Chapter 31: Dreams and Lovers

I self-edit and admit editing isn’t my greatest skill. I apologize in advance for anything I missed.

Rachel fought very hard to remain asleep because the dream that she had been having was so wonderful. In the dream, she had married Ethan and then Alana had held her hand during their first kiss. Later, when the redhead was nervous during her wedding night, the wood elf had come in and not only helped her calm down, but also kissed her forehead tenderly right before she’d had her first real orgasm. Then she’d fallen asleep between the two people she loved most in the world. She wanted so much to stay asleep and remain in the dream instead of waking up in the same old hammock alone...

... then she felt warm breath on the back of her neck.

Her eyes fluttered open and she saw a beautiful collection of chocolate brown hair with the prettiest ears in the Ten Kingdoms poking out of it. The newly risen sun was streaming in through the window and cast the loveliest light on her best friend.

She blinked.

She closed her eyes firmly, shook her head slightly, and then opened them again. She couldn’t help but smile as she saw that the chocolate brown hair was still there. That’s when she became aware of the rest of her body. She was naked — completely naked — and spooning with the two people she loved most in the whole world. She could feel hundreds of soft, smooth scales on her back and the warm tanned skin of the wood elf against her front.

Alana was naked too.

Rachel couldn’t see her body because of the sheets, but she could feel her bare skin.

She sighed.

Finally awake? She heard a masculine voice, but not with her ears.

Yes my lord. She thought to him, surprised at how natural the title now felt. “Am I doing this right? Can you hear me?*

He brushed his fingers over her side, making her shudder, before responding. I can hear you, and it’s wonderful to finally hear your voice. Your mental voice that is.

Yeah. She nodded with a smile as he ran his finger gently through her hair. Yeah, it’s pretty great hearing you too.

They both sighed at the same time and he wrapped his arm tighter around her.

What do you and your other wives usually do in the morning? She asked as she also put an arm around Alana. For some reason, it just felt right to. She loved having her best friend this close to her.

Talk mentally until everyone is awake, then usually talk aloud. On a not-infrequent basis, at least one of us is feeling frisky, and that usually snowballs to the others.

She wiggled her butt slightly and found that he was indeed hard. Should I ... um, I mean...

Not if you don’t want to, but I’m game if you are.

She looked at him over her shoulder and he flashed her a grin.

She blushed.

She blushed even harder at the thought that ran through her mind. She was pretty sure his other wives had used their lips on him, and she wanted to be their equal in every way. The idea wasn’t exactly unappealing, but something about it seemed very ... subservient? Submissive? Something like that. She didn’t know how to feel about that; that went double because she didn’t think that aspect would bother her anymore.

She wasn’t sure why.

What’s going on in that beautiful mind? He made a thoughtful sound, then mentally sang. I’m on your magical mystery ride, and I’m so dizzy, don’t know what hit me, but I’ll be alright.

Huh?

It’s from a song on my... He stopped. Let me correct myself: it’s a song from Earth, which isn’t my world anymore; this is.

Yeah?

Yeah, it is. Anyway, part of the song’s chorus goes like this. He thought, then mentally sang again. “All of me, loves all of you; all your curves and all your edges, all your perfect imperfections.* As he said the last bit about ‘perfect imperfections’, he traced his finger over her birthmark.

She stiffened slightly.

It’s true, what it says about ‘perfect imperfections’. He said kindly. I don’t care that you have a birthmark, just as I don’t care that Alana does too. In fact, I think it’s kind of neat.

You do?

Yeah; I do.

I’m glad. She relaxed. Though when I said ‘yeah’, I was talking about you calling the Ten Kingdoms your world. You really think of it that way?

I’m starting to. He replied. Taloni’s bad reaction to being on Earth for just a few seconds pretty much closed the door on me returning for more than a short visit. Plus Alana doesn’t tolerate it well either, and certainly couldn’t live there. Other than my parents, I don’t miss much.

*Not even your ‘TV’ thing and the ... intraweb?”

Internet. Yeah those are nice, but I really like the slower, simpler pace here too. And other than a certain father-in-law, this place is pretty great.

She sighed thinking about her father. Yeah, I’m sorry about him.

Well, I can’t completely hate him; he does make pretty good daughters you know.

Thank you. Rachel chuckled, and Alana started to stir at the noise and movement.

“Hmm?” The wood elf mumbled.

“Morning princess.” Ethan said good-naturedly.

“Good would be Rachel here with us.” She mumbled sleepily as she yawned.

“Good morning sweetie.” Rachel said with amusement.

The wood elf flipped around at lightning speed. She stared at the two of them for several seconds, then rubbed her eyes. “I didn’t dream last night?”

“That’s what I thought when I woke up too, but no; it wasn’t a dream.” The redhead replied. Curiously, she didn’t feel very self-conscious about being naked around Alana right now. She supposed that made sense as the wood elf had literally held her hand while she’d orgasmed in her lap.

Well, actually...

The redhead blushed slightly as she realized that Alana kissing her forehead had triggered the orgasm as much as anything that Ethan had done. She really had no clue what to make of that.

None whatsoever.

She knew that Ethan’s wives tended to get more sexually ... um, ‘flexible’ after marrying him. Alana had told her a little bit about her experience with Beth, plus the redhead had an active imagination, but hadn’t really thought it would affect her. I mean, she’d never been attracted to a woman before, even the lovely Alana who was practically the most perfect woman who’d ever lived. She definitely wasn’t attracted now, so then why...?

She came back to the present to see a highly amused smile on Alana’s face. Suddenly, she felt a little embarrassed about her nakedness again, though she couldn’t figure out why.

“What?”

“You get caught up in your head so easily.” The brunette chuckled. “It’s adorable.”

For some reason, Rachel liked the idea that Alana thought she was adorable. Plus, she’d surely meant it in a completely friendly, non-sensual way, so it wasn’t weird.

“Well, I’m hungry.” Ethan announced as he abruptly sat up and hopped over the two of them to land upright on the floor. “Why don’t you ladies stay here and have a lie-in. I’ll make sure they save some breakfast for you.”

And with that, he left without another word, but with a strange sort of amused grin.

“What was that about?” Rachel asked her bedmate.

Alana’s eyes were staring into space for a moment before she turned back to her friend with an embarrassed smile. “That was just my husband--” She smiled broadly. “--I mean ‘our’ husband being who he is.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we should have a lie-in.” The wood elf laid her head back down on the pillow facing the redhead. Her body was covered by the sheet, but the thin fabric did little to hide her lovely figure.

“Is that bothering you?” Alana asked. “I could put my dress on.”

“No, it doesn’t bother me at all.” Rachel replied, possibly a little too quickly. She added another question to cover that up. “Does it get weird with all Ethan’s wives being naked in here at once?”

“Well, it was at first. However, once we started...” She faltered. “Um, once we had ... uh...”

“Once you had... ‘kissed’?” Rachel offered, knowing full well that a lot more than kissing had happened.

“Yeah, once we ‘kissed’ it seemed silly to be embarrassed around each other.”

“Hmm. I’m not sure I’d be comfortable ‘kissing’ Beth or Taloni, or even being naked around them.” Rachel mused.

Alana bit her lip.

There was an awkward silence for several seconds. That’s when Rachel realized that she hadn’t said that she wouldn’t be comfortable ‘kissing’ or being naked around Alana. She had no clue why she hadn’t included the lovely and adorable wood elf though. Maybe it just slipped her mind?

“You know what this reminds me of?” Alana finally asked.

“What?”

“The night of Taloni’s wedding, and the hammock.”

“Yeah.” Rachel sighed. “Except that I don’t feel lonely right now, but I did then.”

“Aww.” The wood elf got a look of both sympathy and adorable happiness. She reached forward to give the redhead a hug, which she gratefully accepted. She had always loved hugging the wood elf. She found herself slightly annoyed that the sheet had ended up between them, but otherwise it was perfect.

Somehow, the hug never quite broke.

Rachel laid back down, slightly pinning the wood elf’s arm, but she didn’t seem to mind and ended up half leaning on the newlywed. They laid like that for several minutes in companionable silence. Rachel closed her eyes to enjoy it and heard Alana yawn next to her. As the redhead yawned in response, it occurred to her that a dozy, sleepy, morning lie-in sounded great. It was made even better by the wonderful, beautiful, and absolutely lovely wood elf next to her.

With any luck, she thought that they might even get a chance to doze together, like the morning after Taloni’s wedding.

They both nodded off soon after, each holding the other in her arms.

“Where are Alana and Rachel?”

Ethan smiled at his youngest wife’s boundless curiosity as he took another bite of breakfast. It was mostly biscuits and oatmeal, which didn’t have enough meat for his liking, but they weren’t bad. He’d found his appetite for meat had skyrocketed since becoming a dragon. Beth, Taloni, Selene, Anthiel, Serif, and Raklan were all sitting around the breakfast fire, which was suspended above the wooden decking in an iron firepan.

“I told them they should have a lie-in.” He responded once he had swallowed.

“A lie-in huh?” Selene said with a knowing look.

“Good for them.” Anthiel added with a similarly knowing look, and Serif looked slightly amused. Raklan had a leering look as he got up, leaving his food unfinished. He never left his food unfinished.

“I’ll be in my bunk.” He said as he adjusted his pants and then went below decks.

Ethan growled quietly after him.

“I’ll let him know your feelings on the matter.” Serif said, getting up and following the large crewman. Ethan’s two youngest wives looked at each other and then at everyone else.

“What am I missing?” Beth asked.

“Yeah, I don’t understand.” Taloni said.

Ethan stopped staring daggers after Raklan and turned to them. “Well--” He started, but was interrupted.

“Ow! What was that for?” Raklan’s voice came from below decks. Something told him that he’d just been the victim of a slap upside the head, courtesy of Serif.

Good man.

“Serves the creep right.” Selene looked at the other ladies. “Seriously, how do you put up with him leering all the time?”

“He doesn’t leer at Ethan’s wives.” Anthiel said delicately. “He’s not stupid, and both Serif and Ethan aren’t oblivious.”

“Ugh, okay.” Selene nodded. “Well, if you ever feel like extending that courtesy to me, I wouldn’t cry.”

Beth and Taloni giggled.

“Not that courtesy.” Selene rolled her eyes.

Ethan chuckled as he took another bite. The Brazilian woman was drop-dead gorgeous, but he already had his hands full, not to mention his bed. Apparently, he had another three wives coming at some point and had no idea who they would be. He would bond to them of course, but he found himself wondering who in the world he would feel comfortable bonding to...

“Ah shit.” He breathed.

“What?” Beth, Taloni, and Selene all chorused at once.

“Remember that Illuminar said I was going to have seven wives?” They nodded, so he continued. “Well it just occurred to me that Kendra might actually end up being one of my wives; we’re bonded remember. I have no idea why I didn’t think of that before.”

As he thought about it, he realized why it hadn’t occurred to him. Kendra was probably the last woman in the world — either world — that he would’ve considered for a wife. Taloni somehow managed to look like a kid on Christmas morning while also looking disappointed in him. “Master that’s wonderful, but please don’t be upset. Kendra really is a lovely person.”

“Yeah, maybe.” He sighed. She had apologized for trying to kill him all those times, and she’d been very helpful during their escape and return to the Argo.

“Master, you being married to Kendra will be wonderful. She really needs a good husband like you.”

“I actually agree with Tee, Dominus.” Beth added. “She seemed so lonely when she first visited the Argo, but she looked much better yesterday, and the night before too. I think I’d really like having her as a fellow wife if you could draw her out of her shell a bit. She was actually nice yesterday while we were all telling stories, and she seemed to really enjoy the company.”

“And master, she did apologize to you even though she hates dragon, doesn’t that say something about her?” The Fey said as her wings fluttered slightly in anticipation.

“It does.” He admitted.

Knowing where her hatred of dragons had come from had given him a new perspective. For her to get past the fact that a dragon had burned her parents alive in their house before her eyes at a young age ... It was impressive that she could get over that and actually apologize to him. It spoke volumes about her character. Plus she had experience fighting dragons, which could be useful against Lord Delmar and the Black Dragon.

He frowned, and then noticed Selene giving him a strange look.

Selene couldn’t believe her ears, though she supposed that she should be used to it by now. Beth and Taloni seemed like they were actively rooting for Ethan to have another wife.

Why?

There was no universe in which she could possibly understand how they tolerated their husband having sex with another woman. None. Of course they were free live their lives how they wanted and that was fine with her. As her father liked to say: ‘not my circus, not my monkeys’. However, she simply couldn’t understand it and wouldn’t ever want it.

“What?” Ethan asked, apparently noticing the look on her face.

“The multiple wives thing; I don’t get it.”

“It works for us.” He shrugged and then turned his attention back towards his food and wives. He didn’t ignore her, but mostly talked with them the rest of the meal.

She wasn’t sure what to do with that.

She was pretty sure she was being somewhat self-absorbed, but it was actually strange for her to not command the attention of a man without trying. She certainly wasn’t trying to get his attention, but she genuinely didn’t know how to react around a man who simply wasn’t interested in her. Just about every man remotely close to her age always had been, plus many far from it; why not him?

Her mind drifted back to that clearing where his portal to Earth had opened. Most especially, she thought about how he had looked at her after shocking her with his hammer. He had looked at her like she was beneath his notice, and that behavior had partially carried through to the present day. He hadn’t been rude at all, but he certainly hadn’t paid much attention to her since she’d gotten to the Argo. For some reason, she started getting a bit horny whenever she thought about that.

Was something wrong with her?

Back in the portal clearing, the dragon had looked at her like he was sizing her up to see if she was worth his time and attention. For some reason, she’d gotten the distinct impression that the dragon didn’t think that she was worth either. She had gotten the distinct impression that she was lacking some quality that he was has looking for and that made her somehow ‘lesser’.

That made her horny too.

It was stupid, but true.

All her life people had treated her very well, probably because of her beauty. Now, she’d finally met a man who seemed truly uninterested in her. Not only did she not know how to react to that, but for some reason that bothered her. She had found herself comparing herself to his other wives trying to figure out what it was that they had that she lacked.

She couldn’t figure it out.

She didn’t want to be self-absorbed, but if you combined the best physical assets of all his other wives and compared them to her — even her on a bad day — she didn’t think she’d suffer by comparison. She might even come out on top physically. So she figured it must be something non-physical. Some aspect of her personality perhaps?

What was she missing?

What was wrong with her?

It even occurred to her that she might be a bit too self-absorbed, and she didn’t like that thought at all. In fact, she rather hated it. A little self-reflection made her think it could be a problem of hers that she’d need to work on.

That realization stung a bit.

“I heard you’ve been training like mad; wanna spar?” Ethan asked after he’d finished his breakfast.

“Sure!” She replied instantly, not sure why she was so happy that he had asked her.

He retrieved the training weapons from the hold and threw a shield and practice arming sword to her. “First strike which would be debilitating or lethal.”

“Agreed.” She smiled.

“I just deactivated my enhanced reflexes.” He called. “Begin.”

Selene raised her sword and shield, ready to defend. He was using a spear without a shield, and she usually did pretty well against Serif and Raklan with that matchup. Well, she usually lasted longer anyways.

Ethan leapt forward, driving his spear tip towards her face. She slightly raised her shield and moved it out, blocking the spear strike while retaining her field of vision. She started forward to attack after taking the centerline. However, he retracted his spear lightning fast and thrust it out again towards her torso. She readjusted her shield to cover the torso, then aimed a counterblow as she stepped forward.

He grinned.

He adjusted the training spear to block her strike, then stepped in closer, dropped his one hand, and grabbed her exposed sword hand in his. He jerked her arm forward, pulling her out of position as he deftly choked up on his spear so he was holding it near the point, and brought it around to stop it close to her neck.

“Touché.” She admitted as he pulled his blow so he didn’t hit her.

They reset.

“Begin.” He called.

This time she went on the offensive, charging forward to get past his spear point. He took a step back as she aimed a downward diagonal slash. He twirled his spear, deflecting her sword’s path with the butt end of the spear while he thrust the point down toward her legs. She moved her shield to block his spear point, but he grabbed her shield and pulled it up, forcing her sword arm into an awkward position and opening up her legs for the spear strike that lightly tapped her leg moments later.

“Touché.” She sighed.

It went like that the entire time.

She rarely landed a blow. Even when she did, they were so light and glancing that she thought he might be calling them hits just to make her feel better. He also started helping her by pointing out flaws in her defenses or technique. His pointers were spot on and delivered in helpful manner without condescension, but that made her feel even more inferior anyway.

But worse was the look. At some point, she’d noticed him getting slightly dragonish during their sparring. Then suddenly, she was losing even worse. She got the distinct impression that the dragon was toying with her, much like a cat might toy with a mouse. While he wasn’t more violent and still pulled his winning strikes, the look on his face did change.

The dragon — not necessarily Ethan — but the dragon looked disappointed in her.

For some reason, that stung.

It really stung.

When they finished, Ethan seemed to come to himself a bit. “Wow, you’re improving really fast. It took me weeks to get to the level you’re at.”

“Thanks.” She replied, trying to sound cheerful even though she wasn’t.

Eventually, Ethan wandered away to say good morning to Rachel and Alana after they emerged from the captain’s cabin. Both women were looking incredibly happy and were almost glowing, and both greeted their husband with a kiss. They then started working on making his new suit of dragon skin armor with Serif.

Selene mostly watched or sparred with Raklan when she could, but her heart wasn’t in it. Ethan had been genuine in his praise, but she still felt like she had been schooled like a white belt sparing against a grand master.

Oddly, that made her loins itch a bit too.

Sarah leaned down to look at her newest herb plant, glad to see her prune from earlier in the week had helped it. It was still growing beautifully, but at a slower and healthier pace.

She smiled.

Satisfied that her plants were all doing well, she stood and started walking back towards the inn. As she did so, her mind went back to her dream with Gabriella. The angel’s promise that ‘everything will be okay in the end; if it’s not okay, it’s not the end’ had been very comforting. Her other promise that Sarah would help ‘bring great good’ and get a wonderful husband in the process almost seemed too good to be true.

She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it had just been a normal dream.

She looked up to the sky. “Dear Illuminar — blessed be you — thank you for the dream. Um, I really want it to have been a real dream, a dream from you I mean. So please make it so it was.” She finished, then looked up again. “And please make me good.”

She got back to the inn and walked into the kitchen. The stew she’d started earlier was still slowly cooking over the bed of coals she’d made. She picked up the poker to rearrange the coals and felt her shoulders slump when she realized it was the same poker that she’d bent the day Selene had started working at the inn.

She really missed her friend.

Not long after, she heard the front door open, which was odd since travelers usually didn’t enter until late afternoon or evening and it was still mid-morning.

“Hello and welcome.” She said as she left the kitchen and entered the main room.

The man jumped slightly.

He was probably around sixty and looked like he had lived a hard life. His right leg appeared to end at the knee because he had a pegged leg poking out the bottom of his rough pants. His face was weather-beaten and his skin was closer to leather than most. He had a scraggly stubble of a grey beard, which matched his grey hair.

The man’s face went a little pale when he saw her, but he didn’t move.

“Can I help you?” She asked, all too familiar with the reason for his fear. To be honest, she was a little scared of her problem too.

He regarded her for a moment. “Is this...” He looked around. “Was the dragon really here?”

“No.” She shook her head. “But two of his wives were, about four days ago.”

He nodded, apparently considering. “Is he likely comin’ back?”

“I hope so.” She replied. “My friend Selene went with them and she promised to come back for my wedding if she could.”

The man nodded again, then narrowed his eyes and looked at her carefully.

“You’re the girl, ain’t you?” He said suspiciously. “The one that’s got all them priests and travelers scared.”

She swallowed hard and then nodded, not able to meet his eye.

“Is it true what they is saying about you?”

She nodded mutely.

“Hmm. you don’t look like you’ve got a ... well, a ‘you know what’ hangin’ onto you.”

“I try to serve Illuminar and my ... my problem comes and goes.” She replied, surprised that he had said that much about her problem. People stopped doing that a year or two after her problem surfaced. It seemed they were worried they might ‘catch’ her problem if they spoke of it. He seemed like he was from far away though, so perhaps that was why?

He made a thoughtful sound. “Do you know what makes it come?”

“When I’m scared.” She replied.

This was one of the strangest conversations that she’d ever had, and certainly the longest conversation she’d ever had about her problem since her father had taken her to all those priests. It was also the longest conversation she’d had with about her problem with any visitor. They usually stayed far away from her and didn’t ask when they knew.

“So as long as I don’t go scaring you, you gonna stay you?”

She nodded.

“And you think the dragon might be back?”

“I hope so.” She replied honestly. “My friend is really nice and I know she wouldn’t lie to me. She said she’d try to come back. She’s traveling with him now, so...”

The man considered her for several long moments. He made a thoughtful grunting sound and stroked the stubble on his chin, then nodded. “Okay, then I’d like a bed for as long as it takes until he comes back, or your friend does.”

“Why do you need to talk to the dragon?” Sarah asked.

“I’m from down southeast near the mountains; things is getting bad down there.”

The girl gasped and covered her mouth. She glanced at his pegged leg and she could feel her skin getting clammy and cold. There was only one thing in the mountains that would give a man a pegged leg and yet he could live to tell the tale. They were the villains of every horror story in Ivernia, more than a few cautionary tales, and some of the darker nursery rhymes. Some of those stories were so scary her parents had refused to tell them to her until she was older.

If they were getting out of hand, that didn’t bode well.

“Orcs?” She whispered.

He nodded.

“You know it’s weird.” Ethan said as he watched the land of Ivernia slowly fade into the distance as they crossed over into the land of the wood elves again. They’d taken a break from working on his armor, and since they were about to pass out of Ivernia, they had decided to take that break on the quarterdeck to watch the verdant countryside fade into the distance. “I’ve spent so little time there, but something about it just feels...”

“Like home?” Alana offered.

“Yeah.” He turned towards her, leaning on the rear railing of the Argo’s quarterdeck with all four of his wives beside him. “Anyone else feel like that?”

“Um, not quite like that Dominus.” Beth replied. “But it’s really pretty country and I like it. We were only there a few days, but ... I don’t know. I feel very comfortable in Ivernia.”

“I agree master.” Taloni’s wings fluttered.

“Yeah I agree to. It’s a shame about Lord Farbrottan though.” Rachel added. “Never has a prettier country had a more unfortunate lord.”

“Oh?” He asked.

“Yes my lord.” She replied, then paused. “It’s really weird now natural that feels now; calling you ‘my lord’ I mean.”

“It’s weird hearing you say it, but ... I don’t know; I kind of like it too.”

“Me too my lord.” The redhead replied with a half embarrassed smile.

“So, Lord Farbrottan isn’t such a good guy?” He asked.

She shook her head. “He’s a petty tyrant. Keeps the land in an iron grip and punishes any dissent or criticism harshly.”

He looked back out over the beautiful countryside. “Shame, something about Ivernia just feels...” He looked at Alana. “Yeah, like home.”

She sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Yeah.”

Master, I think Selene wants to say something. Taloni thought to him. She’s standing near the stairs looking a little unsure of herself.

Ethan took a last look at the Ivernian landscape, then turned towards the Brazilian woman. “Something up?”

“Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about two things. First, — given how taken you are with Ivernia — I thought you might want to do something about Smithbond and him establishing a base here with the portal.”

“Yeah. We should talk about that; we’ll finish the armor later.” He groaned, though not at her. “What was the second thing?”

“It’s related: I’d like to go home, if possible.” She replied.

“Okay, let’s sit down and talk about it.” He said, not really wanting to add another thing to his plate, but recognizing that it was past time to start thinking about that particular situation.