The Quantum Wanderer

Aisha’s POV

I turn around, and I order the maid to bring back some paper and a pen, so that we can organize the stuff. Just a little time later, I have it.

“First things first. Who would be allowed to attend?”

Cecilia is the one to answer, she is a lot more attentive than the others.

“Obviously, Rajesh, you, family… There is also Sidhu and family, right? Marcelo likes him.”

I turn to Cecilia.

“What if Sidhu acts as priest? I am sure he would be delighted. And he is the church’s pope, so in terms of religion the only person above him is Marcelo – but not as a person, really.”

I smile. The dragonesses nod, agreeing that if he once was human, he no longer is to be considered one.

“That works.” Cecilia continues. “Then we have Anthon and Edward, and their families…”

“Do you mean Anthon the emperor, and his advisor the duke?”

“Yes, those.”

“Do you have any idea on the size of the families?”

“Not big, they have a very small number of kids. I think one has 3, the other only has 2. And wives, of course, but we only have to invite the main one.”

I scribe their names, and number of people.

“Then we have Dávrin and family, and Brokkr and family…”

“Dávrin? Who is Dávrin?”

“He is the king of the dwarves. Brokkr is his uncle, and he is the Master something…?” Cecilia tried to get help from the dragonesses, they just shrugged. If Cecilia could not remember the detail, none of the dragonesses would remember it.

“Do you have any idea on number of people?”

“Five total. We only saw Dávrin’s daughter, he apparently doesn’t have other kids. Brokkr is just recently dating a girl.”

“Are they aware of your secrets…?”

Aquamarine tilts her head.

“What secrets?”

“That you are dragons, the level of power Marcelo has, things like that. I assume that he doesn’t spread that information among the humans, or we would have heard.”

“Oh, the dwarves are all in on this.”

“By the way, wasn’t Marcelo that freed the dwarves?”

“Yes, he was. It is amazing how he can care for any creature he comes in contact with…” Aquamarine comments. She is sounding like one of Sidhu’s girls, the ones that he suggested for Marcelo’s convent.

“On our side, we only have good things to say about him as well.” I mention. “He changed our lives in a way… Well, we have some temples to show for it.”

The dragonesses all nod, smiling. Cecilia sighs. The funny thing is that Cecilia is a lot more down to Andrea then the dragonesses, but in this case the dragonesses are actually closer to the truth. The situation is really funny. I continue.

“Back to the wedding, who else?”

“Leopold and his husband… Andrew…” I keep writing down, then I look back at Cecilia, and she continues.

“My parents…”

I write it down, and then I turn to her.

“Do your parents know that Marcelo is… well, Marcelo?”

“They don’t. They just know that I am living as a wife to him, amidst my sisters. That’s how we call each other.”

I look at them. They are again smiling.

“This whole situation fits you all very well. I am happy to see that everything goes so well.”

“Well, we do have arguments sometimes, but we can generally solve everything.” Shandon adds.

She is very similar to her mother. If I didn’t know, I would ask if they are real sisters instead of mother and daughter. I wonder how many perv check boxes Marcelo got to check with this group. I can see that anything other than Marcelo would bore all of them. Or the dragonesses, at least. It is like he is their anchor in Andrea. Perhaps he is.

“This is the closest circle, right? The people that you want there, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, basically, this is the number of people that you would want attending the party. We can divide the thing into the ceremony, for a lot of people, and then the party, for a select few that would enjoy a more elite gathering. This amount of people can be for the party.”

“Now we have the number of people that you would like in the ceremony. You know, to flaunt the event. How many people would you like to do that for? What groups?”

“I don’t-“ Cecilia starts, but she gets interrupted by Shandon.

“The elders! Definitely the elders.”

“What do you mean? Elders from where?”

“The dragon’s elders.” Opal complements. “Possibly Skylar as well. Considering that the idea is passing a message.”

“How would we cook for them…?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. We can just have a place on the beach with a piece of kraken, and let them have their portion.”

“Do you think this Skylar would attend?”

“If we mention that he would be able to have some kraken, he would be happy to go. We can also summon him, and then he would either go or have to face Marcelo. He would go.”

“Let’s try to go the friendly rout, we don’t have to create more trouble than necessary. After all, we want to give Marcelo peace of mind, right?”

The dragonesses all nod. The way they talk about the other dragon council member is surreal. As if he were to be treated as a child, bullied into compliance. I giggle after the question, but because I feel a little nervous, not because it is so funny. Aquamarine is tapping her finger on top of her mouth.

“What about Akiko?” She asks.

Cecilia thinks a little.

“She doesn’t know about Marcelo’s secrets…”

“Do you think she would tell anyone?” Opal asks. So this human is apparently high on her respect list. Cecilia is the one to answer.

“I don’t think she would tell, but we have been keeping with so much care… Marcelo has been killing spies all the way up to spy masters to keep his powers hidden. I even think that if the king’s nephew had discovered today, instead of all those months ago, about Marcelo, he would be dead.”

“Someone offended our lord and the person is alive? Why?” Opal asks. It is a matter-of-fact question. It sounded more like why a mosquito that had bitten you was spared.

“Wait – Are you talking about Arthuria’s king’s nephew?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Marcelo told me that he gave the guy a scare, and then sent him back.”

I had heard about this story. There are too many weird things to trace, too many things happening without reason. The information I got from Rajesh was that all of a sudden that person became an idiot. A literal one, afraid of leaving the room, no personal grooming. If he were anyone else, he would have become a drunk in the slums. Now I had to hear the story.

“What happened on that account?”

“Well, there was this criminal leader in Lirastra. She was asked by the king’s nephew to investigate on Marcelo. She managed to reach the information, but then…”

“But then…?”

“The guild told Marcelo that she was aware of the information. All the information they had was that she was a woman. Marcelo went after them. He discovered that she blabbed to the king’s nephew, and he was going to kill the idiot. But then the guild asked him to do anything but. Marcelo gave the kid a scare.”

“A scare?” I laughed. That’s the understatement of the year. I had heard about that as well. There was such a big hit of gang wars within Lirastra, such an important city, that the news reached us through the dwarves. Now it makes sense. Marcelo hunted down the most known, and unknown thief leader of all times. Not even after her death people discovered who she was. It was just known that her Comm Gems went silent. Once the first lieutenants smelled blood on the waters, he started a fight for more territory, and then everything just crumbled down when everyone realized she was no more.

I wonder how many more of the weird facts had his hands over it.

“Did you guys have a lot of trouble with spies?”

“We have had a few. There was that one where someone tried to kidnap the butler. Idiots.”

“What happened?”

“It sounds even a little miraculous… “ Cecilia laughed. “Once Marcelo freed the butler’s family, he got the spy to have a talk with Piotr.”

Cecilia laughed.

“Who is Piotr?”

Shandon answers.

“He is the help. When Marcelo wants a person to spill the bean, he takes the person to Piotr’s cave. He is apparently good on explaining to them how bad they messed up, it makes it easier to get the truth.” She turns to Opal. “Shouldn’t we be doing that?”

“No, males are uglier and more aggressive demeanor is more adequate. Our job is to provide our lord with the treatment he deserves at home.”

He uses a dragon to soften people before interrogation… This is so… Ever since we started this whole talk, I feel like I am in a dream. Everything is colored weird. Then I imagine a huge head telling me why I should fear someone. Now I imagine the opposite, the huge dragon telling someone to not be afraid. I laugh at the thought, I am not an idiot to desire seeing that.

“And how did the butler thing go?”

Ruby was anxious to talk a little bit in the conversation, she ended up answering.

“Our lord dismantled the network, of course. That’s when…” When Ruby realizes what she was about to say, she shuts up, but I can sense their emotions on the subject.

I remember now. Marcelo had a spy rooted out of the Command School, that Siratra was attending. According to Rajesh, she was getting feelings for that spy. The idiotic bitch.

“That’s why I told you, she was not worthy. She should be in a harem, managed by you, rather than a sister. Can I show you?”

The girls get intrigued. Opal nods, while the others are just curious. I turn to the maid.

“Bring me Bhakti, don’t tell her who is coming to meet. Don’t make us wait.”

The maid bows deeply, leaves the room and starts running. I smile at the level of obedience they have. Specially when the dragonesses are involved. I wonder how much obedience they would demonstrate towards Cecilia, but this is something to solve later. Opal and Shandon seem satisfied with the way the maid is obeying. Not that they didn’t expect it, though.

“So, what do you intend to show us?” Opal asks, majestic as ever.

“Their level of obedience, and what would a… convent for Marcelo be comprised for. If you ever decide to take this on. Of course, given what we talked about earlier, it can be used as a prize to him.”

“Hum…” Opal sips some tea, and eats some sweet. The way they move sometimes, I can swear I see a dragon shadow instead of their normal one.

“When she comes in, I am going to propose her for the harem. Lady Opal, would you please tell her that you didn’t like her, so she should just kill herself? This is the dagger she is going to use.”

Cecilia is appalled by the idea, apparently, but she is not having too much time to process. The two girls enter the room. The maid, she lost her breath, and Bhakti. Bhakti immediately throws herself to the floor, and kowtows. I take on my part.

“Lady Opal, this is one of the girls that are going to be participating in Marcelo’s convent.”

Opal sips her tea, slowly. She is thinking about the whole thing.

“What is your definition of a convent?”

“She is going to be there to serve, with all her body and soul, in anyway Marcelo and you – all of you – desire. She is to follow every instruction, no matter what.”

I can see that Opal is completely invested in this, she is curious on the level of obedience and how the girl can be used as a release toy so that Marcelo doesn’t approach other women.

“Stand up.”

Bhakti stands up. She has happiness stamped on her face. Opal stands up, and gets close to her.

“Undress. Completely.”

Bhakti undresses, and looks at us. She instinctively covers her breasts and pussy with her hands. Opal tilts her head.

“Put your hands on the back of your neck.”

She places her hands there, and Opal holds her nipple. I can see, by the speed of the tail behind Bhakti that she is feeling some pain.

“You do realize that you will have to do anything we request, no matter how disgusting, painful or humiliating, right?”

“Yes, goddess. Use us.”

Opal continues the inspection. She does a full circle around the girl. Opal goes to the table, and grabs the dagger.

“I don’t think you are worthy. Here, kill yourself.” And she hands her the dagger. The girl bows and takes the dagger from Opal. She points and stabs herself on the heart with all her strength.

She tried to. Next thing I see, Cecilia has her hand between the dagger and girl’s body. The dagger doesn’t penetrate anything. I feel no mana circulating, something I would expect if she had cast a stone skin spell.

“Opal!” Cecilia shouts towards Opal. Opal sighs. Bhakti doesn’t understand how Cecilia’s hand is not hurt. I don’t either, Cecilia is supposed to be the human, weak, one. That was my personal mithril dagger. It is supposed to be able to cut most material like butter. I do a nervous giggle on this account.

Opal sighs.

“You did well, child. You pass. You can go for now.”

Cecilia and she move back to their chairs. Bhakti’s expression is of one that has just inherited a dukedom. Without previous knowledge. She grabs her clothes and leaves. She doesn’t even get dressed.

I can hear her getting dressed after the door closes. The maid that is serving us is looking at the door. With envy. I had imagined that these devouts would be fanatical, but this… I remember the saying, “The crazier the bitch, the better the sex”. They are in for something.

Opal takes another sip of tea. She is looking at the distance.

“This may not be a bad idea, after all.”

She doesn’t realize, but I look at the maid, she is trembling at the thought. Now Opal turns her head to the maid. She sniffs the air very softly, it would be very hard for untrained eyes to notice.

“Well, let’s get back to our main topic, shall we?”

The girls nod.

“Are there other people that know about Marcelo’s secrets that you would like to bring to the wedding?”

“Nothing comes to mind.” Cecilia answers.

“Ok. You can confirm it through Rajesh's Comm Gem once you talk to Marcelo.”

“Of course. What is next?”

“Next, we have the location. Where are we going to have the ceremonial? Do you already have a place in mind?”

Opal is the one to answer. Perhaps her roots are showing.

“We could use that beach in Drakonia. It is big, the elders are going to fit, it is a neutral place.”

The dragon esses agree, Cecilia is not completely convinced. I look at her, but it looks like she can’t suggest a better place either.

“But we are going to need a construction, or something.”

“We can just have Marcelo portal us, and we can have Troggar build something.”

“With what material?”

“The beach sand. He can build something made of glass. We are only talking about a roof on top of 4 columns, right? It is an easy task with enough sand.”

I remember the statue that Rajesh brought, that was made by Opal. I had never seen anything like that before. And I have been to the treasury a couple of times already.

“Is he as skilled as you with glass sculpting? If that is the case, the place is going to be absolutely gorgeous.”

She blushes a little, she is apparently proud of her glass work.

“He isn’t, but it is going to be a big structure. No need to be as good.”

“What tools do you use to build your sculptures?”

“Tools? What do you mean? Glass is easy to manipulate.”

“Do you use your hands?”

“Yes. Sometimes, for the very nicer drawings, I use my nails, but then I get them back to claws. They are sharp, and they allow me to feel better what I am doing. I would show you, but if I do my nails coloring is going to come undone.”

“Do you have a forge?”

“Forge? For glass? I just use some stone, and then I breath some fire on it. I have to take care not to overdo it, or the stone will get melted too.”

Why. Must. Everything. Be. So. Unreal. She is not even trying to impress, and this is the terrifying part. I just got along, as if all of this was common sense, and I just forgot about it for a minute.

“So we have an initial list of guests, and a location. We are going to need some additional things for the place. An altar, a higher stage, with a couple of steps, then some chairs for the guests. Now we have something important. The dresses. I do have some designers in the court. We are going to need your measurements, so that the dresses are all perfectly fitted. Can we stop by my room after we are done? We could get the measurements done there. It will be Bhakti and some other girl’s first act of servitude.”

I pay very close attention to the girls. Opal and Shandon are not at all phased by this phrasing, Aquamarine and Ruby are too intrigued by the whole thing to pay any attention. Cecilia is the one that reacts a little. I continue.

“Don’t worry, all the servants are chosen among volunteers. It is a life long commitment, but it is by choice. I believe that Marcelo wouldn’t be opposed to that?”

That makes Cecilia more relaxed.

“Yes, I think he wouldn’t mind.”

“One thing that I can assure you, lady Cecilia, is that nothing is being done without being volunteered. There are so many wanting to serve, we just selected the ones that were the most committed to it. Like Bhakti. Did you pay attention to her expression?

“Their thinking is just too different for you or me to comprehend, but should we deny them their search for happiness?”

I get closer to Cecilia’s ear.

“Did you realize that the maid here was envious? She is probably even wet. I bet that that is what lady Opal smelled in the air earlier.”

I get back to my seat. Cecilia looks at the maid, then at Opal. I continue.

“Now we have to select a date. We are going to need sometime to prepare the dresses. There is the design approval, then there is making the dresses, then a couple of fittings. This is a process that cannot be hurried, lest quality may suffer. And it is not something that we can just put more people on. I am already thinking about having people doing the dresses in parallel.

“I would normally say that there is also the time to invite people and the traveling time, but that should not be an issue for Marcelo, right?”

The girls nod. They are apparently enjoying this.

“Can I suggest 4 weeks? Unless you have something else to do around that date?”

Cecilia raises her hand a little bit.

“Won’t the guests need time to prepare their agendas? We are talking about some busy people here…”

“Lady Cecilia, they all would give up their nuptials, war councils, whatever to go to this wedding. Don’t worry about that. The only guests you have to worry, given their importance, are your parents. Do you think it would be a problem for them to attend?”

“No. Their life is, thanks the gods, slow and reasonably safe.”

“Praise the Great Adventurer.” I say. I couldn’t resist it. Of course, I have a little fun.

“Praise the Great Adventurer!” The maid repeats, completely serious. Cecilia is almost hiding her face.

I turn to the girls.

“I am going to have the invites prepared in the next couple of days. Is there any text you want in particular?”

They all shake their heads.

“Should we have go have the measurements, then?”

I tell the maid to go fetch the helpers and the female clothing designers to help with the measurements, and let them wait in my room.

We kept talking a little more about some other topics, until the maid came to let me know that everyone was already there. It didn’t take long. I have never seen people being available so quickly.

When we get there, there is a line of women, all kowtowing, in two lines close to the walls on the corridor taking to my chambers. I clap.

“If you all stay like that, you won’t be able to serve your goddesses.”

They looked at the girls, and Opal nodded. They all stood up, and we entered my chambers. The measuring was uneventful. Other than the awe from every single woman there. Thinking about it, it kind of evened out. They were a lot faster to assembly, in order to not make the girls wait. But they took a lot longer to measure, treating them as if they were made of a very precious and fragile crystal. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I placed some glasses of wine, so that we could taste it while the measurements were being taken.

After everything was done, we headed back to the room where Marcelo and Rajesh were probably still talking.

I saw that Rajesh got Rutra a crow. Of course he would have. I have to pretend being the the tyrannical wife a little bit, I am going to pretend not to like the idea. Men enjoy being able to say that they convinced the wife. The crow is actually going to be good for Rutra for several reasons.

After Marcelo and the girls leave, we have a maid take Rutra and another one take the crow, on a pillow, to her room. They are both sleepy. And mama and Papa now have adult stuff to talk about.

I sit by the couch end, so that Rajesh can lay his head on my lap. This means that we are going to have a truth talk. Only truth, all the truth. We send the guards out of the room. He takes a sip of liquor, and lays down.

“So… How was it?”

“It was better than expected. Of course, when you have a group you always have mixed reactions. Very few things create the same feeling on everyone. But they all understood the value in having devout servants. That part was amazing.”

“What happened?”

“Opal mentioned, casually, that she didn’t want Bhakti, gave her the dagger, and told her to kill herself. Bhakti really tried. If not for Cecilia, she probably would not be among us anymore.”

“Really? Did Cecilia shout for her to stop or something?”

“Something. Are you sure Cecilia is human?”

“That’s the information I have.”

“Cecilia moved in a speed that I haven’t seen yet. I am talking about faster than the combats we saw in the arena.”

“Which ones of them?”

“All. When she blocked the dagger, I looked back at the place she was sitting. It felt like a doppelgänger had appeared out of nowhere. I am telling you, the speed was impressive. And then her hand. Bhakti was using my mithril dagger. You know which one I am talking about, right?”

“How did Cecilia block it?”

“She just placed that back of her hand in the way. Nothing, not even grated skin as far as I could see.”

“Oh? Is she good with stoneskin, then?”

“It didn’t feel like she did that. It didn’t feel like she did anything. And I still have the impression, given their behaviours, that she is the weak one. I feel like I was in a magical land during that tea party. Everything was completely out worldly. I learned that Marcelo put out two spy networks. And he takes it seriously; he goes all the way. The pope from the Holy Kingdom and the king of Arthurian were lucky that they were not in the loop. They would have been killed.”

“How did Marcelo find out?”

“He apparently can track Comm Gems.”

“But that’s impossible!”

“Apparently, it isn’t.” I laugh. “That’s what I mean. There were no set concepts on the talk; their normal stuff is just… A big superlative. They are playing house, they save someone against nobles because they think it is cute; they clean an infestation of ants or termites just because they are bored.”

“You are sounding like a devout.” Rajesh giggles. I flick him on the forehead.

“We have work to do tomorrow. We can approve the creation of the convent, making it clear that devotion means total devotion. The devouts are there to entertain you Marcelo or the girls, with their own deaths if desired. Bhakti demonstrated that she was up for that.”

“Hum… Do you think any of my women, in my harem would do that?”

I laugh. A lot.

“Perhaps. If Marcelo or his girls visit it.”

I laugh some more. He pouts a little, but he can’t stay mad for long.