Chapter 53: "Parting is such sweet sorrow"

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

* * *

"Have a great night." Ethan waved to the dinner guests as they disembarked from the Argo. The families of Lord Kalus and Arven, plus Matthew, waved back, all with large smiles. As they walked away, Ethan thought he heard Ketura invite Shara and Lyra over for dinner to discuss something, though by that point they were far enough away that he didn't hear what it was.

"Okay, so what did Lord Kalus say?" Beth asked the moment they were out of easy earshot.

"About what?" Ethan replied, playing dumb.

"Dom-i-nus." She groaned while his other wives and Selene shook their heads, rolled their eyes, or both.

"He had some good advice." He said, then related it, finishing with how the lord had suggested that they get Selene back to Earth ASAP to deal with the portal problem.

"Oh." The Brazilian woman nodded slowly, but she was also frowning slightly. "I knew I would be heading back to Earth eventually, I just thought I had more time."

Behind her, Kendra's face became a neutral mask. The happiness and joy that had been displayed on her face mere moments ago disappeared behind that mask, leaving behind an expression that was unnaturally neutral.

He reached out and pulled her to him.

She didn't resist.

Selene looked at Kendra, her face falling as she did. "I thought I would have more time."

"Me too." The raven-haired woman said quietly.

Alana led the charge to give Kendra a group hug and Ethan pulled Selene into it as well. The caramel-haired beauty didn't resist, but she did look a little uncomfortable.

"I should get to bed." Selene said when the group hug had broken. She looked about as happy as Kendra while she said it though.

"Yeah, we probably should too." Ethan nodded.

No one moved.

Kendra swallowed hard, then stepped forward and gave Selene a tight hug which she returned. The dragon huntress held on for several long seconds and then stepped back. "Good night."

"Night." Selene appeared to attempt a smile, but she wasn't very successful. In fact, it almost looked like she felt a bit... guilty?

The Brazilian woman went below decks, though Thor didn't follow her immediately. Instead, the kitten walked over to Kendra and rubbed up against her ankle before following Selene.

"That is one smart kitty." Alana said.

"He is." Ethan nodded.

"He'll go with Selene after the portal mission when she moves back to Earth, won't he?" Beth asked.

"Probably." Rachel replied. "We all love him and he loves all of us, but he really is her cat."

"Yeah." Ethan nodded, then headed into the captain's cabin with his wives following him.

The moment the door was closed, Kendra spoke. "Is this what it's like having friends?"

"Only when they move away." Ethan replied. "It stings."

Kendra blinked a few times and sniffled slightly, though her expression was still carefully neutral. "Then I'm never going to make friends with anyone who isn't married to Ethan ever again."

"I think you'll find that hard." Alana said with a pained smile on her face.

"I can do hard." The raven-haired woman sniffled.

Ethan pulled her into another hug and she seemed almost anxious for this one. His other wives gathered around and made it the second group hug of the night.

"I'm sorry, you all wanted to..." She pointed to the bed. "And I ruined the mood."

"I think Smithbond and the portal had more to do with that." Alana replied.

"Yeah." Ethan gave her an extra squeeze and then let go.

Kendra's neutral mask had slipped by now and she swallowed. "I'm really grateful that Illuminar led Selene into my life, but why does she have to leave?" She sniffled and blinked rather more rapidly than normal.

"I don't want her to go either." Tee said. " Master, I really wish you were going to marry her, but if Illuminar decided not..." The Fey teen frowned and looked down, a sad smile on her face.

"I'll miss Selene too." Beth said. "I really wish she was going to stay."

"So do I." Alana nodded.

"The Argo won't be the same without her." Rachel nodded.

"No, it won't." Ethan agreed.

Kendra sniffled and wiped one of her eyes. Her finger might have been slightly wet when she was done.

* * *

Selene lay in her hammock, jaw clenched and breathing rather heavily as she contemplated recent events. She couldn't get the look on Kendra's face out of her mind. It seemed to have glued itself to her eyeballs and...

She took a deep, calming breath.

Okay, it wasn't actually calming and came out more as a huff than anything else, but that's what she had intended it to be.

She was going to leave the Argo.

That was final.

She had decided that she was going to become an FBI agent and she was going to stick to that plan, assuming that was still an option after dealing with Smithbond and the portal. Something in her was absolutely convinced that she could still have a career as an FBI agent but she wasn't sure why. She knew that Smithbond's agency had made that seemingly impossible, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that it was possible. Maybe she was being stupid, but that's how she felt.

She wasn't going to marry Ethan and she certainly didn't want to live the rest of her life on this God-forsaken world that didn't even have coffee. Besides, she'd made her decision during the whole birthday thing.

The birthday thing...

"Birthdays." She scowled and pushed that incident as far from her mind as she could.

"Meow." Thor was looking at her reprovingly.

"Yes, I know I royally fucked up that whole birthday thing; you don't need to keep reminding me." She almost growled in frustration, though more at herself than him. "But there's no way in hell that I'm going to let that asshole in the sky tell me how to live my own life."

Thor just stared at her, looking neither happy nor convinced.

"What?!" She said a little more sharply than she had intended. She sighed, then spoke in a more normal tone. "Sorry."

The kitten laid down on her chest and rubbed his head against her affectionately, then returned to his reproving look.

"What's done is done and I have to go to Earth anyway, so there's no point in coming clean to fix my fuck-up now, no matter how large it is." The Brazilian woman said, only realizing that her tone was defensive after she'd spoken.

Thor continued to stare at her.

She sighed.

The kitten was doing a damn good job of guilt-tripping her. Well, she didn't think Thor was doing it on purpose, but she had to admit that he had a point. She kind of felt like crap. Her go-to solution for cheering herself up was a little self-pleasure, but Ethan had told her that he wouldn't finish the hottest sexual fantasy of her life if she did that. She had loved that before, now...

She frowned.

At some point soon she would have to 'hold Ethan's wing' while he took care of himself so his stupid dragon side didn't go ape-shit because of their stupid fucking bond.

Magic.

Pfft.

For good or ill, she'd made her choice that very morning and she was going to stick to it because that asshole that Taloni followed so devotedly had no business telling her how to live her life.

None.

And now that she'd made her choice, she wasn't sure she wanted Ethan to finish that story, not now since she was leaving. That felt a little too close and intimate for her and she didn't want to get any closer to him, not since she was leaving. Of course, there was one way that she could be sure that Ethan wouldn't finish his story. Plus it would feel great, especially with how long it had been since she'd taken care of herself. She wanted to feel better right now.

Hmm.

She moved one of her hands lower until it rested just over her slit, though on top of the dress. Thor took a step closer to her head and meowed again. This one had a decidedly disapproving tone to it.

"What?" She asked. "It's my body and I'll do it if I want to."

Another disapproving meow.

"Ethan doesn't get to decide when I get myself off." She replied, realizing only after she'd spoken that she sounded defensive. Again.

She rubbed.

Mmm, that felt good.

Thor simply stared at her for a moment while she continued rubbing, then he pointedly turned and walked to the edge of the hammock.

"Oh come on." She said to the kitten.

Thor looked back at her for a moment and then awkwardly -- and seemingly pointedly -- jumped off the hammock. She didn't see the landing but it didn't sound graceful. She looked over the edge to see the kitten standing on his four feet, shaking his head slightly. He looked fine.

"Seriously?" She asked.

Thor turned, walked over to a pile of clothes and flopped down facing away from her.

She rolled her eyes, laid back down, and then started rubbing again. It didn't take long for her to finish, but oddly she didn't find it very satisfying. In fact, she almost felt worse than before she had started.

* * *

Alana lay on the bed with her husband's arms around her, looking at the most beautiful woman in the Ten Kingdoms. The trouble was, she still wanted to kiss Rachel goodnight but was worried the redhead might not want to in front of Ethan. Rachel was lying right in front of Alana facing her, and the wood elf was spooning with Ethan, so he definitely would see...

Unless he was asleep.

Apparently that was Rachel's plan, because it seemed like she was very determinedly staying awake and Ethan had fallen asleep.

"You know, he will see eventually." Alana whispered as quietly as she could.

"I know." The redhead whispered back. "But..."

"Not yet?"

Rachel nodded.

"Rachel." The wood elf whispered quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Kiss me."

The redhead grinned ear-to-ear, subtly -- and probably subconsciously -- licked her lips, then leaned in and planted a tender, loving kiss on her lips.

"Mmm." Alana sighed as she kissed her back, not quite believing that this was happening.

The kiss wasn't nearly as long as she wanted it to be -- years would've been fine -- but it was wonderful. Rachel had a dopey grin on her face when she leaned back and her eyes were mostly closed.

"Good night." The redhead whispered.

"Good night." The wood elf replied, licking her lips to taste her best friend on them.

Rachel did the same, still smiling ear-to-ear.

* * *

Sarah's internal clock woke her up at the usual time, long before the sun had risen. Normally she woke up a bit earlier than Fiona, but someone was awake before both of them today. Amy was pacing back and forth on the floor and appeared to be deep in thought as she muttered to herself. Sarah didn't catch most of what was being said because she was whispering to herself so quietly, but it sounded like her roommate was trying to talk herself into something, or possibly out of something?

The previous night Sarah had explained more about her problem to Amy, including what made the demon come out. That had seemed to reassure her, not that she had seemed very worried in the first place. Now she was pacing?

Hmm.

"Amy?" Sarah whispered so as not to wake Fiona.

The other girl jumped slightly, then looked at Sarah and whispered. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"You didn't wake me, what's wrong?"

Amy stopped, then lifted her hand to her mouth and started biting one of her nails. "Um, I was hoping... that is, I was wondering..." She seemed to realize that she was biting her nails and pulled her hand away from her mouth to reveal a grimace.

"Hey." Sarah sat up, rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, and stood. "Hey, it's okay. What's wrong?"

"Um, you like me right? As a friend?"

Sarah smiled. "Of course."

"And um, we get along well, right? I mean, you don't mind me being around, right?"

"Of course not." The innkeeper's daughter assured her. "What's this about?"

"Uh..." Amy hesitated for a moment and then blurted out the next few words like she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to if she didn't now. "Can I come with you?"

Sarah blinked.

She opened her mouth to reply but no sound came out for several seconds. "You... you want to go with me?"

Amy nodded vigorously.

Sarah worked her mouth for a moment before she was able to get her next question out. "Why?"

"Well, part of it is that I like your company." She smiled. "You're kind and honest, and I like that."

"Thank you, but there's more, isn't there?"

Amy bit her lip. "Well, I'm worried about what Tia and Mia might do. Considering what they did to you for helping me, what might they do to me? And if I need to leave anyway, I'd rather leave with a friend."

Sarah got the distinct impression that there was more to it than that. "What's the rest of the reason?"

"Um..." Amy looked down and kept her gaze there, as if the floor was suddenly very fascinating.

"Amy, what's the rest of the reason?"

The artistic girl hesitated for several long moments and then finally spoke. However, she spoke so quietly that Sarah didn't hear what she said.

"What?"

Amy took a deep breath. "It's Rindrin, your betrothed."

For a second time in as many minutes, Sarah found herself speechless. She worked her jaw again for several moments before replying. "Why?"

"Because you said that he's a good man who is also very honest and blunt." Amy replied with the edge of a smile on her face. "That's exactly how I would describe my dream man and I guess I'm hoping that... um, if you wouldn't mind and if he and I like each other, then... then perhaps..." she bit her lip. "I know that you aren't exactly in love with him and I thought that maybe, if you wouldn't mind sharing him, then maybe..."

"Oh." Sarah said as she realized what Amy was getting at. "You want Rindrin to marry you."

"Maybe?" She waggled her head back and forth. "I obviously don't know him, but if he's the way you described, who wouldn't?"

Sarah couldn't help but smile at the hopeful look in her friend's eyes. It looked like she was trying to be calm and rational while not getting her hopes up about a man whose description fit her idea of a perfect man. Judging by her 'Honesty' painting, Rindrin might actually be a good match for her. Besides, Amy seemed like the kind of person who could be a hopeless romantic and would like the idea of falling in love with someone before she met him.

"And..." Amy's smile widened. "...and I think I would really like being co-wives with you. You're a great person and I love talking with you so I think we would get along splendidly."

"Yeah." Sarah felt her lips pull into a smile as well. "Honestly, I would really like it if you married Rindrin too. I would be a lot less lonely with you as a co-wife, assuming you two like each other."

"Really?" Amy's eyes were wide and full of hope.

Sarah nodded.

"You might want to be meeting him first." Fiona said from her bed, then yawned.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Amy said.

"Eh, I was waking up anyway." The copper-haired woman replied, then yawned again as she sat up. "It was wonderful having you two here, even if only for a short while."

"I'm sorry." Sarah's face fell. "I really would've liked to stay."

"I'm knowing that and it's not your fault." She looked at Amy. "I suppose you should be packing."

"It won't take long, and you can sell everything I leave behind." The girl replied. "I really only need to make sure I bring my self-cleaning brush, a few supplies, and my 'honesty' painting. I don't care about the rest."

Sarah chuckled. "And some clothes."

"Oh." The artistic girl nodded like she had forgotten. "Yes, those too."

It indeed didn't take her long to pack. Amy didn't have a lot of non-painting stuff, so she was ready to go once it had been loaded into a large carpet bag with a shoulder strap.

Sarah then pulled out the coppers she had to count them. She had been working at Karnas for less than a week so she didn't have many. Amy had about the same amount because of Tia and Mia, so even pooling their money they were still quite poor.

"Are you sure you want to come?" Sarah asked. "It could be dangerous."

"You'll protect me." Amy replied.

"There's also things like running out of food to be worrying about, not to mention getting lost." Fiona pointed out.

"We shouldn't get lost." Sarah replied. "We'll follow the Bolavine River south until we reach the main road that runs through the outpost where my father's inn is. It's a major trade route, so we shouldn't miss it or get lost. I think it's only a two-day sail, and then it will take several days to walk to the inn. It would be faster if we had horses, but..." She looked down at the pittance that she and Amy could scrape together.

"I'm glad to be hearing that." Fiona smiled. "Now, we should be praying for your safety on the road. You might not need to travel on the road long, but from what I'm hearing, the Ivernian roads can be dangerous."

All three did pray, each in turn, and then Fiona strapped a somewhat grumpy Conner to her chest. "I'm going to be walking with you to the castle's gate at least."

"Thank you."

Sarah opened the door to their room expecting to see an empty hallway, but instead saw a boy of about thirteen half-fall into their room. He was wearing the uniform of Lord Delmar's errand boys and he had clearly fallen asleep while leaning his back on the door. The boy had clearly been startled awake when the door opened and then jumped up, rubbing his eyes.

He looked at the three women, his eyes wide and his body slightly shaking as he addressed them in a wavering voice. "I'm looking for the demon-possessed girl named Sarah."

She sighed. "That's me."

"Lord Delmar requests that you meet him in his office at first light." The boy continued. He was clearly trying to make his voice sound strong, but just as clearly would've rather been delivering a message to anyone else.

"Um, okay." Sarah replied, not sure what this could be about.

"I'm supposed to take you to him." The boy swallowed. Hard.

"Okay, I guess we'll follow you." Sarah said, then looked at the other ladies, both of whom looked as confused as she felt.

What could Lord Delmar want?

* * *

"Kendra? Kendra?"

"Hmm." The dragon huntress mumbled at the unwanted intrusion into her sleep.

"You wanted me to wake you up to read the Book of Light with me." Taloni whispered. "Do you still want that, or should I let you sleep."

Kendra groaned, though quietly so she wouldn't wake her fellow wives. "I can get up."

"Are you sure? You don't have to." Tee replied.

"I know." It took Kendra a minute to drag herself out of bed and then she padded over to the desk with Taloni.

The Fey teen was smiling widely when she got there.

"What?" Kendra whispered.

"You're naked and it's not bothering you." She beamed.

"Oh." Kendra looked down to see that she was in fact completely naked, then she smiled when she realized that it indeed didn't bother her very much. She looked over at the bed to see her fellow wives all completely naked as well. Alana and Rachel were snuggled closely together as usual and the wood elf was also half-snuggled with Ethan as well.

Kendra smiled, but her smile faltered a little when she remembered that Selene was going to leave.

"We can pray for Selene before we start reading." Taloni offered.

"I'd like that." Kendra nodded, her throat getting slightly tight.

* * *

"Lord Delmar will see you now."

Sarah nodded at the errand boy and then took a deep breath as she looked at the door to the lord's office. She and her friends hadn't been waiting in the hallway long and it was still early. The light coming in through the castle windows was enough to read by, but only just. There was a slight coolness in the early morning air, though it was far from cold.

"He said that your companions may join you." The errand boy added, then turned and walked away from Sarah somewhat faster than you might normally expect.

She sighed.

Some things never change.

She respectfully nodded to the two guards outside the office and then lifted the latch and entered with Fiona and Amy right behind her. Lord Delmar's office was much like his office on the Helene. It appeared that everything had its place and everything looked orderly and neat. There were several bookcases filled with books, neatly stacked piles of papers on his desk, and a large tapestry-map of Narlotten on one wall. Everything was obviously of very high quality, but very little was ornate and nothing was ostentatious.

On another wall -- the one on which the door was set -- was that tapestry of Lady Helene that she'd first seen while Lord Delmar was adjudicating a case about it. It was positioned so that if Lord Delmar looked up from his desk, it would be right in front of him.

Nothing obstructed it.

"You asked to see me Lord Delmar." Sarah said after an attempt at a curtsy.

The lord held up one finger on his left hand as he continued writing with his right hand. He finished what looked like a sentence, then struck the ink off of the quill pen, put it in its holder, capped the bottle of ink, and then looked at her. For some reason, something about his eyes reminded her of Ethan. Not so much in the expression, but just in how the eyes themselves looked.

"You did a noble thing yesterday." Lord Delmar said without preamble. "Few would sacrifice for a country not their own."

"I just didn't want to make other people suffer because I was here." She replied.

He inclined his head in either concession or respect, possibly both. "You do not have enough coin for the journey."

It wasn't a question.

She hesitated, then nodded. "I thought that if I could barter onto a barge going south, then perhaps we could walk the rest of the way."

"We?" He looked at the two women behind him, finally settling his eyes on Amy. "You wish to accompany her?"

"Yes Lord Delmar." She curtsied.

He nodded curtly, then looked at Sarah. "You sacrificed for Narlotten, I will repay the favor." He raised his voice and spoke at the door. "Bring him in."

Sarah heard someone outside the door hurry away, then two sets of footsteps returned about thirty seconds later. The door opened and in walked--

Sarah's eyes widened.

It was the man who had arrested her and dragged her before Lord Delmar only yesterday. He wasn't wearing chainmail or a guard's uniform, though he had his sword and was wearing what looked like traveling clothes. He wasn't a particularly tall man, but he did have broad shoulders and looked fit. He had sandy blonde hair, a short beard that was slightly darker than his hair, and bright blue eyes.

She could tell that he wasn't very comfortable being here, but she didn't get the impression that it was because of her. Or at least, not because of her problem.

"Guardsman Ellis Trelane." The lord indicated him and then spoke to Sarah. "You need provision and protection for your journey and he wished for an opportunity to somehow make amends for his behavior yesterday. The Narlotten crown will provide the provisions and he will accompany you to provide protection, thus killing two deer with one arrow."

Sarah eyed the man, not sure how she felt about that.

"I am sorry miss." Ellis said. He met her eye, but it looked like he wished that he didn't have to.

Lord Delmar spoke again. "His predilection for jumping to conclusions aside, he is a man of impeccable character who fights like a dragon to protect those entrusted to his care. He has been provided with coin from the treasury for traveling expenses, as well as horses and provisions for the journey."

"Thank you, and thank Illuminar." Sarah looked up for a moment and smiled before looking back at Lord Delmar. "I wasn't sure how... thank you."

Lord Delmar nodded once and then looked pointedly at Sarah. "You might not require Ellis's protection, but I would not see your demon loosed for any reason, no matter how temporary."

She nodded, hoping that the guardsman's presence would indeed prevent that.

"May Illuminar -- blessed be He -- guide you on the path of light as you travel." Lord Delmar said.

"Thank you."

He nodded once, then looked at the door. "You may go."

Sarah, Amy, Fiona, and Ellis all filed out of Lord Delmar's office after the ladies curtsied and Ellis bowed. Once in the hallway, there was a slightly awkward silence.

After several seconds, Ellis broke it by addressing Sarah. "I am sorry miss. I jumped to conclusions and I'm afraid that I have ruined your stay in Karnas. From what I heard later, you were quite happy in the kitchens. I deeply regret that my actions have hurt you and humbly implore your forgiveness."

He seemed sincere.

"I forgive you." Sarah said. "And my time in Karnas was over the moment people learned my secret. If you hadn't done what you did, I would be making the journey alone and without supplies instead of with Lord Delmar helping me. I think Illuminar's hand is in this; I think it happened this way because He was taking care of me."

"That is kind of you to say miss."

"You don't agree?"

He hesitated. "I don't disagree that Illuminar guides all things, but I take responsibility for my flaws and lapses in judgment. I made a grave error and cannot undo it now." He paused and then added. "But it was very kind of you to say."

She smiled at him.

"We should leave as soon as possible." Ellis said after a moment. "Most of the cargo barges leave early so they can sail for the full day and we don't want to miss them, especially since we'll need to get another horse from the stables for..." He looked at Amy. "...Amelia? I believe that is what Lord Delmar called you yesterday."

"Yes." She nodded. "But everyone calls me Amy."

"Do you know how to ride?" Ellis asked her.

"Um, not well but I can."

"That will suffice; Lord Delmar's horses are very well trained." He turned and led the three women through the castle to the stables where he told a stable attendant to saddle a horse for Amy.

Sarah had never been to a royal stable before and the contrast with her father's stable couldn't be more pronounced. There was almost no smell, the horses all looked content or bored, and everything looked as clean and well-maintained as the rest of Narlotten. The horses that Ellis had prepared weren't large horses but smaller ponies that looked both strong and tough. Additionally, there was also a stocky mule loaded with a few bags that she assumed contained supplies.

"Will you be needing more supplies since Amy is going?" Fiona asked.

Ellis shook his head. "I ensured that I had twice the supplies necessary for two people to go to Sarah's father's inn and return. Thus, we would still have more than enough provisions even if a fourth were to join us and we were to make a round trip."

"Ah, good." The copper-haired woman nodded, then looked at Sarah. "I'm going to be missing ya."

"And I, you." Sarah felt her throat get slightly tight and she sniffled as she realized that she really was going to leave. She was leaving Fiona behind and there was no guarantee that they would ever see each other again.

She swallowed.

Hard.

Fiona blinked, her eyes a bit watery. "Take care now, and you'll be in my prayers."

"I'll pray for you as well, as much as I can." Sarah replied, now trying in vain to keep her eyes dry.

The copper-haired woman nodded and then pulled Sarah into a hug, though both were careful not to squash Conner who was still on Fiona's chest.

"I'll be missing you too Amy." Fiona said once the hug broke and then she hugged the other girl as well. "You be taking care of each other now, you hear?"

"We will." Sarah and Amy replied.

Fiona rounded on Ellis. "And you young man, these two are precious to me so you best be keeping them safe."

"Their lives will come before mine if it's necessary." He replied, and Sarah didn't think he was exaggerating; he seemed sincere.

"I hope it won't be coming to that, but that's good to be hearing." Fiona replied.

Sarah pulled Fiona into another, longer hug before letting go. "I promise I'll come back to Karnas if I can."

"I would be loving that." Fiona smiled, though her cheeks weren't entirely dry. "I should be getting back to the kitchens." She added after a moment. "I've not been late before and I'm sure Marge won't be happy."

"Lord Delmar saw to that." Ellis spoke up. "He had me inform her earlier that you might be late and that he had allowed that."

Fiona's smiled widened. "He really is a good lord." Her accent made 'lord' sound like 'lard' as usual.

"He is." Sarah nodded.

"Ladies, we should depart." Ellis said with an apologetic look.

Fiona gave each of the other girls another hug and then stood back. Ellis put the reins of a horse in each of the traveling girls' hands, then took the reins of his own horse and the mule and led them out of the stables. Sarah looked behind her as often as she could without running into anything and waved to Fiona nearly as often. Her friend waved back with a sad smile.

Sarah kept glancing back until they rounded a corner and Fiona disappeared from view.

"I feel like I'll never see her again." The innkeeper's daughter took a shuddering breath and blinked several times, trying to keep her cheeks dry.

"I think you will." Amy said after a moment.

"Oh?"

The other girl nodded. "Obviously I don't know, but I think you will."

"I hope so." Sarah replied.

* * *

Rachel awoke in Alana's arms with her husband's wing draped over her naked body in the pre-dawn hours. She smiled. She still wasn't entirely comfortable being naked with anyone but Ethan, except perhaps Alana. The wood elf was awake and looking at her, a dopy smile on her face.

"Morning." The brunette said softly.

"Morning." Rachel smiled back, then her eyes moved to Ethan, who was still out like a blown-out lantern. "Our husband is really good to us."

"Mmm. He is."

"I would really like to thank him." The redhead added.

"I could get on board with that." Alana got a sly smile.

"Maybe if you woke him up by... um..." She averted her eyes and licked her lips.

"You could join me." Alana offered.

"Not... not yet." She replied, wanting to very much but also not sure if she could bring herself to. She knew her lips and Alana's would end up touching and she didn't know if she could do that with others around. Not yet.

"I'll help thank him." Beth offered from Ethan's other side as she sat up.

Alana grinned as Rachel nodded, looking forward to thanking Ethan for how wonderful he had been to her about Alana.

* * *

Sarah walked with Amy behind Ellis until they came to the gate in the high, stone wall that separated the castle from the city around it. The gatehouse had rather a lot of soldiers milling about, talking and joking with each other as they stood attentively at their posts. No one bothered the travelers as they left, though a few of the men nodded respectfully to Ellis as they passed through the gate.

"Sarah." Someone called.

Ellis spun around, dropping the reins he was holding and putting his hand on the hilt of his sword until he saw who it was.

Sarah turned to see Lord Delmar's court mage standing just outside the gate and leaning on the wall as if he had been waiting. He was wearing the same comfortable-looking and well-made clothes as the previous times she had seen him; they were probably self-cleaning. His half-moon spectacles were low on his nose and his short white beard contrasted somewhat with his balding head.

"Mage Weston." Ellis said with a deep bow.

"Guardsman." The mage nodded respectfully at him. "Can your journey spare a moment so I can speak privately with Sarah?"

Ellis nodded, then Mage Weston waved Sarah over as he walked away from the gate a few yards.

"Good morning." Sarah said when she had arrived, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Good morning." The mage smiled and then pulled out a letter that had been sealed with wax. "I have a favor to ask from you, if you would be willing."

She eyed the letter. "What's the favor?"

"Rachel." He replied. "She travels with Ethan Ejder who is either a prophet or a necromancer. Either would have an interest in you because of your demon. Thus, I suspect that you will see him long before I do, which means you will likely see Rachel long before I will. I would appreciate it if you would give her this letter."

She looked at the letter for several moments, a thousand thoughts flashing through her mind in that instant. "Why? What does it say?"

"It's sealed for a reason, but I wrote it in code even if you opened it." He smiled. "In some ways, Rachel is the granddaughter that I never had. I don't know if she is being held in the thrall of a dangerous necromancer or traveling with a prophet of Illuminar. Both are possible, but the evidence I have seen doesn't point conclusively to either. I'm hoping that Rachel's response to this letter will clarify things one way or the other. She'll know how to contact me."

Sarah slowly nodded, trying to decide if she could trust him.

On the one hand, he seemed entirely trustworthy. She had never gotten the slightest inkling that he was anything more or less than what he seemed to be. On the other hand, she hadn't had the slightest inkling that Lady Ekthros wasn't a good person either. She teetered on indecision for several moments before deciding that she wasn't going to let one bad person make her distrust everyone for the rest of her life.

"Okay." She took the letter and then an idea occurred to her. "Could I be selfish and ask for something in return?"

He chuckled. "I don't believe that would be selfish; merely my part of a bargain. What would you wish?"

"My friend Fiona. She has a letter from her husband who died and she wants it enchanted to be self-repairing so she'll always have it, but can't afford it."

"Consider it done." The Mage replied with a smile. "I would be happy to help the widow of a soldier who gave his life protecting Narlotten."

Sarah resisted the urge to frown and kept her expression neutral. "I didn't say her husband was a Narlotten soldier."

"Nor did you need to." Mage Weston replied. "Fiona has garnered a rather fine reputation in the short time she has been in Karnas. She has helped many people in small ways and word travels. I would wager that most of the servants -- and those who pay attention to them -- know how her husband died."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"Well, she doesn't announce it when she helps people, she just helps them and keeps quiet about it. Her discretion is another admirable quality and I would be happy to help her."

"Okay." Sarah relaxed. "And if it's not too much trouble, could you maybe watch out for her a little?"

He gave her a knowing look. "You wouldn't perchance be worried about the 'she' who you thought might read your mind, are you?"

Sarah's cheeks got slightly warm as she nodded.

"I can keep an eye on Fiona and I understand your concern, but you should know something." He said. "While I have voiced objections about her methods to Lord Delmar more than once, I have yet to see her pursue a goal that wasn't noble at the end." He hesitated. "Though I must admit her methods for reaching those goals can often be..." He frowned. "Well, there's a reason she and I often don't see eye-to-eye."

Sarah nodded, deciding not to tell him that Lady Ekthros was likely trying to create demon-possessed soldiers. She couldn't see any possible end goal that would justify that, let alone what the woman had done to her. She didn't think bringing that up was a wise idea though, so she simply nodded.

"Thank you Mage Weston, I'll feel better knowing that someone is watching out for her."

"I will." The mage replied. "Take care Sarah, and may Illuminar guide you on the path of light as you travel."

"And you as well." She replied, then tucked the letter into her pocket and returned to Amy and Ellis.

* * *

Ethan had that wonderful sleepy-groggy feeling as he slowly awoke from his first good night's rest since leaving his wives. He'd slept well enough in Shara and Lyra's house, but sleeping in his own bed with his own wives was infinitely better. He was lying on his back luxuriating in waking up when... It only took him a moment to realize what was going on in his nether regions and he snapped his eyes open and head up when he did.

"Took you long enough." Alana teased as she gently pressed her soft lips to his very erect cock. "I've been doing this for ages now."

"We have been taking turns." Beth corrected and then kissed the very tip of his cock.

He let out a sigh of pleasure and let his head drop back onto the mattress, realizing that Taloni was snuggled up to his side while he did. "That feels amazing. Just give me a minute and I'll--"

"Nope." His first wife said as she traded places with Tee and flopped down half next to him and half on him. "You've had a trying few days and we want to take care of our man. You just lie there and enjoy."

"Please do." Taloni agreed, and then he felt her soft tongue gently lick the bottom of his shaft.

"Well, you won't need to twist my arm." He sighed, then frowned. "Seriously though, you ladies do that for me on a pretty regular basis and I almost feel bad that you don't want me to reciprocate."

"Sir, there's no shortage of willing tongues in the room." Alana smiled at him. "However, you have something we can't get anywhere else."

"It's supply and demand." Rachel said, though she was blushing furiously while sitting on the bed clothed only in her breast wrap and panties.

"Yes, we demand a good supply from our husband." Beth winked, then closed her lips over the large head of his cock. She slid off with a pop and then grinned at him. "We wouldn't be good wives if we didn't take care of you."

"You wouldn't want that Master, would you?" Tee said impishly.

Ethan gave a mock-resigned sigh. "Oh, if I must."

"You must." Kendra said from above him.

As usual, he had been sleeping with his head facing the captain's cabin door. Kendra was standing, so his brown-eyed beauty was looking down at him and she was totally naked. She leaned down and tenderly pressed her lips to his in an upside-down kiss. He kissed her back while Alana started tracing her fingers across his torso and his blonde wives started kissing either side of his cock.

"Thank you." Kendra said quietly when she stopped kissing him, though she was still very close.

"For wh..." He ended that with a groan as Bee and Tee started doing something truly extraordinary. He couldn't quite tell what, but they were in such incredible sync that he was having trouble focusing on Kendra.

She glanced at them and then smiled at him. "For loving me."

He smiled at her. "You don't exactly make it hard."

She cocked her head to one side and opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. "I'm glad. I don't know how, but I'm glad."

He was about to reply when it felt like Bee and Tee had locked lips over the head of his cock while they stroked the shaft together and he lost it at the sudden and unexpected sensation. For the first time ever, two of his testicles released at the same time.

It was incredible.

He let out a strangled groan to keep himself from roaring. It was better than twice as good as one. Much better. He went off like a cannon. His eyelids fluttered and he arched his back slightly, even with Alana half on top of him. Bee and Tee kept their mouths around him, presumably swallowing it all between them. He flopped back onto the bed after he'd unloaded, panting slightly.

"Are you okay?" Alana chuckled with an amused smile.

He nodded. "Wow; two at once is pretty incredible."

"We could make it more..." The wood elf said in a slightly sing-song voice.

"I'm good." He panted slightly. "I might explode."

"You already did that Master." Tee giggled.

"Uh-huh." Bee agreed.

He looked down to see that both of them had apparently not caught everything and were trying to catch several dribbles that had escaped by licking it off of each other's faces, giggling all the while.

"My turn?" Kendra asked.

"I will never say no to that." Ethan replied, then added. "Well, unless we have a non-wife audience."

The raven-haired woman smiled, then climbed onto the bed opposite Alana, who moved out of her way. Of course, he enjoyed the sight of both of them moving. Alana had a nearly perfect figure and Kendra's body was far more lean and toned than the rest of his wives. Not that the rest were out of shape -- they weren't -- but Kendra was in incredible shape.

"I'm pretty good at riding, but I've never tried it like this." She looked down at his cock.

He started to get up.

"Stop, please." Kendra put a hand on his chest. "I want to Drago."

"Relax Sir." Alana said. "We want to."

"My lord, I've been through a lot lately and it would really help me if you would let us take care of you." Rachel said with an almost straight face.

He raised his eyebrow.

"Trust me?" The redhead asked.

"Okay." He laid back down as Kendra straddled him. She bit her lip as she looked down.

"Don't worry, I'll line it up." Tee said brightly.

"I'll help." Beth said with a sly grin, then slid her hand over Kendra's butt.

The raven-haired woman jumped slightly but didn't pull away. Between the blondes helping and Kendra's lithe grace, she managed to get herself lined up and tried to sink down, but seemed to be having a bit of trouble with the angle.

"Tilt your hips like this." Beth said, putting both her hands on Kendra's lower waist and upper butt and getting her to adjust her hips a bit.

"Oh." The dragon huntress said as that lined everything up and she slid down, his cock slowly impaling her as she did. "Oh Illuminar." She breathed.

"My favorite seat." Alana smiled, then kissed Ethan before looking at Kendra again. "I'll want it back when you're done."

"You... you can have..." Kendra sighed as she bottomed out with him fully seated inside of her. She let out a breathy exhale and then slowly shook her head. "I might be a while."

"I guessed." The wood elf chuckled.

Ethan couldn't help but notice that Rachel -- who almost always averted her eyes somewhat when Alana was naked -- was now stealing the occasional glance at the wood elf when she thought no one was looking.

He smiled.

He caught her eye and she went beet red. He smiled wider and nodded to her and then returned his attention to Kendra, who had just started to lift herself up. He could tell that she was already getting close and he wondered yet again how in the world she was this sexually responsive. He had literally never heard of another woman being this hair-trigger all the time. Then it occurred to him that it might get uncomfortable if she lost control like she normally did because she probably wouldn't be able to remain astride him.

"Come here." He opened his arms and she leaned forward into him, his cock popping out as she did so.

Kendra let out a groan, at least until one of the blondes lined him back up and she slid backwards, impaling herself on him once again. She looked into his eyes, a deep vulnerability in them that reminded him of how Rachel sometimes looked with her emotional walls down. She looked at him through a few awkward movements of her hips until she found a good rhythm.

"You're so good to me." She said softly as she slowly rocked her hips around him while she lay on his chest looking into his eyes. "Why are you so good to me?"

"Because you deserve it." He replied, looking into her gorgeous deep brown eyes.

"I really don..." She shuddered slightly. "...really don't." She smiled at him. "But thank you for doing it anyway. I'll never be able to repay you though."

He raised his eyebrow. "Now, now; let's have none of that 'you owe me' stuff."

She nodded.

"I love you Kendra, and..." He trailed off as her eyes rolled back slightly and she let out a breathy exhale before her entire body started trembling. She stopped rocking her hips and her motions became sporadic and uncoordinated as she became uncharacteristically clumsy in her movements. He picked up the slack by starting to rock his hips to keep thrusting inside of her.

*Worst timed orgasm ever.* Alana thought to him as she chuckled, then cocked her head to one side. *Or best if your declaration of love set it off.*

He chuckled as he held Kendra, waiting until she had come down a bit before speaking.

She beat him to it. "Please..." She panted. "Please finish in me."

"You ride, we'll help." Alana said to her, then nodded to Bee and Tee.

The blondes descended on his lower body, Beth beginning to gently massage his family jewels with her lips and tongue while Tee kissed the part of his shaft that wasn't encased in Kendra. As Kendra began to rock her hips again, Alana leaned down and gave Ethan a scorching hot kiss that quickly approached the temperature of the sun. Even Rachel took his hand and brushed her thumb along his scales.

It didn't take long for him to finish with all that attention.

"Okay, Alana, Bee, Tee, and Kendra; want to play a game while I take care of Rachel?" He asked when his fifth wife was semi-lucid from her most recent orgasm.

They all nodded.

"Someone get an hourglass with a two or three-minute timer." He said.

Alana hopped off the bed, grabbed one from the desk, and returned.

He looked at Kendra. "You're the gameboard."

She cocked her head to one side, opened her mouth, then closed it again and frowned before speaking. "Huh?"

He grinned "We all love you and I think the other ladies would like to show you how much while I keep Rachel occupied."

"How?" Bee, Tee, and Kendra asked.

"Oh!" Alana exclaimed. "Whoever can make her orgasm the most inside of two--" Alana looked down at the hourglass she'd picked, then slipped to desk and pulled out a slightly larger one. "--three minutes, wins."

"Exactly." He grinned at Kendra.

Her jaw dropped. "b-but, b-but I can't-- what?"

"I call first." Beth called.

"Second!" Alana said a split second before Taloni spoke up.

The wood elf took Kendra's hand and gave her a gentle pull. The dragon huntress didn't resist, but she was still stammering half-hearted objections right up until Alana got her on her back with her legs spread and Beth started in on her slit with her fingers, lips, and tongue.

He didn't hear a single objection after that.

Moans and sighs of pleasure yes, but no objections.

He chuckled, then looked at Rachel. "Come here beautiful."

He started moving, but she put a hand on his chest. "I meant it, please relax."

He raised his eyebrow.

She bit her lip, then thought privately to him. *You let me kiss Alana.*

He smiled. *I take it you enjoyed it?*

The redhead closed her eyes and the look of bliss on her face was all the confirmation he needed.

*Good for you.* He thought to her. *I'm glad.*

*Me too, now let me thank you.* She was still only wearing her wrap and panties. She moved so she was sitting astride him, adjusted herself so that the others could see as little as possible, and then gently rubbed her silk-covered slit on the underside of his cock.

"You've gotten brave." He said softly, thinking that not that long ago she wouldn't even take off her dress with his other wives around. Well, except for Alana of course. Now she was tenderly rubbing her slit on him with the others in the room.

She shrugged sheepishly. "I... I like being married, and I like my co-wives. I realized that eventually I'll be able to..." She bit her lip and applied slightly more force. "...Well, I'm getting better."

"That you are." He ran his finger up her side and she smiled as she let out the tiniest sigh.

"I..." She looked down, bit her lip, and then reached down and pulled the silk panties to one side then rested her nether lips against him. "Is it okay if we... that is, I don't take off..." She bit her lip.

"Of course." He smiled.

She lifted herself up, then glanced at his other wives who were rather occupied, before adjusting so he was at her entrance and then sliding her hips down. She got a similar contented feeling on her face as when she had been remembering her kiss with Alana as she slid down, pushing him into her.

"Time!" Alana called, and then handed the hourglass to Tee and dove in the moment Beth moved. Her butt was facing Ethan and Rachel, and since the wood elf's legs were spread for stability, her slit and everything else was on full display to the couple.

*It's okay if you look.* Ethan thought privately to Rachel as the redhead averted her eyes.

She looked at Ethan for a moment and then her eyes flitted towards Alana before hastily coming back to him.

*Rachel, look at Alana.* He thought her.

She hesitated.

*Look at her her.* He repeated a bit more firmly.

She did.

As she did, she started rocking her hips, probably subconsciously.

*Isn't she beautiful?* He asked. *Look at those long, toned legs.*

Rachel whimpered slightly and her internal muscles clenched him a bit tighter.

*Look at how beautiful, kind, and caring she is.* He continued, noticing Rachel's pale cheeks getting redder, and the red was slowly extending down her face onto her upper chest as well.

The redhead let out a breathy sigh.

*She would do that to you too.* He continued as she sped up. He didn't even think she realized that she was doing it. *She would kiss you there.*

Rachel sighed.

*She would caress you there.*

She moaned.

*She would use her soft tongue to massage your most intimate places and you know what?*

*What?* Rachel almost pleaded as she seemed not to be able to tear her eyes from Alana.

*She would enjoy it.*

Rachel arched her back slightly and she stopped riding. She opened her mouth as if to speak or scream, but no sound came out. He pulled her down to him, knowing that she would do everything possible to keep from making noise as she finished and also that she would want to be held. That's just how she was. She didn't tremble full-bodied like Kendra did, but her internal muscles gripped him like a vise that somehow knew how to give a massage.

She started panting ten or fifteen seconds later, never having taken her eyes off of Alana. After a few seconds, she looked at him. *This was supposed to be about you. I wanted to say thank you.*

*Well, do that one more time and I'll consider myself thanked.* He winked at her.

"Time!" Taloni called, then handed the hourglass to Beth and dove in after Alana had sat up.

*Can...* Rachel bit her lip. *Can we finish before they do?*

He nodded, knowing she just wasn't comfortable with the others watching. *Then I have a few more wives to properly take care of.*

The redhead nodded slowly as she started rocking again. She glanced at Alana and then back at him. *My lord... Ethan.*

*Yeah.*

She glanced at Alana again. *Thank you for being so accepting.*

He smiled. *You're welcome.*

* * *

Selene looked over the side of her hammock at Thor, who had been sleeping on some neatly piled clothes all night. Now the kitten was sitting and looking up at her with an odd expression.

"What?" She asked. "I didn't promise Ethan that I wouldn't and it's my body. You've got no right to be upset with me about it."

Thor stared at her very intently for a moment, then lifted his front leg, licked it very intently for a moment, and then returned to staring at her.

She rolled her eyes.

Cats.

She got up out of her hammock and stood over the kitten. "Are you going to be like this all day?"

Thor just looked at her.

"Fine, I'm sorry okay." She said out of sheer exasperation. "I'm sorry about everything with Ethan, I'm sorry about last night, and I'm sorry that I fucked up the whole birthday thing. Can you just forgive me so we can move on?"

Thor cocked his head to one side and then the other, then he walked up to her and rubbed against her ankle. Moments later, he started purring.

"Well, at least one of us is happy." She said, but it was hard to stay unhappy with a purring kitten rubbing against her. After only a few seconds she smiled and picked him up. He resituated himself in her arms and then laid down his head and closed his eyes.

"Aww." She smiled and then started walking towards the stairs to the weather deck.

"Good morning." Ethan said cheerfully when she emerged.

He and all his wives were sitting around the breakfast fire eating breakfast and they all had that glow she'd grown to associate with a long session in the bedroom. Damn, he really must be good to get all of them looking like that every single time.

"Morning." She replied as she sat down. Thor picked up his head and sniffed the air, then jumped off her lap and bounded over to where Anthiel had cut his breakfast up.

"Well apparently I'm chopped liver." Selene rolled her eyes.

"No, he'd be more interested if you were chopped liver." Anthiel replied.

Everyone chuckled.

Kendra got up and moved next to her, pointing to the empty space next to her. "Is this seat taken?"

"By you." Selene replied, really glad that her friend had come to sit beside her.

They were just finishing breakfast when Matthew walked onto the dock.

"Matthew." Ethan called. "Come on in, what brings you here this morning? Would you care for some breakfast?"

"We've got plenty." Alana added.

"Uh, thanks but I'm good." He stopped by the netting that kept Thor on the Argo.

"Please, come in." Alana said, probably because Ethan had just taken a bite.

"Thank you." He replied as he stepped over the netting.

"What brings you here?" Ethan asked when he had finished chewing.

"Um, I decided that if Luminar Percival starts teaching about... well, about man being worthless again I'll say something again."

Tee beamed.

Ethan smiled and spoke when he had swallowed. "Good for you."

Selene could tell that Matthew had more to say, and apparently Ethan could tell as well because he waited for the young man to continue.

Matthew scratched the back of his head before continuing. "Lord Kalus -- uh, Lucien -- was talking yesterday about how sometimes we need our friends and allies." He took a deep breath. "I was hoping that you could be there. I don't have a good reason other than I know you understand Illuminar and I don't think I'll freeze if you're there. It would help to know that the prophet of Illuminar is there, especially because I know we agree."

"I would be happy to." Ethan replied. "I think we'll be in town for quite a while to deal with the orc problem anyway."

"Thank you." He had a nervous smile on his face. "I kind of feel bad for asking, but..."

"It's fine." Alana smiled. "We would be happy to help."

"Don't feel bad." Ethan agreed. "It's never a bad thing to ask for help when you need it."

"Thank you." His smile became less nervous. "I need to get to work, but thanks again; I really appreciate it."

"Any time." Ethan replied.

The young man left, and when he was gone Alana got a huge smile on her face. "If he really does it and doesn't choke, I think we'll be attending a wedding even if he doesn't convince a single person."

"Oh?" Ethan asked.

"Yup." Selene interjected. "Ketura was talking about it last night while Yalia went downstairs to use the bathroom."

"I swear she was glowing in anticipation." Beth added.

"A wedding." Taloni said dreamily.

"It will be a good distraction from the war." Kendra agreed.

"Speaking of, Lucien should be here soon and then we'll head out to see if there's a suitable battleground for the orcs." Ethan said.

"Enjoy, we'll all be here practicing healing." Selene let her shoulders slump.

"Not all of us." Alana said with a sly grin. "Some of us have some new dresses to make."

Selene couldn't help but chuckle at everyone immediately volunteering to help as an alternative to practicing healing.

* * *

"Ow!" Sarah jumped slightly as she felt a sharp pinch in her butt and whipped around. She didn't see an obvious cause, reason, or even a person who could've done anything with the crowd of people around her. She frowned; she really needed to stop getting so distracted by Karnas.

More than once, Ellis had called to her to keep moving after she found herself stopping to admire the streets around her. They were walking along the main thoroughfare heading towards the main gate that led down to the docks. The road was wide enough for several wagons to go in opposite directions at once, plus room for plenty of people to walk, plus room for street vendors. The last one was the biggest distraction.

There was just so much to see!

There were shops selling every kind of ware you could imagine and some wares she would've never imagined. Clothes, knickknacks, cookware, spices, herbs, plants, tools, jewelry, and everything else under the sun seemed to attract her eyes like a moth to flame.

"Sarah." Ellis called yet again.

"Sorry." She said as she led her horse forward again, trying not to stare at every little thing she saw.

It wasn't easy.

Eventually, they reached the main gate that led to the dock area. They had just passed through it when she heard a familiar voice call to her.

"Sarah!"

She swallowed hard as her heart sunk to somewhere below street level as she recognized the voice.

"Lady Ekthros." Ellis said, turning and giving the woman a deep and respectful bow.

"My lady." Amy curtsied.

"Good morning." Sarah managed to force out, thinking that the morning was far less good now that Lady Ekthros was here.

"There you are." The lady said with a wide smile. "You didn't think I'd let you leave without a goodbye, did you?"

Sarah couldn't tell if that was a threat or not.

"Oh, well, I just... there wasn't a lot of time and I..." She wasn't sure what to say.

"Oh don't worry, I'm here now." The older woman smiled brightly, then turned to Ellis. "Could I borrow her for a few minutes? I know you're on a tight schedule, but it's a matter of national security."

"Of course my lady." The man replied instantly, and then walked over and took the reins of Sarah's horse. "We'll wait here."

Not feeling like she had any reasonable way to say no, Sarah followed the lady. For some reason -- and despite her demon making it so that no one could hurt her -- she started feeling very uneasy.

* * *

Ethan was helping Kendra ready her airship not long after breakfast when Alana came up to them. They were mostly just getting ready until Lord Kalus arrived, though there wasn't a lot to do.

"What's up?" He asked his first wife.

She glanced up and then replied dryly. "Sky."

He snort-laughed while shaking his head. "What else is up?"

She glanced up again and then said just as dryly. "Rigging and sails."

"I walked into that one." He rolled his eyes. "Seriously though, did you want something?"

"An encore?" She glanced towards the captain's cabin and then back with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Of what Beth got?" He teased back. The blonde had lost to both Tee and Alana in their competition to see who could make Kendra orgasm the most, with Alana winning by one. After that, Beth had proclaimed herself a 'bad wife' who needed some 'stern correction'. Being a good husband, Ethan had naturally obliged.

Alana chuckled. "Well, maybe another time."

"What did you want to ask?" He said, being careful of his phrasing so his wonderful troublemaker of a first wife couldn't twist it. Well, she probably could, but she didn't.

"Should we focus on cut-resistant dresses, practicing healing each other, or fabric shields?" The wood elf asked. "We'll do all of them eventually, but they all take time and mana so we'll need to prioritize."

He looked at Kendra. "Thoughts?"

The dragon huntress was double-checking the rigging as she replied. "It's better to prevent a wound than to heal it. I would prioritize the dresses and shields for that reason. Plus, we have Taloni, and both Rachel and I can heal, though not nearly as well."

"Hmm." The wood elf pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Then how about the others donate mana to me so I can get the shields enchanted, and then while they are meditating to restore their mana I work on the dresses." She cocked her head to one side. "Maybe with an assistant so it goes faster?"

"How about Rachel?" Ethan suggested, doing an admirable job of keeping a sly and knowing smile off his face as he continued. "I would prefer that she had full -- or nearly full -- mana all the time anyway because she uses it far more in combat than the rest of you."

"Good idea." Kendra said, and Ethan thought she was subtly smiling.

"I'll ask her." Alana nodded.

"I thought you might." Ethan said with a grin.

The wood elf blushed, but only slightly.

"Alana." Kendra paused her work to look at the diminutive wood elf.

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to say that that I think it's..." She hesitated, probably looking for the right words. "...I think that what you and Rachel have is lovely."

"You do?" The wood elf asked with surprise in her tone and a smile on her face.

Kendra nodded, but didn't say anything else.

"Oh." Alana's smile got both wider and deeper. "Thank you, and thank you for saying something."

"You're welcome." The dragon huntress replied and then went back to readying her tiny airship. However, Ethan couldn't help but notice that she would occasionally glance at Selene who was sparring with Serif. He didn't get any romantic or attraction vibes from her though.

This happened several times before he thought to her privately. *Hey, are you okay? About Selene I mean.*

The raven-haired woman glanced at him and for a moment she let down her mask. Her eyes were pools of pain as she slowly and subtly shook her head. He gave her a sympathetic look and brushed the back of his hand on her arm, just letting her know that he was there for her. She gave him a grateful yet pained smile and then her mask slid back into place.

He didn't say anything.

He didn't know what to say.

Instead, he did his best to help her get her airship ready for the next ten minutes before their company arrived.

"Hail and good morning." He heard someone call from the Argo's gangplank.

"Lucien." Ethan greeted Lord Kalus with a wave. "Come aboard."

The lord did and Taiven was behind him.

"Would you permit my son to accompany us?" Lucien asked Ethan. "I began teaching him military tactics a few months ago and I believe this would be an instructive outing for him."

"Absolutely, though it'll get a bit tight on the airship with four." Ethan replied.

Taiven got a boyish grin on his face that was nearly infectious.

* * *

Sarah was determined not to go far from Ellis and Amy or the heavily populated thoroughfare. She followed Lady Ekthros to the edge of the very wide street but didn't follow the lady when she stepped off into what looked like an alley.

Lady Ekthros stopped and turned to look at her, a smirk on her face. "I thought not."

Sarah was about to ask what she meant when a large cart passed behind her. She glanced that way and her view of her traveling companions was blocked for several long seconds. That's when two large men slipped out of the cart and before Sarah could react, they grabbed her and one of them pressed a gloved hand over her mouth so she couldn't scream...

...but she wasn't afraid.

She should have been afraid.

Everything happening made sense for her to be afraid, but she wasn't. Under normal circumstances, she would've started panicking the moment the men grabbed her -- and even more so at her lack of reaction -- but she found that she couldn't panic. For some reason, right now she couldn't feel afraid. Her eyes widened as the two men dragged her quickly away and out of sight into the alley.

By the time the slow-moving cart had passed, they had already dragged her through a doorway into a building.

Why wasn't she afraid?

Why wasn't her demon coming out to help her?

Why?!

The two men dragged her into the building and she felt something being put on her wrist. Almost instantly her entire body felt sluggish and unresponsive. Suddenly, she found it very hard to move her limbs or to fight back. Then they put something on her other wrist and she couldn't control her body at all anymore; it went completely limp.

Paralysis cuffs.

It must be.

The two men set her down on a cleanish table and one of them turned her head to the side so she could see into the room.

The room wasn't very large, perhaps twenty feet long and fifteen feet wide. The entire place was somewhat dimly lit by light coming in through the windows which had been covered by cloth. No one could see in. The room looked somewhat dusty and smelled somewhat musty. It looked like there was a layer of dust on the floor as well.

Across from Sarah against the opposite wall, a large table had been set on its side, leaning so the tabletop was facing her. Strapped spread-eagle to the table was a young woman in her late teens or early twenties. She had been gagged and Sarah could see obvious signs of crying on her cheeks. Judging by her clothes, she definitely wasn't wealthy. Oddly, she had a small tattoo shaped like a five-pointed star on the inside of her right wrist.

"There, isn't that better dear?" Lady Ekthros said as she walked into view. Her tone and mannerisms reminded Sarah of the old woman who had cut the muscle fibers from her arm. Sarah had already been almost certain it was Lady Ekthros in hindsight, but she was certain now.

It was a lot of work for Sarah to just move her eyes to track her, so doing anything else was entirely out of the question.

Why wasn't she afraid?

She should be scared out of her mind right now!

"Are you comfortable dear?" Lady Ekthros asked with what seemed to be genuine concern. "You really should be comfortable for this because it'll be hard enough as it is. Would you like a pillow for your head? The hardness of the wood can't be comfortable." She looked at one of the men. "Bring me that blanket."

The man did and then she folded it, then carefully and gently lifted Sarah's head and placed part of the blanket under her head. It was more comfortable. While the woman was leaning over her, Sarah noticed for the first time that the lady had a few strands of silvery-gray hair amongst her auburn locks.

The girl strapped to the table whimpered.

"Oh don't worry, your part will come soon." Lady Ekthros said to her casually, then turned back to Sarah with a wide smile. It wasn't comforting. "First, I wanted to thank you for that oatmeal. It was even better than I remembered."

Almost on instinct, Sarah tried to say "You're welcome" but she couldn't get the words out with the paralysis cuffs on.

Apparently, the lady could tell. "You see, that's what I always liked about you Sarah; you're so polite."

Sarah didn't miss that she had said 'liked', past tense.

"But then you had to go and leave without saying goodbye." The auburn-haired woman continued, looking almost hurt and possibly a touch confused. "Why would a polite girl such as yourself do that?"

Sarah was almost glad that she couldn't respond because she wouldn't know what to say.

"Well, it's no matter now I suppose." The lady shrugged. "It's air through the engine." She cocked her head to one side. "Oh, you wouldn't know that expression. Let's say it's water under the bridge." She got a wide smile on her face that didn't look like it came from amusement. "Let's talk about your future instead."

Sarah tried to move or feel afraid, but she couldn't.

"Oh, I suppose you're wondering why your little problem didn't intervene?"

She tried to nod, but of course she couldn't.

Lady Ekthros pulled something out of her pocket and held it up so the innkeeper's daughter could see it. It appeared to be a glass vial with a needle at one end and a plunger inside of it. Sarah remembered the sharp, pinching feeling in her butt while she was walking not long ago and wondered if it had been that needle.

"An invention from home, though you have no idea how hard they are to make here." Lady Ekthros said, then smiled. "It's amazing how many compounds can relax a person so she can't feel fear, especially here. This one is my own little invention, something I made just for you. It suppresses fear and nothing else. You always thought you would be able to feel fear, and thus your demon would always protect you."

She leaned closer. "Do you still feel that way, dear?" Despite the kindly tone, it wasn't comforting.

Reflexively, Sarah swallowed.

"Oh dear, I think I might have scared you again..." She glanced at the needle. "...or not." The woman frowned. "Sorry about that. I heard you weren't so fearful anymore and wanted to see for myself. That's why I had you bring me breakfast." She paused. "You didn't think I stopped watching you, did you?"

Sarah had, but in hindsight, she really shouldn't have.

Behind them both, the girl strapped to the table whimpered again.

"You tipped your hand Sarah." Lady Ekthros continued. "You really shouldn't have been that careless with what you said at that breakfast. Fearlessness can be a bad thing you know; it can make someone reckless. You really should be more careful about that."

Oddly, it came across as serious advice.

Judging strictly by her tone, you might've thought she actually cared. Sarah felt her heart sink, knowing the woman was right.

"And those mental defenses of yours." The woman clicked her tongue several times like she'd caught Sarah in some minor wrongdoing. "What incredible work, some of the strongest I've ever seen in a non-mage. I take it Mage Weston helped?"

Sarah couldn't reply, but wouldn't have replied even if she could've because she didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

"He never did trust me." Lady Ekthros shook her head and then shrugged. "Oh well; you can't convince everyone. Even if your behavior hadn't told me, those mental defenses would have."

Sarah swallowed.

"It doesn't take a genius to know that those defenses are to protect your mind from me. I assume you know that I'm telepathic?"

Sarah tried her best not to react, but apparently the other woman could read her face anyway.

"I was only half sure, thanks for confirming that." The other woman said. "And if you know that I'm a mage, then I'm sure you know that your imprisonment was fake. And from there, you probably guessed that it was orchestrated by me. You might've even guessed the reason I orchestrated it."

Again she tried not to react, but apparently the lady could read her face anyway.

"I was afraid of that." Lady Ekthros sighed, looking disappointed and a bit sad. "I was hoping to keep you here and happy so you could live a nice, long, happy life. Sadly..." She took a deep breath. "I'm afraid that I can't have you telling anyone else about my little project."

Lady Ekthros pulled out a small... dagger?

Except it didn't look like any dagger that Sarah had ever seen.

It was long and extremely slender with no edge but a wickedly sharp point. The crossguard -- if you could call it that -- was barely two inches wide and the handle was barely large enough for a whole hand, even a small one. She once heard someone describe a stiletto and this looked exactly like that description. Sarah's eyes followed the stiletto, knowing that she was as vulnerable as anyone else without her demon protecting her.

"Oh don't worry dear, I wouldn't use this one on you." Lady Ekthros laughed as if the notion was absurd. "You're such a nice girl and the world would be better with more people like you in it. Besides, Lord Delmar has taken an interest in you and it would be too suspicious if you disappeared. We can't have him poking around or investigating what happened, can we?"

She would've shaken her head, but she couldn't.

Lady Ekthros paused, looked at the stiletto's point, and then chuckled as if she'd just realized something. "Poking around." She pointed to the stiletto's point. "No pun intended."

Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. The lady was laughing like someone who was amused by a childish joke might. The lady's mannerisms stood in stark contrast to the increasingly disturbing situation.

"No, I won't kill you; I have something else in mind." Lady Ekthros glanced at the girl behind her, who was still tied to the table.

The girl blanched.

At this point, Sarah would've been frozen even without the paralysis cuffs.

"I'm afraid that I had to go looking for a volunteer." Lady Ekthros said like they were discussing her favorite type of tea. "I had been planning to use Amy, but then she decided to go with you and it might raise questions if she went missing now, don't you think?"

The girl strapped to the table started struggling but she was too tightly held to escape.

Lady Ekthros walked over to her and said in a soothing tone. "Don't worry, I promise it won't hurt too much." She cocked her head to one side. "Well, actually it might; I've never had it done to me so I wouldn't know."

The girl started fighting harder, but could barely move.

"Here, this will help." Lady Ekthros pulled out a small glass vial, unstoppered it, put a few drops on a cloth, and then rubbed it gently on the girl's upper chest. Then the 'lady' glanced at Sarah. "I wouldn't want to forget the anesthesia again." Her face fell a bit. "I really am sorry about that and I do hope you'll forgive me." She looked at the other girl. "Both of you."

Sarah couldn't believe her eyes.

Well, she could believe them because she knew what Lady Ekthros was capable of, but seeing it in person... She tried to close her eyes, but couldn't. The paralysis cuffs blocked all voluntary movement while leaving involuntary movement intact. She could blink, but couldn't close her eyes.

She was being forced to watch.

"Do you know what the most vulnerable part of the body is?" Lady Ekthros asked almost casually as she fingered the stiletto.

When Sarah didn't reply -- because she couldn't -- the lady continued. "It's the heart." She touched the point of the stiletto to the girl's chest, right over her heart where she'd rubbed the liquid from the vial.

Sarah tried everything she could to move, to help, or to even close her eyes so she wouldn't be forced to watch.

Nothing worked.

The girl was struggling no less fiercely, though she didn't have paralysis cuffs so she could move...

...but she couldn't escape.

However, her movement caused the tip of the stiletto to draw a single bead of blood as she moved. Lady Ekthros shook her head, removed the stiletto, and then pointed toward the girl's wrist while looking at one of the men nearby. The man put a paralysis cuff on the girl and her movements drastically slowed, but she didn't completely stop moving with only one cuff. The man made to put on the other cuff but the lady shook her head.

"Leave that one off. It's better if she struggles a little." The auburn-haired woman looked at the girl, then put her empty hand over her chest and appeared to concentrate for a moment. Then she wiped the blood off of the girl's chest.

None reappeared.

"There, isn't that better dear?" Lady Ekthros asked the girl. "I wouldn't want your family to see a bloody dress when they find you; that would make some hard news even harder, don't you think? I don't want to make this harder for them; losing a child is already so painful." Her tone sounded sympathetic and consoling, and yet also wouldn't have been out of place if she were in a shop deciding on an accessory for some dress.

Lady Ekthros looked at Sarah. "Now, where was I?"

Sarah stared at her, utterly horrified.

"Oh right, the heart." The lady put the point of the stiletto over the girl's heart again -- right next to the sternum and between two ribs -- and then smiled at Sarah. "You see, people can endure almost anything if they have the heart for it."

She lifted the hilt of the stiletto so that it was pointing directly at the girl's heart.

The girl whimpered.

"Sure, you can attack the body, but if you really want to hurt someone, if you really want to make him vulnerable, you attack the heart."

She pushed the stiletto, making an inch of the tip disappear. The girl whimpered. A single tear came out of her eye as she tried to say something through the gag in her mouth while fighting the paralysis cuff. She was clearly in pain, so maybe the anesthesia hadn't taken effect yet?

"The heart is the thing." Lady Ekthros continued. "Nothing else is so effective."

She pushed a little more.

Sarah put forth a monumental effort to try and close her eyes.

It didn't work.

She couldn't close them.

The girl whimpered again and then let out a moan of pain through the gag.

Lady Ekthros leaned her forehead against the girl's forehead like a close friend or lover might and then she spoke softly, almost consolingly, to her. "Ssh, ssh, ssh; it'll be over soon, I promise. And I am sorry, I just need to teach Sarah here a lesson. I do hope you'll forgive me."

The girl let out a whimper and then a gasp of pain as Lady Ekthros started slowly pushing the stiletto deeper.

"A wound through the heart doesn't easily heal." Lady Ekthros continued, obviously speaking to Sarah. "Physical wounds fade with time, and even the memory of the pain does as well, but the heart..."

The stiletto bottomed out.

The girl's eyes rolled back slightly, her head drooped, and then it finally hung limply. The girl was utterly still. Sarah stared in horrified revulsion, not that she could do anything else.

Lady Ekthros turned to Sarah. "Have you ever heard of SIDS?"

Sarah obviously didn't reply.

"That's what we call it back home, SIDS: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome." The lady mused. "Such a clinical name for such a devastating event. You call it a 'crib death' here, not that the name makes losing a child any easier. It's when a baby dies for seemingly no reason at all. It usually happens in the first year, and it's more likely in the first six months."

Lady Ekthros cocked her head to one side, and it almost looked like she was idly thinking about something trivial as she spoke. "Conner isn't six months old yet, is he?"

Sarah blanched.

Her heart nearly froze over as she realized the implication.

Oh dear Illuminar in heaven.

No.

No!

Lady Ekthros made a thoughtful sound to match her expression. "And I hear that sometimes the mother -- especially a single mother with no husband and a recent tragedy in her life -- simply can't bear to keep on living after such a devastating loss." She clicked her tongue a few times and spoke in a light and calm tone. "So unfortunate when that happens, don't you agree, dear?"

If rage could've summoned her demon, Sarah would've beaten Lady Ekthros to a bloody pulp right then. For the first time ever, she wished that she could summon her demon at will. She wanted to. With everything in her, she wanted to make Lady Ekthros pay.

"Oh, don't worry; I haven't done anything..." Lady Ekthros looked her in the eye. "...yet."

Sarah glared at her, wishing she could shoot fire or arrows from her eyes.

"Whether or not I do depends entirely on you Sarah." The lady continued, again like they were discussing the weather or tea. She might've been utterly oblivious from her tone, but Sarah didn't see how that was possible.

Lady Ekthros continued. "You see, I would prefer that you were out of the way because you know things that you shouldn't. However, because you pulled that 'very noble'--" she rolled her eyes. "--stunt in the throne room yesterday, Lord Delmar will keep a close watch on you for some time. It would be... inconvenient for me to take care of you with him watching so closely."

She leaned forward, speaking almost cheerfully. "I'm actually somewhat happy about that because it means you get to live." She smiled a genuine smile. "Like I said, the world is a better place with people like you in it. So instead of killing you -- which would be a tragedy -- I showed you what would happen if you start talking."

Sarah stared at her, utterly horrified.

"I'm not completely unreasonable." She added. "You can tell people the official story -- what you originally thought was happening during your imprisonment -- but you won't tell anyone what you suspect or learned later about me and my activities. Understand?"

Sarah tried to nod but couldn't.

Lady Ekthros reached down and undid one of the paralysis cuffs. "Understand?"

It took Sarah rather a lot of effort with the other paralysis cuff still on, but she managed to nod.

"I know you're returning to your father's inn, and Ethan will almost certainly return there eventually as well." The lady continued. "You'll tell him nothing. In fact, you'll interact with him as little as possible if he does return. You've heard the expression 'give him the cold shoulder'?"

She nodded, again with difficulty.

"Ethan should think your shoulder came from north of the Calderan Mountains, or maybe the perpetual ice fields beyond them. The same goes for his wives, anyone traveling with him, or anyone who might be on his side. Understand?"

Sarah glared at her, but nodded.

"Good." Lady Ekthros said brightly. "I don't like killing people at the castle; they are all good people who make the world better and it's a lot of bother to clean up the mess without attracting suspicion, hence the demonstration." She indicated the limp girl behind her. "I wanted to make sure you got the point."

She paused, glanced at the limp girl behind her, and then chuckled, seemingly oblivious to how morbid and disturbing she was being. "No pun intended."

Sarah seethed, but couldn't do anything.

She looked back at Sarah. "Oh, and don't think you can talk to them discreetly, or slip them a note, or anything like that. I have eyes and ears everywhere -- especially where I think Ethan might go -- and I will hear about it. If that happens..." Lady Ekthros shrugged, palms up as if to say: 'What can I do?'

Sarah glared at her.

She stared daggers at her.

No, she stared swords, maces, and battleaxes at her...

...but she still nodded.

"Good." Lady Ekthros smiled brightly. "Now, let's get you back on the road, shall we?"

* * *

Ethan sat with Kendra beside him in the rear of her little airship watching Lucien discuss the terrain with his son. Taiven appeared to be having the time of his life as attested to by his wide smile.

"Father, how about there?" The boy pointed to a large hill that stuck up out of the surrounding terrain. Almost three-quarters of the hill had sheer rock cliffs a few dozen feet high and the rest of it had a long sloping hill. The rocks on the hill were angled so that they would provide cover to anyone defending the top of the hill, but much less cover to anyone attacking it.

"Why that one?" Lord Kalus asked his son.

"The rock face would mean they couldn't be flanked and it's an ideal defensive position." Taiven replied. "And since they would be above their attackers, their arrows would have longer range, preventing the enemy from using his archers."

Lucien nodded slowly before replying. "Would you send your army up such a hill to attack?"

"No father, they wouldn't stand a chance."

"Then why would your enemy do the same?" His father pointed out. "There is a fine line between good defensive ground and a position that is so impregnable that an opposing army will not attack it."

"Oh." Taiven frowned. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Keep looking." Lucien said. No one could've missed the note of fatherly pride in his voice.

Ethan glanced at Kendra and she smiled back at him.

"Will you do the same with our sons?" The dragon huntress asked.

"Um, I don't know much about tactics, but I would with the things I know."

"You should consider studying tactics." Lucien said as he continued to scan the ground around them. "Given your situation in life, such a study would benefit you."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Ethan conceded, again wishing that he'd spent more time studying that while on Earth. "I don't suppose you have a school for that or something?"

Lucien looked at him, got a subtle smile on his face, and then waved his hand at the land below him. "Where would you put the battle?"

Kendra chuckled.

"I should've seen that coming." Ethan chuckled as well, then looked over the side of the airship. "So, what kind of ground are we looking for anyway?"

"Ground that will allow a smaller but more skilled force to defeat a larger but less skilled force." The lord replied.

Ethan's mind instantly went to the famous story of the 300 Spartans. "So, we need a chokepoint then."

"But the enemy has arrows Mr. Ejder." Taiven spoke up. "We need more than just a choke point."

Ethan nodded, his pride taking a slight hit at being taught by a six-year-old. "That's a good point. So maybe we need a chokepoint where there isn't a long line of sight so bows would be less effective?"

"Or higher elevation so the Blue Circles can outrange the Red Hands." The boy replied.

"Or both." Ethan added.

Taiven grinned. "I like both."

Ethan grinned back at him and they both resumed looking for a suitable spot over the side of Kendra's airship.

"Also consider the location." Lucien said. "An ideal spot is useless if it is too far from both camps. Ideally, it would be somewhere between the camps."

"That's where we are." Kendra spoke up. "At least broadly speaking."

Taiven and Ethan spent the next few minutes scanning the ground below as the airship drifted through the sky. Ethan wasn't quite sure what he was looking for though. He kept thinking of the 300 Spartans and the Battle of Thermopylae and so he was looking for something like that, hopefully without the goat path that doomed the famous warriors by allowing the enemy to flank them.

"How long has your father been teaching you tactics?" Ethan asked the boy.

"Only recently." Taiven replied with pride. "Mama Lyra said I should just ask him every day until he relented."

Ethan laughed.

Lucien shook his head with a smile. "She seems determined to make my life as interesting as possible."

"You don't seem to mind." Kendra pointed out.

He smiled at her. "No, I do not."

"I know what that's like." Ethan smiled, thinking of the mischievous duo of Bee and Tee.

"Father, what about there?" Taiven asked, pointing to what looked like a blind canyon with an entrance that was heavily wooded. "The entrance would provide a chokepoint and it is close enough to the trees that the bows would be less useful."

Ethan spoke up. "True, but then the Red Hands could just use the trees as cover and pick the Blue Circles apart from good cover."

"Ethan is correct." Lucien confirmed when his son looked at him.

Ethan and Taiven went back to looking.

About ten minutes later, Lucien turned to Kendra. "Please stop the ship; we have arrived."

She did.

"You see something?" Ethan asked.

Lucien nodded. "I shan't give it away for the sake of my son's education, but will explain when he sees it."

Ethan looked over the side of Kendra's airship trying to determine which location Lucien thought was good. The ground below him didn't seem that extraordinary. There was a very large patch of forest on relatively flat ground for this area, two large, rocky hills with a narrow and winding valley in between, a long slope up to a different massive hill, and numerous small clearings and patches of forest on the large hills below them.

Ethan didn't see anything that looked like a good defensive position. Possibly the hills because they were rather rocky and devoid of trees, but they looked like they would be hard to climb. In fact, given the abundance of rather sheer rock faces they seemed like they would be impossible to climb without some time, which he didn't think was abundant in a battle.

"The valley father?" Taiven said after a minute, clearly confused and pointing to the serpentine valley that ran between the large, rocky hills. It wasn't very wide -- varying between fifteen and twenty feet or so -- and it was open-ended, so it seemed like a poor choice to defend because the enemy could easily flank anyone in it. To be sure it was narrow enough with steep enough walls to be a great chokepoint, but otherwise didn't seem like it had much else going for it. Its winding nature would limit the usefulness of a bow though.

"Yeah, I'm with Taiven." Ethan said. "It would be too easy to get flanked."

"And why is that a bad thing?" Lucien asked.

Ethan stared.

Taiven stared.

Even Kendra cocked her head to one side.

Finally, Ethan spoke. "I thought that was military tactics 101; don't get flanked."

"101?" Taiven asked.

Ethan explained and then looked at Lucien. "Wouldn't that be a bad thing?"

Lucien looked at the boy. "Think about your lessons and put it together son; why am I unconcerned about flanking in this case?"

The boy looked confused for several seconds, and then his face lit up as only a child's can do.

"Oh!" Taiven's eyes got wide as he nearly jumped up, rocking the small airship slightly. "It's because the valley is so narrow! They could create two lines of only a dozen men with their backs facing each other and thus couldn't get flanked."

Kalus nodded proudly at his son.

"But wait, wouldn't they be trapped?" Ethan asked, not quite understanding. "If the Red Hands come from either side, then the Blue Cirlces will be trapped in the valley without a way out; they'll eventually be worn down or simply run out of supplies."

Lucien looked at him. "If the plan were merely to make a stand in the valley, you would be correct. However, there is much more to a proper battle plan than that."

"Like what?" Ethan asked.

Lucien smiled.

The lord stroked his beard for several seconds and then looked towards the Blue Circle camp. "Would our orcish allies object to us visiting unannounced? I could explain on the way there and then we could see about convincing them that a good tactician is worth his weight in..." He paused. "I am not certain what the orcs value as much as men value gold."

Ethan shrugged. "A good bow maybe? A sheaf of arrows? Regardless, I don't think they will mind if we drop in. They already agreed to meet with you to test if you are 'strong in mind', and I said I would try to come by today."

"Father, what else is there to your battle plan?" Taiven asked with an obvious amount of boyish enthusiasm.

Lucien then began to explain as Kendra changed course, heading towards the Blue Circle camp.

* * *

"Ladies, we have a letter!" Beth called excitedly from the captain's cabin door and then dashed down the steps to the Argo's lower level where Alana and Rachel were. "And Alana, I think your arrows are here!"

The brunette and the redhead were in the room under the captain's cabin working with some cloth on an enchantment-stiffened leather table. The wood elf had a pattern next to her and was pinning it to the fabric while Rachel did the same with another pattern and another piece of fabric. It was the double-enchantable fabric of course since they were making the replacement dresses.

"A letter?" Rachel looked at her. "From whom? Elder Goman?"

Beth shook her head. "No, the script is in elvish so I think it's from the king of the wood elves, but there's something in the letter, look!" She held it up so everyone could see the slight bulge where the sealed letter contained something.

"Well open it!" Taloni called as she flew down the stairs; literally. Her wings were a blur and her feet didn't touch the floor.

Selene was close behind her as well.

"I think it's some kind of necklace." Beth handed the letter to Alana, having already felt it to try and guess what was inside.

The wood elf slipped her finger under the wax seal and broke it, then carefully slid the object inside into her petite hand.

It was a necklace.

It was lilac in color and the shade perfectly matched Taloni's dress. It was shaped like a lilac flower and had a long chain attached to it. It looked like the kind of thing you might find in a street vendor's shop and the blonde thought that it would go perfectly with Taloni's--

Tee gasped. "My necklace!"

Everyone looked at her confused, except Rachel who smiled.

Alana held it out to the Fey teen who took it and cradled it like a precious heirloom as she spoke to it. "I thought I'd never see you again." She beamed as she put it around her neck. It did indeed perfectly match her dress and fell to between her breasts, adding a bit of whimsicalness to her attire.

"I've never seen you with that necklace." Beth said.

"Rachel bought it for me in Nalatia, just before we met Kendra and we were ambushed." The Fey teen said as she spun slightly, admiring the way it looked on her. "I didn't have it when I woke up and it wasn't in the chest where they put all our things. I thought I'd lost it."

"It was found in the airship." Alana said looking at the letter. "He's mostly replying to our letter thanking him for the shields and chainmail. However, he said they found the necklace in the airship, and since no one else knew who it might belong to, they thought it might've belonged to one of us."

"Oh, my necklace." Tee beamed and almost sang as she nearly hugged herself, then looked at Rachel. "Do you still think that Ethan will like it?"

The redhead smiled. "As I said before: Ethan likes you, and that necklace is very you."

Tee beamed.

"And you said that my arrows came?" Alana asked.

The blonde nodded. "Yup. It looked like there's a dozen of them."

The wood elf grinned. "Okay, now it's time for my present."

Everyone chuckled and then followed her up the stairs and into the captain's cabin. Beth opened the drawer in which they kept the two portal stones and Alana pulled one of her new travel arrows out. The heads were wrapped with cloth and tied with a small string and there was a tiny note affixed to all of them.

"Enchant to be self-repairing before opening." Alana read.

"I recognized that writing." Rachel said. "That looks like Graflex from Arcanum; I remember it from the signs in his shop."

Beth's jaw dropped. "Graflex? The same master dwarven smith who made Ethan's weapons?"

"The very same, I'll bet Elder Goman paid him to do the work." Rachel looked at Alana. "Do you have enough mana?"

"I'm a bit low from enchanting earlier, but if you all donate some, sure." She replied, then frowned as she slowly touched one of the cloth-wrapped arrowheads. "These are elven steel heads with a thin layer of dragon steel over them. I can tell because of the enchanting density."

"That sounds like it would be amazing, right?" Selene asked.

Alana nodded. "It means the whole thing can be self-repairing, but the outer layer can also be enchanted to be harder and stiffer than would otherwise be possible." She grinned. "Once these are enchanted, there will be very little that they can't pierce with my new bow.

"Well hurry up so we can see them." Beth said as she put a hand on Alana to donate mana.

The wood elf untied the string several minutes later after finishing the enchantments but paused before she'd finished. "This cloth is enchanted to be cut-resistant." She frowned. "Those arrowheads must be incredibly sharp to warrant that."

Beth grinned. "Open it!"

Alana did.

The travel arrows looked much like Alana's current ones, only the shafts were much thicker and the arrowheads a slightly different shape. The old travel arrowheads had two blades and were much like a standard arrowhead you might use for hunting. However, the new travel arrowheads were different.

The new arrowheads were triangular in cross-section. They had three blades but the flats that would normally be between the triangular head had been scooped out to make the three blades even more acute and wickedly sharp. That was doubly true of the point. The blades ended in such a way that they wouldn't stick out if the shaft was coiled around the head. Even Beth's untrained eyes could tell that these would be devastating to whatever they hit, especially with Alana's powerful new travel bow and her incredible accuracy.

The wood elf carefully touched the edges of the arrowhead and whistled. "The only place I've seen an edge this keen is Ethan's sword."

"Do you have a safe way to store them?" Selene asked.

"I was planning to make a leather pouch that's enchanted to be self-healing and cut-resistant." Alana replied. "I suppose I should get that done before I finish the dresses."

"Speaking of, have you considered that your new dresses might need a little extra room in this area." Selene touched her own stomach over her womb.

"Yup." The wood elf said absent-mindedly as she examined the new travel arrow. "All the dresses will be expandable in that particular area."

"Do you have some kind of stretchy fabric?" Selene asked.

Alana raised her eyebrow and said with an amused smile. "Not like that 'elastic' that you've told us about, but women have been getting pregnant and making dresses for a few years now; we've learned a few things." She winked.

Everyone chuckled, including Selene.

* * *

Sarah walked with Amy and Ellis in a slightly dazed state after what had just happened with Lady Ekthros. She simply couldn't believe... No, she could believe it. The woman really was just that evil. Sarah had been worried that she might send one of her possessed soldiers to attack while they were on the road. That would've been bad, but this was so much worse.

"Sarah, are you okay?" Amy asked for the millionth time.

"Um, not really but there's nothing for it." She finally replied, not wanting to lie but not able to tell the truth.

"What did Lady Ekthros say?" The artistic girl asked for the dozenth time.

"It's..." Sarah hesitated, not sure how to phrase it without lying. "It was bad news but I can't share it. Sorry."

"Okay, but if I can help, let me know."

Sarah nodded and kept walking, not sure how she could ever get out of the situation that the lady had put her in. She couldn't say anything to anyone. Ever. Fiona and Conner were just too important to her. On the other hand, she realized that someone needed to know what Lady Ekthros was doing. Someone needed to figure it out because it couldn't be allowed to continue.

She had to be stopped.

But how?

How could Sarah stop her -- or even warn someone of the danger -- when doing so was signing Fiona and Conner's death warrant? She obviously couldn't tell Lord Delmar; the lord trusted Lady Ekthros too much and Sarah's word would mean nothing. She considered trying to tell Ethan because she was virtually certain that he was indeed a prophet at this point so maybe he could help. But how could she tell him without Lady Ekthros knowing?

Round and round her mind went, trying to figure out some solution to the problem.

She couldn't.

She was only half paying attention as Ellis chartered passage for the three of them and the animals on a large barge that was heading down the Bolavine River towards Ivernia's capital of Paliso. It was heading to the Southern Lands through the Gulf of Sayora beyond Ivernian's southern mountain range, but it would stop in several ports along the way. One of them was on the same thoroughfare that her father's inn was on. Being at the intersection of two trade roads had allowed her father to make a lot of money for an Ivernian, at least until her problem had scared everyone away.

She still wasn't paying much attention as she followed them onto the ship and she let Ellis take the animals and lead them below deck to their hammocks without comment. Sarah said a silent prayer of thanks to Illuminar for both Lord Delmar and Ellis; she didn't know how she could do this without them after what had happened with Lady Ekthros earlier.

Illuminar...

With her things stowed and the animals taken care of, Sarah wandered onto the deck of the ship and started praying in a whisper. "Illuminar -- blessed be you -- please, please help."

She felt her throat get tight and her eyes get watery.

She didn't know what else to pray.

It was all just so much.

* * *

Ethan hopped out of Kendra's airship with Lucien right behind him just after it had touched down outside the Blue Circle orc camp.

"And you're sure that battle plan will work?" Ethan asked.

"Of course not; almost nothing is certain in war." The lord replied. "However, I believe it stands a good chance of striking a decisive blow."

"Okay." Ethan nodded, not entirely convinced but willing to trust the man. Apparently his tactical expertise had almost single-handedly won a war seven or eight years ago, so trusting him seemed like a good idea.

Lucien turned to his son. "You will remain in the airship with Kendra; listen to her as you would me."

"Yes father." Taiven nodded.

"Come on." Ethan inclined his head towards the orc camp and the two men started walking.

Like the Red Hand camp, the Blue Circle camp was situated on a hilltop for defensive reasons. The largest central teepee was in the center and the other teepees were arranged radially out from it. As usual, a large number of orcs were milling about and doing various things. Several of the orcs appeared to be sparring while the goblins in groups of three were constantly getting up to some mischief or other.

Grobozlesh had clearly seen their approach and came bounding down the hill towards them with a huge grin on his face. The six-and-a-half-foot orc towered over both visitors, but his body language was the exact opposite of threatening.

"Tree elf wife finish bow?" The orc asked Ethan when he'd reached them.

Ethan almost asked Alana telepathically, but then remembered that he was trying to keep their group chat secret. "Not yet, but it should be any day now."

"Grobozlesh excite!" The orc grinned with unconcealed glee. He then turned to face Lord Kalus, his gaze more suspicious but also curious. "You tactician?"

"I am." Lucien nodded, then gave a small bow. "Lucien Kalus, Lord Regent of Timarou, at your service."

"Grobozlesh." The orc thumped his chest once. "I get clan chief; test you strength in combat."

"That is not a strong plan." Lucien replied.

Grobozlesh opened his mouth to reply, stopped, and then closed it again.

"Your clan chief is very strong in combat." Lucien continued. "While I am very strong in combat for a man, I cannot hope to defeat a strong orc like Drazglent in single combat. Fortunately, I am not here for my strength in single combat; I am here for my strength in tactics. Test the strength of my mind, not the strength of my body, for it is my mind that will aid you, not my body."

"Strong word." Grobozlesh grunted. "I get Drazglent, elders. They test you strength of mind. Wait." He pointed to the spot they were on. "Not strong, not enter camp."

"I shall remain here until you return." The lord nodded.

Ethan turned to Lucien after Grobozlesh left. "That was rather impressive."

The lord smiled. "Shara is an incredibly perceptive woman and has been trained in diplomacy since her youth. I have learned many things from her and the other members of my court. Foremost among them is the wisdom of adopting the language of those to whom you are speaking."

"Still, I'm impressed."

"Thank you." Lucien said.

The two of them waited about ten minutes before Grobozlesh returned with Drazglent and the orc elders. The elders were moving slower than the younger orcs and Hobdrizen was moving the slowest of all of them. The ancient orc took slow, plodding steps supported greatly by his cane. His wolf-tooth necklace rattled as he walked and gave the impression that it was the orc's bones making the sound.

Eventually they all arrived.

Drazglent did to Lucien exactly what he had done to Ethan; he stepped right up into Lucien's personal space and towered over him. Lucien was a few inches taller than Ethan, but the lord was still dwarfed by the immense orc. Apparently that didn't bother Lord Kalus because he took a small step forward into Drazglent's space. The dynamic was interesting as the two locked eyes. Lucien was as cool as a cucumber while Drazglent seemed slightly irritated that Lucien wasn't cowed.

"It seems your chieftain is more interested in gauging my posture than the strength of my mind." Lucien observed as calmly as he had spoken to his son earlier.

Drazglent grunted, clearly not expecting Lucien to take control of the situation so well.

"I suggest you commence your testing." The lord said to the chieftain. "Unless you see value in continuing to assess my posture."

Drazglent frowned but nodded and stepped back. He wasn't retreating, but somehow it came off more like a retreat than anything else. Despite Drazglent being twice Lucien's size, the smaller man had clearly come out on top in that exchange.

Ethan smiled.

"I have heard that you test the strength of someone's mind with riddles." Lucien continued, looking slowly around at the assembled orcs in a tone that seemed to indicate that he was bored. "Please begin."

"You not want to know our names?" Drazglent grunted, clearly not happy with how this was turning out.

The lord raised his eyebrow. "If you are not strong in mind, you don't matter. Prove that you are strong in mind and then I will remember your names."

Ethan knew that Lucien didn't actually think that way, but what he'd said definitely caught the attention of the orcs. They were all nodding their heads in respect, especially the elders.

"Strong word." Hobdrizen said.

"Begin." Lucien said. His tone was almost commanding and yet fell short of a command. Somehow, he had already taken charge of the entire situation in only a few minutes.

It was impressive.

"I come in night without call, I lost in day not being stolen. What I am?" Drazglent said after several long moments.

"What am I?" Lucien corrected. "And the answer is stars."

The orcs nodded at him.

"You ask." Hobdrizen said.

Lucien stroked his short beard for several seconds before speaking. "I crunch when without mercy I kill, and yet give life to that which is still; I greet the day with colorful light, and yet I come stealthily in the night; I will have arrived by dawn, and yet by noon I am gone. What am I?"

Nearly as one, all of the orcs frowned.

Ethan followed suit.

He had no idea.

He thought the riddle to his wives, then added: *Any ideas?*

There was a long pause, then Rachel replied. *None my lord.*

His other wives echoed her.

After nearly a minute of contemplative silence, Lucien spoke. "Well?"

Drazglent frowned.

Even Hobdrizen looked flummoxed.

*Dew!* Rachel finally thought to the group chat.

Ethan grinned. *I knew my wise redhead wouldn't let me down.*

A few seconds later, Hobdrizen spoke. "Dew. It is crunchy and kills plants as frost. It waters plants, that which is still, to give them life. It has color in sunrise but stealth at night. It is here at dawn, but the sun will make it gone at noon."

"Correct." Lucien inclined his head respectfully to the ancient orc. "And your name is?"

"Hobdrizen." The old orc gave Lucien a nod of respect. "Strong riddle, strong mind."

"It takes a strong mind to solve a strong riddle." Lucien indicated him.

"We ask next." Drazglent interjected. "We use very strong riddle."

"Proceed." Lucien replied, and it somehow came across like he was giving the orc permission.

Drazglent bristled.

Hobdrizen spoke. "I have one color but many sizes, I am stuck to ground but I fly; I am seen in sun but not in rain, I do no harm and not feel pain. What am I?"

Lucien took a deep breath and stroked his beard. He got a thoughtful frown on his face and it took him about ten seconds to reply. "A shadow."

"Strong mind." Hobdrizen nodded. "You ask final riddle."

Again, Lucien waited several seconds before saying his riddle. "I am greater than God and more evil than Saidow, the poor have me, the rich need me, and if you eat me, you'll die. What am I?"

"Saidow?" Drazlent said with a skeptical expression.

"The enemy of Illuminar, the Great God of light." Lucien replied. "Saidow was created by Illuminar and then rebelled against him."

The orcs nodded and Hobdrizen spoke. "We have different name for him."

"You speak blaspheme!" Drazglent growled. "You say one stronger than God."

"We can discuss that after you answer the riddle." Lucien replied calmly, almost dismissively.

It was interesting to see how the lord handled different people. He had been excellent company at dinner on the Argo, had given Matthew a challenge to help him grow, was a teacher and mentor with his son, and now he was incredibly strong when confronting the orcs. He remained himself throughout all of it, but he clearly tailored his approach to his audience and Ethan thought he could learn rather a lot from the lord.

Ethan relayed the riddle to his wives and almost instantly Rachel replied. *Nothing. The answer is nothing.*

Drazglent huffed and scowled at Lucien but didn't make any other aggressive moves.

After perhaps twenty seconds, Hobdrizen spoke up. "Nothing. That is the answer to the riddle: nothing is stronger than God."

"Correct." Lucien nodded.

Drazglent appeared to be fighting with himself for several moments before he too spoke. "You... not weak in mind."

"Not weak?" Hobdrizen put both his hands on his cane and leaned towards the orc chieftain slightly. "Merely, 'not weak'."

Drazglent scowled, but after a few seconds of the ancient orc's gaze, he nodded. "He... he strong in mind." He looked at Lucien. "You tactician, strong in clan war?"

"Indeed he is." Ethan piped up, figuring that it would be better if Lucien wasn't praising himself. "His clan was losing a war until he began to plan the battles, then his clan won the war."

Drazglent inclined his head in concession, but frowned nonetheless. "Strong tactician."

"A strong tactician is weak without strong fighters." Lucien replied and then looked pointedly at Drazglent. "I hear you are among the strongest of fighters, even among the other clans."

The orc chieftain grunted and his demeanor shifted slightly. He didn't exactly look happy, but he did seem less miserable.

That was good.

Interestingly, Grobozlesh had watched the entire exchange rather intently. The orc hadn't spoken but he was clearly paying a lot of attention, especially when the topic of tactics had come up.

"What happens now?" Ethan asked, rather eager to help stop the Red Hands from eating the miners.

"I would like to see how the orcs fight." Lucien said to the assembled orcs. "Knowledge of your fighting style would go a long way towards choosing effective tactics."

"I gather dozen orcs; they fight, you watch." Drazglent said.

"That would be ideal." The lord replied.

"Come." The orc chieftain turned towards the village and all the other orcs except Grobozlesh followed.

"You're not going?" Ethan asked him.

The orc shook his head. "I know how orc fight." He looked at Ethan for a long moment. "Can orc learn tactician?"

"I don't see why not."

Grobozlesh nodded his head slowly. "Groboz want become tactician."

Ethan didn't miss that he had said 'Groboz', not Grobozlesh. He guessed that had some significance but wasn't sure what it was. "Really? Why?"

The orc shrugged. "Groboz want."

Ethan got the distinct impression that there was more to it. "But why do you want it?"

"Make Groboz strong."

Hmm. Ethan frowned slightly. "But aren't you one of the strongest in the camp with a bow?"

The orc nodded.

"I understand that growing stronger is part of your culture, but this seems like more than that." Ethan said.

Groboz grunted and it sounded like he was agreeing, but he didn't explain.

Hmm.

Interesting.

* * *

Sarah had spent a large portion of the afternoon praying for help. It took nearly that entire time for her to notice the scenery around her.

It was gorgeous.

That really shouldn't have surprised her because Ivernia had some of the most beautiful scenery in the Ten Kingdoms, but it had. The large barge was currently floating down the Bolavine River, which was huge, almost a mile wide in several places. Karnas sat on both sides of one of the rivers feeding the Bolavine -- the one to the North -- but that tributary river was far smaller than the Bolavine itself.

The barge was currently only a few hundred yards from the shore and the nearby shore was lined with beautiful trees on one side and a small cliff face on the other. The cliff face was only a mile or two long, but the exposed rock was awesome in its majesty. Perfectly complimenting that were the trees on the other side which were as lush as the rest of Ivernia. She didn't recognize all the species, but they were magnificent.

The gentle rocking motion of the boat had a wonderful calming effect on her as well, at least since she'd calmed down enough to notice it. The wind was blowing gently, catching the barge's sails as it floated down the river. The river air was invigorating and helped to lift Sarah's mood, but nothing could restore it completely.

At almost any other time of her life, she would've loved this.

Still, it was somehow easier to trust Illuminar when surrounded by the massive river, rock faces, and trees. If Illuminar had created all of them, then surely He could help with her problems.

"Sarah?" Amy's voice came tentatively from behind her.

"Hi." She said as she turned to greet her friend.

"I made this for you." The artistic girl said, holding up a small piece of paper with a sunflower painted on it. "I only have a little paint, but you seemed like you could use some cheering up."

"Thank you." Sarah felt her eyes get slightly watery at the thoughtful gesture as she took the small picture. It was only the size of her hand, but it had an outsized effect on her mood.

"I um... I don't know what's wrong but I have been praying for you." Amy replied. "I think I heard Ellis praying as well."

"He seems like a good man." Sarah replied, still looking at the tiny picture.

"He's..." Amy hesitated. "I guess he is."

"Oh?"

Amy nodded. "I showed him my 'Honesty' picture and he said that he didn't know anything about art and so couldn't say if it was good."

"And that's bad?"

"No, it's not bad." The girl's face fell slightly. "People do that when they don't think it's good but they don't want to lie. I think he's honest, but not..." She seemed to search for the right word for a few moments before continuing. "...I like when people tell me the truth without honey-coating it."

"Okay, that makes sense." Sarah replied, grateful for something to talk about other than what had happened earlier. She leaned up against the railing and looked out towards the front, the Bolavine river stretching out endlessly before them.

"Did Lady Ekthros have really bad news?" Amy asked after joining her at the rail.

"She..." Sarah hesitated, not sure what she should say.

"It's okay, you don't need to tell me." Amy said when Sarah didn't answer. "I just can't believe that you know Lady Ekthros; she's such an amazing person."

"What?" Sarah looked at her friend, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"She interviewed me when I first came to the castle and I showed her my 'Honesty' painting when she asked what I like to do in my spare time." Amy replied. "She had the most perfect response that anyone has ever given me. I know all the servants think that she's not very nice, but I disagree."

Sarah held her tongue.

It was hard, but she did.

Fiona and Conner's lives depended on it. Besides, it was highly unlikely that Amy would ever meet Lady Ekthros again so there was little risk of her deceiving Amy about anything. Sarah assumed that Lady Ekthros had used her telepathy to know what was going on with Amy's 'Honesty' painting and thus had tailored her response to be exactly what Amy would want to hear.

*Just like she did with me.* She thought to herself.

"If I may ask, how did you two get to be such good friends?" Amy asked.

Sarah let out a half laugh at the absurdity of the question. "It's... it's a long story."

"Oh, well I won't pry then." The other girl replied even though Sarah could tell that she wanted to.

"We were imprisoned together." Sarah said after a moment. Lady Ekthros had said that she could tell the story, just not what she'd learned afterwards. "The Ivernians came to arrest me and she ended up being arrested as well."

As Sarah thought back, she couldn't believe how much things had changed.

How much she had changed.

She had been a weak, gullible, naïve girl not that long ago. She almost missed that, but as hard as life was now, she definitely preferred being aware to being oblivious. It was her naïveté that had landed her in this position to begin with.

"Oh, I've heard that can really make a strong bond." Amy nodded, then grimaced and asked in a tentative, halting way. "Was... was it as bad as I've heard some Ivernian prisons can be?"

Sarah shook her head, guessing that her friend was trying to tactfully ask if she had been raped. "No, they didn't do that."

"Oh good." Amy breathed a sigh of relief. "That would've been horrible."

"Aye." Sarah replied, realizing that she'd picked up one of Fiona's speech mannerisms. She kind of liked that though; it was a good reminder of the friend she didn't see anymore. She decided to keep that in her speech as a small memento from the woman who had helped her so much.

"I bet Lady Ekthros helped keep your spirits up." Amy added, obviously trying to cheer her up.

Sarah resisted the urge to both laugh and cry at the same time. "She was... well, it would've been hard to go through that alone." That much was at least honest.

"I'm sure. I'm glad she was there with you."

Sarah swallowed and sighed. There was so much that she wanted to say but so little she could say.

"I'm sorry, I can stop talking about it." Amy said from beside her at the ship's railing.

"I don't mind." Sarah replied almost automatically. It was even mostly true. It helped to have someone else talk about it, if only so she could think through everything that had happened. She felt like she had lived a small lifetime in the past few weeks.

She found herself wondering if anything that Lady Ekthros had said or done was genuine. As she thought about it, she could only think of two or three things that stood out, things that might possibly be more than just layers of deception.

Assuming that Lady Ekthros was the old woman who had cut the muscle out of her arm -- which seemed certain -- then Sarah didn't think her forgetting to use anesthesia was intentional. The woman had truly seemed apologetic about that. Then as an apology, she had taken her to the roof and given her a hot meal. While up there in the warming Ivernian sun, the woman had said that she didn't like Lady Ekthros very much.

Hmm.

That didn't seem fake.

Then there was the fact that while she was in the middle of her final deception about Ethan, a ray of sunlight had come in through the window and illuminated Lady Ekthros's face. When that happened, her dark grey eyes had lightened slightly to a more medium gray. She had told Sarah that she knew of at least one good man in Arcanum.

That didn't seem fake either.

The rest...

Hmm.

She made a thoughtful sound as she considered it.

"Copper for your thoughts?" Amy said, and Sarah realized that they had been standing at the railing for over a minute without speaking and that Amy had been patiently waiting.

Sarah was about to say it was nothing when she remembered one other thing that she didn't think was fake, and this one was something she could share. "I just remembered something. While we were imprisoned, Lady Ekthros would often say the name 'Adrian' in her sleep. She said it several times while sleeping but refused to talk about it when she woke up."

"Adrian." Amy repeated thoughtfully. "That's a very strange name; is it elven? It sounds elven."

"I don't know, maybe? I just remember how she said the name, like she was concerned for whoever this 'Adrian' is."

"Maybe he's a brother? Or perhaps a close friend?" The other girl suggested.

"Maybe." Sarah shrugged, not really knowing. "She seemed... well, she seemed more than worried though. She kept saying 'no, Adrian', like something bad had happened to him. And when that happened it looked like she was having a nightmare."

"Maybe he died?" Amy guessed. "Or maybe he was badly hurt? Or maybe he wasn't and she was having a nightmare that he was hurt. Or maybe she was remembering something?"

"Maybe." Sarah held up her hands, palms up as she shrugged. "I don't know, but it seemed like a very bad dream."

"I've had those." Amy looked down into the water.

"Me too." Sarah replied while mirroring the other girl's posture; right now, her entire life felt like a bad dream.

"But we eventually wake up from bad dreams." Amy said after a few moments. "I don't like having them, but eventually we all wake up from them.

Sarah gave her a small smile. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

"Please do, it really helps when life gets awful."

"You seem to be speaking from experience."

Amy nodded. "I... I don't want to talk about it, but even with everything with Tia and Mia in Karnas, my life was better in the castle at Karnas than it was before."

"Oh?" Sarah hadn't considered that possibility.

Amy nodded and then went back to looking at the scenery.

Huh.

She found herself wondering what Amy's life had been like before that being bullied by Tia and Mia was better.

* * *

Fiona took a deep breath before opening the door to their-- no, to 'her' room. Well, Conner lived there too but her friends didn't anymore. She loved her son dearly, but she missed her friends. Sarah more than Amy, but both of them. She hadn't known the innkeeper's daughter very long, but they had become quite close in the short time they'd known each other.

"Illuminar, I'd like to be thanking ya for bringing Sarah here." She said aloud. "Please be keeping her, Amy, and Ellis safe in their travels." She lowered her voice. "And please be protecting them from Lady Ekthros."

The copper-haired woman looked around the room, feeling the ache of loss again. It wasn't like it was with Sean. She had been bonded to her husband and his death had left a hole in her spirit like a part of her had broken off when he had died. Of course, she had heard that being bonded to someone made the pain of that person dying worse, but now she knew from personal experience.

She carefully removed Conner from the cloth wrap and set him down on the bed between two heavy pillows so he couldn't roll off.

Knock. Knock.

She frowned, who could be knocking?

She got up and opened the door, and her eyes widened slightly when she saw who it was. "Mage Weston?"

"The very same." He smiled genially. "A mutual acquaintance asked me to do a favor for her."

"Oh?" Fiona then remembered her manners despite her shock and stepped aside, opening the door wide. "Come in."

"Thank you." The court mage stepped in and looked around. "I was sorry to see Sarah go; she seems like a good and kind person."

"She is." She replied, closing the door after he entered.

"As she was leaving, I asked her if she could do a favor for me." The mage continued. "She said she would, but asked if I would do a favor for you in return."

"She was asking a favor for me?"

"Indeed." He nodded. "She mentioned that you had a letter, the last one from your husband -- Illuminar rest his soul -- that you wanted enchanted to be self-repairing so you would always have it."

Fiona felt her eyes get slightly watery. "She... she was asking for that? For me?"

He nodded. "She did."

Fiona put a hand over her mouth, scarcely able to believe... Sarah had really... She felt a huge smile growing on her face and a contented feeling in her heart. It still hurt losing her friends, but knowing that Sarah had cared enough to ask for that was just...

Wow.

"That's wonderful, but I can't be paying." She finally said.

"And given my agreement with Sarah, you won't need to." The mage said kindly and with a smile.

Fiona wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry happy tears. She did both in the end, and then she showed Mage Weston the letter so he could enchant it. That letter was doubly precious to her now; primarily for being Sean's last, but now also because of what Sarah had done for her. It was a reminder of both of them now and all the more precious because of that.

* * *

Kendra sat in her canoe-sized airship waiting for Ethan and Lord Kalus to finish their business with the orcs. Taiven was sitting opposite her on the other side of the mast practicing sword moves with a riding crop that he had borrowed from her since she always kept one in her airship; you never knew when you might need to ride. The boy was good for his age, though obviously not ready for real combat yet.

"Lady Kendra." The boy said as he stopped.

"It's just 'Kendra'; I'm not a lady."

The boy got an impish grin and said in a respectful tone. "Pardon me for saying so, but you don't look like a man."

Kendra chuckled.

She could see his father's confidence, his mother's refinement, and Lyra's spirit all present in him. It was a good and entertaining combination and she could see him becoming a good man when he was grown.

"Might I ask a question?" The boy cocked his head to one side and then corrected himself. "Might I ask another question?"

She nodded.

"Why does Miss Selene not want to stay on the Argo?"

Kendra swallowed but otherwise took care to keep her face neutral. "She wants to become a constable back where she is from; she cares deeply about helping other people and she thinks that's the best way."

The boy frowned. "But couldn't she help more people here by traveling with the prophet of Illuminar? Why would she leave when her friends are here and she could help more people here?"

It took rather a lot of self-control for Kendra not to start crying at the innocent question. She took a deep, calming breath that shuddered slightly before replying.

"I don't know, but that's always been her dream; I should support my friend when she chases her dream." Kendra found her throat getting tight and her mask of neutrality slipping somewhat.

Taiven nodded slowly, frowning thoughtfully as he did so. "But you don't want her to go?"

Kendra shook her head.

"Doing the right thing is important." The boy said, and she could almost hear his father's influence.

Kendra nodded, trying not to let her emotions show on her face or evidence of them collect in her eyes. The latter was more difficult than she would've liked. Her heart felt strangely numb. The thought of Selene leaving made her chest feel hollowed out. Empty. Well, not quite empty because of Ethan and her co-wives, but much emptier.

It reminded her of the final test in the wilderness survival training. She'd been dropped in the middle of the wilderness with no gear or supplies and forced to survive for a whole month. She had found almost nothing to eat the first few days and her stomach had virtually screamed at her because of how empty it felt.

This felt like that, only in her heart.

Taiven went back to practicing and she to waiting.

Ethan and Lucien finally returned some hours after they had left. Several long, lonely hours where she tried to keep her mind on anything other than Selene's impending departure.

"Lord Kalus is going to stay with the orcs for a while." Ethan said as he arrived.

Lucien nodded. "The orcs fight excellently in single combat, but less well as a coordinated line. I do believe a week is all I will need to teach them enough to win the battle ahead."

"So we're staying in Dotmeir for another week?" Kendra asked.

"Seems like." Ethan nodded.

"You said that the portal is in central Ivernia, correct?" Lucien asked.

"Yup." Ethan replied.

"That is only a two or three-day sail from here, depending on the wind." The lord pointed out. "You could drop Selene off at the portal and return before the battle commences."

Kendra tried not to react.

She had thought that they had more time, that Selene wouldn't be leaving until the orc situation was dealt with. But as much as she hated to admit it, Lucien's idea made excellent tactical sense. They needed to clear the threat of the orcs and also from Smithbond's nameless agency before they could properly focus on Lord Delmar and Lord Farbrottan. The idea made perfect tactical sense.

She hated it.

But it made sense.

"Let me think here." Ethan said aloud and then relayed the idea to the group chat. *Thoughts?*

No one said anything for several seconds.

Finally, Selene broke the silence. *I hate to say it, but that's probably a good idea. It's the most efficient way to do it.*

*I agree, but I had hoped...* Alana trailed off, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what she was going to say; she wanted Selene to stay longer as well.

*Me too.* Beth's tone was sad. *But it seems like a good idea.*

*Yes, but I wish it wasn't.* Taloni added with sadness in her tone.

*It's efficient but unfortunate.* Rachel added.

*Kendra?* Ethan asked after a pause and he looked at her as well.

*I agree.* She thought to everyone as she looked back at him. Lucien and Grobozlesh didn't seem to be paying attention to her, so she let her mask slip for her husband, but only for a moment.

*I'm sorry.* He thought to her privately with a sympathetic look, and then thought to everyone. *Okay, that's what we'll do then.*

And just like that, it was a plan.

It was all so sudden.

Too sudden.

She'd known it was coming for weeks, but it still seemed sudden.

Kendra vaguely heard Grobozlesh telling Lucien that he could stay in his tent and the lord asking Ethan to return his son and inform his wives of the situation before they were off.

The ride back to the Argo didn't help.

There wasn't a lot to be said so very little was said. Taiven and Ethan talked a little, but Kendra simply didn't feel like joining in. She landed on the Argo still feeling stunned; numb. She heard Ethan saying that he needed to escort Taiven home and let Shara and Lyra know, and also that he would let Matthew know that he'd be back before the next service at the Chapel of Illuminar.

That was all background noise though.

"Where's Selene?" The dragon huntress asked after stowing her ship properly.

"I think she's down in the lady's area." Taloni replied, then eyed Kendra closely for a moment. "Do you want a hug?"

She nodded, feeling her eyes get slightly watery again. It was a good hug and felt wonderful but Kendra didn't feel any better. She gave Tee a weak half-smile and then went to go find Selene. She wasn't even sure what she was going to say to her, she just wanted to see her friend.

Her best friend.

Her best friend who was leaving in a few days.

It was too soon.

It was too jarring.

"Hey." Kendra said after ducking through the blanket between the lady's area and the rest of the Argo's lower deck.

Selene looked up and half smiled. "Hey."

The caramel-haired beauty was sitting in what Ethan called 'Indian style' holding what looked like half of that 'gun' thing. The other half was lying next to her. She appeared to be cleaning the half she was holding.

"What are you doing?" Kendra asked, more to make conversation than anything else.

"Cleaning the Glock." She held up the rag. "I already did it once after I got to the Argo, but I figured I'd double-check since... well, you know."

Kendra nodded. "Want some help?"

"Sure." Selene half smiled and handed her the other half of the gun and another rag.

Kendra sat down and started cleaning it as best as she could, but it wasn't easy. "There's a lot of moving parts here." She said while holding the grip on the lower half.

"Yeah, but it's very reliable even if it is complex." Selene got a small smile on her face as she looked at Kendra. She held up the upper half. "This part is a bit simpler and made of a different material, but they work well together."

Kendra smiled and felt her throat get slightly tight. "Yeah. Yeah, they do."

Selene smiled back, though it was a pained smile.

They sat there cleaning for a few minutes, neither saying anything. When Kendra had cleaned it as well as she thought she reasonably could, not that it needed much cleaning, she offered it to Selene who took it.

"Looks good." The Brazilian woman reassembled it and racked the slide several times. "Sounds good." She slipped the magazine into it and then without racking it she set it in the travel bag she'd been wearing when she arrived in the Ten Kingdoms.

They sat there somewhat awkwardly not saying anything for several minutes.

"You know, we could clean and oil the swords in the storage room." Selene suggested. "I don't know how often that gets done and we wouldn't want them to rust."

Kendra half smiled. "That's a good idea."

They did just that.

They had just started pulling weapons from the rack when Kendra felt the Argo shift and then she felt it rising into the air. They were leaving Dotmier, heading towards the portal so that Selene could go home. The two women glanced at each other, held each other's eyes for a moment, and then went back to what they were doing.

Neither said anything.

They sat down next to each other and started slowly oiling and cleaning every single weapon in the armory. None of them needed it though. They looked like they had been freshly cleaned and oiled recently, probably by Serif. Kendra thought that Selene had probably noticed, but the caramel-haired beauty didn't say anything either. They sat side by side and slowly worked their way through every single weapon.

When that was done and the weapons were put away, they stood around awkwardly for several long moments.

"Do you want to spar?" Kendra asked when she could bear the silence no longer.

It was Selene's turn to half-smile. "Sure."

They did just that.

They spent a few hours sparring with each other, saying very little besides what was necessary to spar except Kendra occasionally offered a few pointers to Selene. Anthiel had finished making dinner and called the crew around by the time they had finished. The two women sat down next to each other to eat. Neither said much during dinner.

Both women stood after dinner, not saying much but just standing slightly awkwardly next to each other. It was strange, the birthday connection had been revealed only yesterday and now Selene was going home. It seemed like that revelation had accelerated Selene's departure. It really hadn't, but it felt like it had.

"I um, I could show some more of what I learned about hand-to-hand combat on Earth." Selene suggested after an awkward few moments of silence.

"Okay." Kendra nodded.

They did just that.

They practiced hand-to-hand combat until well after dark. Kendra's fellow wives and Ethan had long since gone to bed before they stopped, sweaty and panting from the exertion. Kendra had learned a few things, but she honestly didn't care right now.

Kendra and Selene walked to the door of the captain's cabin, Selene stopping in front of the doorway to the lower decks that was right next to it.

"This is me." The caramel-haired beauty said, indicating the doorway.

"This is me." Kendra indicated the captain's cabin door.

They stood there for almost a whole minute without either of them speaking.

"Night." Selene said.

Kendra nodded. "Night."

Neither moved.

Kendra could feel her eyes getting a bit watery. She gave her best friend a small, sad smile, and then slipped into the captain's cabin. She closed the door behind her and leaned her head against it, feeling like a piece of her heart had cracked off and fallen out, never to be repaired. She swallowed hard, blinked several times trying to clear the liquid from her eyes, and then sniffled a few times.

She took a long, slightly shuddering breath and turned, expecting to find her husband and wives asleep.

They weren't.

They looked like they were waiting for her.

Ethan stood up and opened his arms, Kendra rushed into them and held him tightly, maybe even a bit too tightly. He didn't complain. Her co-wives slipped off the bed and gathered around her, making her the center of a long group hug.

She broke down crying.

She couldn't help it.

Nothing in her training had prepared her for this. Nothing. The Aldmiri had turned her into a lethal killing machine but left her woefully unprepared for matters of the heart. The one friend she'd lost while in the Aldmiri had hurt, but nothing like this. The only thing she had to compare it to was losing her parents, but that was muted after all these years.

This wasn't.

This was fresh.

Raw.

It left a gnawing, groaning, gaping hole where her heart usually was. She felt like she might completely fall apart into a thousand pieces if Ethan and her fellow wives weren't holding her together. She certainly wasn't holding it together. She had long since stopped trying to stop her tears or sobs.

She couldn't.

"I think it's Kendra's night to sleep in Ethan's arms." Beth said after a few minutes.

Kendra shook her head. "No, it's your night Beth; Alana was last night."

The blonde gave her a sympathetic smile, her eyes also slightly watery and her voice cracking slightly. "No, it's your night; I'm sure of it." She sniffled and wiped her eye.

Kendra tried to say 'thank you', but broke down with another round of sobbing instead. She couldn't remember ever crying this much. Ever. Certainly not since she was a child or so openly with others around.

She just couldn't stop.

Eventually, Ethan picked her up and laid her on the bed, climbing onto it and wrapping her in his arms immediately afterwards. The tears never stopped coming. She sobbed less, but she still felt like she must be soaking the sheets and Ethan as well. He didn't shy away; he just held her, occasionally kissing her head or telling her that he loved her and would be there for her.

That's how she fell asleep, crying in his arms.

* * *

Selene wiped her eyes for what felt like the millionth time, trying to clear the saltwater that was so insistently leaking from them. She felt like she must've left a wet spot on the hammock by now. She wiped them again, not liking how she was reacting. This wasn't her; she didn't get all weepy from goodbyes, no matter how little she wanted them.

Thor was laying on her chest as usual but he didn't seem particularly sympathetic. Instead, he was looking at her almost reprovingly.

"What?" She blinked another few tears out. "I don't really have a choice; I have to try to deal with the portal on Earth."

The kitten -- who was seemingly growing larger by the day -- cocked his head to one side as if he was convinced but not liking it.

"And I have to stay on Earth afterwards." She continued, the tightness in her throat making it slightly uncomfortable to speak.

Thor let out a decidedly disagreeable meow.

"What? I do." She said defensively as she wiped her wet cheeks again.

Thor gave her what was undeniably a skeptical look before he laid down on her chest and snuggled in between her breasts as usual. She wiped her eyes again, but doing so mid-stream did little to dry them.

That's how she fell asleep, crying as Thor snuggled on her chest.

* * *

Beth sighed as she concentrated on healing the needle poke that Rachel had just given her. Practicing healing was not only painful but also really boring and rather hard. They were mostly donating their mana to Alana to enchant the shields and dresses, but a bit of healing practice had somehow snuck in anyway because they could regenerate their mana faster than Alana and Rachel could make the dresses. The blonde wasn't pretending that she was happy about it. It took a lot of her focus to close the wound and a lot of mana as well. It was after breakfast and the ladies were all practicing their healing skills, Selene included.

Kendra and Selene were practicing on each other and seemed determined to avoid talking about their impending parting for as long as possible.

"You're getting better and faster." Rachel observed when the blonde had finished.

"Thank you. I know I might need to heal someone eventually, but I really hate this."

"Me too." Rachel gave her a knowing smile, then raised the needle again. "Ready."

The blonde groaned, then nodded.

"Actually, hang on." Ethan interjected as he approached. "Beth, can you spare a few minutes to talk?"

"Thank you Dominus!" She jumped up and away from the needle.

He chuckled and then led her away to the bow of the ship. "I wanted to see how you were doing. You were really in a bad way after that airship fight until you talked to Kendra. You seem like you're still doing fine, but I wanted to make sure and also ask what you two talked about."

"I'm okay Dominus." She smiled, then related about her conversation with Kendra and why she had been so bothered, as well as what Kendra had said about sheep, wicked sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.

"Hmm, wicked sheep." Ethan mused when she had finished. "Interesting. I've heard the sheep, wolves, sheepdog thing before on Earth, but never the bit about wicked sheep."

"That was the part I needed to hear." The blonde explained. "I was worried that I'd helped kill innocent men, but Kendra helped me to see that someone can be wicked without intending to be; someone can be wicked without being malevolent. When that man asked if I was an angel, I... well, I was worried I had helped to kill a good man."

"Ah." Ethan nodded his head. "And that's why you asked me to stop calling you angel. That makes sense."

She nodded. "But, it doesn't bother me now. And I like that you have a name just for me."

"Oh." Ethan nodded his head up and down as if he was thinking deeply, but something made her think that was an act. "Then I suppose it might be okay if I called you that name again."

"It would." She beamed.

"Okay Beth, I can do that."

"I would like that."

"Oh good." He continued the mock-pensive expression. "I'll have to keep that in mind..." He locked eyes with her. "...Beth."

She sighed. "Dom-i-nus."

"Yes Elizabeth?" He replied with a mischievous grin. "Was there something you wanted Mrs. Ejder?"

"I still can't believe that's my last name; I'm a 'Mrs.' now." Beth said, shaking her head as she did so. "That's just so weird. People could call me Mrs. Ejder and that's my actual name. I like it, but it's weird."

Ethan chuckled. "You think that's weird, remember that I come from a place where polygamy is banned. I now have five wives and will eventually have seven; that's just nuts."

Beth nodded and there was a comfortable silence for a few moments.

"Hey, Angel." Ethan said softly.

Beth beamed, her heart inflating and going all warm and gooey inside. "Yes Dominus?"

"I'm glad you're doing better."

"Me too." She looked at Selene and Kendra, who were now gearing up to spar. "Kendra isn't though. Will she be okay?"

"I think so, eventually." He replied. "I know this is tearing her up inside though."

"Yeah." Beth nodded. "She helped me so much, I just want to help her in return."

"I know the feeling." He replied. "She's great on the battlefield, but with matters of the heart..." he shook his head slowly. "I think this is one of those things that we'll have to hope time will heal."

"I wish Selene didn't have to leave." The blonde teen said after a moment.

"Me too Angel, me too."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, not saying anything but just leaning up against the railing next to each other. Her husband looked contemplative as he scanned the Ivernian countryside. Beth didn't know what to think. The idea that Selene might truly leave their lives permanently was just...

Just...

It didn't seem real.

She'd become so much a part of their lives lately that the idea of her leaving just didn't sit right with the teen. She couldn't argue with Illuminar and the birthdays were rather telling, but still... She looked at her husband and he also seemed deep in thought.

"Copper for your thoughts?" She asked.

He looked at her. "I was thinking that without Selene, we're down not only a wonderful woman but also a good fighter." He frowned. "I guess we'll have to be more careful about the kinds of fights we get into. I guess it's a good thing that Kendra gave you that perspective because I might need my angelic scout soon."

"I like that." She smiled at the phrase 'angelic scout'. "For the longest time, I felt like there wasn't much I could contribute, but now I can. I just wish..." She frowned.

"Wish what?"

"Well, you needed to fly me to those airships." She explained. "You also needed to fly me down so I could scout around the orcs when we first met them. I wish I didn't need you to take me everywhere."

Ethan grinned. "Ah, so my angel wants wings."

She smiled. "That would be amazing."

"It's no problem, I'll run to Earth and get you a Red Bull; problem solved." He winked.

"Huh?" She stared. "Why would a bull be able to give me wings, and why would it need to be red?"

He explained the energy drink's slogan and ads, after which she chuckled. "Your world is so strange."

"Not really, you grew up there." He looked at her pointedly.

"You really consider the Ten Kingdoms your world now?"

He nodded. "Almost everyone I care about is here, you ladies are from here, and I'm making friends here. In fact, I have more and better friends here than I ever had at home. I miss my parents, but besides that, I don't miss Earth very much."

She kissed him.

It seemed like the natural thing to do. The fact that he considered the Ten Kingdoms home and didn't want to move back to Earth just made her feel all warm and cozy inside. She added a little tongue to the kiss too.

"Mmm." He smiled when the kiss ended. "Not that I'm complaining, but what was that for?"

"For you being you." She smiled.

"I should be me more often then." He grinned.

She glanced at the captain's cabin door and gave him a sly smile. "You could be you right now."

"You just want to get out of being poked."

"Oh, I really hope I don't get out of that Dominus..." She said with a twinkle in her eye.

He grinned back.

* * *

"It's too sudden. It's too abrupt."

Ethan looked at his fifth wife standing next to him as they stood at the bow of the Argo. She had fallen asleep crying in his arms the day before yesterday, spent almost the entire previous day with Selene, and now they were coming up on the rendezvous point where they would meet Luminar Kossel, not far from the portal and very close to Sarah's inn. He would've been lying if he said that he wasn't looking forward to seeing her again. They had made the two-day sail from Dotmier in near-record time thanks to some excellent wind and now the meeting was imminent.

He could see the airship on the horizon.

"It does seem quick." Ethan nodded. "Hell, it seems so abrupt that it's jarring."

Kendra nodded, but didn't say anything else and her face didn't reveal anything either. She had been like that since she'd woken up the previous day. Her mask was firmly in place. He would've thought she was fine if he didn't know her so well. He had noticed that she had been getting up with Taloni to read the book of light with her in the mornings and that seemed to help a little, but not nearly enough.

"Kendra, I'm always here to talk." He offered, knowing she wouldn't but wanting to offer anyway.

She looked at him, swallowed, tried and failed to smile at him, and then raised her enchanted spyglass to look at the airship on the Horizon.

"That's... That's the Midnight Sun." Kendra said after a few moments.

Ethan trained his dragon eyes on the airship on the horizon as he replied to Kendra. "You know the ship?"

"It's Falkaan's airship." The dragon huntress replied as she stared more intently at it. "I guess Luminar Kossel decided to hire him to make the trip."

"Hmm, isn't that the guy that led those mercs to attack us in Arcanum; you know, when Beth died?"

Kendra lowered the spyglass. "You said yourself that he ordered the men to let Rachel go."

"True, but you're sure he won't turn us in?"

"Not if he's with Luminar Kossel." Kendra replied. "They go way back from their Aldmiri days and they trust each other. Well, as much as two Aldmiri can. Kossel might be infuriating occasionally, but seems genuinely interested in helping us, his request to capture Lady Ekthros instead of killing her notwithstanding."

"Okay, I'll trust you on that." Ethan replied. He wasn't entirely reassured, but he knew Kendra would rather die than put their family in danger.

He turned and walked back towards the rear of the ship where everyone else was. His wives were practicing healing each other again today, which of course meant they were somewhat grumpy right now.

"Dominus, why aren't you practicing healing too?" Beth asked somewhat grumpily.

"Because I've been enchanting myself to increase my speed." He replied. "And I can't just get more mana like you ladies can, you can get it whenever you want."

The blonde grinned mischievously. "I can get 'it' whenever I want?"

"Trying to get out of it again that way?" Ethan chuckled and then assumed a mock-fatherly tone. "Not until your healing chores are done young lady."

"Oh, I slacked off on those." The blonde replied in a mock-guilty tone. "I should be thoroughly punished for that."

He chuckled. "later."

"Master, we could donate mana so you could practice healing." Taloni suggested with a grin. "There's no reason you need to miss out..."

He sighed. "Damn, that's a good idea. I can't use donated mana to enchant myself, but I bet I could heal with it." He thought about it for a few moments and then nodded. "Crap; I really should practice that."

"I'll happily donate my mana so you can Dominus." Beth volunteered.

"But that would make you a good girl, and good girls don't get punished." He grinned wickedly.

The blonde playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"Perhaps you should start training a little later." Rachel suggested. "We'll be in range to dock with Luminar Kossel's airship soon."

"Good point." He looked at Kendra as something occurred to him. "You said he was one of your instructors, right?"

She nodded. "He mostly taught the Book of Light, though occasionally he would teach while we were sparring."

"Sparring? Is he any good?" Ethan asked.

"I tried to punch him once, right after our fight in The Arena." The former Aldmiri replied. "I ended up flat on my back with the wind knocked out of me and no idea how I got there."

He raised his eyebrows. "Hmm, that's pretty impressive." He turned to Serif, their resident nigh-invincible duelist. "How would you fare against him?"

"Not well." The wiry man replied.

"You're kidding." Ethan replied.

Serif shook his head. "Taloni has a greater chance of defeating me than I do of defeating him."

Everyone stared at him.

"I knew he was good, but you're the Serif." Kendra looked at him. "He's really that good?"

"We once called him 'Balyeerah'." Serif replied.

Several people chuckled, Kendra seemed surprised, and Selene looked as confused as he felt.

"Um, could someone clue in the non-Ten Kingdoms natives?" The Brazilian woman asked.

"Tradition says that 'Balyeerah' is the name of Illuminar's Angel of Death." Taloni replied in an awed whisper.

"Oh." Ethan said as the full impact of that nickname hit him. The Angel of Death? Luminar Kossel had been nicknamed after the Angel of Death?

That was quite a statement.

"Well, he wasn't exactly the angel of death." Serif said.

"Yeah." Raklan grunted. "He was the guy you sent to kill the fucking Angel of Death."

Serif inclined his head in concession.

Ethan stared at the nigh-invincible duelist for several seconds before speaking. "You're not kidding."

"No, I am not." He replied.

*So, Luminar Kossel versus Chuck Norris?* Selene thought privately to him.

He chuckled, which of course led to him repeating what Selene had said, which then led to them explaining the various Chuck Norris jokes, and then to the Earthlings reciting as many as they could remember. The ladies seemed somewhat confused by them but that didn't stop them from laughing.

"Captain." Anthiel called from the quarterdeck above them. "The Midnight Sun is signaling that we should come alongside to dock."

"Make it so." Ethan said in what he thought was a rather good impression of Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Not long afterwards, the Argo and the Midnight Sun had drawn alongside each other. Serif and Raklan threw docking ropes to the other ship and then once they were reasonably secure, they threw another rope. The rope was pulled over to the Midnight Sun, dragging a flexible leather walkway with it. Once it was secured to both ships, Serif activated it and it became quite rigid, allowing for easy travel between the two airships. The sides folded up for safety and rigidity and it was wide enough to make travel easy and safe.

Once it was attached, Luminar Kossel hopped onto the far end with rather more spring in his step than most people his age. He looked to be in his late fifties or perhaps early sixties and was in excellent shape. His head was somewhat balding and what remained of his hair was gray. He wasn't wearing Luminar's robes, but rather a set of practical clothes that would blend in almost anywhere.

Perhaps it was what he had just learned, but Ethan thought that there was something rather tough-looking about the man. He reminded Ethan a bit of the rough and tough heroes of the old Spaghetti Westerns. However, the man's eyes were warm and his smile genuine.

He called as he stopped just before boarding the Argo. "Permission to come aboard?"

"Granted." Ethan smiled, trying to remind himself of all that the man had done for him and his family instead of dwelling on what he had just learned. Ethan made the introductions to everyone since Luminar Kossel had only met himself, Alana, Rachel, and Kendra.

"And this is Selene Dawson; she's from Earth like we are." Ethan finished.

"From Earth?" The priest smiled. "Then in that case..." He stood up a little straighter and spoke in a near-perfect imitation of James Bond: "The name is Kossel; Adrian Kossel."

* * *

~~EPILOGUE for Chapter 53

"Here you are Lord Delmar." Fiona said as she set his lunch down in front of him on the desk.

"Thank you." He replied without looking up or ceasing to write. He did that a lot. From what she understood, he used his mealtimes for such writing because the rest of his time was occupied.

"If I may?" She added after a moment.

He held up one finger on his left hand, finished writing a sentence, then struck the ink off the quill, put it in its holder, capped the bottle of ink, and then looked at her. "Proceed."

"I was just wanting to say that I'm really appreciating what you're doing for Sarah; helping her with her journey and all."

Lord Delmar inclined his head in acknowledgment but didn't say anything else.

"That was all, I'll be going now." She curtsied and then turned to leave.

However, she hadn't taken more than a step when the door to his office burst open and Lady Ekthros rushed in, ignoring her and heading straight for the lord's desk.

"My scout just portalled a letter; he's returned." Lady Ekthros said to him, slightly breathless. "He met and docked with another airship that has been in the area for some time now."

"Do you have assets in the area that are sufficient to the task?" The lord replied. Somewhat uncharacteristically, he had leaned forward slightly in his chair at the news.

"My scout isn't and the closest assets are almost a day away when accounting for the time necessary to get a message to them." Lady Ekthros replied.

Lord Delmar made a thoughtful sound and stood. He took a long look at the tapestry of Helene before turning and walking to the window, then staring out of it towards Ivernia to the south for several seconds.

"I will personally see that it is handled." Lord Delmar finally said.

"Personally?" Lady Ekthros asked with surprise in her tone.

The lord nodded once. "Tell my steward to clear my schedule until tomorrow morning."

"It will be done." She replied. "Also, I'm leaving on that fact-finding mission in a few hours; I'll be out of contact for several days."

"Very well." Lord Delmar replied dismissively.

Lady Ekthros hurried out of the room, sparing only a moment for a piercing look at Fiona before exiting, leaving the copper-haired woman alone with Lord Delmar once again.

"You heard nothing." He said after a few moments, still looking out the window towards Ivernia to the south.

"Aye, Lord Delmar." Fiona curtsied and left, saying a silent prayer to Illuminar that the lord would be successful in whatever mission he and Lady Ekthros had been referring to.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Note: This chapter began on day 99 of Ethan's life in the Ten Kingdoms and ended on day 102. 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 January 31st, and it'll probably drop on February 2nd or 3rd.

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