Chapter 1

I slowly awoke from my sleep to the pleasant feeling of my ladies pressed against me. Amenthia and Entivala were both lying in their respective spots, Amenthia on the right with Entivala on the left. Kat’ilth’ana was cuddled up behind her elvish friend, a slight smile of contentment on her face. I enjoyed these rare moments as our Dryad friend didn’t need much sleep and most mornings she was already up and working on her potions. We had spent another night with our goddess lover, Freyja. I was amazed how the heated and passionate sexual encounters that began this unique relationship with her had changed to more close, intimate endeavors that all of us relished and looked forward to. The five of us had begun to focus on the intimacy between us, knowing that sexual compatibility could only go so far within this unique relationship.

With the baby growing in Freyja, we had decided to work on becoming a real family. We talked about all that had happened to us so far, our hopes, fears, and the plans for the future. It had been a quiet few weeks since the end of the Challenge and the ramifications of what had occurred. The death of Jupiter was surprising to all, as well as the reveal that Kali had been responsible for the issues during the challenge. Many still couldn’t believe that she was part of the shadow group that had been causing trouble, but the actions she had taken were clear. After what had happened, we had decided to take things easy for a few weeks, to give us time to process all that happened during that intense time. It also gave us time to help our friend Cassandra.

She was still trying to deal with her feelings about the choice Darius had made after the issues with the Challenge had been dealt with. When Darius chose to go back to his home village after the loss of his arm, it really threw Cassandra for a loop. She had expected that they would work together to help him through this tough time, or that he would have asked her to come with him. Cassandra had hoped to help him through this tough time and had planned to work to help him regain some semblance of his old life.

His disappearance with little to no real reason for shutting her out had hurt her deeply. Over the past few weeks, Cassandra tried to reach out to him, so she could tell him of the good news in regard to some things that she had come up with through her runic work. Despite everything that she had tried, he hasn’t replied back to her in any way. I planned to check in with her today to see if she had heard anything from him and if not, to talk to Tyr about letting her go to see him and figure out what is going on. I didn’t want to impose myself on their relationship, but I hated seeing someone I cared about suffering.

I removed myself carefully from the bed, working to try and not wake either of the gorgeous women curled up to me. Once I was free and out of bed, I grabbed a change of clothes before heading to the showers. I glanced back and smiled as Amenthia shifted to embrace Entivala without waking. Once in the shower, I took my time, enjoying the warm water on my sore muscles, before washing and heading back to our bedroom. I arrived to find my ladies all awake and in various forms of their morning stretches. I swear that they waited for me to return and had planned this to entice me with their delicious curves. I smiled at them and wished them all a good morning as I finished dressing for the morning.

One by one, they crawled out of the bed and gave me a kiss, being mindful of their morning breath, before sauntering off to shower. Katie was the most brazen with her kiss, and after my brain reset from her lip lock, I realized she didn’t seem to suffer from morning breath. Instead of holding back, her intent was to show me the depth of her affection. Perhaps she was trying to compensate a bit due to how antagonistic she was when we first met. I had a feeling she was still self-conscious about that, and I would have to make sure she knew that I didn’t care about that past. I cared about the woman she was now and that she should be proud of who she is now. Her kiss made me see stars and shocked my brain, while her lips and mouth tasted of vanilla. I was left standing there in a stupor as the three of them left to shower laughing at the state the Dryad had left me in. Visions of their three luscious bodies glistening with water flashed into my mind and I was tempted to go join them but thought better of it.

I was surprised at the speed at which the trio returned, as I had figured they would take their time enjoying themselves as they tended to do when they showered with me. No doubt they used the same shower and ensured that they were in and out as fast as possible. Given how close they had become, I thought that they would have taken their time washing one another. Had I been there, it would have probably taken four times as long and resulted in multiple sexual escapades that would have left us a little more tired than when we entered. Not to mention being distracting for the other people that might be using the showers as they weren’t quiet when they got aroused. Knowing that they weren’t always quiet when we had done things in the past and I couldn’t help but wonder who might have heard us.

I began to imagine what could have occurred in the shower, other than cleaning of course, and had to banish the thoughts for now, or else I would get nothing done today. My three ladies arrived back at the room freshened up and looking beautiful, despite the fact that they were merely in their training outfits. Ready to start our morning routine, we headed down to the dining hall first to have a quick breakfast, before checking in with Cassandra in the quartermaster shop. She would no doubt be working, either on a commission or on her own runic research. Breakfast this morning was a delicious collection of eggs and meats, with a side of veggies to balance it out.

Once our meal was done, we arrived at the Quartermaster to find that Cassandra was the only one there working at the moment. Fra’tilia was nowhere to be seen and it looked like Brot’k wasn’t there either, which was unusual for him. When we neared the counter, I could see that she was working on a pauldron of some kind. However, as we drew closer, I could see that she wasn’t her normal calm and collected self. Instead there was an air of irritation around her, and I could see that it was affecting her work. We stood there quietly as we watched her engraving, since we knew better than to disrupt her in the middle of her rune work. She was muttering incantations while carefully engraving the edges of the armor with runes. The mixture of the runes, when magic was poured in them, is what enhanced the item and gave it the unique properties that she was trying to imbue it with.

The difference between runic work and regular enchanting, was in most cases an item could only have one enchantment at a time. You would have to destroy the first enchantment to put another on. With rune smithing, you are imbuing the armor you are creating with runes which can be designed to have multiple enhancements within a single rune structure. This created a greater variety of options, but there was always the risk of failure. The upside is that rune smiths could and did charge more for their goods, but there were very few operating. It was a long and arduous field, and most adventurers were always looking to make a quick buck. Some runes wouldn’t work correctly with others, but there were apparently ways to figure them out given time. The few times I had witnessed her work, it usually ended with the runes giving off a glow, as a sign of sealing the enchantment. However this time, when she finished there was a glow, followed by a fizzle of energy. She cursed and tossed her tools onto her worktable, burning her face in her hands. I couldn’t tell if she were crying, but her breathing was deep, and I could tell she was at her wits end.

“Um, good morning, Cassandra,” I said softly to the visibly upset woman. “Sorry to bother you, but we just wanted to check in and see how you are doing.”

She turned and glared at me, “How the fuck do you think I am doing Pathios? My boyfriend is gone with no sign he is okay, or even coming back. He won’t return any of my messages or contact me in any way and it is frustrating me. The worry and frustration that I am feeling is bleeding into my work and it’s causing me to waste time, energy, materials, and mana. I am having trouble completing any of the commissions that I have been given and my customers are getting frustrated as well. I haven’t completed a single rune crafting request since he left. Despite everything I am trying to do to keep my mind off him, it isn’t working, as it only makes me think about him more.”

“We are truly sorry to hear that Cassandra,” Amenthia replied, giving a gentile smile to her friend, “but please don’t take your anger out on us. We are all worried about both of you and the effect his leaving has had on you. It is not like any of us expected any of this to happen and we are all doing our best to support you through this.”

I nodded, “I plan to ask Tyr if he has heard anything and also was going to see if he could take you to see Darius. That way you could at least get some answers as to what is going on and why you haven’t heard from him.”

Cassandra let out a big sigh, “I am sorry everyone and you both are right. I shouldn’t be taking my frustrations out on you, but you also shouldn’t have to go so far for me either. I could have asked lord Tyr at any time as well, but to be perfectly honest, I was scared to ask him. I am afraid that if Tyr does take me to see Darius, that I will find out that Dairus doesn’t feel the same about things anymore and tell me to leave him alone.”

“Rejection is a hard thing,” Katie said softly, with a small nod of the head. “It hurts deeply, and you always wonder if there was more you could have done to make them choose differently. Fear of rejection can keep us from taking the steps we need to grow or to miss opportunities that could make our life better. So as bad as rejection can be, not trying and finding out could be much worse. The strings of doubt that plant seeds in your mind and make you question if you should do something are a nefarious thing. Those thoughts generate scenario after scenario of bad outcomes, causing turmoil, fear, and frustration. Knowing the answer to your question, while sometimes being hard to handle, can give you a small sense of peace. It allows you to truly know the reason behind a person’s actions and you aren’t left wondering. Why don’t we accompany you to go see Tyr? We don’t have to be in the room with you, but perhaps having us nearby will give you the courage you need to see it through. We can then go to do our morning training and you can find us there if you need to talk afterwards.”

She took a deep breath, nodded silently, and got up from her worktable. She quickly came around the counter and gave each of us a hug before we left the shop. She closed the door and locked it before the five of us began our trek to Tyr’s quarters.

“Where is Brot’k this morning?” I asked as we wove our way through the corridors. “It isn’t like him to be there in the mornings.”

“He is off to deliver some of the specialty items we have been making over the last few weeks,” Cassandra answered. “They will add a nice amount of gold to our coffers and help cover the various supplies we need. While all three of us are well off thanks to the materials that you bring, or the deals you have made to facilitate our needs, there are still things we need that aren’t supplied to us through those means. Not to mention that you are still in the lower levels of the dungeon still and some of the stuff we want to work on requires materials from higher floors. Fra’tilia is looking to acquire some other materials from the shops for the use of some of our goods, as she doesn’t want to waste all the enhanced silk you gave her.”

We all watched as she began to become more tense with each step but giving her a gentle touch or an encouraging word helped her to calm down. When we arrived at the door to his quarters, we waited for her to knock on his door, before giving her one last reassuring hug. Once she stepped inside, we left to head to the training area. As I looked back at Tyr’s door, I wondered what she would learn from her talk with him as we walked away from the room.

As we entered the training area, I saw that there were a handful of people sparring on the various mats, so we picked out one and began going through our daily forms. I was proud of the progress that they had made and was running out of things to teach them. We had moved on to our sparring matches when Cassandra entered the training room, and I couldn’t tell for certain what the outcome of her talk with Tyr had been. She silently walked over and picked up a wooden claymore from the weapons rack. She turned and walked towards the mat, staring intently at me while she closed the distance.

I glanced at the others and saw they were stepping towards the edge of the mat, leaving just Cassandra and myself in the center. They knew that they shouldn’t interfere with what was about to happen. Resigned to the fate that my ladies had chosen for me, I took a deep breath to center myself and readied my weapon. I had decided to use two short swords today and got into a ready stance as she neared. She had walked calmly until she saw me prepare myself and then that calm turned into fury, as she rushed me with a roar.

I quickly used my blades to deflect the wild incoming blow, staggering at the strength of her swing. Leaving me no time to prepare, she quickly continued to swing wildly, using me to vent out all the pent-up worry and frustration that had built up over the past few weeks. Despite my speed and agility, there were times where she nearly broke my defences and made contact with my body.

This onslaught lasted a few minutes before she began to lose steam and I saw the tears streaming from her face. I didn’t allow myself to relax until she dropped the blade and fell to her knees as she let the pain flow through her. I dropped my blades and rushed over to hug her, as her sobs became almost uncontrollable. The others quickly came over to join us and Cassandra soon found herself wrapped in our arms as she let herself deal with her pain. Once her tears subsided, we began to release her from the hug, and she quickly rubbed her eyes. We looked at her expectantly to find out what she had learned and why she was so upset.