Novel Update
Chapter 88
Chapter 88
Part 14
Having finalized the design, they set themselves the goal of building another complete craft in the three
months remaining before the call to the gods. They succeeded, but barely.
Those three months passed amid a building sense of expectation among those who would be leaving,
and a building sense of impending loss for the rest of them.
With fifteen days to go, Mark’s family began preparing their possessions for their impending move back
to Hilia. Mark knew something was up that day because Talia and Alilia had been giggling together at
every opportunity while blocking him from their minds.
After supper that evening, the children were in the living room using Mark’s crown to project a scale
model Illusion of Hilia on the floor so they could familiarize themselves with the place, and Karzog had
joined them in his ‘cute and fuzzy’ simulacrum. Mark, Talia, and Alilia were relaxing with a cup of spiced
tea. Mark endured the occasional smirks of his wives with a patient smile, knowing that they’d enlighten
him when they were ready, and not before.
Then Balen arrived. The elven young woman was dressed quite provocatively, being clad only in a
short and supple skirt and sandals, all in red that matched the color of her long flowing hair. Her shining
red tresses were the only thing covering her from the waist up, and as she moved they sometimes
failed to do so. She wore an intoxicating scent and her blue eyes sparkled with mischief, though her
manner was that of a penitent. She accepted a cup of tea and held it in her lap as she sat with a
demure posture, gazing at Mark with intensity from beneath lowered lashes.
“Go ahead dear.” Alilia told her with an encouraging smile.
“My Lord, we who voluntarily swore to your service with binding oaths and spells, and who love you
very much, have had difficulties in your service. Frankly, because you ask far too little of us, and
because there’s far too many of us. You can’t spend very much time with each of us as individuals
because there’s eighty-four of us. And ever since we swore to you, we’ve realized that quite often the
very best way we could serve you was to leave you alone and let you live your life without being
constantly distracted by us. We fought for you when we could, we’ve watched over you from a Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
distance, we’ve helped you whenever we could do so without being pests, we’ve taken part in building
this community and preparing to defend it, and we’ve made good contributions to the projects that
we’ve undertaken here. But mostly, we’ve very carefully left you alone and stayed away from you, and
it’s been so hard, so very hard.
“We’re going to stay here when you go. We’re sure that what we’re doing here serves your aims at
least as well as anything we could do for you out there, and the fact still stands that we can accomplish
far more in seventeen years here than we could in a month and a half out there. We’re building your
realm and its capabilities and its population, and that’s important work, and that comforts us. And
without you here, we won’t have to face the constant temptation and need to be with you and serve you
directly, or just share your time and your company.
“But we will miss you so terribly while you’re separated from us. And so we ask a boon of you, My Lord.
We ask that before you go, that you spend one hour with each of us, each of us alone. That would take
you eighty-four hours, and Talia assures us that you can fit that into your schedule in the time
remaining to us.
“The forty-one males among us would like to spend their hour with you doing various things; hiking or
fishing or playing with magic or whatever, but most of them just want to be able to sit with you for an
hour and talk over a mug of mead or a tea.
“But to be honest, being in your service has been far more frustrating for the forty-three females among
us. Along with everything that the males feel for you, all of us desire you very powerfully. And those of
us of The Devoted feel that we’re deeply in love with you. It frustrates us a great deal that we buried
our desire for you so that you could bond with your new wife Talia for a few years, but then Alilia
succeeded in becoming part of your relationship. Every one of us have thought to ourselves at least
once; ‘If I’d acted before Alilia, maybe it would be me sharing Mark’s bed every night.’
“Anyway, every female among us wants to spend our hour alone with you in your bed. Most of us want
your tender lovemaking, some want to be vigorously ravished by you, but all of us want to be your lover
for that hour. We’ve spoken to Yzell about it, and she said she’ll give us the spells that Talia carries in
her engagement ring that make it practical to be with you that way, so you can enjoy us as fully as you
wish. She also gave us a spell to ensure that your performance won’t be degraded by fatigue or
diminished physical resources. I doubt you’d need such a thing under normal circumstances, but there
are forty-three of us.
“And all of us, male and female, ask that you take detailed Readings of us, and of yourself, for the hour
that you spend with us, and give them to us. We recognize that you can take far better-quality
Readings than we can. We’ll have them to comfort us while you’re gone. It’ll be seventeen years away
from you, but we’ll each have our perfect memories of the time we had alone with you, to re-live
whenever we want.”
Mark nodded slowly a few times before he answered. “I see.”
He turned to his wives. “And what’s your part in all this? I assume this is what you’ve been giggling
about all day.”
“Only that it gives me the courage to ask you something that I’ve wanted to ask for a while.” Talia
smiled. “Did you know that the few times Dalia shared her bed with us after you saved her life are the
only times that she’s shared herself with a man other than Bezedil since they met? I found this to be
very surprising, even shocking, considering that she was a champion promiscuous flirt before they met,
who said on more than one occasion that she dreaded the thought of a sexually monogamous
marriage.
“When I asked her why she hadn’t slept with anyone but Bezedil since the times she spent with us, she
said; ‘Because Bezedil is just that good. He keeps me so satisfied that I don’t have any appetite left for
anyone else.’
“So of course, I’d like to try that, and she’d like him to have the chance to have both of us together, and
of course he’s wanted that since he met us as well.
“If you do this boon for your Volunteers, and you spend twelve hours a day at it, you’ll be done in a
week. I’d like to spend that time with Dalia and Bezedil. Besides, they’re staying here, so they won’t
see me for seventeen years from their perspective.”
“I see.” Mark nodded with a sheepish smile, and looked to Alilia.
“And what would you be doing during that week?”
“Oh, I also want to have Talia and Dalia together.” Alilia told him with a mischievous grin. “I want them
to do their hair and nails and coloring exactly the same, so they’re as identical as possible. It’ll be like
having two Talias!
“And of course, I want to spend the time with my son, since he won’t see me for seventeen years. And
while I have no real sexual interest in Bezedil, not only because he’s my son but more because he
reminds me too much that way of my ex-husband Gorsh, I’ll admit that I’m curious to see what it is that
he does to keep Dalia that completely satisfied.
“We’ll probably spend some of that time over at Yazadril’s house too. He and Nemia and Hilsith will
miss us fiercely while we’re gone, especially Talia.”
“Then we’ll have another seven days to enjoy our normal life here before the day we leave.” Talia
added.
Mark thought about it. “All right. But that still leaves twelve hours a day, and no matter how vigorous
and entertaining Dalia and Bezedil are, I still expect you two to be waiting for me in my bed every
night!”
“Yes, My Lord.” Talia said with a polite curtsy.
“And don’t start with that either!” he laughed.