Chapter 36

We all transferred to Lexington after that. Our Sisters all knew where to go as there was only one real jewelry store in town, and all of our female relatives had been there multiple times. The manager was a French gentleman and smiled as we all entered.

The store only had a limited selection of engagement and wedding rings. The engagement rings were mostly wide rings that were engraved but had no gems set in them and certainly no diamonds. They were, however, made of 20 carat gold. The wedding rings matched the engraving on the engagement rings but were narrower.

Our fiancees looked over the rings for some time before each selected a set. The ones that they selected were richly engraved. Gwyn did the bargaining with the manager and paid him once they reached an agreement. Wolf, Carl, and I slipped the engagement rings on the fingers of our fiancees before we left the store. They all fit as our Sisters had used a shrinkage spell to ensure that. Gwyn took charge of the wedding bands.

"You can go back to work now," our Sisters told us on leaving the jewelry store. "We'll take the ladies to look at dresses."

"Will they have dresses to fit us?" Eileen asked.

"They will definitely fit you," Amelia assured her. We guys returned to work while the women looked at dresses. I spoke to Wolf and Carl before we returned to our operational sites.

"We need most of the family to attend dinner at Hickory Hill for the next several nights," I told them.

"It's going to be awfully crowded then," Wolf observed. "Is it important?"

"Yes, there will be promotions and a number of the newer members of the family will receive commissions," I told both of them to looks of surprise. That was when both of them noticed the Lieutenant Colonel's insignias that I was wearing.

"You've been promoted!!" both said in shocked surprise.

"Yes, this morning by General Greene," I told them.

"Who all will be getting promoted?" they wanted to know.

"A number of people but not everyone," I told them.

"We'll get everyone there that isn't out on patrol," they assured me before we all returned to work. Before going to Mount Sterling, I alerted Sererena and the cooks to expect everyone for dinner.

Dinner that evening was a bit crowded, but we managed. Gerald was out on a patrol, and Nora and Nola had been fed early and were being watched by Mrs. O'Flannagain. The senior NCOs and non-O'Connell Officers ate in the second dining room. All but Lieutenant Lister that is. Once everyone was seated, but before dinner was served, I made the announcement.

"As some of you have noticed, I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel while we were at Fort Jefferson this morning," I told them, but had to stop while those present applauded. I was able to continue after a short time.

"There will be a number of other promotions in the unit because of that. The first ones will be tonight. There will be more over the next two nights," I informed them and held up the orders that Sergeant O'Faolain had drafted and I had signed that evening.

"The following individuals are being promoted to the rank of Major:

Seamus O'Connell B Company Commander

Gwyn O'Connell Quartermaster

Sererena O'Connell Headquarters Commandant

Kennard O'Connell S-3 (Plans)

Kellen O'Connell S-2. (Intelligence)

"The following individual is promoted to Captain:

Jeremy Lister Finance.

"Those are all of the promotions for today. There will be more tomorrow," I finished before sitting down after handing out the promotion orders to the people named. There was applause for the group being promoted before the dinner was served. It was a very gay affair.

That night Clare was very amorous, and we made long, slow, passionate love before having wonderful sex. We were a little late getting up the next morning, but we still felt fantastic.

I went to see Sergeant O'Faolain that morning after dropping Clare off for her Magic studies. I wanted to check on the progress of the additional orders. He had paperwork on those promoted for me to sign and for Jeremy Lister to take to Finance at Fort Henry so they would be paid at their new rank.

Thomas Young had also been at the dinner last evening, and I found him with Ken and Kell in the den.

"Your organization seems a little heavy with Officers," he remarked after greeting me.

"A not unusual occurrence in Headquarters units," I remarked.

"But your Brothers have told me that you currently only have four platoons of Continentals and five platoons of Rangers, and that they have their own Officers. How can you justify so many additional Senior and Junior Officers?" he asked.

"We have several unique requirements," I told him and took him out to see the Portals. We went to Fort Washington, Mount Sterling, Louisville, and finally Fort Henry. I explained about the need to have people capable of opening and closing the Portals and the wards in the defensive shells. He was amazed at both concepts, but still didn't understand why we had so many extra Officers.

"The final difference," I told him once we had returned to Hickory Hill, "is that all of the O'Connells and their Husbands or Wives are or will be 'Combat Officers'."

"I don't understand what you mean by 'Combat Officers'. Will they take command of the Rangers and Continentals during time of war?" he asked.

"The Continentals and Rangers are only necessary for the current operations, and yes, an O'Connell goes out on each patrol. We also did all of the initial reconnaissance on the areas that we are responsible for. However, that is not what I mean by the term 'Combat Officers'. By that I mean those who will take the fight directly to the British on the Atlantic coast, and will use spells, wards, and their Power Rings against them. There will be no Rangers or Continentals there to help, but we won't require them. We are sufficiently powerful to defeat the British on our own," I finished.

"What are Power Rings?" he asked. I help up my hands and showed him the Power Ring on each hand.

"We can fire beams of Magic Power with these that can do many different things. They will also produce Magic Fire which consumes things very quickly. A few of us are powerful enough to do these things without the aid of the rings," I told him, and then related the story of the rat at Fort Washington and took him to see the monoliths in front of the gates at Fort Henry. Thomas had difficulty believing that Seamus and I had moved them there until I used my rings to lift one of the large stones.

"Ask Kell to tell you about his Wives at the beach," I told him when we returned to Hickory Hill again. He didn't look convinced just then, but appeared a lot more convinced at lunch after talking to Kell.

That evening at dinner it was a bit more crowded initially before I announced the promotions.

"The following individuals are promoted to the rank of Captain:

Glanda O'Connell Quartermaster

Saraid O'Connell Adjutant

Wolfgang O'Connell A Company

Carl O'Connell B Company.

"The following individuals are promoted to Senior Lieutenant:

"Lieutenant Graham B Company

The other three Lieutenants from Fort Jefferson were also promoted. They worked in various sections but their names are unimportant to our present tale.

"The following enlisted personnel are promoted to Senior Sergeant:

Sergeant O'Flannagain Quartermaster

Sergeant O'Faolain S-1 (Personnel)

Segeant Morgan A Company

Sergeant Parker B Company.

"Those are all of the promotions for tonight. There will be more announcements tomorrow night," I finished. There was applause as each individual came forward to receive their orders. I'd had Sergeant O'Faolain date his orders yesterday so he would have one day's seniority on the others. Dinner after that was again quite a festive affair.

I didn't enjoy it that much as I now had a problem -- several actually. None of the Mages had been promoted, and I didn't want to create a problem by showing a preference for one of them, but at the same time I didn't want them to think that we didn't appreciate their hard work or care about them. The same was true for our other Sisters, A & A and M & M. Lastly there were our Cousins, James, Jillian, and Gerald. All of them had worked hard, but they weren't in leadership positions like those who had been promoted. I wasn't sure what I could or should do.

Things had been all right when all of them had been just Lieutenants and then Senior Lieutenants, but there was a limit to how many Captains and Majors we could have in the unit. In addition to this I was going to commission most of the new additions to our families, a number of whom had very strong Talents.

Clare noticed my lack of attention when we went to bed later that evening.

"What's wrong, Mark?" she asked, as she cuddled up against me. I explained my problem to her.

"Sleep on it and an answer may suggest itself in the morning," she told me before pulling me over on top of herself.

"Make me scream!" she demanded then. I was way too busy after that to worry about other problems. Clare didn't want it long and slow tonight, and we were soon pounding into each other at a rapid rate. I definitely made her scream that time. Later, the second time was much slower but just as passionate. Clare squeaked and moaned but didn't scream. She enjoyed it just as much though, and so did I. We eventually fell asleep contented for the night.

When I awoke in the morning, I still didn't have an answer to my problem, but had decided that I needed more advice on what to do. I would meet with my senior people and seek their advice. I would have liked to have our Parents and Grandparents here to offer advice, but that clearly wasn't going to happen.

After breakfast, I transferred to Hickory Hill and called Sererena, Gwyn, Ken, and Kell in to the large parlor for a meeting while sending James to Fort Washington to have Seamus join us. With everyone here, I laid out my problem and worries. Everyone listened attentively, but no one had an immediate solution.

"Think about this and if you come up with a solution see me later," I told them before we broke up. It appears that at least some of my people discussed the problem with those close to them, as Airmid came to see me later that morning.

"Mark, you should appoint one of the Mages to be in charge of the others and to represent them. There are six of them plus Chandra is also a healer though not a Mage," she told me.

"Do you have any idea what could be done for our other Sisters?" I asked hopefully.

"No, but Almha and I will continue to think about it," she assured me. It was a partial solution, but who could I select for the job without upsetting the others? Thomas Young came to see me an hour or so later.

"I heard your people discussing your problem in the den. They were doing very little other work," he told me. "May I offer an outsider's perspective?" he asked.

"Go ahead."

"In the partisans and the militia, the Officers are elected by the men. Some groups are started by one or a few individuals who are the leaders, and others then join them.

"Yours isn't that kind of an organization. Apparently all of you are related or will soon be, plus you all share this Talent," he said with a knowing smile before continuing. "Now for these healers that they were talking about in the den, let them decide who should be their leader and represent them. That should make them happy.

"As for the others, there are always followers in any military organization. From what I have seen in my short time here, it appears that you have promoted those who are the natural leaders in your family. They are the ones who the others are used to obeying or looking to for solutions to problems.

"For the others, thank them for their devotion to duty and hard work in the past and encourage them to continue in that vein in the future," Thomas told me with another smile.

"You seem very wise about this sort of thing. Do you have a Military Rank?" I asked.

"Yes, I'm currently a full Colonel in the South Carolina militia, such as it is," he told me. "I've been at this since I was sixteen and have seen and handled many similar situations," he finished before returning to the den. I had been somewhat surprised by his rank and easy attitude about things. I went to see Sergeant O'Faolain about the commissioning orders that he was preparing for tonight.