Breakfast at the dining table was unusual. Amy sat beside Arthur. Ema sat on the other side of the young man and Danistrae sat across. Telaga had her doll-like furniture on the table and sat nearby facing the leader of Camelot.
Amelia sat at one head of the table and Thomas at another. John walked in and served the food. Telaga initially went invisible until Arthur told her it was ok.
Amy's parents were informed of the addition to the group. The kitsune and little faery caused the two parents to ask a few questions. Most of the questions came from Amelia.
The little faerie looked at John with indifference until he placed food in her portions on her table.
"I guess it is a good thing that the Camelot Estate will have a large mansion for living quarters. Your harem is growing young man," teased Thomas Vanderbilt.
Arthur blushed and deliberately bit into a bagel so he didn't need to respond. Amy giggled beside him. Dani looked up at him and smiled. Ema flushed and sipped her tea.
Telaga was the only one who broke the silence, "Legacy has always been measured by the strength of the bloodline and the offspring they have. Take me for instance, I'm the one hundred thirty-sixth daughter. With my mother being separated from my father who is still in the faery realm, did you think she wouldn't take care of her needs?"
Arthur choked on the bagel he was chewing and Amy swatted at his back until it dislodged and he was able to breathe again.
Telaga looked at him regaining his breath, "Did I say something wrong?"
"I keep forgetting that faeries don't have the same tact as humans," he responded and coughed at the end a few more times to clear his throat.
Telaga glared at Arthur. "You don't deserve me giving you any tact." She stuck her tiny tongue out at him.
"Tela, finish eating. It's time for you to meet the rest of Camelot."
The little faery turned her head and focused on her food, deliberately hiding the slight rise in color on her cheeks from the shortened version of her name. When she looked over to Amy, the human winked at her causing the redness to remain longer.
"Mr. Vanderbilt, have you found anything about the incident at the party?" asked the young leader of Camelot.
"None of my efforts have been able to tell who was involved or ordered the attack. My brother-in-law Steve however cautioned the family to be cautious of our dealings with outsiders," responded Thomas as he set his coffee down on the saucer.
"Do you use any of the adventurers or non-humans as part of your security?"
"We have a few within the ranks," the man replied while watching the young man trying to see what his daughter's beau would do or suggest.
"When you get the chance, give me their information. I'll see about having my people create equipment upgrades and maybe assign a few Camelot people. You are family and your safety is a high priority."
Amy briefly glanced at Arthur at the mention of family then looked quickly back down to focus on her food. An action that Amelia caught and smiled.
"I would also like a dedicated team on Mrs. Vanderbilt."
Amelia looked up, "Why would I need increased security?"
"You are Steve's sister. And Steve has a high position in the GM. We don't know where the danger is coming from and we certainly don't want someone using you as leverage against him."
"Bondmate, may I suggest a course of action?" voiced Ema respectfully. Arthur looked over and nodded.
"I can reach out to my family. We have a few kits that haven't quite achieved adulthood. Maybe they would send a couple or a few more. They need experience both with interacting with humans other than Japanese as well as hone their skills. Security would train them to focus on their senses more. A situation you would call a win-win," she smiled then looked over to Amelia to see if she would agree to it.
Amelia pondered and looked at her husband. Thomas made an almost imperceptible nod. "I'd be honored to have someone from your family to keep an eye on me. How young would they be?"
"They would appear to be in their late teens to mid-twenties, but because we have Asian features. We are often mistaken for younger."
"Interns and personal assistants then," Amelia mused.
"Please excuse me while I make a call," Ema left the table and made a call. She was talking in Japanese with the person on the other end.
"Dani, would you know anyone in your travels that might have information on assassins? I would like to try to find out anything about the Venom group, maybe we could find a lead from them." Venom was the assassin group that attempted to murder Valkyrie's parents and the Morgans at the Waldorf.
Danistrae rubbed her right ear in thought, "There might be someone but I have to track them down. It has been a few years since I've seen her."
"How long will you need?"
"It would be hard to determine that. I might be away for a bit. You might want to use that charter gift from your birthday," smiled the elf.
"That might be a good idea, while we aren't dealing with anything big. Some of our people are going on raids to keep our standing active," replied Amy. "And we can show Tela something she hasn't seen before."
Arthur looked over at the little faery who was trying not to look at him and forcing herself to eat the food in front of her. "Tela, have you seen an ocean before?"
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Tela looked up shaking her head in the negative with her cheeks full like a chipmunk with too much food in its mouth.
"Ok, we'll go on a vacation. And whoever tried to target me will have to chase us on a boat."
"Mrs. Vanderbilt, I have taken the liberty to give your number to my mother. She will have the handler of the kits contact you when they have selected the candidates," said Ema as she returned to her seat.
"Time to go see what the construction crew have done at the Camelot Estate," smiled Amy.
"Then finish up breakfast, let's adjourn this meeting and regroup at Camelot," smiled Arthur.
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Telaga enjoyed the attention that the core members of Camelot were showering on her. They questioned a lot about faeries. And she truly knew how to be engaging while appearing to answer their questions.
Kelrick looked over then returned to the conversation with Vex and Arthur. "This small mana crystal that you created. Can you repeat it?"
"Yes, I can. Do you want another one?"
"No, it would be for Vex. That way we both have something to experiment with."
The Vex robot looked over, "That crystal has a concentrated mana capacity. I'm surprised the faeries didn't go nuts over it."
"I suspect they weren't looking at the inside of the crystal but at the fact that a human can create one," smiled Arthur as he focused on creating another twenty-sided die. When he was done he handed it to Vex, "How much mana are in these crystals?"
"It would be approximately equivalent to about thirty drops of your blood," said Kelrick.
Vex looked at the crystal, "Interesting. The giants never took the time to create crystals since there was an abundance of wild mana matrixes. Without my original body, I would not know the equivalence of your blood and mine. Creating a mana crystal should have an energy consumption on the maker."
The flutter of little wings alerted them to the arrival of Telaga. "Yes, it takes the stored mana that we collect to make into the crystal."
"Is this separate from your normal use?" asked the giant.
The little faery thought about it and then slowly nodded, "I think so. I'm not a crafter because I haven't been trained to do it yet, but I can feel mana inside of me that I can't use like I normally do when I use my abilities."
"Like a dam?" asked Kelrick.
"Yeah, something like that. Are you three going to talk more about this?" she asked.
"Probably. Go invisible with anyone else outside of the core members of Camelot. I want to keep you safe and secret for the time being Tela, can you do that?"
The little faery flitted close and kissed his cheek, "Yes, for you I will." She flew off to explore.
"It seems like you are capturing the hearts of the women around you," said Kelrick.
"I didn't set out to do that, it just kinda happened. Valkyrie allowed it too so I'm kinda following the river instead of fighting against the current," said Arthur a little bashful.
"It's perfectly ok Arthur. Elves have harems too. And giants don't believe in monogamy as long as the children are taken care of," said Vex.
The three discussed and shared information. Arthur learned a little more of the giant language and read a few more pages.
Valkyrie came by and told Arthur to come up from the dungeon and eat at the dining hall of the castle.
The Morlocks and Dwarves worked together to create the castle that was placed in the Morlock labyrinth. It had a moat, outer wall, outer buildings, inner wall, and inner castle. It was a work that would fit perfectly well during the Arthurian times. The feat of construction was made possible by the use of magic from the Dwarves, manpower from the Morlocks, and construction supplies from Valkyrie.
The first Camelot dinner went well. Many new faces but all signed the job contract with the NDA and were subject to the additional geas spell that Shane suggested. Anyone without the geas spell would not be allowed to enter the labyrinth by the gatekeeper.
The dining hall had a mix of races which made the atmosphere interesting. The current makeup were Morlocks, Dwarves, and humans. Arthur hoped that the mix of races would grow. He has met with faeries and Ema has her kitsune family.
Valkyrie came back with a refilled their goblets of wine and handed it to Arthur. He clinked and took a sip. Ema sat nearby. The only person missing was Danistrae who had gone to see Shane and left to look for the person that might have information about Venom.
Telaga sat on Arthur's shoulder which surprised him. The little faerie didn't go far from him during the meal and showed a little bit of consideration by bringing him a cookie which was as big as her.
"I've checked on the private charter. The owner is a retired adventurer. We can bring anyone. I have them set it up for the day after tomorrow. We'll fly down to Florida tomorrow and spend the day around the city before we board the boat. It is a seven-day, six-night package. I've also spoken with the captain and if we change any part of the itinerary or extend it, he is willing to negotiate terms. We can have four to twelve people."
"Thank you love. Have you chosen who is going with us?"
"I need to make a final count by tomorrow noon for the captain. I figure the four of us so far. I'm not sure who else you want to take with us."
"I was thinking Bjorn, Argent, Moonglow, and Shane." He responded but his eyes glanced at the two robots talking a distance away.
He reached down for the cookie that Telaga brought over and missed the plate. The fork and knife bounced up in the air and cut his hand.
Arthur stared at it more in surprise then the dull ache started to flow up his hand. He was watching his flesh and blood work on healing his wound.
"Do you want a bandaid?" Valkyrie asked.
"Oh no," yelled the little faerie and flew in fast and tried to close the wound with her little hands. "Why are you bleeding so much? Are you going to die? Not happening while I'm here." She began to call up mana and a green glow started to close his wound.
Arthur was too engrossed with watching how fast the wound was closing even with the healing spell from the faerie. He figured out that he had some sort of accelerated healing now and the healing spell only made it faster.
The little faerie wiped her mouth with her hand after finishing the healing spell. She accidentally tasted his blood and her eyes went wide.
Ema saw Telaga's reaction and quickly moved the little faerie to the floor some feet away.
Arthur looked up just in time to see Ema's action. "Is something wrong with Tela?"
"She accidentally tasted your blood. There... might be changes."
The little faerie was yelling in pain. The small voice started to get louder. She was also glowing, her wings expanding out of her body, and her body was growing. The not-so-little faerie stopped growing at five feet eight inches with a wingspan of eight feet.
"What's happening to her?" Arthur asked Ema.
"It seems your blood does something to those who have a higher mana attunement, And it does look like your blood is many times more potent than when we met."
Telaga was taking deep breaths. Valkyrie quickly brought a blanket and wrapped it around the human-sized faerie.
Ema glanced at Arthur's hand which caused him to look down then looked directly into her eyes. "Not yet... bondmate," Ema bowed her head in obedience and took a tablecloth to wipe his hand clean. The wound was already closed.
Telaga stared at her hands then at Arthur, "What did you do to me?"
"I didn't do anything. You tasted my blood by accident."
"I'm... I'm nearly as big as my mother," she stammered.
"Let's bring you to a bedroom and we'll discuss there," said Valkyrie as she helped the formerly little Telaga.
Telaga walked awkwardly, not used to being as big as she was now. She kept bumping her wings on things and slowly folded them around her torso like a makeshift dress.
In the bedroom, Valkyrie told Arthur to go to their bedroom. The girls will take care of Telaga.
Arthur sighed and felt helpless. He knocked and spoke loud enough to be heard in the room, "Take care of Tela for me. I'll be in my room if you girls need me."
The girls teased Telaga about her full-body blush. Ema shared a knowing look and patted her shoulder. "Don't force it, little sister. It will happen when the time is right."
"I'm not so little anymore."
"You are still smaller than me," Ema smiled.
Valkyrie rolled a dress rack out with many outfits. "Now for something fun, you can't wear your wings out in public. Let's see which of these clothes would look nice on you."
Ema smiled, "Our little Tela is going to do a fashion show."
Telaga laughed and tossed a pillow at Ema before jumping up to look at the clothes.