Chapter 64: The Ghosts of Wives Past

Rachel slowly woke up, not hearing the usual whispering between Beth, Taloni, and Kendra as they read the Book of Light early in the morning. They never did that when it was Taloni’s turn to sleep in their husband’s arms because none of them could read the Fey tongue. As Rachel thought about it, she thought it might be a good idea to get a copy in the common tongue, expensive though it would be.

“Morning Sweetheart.” Alana whispered to her, which made her smile.

“Morning Sweetie.” Rachel replied with a smile as she opened her eyes. The captain’s cabin was well-lit, but it didn’t look like the sun had risen just yet.

“Morning ladies.” Ethan said, then yawned, prompting yawns from the others as well. “We have a full day today.”

“Indeed.” Rachel agreed as she sat up, holding the sheet against her chest to keep herself covered. “You were going to talk to Myla about Falkaan’s proposal, to Luminar Kossel about Lady Ekthros, then try to exorcise Sarah’s demon with Aharown, and then I should probably respond to the letter I got from Mage Weston.”

“What was in the letter?” Beth asked immediately. “You only gave a brief summary.”

“It was a moral choice test.” The redhead replied while adjusting to sit cross-legged on the bed, still holding the sheet up. She had almost sat up without the sheet, but hadn’t been able to work up the nerve. “The choice is this: You are in Karnas riding westward down the Sienthae lane when your horse gets spooked and starts running, but you can’t get him to stop. You reach the fork in the road only to see that down one street, there’s several children playing, and down the other side of the fork is someone you love. The question is which way you should guide the runaway horse.”

“That’s terrible.” Taloni’s voice said from Ethan’s other side.

“It’s a variation on the trolley problem.” He replied. “And that’s the whole point: it’s a morally difficult situation.”

“Sometimes, that’s life.” Kendra said, sitting up. Rachel didn’t always understand how the raven-haired woman was so comfortable being naked around the others, especially since she had started out being even more nervous than Rachel herself had been.

“That’s a dim view of life.” Ethan pointed out.

“Sometimes, life is dim.” She replied with a shrug that wasn’t as convincingly nonchalant as usual, probably because of yesterday’s events, then she looked at Rachel. “How will you answer?”

Rachel opened her mouth to reply, but Alana beat her to it.

“Maybe we should wait to talk about it until Sarah is around.” Alana suggested.

“You’ve been very careful to include her in everything.” Rachel pointed out.

Alana nodded. “I’m hoping things will work out better in the long run if we get off on the right foot.”

“You’re still worried?” Rachel asked.

“Um, not really.” Her best friend replied. “Having talked with her, I don’t think I have any reason to be.”

“But?” Ethan prompted.

“No ‘buts’.”

“Actually, there are five butts...” Beth pushed her own into the air.

Ethan nodded, and Rachel noticed that slight bit of hesitation in him that he always had when he thought about Selene. Rachel missed her too, though Kendra and Ethan were clearly having the hardest time with her departure.

“You’re thinking that Selene would have a nice butt too, aren’t you?” Alana asked with a sympathetic smile.

He nodded.

“Master, I don’t like that Selene left either.” Tee’s wings flicked slightly and she didn’t look entirely happy.

“Since Victoria and Thea are the only two left, which one will you pick?” Beth asked.

“And maybe this discussion should also happen with Sarah present.” Alana interjected again.

Ethan nodded. “Yeah. I suppose it’s time to get up anyway.”

Sarah added a few more seasonings to the pot of breakfast stew, gave it a good stir, and then tasted it again. She smiled; that was more like it.

“I appreciate you taking over the meals.” Anthiel said from the quarterdeck above her. “I can cook, but I neither enjoy it nor am as talented as you are.”

“Thank you.” Sarah beamed. “My mother started teaching me before she died.”

“I’m fortunate that my mother still lives and I see her occasionally; I do not envy your loss.” The high elf said kindly. “If you find yourself wishing for some motherly advice, I would be happy to pass on what I’ve learned.”

“Everyone here is so nice.” Sarah replied, feeling herself tear up slightly. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Anthiel smiled, then went back to the ship’s wheel.

Not long afterward, her betrothed and his wives exited the captain’s cabin. He gave her a long hug and kissed the top of her head while holding her. Sarah’s heart felt full to bursting at that. Then they all sat down around the pot of stew they had for breakfast, including Myla, Victoria, and Thea. Alana beckoned Sarah over while they were arranging themselves and had Sarah sit next to Ethan.

“Thank you.” Sarah mouthed as she sat down next to the most wonderful man-- err, dragon that she’d ever met.

“Holy crap, this is amazing.” Ethan said as he tasted the food.

Everyone else either agreed verbally or made approving sounds while hastily taking another bite. Sarah beamed at that.

“So, there’s a few things we should discuss.” Ethan said when he’d finished eating, then he looked at Myla. “Including one thing that you and I should discuss after breakfast.”

“Meelas, I do believe I know what you wish to discuss and it would make my heart happy if it could be discussed with the counsel of others as well.” The dusky-skinned woman looked at Kendra. “Your counsel especially would be most welcome given your long association with him, and that I have not had a chance to inquire about him to you given recent events.” She then looked back at Ethan expectantly.

“Okay.” He shrugged. “Falkaan asked for my permission to marry you. Why did you tell him he needed to ask me?”

Sarah looked at Myla slightly confused. A divorced woman could choose her own husband; why didn’t Myla want to?

“Meelas, I have previously said that I wished to have what my parents have.” The gorgeous dusky-skinned woman replied in her slight Southern Lands accent. “My prior infatuation with Lord Farbrottan in my youth provides ample evidence that my ability to choose a good man is compromised.” She paused. “Yet I would not wish to pass my life alone and so I wish for a husband. However, my heart shrinks when I consider the potential that I could again make a foolish choice in such an important matter.”

“So why not simply ask for Ethan’s opinion, rather than telling Falkaan that he needed Ethan’s permission?” Alana asked.

Sarah had noticed that often, Alana seemed to ask the exact question that Ethan appeared poised to ask. She knew him so well and Sarah was hoping that one day, she would know her betrothed that well also.

“I cannot trust my heart to make such an important decision.” Myla replied. “My mother and father repeatedly attempted to impress upon me that true love grows best and without fail in a marriage between two people of good character. I desire only a husband of good character so that I might experience that love. I cannot trust my own heart to make a wise choice in this matter, so I desire that the one man whom I can trust will make this decision for me: my rescuer and the prophet of Illuminar.”

Sarah beamed at her betrothed.

“Do you want to marry Falkaan?” Ethan asked. “You’ve only known him for a few days and can’t have spent more than a couple hours talking to him.”

“It was a lot more than just ‘a couple hours’.” Beth said slyly. “They spent a lot of time talking while your parents were here.”

“They were so cute together.” Tee added, and most of the others nodded.

Myla was seemingly trying not to smile, but she was definitely failing.

“Do you like him?” Sarah asked.

Despite clearly still trying not to smile, Myla’s small smile grew slightly wider. “He was kind to me.” Her smile faltered. “But Lord Farbrottan was also in the beginning, and I would not wish to repeat the mistakes of my youth.”

Sarah felt her heart go out to the gorgeous woman. She couldn’t imagine what it would’ve been like to be married to someone like Lord Farbrottan, and didn’t want to imagine it.

“Kendra, you know him best.” Ethan said after a moment.

“Until I met Ethan, he was the best man I knew.” Kendra replied. “Falkaan cared more than all of my other instructors.” She paused. “Actually, besides Luminar Kossel, he might’ve been the only one that truly cared. Don’t get me wrong, Falkaan was easily my toughest instructor, but that was because he wanted us to survive in the real world.”

“Then, he is a good man?” Myla asked. Sarah was pretty sure she was trying to keep her tone neutral, but there was definitely a note of hopefulness in it.

“He is.” Kendra nodded.

“Do you want to marry him?” Ethan asked Myla.

She hesitated a moment. “Meelas, I desire to marry a good man. If he is a good man and I have your blessing, I would marry him.”

“You didn’t answer the question.” Alana replied with a chuckle.

Again, Myla was clearly trying not to smile and failing quite spectacularly. “My heart would be happy if he is a good man.”

“That sounds like a yes.” Taloni said slyly.

“It does.” Beth agreed.

“I’m not sure how comfortable I am with this.” Ethan said after a moment. “You should really decide who you’ll marry.”

“I cannot trust myself Meelas.” Myla replied.

“Okay, then if -- and only if -- you want to marry him, I’ll give him my ‘permission’, though he really only needs yours.”

Myla smiled.

Sarah thought Myla might be stopping herself from full-on grinning, but she was definitely smiling.

“What do you like most about him?” Rachel asked.

“His heart possesses much kindness.” Myla replied, her smile widening. “And much consideration.”

Kendra smiled as well. “Having known him for most of my life, I can definitely agree with that. He’s very reserved about showing it, but he definitely cares about people, and deeply.”

Myla looked at Ethan. “Might I request that you tell him?”

“Sure.” He nodded. “I need to fly over to the Midnight Sun anyway; I need to talk to Luminar Kossel.”

“My heart is filled with gratitude Meelas.” Myla said, and she looked it. “Both towards you and towards Illuminar -- blessed be He.” She looked at Victoria and Thea. “I know not whom you shall marry, but I believe that He put me in Meelas’s path so that I might meet Falkaan, for he could not have trusted me if I did not have the potential to be the prophet’s wife. Whichever of you that Meelas does not marry, I suspect she will have similar joy with her future husband, whomever that might be.”

“Huh.” Victoria cocked her head to one side. “So, you think that Illuminar already had good husbands picked out for all of us before we met Ethan? And somehow, us meeting Ethan was part of His plan for us to meet them?”

“That is my suspicion.” Myla replied.

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief. “That takes the pressure off me a little, which is nice.” He looked at Sarah. “Which reminds me, we should pick a date for the wedding, and I’d love it if my parents could be there.”

“I would love that too.” Sarah smiled back. “But I was born on the seventh day of the seventh month, not the sixth day of the sixth month. I think we should wait until you’ve married your sixth wife.”

Ethan took a deep breath and ran his hand over the top of his head, where his hair would be if he had any. “I hate to agree, but I think you might be right.”

“She is Master.” Taloni said firmly. “You shouldn’t marry Sarah yet.”

For some reason, Sarah got the impression that Taloni had more in mind than just the birthdays. She didn’t know what it could be, but she definitely got that impression.

Ethan looked at Victoria and then Thea. He frowned slightly and both his head and shoulders drooped slightly as he looked at them. Sarah didn’t know him very well, but she was pretty sure he was thinking about Selene.

“There’s no hurry.” Victoria said. “You were bonded to Selene, right?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then with her breaking the bond, it’s almost like a divorce.” The platinum blonde said. “It’s okay if you’re not ready for another wedding right after your ‘wife’ divorced you.”

“She didn’t want to though.” Ethan replied. “She wanted to stay, she wanted to marry me, and I...” He trailed off and looked into space for a few moments, then ran his hand over the top of his head again. “Honestly -- and I realize this is stupid because she made her choice and I doubt she’ll change it given her reason -- but I’m not ready to move on yet; I’m not ready to...” He took a deep breath. “ ... to replace her yet.”

“Really?” Kendra asked. Sarah found her hard to read most of the time, but right now the hope on her face was obvious.

“Really.” He nodded. “I need time to come to terms with ... you know.” He looked tired, but not a physical sort of tired as he spoke to Victoria and Thea. “And I have no idea how long that’ll take, but it might be a while and I don’t want to lead you ladies on; I’m just not ready yet.”

“We understand.” Thea gave him a sympathetic look. “Also, neither Victoria nor I could ever ‘replace’ Selene. She is an incredible woman and while I hope one of us can be a worthy successor, we couldn’t ever replace her, nor would we try.”

“I agree completely.” Victoria nodded. “We’re not going anywhere; take all the time you need.”

“Thanks.” He smiled, but it was half-hearted at best. He looked at Sarah. “That might mean we don’t get married for a while; sorry.”

“We’re betrothed and I’m traveling with you.” Sarah replied. “I’m so happy right now I could burst, and I don’t mind waiting a little while, as long as I can call you ‘husband’ eventually.”

He looked at her for several seconds, his half-hearted smile morphing into a more genuine one as he did so. “That’s a certainty Darlin’; you’re stuck with me.”

“I think I’ll live.” She grinned back.

Ethan summoned his armor, a smile coming to his face as it clamped onto his body and attached itself there. No matter how many times he did that, it never became less cool. It didn’t help the hole in his heart left by Selene’s departure, but at least it was a nice distraction. Temporary, but nice. It had become a habit at this point to never leave the Argo unless he was fully armed and armored. It was a shame his life necessitated that, but it did.

“Mr. Prophet?”

Ethan turned to see Talven standing behind him looking unsure. The man didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands and he couldn’t pick a foot to rest his weight on either.

“Ethan is fine. What’s up?” He asked, realizing that he hadn’t seen the man or his family at breakfast.

“Could I ask a small favor?”

“Sure.”

Talven took a deep breath. “Could you ask Falkaan if he needs a crewman for his airship?”

“I can, but you and your family are welcome to stay on the Argo.”

“My father had this term he used: ‘freeloading’.” Talven didn’t quite meet Ethan’s eye. “He applied it to any able-bodied man who could work, but didn’t, and instead relied on the charity of others. You don’t need help here on the Argo, but I’ve seen Falkaan and his pilot occasionally struggle with the rigging since Falkaan only has one hand. You clearly think he’s a good man since you gave him permission to marry Myla, and I’m hoping he’ll be willing to let me work for food.”

Talven was meeting Ethan’s eye when he spoke, but Ethan could tell that this was tearing the man up inside. He had the look of someone who was forcing himself to do something, and he looked ... ashamed? Ethan had a pretty good idea of why too, since his own father had impressed a good work ethic on him since he was little. Talven not being able to provide for his family and having to rely on charity looked like it was killing him.

“I’ll ask him.” Ethan promised. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re a good man Talven.”

“Thank you.” Talven replied, then headed to the breakfast fire where his family was now eating breakfast.

Ethan double-checked that he had everything, kissed all his wives goodbye -- Sarah on the forehead -- and then flew over to the Midnight Sun.

“Good morning.” Luminar Kossel said when he landed. The luminar was leaning against the railing and had had his head bowed, possibly in prayer.

“Morning, praying for your wife?” Ethan asked, making sure he kept his tone neutral.

Adrian smiled. “I wondered how long it would take you and your family to put it together. Let’s talk below decks, but please talk to Falkaan first. He is more anxious to hear your decision than I have seen him about anything in many years.”

“Okay.” Ethan nodded, then headed up to the quarterdeck where Falkaan was reading a book.

“And?” The dark elf asked.

“She’ll marry you.” Ethan smiled.

Falkaan closed his eyes as a smile slowly grew on his face. “I do not think I can ever thank you enough. I have wanted a family since ... well, for a long time.”

“Kendra too.” Ethan replied. “Is there something about the Aldmiri that makes them want one so much?”

“The loneliness.” Falkaan replied. “We are taught never to trust or love, and as a result crave a deep relationship full of trust and love.”

“Makes sense, and congratulations.” He smiled.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, and one more thing.” Ethan relayed Talven’s request.

“I could indeed use a deck hand.” The dark elf replied. “I apologize in advance, but might I make another request of you?”

“You can ask.” Ethan replied cautiously.

“Might the Midnight Sun fly in formation with you for a time after Myla and I are wed? I believe she will feel better knowing that you, your wives, Victoria, and Thea are nearby.”

Ethan smiled, mostly at the elf’s extremely considerate reason for wanting to remain close. “Absolutely.”

“Thank you.” Falkaan gave him a head bow. “I find myself in your debt once again.”

“Treat Myla right and I’ll consider us square.”

“I have every intention of doing so.” Falkaan replied.

They talked for another minute or two before Ethan headed below decks to talk to Luminar Kossel.

“In here.” Adrian called from the room under the captain’s cabin. Unlike on the Argo, it wasn’t a storage room. There was a table with a few chairs and a relatively impressive wine collection in bottles on wine racks. Ethan joined him at the table and Adrian poured him two fingers of mead.

“So, ask away.” He said. “I might not answer every question, but I’ll answer what I can.”

“Is Lady Ekthros your wife, or former wife?” Ethan asked, then took a sip of the honey wine; it was quite good.

“She is currently my wife, though I haven’t seen her in years.” Adrian took a sip of his mead.

“What happened to her?” Ethan asked. “From what Taloni and Selene said, she was once kind and caring, but now she’s...” He tried to think of the right word.

“The embodiment of evil?” Adrian suggested heavily.

“You said it, not me.” He replied. “How did she go from that to what she is now?”

“In order to understand that, we need to go back to the beginning; her childhood.”

“Okay.”

“She was born into one of those pseudo-Christian cults that never makes the news, but should for all the emotional damage they cause.” Adrian took another sip of his mead. “Her parents were high-ranking members who specialized in ‘retention’; that is, manipulating people into staying.”

“Well, that explains where she learned it.”

“Indeed.” He nodded. “She only escaped because of standardized testing; the cult had an accredited private school to indoctrinate their members’ children, but the state required testing every few years to ensure they met minimum educational requirements. It’s not often that someone tests at a post-high school level before hitting puberty.”

Ethan whistled. “Wow.”

“The organization that I formerly worked for spent considerable resources to deprogram her, get her out, emancipate her, and fund her schooling.”

“Really?” Ethan asked.

Adrian nodded. “They go to great lengths to recruit the best people, and will happily start as young as those people are identified. Rather like the Aldmiri actually.” He took a sip of his mead. “She certainly qualified as ‘best’; she had two Ph.Ds. by the time she turned twenty.”

Ethan stared. “You’re kidding?”

“No.” He shook his head. “And she was working on her third when we left.”

“Well, if she didn’t have three Ph.Ds. at twenty, then I’m not impressed.” Ethan said in a mock-serious tone, then added. “How did you meet?”

“We were both assigned to the mission to the Ten Kingdoms.” He replied. “Me because I was already a team leader in the organization, and also because I have studied the sword since early childhood because I love it. Her because they were only sending a small team and needed someone who could fill multiple roles.” Adrian got a faraway look in his eye for a moment. “I’ll never forget the first thing she said to me: ‘Ready to make the world a better place?’.”

Ethan considered that for a moment.

That actually made sense when he thought about his conversation with her. She really had seemed like she wanted to make the world a better place. Her methods were appalling, but that did indeed seem like her overall goal.

“I can see that.” Ethan mused after a moment, then he told Adrian about her offer to stop hunting him if he and his family left the Ten Kingdoms permanently.

“It’s likely a genuine offer, though it’s hard to be sure with her.” Adrian said when Ethan had finished.

“I still need to have a serious talk with my wives about it, but I don’t think we’ll take it; she has her hands in too many evil pies.”

“Understandable.”

“Anyway, you were in the middle of a story.” Ethan said.

“She and I spent quite some time prepping for the mission, and during that time we became close.” Adrian continued. “After we were stranded, I did what I was trained to do; survive.” He took another sip of his mead. “I started building up a network of contacts and she...” He smiled. “She wanted to learn magic. She said that the ability to heal magically was the greatest thing she’d ever heard of and she loved that she would be able to help people with it.”

Ethan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That sounded more like Taloni or Selene than the woman Lady Ekthros had become. “What happened next?”

“I learned of a plot to assassinate Lord Delmar and his wife, the Lady Helene.” Adrian continued. “We intervened and stopped them after the guards ignored our warnings, but...” He slowly shook his head, then downed the rest of his glass of mead and poured a little more into his glass. “It was a fierce fight and I made a desperate tactical gamble that didn’t pay off, and thus I found myself on a wall with enemies on both sides. She was out of mana and thankfully on the ground below, but I know she wanted to save me.”

“She turned to dark mana?” Ethan guessed.

He nodded. “Not much at all, barely a sliver; only enough for a single air-ram to throw some of my attackers from the wall so I didn’t have enemies on both sides ... but it was enough.”

Ethan thought back to the tiny grave that Selene had described, and how that tiny usage of dark mana would’ve been enough to trigger a miscarriage. “I’m sorry.”

“As am I.” He took another sip of his mead.

“Why didn’t she power the spell with deep mana instead?” Ethan asked. “She must’ve known that dark mana wasn’t to be trifled with.”

“Likely because of her upbringing.” Luminar Kossel replied heavily. “Her parents’ cult was the worst sort and made her loathe and deride religion, thus she dismissed the dangers of dark mana as religious superstition.” He took another sip of his mead. “She told me afterwards that she could tell that it was wrong before she started; before it reached her. She knew, and she knew she could use deep mana too. I am not entirely sure why she didn’t stop. Certainly she was curious, and she loved violating religious taboos because of her upbringing; I suppose those were large factors, but that’s only a guess; she never did give me her full reason.”

“Damn.” Ethan shook his head.

Adrian nodded. “Indeed.”

“What happened next?”

“She was grievously wounded by some of the remaining assassins a few minutes later, but thankfully the castle mage was able to save her life. Lord Delmar thanked us of course, and said he was in our debt, but she...” He shook his head. “Things weren’t the same between us after that.” He finished his second glass. “They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and it’s true. She has wanted to make the world a better place since she was a child, it’s a part of who she is, but she got much less concerned with how she did that after the dark mana.”

Ethan tried to imagine what it would be like if one of his wives had something like that happen to her. He couldn’t. It sounded like Lady Ekthros had once been a combination of Taloni, Rachel, and Selene; Tee’s caring, Rachel’s brilliance and skill with magic, and Selene’s determination to help others. But what she had become...

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

Adrian took another sip of his mead. “She was growing increasingly frustrated because I wouldn’t do ‘what was necessary’. She said we could make a huge difference in the Ten Kingdoms, but that I refused to. We fought about that more than once. One morning, I woke up and she was gone. By the time I had tracked her to Narlotten, she’d already joined Lord Delmar’s staff and refused to leave; she said the work she was doing there was too important.”

Ethan nodded slowly, thinking about Selene leaving on the previous day for a similar reason, though a more moral one. Unlike Selene though, Lady Ekthros had been dealing with a painful miscarriage. “I’m guessing that she might’ve also wanted a fresh start after she lost the baby.”

“I believe so.” He nodded. “At least, I’m certain that I was a constant reminder of what we had lost.”

Ethan nodded slowly. It made sense, but it was still tragic. “I assume she used that ‘favor’ from Lord Delmar to get herself hired?”

The luminar nodded. “And as they say: the rest is history.”

“How did you end up entangled with the Aldmiri then?”

“They contacted me since I had discovered the plot against Lord Delmar and Lady Helene while they hadn’t.” He replied. “They waited until my wife had left to make an offer, knowing I would want their help to track her down. They didn’t know about the dark mana usage and I never told them; some things are better left unsaid.”

“Fair.” Ethan nodded. “Especially given that you asked us to capture her and not kill her, why not tell us this sooner?”

“Would it have had the same impact if I had?”

Ethan hesitated.

“Imagine if I had simply told you that she was my estranged wife and that she used to be sweet like Taloni, but then she touched some dark mana and went evil. Would you have believed me? Even if you did, would it have done as much to soften the way you all collectively felt about her?”

“Probably some, but honestly, not as much as the way we found out.” He conceded. “Knowing she was your wife -- even your estranged wife -- might’ve even made us not trust you.”

“You needed to put it together yourselves.” The luminar agreed. “That was the only way it would make an impact large enough for you to reconsider your -- perfectly understandable -- abject loathing of her.”

“But you asked us to do something impossible without telling us what we are up against.” He countered.

“Of the things I just told you, which of them would make a difference in combat with an arch mage? Which of them gave you new information about how devious, manipulative, or powerful she is? Did I just tell you anything that would affect the outcome of a fight with her?”

“I guess not.” Ethan conceded.

Adrian raised his hands palms up as if to say “That’s why.”

“So why capture her alive?” Ethan asked. “I mean, I understand that she’s your wife, and you obviously love her deeply, but from what I understand, there’s nothing that can be done for someone who has used dark mana.”

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” Adrian replied.

“So you asked for this favor, merely hoping that there’s some way to help her?”

“Would you do any less for one of your wives?”

“Fair.” Ethan nodded his head in concession. “But you have some hope?”

“If I had none, I would behave rather differently.”

“But you won’t tell me what it is.” Ethan concluded.

“Not today.” Adrian replied, and his tone was polite but firm.

The two men sat in silence for several moments as Ethan considered what he’d just learned. Damn. The world was so much simpler when Lady Ekthros was pure evil. Knowing how she had become who she was didn’t make anything she’d done less evil, but still ... That of course made him think of one of the more evil things she’d done.