need for that day." Amy replied after several moments, still with a thoughtful frown on her face.

"Aye, that's true." The copper-haired woman replied. "But it would be a lot less work if you were just leaving some of those painting supplies here."

"I... I could do that." Amy nodded.

"But then, it might be more convenient if you were keeping the rest of your things here too." Fiona added with a smile and pointed look. "Unless you aren't wanting to of course."

"You mean, I could move in here?" Amy's eyes went wide.

"Well, it's a bit sudden, but I wouldn't be minding." Fiona winked and then looked at Sarah. "You?"

"I would love that!" She turned to Amy. "Could you teach me to paint?"

Amy bit her lip and looked down. "Tia and Mia wouldn't like that."

"Who are Tia and Mia?" Sarah asked.

"The two girls you saw who..." She trailed off. "They might make things hard for you. They don't mind if I paint rooms because they get some of--" She stopped and started intently examining her shoes.

Ah.

Fiona internally grimaced as what she had suspected was confirmed; they were forcing Amy to give them some of the money she made from painting other girls' rooms.

"Don't you be worrying about them." The copper-haired woman replied, thinking about her newfound trusted status with Lord Delmar and his steward. "We'll be fine, and there's nothing they can be doing to us."

"I don't know, they are good at..." Amy was still intently staring at the floor as she hesitated. "Well, there's a reason I live alone and don't have any friends anymore."

"Didn't." Sarah corrected gently. "You didn't have any friends; you do now."

"And you were living alone, not are living alone." Fiona added. 'Well, unless you're wanting to."

"But Tia and Mia will--" Amy began.

"We don't care." Sarah said firmly. "We aren't afraid of them."

Fiona could almost feel her heart swelling at how much the innkeeper's daughter had grown since learning that she didn't need to be afraid all the time. It was like she had come out of a shell she'd been trapped in her entire life, or at least since she had gotten her demon. The copper-haired woman was seeing a whole new brave and artistic side of her that had apparently been buried for many, many years. It seemed that side of her was now bursting into bloom.

It was really good to see.

Even better was that she was truly being good to Amy. Sarah had gone out of her way to help her and Fiona couldn't be more proud of the innkeeper's daughter.

"I... I'll think about it." Amy said after several long moments.

"Okay, but the offer is always open." Sarah said. "As long as you won't mind occasionally being woken up by Conner."

"I wouldn't." Amy said quietly, but she was smiling.

The three women talked for a little while longer before Amy left. Sarah peeked out the door before closing it and she had a frown on her face when she turned around.

"What?" Fiona asked.

"I thought I saw someone watching from the end of the hall, but I'm not sure." She replied. "That's the second time I thought I saw someone watching me today. When I left Amy's room earlier there was definitely someone watching me."

"Are you knowing who it was?"

Sarah shook her head. "I didn't get a good enough look either time."

"That's strange." It was Fiona's turn to frown. "Well, I would be taking more care then; we wouldn't want anything to be happening."

Sarah nodded, then looked at the copper-haired woman and cocked her head to one side. "You like to take care of people."

"I do?"

"Yeah." The innkeeper's daughter nodded slowly like she was just realizing something. "You took me in when I didn't have anyone, and now you're doing the same with Amy. You're like a mother figure--" She stopped. "No, maybe more like an older sister or something like that. You like to take care of people."

"Thank you." Fiona smiled.

"Thank you." Sarah replied. "I can't even begin to describe how much that's meant to me. I think it will mean the same to Amy, especially if she decides to move in here."

"I think she'll be deciding to, and probably soon."

"Oh?"

"Aye." Fiona nodded. "She was looking a little like you when I first met you. I think that Amy will be--"

Knock! Knock!

Since she was still standing by the door, Sarah opened it again.

It was Amy.

"Um, I was walking back to my room, realized that tonight I would be alone again, and I thought..." She looked down slightly and her tone was hopeful. "Is... is that offer still open?"

Fiona and Sarah both smiled widely.

* * *

Ethan finally spied what he was looking for far ahead, which was good because he was really starting to feel how tired he was. He was starting to get a low-grade headache and his eyes occasionally got a little dry, even with his second transparent eyelid blocking the wind. The pond was quite wide, mostly clear, and looked to be between two and four feet deep judging by a few reeds he could see. Frankly, it was ideal.

The moon was out and lit the entire area with a dull blue glow. The area around the pond was sparsely wooded on one side and there was a large field on the other. In the field, he could see fireflies -- or something like them -- creating cheerful pockets of yellow light in the sea of almost ethereal blue lighting in the area. It was a strange contrast that was quite beautiful. Overhead, there were only a few clouds in the night sky. They reflected the ethereal-blue light from the moon and paired perfectly with the slightly swaying grass in the field below.

He could think of nothing that he'd like to do better than to spend this night on the Argo relaxing with his wives, and maybe Selene.

Alas, that wouldn't happen tonight.

*Drago, another thing occurs to me.* Kendra thought to everyone. *You don't need to kill him, simply injure him enough that you can escape.*

*I assume on the legs somewhere?* He asked.

*Anywhere on the legs is good, but the best place would be the tendons on the back of the ankle.* The former Aldmiri replied. *Cut just one of them and he'll need to take several minutes to heal, during which you can fly low and fast to escape.*

*And my lord, I would suggest flying west initially for several minutes and then making a long, slow turn south towards Dotmier. That'll disguise your true destination from him if you escape with him still alive.*

*Thank you, both of you.* He thought to everyone. *Especially my good girl.*

Kendra didn't reply for several long moments. *You're welcome; just please come back to me.*

He frowned, then thought to her privately. *Are you okay?*

*I might lose you in a few minutes Drago; of course I'm not okay.* Her mental tone had a note of irritation, but an entire orchestra of concern.

*I'll be okay.* He replied. *I would never want to make my good girl sad.*

She didn't respond immediately, so he added. *Do you want me to stop calling you that?*

*No.* She replied instantly. *No matter how untrue it is, I like hearing that at least one person thinks I'm good.*

*You are good.* He replied firmly.

*I am many things Drago, but good has never been one of them. Not since I joined the Aldmiri.*

*We'll have to talk more about that later.* He finally replied as the pond came into diving range.

*If we must.*

*We must.* He paused for a moment and then added. *I love you Kendra, and you are a good person.*

*I love you too Drago.* She replied after a moment, and he could almost hear how much she wanted to disagree with him about herself. She didn't though, probably so she didn't distract him.

He dived.

He had gotten far enough ahead of his pursuer that he was able to land in the pond and still have a moment to orient himself. The pond was indeed between two and four feet deep in most places. The place that he had landed was about three feet deep, perhaps a bit more. Importantly, his legs were fully submerged and thus his attacker's legs would be as well. Also importantly, Ethan had landed on the far side of the pond from his attacker so the demon-possessed man would be forced to wade through the water to get to him.

The possessed man stop at the edge of the pond, eyeing Ethan as one might look down on a mass murderer or serial rapist. Ethan shuddered slightly at the look and his dragon side was screaming for him to run. He didn't though. He stayed put, knowing that running would only lead to exhaustion and eventual death at the hands of this implacable foe.

Now that they weren't on the Astral Plane and Ethan couldn't see that dark aura around him, he could get a proper look. The possessed man was wearing simple clothes that would blend in almost anywhere in Ivernia and the Ten Kingdoms at large. He was a little larger than Ethan, but not much. He had the same sort of nondescript haircut and look that Kendra had worn when he'd first met her. It was a look that was designed to blend in almost anywhere.

*It really sucks that I can only use Aharown while I'm on the Astral Plane.* Ethan thought to his wives.

*Indeed.* Alana replied, but no one else said anything.

Ethan drew his war sword, for the first time thinking that the blade needed a name. He wasn't sure what name, but he felt like it needed one. The demon-possessed man looked down his nose at the dragon-steel blade as if it wasn't worth his attention.

That didn't make Ethan feel better.

The man stood at the pond's edge for almost a whole minute before finally stepping into the pond. No, he swaggered into the pond, he sauntered; he almost strutted. His gait and other body language betrayed no hint of hesitation or concern. The possessed man stopped about a dozen feet from Ethan, who raised his war sword until the tip was pointing straight at his pursuer's heart.

"Why are you after me?" Ethan asked, not letting his guard down for an instant.

The possessed man sneered and then pointed a single finger at him. "Servant of Illuminar." Like before, his voice was wispy and raspy, and it almost sounded like more than one person was speaking in perfect unison. It made the scales on the back of Ethan's neck stand up slightly. The man's tone was also dripping with derision and utter contempt.

"Is there any way we can talk about this?" Ethan asked. He was pretty sure that the answer was 'no', but there was no harm in trying.

The demon-possessed man got a wicked smile on his face as he slowly shook his head, a wicked and anticipatory smile growing on his face.

Ethan was struck by the difference between this man and Sarah. While the innkeeper's daughter had clearly lost all control of herself when her demon came out, he didn't get that impression with this man. Quite the opposite in fact. The man seemed perfectly at ease and comfortable even while the demon was clearly exerting its influence. Unlike Sarah, the man didn't seem at all bothered by that. It almost looked like man and demon were...

...cooperating?

Then he moved.

In hindsight, Ethan should've been expecting an attack like the one he made, but there was no helping that now. The man used one of his hands to splash water at Ethan's eyes. He raised one hand to block the deluge, but his sight was still obstructed momentarily. Thankfully, the water slowed the man down enough that Ethan was able to get his point back on line before the possessed man could get close enough to be dangerous.

Ethan thrust out, hoping to impale the man and finish this fight quickly.

It didn't work.

The thrust landed on the man's chest, but he leaned back to soften the strike and it only penetrated an inch, possibly less. It wasn't because the man was out of range either; apparently his skin was just that tough. Ethan was wielding a dragon steel sword made by a master dwarven craftsman and it barely penetrated. He leaned forward and put all his weight and strength into the tip and it sunk a little deeper, but not much.

The demon-possessed man smirked.

Then he clapped his hands onto either side of the flat of Ethan's blade, pressing them together to grip the war sword's blade. The tip had entered the man's body slightly so the tip couldn't move, and the man's supernaturally-enhanced strength made it nearly impossible to move laterally as well. Ethan tried to jerk it back, but found it nearly impossible because of the man's demonically-enhanced strength.

"Fuck." Ethan breathed, knowing that if he let go of the blade his opponent would use it against him. He braced his foot against the pond's slimy bottom, dug his rear claw in, and then gave an almighty jerk while also twisting the blade. The demon-possessed man let go without warning, throwing Ethan off balance as he fell backwards. His enhanced reflexes gave him a moment to think as his attacker started forward, though he was slowed by the water.

His wings!

Ethan spread his wings out and flapped them to his rear, hoping to regain some semblance of balance. His wings hit the water and he caught his footing, but the demon-possessed man was already almost on top of him. Hoping to score one last victory before this devolved into a wrestling match in three feet of water, Ethan cut low with his sword. His plan had been mostly to distract since he didn't expect the blade to bite.

He was pleasantly surprised.

He felt his blade bite, though not deeply. That didn't make any sense since a thrust was always better at penetrating because the blade's force was concentrated at the tip, while with a cut the force was spread out along the cutting edge. However, his cut had certainly gone as deep as his thrust. That shouldn't be possible unless...

Armor.

The man must be wearing armor -- probably enchanted leather -- under his shirt. His skin wasn't as impenetrable as Ethan had thought; he was merely armored!

Then they collided.

Ethan was knocked backwards into the water as the man nearly dived on top of him. Thankfully, Ethan had the presence of mind and enhanced reflexes necessary to take a breath before the water encompassed them both. His second, transparent eyelids were closed so he could see underwater nearly as well as on land. Not that it helped.

The demon-possessed man was trying to get a bear-hold on him, probably to crush him. Ethan hadn't had much training in hand-to-hand combat, but being a dragon he had an advantage that no man did. He struck out with his claws, dropping his war sword and clawing at anything he could reach. While most of his claws didn't bite deeply, the one claw that he had enchanted to be incredibly sharp did bite into the man's skin a little.

That was important.

When Ethan had fought Sarah, even that ultra-sharp claw had just barely scratched the wonderful innkeeper's daughter. However, that same claw was now biting somewhat into the possessed man's skin in this fight.

Maybe this man was possessed by a weaker demon?

Ethan wasn't sure how else to explain it, and yet the possessed man still hit like a freight train. The man was striking out underwater and pummeling Ethan almost everywhere. Fortunately, Ethan was wearing full armor and this possessed man couldn't cave in his armor like Sarah had. That might be partially because the water was slowing him down though. It still felt like he was being pummeled by a heavyweight boxing champion though.

Ethan frantically struck out with his hand claws, and then remembered that -- being underwater -- he could use his foot claws too. He brought them to bear as well, hoping they would help.

For several long seconds, the two combatants stayed locked mostly under the water. Ethan clawed at anything he could reach and the demon-possessed man alternately pummeled him or else tried to grab Ethan's frantically slashing limbs. Finally, one of Ethan's foot claws hooked on something soft enough to catch and he used that leverage to push himself away as fast and as hard as he could.

The man grabbed Ethan's foot, but he kicked out with the other one.

It connected.

The man let go as Ethan struggled to right himself in the shallow water, summoning his war sword as he did so. It took a moment, but he managed to stand up straight and took stock.

The demon-possessed man was almost completely uninjured. He had minor scratch marks all over his body and his clothes were shredded, but the scratches were superficial at best. Only a few of them were anything like deep and Ethan assumed those were made by his enchanted claw.

But the possessed man wasn't bleeding.

Not at all.

In fact, Ethan couldn't see any blood leaking from the man's body at all. He could see wounds and he could see blood, but the blood didn't appear to be leaking. In fact, it appeared to be staying put despite no obvious method of holding it in place.

The effect was unsettling.

"If it bleeds, we can kill it." Ethan quoted aloud, wondering what to do against something that didn't bleed. That was about the time that he noticed that the wounds were slowly closing as well.

Damn.

He needed something that he could use to take this guy out. Something that could punch through that thick skin, and maybe even the armor on the man's chest. That's when he remembered that he had such a weapon already. He sheathed his sword and grabbed his dagger. The tiny little point and high weight meant that it should be able to punch through. It would also be much more useful in close quarters than his very large war sword.

He slowly shook his head as he realized that Gabriella had been the one who gave his weapon designs to Graflex to make them. Apparently she -- or her lord Illuminar -- had been planning ahead.

The demon-possessed man came at him again, and this time Ethan took a step back and thrust out with the dagger. The possessed man batted his forearm out of the way and then nearly tackled him. Ethan went down into the water again, and this time things went slightly better.

Well, less bad.

He managed to connect a few times and the blade did indeed puncture the possessed man.

It didn't slow him down though.

Despite connecting three or four times, the man kept punching and grabbing at Ethan without slowing down. It was becoming incredibly apparent that this guy was a freakin' tank, or maybe more like a zombie. And with that thought in his head, he made to stab the man's head. He even hit it once.

Not that it mattered.

The angle was awkward and while his dagger's point had dug into the man's skull, it didn't go deep enough to penetrate it, again probably because of the angle. Apparently, being demon-possessed increased the resilience of bone as well as skin. The angle made the dagger's point dig between the skull and skin for a short way before Ethan jerked it out.

Time for plan B.

He was going to--

Umph!

Ethan bent double as the man managed to strike him between the armor plates right under the sternum using his fingertips in a knife-hand strike instead of punching. He immediately felt his mouth open and spewed what little he'd eaten from dinner right into the man's face. He recoiled on instinct, kicking out as hard as he could with his feet and pushing with his hands.

This time it didn't work.

The possessed man kept a hold of him and even managed to get almost on top of him under the water. Ethan reached down with his legs and grabbed one of the possessed man's legs with both of his own, trying to pull it up so he could strike the man's Achilles tendon. It was almost impossible while also trying vainly to defend his head and torso from the flurry of punches that were being rained down on him. Many of the attacks made it through his blocks and the impacts were beginning to take their toll on him. He could feel his torso turning into one solid mass of bruises. His body felt like it was being used as a punching bag because it almost was.

He pulled up with all his dragon-enhanced strength, trying to bring the possessed man's leg high enough that he could attack his Achilles' tendon with the dagger that he'd someone managed not to drop.

He couldn't do it.

He wasn't strong enough.

He put every ounce of strength into the effort and still fell short.

He could feel his vision starting to fade with the pummeling he was taking. He was doing his best to protect his head and he would've died a hundred times without his armor, but it wasn't enough. Too many of the possessed man's blows were getting through.

Plus he was underwater.

He needed air.

Soon.

The possessed man didn't seem to suffer from the same limitation. Ethan could feel his lungs screaming for air but he couldn't get free. With as beaten and exhausted as he was, he figured he had exactly one chance to get free. His body couldn't take much more.

Then he had a brainwave.

He had prehensile feet!

He dropped his dagger from his hand and summoned it to one of his feet, grabbing it as it landed. Using his left clawed foot to hold onto the man's ankle, he started furiously jabbing right below that to hit the possessed man's Achilles tendon. It was awkward but he kept going, repeatedly jabbing as hard and as fast as he possibly--

The man jerked his leg.

Ethan let out a strangled roar underwater as his latest strike missed the man and sunk right through his own foot, hitting a gap between the armor plates. It felt like his foot had been dipped in molten lava. Fortunately, he had already jerked the tiny blade out by the time he'd realized what he'd done and he wasn't left with a dagger sticking out of his foot.

He jerked his leg up and through fate, coincidence, or divine providence, he felt his knee hit the possessed man's groin with dragon-fueled desperation and enchantment-enhanced strength. Apparently, that affected even demon-possessed men because the assault paused for barely a moment.

But that was enough.

Ethan managed to hook one of his leg claws onto the possessed man's clothes and pushed off as hard as possible.

It worked.

Barely, but it did.

He got some space. He used his hands, feet, wings, and even his tail to get as much space as fast as possible. Thankfully, having three extra appendages -- two wings and a tail -- meant that he could propel himself through the shallow water much faster than normal.

He made it to the end of the pond and realized that there was no way his foot could support his weight. It throbbed, and every time he used it to kick against the water to propel himself forward it felt like he was stabbing it all over again. Instead, he stretched his wings out and gave them a good flick to get the water off, sheathed his dagger, and then used three of his four limbs to propel himself into the air as high as he possibly could.

It mostly worked.

His wings hit the ground on his first and second down strokes, but he managed to stay aloft and started flapping for all he was worth.

It hurt like hell.

His wings were unhurt, but his pulverized chest muscles screamed every time he used them as he flapped as hard as he possibly could. He started healing his wing muscles and his foot, not wanting to use too much mana since he couldn't regenerate it until he returned to his wives.

His wives...

His desire to return to them and the knowledge of what it would do to them if he died spurred him on, giving him the willpower to fly through the pain... but it still felt like someone had stuck a branding iron to his chest.

He looked back to see the demon-possessed man struggling to stand and come after him. He was limping and moving slower than a normal man could. Thanks to his dragon eyes, he could see that his rapid-fire attacks on the man's Achilles tendon seemed to have worked. While the man would doubtless heal it soon, Ethan only needed a few minutes to get far enough away that the man wouldn't be able to follow him because he'd lose sight.

Thank God for Kendra's tactical prowess.

He changed direction slightly so he was facing west and flapped for all he was worth. The pain slowly lessened as the magical healing worked its literal magic on his wing muscles, knitting the bruised fibers back together so they didn't make him want to roar in agony every time he flapped.

He kept up this breakneck pace for several minutes until the adrenaline started to wear off and his body remembered just how tired it was. In short order, every single one of his muscles started complaining about being used again without rest. Only his wing muscles were exempt since he hadn't been using them while walking all day, but they still ached from being pummeled and because he'd pushed them harder in the past few minutes than he ever had before.

He looked back again to see that the pond had faded from view, and also that the grenade satchel was still at his side. Thankfully, the man had seemed mostly interested in punching or he might've lost it. That was when he realized that he hadn't told his wives that he was okay yet. He shook his head; he must be really tired if he'd forgotten that.

* * *

Alana was kneeling by the bed with the rest of her fellow wives, all with their hands folded and lips whispering prayers for their husband's safety. They had been like that almost non-stop since Ethan had engaged the demon-possessed man. The wood elf felt a foreboding sense of dread about this particular foe; what were they up against?

This was something that the rest of them had absolutely no experience fighting, a foe that was beyond any of them. Alana doubted very much that her arrows, Rachel's magic, or even Kendra's swordsmanship skills would matter against an enemy like this.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally heard her husband's voice in the group chat. *I'm safe ladies. Kendra's plan worked.*

Alana felt the tension drain out of her body like someone pouring water out of a bucket. She sank to the floor and put her hand over her heart as Beth and Taloni jumped and shouted for joy. Rachel had been right next to the wood elf and had sunk down right with her. They looked at each other, words unable to express how relieved they were about the present and how apprehensive they were about the future.

"Kendra, you did it!" Taloni gushed before throwing herself at the raven-haired woman and giving her the biggest hug Alana had ever seen her give. Beth joined her moments later, then both Alana and Rachel did as well after looking at each other.

*Um, ladies?* Ethan thought to everyone. *Are you there? I can feel how relieved you are but...*

*Yes sir!* Alana replied. *We were all just so relieved that we might've gotten distracted celebrating.*

*Okay.* He replied, and she could almost hear laughter in his mental tone.

*Drago, what's the situation now?* Kendra asked.

*I'm flying away and I managed to hit his Achilles tendon. Hopefully, it'll take him a while to heal it.*

*It should take him several minutes Master.*

*Thank Illuminar for that.* Kendra added. *However, that's not much of a lead if you don't keep going. How are you feeling?*

*Better, but not great.* He replied. *I'm a flying pile of bruises and I'm exhausted. I feel like I just went ten rounds with the Incredible Hulk.*

All of his wives looked at each other with confused looks; apparently they didn't know either.

*He means someone super strong.* Selene supplied helpfully.

*Thanks Selene.* Ethan thought to everyone. *I'm beat; I'm starting to have trouble keeping my eyes open now that the adrenaline is wearing off.*

*I hate to say this, but you should keep flying for several hours at least.* Kendra thought to everyone after a moment. *That's the only way to ensure that you get away safely.

*I was afraid you'd say that. I'll need someone to help keep me awake if I'm going to fly that long.*

Now that Alana wasn't frantic with worry or delirious with relief, she could hear the exhaustion in his mental tone.

*We could stay up in shifts talking to you.* Kendra suggested. *Would that help?*

*That would be great, but I would hate to put that on you girls. I'd rather--*

*I call dubs on first!* Rachel thought to everyone.

*Dibs on second!* Alana chimed in, hoping that perhaps she could still get her kiss goodnight tonight. She didn't want to do it in front of the others, but if the rest of them were asleep then maybe, just maybe, her best friend would be comfortable enough to kiss goodnight tonight.

*I'll take third shift.* Kendra volunteered, beating the blondes out. *I'm used to being awake late at night.*

*Master, if you're so tired you might want to turn south now.* Tee suggested. *Then you'll be heading towards Dotmier instead of away from it.*

*Good idea.* Kendra agreed. *Changing direction quickly means there's less chance he'll be able to find you. The further your quarry diverges from his last known direction, the harder it is to find him.*

*Turning south.* Ethan replied, then said sleepily a moment later. *That's towards the moon right?*

*Yes Master.* Tee chuckled.

*Kendra, I don't remember if I said thank you.* Ethan said a moment later. *The water and going for the Achilles tendon literally saved my life.*

The dragon huntress smiled and the smile reached deep into her brown eyes. *I'm glad Drago.*

*I figure that we have about six hours of darkness left this time of year.* Selene piped up. *If each of us takes one hour, that should see Ethan until dawn. I'd be happy to take an hour, but someone will have to come wake me up.*

*You could sleep in here.* Alana suggested. *We're all clothed and intend to stay that way.*

*The bed is really comfortable.* Taloni added.

Selene didn't reply right away.

* * *

Selene lay in her hammock, looking up at the ceiling with Thor lying on her chest snoozing away. She knew exactly how it would look if she spent the night in the captain's cabin, no matter how innocent it was. Half of her wanted to avoid that and the inevitable teasing which would result, the other half of her wanted to say 'screw it' and ignore what other people thought of her.

After several long seconds, that side won. *I'll be up in a minute.*

"Come on Thor." She said as she gently jostled him.

The kitten opened his eyes and gave her a look that plainly said: "Are you kidding me?"

"No, I'm not." She replied, then tucked her hand up against him and swung her legs out, standing so he was supported by her hand. He made a squeaky meow in protest and started wriggling.

"Okay, you can get down." She set him down and he went over to the hammock and sat down right where she always picked him up.

"Not tonight." She shook her head. "Tonight we're rooming with Ethan's wives."

Thor cocked his head to one side and he opened his mouth slightly. The Brazilian woman knew cats did this to help smell better -- it was something to do with olfactory receptors in the mouth or something like that -- but the effect was that he looked like his jaw was hanging open in shock.

"Yeah, me too." She shook her head. "Come on."

Selene walked along the Argo's lower deck towards the stairs up to the weather deck. She was nearly halfway to the stairs before she heard the thumping of tiny kitten feet trying to catch up to her. She smiled as Thor fell into step beside her, clearly confused about where they were going.

She made it up to the weather deck, hoping that Anthiel wouldn't be on station to see this.

She was.

"I'll bet there's an interesting story behind this." The high elf said from the quarterdeck with a very amused expression.

"Ethan was ambushed, but he escaped and we're all taking turns talking to him to keep him awake so he can make sure his escape sticks."

The high elf pilot didn't say anything, she just continued to look amused.

"How come you're always up here anyway?" The Brazilian said. "Don't you ever sleep?"

"I do; at least two or three hours a day."

Selene stared.

Then in the back of her mind, she remembered that there were people like that on Earth too. Apparently, there was some gene that meant you needed far less sleep. She couldn't remember what it was called, but she'd heard of it once or twice before.

"Okay." She finally shrugged and then went to enter the captain's cabin.

"Oof." She said as she nearly ran into the door.

It was locked.

"Sorry, I forgot to unlock the door." Alana called from inside. The door opened barely a moment later and the wood elf was standing there. She looked relieved, but she also looked more tired than Selene had seen her in a while. "Come on in."

Selene looked around the small room, noting that it hadn't changed from the last time she'd been in there. It was a square room that was sixteen feet on a side, almost half of which was taken up by the bed that was across the back wall. To her left was a large wardrobe and to her right was a desk. Right in front of her was a place to stand, though there wasn't a lot of room; enough, but not a lot. The large glass-blocked window that covered the entire rear of the captain's cabin from rib height up let in some moonlight and starlight.

Ethan's wives were already lying in the bed and thankfully were all clothed.

Thor followed Selene in and looked around. After a moment, he darted forward and tried to get onto the bed, but the kitten wasn't big enough to jump high enough yet.

"Here you go." Selene picked him up and set him on the bed before climbing onto it herself and saying to everyone. "Night."

They all mumbled the same back.

Of course, Thor had to explore the entire bed and everyone on it before he came back to Selene and curled up on her chest as usual. Selene had to admit that the bed was very comfortable, at least as comfortable as the best mattress that she'd slept on while on Earth.

Rachel was still standing and she kept glancing at Alana, who also would often glance at the redhead. This time though, they weren't nervously looking away from each other as they usually would when that happened. They would hold each other's gaze for several moments before looking away. Tellingly, often one or the other would subtly -- and probably subconsciously -- lick her own lips after this happened.

Hmm.

Interesting.

That was Selene's last thought as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Ethan felt his head droop and snapped it back up, slowly blinking his eyes to keep them open. It didn't help since his transparent secondary eyelid was currently protecting his eyes, but old habits from when he was human apparently died hard. His entire body felt like it had been through a meat grinder and his wing muscles were beginning to ache.

*And that's what happened.* Rachel finished explaining in detail how she and her fellow wives were ambushed earlier.

*I'm sorry beautiful, my mind wandered.* He said as he shook his head again, trying desperately to stay awake and having missed almost all of what she had said. *Could you repeat that last part?*

*What was the last thing you heard?* She replied.

*Uh...* He grimaced; what was the last thing he'd heard? *Something about leaving Timarou's castle after breakfast? I think?*

*Nevermind.* The redhead thought to him. *The hourglass says that my turn is almost up. Alana is next.*

*How are you two doing?*

*We're both okay. She was very stressed earlier and my fingers ache slightly, but Taloni says they should stop after a day or two.*

He smiled. *No, I meant how are the two of you doing with each other?*

She didn't reply right away.

*Rachel?*

*I'm... I mean that we...* She trailed off and didn't finish.

*Take a deep breath and tell me.* He said, unable to resist a slight smile at her reticence to speak.

*I... I told Alana that...* She hesitated. *Is it still okay that I like her?*

*Rachel, you much more than 'like' her, don't you?*

There was a long pause before she replied. *Yes my lord.* There was another long pause before she added in an almost fearful tone. *Is that still okay?*

*It's more than okay. Now, tell me what happened.*

*She... I told her that I missed being kissed goodnight by you, and that... that if she wanted to, that maybe... That is, maybe the two of us could...*

Ethan felt the smile on his face spreading. *Rachel, did you ask Alana to kiss you goodnight?*

*I... I did.* She said hesitantly. *Is that still okay?*

*Rachel, I am so incredibly proud of you right now.* He beamed, though of course she couldn't see that.

*You are?* By her mental tone, she almost couldn't believe it.

*I am. I know how hard it is for you to share your feelings and how much you worry about rejection. You were very brave to ask and I couldn't be more proud of you.*

*Thank you.* He could almost picture the timid smile on her face and the blush that would be rising in her cheeks right about now.

*I suggested that you kiss her; I'm not sure why you were worried that I would be upset.* He added.

*It's...* She said after a long moment. *Growing up I never knew where I stood with my father. He seemed so pleased with me so often when I was young, but then he would suddenly be stern and displeased for a while and I never knew why. Over time, he seemed pleased with me less and less, and he was stern and displeased with me more and more. But I never knew why or when he would be upset with me. It just seemed like he changed back and forth all the time and I never knew if he would be angry with me or happy with me.*

*Ah, and that made you a little gun-shy. Got it.*

*Gun-shy?*

He explained and then she replied. *Yeah.*

*I'm really sorry that happened.*

*It wasn't all bad; I had good times with him too.* She replied. *He could be really sweet sometimes, but then...* She didn't finish the sentence.

*But then suddenly he wasn't.* He finished.

*Yes my lord.*

*That had to be tough, not knowing I mean.*

*It was.* Her mental tone was rather quiet, almost like a telepathic whisper.

*Was there anyone else in the castle that you got along with well?* He asked after a few moments of silence.

*There was.* She replied. *Actually, some of my best childhood memories are with his court mage.*

*Really?*

*He's an older, almost grandfatherly sort of fellow who taught me magic beginning right after my mother died.* Rachel replied. *My father insisted and his court mage taught me so much, but he was never upset with me. If I was shirking my studies he would get stern, but I always knew that he was upset with my work and not with me. He sort of became the grandfather that I never had.*

*That's really cool.*

*He is. I would love to see him again. He taught me so much about magic and even 'accidentally' left a few choice books on magic where I would find them after my father forbade him from teaching me anymore.*

*He sounds like a good guy, and I guess that's why you're so good at magic even being so young; you literally grew up with it.*

*I did, many, many hours every day. My father made sure of it and made sure I learned to heal myself first.*

*He must've cared.* Ethan pointed out after a moment. *No one makes his daughter learn to heal herself that young without caring.*

Rachel didn't reply for several moments and her mental tone cracked slightly when she did reply. *But he stopped caring.* He could almost hear the edge of tears in her voice. *He stopped caring about me and I don't even know why.*

*I don't know either. Frankly, I don't know how someone could not care about you.*

*Thank you.*

There was a comfortable silence for about a minute before she spoke again. *Thank you for being so understanding.*

*You're welcome.* He smiled.

*The hourglass has run its course; I should wake Alana up.*

*Rachel.*

*Yes my lord?*

*I love you Rachel, and that's never going to change no matter what happens... including what happens between you and Alana.*

*Thank you.* Her tone was sad but also filled with a deep warmth. *I love you too my lord... Ethan.*

He smiled.

*I'm going to wake Alana now.* She thought to him.

* * *

Alana felt a gentle shake rouse her from a very pleasant dream where she and Rachel had been on a beach snuggling under a sunshade. Their co-wives wives, Ethan, and the many children she and her fellow wives had born to their husband were all around them laughing and playing. It was a great dream.

"Alana." The prettiest voice in the Ten Kingdoms was whispering gently near her ears. "Alana, wake up."

The wood elf sighed. "Mmm, I'm awake." She opened her eyes and looked up to see-- "What's wrong?" She asked upon seeing the moist eyes and slightly damp cheeks of her best friend.

"I um... I was talking with Ethan about my father." She whispered back.

"Oh." Alana's face fell, then she roused herself, slipped off the bed, and gave her a hug. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you." The redhead said as she hugged her back, then sniffled.

Alana leaned back, not fully letting go of her best friend. The redhead was six inches taller than she was so she looked up at her, realizing that this might not be the best time for a first kiss.

"Do..." She bit her lip slightly. "Do you want to wait for your goodnight kiss?"

"No." Rachel said, but she also nodded her head.

Alana raised an eyebrow, still very close as she hadn't completely left the hug yet. "I'm getting mixed signals."

"I..." Rachel swallowed. "I want it to be special, not when I'm all... like this." She pointed to her face, which looked like it had just seen another tear escape one of her eyes.

"Okay." Alana nodded slowly. "But soon? Tomorrow?"

Rachel nodded, a small smile forming on her face that reached deep into her pale blue eyes. "I would love that."

"Then how about I just kiss you on the cheek for now? Would that be okay?"

Rachel's smile grew much wider as she nodded. "That would be wonderful."

Alana licked her lips, scarcely able to believe that she was about to kiss Rachel's cheeks. She had wanted to for so long and now that the moment was here...

She sighed.

She couldn't have stopped smiling if she wanted to. Rachel was also smiling quite widely, which actually made her cheeks a smaller target than usual.

"Um, should I do it now?" Alana asked, waiting with bated breath.

Rachel blinked a few times as her eyes got slightly more moist and her smile got even wider. "Yes." She nodded her head quickly.

Alana licked her lips again.

Rachel turned her head slightly so that her right cheek was an easier target. The wood elf leaned up on her tiptoes -- not that she needed to, but it made things easier -- and moved her lips near the redhead's lovely cheeks. She paused for the briefest moment while her lips were less than an inch away. She wanted to savor this moment.

Then she closed her eyes, readied her lips, and leaned forward.

Her lips met Rachel's cheek.

The redhead sighed and leaned her head toward her as Alana placed a firm but gentle kiss on the loveliest cheeks in the entire Ten Kingdoms. Rachel's cheeks tasted slightly like saltwater, which shouldn't have been surprising considering the tears of a moment ago. As much as she wanted to linger, as much as she wanted to kiss every inch of Rachel's face until the morning light, she resisted the temptation.

She reluctantly ended the kiss after a moment and pulled back slightly. Rachel's pale blue eyes met her hazel ones and they stayed like that for what seemed to be the most pleasant eternity. It was probably only a few seconds, but it almost felt like time had stopped for a moment. Rachel's cheeks were slightly flushed, but there was no denying the dopy grin on her face.

"Wow." The redhead breathed.

"Yeah." Alana sighed. "And we'll do that on the lips before bed tomorrow... right?"

"Yeah." Rachel said dreamily.

That's when Alana noticed that their hug had never fully ended, and while their upper bodies were parted, their lower bodies were touching in an affectionate and close way, though it stopped short of being sensual.

She liked that.

"I should get some sleep, and I know I'll have good dreams after that." Rachel said in a slightly dreamy fashion.

"Me too." Alana replied just as dreamily.

The redhead climbed into the bed, a dopy and contented smile on her face. She slipped under the covers, gave the wood elf a dazzling smile, then closed her lovely eyelids. Alana watched her for several long seconds before she realized that she was supposed to be helping their husband stay awake. She turned the hourglass on the desk, still gazing at the most beautiful woman in the Ten Kingdoms.

*Ethan?* She thought to him.

*I've got to hear how it went.* He replied instantly.

She grinned, and she probably couldn't have stopped if she wanted to.

* * *

Sarah opened her eyes in the darkness, acutely aware that there were now four people in the room: Sarah, Fiona, Conner, and Amy. They had only taken a single trip to move the artistic girl's stuff down the previous night since it was late, but that was still most of it. Honestly, one trip would've been plenty except for Amy's art supplies.

The girl had claimed the bed above Sarah's since the room had two bunk beds and Sarah and Fiona had already claimed the two bottom bunks. Her stuff had been put on the floor since Conner thankfully wasn't crawling yet. There had been discussion about her taking the other top bunk for her supplies once the baby did start crawling.

Sarah heard movement and looked over to see Fiona nursing Conner under a blanket.

"Morning." Fiona whispered.

"Morning." The innkeeper's daughter whispered back.

"Morning." Amy said at a more normal volume. "I was so excited that I barely slept! Well, I slept but not as much as I usually do, but it was good sleep."

"I'm glad." Sarah replied as she sat up and yawned.

"I'll be getting ready to head to the kitchens in a minute; he's almost done." The copper-haired woman said.

"Could I meet you outside the kitchens when I'm done my shift?" Amy's head appeared upside down in front of Sarah as she leaned her head down from the top bunk. "I'd love to talk about painting the room more."

"Absolutely." Sarah beamed

* * *

"Selene, it's your turn."

The Brazilian woman groaned slightly as she was ushered back to the waking world by Beth's voice, once again cursing her luck that this damned world didn't seem to have coffee. She could certainly use it. That aside, she had slept wonderfully; Ethan's bed certainly was comfortable.

"I'm awake." She mumbled as she moved, prompting a reproving meow from Thor.

"Hey little kitty." Beth petted Thor as the caramel-haired beauty roused herself and sat up.

Selene blinked a few times and looked around in the semi-darkness. All of Ethan's wives except for Beth were sleeping fully clothed on the bed except for--

"Really?" Selene sighed as she averted her eyes from Alana and Rachel, both of whom were completely naked and only partially covered by the sheets. They were also snuggled incredibly close together. Frankly, if they had been awake and moving she might've thought they were in the middle of having sex. There was nothing sexual about their position, but they were so closely entwined with each other that it would be an easy mistake to make.

"They do that." Beth chuckled. Selene felt the bed shift under her slightly and the blonde spoke again a moment later. "There, that should be better for you."

She peeked and saw that Beth had covered the naked couple with the sheet.

"Thanks." Selene slowly shook her head. "Those two are adorable."

"They are." Beth beamed. "I'm going to... to..." She yawned. "I'm going to sleep. Wake me up at the crack of noon."

Selene chuckled.

The blonde climbed onto the bed and Selene made to sit up, and that's when she realized that one of her legs was pinned.

By Kendra.

The dragon huntress had apparently snuggled up to her during the night and one of Kendra's legs was draped over one of Selene's. Unlike Alana and Rachel, there didn't seem to be anything romantic behind it. Apparently, she had just snuggled up to her friend, much like Taloni often did.

Selene smiled.

It was nice.

She managed to slip off the bed without waking Kendra, which at one time she would've thought impossible. Apparently, the dragon huntress was truly at ease here in Ethan's bed with her fellow wives. Good for her.

*Hey Ethan, how's it going?* She thought to him.

*I love the smell of exhaustion in the morning.* Came his weary reply. *Smells like...* He then somehow made a snoring sound telepathically.

She chuckled.

She looked out the captain's cabin window to see that it was just barely starting to get light out. *Have you been flying all night?*

*Yeah. I would've stopped earlier, but I didn't want to take the chance that he'd find me again and follow me back to Dotmier. My wives will be there soon, not to mention the townsfolk; I couldn't take that chance.*

She frowned. *So, you've had, what? An hour's worth of sleep in the last twenty-four hours, and maybe eight hours in the last forty-eight hours?*

*Something like that.* He replied. *Honestly, if you told me that two plus two was fifteen, I might believe you right now.*

*So I should distract you with something to keep you awake then.*

*Please.*

*What do you miss most about home?* Selene asked, thinking about how she wouldn't get any coffee this morning.

*My wives.* He replied instantly.

Selene chuckled. *I didn't mean the Argo, I meant Earth.*

*Oh, my parents. You?*

*Same, well mostly my dad. I love my mom, but she's a basket case because she's such a worry wart.* She hesitated, then added. *And iced chai lattes with whipped cream and fudge sauce; I'd kill for one of those most mornings.*

*Oh, and cheeseburgers with French fries, plus ketchup to dip them in.* Ethan replied.

*I would never dip my burger in ketchup.* Selene teased as she slipped out of the captain's cabin.

*What if you could have a burger from Earth right now this morning, cooked to perfection with everything you like, the only condition was that you had to dip it in ketchup?*

She felt her mouth start watering, even at the idea of dipping a gourmet burger in ketchup. *I'd have to take it, but I would hate you forever for making me eat it slavered with too much ketchup.*

His mental tone had laughter in it as he replied. *That's fair.*

*God, that chai latte is sounding better and better.* Selene yawned. *Pair that with a croissant and that sounds like heaven.*

*Sounds perfect for a breakfast date with some friends.* He agreed.

*Honestly, looking back at it now, I'm not sure I had any actual friends on Earth.* She replied. *I had people that I called friends, and even some that would happily meet me for breakfast, but I've gotten way closer to some of your wives than anyone that I called a friend on Earth. Looking back now and knowing what having real friends is like, they were more study buddies or peers than friends.*

*Fair. I'm not really an expert on friends though; my best friend stole my fiancé and my business.*

*I bet you don't miss them, but I bet you do miss pop tarts.*

*Oh, do I ever.*

They went on like this for some time, talking about everything they missed about Earth and their lives there. Surprisingly, Ethan didn't have a lot to miss besides food, a few comforts, and of course his parents. Oddly, Selene found herself realizing that she didn't have much to miss either.

Strange.

The sun was rising when Selene realized that she hadn't turned the hourglass over and so she didn't know how long her turn had been so far. She shrugged, figuring that it was daytime and she was up anyway so she let the others sleep.

Everyone else got up eventually and a messenger from the palace invited them to breakfast at the castle just like the previous day. That felt like it was months ago with everything that had happened. They all went down and took their seats with the lord's family, though there was an additional woman at the table that Selene didn't recognize. Shara seemed to know her well though.

"You all look unusually tired this morning." The lord's wife observed. "Did you not sleep well?"

*Selene, you're up.* Alana thought to the group chat.

"Ethan was attacked last night." Selene explained, partially so they wouldn't have to reveal their group chat to the family and the newcomer.

"We didn't sleep well because of that, especially since he had to fly for much of the night to ensure his escape." Alana added.

Shara looked at Lyra. "We don't sleep well either when Lucien is in a dangerous situation." Her fellow wife nodded and then Shara looked at Selene. "That would also explain why you are so tired; I presume you help keep him awake with your telepathy?"

"Yup." Selene replied, then yawned.

"He was hurt, but not badly and he's exhausted." Taloni added.

"Is he going back to Dotmier?" Lyra asked.

"He is." Selene nodded.

"Well then, tell him he can crash at our place in Dotmier." The ash blonde suggested. "We don't need it right now and the mayor said he'd keep it open for us for when we return."

"An excellent idea." Shara nodded.

"Thank you so much!" Taloni beamed.

"I'll tell him." Selene volunteered, then relayed the offer to him.

*Oh thank God.* He replied. *Tell them thanks from me. I'm dead on my feet. Err, wings.*

"He says thank you." Selene said aloud.

Taloni looked at Alana. "I really want to see him as soon as I can; he needs healing and I don't think he has enough mana to do it all."

The wood elf frowned and nodded slowly, looking like she was about to speak.

Shara beat her to it. "Then perhaps we could make sail earlier than we had planned? I know you wanted to leave sometime this morning, so everything of ours is already packed for the return journey; perhaps we could leave directly after breakfast?"

"Could we?" The Fey teen asked Alana.

The wood elf looked around at her fellow wives and Selene herself. "Thoughts?"

The Brazilian woman suppressed a smile as she saw the wood elf adopt the exact same leadership style that Ethan used.

"I really like it in Laerten." Beth said to their hosts. "But our husband needs us."

"I agree." Taloni said.

"I as well." Rachel said to the wood elf, though she couldn't stop smiling as she looked at her.

"Make that four." Kendra said.

"Correction, five." Selene added.

"We can be ready to leave within a half hour." Shara said, then nodded to a nearby servant who hurried out of the room.

"Damn, it was really nice having all of you here." Lyra said. "Well, except for the ambush. But other than that."

*Other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?* Selene thought to herself.

"Would it be possible for me to accompany you as well?" The woman that Selene didn't recognize asked. "My husband is Kyselius, Lord Kalus's herald, and I do miss him so. He's been in Dotmier for weeks."

"This is Elthia." Shara explained. "She used to be one of my handmaidens."

"Of course you're welcome to come with us." Alana replied.

"Thank you." Elthia said, and she did look grateful. "Hopefully Lord Kalus will be finished soon and then my husband can return home."

"Finished with what?" Selene asked.

"Teaching the miners to defend themselves against orcs." The former handmaiden replied.

Shara nodded. "We have a saying; a man who is given a fish will eat for a day; a man who is taught to fish will eat for a lifetime."

"We have a similar saying where I'm from." Selene replied. She noticed a small smile on Kendra's face and asked her: "What?"

"I've heard that version, but I'm more familiar with a slightly different version." The raven-haired woman replied. "A man who is given fire will be warm for a day; a man who is set on fire will be warm for the rest of his life..."

Everyone stared at her, many a mouth hanging open.

"That's pretty dark." Selene finally pointed out.

Kendra shrugged. "Still funny."

Selene nodded her head in concession, though she almost felt bad for thinking so. She tended to forget how Kendra had grown up and what she'd been through, though obviously the Brazilian woman didn't know exactly what had happened. It was sometimes unsettling to be reminded of that upbringing's effect on her friend.

"Anyway." Alana looked at her fellow wives. "Given everything that's happened over the last twenty-four hours, we'll all be learning to heal each other, except Taloni of course. Our master healer needs no practice."

Tee beamed.

Everyone else groaned.

* * *

Ethan wasn't sure what time it was. Bedtime certainly. It was daytime, though he didn't have a clue what time it was beyond that. Frankly, he didn't care. He blinked his droopy eyelids again, almost overjoyed that Dotmier was coming into view. Earlier he had the presence of mind to click his disguise gem on so he looked like a large eagle, but he wasn't fit for much thinking beyond that.

It took him rather longer than it should have to locate the house that Lord Kalus, Shara, and Lyra had been using from the air. Once he had, he made a beeline towards it. He nearly fumbled the landing and managed to only half-crash outside the house. Thankfully the door was unlocked and he stumbled inside, only just having the presence of mind to close the door behind him.

*Ladies, I'm in Dotmier at the house. Thank them again for me and I'm going to sleep.*

He collapsed onto the nearest piece of furniture that looked halfway soft, which was a couch of some kind. His wives probably responded to what he'd told them, but he was already asleep and didn't hear it.

* * *

Fiona put a bit of extra bounce in her step for Conner who was looking like he was about to cry. The poor kid hadn't taken his nap well and he was getting fussy. Oh well, that was living with a baby. She and Sarah had just finished working and left to find Amy waiting for them just outside the kitchen, and now they were walking back to their room.

The two artistic women were chatting up a storm about painting ideas behind her, mostly refining yesterday's ideas instead of adding new ones. Fiona definitely wasn't opposed to having a room as beautiful as they were planning, but it was starting to sound like a project that would never be finished. Oh well, they were enjoying themselves and that was good enough for her, even if the walls of her room became a perpetual art project.

They reached their door and Fiona opened and stepped through, only to stop short.

"Oof." She stumbled forward slightly as one of the two artistic women behind her bumped into her.

"Oh, I'm sorry Fiona. I didn't mean to..." Sarah trailed off as she also saw what Fiona had seen.

Their room had been ransacked.

It was utter chaos.

All of the trunks were open and the contents were strewn around the room. Amy's paint supplies were similarly scattered around and some of her paints had been opened or the bottles had been broken. Their clothes were thrown about the room and some of them had ended up in puddles of paint.

"What in Illuminar's name..." Fiona breathed.

"Who could've..." Sarah looked around the room as the three of them tried to avoid stepping on anything inside.

From behind them and outside the room, Fiona became aware of two voices heading their way. She inclined her ear

"--and then I heard yelling, things being thrown, and I thought I should get help." A woman's voice was saying.

Fiona turned towards the door as a woman she'd seen around the dorms but didn't know jogged into view with a Narlotten soldier behind her.

A very large Narlotten soldier.

Seriously, he was almost Lord Delmar's size; over six feet and powerfully built. He looked down on them with the kind of expression that Fiona imagined she would be wearing if she'd found Conner playing with something he shouldn't. That was made more intimidating because he was wearing full chainmail armor with his surcoat and a sword at his side. They usually wore that while on duty, but it was quite intimidating regardless.

"What going on here?" The soldier barked in a deep voice.

Amy actually flinched.

Conner started to cry.

Fiona started trying to calm him.

Sarah turned to face the soldier, her dander clearly up. "Our room was ransacked by someone, what does it look like?"

The soldier crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. "Multiple people heard shouting and yelling from this room mere minutes ago. You are the only ones here." He looked at Conner. "I would've thought you ladies would be more careful with a baby around."

That's when Fiona realized what was happening.

They'd been set up.

Someone had clearly come in to ransack the room recently and then waited until they were returning to report it, making it look like they trashed their own room. It was devious; brilliant, but devious.

"No." Sarah said firmly. "I won't let my friends be hurt by those lies. We didn't ransack the room; someone else did and waited until we got back to tell you. They were lying about us fighting; we've never fought with each other."

Sarah's tone and body language reminded Fiona of when Sarah had told her about how her father had almost been hurt before her problem had intervened, or how she had attacked the false prophet to save her friend Selene. She had that same fiercely protective look about her, like a mama bear protecting her cubs.

The soldier raised his eyebrow and took a step forward so that he was on the edge of Sarah's personal space, but not quite in it. He almost towered over her as he loomed over her, an expression of deep skepticism on his face.

Sarah scoffed.

She took a step into his personal space and locked eyes with him, the top of her head not even reaching the man's chin.

"You don't scare me." The innkeeper's daughter with calm, settled resolve. "So instead of trying to intimidate the victims, why don't you find out who did this?"

The soldier blinked and his eyes went slightly wider as he looked at Sarah. Being so large, Fiona guessed that few people had stood up to him like that before, let alone a girl who was less than half his size. Sarah looked utterly relaxed and confident too, if a bit irked.

"Well?" Sarah said after a few seconds when the man hadn't replied. "Are you going to do your job or let someone come into the room where my friends live and ruin their things?"

"Uh?" He seemed slightly taken aback and took a slight step back so Sarah wasn't in his personal space anymore. "Several women said they heard you fighting, and you're the only ones here."

"The paint." Amy said from half behind Sarah. "Look at the paint."

Fiona did while the artistic girl knelt down and gently touched one of the puddles of paint with her finger. There was a film of partially dried paint over the puddle instead of it being wet like fresh paint would be.

"The paint would still be fully wet if this had just happened." Amy said, though again she was still partially hiding behind Sarah and seemed to take strength from the innkeeper's daughter.

The soldier nodded his head in concession and his stern demeanor relaxed somewhat. "That's a good point."

"We just came from the kitchens, as Marge will tell you." Sarah added. "Go and ask her if you don't believe us."

He rounded on the girl who had summoned him. "Care to explain?"

"T-that's, uh, what I heard." She stammered. "M-maybe it was from a different room and I just thought that... that..." Her eyes darted to either side of the hall where the exits were. She almost looked like someone who had been caught with her hand in the sweet roll tin. The soldier narrowed his eyes, clearly not buying her story.

Fiona didn't either.

"Okay." The guard finally said. "But if I hear of anything else like this happening, you'll be the first person I ask about it."

The girl lost a little color in her cheeks and swallowed, but nodded.

He turned back to Fiona, Sarah, and Amy. "Sorry to have bothered you. Do you have any idea who could've done this?"

Fiona considered.

One possible answer was Lady Ekthros, but this didn't seem like her style; it was too sloppy and amateurish. Her next thought was Tia and Mia, the girls who had been harassing Amy for months. From what she'd heard, this was exactly the kind of thing that they might do. Perhaps a bit larger than previous things she'd heard of, but in the same vein.

"I'm having a few suspicions, but I'm not wanting to be accusing anyone without evidence." Fiona said before her two roommates could speak up.

The soldier frowned, but nodded. "I can respect that, but let me know if that changes. It's a lot easier to investigate with suspects."

Fiona got a subtle smile on her face. "Oh, if it's who I'm thinking it is, then I'm thinking you're probably guessing who I'm thinking of."

The man inclined his head in concession. "I'll ask around, but if it's that particular party then I won't get anything from anyone."

"Thank you for trying." Sarah said, notably no longer in 'mama bear' mode now that her friends weren't being threatened.

He asked them a few more questions before leaving, but Fiona got the distinct impression that his investigation wouldn't lead anywhere despite him trying. Once he left, Fiona closed the door and surveyed the damage.

"Well, I'm glad I was being careful." She said as she picked up the portrait of Sean. It had paint on it, but the paint was slowly rolling off the enchanted picture. She'd spent a lot of coin to pay a mage to enchant it to be self-cleaning so she'd always have his portrait, and she considered it silver well spent after this.

"I would hate for you to lose that." Sarah said. "But what about his last letter?"

"Safe and sound." The copper-haired woman said, walking over and moving one of the trunks to reveal the letter underneath. The trunk had iron fittings on the sides, so there was a gap between the wood of the bottom and the floor. "I was being extra careful so I wouldn't be losing it or accidentally hurting it."

"Thank Illuminar for that." Sarah said then looked around. "I guess we should start cleaning this up?"

"I um..." Amy bit her lip as she stood with one arm hanging down and the other arm across her stomach holding the opposite elbow. "I can move out after everything is cleaned up."

"Whatever would you be doing that for?" Fiona asked as she carefully returned the trunk to its original location with the letter under it again.

"This happened because of me." The artistic girl said. "It was Tia and Mia; I know it was."

"Yes, but so what?" Sarah asked.

Fiona smiled; right now she couldn't be prouder of the innkeeper's daughter.

"Oh, I just thought..." She glanced at the two of them. "You don't want me to move out?"

"No." Sarah said at the same time Fiona said: "Not at all."

"Oh." Amy's eyes widened for a bit, then she bit her lip. "Are you sure?"

"We're sure." Fiona said.

"We are." Sarah agreed.

Amy smiled.

* * *

"I am so tired of getting poked." Selene said as she flopped down around the Argo's dinner fire with Ethan's wives and their guests from Laerten. The Argo's crew had spent much of the day practicing healing each other, which of course meant that they needed a wound to heal. Rachel had a special needle with a disc near the tip that prevented the tip from going too deep. They'd all been poked a lot, with the mage sterilizing the needle in between pokings.

"And you got poked a lot less than the rest of us because of all your telepathy training." Alana pointed out.

It was true. Selene had spent half of the day after leaving Laerten training with Octavian and his men learning how to use telepathy in combat better. Everyone kept telling her that she was making great progress, but she still was barely predicting half of the attacks.

"You're one to talk miss bowmaker." Selene replied as she scooped some of Anthiel's stew out of the pot that was suspended over the fire pan, which was suspended over the wooden decking. "Did you finish that travel bow?"

"Almost; I'm close but the timing is frustrating." The wood elf replied, then added with a sly smile. "Besides, I get poked enough when Ethan is here."

Lyra grinned; Shara shook her head with an amused smile. Selene found herself glad that they were eating in shifts -- women first and the men later -- since there were so many people on the Argo.

"Perhaps I should learn to heal with magic." Their newest guest, Elthia, said with a suppressed smile. "I don't mind being... poked."

"Elthia." Shara said reprovingly.

"What your highness?" The former handmaiden said with a playful grin. "Do you have an aversion to being poked?"

Lyra burst out laughing as her fellow wife went slightly red in the cheeks.

"That is not the point." Shara said after a moment. "And that was a most indecorous question."

Elthia addressed everyone except Shara as she replied in a teasing tone, and her grin had grown mischievous. "She always was a prude."

"I am not." Shara replied a bit defensively.

"Oh trust me, she's definitely not a prude." Lyra grinned as Shara went beet red.

Almost everyone laughed.

"I will tell Lucien of this Lyra." Shara warned.

Lyra put on an expression of mock horror. "Oh no, he might spank me." Then she added in a 'whisper' that was quite audible. "Oh, wait; I'm not the one who enjoys that."

Shara's mouth fell open and her eyes went wide.

"I know right!" Beth interjected with a huge smile. "I just love h--" She stopped mid-word as she seemed to realize what she had just admitted about herself. She went as red as Shara and clamped her mouth shut.

Silence fell.

"Well, that escalated quickly." Selene chuckled after several moments of silence, sadly knowing the movie reference would be lost on all of them.

Everyone looked around with embarrassed smiles and the Brazilian couldn't help but smile too; girls really did talk about everything.

"Anyway." Alana spoke up. "I should really work on finishing the travel bow before bed tonight." She glanced at Rachel. "Did you want to help? I'll need to go below decks to use the crank."

"I'd love to come." The redhead smiled.

"I like to cum too." Lyra said with a mostly straight face.

Shara opened her mouth -- probably to tell her fellow wife off -- but Lyra beat her to the punch with good-natured malice in her eyes. "Careful Shar, or I might tell them about your first real kiss."

The amber-haired woman looked beside herself, but held her tongue.

Everyone laughed.

* * *

"Right there?" Rachel asked as she turned the large hand crank another fraction of an inch. It was connected to Alana's travel bow which was bent at almost full draw as the wood elf worked to time the release enchantment properly. They were on the Argo's lower deck with the travel bow around a main structural member and the bowstring on a hook that led to one of the Argo's smaller hand cranks. It was usually used to bring cargo up through the trap doors in the Argo's underside, but it was working very well for this too.

"Um, a hair more." The wood elf replied.

Rachel inched the crank just a bit more, drawing the bowstring back another fraction of an inch.

"Perfect!" Alana said. "Hold it right there for a few minutes."

Rachel did, which wasn't hard because the crank did almost all the work. Alana had her hands on the bow and her eyes closed. She was also doing that adorable thing she did when she was concentrating which made her nose scrunch up in the cutest way.

Rachel sighed.

"What?" Alana asked with her eyes still closed.

Rachel wanted to say 'you', but couldn't bring herself to. "Nothing."

Alana looked at her and smiled. "I feel the same way." She then closed her eyes and went back to concentrating.

Rachel felt her heart soar.

"Okay, all done." The wood elf said several minutes later. "You can let the crank down."

Rachel unwound the crank until the bow was relaxed, after which Alana deactivated it and held it up for inspection. "I can't believe how much easier and faster that was with a crank."

"It's done?"

Alana nodded. "I think so. I want to test it, but I really want Ethan to be here for that."

"I miss him too." The redhead said. "I'm really glad he went to help Talven and Salma, but I don't sleep as well without him here."

"Me either." The wood elf nodded. "Honestly, even when it's not my turn to sleep in his arms I feel better with him there."

"Yeah." Rachel smiled. "I miss that."

"Me too, but it's not so bad when you're there." Her best friend reached out and took her hand.

"Is it warm down here?" Rachel asked, suddenly feeling the summer heat more than she had been.

"A little." Alana gently brushed her thumb over the back of Rachel's hand as she replied.

The redhead let out a sigh at the simple, affectionate touch.

"But are you sure it's the weather?" The wood elf asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, something else could be causing a concentration of heat down here."

"Like what?"

Alana pursed her lips thoughtfully -- which was rather distracting -- before musing out loud. "Well, certain types of mages have been known to concentrate heat sometimes. It could be that."

"But I'm not moving any heat around."

The wood elf smiled. "Well, maybe it's subconscious. Maybe you're accidentally drawing heat in and it's made you warm enough to make the room warmer as well." A smile played around her lips as she added almost casually. "Though, to warm up a room of this size you would need to be more than warm; you'd need to be a bit..." She looked into her eyes. "...hot."

Rachel felt her brain freeze at the compliment. Her mouth opened but nothing came out. Alana thought she was 'hot'?

Truly?

"But it could just be the weather." Her friend teased.

"Maybe it's you." Rachel's mouth said quietly before her brain realized what was about to happen.

Alana beamed. "Has anyone ever told you that you are the sweetest friend ever?"

Rachel felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment as she shook her head.

"Well you are, and that shade of red looks good on your cheeks; you should wear it more." The wood elf said with a touch of good-natured malice. "I can help with that."

"I... I'm okay."

"Really? You don't want me to tell you that you're also incredibly kind, sweet, and the best friend a girl could ask for?"

Rachel's cheeks burned as her brain froze.

"Sorry." Alana said, taking her other hand in hers. "I didn't mean to make you freeze, I just wanted you to know what I think."

"Aww." The redhead managed to get out. Her eyes searched her best friend's face, scarcely believing what she had said. She was such a wonderful person. Alana was everything that she had proclaimed Rachel herself to be and so, so much more. And on top of all that she was so incredibly lovely. The chocolate brown hair, the hazel eyes, the cute ears that ended in points; all of her was amazing.

Especially her lips.

Rachel couldn't help but think of when Alana had kissed her cheek the previous night. It had been wonderful, sublime, nay, it had been transcendent. And she said that she wanted to kiss on the lips today. Rachel had felt Alana's lips on her cheek the previous night and it had been among the most wonderful sensations she'd ever felt.

"You're staring at my lips." The wood elf pointed out softly.

The redhead could do little more than nod.

"Did..." Alana seemed slightly hesitant as she said the next words. "Did you want to do more than look?" She licked her lips slightly.

Rachel felt herself nodding before she realized she had started to. She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe that Alana felt this way about her. It just seemed too good to be true. Wonderful things like this never happened, and when they did they didn't last. The only exception that she could think of was Ethan, but that was different. They were bonded and she knew how devoted he was to her. She knew that he would never leave her.

But Alana...

Rachel obviously wasn't bonded to the wood elf, but she didn't think Alana would leave either.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" She asked with obvious concern in her tone.

"Um..." the redhead looked down, which actually didn't help a lot since Alana was a good six inches shorter than she was. Because of that and how close the wood elf was standing to her, instead of averting her eyes as she intended, she accidentally ended up looking right between the wood elf's small but shapely breasts. Alana's dress revealed almost no cleavage, but it didn't matter at this angle.

Rachel felt her cheeks get very warm.

Alana straightened up slightly, which had the effect of pushing her chest out and slightly expanding what the redhead could see. It seemed like she'd done that on purpose.

Rachel felt her cheeks get quite hot.

"I don't mind." Alana said softly, still holding both of Rachel's hands. "I don't mind if you, or Ethan or our fellow wives look, especially you."

"Especially me?"

Alana nodded. "So, you weren't there for this conversation -- it was before you married Ethan -- but Beth, Taloni, and I once talked about this with Ethan. We all agreed that while we loved being involved with each other in bed while Ethan was there, we weren't interested in each other that way when he wasn't there."

"Oh." Rachel tried to hide her disappointment that her friend wasn't interested in her that way. She hadn't even considered it much, but the idea that Alana wasn't interested in her that way made her heart sink. For some reason, she wanted her to be.

"Hey." Alana gently squeezed her hands. "There's one exception to that, at least for me."

"There is?" Rachel asked, her heart waiting with proverbial bated breath.

Her best friend nodded. "You."

Rachel swallowed hard as her heart began to swell, tempered only by the feeling that this was entirely too good to be true. "Really?"

"Yes." Alana said gently. "I enjoy sharing the bed with the others, and probably will with Ethan's future wives as well, but with you..." She got a smile on her face that reached deep into her hazel eyes. "It would be different with you. With you, it would be..." She cocked her head to one side, clearly searching for the right words.

"Would be...?" Rachel asked, scarcely daring to believe what she was hearing but also desperately wishing it was true.

"It would be..." The wood elf bit her lip and made a thoughtful frown. "I wish I could think of a better word than 'special', but it would definitely be that. It would be deeper, more meaningful, more... more something."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Alana cocked her to the other side and smiled as if something had just occurred to her. "It would be more like it is with Ethan."

Rachel felt her eyes getting slightly moist as she smiled ear to ear. "Really?"

"Really." The wood elf nodded. "Not the same, but not dissimilar either."

The redhead felt like her heart was so full that it would burst.

"So when you're ready -- and I realize you aren't now -- but when you're ready, let me know." Alana continued. "When you are, I'll kiss you anywhere you like."

"Anywhere?" Rachel managed to squeak out as her brain did its best to freeze solid.

The wood elf nodded, got a sly smile on her succulent lips, and glanced at Rachel's hips for a moment before looking into her eyes and speaking with incredible sincerity. "Anywhere you want, any way you want, for as long as you want. I promise."

Rachel swallowed, her nether regions tingling slightly as she smiled widely enough to crack the Argo's walls. She swallowed hard and forced her brain to cooperate so she could respond. "Okay."

"Good." Alana beamed. "I promise I won't push you, but I thought you should know that I can't wait."

It took most of Rachel's considerable willpower to force her brain and mouth to work enough to formulate a response, but the effort was worth it for the reaction. "Me too."

The rapturous look on Alana's face made every bit of nervousness and anxiety disappear from Rachel's mind. The wood elf looked like Illuminar's Day had come early, she'd married Ethan again, and she was pregnant with another child again all at once. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but she looked as happy as Rachel had ever seen her.

"And until then..." Alana looked at the redhead's lips and licked her own. "We're going to bed soon, right? So... so what if we..." She took a deep breath. "Do you want your goodnight kiss now?"

Rachel nodded mutely, scarcely able to believe that this was happening.

Finally.

The smile on Alana's face was very wide, as wide as the one on Rachel's own face and possibly even wider.

"I've never done this before." Rachel confessed, worried that it might not be a good kiss.

"You've kissed Ethan plenty." Alana pointed out.

"But he's not a woman."

Alana chuckled. "No, he definitely isn't."

Rachel chuckled as well.

"But it's the same, or at least almost the same." The wood elf added.

"Okay." Rachel couldn't keep the smile off her face as she stood there holding hands with Alana, the woman she was about to kiss. "You sure?"

She nodded, still grinning ear-to-ear. "I've never been more sure of anything." She cocked her head to one side. "Well, maybe marrying Ethan, but I'm just as sure about this."

"That's a lot of sure."

"It is."

Rachel leaned forward slightly and looked down at the much shorter wood elf. Alana stood on her tiptoes while still holding Rachel's hands and also leaned in. Rachel could feel the air from Alana's nostrils when she exhaled. Their lips were mere inches away from each other.

"You ready?" Alana asked breathlessly.

Rachel nodded.

Alana leaned in a bit more, then stopped with a chuckle. "I'm smiling too much to kiss."

Rachel chuckled slightly too, realizing that she had the same problem; she couldn't pucker her lips for the wideness of her smile. Both girls giggled nervously, then Alana let go of Rachel's hands and instead wrapped her arms around Rachel, pulling them close. The wood elf's entire front was pressed against the redhead's front. For want of anything else to do with her hands, Rachel wrapped her arms around Alana as well.

"Rachel?" Alana said with no small amount of breathiness in her voice.

"Yes?" The redhead replied almost equally breathlessly.

"Kiss me."

She did.

She didn't know how she got her body to function nor how her brain had let her, but it did. She leaned down, closing that last inch and gently pressing her lips to the most wonderful lips in the Ten Kingdoms. They were soft, feminine, and lovely. They were slightly moist and she tasted like... like... it was impossible to describe. Whatever the flavor was, it was the most wonderful thing that the redhead had ever tasted.

Alana moaned slightly and moved her lips against Rachel's, gently massaging and caressing them delicately and with great care. It wasn't an open-mouthed kiss, but it was incredibly open; Rachel could feel how her wonderful best friend felt about her. The emotion was all over the kiss and how Alana was giving everything to the kiss. Rachel gave no less, brief though the kiss was.

After only a few seconds, the kiss broke. The two women separated slightly and then leaned their foreheads against each other. Rachel caught herself licking her lips and made no effort to stop. Her eyelids fluttered open to see Alana doing the same.

"Wow." Rachel breathed.

"Yeah." Alana said dreamily.

"Mmm." Rachel sighed as her forehead leaned against the much shorter wood elf's forehead, their six-inch height difference making it slightly awkward, but not too bad.

"Uh-huh." Alana sighed again.

They stayed like that for several minutes, basking in the afterglow of their first kiss until Rachel heard a noise from behind her. She lifted her head and looked back to see Selene and Anthiel coming closer.

"As you were." The high elf said with an amused smile on her face.

"Don't mind us." Selene added. "We were just going to add a hammock to the ladies' area for Elthia."

"Selene, you could room with us again tonight." Alana suggested.

Rachel couldn't help but notice that her tone was entirely nonchalant and she also hadn't taken her arms from around her waist. Alana hadn't moved in response to the newcomers or acted like she was at all embarrassed to have been caught being so affectionate with her.

Rachel liked that.

She liked it a lot.

The Brazilian pursed her lips thoughtfully. "I suppose I could, but I've already done that once and don't want to make it a habit, even if Ethan isn't there."

"It might be rather tight in the ladies' area with five hammocks." Rachel pointed out, not letting go of Alana. "You would be welcome."

Selene waggled her head back and forth for a few moments before nodding. "Okay; that bed is super comfortable and I think Thor liked it."

"It is, though I find myself thinking that the company is what makes it so comfortable." Alana replied, then glanced at Rachel while giving her a subtle squeeze.

The redhead blushed.

"Yes, you two certainly got very comfortable this morning." The Brazilian woman said with a touch of good-natured malice.

Rachel felt her cheeks grow warmer as Alana blushed. "Sorry, I didn't do it on purpose."

"We didn't do it on purpose." Rachel corrected, not willing to let Alana take all the blame.

"I'm not bothered." Selene said with a laugh, then pointed at her feminine body. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, not that I want to see it again."

Rachel laughed nervously.

Not long afterwards, all of Ethan's wives plus Selene and Thor filed into the captain's cabin. As before, Thor had to go around to everyone on the bed exploring and sniffing everyone and everything before he went back to Selene and snuggled up with her.

"Do you mind if I sleep here?" Kendra asked, indicating the space next to Selene.

"Go for it." The Brazilian woman gave her a thumbs up.

Rachel suppressed a smile. While the two warrior women obviously weren't attracted to each other romantically, they surely did enjoy each other's company.

Thor seemed momentarily upset at being jostled, then he got up and started sniffing Kendra's face very intently. The raven-haired woman scrunched up her face at the whiskers and tiny wet nose, but she didn't move and started smiling after a few seconds. Eventually, Thor completed his examination and then laid down so that his legs were touching Selene, but he had one of his little paws on Kendra's hand.

"I'm pinned." The dragon huntress announced with a wide smile as she looked at the kitten who didn't weigh two pounds yet, though he was growing quickly.

Everyone chuckled.

* * *

"Well, I think that's all we can reasonably do tonight." Sarah said as she surveyed the cleanup job. Everything that didn't have paint on it had been put in its proper place. The things that did have paint on them and weren't self-cleaning had been taken down to the well and rinsed off in the grass as well as they could. The paint on the floor had been scrubbed up, which was almost entirely Amy's doing since she was a maid and apparently quite good at it.

"Aye." Fiona nodded. "I'll be asking about a lock for our door in the morning. I'm not wanting this to happen again."

"That was a terrible thing Tia and Mia did; getting someone to lie for them like that." Sarah said while doing her best not to clench her jaw.

"Aye, but it's not the worst kind of lie." The copper-haired woman countered.

"What is?" Amy asked as she arranged her undamaged art supplies in a box.

"My Sean was always saying that there are three kinds of lies; there's lies, damned lies, and statistics. Lies are what you tell people you aren't close to you and they are bad, but damned lies are worse. Those are the lies you're telling to the people who are trusting ya."

"What about statistics?" Amy asked.

"Those are the lies the government is telling you." Fiona winked, then added. "Well, not the Lord Delmar's government, but most other ones." Her accent made 'lord' sound like 'lard' as usual.

"That's certainly true in Ivernia." Sarah slowly shook her head. "I don't know anyone who would trust Lord Farbrottan."

Mentioning Ivernia made Sarah think of something else too: her father and her betrothed. Lady Ekthros had promised to send them a letter explaining what had happened and offering to help them relocate to Karnas. However, Sarah somehow doubted that the 'lady' had actually done that. And if she hadn't...

Hmm.

"What's wrong Sarah?" Fiona asked.

"Well, I was just thinking about Rindrin and my father." The innkeeper's daughter said as she sat down on her bed.

"Who's Rindrin?" Amy asked.

"My betrothed. He lives in the same little outpost that my father does in central Ivernia."

"But, why are you in Karnas working in Lord Delmar's castle if your family and betrothed are in Ivernia?" Amy asked.

"It's... it's a long story." Sarah replied. "I thought someone was going to help them move here, but I recently realized that's not the case."

Sarah noticed the happy expression on Fiona's face falter a bit before the copper-haired woman spoke. "You're thinking that you should be going back, aren't ya?"

She hesitated. "Well, I am betrothed so my place is with my future husband. I had thought that he might come here if someone was going to help him move, but since no one is..." She trailed off, not happy at all about the prospect of parting from Fiona, not to mention Amy. The copper-haired woman had helped her so much and she was such great company.

"You'll be leaving then, won't ya?"

"Not immediately, and probably not soon, but..." Sarah trailed off as her shoulders slumped. "I don't have the coin to make the journey, but I should when I do; he's my betrothed."

Sarah didn't add that there was another reason to go back which had just occurred to her. Ethan had promised to return to the inn at some point so that Selene could see her again. If he did return, she could see him again and ask to hear his side of the story. She guessed that his side would make a lot more sense and have the ring of truth to it. She also dearly wanted to see Selene again.

On the other hand, she didn't want to leave Fiona.

"You don't sound very happy that he's your betrothed." Amy said as she sat down next to Sarah.

"I'm... I'm not unhappy."

"But that doesn't mean you're happy." Amy countered. "Is he not a good man?"

"He's a good man -- a very good and honest man -- just not..." Sarah frowned. "He's not very tactful. He's not mean and he's a good man, he's just blunt."

"Oh?" Amy seemed to perk up slightly. "But if he's a good man and honest, then you'll always know what he thinks; you'll never need to guess or wonder."

"That's true." She conceded. "And I know he'll be good to me, but I'm not... I would've preferred to marry someone who can be a bit... softer."

"Oh." The other girl seemed very confused but eventually she shrugged. "Okay. I don't understand why you wouldn't want someone like that, but okay. He just seems..." She trailed off and her cheeks went slightly pink.

Sarah looked around the room. "I should start saving my coppers for the trip. I don't want to leave you ladies, but I really should. Well, I should at some point."

The three women looked at each other and oddly, Amy seemed the most down right now. Possibly because she had been so lonely lately? Regardless, Sarah felt her heart sink a little bit as she considered leaving.

"Maybe we should make the best of it then?" Amy suggested. "I've only been here for a day, but you two have been wonderful. If I'm going to lose one of you, I want to enjoy the time I have with you."

Sarah looked at her and smiled. "That's a good way of looking at it."

"Aye, it is." Fiona agreed.

* * *

Beth felt something tickly and wet touching her face as she woke and reached up to brush it away. Her hand touched something soft and furry, which was when she realized what it was.

She grinned.

"Hi Thor." She opened her eyes to get a view down the kitten's nostrils as it intently examined her face in much the same way that he had Kendra's the previous night. It was before dawn, but the sky outside was quite light. Around her, most of her fellow wives and Selene were watching the kitten and the blonde.

"What?" She asked.

"He's woken everyone up that way." Selene chuckled. "I think he's hungry and is looking for someone to get him breakfast."

Immediately, Thor abandoned Beth and bounded over to Selene, sat down, and meowed loudly.

"I think that's a yes." Alana chuckled.

The wood elf was clearly naked but was holding the sheet up to protect her modesty, almost certainly because of Selene. Rachel was doing the same next to her. Despite having fallen asleep dressed, they had clearly woken up naked next to each other. Beth couldn't help but smile at that.

Everyone filed out of the captain's cabin eventually, though Alana and Rachel stayed behind so they could get dressed in private before joining everyone on the weather deck. Anthiel had already made breakfast and their female guests were sitting down to enjoy it. The men were doing what looked like exercises on the forward half of the ship.

"Well, congratulations on becoming old." Lyra ribbed Elthia good-naturedly about halfway through breakfast.

"Old?" Beth asked.

"Today is my thirtieth birthday." Elthia rolled her eyes and then looked at the ash-blonde. "Careful Lyra, you'll be my age before you know it."

"I bow to the wisdom of my elders." Lyra mock-bowed, which made everyone laugh.

"Happy birthday." Alana said, after which Beth and everyone else followed suit.

"Oh!" Beth gasped as she realized something and looked around at her fellow wives. "I don't know when any of your birthdays are." She looked at Alana. "You?"

"First day of the year; Unas first." The wood elf replied.

"I'm Duas second." Beth said, then looked at Tee.

The Fey teen got a strange sort of smile on her face, like she had just realized something. Her tone had the edge of a chuckle in it when she spoke. "Trinas third."

Rachel narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at her fellow wives. "I'm Quadras fourth." The redhead looked at Kendra. "Let me guess: Pentas fifth?"

The dragon huntress nodded mutely as her mouth fell open.

All eyes turned to Selene.

The gorgeous Brazilian woman hesitated for a moment, not meeting anyone's eyes. For a moment her lips drew into a thin line, then her shoulders slumped slightly and she slowly shook her head. She muttered something under her breath that Beth didn't catch, and it didn't look like anyone else had either. The Brazilian woman looked around at everyone for a moment, barely meeting anyone's eyes and looking almost... disappointed? Maybe annoyed? For some reason, Beth thought she looked even a little guilty for a moment before she spoke.

"Sorry, September fifteenth." Selene finally said.

"Oh." Beth felt herself deflate a little, but then she perked up as she thought of something. "Is... well 'September' sounds like our month Septas, so it's at least the seventh month right?"

Selene shook her head. "No, September is the ninth month on our calendar."

"Oh." Kendra said, her posture significantly worse than it had been only seconds ago.

Selene grimaced apologetically. "Sorry."

"Me too." Kendra said quietly. The raven-haired woman swallowed and blinked a few times, then she sat up straighter and got a more neutral expression on her face.

Almost too neutral.

Silence fell for several long moments.

All of Ethan's wives looked at each other. All had their mouths hanging slightly open and no one seemed to know what to say. Beth certainly didn't. The revelation that Selene's birthday didn't fit the pattern of Ethan's other wives seemed to have thrown a bucket of cold water on his current wives. The blonde felt like someone had taken the wind out of her sails.

For some reason, Beth had sort of assumed that eventually Selene and Ethan would fall in love and she would become one of his wives. That had seemed even more likely since she had spent the previous two nights in the captain's cabin and had fit in perfectly. Selene fit in with them all perfectly and yet...

Beth realized that her mouth was hanging open and closed it.

It was hard to believe that Selene wouldn't...

The blonde felt a touch of melancholy settling over her. Everyone had always said that Selene would probably break her bond with Ethan and return to Earth. Ethan had said that the day they bonded, and yet despite that Beth had always thought...

Her shoulders slumped as for the first time ever, she realized that Selene might not marry Ethan.

She didn't like that thought.

"When is Ethan's birthday?" Shara asked after almost a minute of somewhat uncomfortable silence.

"Um, he told me once but I don't remember because Earth months are so strange." Alana replied. "I think it was near the end of the tenth month? The Earth calendar is so hard to remember."

"We'll be arriving at Dotmier within the hour." Anthiel said from the quarterdeck above them. "You can ask him when we arrive."

"Alana." Taloni spoke up. "May I please leave the Argo once we are over Dotmier? I can fly down and heal any wounds that he didn't have enough mana to heal by himself."

"That's fine Tee." The wood elf nodded, though she was clearly distracted and looking at Selene.

"Well if it's not Selene, then who will Ethan's final wife be?" Beth wondered aloud.

All of his wives looked at each other, no small amount of confusion on each of their faces.

"Wait, his 'final wife'?" Lyra asked.

"There are five, and Selene would've made six." Shara said. "Do you believe you know who another wife will be?"

"We have a guess, but nothing concrete." Alana replied diplomatically.

There was silence for several seconds, then Taloni set her food down, got up, walked over to Selene, and gave her a hug. The Brazilian woman seemed surprised but pleased. She hugged Tee back but still didn't look happy for some reason. Again, she looked disappointed and perhaps even a little guilty.

"I'm sorry that you won't marry Master." Tee said when the hug broke. "I was so sure that you would, and I would've really liked you to be one of my co-wives."

"Um, thanks." The Brazilian woman said sheepishly.

Meow.

Thor was looking at Selene in an almost reproving fashion.

"Yeah, I know." Selene said to the kitten with a sigh, then looked towards the men at the bow of the airship. "I'm going to go see if they want to help me train my telepathy while we're still out of sight of Dotmier."

She did, with Thor following close behind.

"I'm really going to miss her." Alana said after several moments.

"Yeah." Beth nodded, scarcely able to believe it herself.

Kendra was staring into empty space with an expression too neutral to be natural.

* * *

"Master? Master, are you awake?"

Ethan groaned as his third wife's pleasant voice ushered him back to the waking world. His body still ached, but it was a different kind of ache. It was like the difference between a good workout and a large bruise. It took him just a moment to realize that Tee had almost certainly healed him before waking him up.

"Hi honey." He mumbled without moving. "What time is it?"

"It's just after sunrise on the day after you last said anything to anyone."

He yawned, then opened his eyes a crack. He was laying on a couch in a small house that he recognized as the one Lord Kalus, Shara, and Lyra were using in Dotmier. It was clean and neat, and he had noticed Shara's refinement and Lyra's wildness pretty equally mixed in the decorating when he had been over for dinner about a week ago, not that there was much decoration since it was a temporary home. Sitting on the couch next to him was an incredibly lovely woman with lilac eyes, a lilac dress, a cute round face, and honey-blonde hair. Right just then, he thought she was among the most beautiful things he'd ever seen.

"God, you're a sight for sore eyes." He reached up and pulled her down to him and she didn't resist in the slightest. He pulled her close, closing his eyes and savoring the feeling of having her back in his arms again as she snuggled against him with a dazzling smile on her face.

"Ethan?"

He startled awake, apparently having drifted off to sleep again with Tee in his arms. In front of him were all of his wives, Selene, Shara, Lyra, and Taiven. They all looked slightly out of breath like they had just been running. His wives more so, everyone else less so.

Ethan got up as fast as he could without ejecting Taloni, then pulled all his wives close, wrapping his wings and arms around them like he never wanted to let go.

"I missed you all." He sighed.

"We can tell." Alana replied as she hugged him fiercely back. She wasn't alone in that. His other wives all got close enough that he overbalanced and fell backwards onto the couch and they fell right with him.

Crack!

They all froze.

Apparently, the couch wasn't designed to have six people all fall onto it at once. They disentangled themselves to look and saw that the front board of the couch had indeed cracked in the middle and thus the couch's front was touching the floor in the middle.

Oops.

"Sorry." Ethan said to Shara and Lyra with a grimace since it was their house, though they were borrowing it and didn't own it.

Lyra doubled over and started laughing so hard it almost sounded like it hurt. Taiven was laughing nearly as hard and even Shara was laughing out loud. Selene was chuckling while shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

"Oh!" Beth exclaimed once they were standing again. "Dominus, when is your birthday?"

"December 21st." He replied. "Why?"

"Because Alana is your first wife and her birthday is the first day of the first month." Beth began to explain. "I'm your second wife and my birthday is the second day of the second month, Tee's is the third day of the third month, and so on."

Ethan looked around at his wives, his jaw dropping. He settled on Rachel. "Fourth day of the fourth month?"

She nodded.

He looked at Kendra, who replied before he spoke. "Pentas fifth; the fifth day of the fifth month."

Ethan realized that his jaw was hanging open and he closed it, then looked at Selene. "What about you?"

"Sorry." She didn't quite meet his eye as she spoke. "September 15th."

"Oh." For some reason, he was rather disappointed about that.

"But what's special about December 21st?" Beth asked looking between Ethan and Selene.

"Not a whole lot." He replied. "It's just another day."

"It's the winter solstice." Selene corrected. "Or it is most years. Some years it's the 22nd, but less often in the last few decades."

"What's the winter solstice?" Ethan asked, the term being familiar but he couldn't place it.

"The day with the shortest daylight." Selene replied.

As one, all of the Ten Kingdoms natives faced him, looks of shock on their faces.

"What?" He asked.

"Master, that's Illuminar's Day." Tee breathed.

He blinked. "What?"

"We have 361 days in a year." Rachel said. "Twelve months of 30 days each, plus the holiday we call Illuminar's Day."

"Illuminar's Day is the day with the least daylight." Kendra added. "To remind us that His light shines even in the darkest of times."

"The prophet of Illuminar was born on Illuminar's Day." Shara mused. "Or at least your world's equivalent of Illuminar's Day."

"Seem pretty fitting if you ask me." Lyra said with a wide grin.

"I..." Ethan was trying to wrap his mind around what he'd just learned.

"It sounds like that di--" Selene stopped and then restarted, though her fist was clenched. "It sounds like Illuminar has been meddling again. Picking your birthdays to line up like that? Whatever happened to free will? It's like He didn't even give you a choice."

"Not at all silly." Taloni smiled at her. "He can see what we'll choose before we choose it, so of course He can set it up like this. I'm really glad I married Master and I love how our birthdays line up!"

"Me too." Alana agreed, and then the rest of his wives all nodded their agreement as well.

Ethan found it somewhat odd that Selene had reacted so strongly, but it was hardly the first time she'd expressed displeasure with the idea of Illuminar controlling everything. Both Gabriella and Illuminar Himself had been adamant that He doesn't violate free will though.

"Perhaps this will make it easier to find your sixth and seventh wives." Shara pointed out after a moment. "The pattern of birthdays does seem rather telling."

"Yeah, maybe..." Ethan idly tapped one of his foot claws on the floor, wondering when Sarah's birthday was.

*Sir, I wonder when Sarah's birthday is...* Alana thought to him.

He chuckled; it was amazing how he and his first wife could be so on the same page sometimes. *I was just wondering that myself.*

*Could we go back to the Argo?* Kendra thought to everyone. *I miss having Ethan's arms around me.*

*Absolutely.* Ethan replied, followed by enthusiastic agreement from his other wives as well. He looked at Shara and Lyra. "Thank you so much for the use of this house. I really needed to crash and sleep."

Shara smiled. "'twas no trouble at all."

"What Shar said." Lyra agreed. "You guys are welcome any time."

Behind them, Taiven nodded with a boyish grin on his face.

"However, it's been four days since I've held my wives and we have some catching up to do." He looked down at the broken couch. "And uh, send me the bill."

"It has already been paid in full thanks to Selene." Shara replied. "In fact, we are now in your debt."

"Huh? You are?"

"I'll explain later." Alana offered.

They left the house not long afterward. As they were leaving, they ran into Octavian and his men outside.

"Selene." Octavian said in a voice low enough that it wouldn't carry far. "We can continue to help train your telepathy whenever the ladies visit the Argo. As Lord Kalus says, regular training is 80% of the path to victory."

"Thank you." Selene smiled at him.

"Huh?" Ethan asked.

"I'll explain later." Alana offered again and they started walking again.

"Dominus, a couple of days ago you said that you had something that you wanted to talk to us about; what is it?" Beth asked as they started walking.

"Yes, what did Gabriella say that you wanted to tell us in person?" Tee asked.

"Once we're in the captain's cabin on the Argo." He replied, thinking about how what the angel had told him meant that they would likely be fighting a war soon. "This isn't the sort of thing that I want to be overheard."

Beth's shoulders slumped a bit, but she nodded with the rest of them. It was good to see her curiosity hadn't abated while he was gone. It also seemed like she still was okay after her talk with Kendra. He made a mental note to ask what they had talked about.

They had only gone a few streets when they encountered a steady stream of people all walking. It seemed odd until Ethan realized the day and time. It was almost certainly just after services at the... temple? chapel? of Illuminar had let out and the people were heading home. It felt like it had been the better part of year since they had attended that one service but it was exactly one week ago.

Wow.

"There's Arven, Ketura, Yalia, and Matthew." Kendra said, subtly pointing to the couple who had helped when Taloni was injured, as well as their daughter and the man her parents hoped she would marry.

"Arven!" Ethan called.

The man turned, then smiled as he saw them and changed directions. Ketura also looked happy to see them, but Matthew looked rather dejected and nearly bumped into someone before Yalia caught his arm.

"How did your trip go?" Arven asked when they were within easy earshot.

Ethan sighed. "It ended up okay, but it was touch-and-go there for a while. How have you two been?"

"Well, or mostly well." He replied. "Matthew tried to confront the luminar this morning when he started teaching about the depravity of man again."

"Tried?" Alana asked.

"I froze." Matthew said. His shoulders were slumped, his posture was terrible, and he was intently examining the ground. Even Yalia next to him holding his arm didn't seem to be cheering him up. It must've gone really bad if the young nymph's presence wasn't cheering him up.

"It happens to everyone." Ethan said.

Matthew shrugged.

"He started really well." Yalia offered.

Matthew slowly shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it now."

Ketura looked at Ethan. "How about you and your wives come over for lunch later?"

"Can't do lunch; I have a date with the orcs." Ethan replied. He had explained about that the last time he'd seen them before he'd headed north to check on Talven and Salma. Today was the day that he learned what the other orc clans had decided regarding the Blue Circle's invitation to fight the Red Hands. He was supposed to show up at the Blue Circle camp at noon today to find out.

"Well then, how about dinner?" Arven suggested.

Ethan looked around at his wives, all of whom nodded enthusiastically. He looked at the couple. "Dinner it is, but you've already hosted us several times. How about we do it on the Argo? The food is simple but good and we'd love to have you."

"We would be honored." Arven replied and Ketura nodded.

"Matthew, you're welcome as well." Alana added.

He shrugged.

"I insist." Ethan said, glad his first wife had offered.

Yalia nudged him gently and Matthew nodded, but he didn't say anything. They bid each other adieu until that evening and resumed walking.

That was the last interruption before they reached the Argo. Once aboard, Thor came running up and started rubbing against Selene's leg, though he gave Ethan a wide berth. Selene started petting the kitten while Ethan and his wives went into the captain's cabin. The moment the door was closed, Kendra shucked her dress and strength-enhancing vambraces and then wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey." He said softly as he hugged her back. "Did you miss me?"

She nodded but didn't say anything.

*Sir, I don't think she took the news about Selene's birthday well.* Alana thought privately to him. *She's seemed down since we found out.*

*Okay, thanks for letting me know.* He replied, then focused on the wonderful woman in his arms.

It didn't take long for the rest of his wives to shed their clothes as well, except for Rachel who only stripped down to her breast wrap and boy-short-like panties. They all crowded around him and he held them all as best as he could. His wing helped, but it wasn't like having them in his arms. After several minutes, Kendra reluctantly let go and was instantly replaced by Alana, then Beth, then Taloni, and finally Rachel. He held each of them for a few minutes with his arms while he held the others with his wings.

"Okay, what did Gabriella say?" Beth asked once he'd loosened his arms from around Rachel.

"It wasn't good news." He said. "It wasn't cheerful, and it means we'll all have to make a decision. It's a serious decision that'll cause big changes no matter what we decide."

Alana nodded. "It will."

"You know?" Beth's jaw dropped. "When did he tell you?"

"Right after it happened." Ethan replied. "I needed to talk to someone and Alana seemed like the best choice. I hope that doesn't bother the rest of you."

"I guess not." Beth sighed. "I've just been on pins and needles for a day and a half now."

"I don't mind Master; you and Alana have something special and she is your second in command. It makes sense."

"It does." Rachel nodded. "Especially considering what the topic is."

Beth's head whipped around so fast that Ethan half expected to hear it cracking, or at least for her to give herself a headache.

"You know too!" The blonde teen exclaimed.

"No, but I have a guess." The redhead replied with a subtle smile.

"Oh." Beth calmed down a bit. "Why are your guesses always right?"

Rachel shrugged, but she had a slightly self-satisfied smile on her face too.

"I don't mind that you told Alana." Kendra said. "Frankly, I still feel incredibly blessed that you married me and allow me to travel with you."

He eyed her for several seconds before speaking. "We're going to talk about that comment later; you're a valuable part of this family and I love you dearly."

"We all do." Alana added, and his other wives agreed.

"Okay." Kendra replied, her tone somewhat neutral. Ethan couldn't tell if it was intentionally neutral or naturally neutral though.

"Selene should be here for this conversation." Ethan continued. "I know she's not one of my wives -- and probably won't be considering that birthday thing -- but it affects her too, at least until she leaves the Ten Kingdoms."

"Agreed." Alana said, then looked at her fellow wives. "That means dresses." She looked at Ethan. "Sir, I think we should include Anthiel as well. Not only is her husband a military man, but this will affect her greatly."

"Good idea." He nodded.

Five minutes later, his wives were dressed and everyone was sitting on the bed except Selene who was sitting on the desk chair facing the bed, and Anthiel who was leaning up against the door looking mildly curious.

"Okay." Ethan looked at everyone. "Basically, we're here to decide one thing: Are we going to war?"

TO BE CONTINUED...

Note: This chapter began on day 97 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms and ended on day 99. 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 November 29th and it'll probably drop on December 1st or 2nd.

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