Having three bodies meant there was almost always a lot for Jadis to juggle at the same time. There were moments when all three of her selves could focus on just one thing, of course, but those were usually either on the battlefield, or in the bedroom. However, the majority of her daylight hours were spent multitasking so that she could get as much done as possible. Sometimes, she even duplicated herself further and would have five of her selves running around when the situation demanded it. Unfortunately, there were some instances where having more bodies didn’t help. The reasons were as varied as there were people under the sun, but in short, the bottleneck on that particular day wasn’t her. It was unreliable road conditions.
“Oh gods, I think I’m going to throw up.”
“You’re not going to throw up,” Syd whispered to Sorcha as she rubbed her back. “You have nothing to worry about. You know your parents love you.”
“Aye, they love me,” the goblin woman moaned into the palms of her hands. “That won’t stop my mum from taking a spoon to my hide, I can promise you that.”
Syd sighed as she continued to comfort her shortest lover. Sorcha was twisting herself up in knots over the imminent arrival of her parents later that day, and all the reassurances that she and the others could give were losing their efficacy with each hour that passed. It didn’t help that the caravan Sorcha’s parents were on had been delayed. They had been expected to arrive by noon that day, but it was several hours past the appointed time, and no caravan had materialized. Terrance had made use of his runner skills and headed off down the road earlier to see if he could find out what the issue was and had just recently returned with the news that the caravan was delayed due to the late spring rains flooding the roadway and damaging a bridge. Repairs were proceeding and the caravan would be arriving sometime later that evening, possibly after nightfall, so there wasn’t really anything to worry about. That knowledge didn’t stop Sorcha from mixing up her concern for her family and her apprehension over what they were going to say to her when they saw her after so long all together into one big lump in the pit of her stomach.
“She’s not going to spank you,” Syd told the witch with straight-faced sincerity. “I’m the only one allowed to spank you. Maybe Kerr if she’s being good.”
That got a laugh out of the distressed goblin, but she still sat with her face in her hands.
“They’re going to be proud of you,” Syd tried again. “Look at all you’ve accomplished! You’ve got a loving mate, a happy and comfortable home, and your magic is becoming super strong. You regularly rub shoulders with nobles and even the Hero. You are part of a successful mercenary company that helped slay a Demon Prince! What have they got to be mad at you about?”
“Did you forget about this bloody thing?” Sorcha said bitterly.
As she spoke, she yanked up the sleeve of her blouse, revealing the tracking armlet that was around her upper arm. The enchanted item was a part of her punishment for the crimes Sorcha had committed while in Weigrun as a member of the Roiling Reavers mercenary band, and it was a sore spot of shame for the young witch. If she were to commit another crime, the bracelet was a means by which the empire would track her down and enact a far more substantial punishment upon her. Jadis had petitioned to get the damn thing removed since it was clear to her mind that Sorcha was in no danger of ever doing something as stupid as joining up with smugglers again, but the appeal had been rejected. Sorcha’s sentence had already been greatly reduced, so the empire wasn’t going to dismiss her penance further. Even the mighty had to admit their wrong doing and follow the law, or so the response letter Jadis had received had explained.
Jadis had wanted to drag whichever court official had written that line in front of Hraustrekr to demand further explanation, but such fantasies were idle at best.
“Look, your parents can’t hold your past mistakes over you unless you let them,” Syd told her lover firmly. “Besides. From what you’ve told me, they are both pretty devout followers of Valtar, right? Shouldn’t they believe in mercy and forgiveness?”
“They also believe I should have stayed in Bell's Ford and been a simple herbalist witch. They were not happy about my decision to leave home, Jadis. I don’t think I can stress that enough. They were not bloody happy.”
“They left home to come here to be with you, though,” Syd pointed out. “That says something, doesn’t it?”
“It says they take the threat against their lives seriously. Not exactly a point in my favor…”
Syd held back the sigh in her chest. She was confident that the coming meeting between Sorcha and her parents wasn’t going to be as bad as the goblin was expecting. As down to earth and clever as the witch could be, she had a bad tendency to get caught up in negative spirals. If the caravan had arrived on time, the whole hullabaloo would have been over and done with. Instead, Sorcha was worrying herself sick, and there wasn’t a whole lot Jadis could do about it.
Not that her inadequacies would stop her from trying.
“Look, just go entertain the Hero or whatever,” Sorcha told Syd. “You don’t need to worry about me. Just let me stew in my own piss while I wait. You’ve got better things to do today.”
That wasn’t an option so far as Jadis was concerned. Aila and Alex had taken Wilhelm, Jocelyn, and Amarantha over to Building Five so they could meet with the other Demons along with Tiernan and Lucia. That meant Jadis’ Dys self was present and that one of her was more than enough for the task of demonic introductions. Her Jay self was with Halvor, Ludger, and Rein, who were in the training yard with Thea and Bridget, so all of the Hero’s companions were accounted for. Sure, there were other things her Syd self could be doing, but nothing that she felt was more important than comforting her distressed lover.
There wasn’t much in the world that would take precedence over being there for those she loved.
“Okay, so, I have a question for you,” Syd asked as she thought up a new method to help Sorcha get over her nerves. Distraction. “You remember how I was doing my accession ritual with Alex after the Vital Overflow ritual last night, right?”
“You said that, yeah,” Sorcha nodded as she lifted her head up. “You aren’t about to suggest that we do something like that now, are you?”
“No, we already did ours,” Syd grinned at the goblin. “That was a lot of fun, though. If you want to visit the waterfront again—”
“Absolutely not,” Sorcha cut her off. “That was the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever done in my life, and I bloody well won’t be doing it ever again!”
“Are you sure?” Syd asked in a wheedling tone. “Now that I have that dress, it seems like it would be a total waste not to use it again…”
Sorcha turned a darker shade of green as she blushed furiously, but her emerald eyes didn’t quite meet Syd’s gaze as she looked away.
“…not the waterfront.”
“Oh? Where else would you prefer that we—”
“Weren’t you going somewhere else with this line of thought, or are you just being a huge pervert? Again?”
“Ah, right. So,” Syd settled back in her bench seat as she leaned over Sorcha from the side. “I forgot to mention this, sort of slipped my mind, but Noct was telling me something during the, uh, ritual climax. She told me that she isn’t actually a Seraphim.”
“Really?” Sorcha sat up straighter, her expression intrigued. “But the wings and, you know, her father.”
“Yeah,” Syd nodded. “Aelius is a Seraphim, but her mother is a Valbjorn. Since Noct clearly doesn’t have the head of a bear or any obvious fur, assuming she doesn’t shave herself bare every day, that means she’s got to be a hybrid race, like Hope.”
“That’s interesting,” the witch said as she stared into the distance, completely distracted just as intended. “I wonder what a Seraphim and Valbjorn mixed hybrid is.”
“Well, that’s what I was going to ask you,” Syd stated with a little disappointment. “I haven’t had a chance to look for any books or records on that sort of thing since we’ve been busy and I just remembered, but it has to have happened before. Severina even told me how one of her ancestors had married a Valbjorn and had four kids. None were a hybrid, not from what she told me, and those are supposed to be super rare anyway.”
“I thought Severina said both Tacitus and Noct were Seraphim,” Sorcha pointed out as she chewed on her lip. “Did she not know? Or are both she and Noct hiding it? Why would Noct hide her race?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I also tend to be missing a lot of context, being from another world and all that. I thought you might have an idea. All she really said was that it was a secret and that’s all I got before we were interrupted.”
“Hm. Well, I don’t have any more context than you on that one. I’d never even seen a Seraphim before Severina, much less a Valbjorn before Runar, so I don’t—” Sorcha paused mid-sentence, her eyes suddenly narrowing. “Hold on. Did you just say that Noct told you her race was a secret?”
“Uh, yeah,” Syd admitted, growing somewhat uncomfortable as her own realization struck her.
“She told you a secret that she probably keeps from everyone, possibly even people she knows well like Severina, while the two of you were naked in a bath together?”
“We weren’t in the same bath—”
“And you just blabbered that secret the first bloody chance you got!?”
“Okay, yes, well, I might not have thought that through,” Syd winced.
“You have three brains! Three! How did none of them have any sort of thought about how wrong that was?”
“So, speaking of limited brainpower, what do you think Kestil was talking to Wilhelm about last night?”
“Oh, no you don’t” Sorcha stood on the bench seat and poked Syd’s nose. “You don’t get to just change the subject like that, you lummox! We are having a talk about your common sense, or lack thereof!”
As Sorcha launched into her tirade, Jadis at least had the satisfaction of knowing that she had successfully distracted Sorcha from her anxiety over the delayed arrival of her parents. If getting the wrong kind of tongue lashing is what it took to improve her lover’s mood, she could live with the consequences. Besides, it wasn’t that much of a sacrifice. Not all her bodies were being berated by a lover.
Just two of them.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were posing for that kind of painting,” Dys apologized again as she stood in front of the closed door that led out to the hallway. “Really, I had no idea!”
“It is not that kind of painting,” Eir corrected her with a cute frown. “I am posing nude, which is not inherently sexual. This type of modeling is generally done so that the artists in training gain a better understanding of anatomy. However, you really should have knocked on the door before entering. While I do not feel I have anything to hide, I also have no desire to display my unclothed form in front of Tiernan and Lucia.”
“Right on both accounts,” Dys nodded seriously. “I should have knocked first. Also, you definitely don’t have anything to hide.”
The elf’s pouting frown turned into a knowing smile. Standing on top of a raised platform, she held her pose out of consideration for the budding artists, but the twinkle in her eyes made it all the harder for Jadis to resist walking over and sweeping her gorgeous lover into her arms.
“Perhaps you will find some time later to join us?” Eir proposed with a slight waggle to her wide hips. “I’m sure Brush and Canvas would enjoy painting your form as well.”
Glancing over at the two Demons who were still studiously painting their renditions of the unclothed elf, Dys smirked. She had no doubt that they would be happy to take the opportunity, were it to be given to them. Jadis just wasn’t sure she could spare the time to stand still for that long. The two friendly Demons weren’t exactly fast with their art.
“If it means getting to spend more time naked with you, I’ll see what I can do,” Dys joked. “But no promises. Let me know when you and the duo are done. Tiernan and the others would still like to meet them.”
“I will,” Eir nodded. “We won’t be much longer.”
Giving her lover’s beautiful form one last lingering, longing look, Dys exited the room shared by the two artistic Demons so that they could finish their painting of Eir in peace. Not that the noise and commotion had distracted the two. Not once had they taken their attention off of their work at any point during the accidental exposure and subsequent apologies. Just like the rest of the Demons Jadis knew, Brush and Canvas had impressively singular focuses. She was just glad they had turned towards something harmless, like art.
Considering the accidental success that they had achieved with both Oats and Cobbler, Jadis and her lovers had leveraged their resources towards finding interests for the various unhatched Demons as a means of luring them away from Samleos’ Urge. Results had been mixed, but generally positive thus far. While Crash was also somewhat accidental, since they had never intended for her to become a battle maniac, Brush and Canvas were examples of two Demons who had gained entirely nonviolent interests.
The two loved to paint, though the creation and exhibition of art of any kind was a deep fascination for the two emerald-eyed Demons. They had taken the same class after hatching, Experimental Artiste, and could be found working together on various artistic projects at almost all times of both day and night. Some of their creations were a little rough, in Jadis’ amateur opinion, but the two were practicing non-stop and so were improving with every newly completed work.
Interestingly, when it came to painting, Brush tended to use a more abstract technique while Canvas was more direct and realistic. Despite the differences, the two still worked on their paintings jointly, which led to rather strange yet intriguing designs.
Looking up from his notebook as she entered the communal room in the front of the building, the still slightly blushing gnome greeted her.
“Ah, I hope Lady Eir accepted my apologies,” Tiernan said as his fingers drummed against the leather tome. “I did not by any means wish to cause her any distress.”
“You’re fine,” Dys assured the wizard. “Eir isn’t mad, and it’s my fault, anyway. I should have knocked.”
“Right, right,” Tiernan nodded. Then, after a second of silence, he gave Dys a sly look. “You truly are a child of Lyssandria, hm? Such a collection of beauty…”
“I’m just lucky, I guess,” Dys replied mildly.
“Ahem, yes,” Tiernan cleared his throat. “Moving on. Or rather, changing subjects so that I do not make a bigger ass of myself than I already have. What were those wooden bodies that, ah, Brush and Canvas, were inhabiting? They looked like tailor mannequins.”
“That’s basically what they are,” Dys answered as she slowly walked with the small man towards the room where everyone else had gone. “We bought two mannequins and Sabina made some adjustments.”
“Quite a lot of adjustments, it looked like.”
The idea had come from a memory Jadis had from her life back on Earth, not that she was going to tell Tiernan that much. While she had never owned one, Jadis knew that artists often used small wooden dolls with metal joints that could be posed for sketching purposes. The mannequins that tailors in the empire used weren’t that advanced, but with a few modifications from an inspired Sabina, the results were two roughly human-sized wooden dolls that were perfect for the two demonic artists to merge with as part of their class-form acceptance.
On the one hand, the basic wooden forms that the two had been granted were simple and humanoid; far less overtly creepy than Cobbler’s weird, eight-limbed, spindly body. On the other hand, the merging had resulted in the basically featureless heads of the mannequins gaining one giant green eyeball in the middle of each of them, along with black Demon tentacles that wormed their way through the wooden structure of the dolls in a way that looked more than a little disturbing.
“They’re happy, and friendly, so that’s what counts,” Dys replied. “Now, in here are the rest of the Demons, except for Oats and Cobbler. I can promise you that if nothing else, Rune is going to be super interested in you.”
“Oh?” Tiernan asked as Dys opened the door at the end of the short hallway for him. “Why? Does the Demon have an obsession for short men with big hats?”
“Something like that,” Dys chuckled. “Just get ready to answer a lot of questions.”
“Certainly!” the wizard said as he strode confidently into the room. “Just so long as this Rune is prepared to answer all of mine!”
“She isn’t, but she’ll do her best.”
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