Chapter 15

"So I'm guessing doing the figures for Captain Vel won't be too much of a problem?"

"Hmm? Oh, no they won't be any problem," Nesho yawned and went back to idly dragging her fingernails over his chest.

"That isn't going to do you any good, woman," he mumbled. "You've completely drained me. I don't think there's any possible way to get it up now."

"Hmm, I wouldn't mind trying though. Now don't give me that look, I was just kidding. Even if you could get it up I'm so sore down there I wouldn't be able to take care of it."

Tensing he quickly asked, "Are you all right? Was I too, uh, hard on you tonight? I'm sorry; I'll control myself in the future, I promise."

"Oh hush, you big silly thing. Tonight was perfect, absolutely wonderful, don't you dare change a thing. If I think you're holding back on me I'm going to grab your jewel pouch and squeeze, do you hear me?" she teased.

"I hear you but I also don't want to hurt you."

"I know," she snuggled even closer. "How's your back?"

"It itches and when I was doing my stretching today I'm pretty sure one or two of the scabs cracked open. In other words, normal, I've had worse as you're well aware." He chuckled, "You're not my mother, you know."

"No I'm not," she said slapping him lightly. "I'm your woman now so that gives me an even greater say in how you take care of yourself."

"Yes, I suppose it does," he said not disputing her claim. "Ah, Nesho, there's something I want, need, to talk to you about. Do you think Sosho is asleep yet?"

"Hmm, I think so. I'm pretty sure she wasn't asleep during my ravishing; I happened to catch her looking at us once or twice. Why? Is there a problem?"

"I don't know, could be, it's just... Oh gods, I don't know how to put this!" he lay there silently for a moment collecting his thoughts. Then he sighed and continued, "No easy way around it so I just better come out and say it. I get the feeling that Sosho may want the two of us to, well, ah..."

"You mean my baby girl wants to fuck her big cousin?"

"Well, yes. I wasn't going to put it quite that way but that ties it up fairly well."

"So what does big cousin want? Does he want to fuck his pretty little cousin?"

"Nesho!" he hissed. "This is hard enough as it is. Fine, you want to be blunt then I can be also. The answer is yes and no."

"Yes and no? How can it be both? Either it's yes or it's no."

"Well it's both," he sighed again. "I mean yes I want to be with her. She's a beautiful woman, someone I've grown up with and loved almost my entire life. So in that respect the answer is yes, I do desire her. The answer is no because I don't know how you really feel about it." He shifted slightly to his side so they were nose to nose with her head resting on his arm. "I don't know how to say what I really feel. The fact is I love you both but between the two of you -- this is difficult -- you are more equal then she is. That doesn't sound good and it's not exactly right but it's as close as I can come. You are both the women in my life but you are the woman in my life. Does that make any sense?"

Nesho was quiet for a moment. "Yes, Dent, that makes sense. Thank you for making me feel special. Maybe under normal circumstances I would feel jealous of a younger and prettier girl in your bed..."

"Younger, yes," Dent interrupted, "but not prettier."

"Thank you again, you sweet talker, now shut up until I finish."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hush, I said. Now where was I? Oh yes, under normal circumstances I would never willingly share my husband with another woman. But these aren't normal circumstances; if they were, the two of us wouldn't be together which I don't even want to think about now. The fact is the circumstances have changed. The three of us are together as we never were before and if we want to stay together we need to adapt.

"The simple fact is you have two women now. To think of it any other way wouldn't be fair to either Sosho or you. She is your woman just as much as I am and I hope you treat her as my equal, anything else I can take care of. I intend to run your household and that includes the women in it. You will end up in bed with her; it is now her right as well as yours, and you will make her happy there. Not that I have any doubt you will make her the second happiest little slave in your harem."

"So I'm to have a harem now, am I?"

"Yes you do, now hush, I said. Tomorrow night you will bring her to this bed and you will make her your woman once and for all. I will sleep up there and try to restrain myself from joining you. Will I be jealous? I don't think so, at least I hope not. Envious? Yes. I will be wishing it was me but I also know I will be there soon enough. This is something Sosho and I have to work out. You don't need to get involved other than to love us both."

"I have no say in this?" Dent grumped.

"No Master, you don't."

"For some reason this just doesn't seem right: the slave telling the master what to do. However, since everything seems to be turning out pretty well for me I guess the best thing I can do is keep my mouth shut and hang on."

"Good answer. Now was there anything else you wanted to talk about?"

"Actually there was but if you're too tired it can wait."

"Oh I could sleep all right but I'm not that tired, more like I'm in a stupor. I think they call it that well-fucked feeling."

"Gods woman, you're going to embarrass me to death someday. So now maybe is a good time to change the subject. Here's what Vel and I talked about tonight..."

Dent reiterated his conversation with Vel and they talked quietly about some of the ramifications. Nesho said she wanted to think about it awhile and finally they both drifted off to a very pleasant and relaxing sleep.

As much as he really wanted to sleep in, Dent's internal clock conditioned by years at the academy wouldn't let him. Vel had made it clear there wouldn't be any boarding party practice for the remainder of the voyage. There wasn't much point since the four squads were either decimated during the fight or split between the two warships. There weren't enough left to make up a worthwhile practice session.

That didn't mean there wasn't anything for an Armsman to do. The equipment, arms and armor had to be inventoried, assessed and repairs made where needed, but that could be done easily over the next few days they expected to be at sea. For the first time since the days aboard the Pinya, Dent was able to move at a leisurely pace and he found it suited him just fine.

The morning was spent in the armory doing what needed to be done while Nesho tended to the wounded and Sosho helped by mending sail and armor padding. In the afternoon Dent spent a few hours talking with Vel while Nesho worked on the Captain's figures. Sosho was off doing whatever caught her fancy. She was much more comfortable moving around the ship by herself after her ordeal especially when one of their berthing compartment companions laughingly told her about a rumor coming out of the aft berthing compartment. It seemed some of the crew actually believed she was a killer slave trained by her master in the deadly arts, a rumor she wisely didn't dispute.

Midday meal was spent in their berth with the two women. After insuring Sosho was well occupied for the afternoon Dent and Nesho proceeded to the Captain's cabin where Nesho worked on the books while Dent and Vel talked about the business of shipping, something Dent knew almost nothing about, and life in the academy, something Vel had heard about only as rumor.

"I'm surprised you are so willing to talk about your time there," Vel said.

"Why not?" Dent shrugged. "There's nothing secret about it. Not much to it but hard work and long years. We learn to fight, study, drill, physical training and practice, practice, practice."

"I'm surprised more about what you studied. I've met a few warriors during my time up here and while they seem to be highly competent men it struck me that individual combat was all they were interested in." This time Vel shrugged. "Here you are telling me you studied mathematics, science, engineering, politics. I didn't get the impression that a warrior's training was so, ah, liberal and varied."

"I really don't know what they study at the other academies," Dent admitted. "I know there are some differences because we had visiting instructors -- graduates from the other schools -- come in and give us examples of their fighting styles. I never thought about what else they learned. It wasn't discussed much although come to think of it that seems to be a fairly obvious oversight. I wonder if it was intentional."

"You would have to wonder why if it was. Still, mathematics? Engineering? Not what one would normally expect for someone who -- and lets be frank about this -- someone who is expected to be little more than a trained killer."

"Well a little bit more than just a trained killer," Dent replied. Hearing his chosen profession described as nothing more than a butcher's job was somewhat unsettling. "A warrior's task to achieve the goal set forth by his employer. Admittedly that often involves combat and actual warfare but that isn't the goal. Say for example if we had been able to maneuver or bluff the Vengeance so they would have left us without a fight. Wouldn't that have been preferable?"

"Actually that turned out fairly well for us," Vel laughed. "Much better for you, in fact."

"True," Dent admitted. "But without knowing the actual outcome we would rather not have run the risk, wouldn't we?"

Vel grunted and looked up, his eyes unfocused like he was remembering something from long ago.

"Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles
is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."

"Yes exactly!" Puzzled, Dent continued, "That's it exactly. In fact you sound like my instructors, almost verbatim! Where did you learn that? Were you ever a student at an academy?"

"Me at an academy? No. Not one like yours anyway." Vel was silent for awhile. "I went to school of course, all of us did, and then on for naval training. That's where I learned it. It's from a book, a very old book. Thousands of years old from what I can understand. It set down the principles of war and how to win them.

"You're quite right you know. The goal isn't just to win a battle but to win the war and anything that helps you win is good while anything that doesn't is bad. But this doesn't explain everything you took. It just isn't what I would expect from a place that trains what are really just super soldiers."

"Dent was special," Nesho interjected.

"What's that? What did you say, woman?"

Her interruption surprised both of them. Nesho had been working so quietly it was easy to forget she was there. Vel turned in his chair to look at her.

"He was special. Special training, extra courses," she continued.

"Nesho, he doesn't need to know this." Dent's ears burned slightly.

"He is your contract holder, is he not, Master?"

"Yes, of course he is."

"Then don't you think he should know your full qualifications and abilities?"

"Do you really think so?" She just nodded. Exasperated he said, "Fine. Then you tell him."

"Of course, Master," she said smiling.

Vel just shook his head. "Are you sure you're not married? My brother's wife led him around just like that. A velvet glove covering a fist of iron. A most gentle woman, kind and compassionate unless you crossed her. Then she was more dangerous than any pit viper ever seen."

"I can assure you, sir, we are not married. Besides, who would saddle such a fine young gentleman with an old crone like me?"

"Ha! He could certainly do worse. In any case he seems to be saddled with you now and if what I hear from my forward compartment is correct: the saddle fits well and is often used!"

Dent felt the blood rush to his face while Nesho merely turned toward him and smiled gently.

"I thank the gods every day for giving me to my master. It is both my honor and my joy to serve him. I love him with every fiber of my being and rejoice every time he allows me the privilege of sharing my body with him."

"Yes, he could do much worse," Vel nodded slowly. "I'd say if I had one like you, slave or not, then maybe being tied down to shore wouldn't be so bad."

"Thank you, Captain." Now Nesho was a little flush herself. "I am nothing more than a simple woman in love. It probably isn't appropriate for me to say that, but it's true."

"No it isn't appropriate at all, at least around here. Now where I come from it's not only appropriate, it's common. Just be careful who you talk to and it shouldn't be a problem.

"Enough of this distraction, though. What is this about Dent being Special? " Seeing Nesho grin at Dent again he continued, "I mean his schooling, you silly woman. I swear if there is anything with a more one-track mind then a besotted woman I don't know what it is. Tell me about his schooling. You seem to know quite a bit about it, certainly more than any common slave would. Are you sure you're not married? No? Fine then continue."

"I assure you we were not married, Captain, but I did run his household after his mother died and after his father died it was just the three of us."

Dent was uncomfortable with providing Vel with this much information but didn't move to stop her. As much as he didn't want to, he found himself liking and even trusting the gruff giant. At first he seemed little more than one more blood-thirsty pirate among the many but the more he talked to Vel it was evident there was much more below the surface. Like an onion being peeled, each new layer was a new and astounding revelation.

"As such I felt it was part of my responsibility to understand what he was doing and going through. How else could I serve him well? So indeed I do know about his special status." Nesho went on to fill him in on Dent's father's status, his death and subsequent choice while leaving out their exact relationship and her reason for coming to his household.

"So when he first entered the academy he was a few seasons older than most of the other boys. They tested him and placed him in a special program. He was being groomed for leadership and not just for fighting. If he goes back it will be either as an instructor or with a position in Salas' army."

"Then why leave?" Vel asked.

"I had to," Dent interjected. "To be on the instruction staff you must be a veteran of at least three fulfilled contracts. No waivers and these contracts must be from outside Salas. Besides it's not what I wanted to do."

"So you thought it would be fun to see the world as a great warrior," Vel snorted.

"I don't know about being a great warrior but yes I did want to see at least some of the world, I should say we wanted to see some of the world. Not the best choice, I can say now, looking back over the horse's end."

"To have one so young and not want that, now that might be a crime. So you were being groomed as a general, eh?"

"I was given the opportunity to be trained in what they thought leaders needed to be trained in. Any position would have to be earned just like everywhere else."

"It was more than just that, Master, and you know it," Nesho interrupted again.

"More?" Vel asked. "What does she mean by more?"

"Nesho, I don't think the Captain would be interested in..." he stopped when she raised her eyebrows at him.

"What I mean," Nesho continued, "is for a man to become an instructor at the Salas academy they require certain sacrifices. One that I am very happy to say my master wasn't willing to make."

"What kind of sacrifices?"

"His manhood for one. They castrate their instructor candidates upon acceptance. They want complete dedication to their order and believe even the hint of sexual desire is too much of a distraction."

"That is quite a sacrifice, I would say."

"But there's more," she continued. "Family is also considered a distraction. We would have been separated and never been able to see each other again. I think this decided it for him more than the other."