The Quantum Wanderer

After breakfast, the girls stay around, chatting. When the sun right up, they go to our room and get dressed, some very girly clothes. They take a long time dressing, and it was apparently Cecilia that pressured the other girls to dress up.

They come back down, and I open a portal to the room we usually use in the demon’s palace. The guards at the door go away to announce our presence. Some time later, Aisha and Rajesh get in the room. We are sitting on the couches, waiting for them. I poured myself some of the liquor.

“Good afternoon, friend! Ladies…” Rajesh announces himself.

“Good afternoon, madams…” Aisha does a little courtesy.

We all stand up, and I bow to both of them.

“Good afternoon. How are you?”

“I am well. I hear you have been busy…”

I giggle.

“What have you heard?”

“There is a whole study trying to figure out what was the ‘or else’. The whole dwarven exodus is being record in the holy scriptures.”

I giggle again. That was part of it. Things just seem to happen.

“Excuse me, may we go to the tea party?” Aisha asks.

“Of course.” Rajesh answers, and I nod.

“This way, please.” Aisha leads the way, and the girls are behind her. Rajesh and I stay behind. He gestures towards the couch, and I sit down. He pours himself some liquor, and sits on the couch in front of me.

“So, what have you been up to?”

“Well, a lot has happened. There was that episode. It kind of pissed me off.”

“But… Do you know why the dwarves have been leaving the cities?”

“Yes. You do know that their cities are under the ground, right?”

“Yes, we do know a little bit about that. Though that’s about as much as we know. No one has ever… gone… there…”

My smile is the answer.

“I don’t mean to pry, but what can you say about them?”

“I can only say what you already know. They are extraordinary craftsmen. The females have beards as well, but the females’ beards are with soft, straight hair. Their cities are a wonder of technology. But that’s about all I am allowed to say on that.

“Back to the matter, there is something that you are going to learn soon, they have recovered a couple of cities that were lost, and now they have further space for their people. Some of their people that were around here just went back to their lands.”

“That is very interesting, indeed. I did not know. How did they regain the cities?”

“I helped them a little. Ants and termites are a complicated pest.”

I giggled. He giggled as well.

“That’s a way to put it.” He scratches his chin. “How long did you take to clean a nest?”

“Somewhere close to an hour…? I didn’t do it alone, though. Mainly Ruby, she likes to exercise.”

He laughs. “That is a way of putting it.”

I shrug.

“And after that…?”

“Well, you already know about the thing with the spies in the guild. There was a marriage of a friend of mine, in Shoria.”

“Don’t tell me you are friends with the new baroness.”

“Yes, that kind of happened.”

He laughed some more. “You do realize you have some really bad luck, right? My life has been a war ever since I was born, and it didn’t have a fraction of what you go through.”

I laughed. “Yup. I caught myself thinking about that the other day. The gods must enjoy messing me up, apparently.”

“Did you get involved with the incident? I received a report on it, but I have to confess that I don’t pay that much attention to everything that happens on the human side.”

“This cannot leave this room, but the mom tried to poison us. You should see how pissed Opal was. The father didn’t know better, he tried to prove that the wine wasn’t poisoned… Then the rest happened. The kid that married Hikari tried to use her as a hostage. I didn’t even had to kill him.”

“Wow. That story is just juicy. It feels like the pettiness among the humans have just been escalating up recently.”

“I can’t tell about that. I haven’t been around all that much.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. The war has been improving for us. We are taking additional fortresses. The empire has been a lot less eager on sending troops lately.”

“Do you think of pursuing peace with humans?”

“Depending on the conditions, of course. Water availability removed the main reason that we had for it. Our lands are becoming more fertile. The war is going on for generations, so it is not going to end before we transform our lands. I don’t think we will ever be able to coexist in the same city, though. Too many painful memories. Perhaps some generations down the line.”

“And what other news do you have?”

“Sidhu’s church has been expanding. A lot. Every major city now has a church for the Great Adventurer.” He giggles. “I am really honored of being able to talk to a god.”

I sigh. I know I will never be able to get rid of this joke. He continues.

“There has been an issue with the place the dragons landed. Now it is considered sacred. After the first few cases of people collecting stones, or a piece of hardened soil, people actually stepping on it is now forbidden. I have to worry, if someone learns that you went to the toilet, they might actually dig it out.”

We both laugh.

“How is Sidhu doing?”

“He is very happy. He has been developing magic healing out of nowhere. Is it something you granted him?”

I shrug.

“This school of magic has more to do with the person’s faith than the deity. For all objective purposes, I am not sure that Wrax or Nergal exist. But the belief and the kind of vibrations it brings out actually has this kind of effect.”

Rajesh scratches his chin. I am not sure he is completely convinced. But I am not really all that concerned with it, this is not going to change anything.

“And by the way, you left me with a big problem…”

“Really? What?”

“Rutra has been asking me for a crow. She promises to take good care of it.”

I giggle a little. I turn to Huginn, she is better for this kind of thing. Muninn tends to be an overall prankster.

“Do you know of any that would like to accompany her?”

Huginn closes her two eyes, and opens her third. The image is kind of impressive, actually. Rajesh and I are looking at that attentively. After what would be a long conversation pause, she opens her eyes, and transfers a view to my head. It is the senses of a young crow, in a forest. He is the weakest amongst his brothers, and he has been loosing some of the fights for food. I hear him caw from his own ears.

I open a portal for him, just the size for him to jump through, on the table. He jumps in.

“This little fella is young, he is going to appreciate your hospitality.”

I can sense the gaze coming from the door by the guards. Rajesh turns to them.

“You! Bring Rutra.”

The guard gets out of the stupor, and leaves the room. Rajesh turns to me.

“Is this one tame?”

“Yes, Huginn would not have chosen him otherwise.” Huginn caws at me. “Her.” I giggle.

Rajesh giggles as well. He reaches slowly towards the crow, that jumps on his hand. I turn to him.

“You probably want to feed her. She is probably hungry.”

“What should I feed her?”

“Meat. The higher level, the better.”

He turns to the other guard that had stayed by the door.

“You! Go to the kitchen, and request some Fenrir meat from them. Tell them that it is for the imperial messenger! A crow gifted by the Great Adventurer!”

The guard’s eyes were bulging.

“GO!”

And then he went running. After he left the room, I was laughing. Muninn too. After a couple of minutes, a demoness brings Rutra in. The woman kowtows on the floor. Rajesh sighs.

“You may stand up.” Rajesh says.

The woman stays in the position. Rajesh turns to me. “Please?”

I look at the woman, intrigued. “You may stand up.” I say, and then she stands up. Rutra enters the room and sees the smaller crow on the table.

“Papa… Is… Is that…?”

“Yes, dear. I talked with sir Marcelo here, and he found a crow that would want to live with you.”

The kid has the mouth agape. She starts jumping and running towards us. Rajesh puts his hand on the way.

“Slow down, or you might hurt her. She is frail, if you fall on her you might even kill her.”

Now Rutra is walking very slowly and cautiously towards the crow. She gets closer, and Rajesh puts his hand close to Rutra’s. The crow jumps to the girl’s hand. Rutra starts petting her on the chest, with all the care in the world. Huginn caws, she is apparently approving it.

“What is her name?”

“You have to pick one. What will her name be?”

Her little face lights up. “Shanti.”

Huginn caws, she apparently approves the name. The guard that had left for the kitchen returns with a plate with meat and a knife. Rajesh shows Rutra how to cut the meat in stripes, and gives the meat to the kid, so that she can feed the bird.

“And remember, dear, she is part of your world, but you are her whole world. You are getting a lot of responsibility, we are all believing that you are going to take good care of her.”

“Yes, papa.”

Rutra feeds Shanti until she is full. The girl than sits on the couch, and the bird kind of nests on Rutra’s leg, and starts dozing off.

After some more time, the girls are all back, together with Aisha. Aisha notices that there are three crows in the scene.

“Dear… Don’t tell me…”

“Yes, now Rutra is the caretaker of a crow. Meet Shanti.”

Aisha sighs, but doesn’t do more than that. The girls are all distracted, somewhat looking at me. It looks like they want to talk to me. We say our farewells, and I open a portal home. We wash up for dinner.

During dinner, Opal is fidgeting. I would never imagine her to be doing something like that. She is also playing with her food, more than eating.

“My lord… I was wondering…”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Can we have a marriage?”

***

Aisha’s POV

Finally, the day for the tea party is here. I have ever been so curious about the girls that decide what is supposed to happen to the continent. Marcelo is probably like Rajesh, they probably believe that they really are in control. Men are just big boys. I sigh. But I do whatever I can for Rajesh.

I meet them in the room that Marcelo uses to arrive at the empire. After the normal pleasantries, it is time to have the girl talk.

“This way, please.”

I lead them to a nice gazebo outside, where they are putting some fresh baked goods. The place was selected with great care, something not too hot, comfortable. The smell of the flowers, something that was way more rare before the water cleaning machines, was in the air.

I stop, to study their expressions. The dragonesses display their emotions openly. They don’t have any sense of protection. Of course, the feeling is warranted, but it still is so very far from normal that it is funny. The only one that tries to dissimulate a little bit is Cecilia, but she is not good at that at all.

Opal was always majestic. She feels like a queen. Aquamarine seems… curious about me, and the people around. It’s like she is examining pets around her. It looks like a nature study experiment, what should a person react like. Ruby was ever energetic. She doesn’t know where she wants to go, but she wants to get there fast. She has this physical energy about her. I can see that Shandon looks up to her mom, but she has a much younger demeanor. Cecilia is the voice of reason, she is the most balanced one among them. She has common sense, while the other girls don’t. But then, why would they? Her presence is comforting, though.

We sit around the table. The maid enters to serve us, and she kowtows after getting close to the gazebo.

“You may stand up.”

The maid rises her head, to see who is talking. Apparently I have less power than I thought, she doesn’t move. I turn to Opal.

“Can you please tell her to stand up and serve us? Otherwise it is going to be a long time before we get to eat any sweets.”

Opal turns to the maid.

“Child, you may proceed with your tasks.”

The maid finally stands up, bows one more time, and follows serving us. I really have to find some maids less enthusiastic with the church. I don’t know why, but the women that call themselves believers end up being a lot more sold on the whole idea than the men. Sure, the men are religious, but the number of men risking their heads doing a stunt like this one is way smaller than among the women.

When I asked Sidhu for a name to do the obedience trial, he was able to provide several. There might be a couple of men, but not this many. I keep wondering if somehow the statues would have a magical dick or something. I turn to the women.

“It is so freeing being able to talk without the guys around… How are you?”

“We are well. How about you?” Cecilia answers.

“I am very well. I heard that you have been to Shoria, a tourist city? How was it there?”

Aquamarine was the one to answer.

“It was beautiful. They have some very beautiful beaches, we have been to several of them.”

Cecilia complemented.

“We even had our nails painted.” She shows her hand, with the nails painted. I had already noticed, of course.

“HOW COOL! LET ME SEE ALL OF THEM!”

They all show me their nails. Their nails match their hair color, except for Shandon, that went with something different than Opal.

“So tell me, what happened in Shoria? Was it fun?”

Aquamarine is the one to comment.

“Yes, we have been to a wedding.”

“Really? How was it? How was the bride?”

“Oh, she was beautiful. She had a white dress, she waited for her knight to get close to the altar and then ‘rescue’ her. It was pretty.” Cecilia comments. She has a firmer grasp on the legends behind marriages in Nergal’s church.

“But… Didn’t you girls have your wedding ceremony yet? Marcelo calls you his wives. I assumed…”

“I tried some hints, they didn’t work.” Cecilia mentioned.

“My dear Cecilia… No matter how much we love them, they are boys. Boys don’t grow up, they just change their toys. Haven’t you seen how enthusiastic Marcelo, Rajesh, and the others get around a sword? Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice sword, but… It is a toy more than anything.” I say while I nod at her, to facilitate her receiving the information.

Cecilia makes a thinking expression, she slowly starts nodding back. Opal is looking at me as if I have delivered the wisest sentence in the universe.

“I love Rajesh a lot, and that’s why I take such care of him… But we have to do it carefully. They think in a different way than we do.”

“What do you mean?” Shandon asks. Now I have the attention of all the girls.

“You know sometimes you have something bugging you, and you just want to share with them?”

“Yes!” Cecilia says.

“If you tell them about that, they are going to try to fix it. They are wired to listen. They are very bad listeners. They are doers. Men in general don’t have the depth we have.”

Cecilia is looking at me, really intrigued. She pauses for a moment, trying to remember the stuff that she has lived so far with Marcelo. I can see her bringing out a lot of frustration in moments when she just wanted to have him listen something and side with her, and instead he acted.

“And there are other differences, as well.”

The other girls stopped even chewing the sweets. They are focusing on me, trying to stick every word to their hearts.

“While we think a lot with our hearts, they think a lot with their dicks.”

“What do you mean?” Aquamarine asks.

“Men will stick their dicks into almost anything. They are designed like that. Let’s start from the start. We have things that all of us do. I don’t know why the gods decided that way, but we all do. No matter who it is, if you are eating and someone takes your food away, you get angry. That anger happens across the board. You can be human, dragon, demon, dwarf, beast. It doesn’t matter. The gods decided that beings were designed so.

“Just like that, men are designed to fuck whatever they see, always a new woman if possible. Now, just like having your food taken away, of course men can also control this instinct. But the instinct is there, the tendency is there, the urge is always there. Just like the food thing.”

I give some time for the girls to understand. I can see that some of them are remembering things. Cecilia turns to me.

“How do you deal with that? Rajesh has a harem, right?”

“Yes, but although he uses the harem, the harem is mine.”

Cecilia does a curious face. I continue the explanation.

“Let’s say you have a crow that you want to keep by your side, but you can’t lock it up. What do you do?”

“You feed it. You get it to depend on you.” Shandon answers.

“Exactly. The harem is just a… relief place for him. He goes there, he satisfies his male urges, then sleeps by my side. That way, he can make love to me, instead of something more crude. But I choose the girls, I hear their insignificant problems, I make them swallow the petty complaints, so I give him something much better than just a seed dumping. I can give him peace. And that has another advantage…”

I take sometime so that they can process things.

“It allows me to make sure something like… Siratra doesn’t happen.”

I can see the rise in temperature. They are not mad at me, but this subject really triggers their humor. Ruby actually let some fire come out of her nose, and I think that it was just an unconscious reaction. Shandon closes her hands and looks at the ground. Aquamarine is trembling. Even Cecilia is a little scared with their reaction. Opal has a more controlled reaction than the others. Her anger is ice cold. I know her anger is not towards me, but they still sound menacing.

“How do you do that?”

I adjust my position, so that I reflect the seriousness of the situation. Anything misinterpreted here could cause a very large devastation.

“Very simple. I keep his balls light. The women in the harem are not supposed to talk. I mean, we know they are not our level. They have simple needs, simple minds. They were presents. What is Rajesh supposed to talk with them? Do you think they are able to talk about military logistics? Do you think they even care? About amount of lands used for farming? Cost of the cleaning water machines?

“No. The place Rajesh has to lay his head to relax, to have his peace, is on my lap. They are just… There, to be used. If any of them start showing the wrong feeling, I make sure that she doesn’t see him again. They are there so that he can stick his dick in something before taking a proper shower if he wants to.”

I can see that I captured a piece of Opal’s mind with this. She is going to be a lot more open to it now. I am going to let her digest this information a little bit.

“So, how was the marriage? I have never seen a religious marriage before.”

Aquamarine is the one to answer. She is the one that pays more attention to most things human related, in spite of being the shyest of the group.

“The priest, the bride, and the bride’s father wait by the altar, and then the groom enters the church in a military way. The bride was beautifully dressed. The groom looked ok. The priest talked about something, I didn’t really pay attention. Then they kissed, and everybody around cheered.”

“The priest was boring as sea.” Ruby commented.

“But I have to admit that… Akiko’s son in law, the human –“ Opal gets interrupted by Cecilia.

“Julius”.

“Yes, Julius, he looked quite well for a human.” Opal finishes.

“How royal do you think Marcelo would look?” Ruby asks.

They imagine the scene a little bit. Then Opal continues.

“But I still don’t see what is the point of this.”

“This is supposed to show your power, as his wives. It is supposed to show everyone else that you are his, and no one else’s. That you are the place people he goes to when he needs his peace. And that you will always be together.”

“Hummm… That actually doesn’t sound all that bad.”

“Imagine you, all in a beautiful dress, being presented to Marcelo, in a public display of unity, strength, commitment, happiness, union?”

I pick a sweet, and eat it. I clean my mouth with some water, then I sip some sweet tea. That gives time for them to imagine the scene. It is easy to see on their faces when they actually picture it. I give some more time.

“Isn’t this something you girls would like to do?”

The girls nod.