Chapter 79: Morning Activities
5/11 morning
Edwin was woken up in the morning with good news; his daughter was back in Moonbrook, and was reportedly looking smug. She was alone, but if she'd been trounced she would have probably snuck in to speak with him directly. He sent for her while he had breakfast; after the gnolls had decided to drop everything and start killing each other, he needed some good news. When his daughter sauntered in, he just asked. "So how'd it go?"
"Much better than expected, father. I think Otto will be quite an asset to us moving forward. It was all a bit of trickery, combining inscription and jewelcrafting, but he's almost as good in those areas as I am in alchemy. Pliable too. That whole stunt was just him showing off, hoping for a recruitment; when I batted my eyelashes and told him how impressive he was, he was ready to sign up."
"So where is he now?"
"Duskwood; He has a lab near Darkshire. I sent Irma to look over his work and remind him how wonderful he is occasionally, along with the rest of the team for security and to help him carry it all." She rolled her eyes. "He really does some amazing work. I think you'll find this one particularly interesting. It counteracts the effects of age on the body, returning its wearer to their prime."
Edwin raised an eyebrow. He'd become an architect for many reasons, Vanessa's mother had been the top of that list, but the runner up was that his biggest contribution to SI:7 was as a fighter who knew how to stay unseen, and combat was a young man's game. He could still trounce most warriors half his age, but that didn't change the fact that he was pushing fifty. To be back to his old fighting trim…
"Has it been tested?"
"On a few people. One of his friends claims to be a veteran of the first war, but looked like she was about my age. Irma says the spellwork checks out; the worst thing she can foresee happening would be developing a long term dependency."
Of course there was a catch. But even so, a few more years and maybe he could let go of the fight anyway, as long as he could get the brotherhood every copper they were promised before then. "Hand it over. I'll try it out."
"Irma suggested keeping it on for a week, then getting a physical exam."
He nodded. "Alright. She'd know better than me about this kind of thing." Irma was one of his best enchanters; she was talented, though he really wished he had more magic to draw upon. If Otto proved himself, he really would be a tremendous asset. Edwin latched the amber pendant around his neck. There was no obvious effect initially.
"There's one other thing I think you'll be really interested in." Vanessa had a huge grin at this point as she rummaged around in her satchel. "Look at this." She proffered a crystalline sphere. He looked at it as it started to glow, a strange rune appearing at its core. There was no effect other than the glow. The beautiful, beautiful glow…
••••••••••
The beautiful one had left her alone with the small one. There were worse things. The small dragon was enthusiastic in teaching her flight. The ways to hunt aloft. Talaada's new claws were better than the fragile spears her people used.
Everything seemed simpler now. Talaada understood things more easily. When father accepted love, he had spoken of clarity. Was that what this was? Talaada thought that if it was, it was a beautiful gift. She had lived all her life without clarity, being taught by others without clarity. It was like she suddenly had two more arms, but she'd never noticed.
The beautiful one gave many gifts. He promised more. She found that she didn't hate being a dragon anymore. Not after a full day of learning. It was a hunt. A task. She was a good hunter. She would do this task and bring home the prey, even though the prey was beauty and knowledge.
She had asked to watch the small one take her pink skinned form. A human. Talaada had heard of humans. They lived to the west and followed the light. They fought the orcs, who father said were the enemy, the destroyers of the old ways. Humans had nice things and were weaker than the orcs or trolls that lived nearby, so the raiders would go after them sometimes. Lividia spoke of their wisdom and strength. They sounded wonderful the way the small dragon described them, always growing better. Father spoke of the draenei's past, but what Talaada understood now, with the clarity father spoke of, was that Draenei were always getting worse. Always fleeing, always broken. She wanted to get better. If she could choose her face, she wouldn't choose a draenei one.
••••••••••
Once again, Lillibeth had found a draenei that could be suckered into the cult while Mary failed; I was starting to think maybe I should send her somewhere else. To capture prisoners, perhaps, or to back up Keryn. Lillibeth's new recruit was yet another dude, disappointingly, but I was up to five Draenei now. I was hoping that eventually some would come to join up willingly. After I directed my new recruit to go with his "spirit guide" to a gathering of my disciples at Dremuus' hut, I left to check in with Lividia and Talaada.
I gave Lividia a lingering kiss, and earned a distressed little whine when I was done before her. I smiled down at her as she pouted. "Well Talaada, shall we pick up where we left off?"
She did a bit better today than yesterday, thankfully. No backsliding. I wondered if that was Everlasting talent making sure her skills would never deteriorate, or if she was just good at retaining information. Either was possible. She was hideously undereducated for a Draenei, but as a species they were supposedly among the most naturally intelligent mortals in the Warcraft cosmology. In fact, by the end of the lesson she seemed to have the words down. The problem was that she didn't know what she wanted to look like.
I showed her a variety of different Draenei by fiddling with Mary and Lillibeth's sliders, but she didn't bite. Slowly I realized that the problem was that she didn't find her own species appealing. Which was definitely a shame to a man of culture like myself. The question was: did I fiddle with her settings to make her want to be the kind of woman I came to the swamp to get, or did I have faith that most of the Broken wanted to look like they used to and just give her what she really wanted?
Hmm. I came to the rather refined and sensible conclusion that I'd be fine with whatever as long as she was hot. In fact, taking her virginity was on my to do list. Not for it's own sake, but taking a participant's virginity during a ritual was worth another point of resonance. Creepy, but might I remind you that I'm already grooming her and inducting her into a cult.
"Today, I think I will turn you back and let you live with your family. Tomorrow will be on the wing again, and we will alternate until you are ready."
She seemed relieved. "Thank you. I love mother and father very much."
"Huh. This was your first time away from home, wasn't it?" She nodded, embarrassed. "That's fine. Everyone needs to leave home for the first time once."
We made our way back to Dremuus's cabin. They had a visitor, the recruit I'd gathered the prior day. He and Norin were chatting while working on straight 2 foot long sticks, scraping one side. Dremuus was repairing a hole in the roof.
"Greetings, friends. I hope I find you well."
Norin looked at me and grinned. "Oh very well, friend, and better for your visit."
"I see you have started a project." As I looked over the sticks, wild talent supplied me with a guess. "Bows?"
"Yes. We remembered what we have been doing wrong. Everything is coming back, as clear as sunlight."
"I am glad to hear it. Talaada is free to stay here for the day, but I'm afraid her initiation isn't over. I'll be back tomorrow."
"Stop. Before you go. Eh. What can we call you?"
"When I came to this world I took on the name Bismark." I love telling the truth when I can get away with it. Once we were out of sight, Lividia and I took wing and she guided me to the Harborage, the refuge of hopeful Draenei we had been told about, which she'd seen from above while showing Talaada the wonders of dragonhood.
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