After things settled down, I put on some music and let my alter-ego run the scans. I'm not sure Kacey really understood, but after seeing the looks we shared, she doesn't seem to be making moon eyes at Elle anymore.
I call up Vivian's secretary to see if she's free to speak, and luckily caught her in a lull between whatever it is a queen does, and whaterver else it is she does.
"Good morning Sorrel." She greets me and I can hear a smile in her voice.
"Good morning Vivian. I have a couple things to report, but before we get into that. I thought I should tell you that I'm actually a Plantkin, not a human. I was talking to Rea about non-humans earlier, and realized I should have told you before now."
"Oh, I already knew." She laughs. "Oliver Evaluated you when we first met, he actually had to put points in to upgrade it to level five when you came up as question marks. That must be some skill, you show as human to anyone with it at three and below, if you were wondering."
"Wow, I'll have to make it up to him somehow." The basic skills like Identify, Analyze, and Evaluate may be some of the cheapest to upgrade, but those skill points aren't easy to get. "I wasn't really trying to hide, I'm just more comfortable when I look human. I was raised human, and consider myself one most of the time."
"Oh, don't worry about it. Sure, he grumped about it for a bit, but I told him you must have had your reasons. You're not the first non-human to hide their features, after all. That, and the Iron Horse you gave him went a long towards getting him over it."
"Mhm, I still feed bad about it though. So, if there's anything else I can do for him, please just give me the word."
"I will, but what else did you call about? I heard that you were already able to do something for that poor girl in Riverton."
"Yes, and that's very much connected to why I'm calling." I chuckle before telling her the whole story.
"I trust your judgement, and have no objections to them staying in Larendath. But, oh, you're going to have to show me the playback of that fight once you return to the city." She says with a throaty laugh once I finish speaking.
"Thank you, your Majesty." Gwynne bows towards the phone making me and the girls roll our eyes.
"You are most welcome. And, I do hope I get the chance to visit your new home soon, it sounds lovely. And after he raised his little garden here in the Capital, I've been dying to see what Sorrel will do with the bigger canvas of Arcadia."
"Yes, ma'am. Anytime you wish."
"Thank you for calling me directly, Sorrel. And, thank you for telling me that you are a Plantkin, we Larens have always tried to make our country a safe and welcoming place for all people."
"No. Thank you Vivian, not many would trust someone hiding such a big secret."
"You've earned your trust." She says and then the voice of her secretary intrudes. "Seems as though I've kept my next meeting waiting long enough, so I'm going to have to let you go now. Have fun building your mountain."
"Wow." Gwynne says after I put my phone away. "She is a big change compared to Cendassa's royals."
"Oh, we think it's just because she's interested in him." Apricot tells her the story of when we first met the Queen, pointing out a few of Vivian's reactions that I had overlooked at the time. "That, and she's nowhere near stupid enough to annoy someone who could level the Capital on his own. Not that the big softie would, or if he did, he'd make sure no one was hurt." She adds when I glare at her.
"How are you so powerful?" Gwynne looks at me and asks a question I know has been bothering her for a while now. "I may not have focused much on my magic, but I'm still a dragon and I would have trouble just pushing out as much magic as Elle uses."
""He cheats."" Apricot and Amelia say with a laugh before I can.
Calling Blackthorne from my neck, I use it to push raw Mana into the air before shaping an image of our home. Giving her the story of how the Well was formed, I add. "Plantkins Livingwood weapons have some special properties, and my staff was linked to the tree when the Mana Well was formed. Blackthorne spent about a week inside afterwards, and when it came out it could channel its power to me." With that said, the staff shrinks back down into a thorn pendant on my string necklace.
"You're walking around with a Mana Well hanging from your neck?" She looks a little pale. "You're right, he does cheat."
***
A call to Baron Pepi was next on the docket, but I just told him that we'd be passing through tonight and would be back in a few days. I thought that would be it, but Lorelai made him call back a few minutes later.
"Lord Rumex. I can't thank you enough for what you've done." She pauses for a moment before continuing in a hesitant voice. "I hate to impose even more, but Clara and I were hoping that we could speak to the others like her."
"Hmm?" I look towards Gwynne. "Do you think everyone would be okay with stopping outside Riverton for supper?"
"Can we, please." Kacey begs. "I want to meet my cousin."
"You just don't want to be the youngest anymore." Karen, the former youngest, teases her. "It's alright by me." The others in this bus murmur their agreement. As do the women from the rest of our little caravan once I ask them. Though, I did have to promise a few of them that I would keep any men away, which I would have done anyways.
"Alright Lorelai, you and the girls can join us for dinner, but you should leave your boys behind, just in case."
"Thank you Lord. And, thank all of them for agreeing."
"You can do so yourself tonight." I hang up after that and the rest of the drive is fairly uneventful.
The Cendassan border guards tried to block us for a second, but quickly got out of the way after realizing how fast we were going, and that I was not going to stop. I saw a couple messenger birds be set loose shortly after, but I stealthily made sure they wouldn't reach their target. Mittens needs some variety in his diet after all.
The sun had set by the time we reach Riverton, we passed through the town and met Lorelai and her girls just outside the west gate. I had planned to cook for everyone, but the Baron was kind enough to prepare a meal for us.
"Ugh, I can finally stretch my legs." Gwynne is the first one off the bus, but she's quickly followed by the rest of the villagers. They spotted the feast layed out for them and descended on it like they were starving, even though I'd provided lunch and snacks for everyone.
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"Lorelai, Clara." I greet the Siren and her mother, little Cici sitting on her mom's hip like usual. "Good evening."
""Good evening Lord?"" They curtsy in unison, but can't help but stare at my Plantkin form, and missing arm. "Are you okay?" Clara asks as her hand involuntarilly rising in the direction of my missing appendage.
"I'm fine, it'll grow back in a few days." I smile at the look of shock on their faces. "And, before you ask, this is my true face. I was raised and prefer looking human, but some of the villagers are still uncomfortable when I shift back. This face doesn't seem to set them off as badly, so I'm using it to let them get used to being around men again."
"And, her?" Clara looks at Elle, who's being dragged over to the food by Apricot.
"My Avatar." I say and Elle smiles and waves her hand at Clara. "Having an extra pair of hands around, when I'm down one is pretty useful. But, enough questions about me, how have you been? Any problems controlling your power?" I ask as we walk over to join the meal.
"It's mostly under control, but I can feel it flare up when I get startled or stressed." She answers while playing with the bracelet I gave her. "Thank you so much for this, most of those accidents were caused because I spotted a man when I wasn't expecting to."
"Mhm, the others say much the same." I send her a reassuring smile. "Have you tried anything but turning it off?" I had Elle ask the rest of the women the same question when 'she' was doing the scans.
"No!" She says vehemenetly. "I just want it to go away."
"Oh, child." Gwynne looks at the girl with sad eyes. "I felt the same way about my heritage, and look at all the pain that caused." She looks around at her descendants, and rather pointedly at my missing arm.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm responsible for this mess, if I had just accepted my draconic half none of you would have had to go through what you did." This truth bomb seems to shake Clara to her roots. "Sorrel saw the connection between my own lack of control and all of yours. And, even after I took his arm because of that same lack, he was still willing to help me. I doubt I'll ever be able to make it up to you, but I swear I will do whatever I can to help all of my girls."
"..." Clara just slumps in on herself.
""It's not your fault Gwynne."" All the villagers close enough to hear their conversation say the same thing. "Sorrel said the connection is firmed up on your end, but we still don't have perfect control." Lana tells her. "All of us have felt it slip at some point in the past day."
"Listen to them Gwynne." I tell the dragon. "Their slip ups may just be due to the newness of the control, though I doubt that. Not one has able to keep it locked down while they sleep. So, even if you had always embraced your draconinc nature, things still would have been much the same for them."
"Nng." She grunts and nods. "I'm still going to find a way to help them. And, I will always be here should any of you ever need anything."
"And, Clara." I address the twelve year old that doesn't seem to know what to think now. "Being a Siren does have it's upsides, you already know about the divination, but surely you've noticed by now that there are no old women here." She looks up, clearly having missed that. "Heh. I won't be so crass as to disclose a womans age, but decades and even centuries of youth lie ahead of you and your sister."
"And." Kacey speaks up. "He spoke with the book of knowledge earlier, and once we do fully unlock out bloodlines, we'll be able to connect to her too. Did you know they call her Temmie?" She gushes to her new cousin. "Haven't you always wanted an inventory? And, we may even get magic, like real magic."
"Really?" Clara looks up hopefully. That's all the opening Kacey needs, she picks up her plate and moves to sit next to Clara and soon they're chatting like they've been best friends for their whole life.
...
"Can I go with them?" Clara asks her mother as we're preparing to leave. "Please, Kacey is so nice, and I really want to see the new village that Lord Rumex is going to make for them."
"..." Lorelai clearly doesn't want her to go, but also seems torn on the issue.
"I will be back here in a couple days." I interject. "I can bring you all down then and relocate your family to Circle Orchard, that way Clara can visit whenever she wants."
"Please mom." Clara begs. "It'll just be for a couple days, I've had sleep-overs that lasted longer."
"Nnh, fine." Lorelai finally relents, but doesn't look happy about it.
"Maybe these will help." I hold out a couple of phones to them. "This way you can talk to each other whenever you feel like." I was going to give Lorelai one anyways, even if just to keep her from driving Pepi mad.
"Oh, thank you, thank you." Clara says excitedly after opening the box. Kacey seems a little jealous, so I toss one to her too making her eyes go wide.
"Alright, let's get a move on." I call out. "The roads should be clear now, so I can up the speed and still get us there by midnight. I want to get started first thing in the morning. I've bult a town in a day before, now I want to see if I can build a mountain."
"Come on, you can sit next to me." Kacey drags her new friend onto the bus, only to stop with an exclamation once she sees that I've redesigned the interior. "Okay, I guess you can sleep next to me." She pulls Clara into one of the wide bunks I replaced the seats with. Most of the villagers will have to double up, but I doubt that's a problem.
"Why couldn't you have added a few of these earlier?" Lana says before flopping into one, and pulling Melinda in next to her. "My neck is still sore from when I nodded off earlier."
"Ooh, let's get a top bunk." Karen pushes the friend she was sitting next to earlier up a ladder.
Similar scenes happen throughout our little caravan. A few of the larger groups complained about having to split up into pairs, so I made big beds for them in the back. Most settled in to sleep, but more than a few decided to indulge in other bed related activities.
This is far from surpising, especially since they've been doing much the same all day. These women have weekly orgies after all, so they're far from shy. I put up a sound barrier around Clara's bunk just in case. I really don't want her mom to call and hear a bunch of moaning.
"Wow, these girls really like their new toys." Amelia says with a titter. The women in our bus have been a bit more subdued than on the others, but I guess they were just waiting for night to fall. "You may be right about adding a curtained off area to the new store, but they'd likely need self charging Runes. I can't see a lot of people walking into the guild to get their sex toys charged up."
"And, you just know that the ones that do won't wash them off first." Apricot snorts.
"Eww." Amelia scrunches up her face. "Thanks for that image."
"You're welcome." Apricot replies with a smile.
"Can I join you?" Gwynne says after walking up behind our bench. Amelia pulls Elle onto her lap to make room as an answer. "Thanks. Where you talking about those vibrators you gave out? You know you didn't have to do that, they all still would have helped."
"Yeah, but it's a simple Rune, and I don't mind spreading a bit of joy." I say as that joy can be clearly heard from the bunks behind us.
"Well, thank you all the same." She bows slightly as a particularly loud bit of joy washes over the bus.
"Not a problem." I say with a smile. "The tips I'm picking up by watching them all go at it is definitely worth it. And, just wait until you see what I do with your new village. I've been wanting to go all out and set up a village of the future, but had to dial back my plans. You and your girls give me a good excuse to go ahead with them again."
"Don't object." Amelia orders before Gwynne can protest. "Just think of it as you being a test village for all the crazy ideas he has, because that's pretty much what you are now. He really has been wanting this, and you should have seen how disappointed he was he couldn't put in some greenhouses down at Hedgecoast because someone was bound to steal the glass." She pretty much hit the nail on the head with that remark.
"And, few people are suicidal enough to steal from a dragon." Gwynne snorts. "So, he can enchant to his hearts desire without worrying about his people getting robbed."
"That, and it gives us a good reason to stop by on the regular." Amelia's sly smile causes the dragon to blush.
"Speaking of glass and enchantments." I say with a matching smile. "Do you think any of your girls would be willing to take up glass making? I just had an idea for a Rune that would separate pure silica from common soil or stone, and furnaces are a piece of cake."
"A few would jump at the chance." She answers even though her blush deepens. "I know Georgia was especially fascinated by the book on glass blowing I bought for them a while ago."
"That's great." I nod. "Given how long they all live, they could become master craftsmen at whatever they chose to do. I really want to see that happen."
"And, if you're done talking." Apricot moans. "Can we get to what I really want to see happen?" The noises from the passengers have been driving her wild, and my tentacle in her skirt probably hasn't been helping.
"Hmm? I don't know." I tease her. "I really shouldn't let myself get distracted while driving. It's bad enough that I watching nearly a hundred women have sex with each other right now. I mean, just look at them." I project a bunch of holograms in front of her. "That's enough to make any man distracted, and you want to make it worse?"
"Nnh." My little sweetie whimpers. "You really don't play fair."
"I'm just trying to be a safe driver." The innocent look on my face almost cracks when I see the look of need in her eyes.
"Oh, quit teasing her." Amelia breathes while doing a bit of teasing herself. "Or we might just leave you out of the fun."
"Whatever you say." I lift Apricot onto my lap. "But, don't blame me if we crash."
***