Chapter eighteen E.

Across the street, we entered Shandra's exquisite slave care. Sasha and Brie both sat comfortably on large pillows in the receiving room. They appeared refreshed, and I noticed their hair had been trimmed slightly and braided. The pleats in their skirts had been freshly pressed, and their tails had a bright glossy sheen to them. Sasha and Brie held their leashes in hand, patiently and happily.

Nodding to Kara at the counter, I went to Sasha, and with a flush, happy look on her face, she handed me her leash. Ashley took Bries leash again, and the glowing kitsune smiled warmly at the booth of us. We left as the fading sun transitioned from the warm of yellow light to the fading glow of illuminating pinks.

I pulled Sasha close to me as we walked back towards my ship and asked, "So how was it?" I disguised my question by running my hand up one of her tails and cupping her ass.

"It was wonderful master Grayson and so relaxing. Brie was ecstatic to have so much attention paid to her, knowing that it was gift from her mistresses acting husband; she is truly looking forward to pleasing both of you." Sasha answered with her head near my neck as we strolled.

"Good as long as you both thought it was an enjoyable experience."

"Mmm...It was delightful." She hummed in my ear.

More of the shops and boutiques had closed signs displayed in their windows as fewer people were walking about. For longer stretches down the sidewalk, things were beginning to quiet down; however, in front of the various Taverns and other eating establishments, there was a noticeable increase in the size of the crowds. And the noise that emanated from them had a festive and lively atmosphere. I always found it amazing that the distance it had taken us to travel throughout most of the day only took us a few minutes to traverse as we made our way back to the slips designated for larger vessels.

By the time we reached the gangplank of my vessel, the Ever Grove, the iron lampposts that were spaced evenly along the walkways began to come to life. The warm orange light that they cast was powered by simple magical enchantments.

Both Ashley and Rachel had studious expressions on their faces as they were trying to determine which of the vessels was mine. They had, of course, been informed by the network of gossiping ladies the name of my vessel but having never seen it, I could tell they were curious by the glint they had in their eyes. As we reached the gangplank, the girls were amazed by the Sloop. Standing at the top was Timothy in a clearly new set of clothing. The Capri slacks that showed off his naked sandaled feet looked odd but coupled with the fitted jacket that ended just past his elbows, it gave him a weird boyish old man appearance. The golden manacles were openly displayed along with his collar.

"Good evening Exalted Lord Grayson, and welcome home. Everything is prepared for your dinner with the new mistresses, and we are all most excited to receive their company."

"Timmothy, excellent. This is the Exalted Lady Ashley Wintershore and the Exalted Lady Rachel Albillac. They are my acting wives for my time at the collage." I said, helping each onto my ship.

With an obsequious bow at the waist and a demeanor of reverence, Timmothy said, "It is this one's pleasure to serve; how may I be allowed to address the esteemed mistresses?"

"Mistress Ashley is fine."

"Mistress Rachel is acceptable for me."

"Mistress's it is a pleasure. My lord, I shall tell the other the proper form of address." With a low bow, he backed up and turned to head back into the ship.

"What a wonderful steward were ever did you find him, so well trained." Ashley said with a bright smile.

"In Eastern dusk."

"I am quite surprised by the quality of your slaves they must have cost a fortune." Ashley added as I began to give them a tour of the ship.

"Yes, I have been lucky in my acquisitions."

It was evident by the looks on the faces of Ashley and Rachel that they had never seen a ship constructed in the manner mine had been. They were amazed by the deep rich black color of the Dalbergia wood, the soft, warm glow of the rich Brown Oak, and the glossy Sheen of the teak wood. I noted happily that all of the slaves aboard the ship had been completely outfitted in clothes in the colors I had decided on for my Noble house; black, silver, and green. I knew it was important for them to feel like they were a part of a household that would treat them appropriately, and especially for all the kitsune that had been tormented by that asshole.

It was Rachel that I was watching most closely because she reminded me of a brilliant and nerdy girl. And I had a feeling that she would be the first to realize the ship was not constructed by any standard shipbuilding methods. That's not to say that Ashley wasn't intelligent in her own way; it was simply different; whereas Rachel was meticulous and overly observant, Ashley was decisively more social. It meant that she quickly picked up on the mood of any situation, and she had far more skills in handling people than Rachel.

I was also not as worried about Ashley as she was positively beaming due to the amount of kitsune I had aboard the vessel. I couldn't only imagine this was some deep-rooted fantasy that she had about the beautiful Fox girls. I was happy to note that many of the kitsune were not as trepidatious in observing our passing as they had been, and even a few of them politely bowed as they met my eye. They were still stationed throughout the vessel doing simple tasks such as opening doors, standing at various points with refreshments on trays, those some were still clearly in a state of shock as they methodically used a rag to wipe a window over and over again or Polish a handrail or countertop.

"This is amazing, you actually have a forest inside?" Rachel said as we got to the main level of the ship.

"Well, it's not a real forest and if the dryads couldn't control the size of their trees...well... I mean this would never work." I said, trying to downplay it some.

"Still, it is quite impressive. Where did you have the vessel made?" Rachel asked, arching her eyebrows.

"Ah yes..."

"Oh, who cares, I heard there were babies aboard the other ship...did they..." Ashley said, realizing the worst might have happened.

Thank full for the misdirection; I said, "Yes they made it and are doing quite well. Would you like to see them?"

"OH, YES, YES, YES!" Ashley nearly exploded.

I made eye contact with Timmothy, who had never been far out of sight during my tour of the ship. He made a nod, then left to go down below. We walked slowly through the garden that had been illuminated by soft glowing hanging lamps. Many of the dryads were standing proudly by their trees, and the fairies happily flew through the trees, adding a sparkling ethereal light as we walked.

We headed down below decks to the adjoined nursery that was attached to the cabins of the elf mothers and now the kitsune mothers. I could tell as we made our way into the nursery that the kids who name others were extremely nervous at receiving nobility, especially ones that wanted to view their children. But due to the kind of treatment Timothy, May, and myself had shown them over the past few days, they were reticently agreeable.

When I saw the almost happy-looking demi-human kitsune mothers, I almost cried. From the deplorable state that I had found them in, to see them sitting in chairs quietly tending to the fresh bundles of joy was a relief. I could tell that they were slightly worried but with the elves Tamara, who had a 2-year-old little girl named Maestra, and Amber, who had a 2-year-old girl Tara and a four-year-old girl Trix they were much more at ease.

"Master Grayson, Mistresses." The women all said politely, nodding their heads from where they sat.

"Oh, my...they are so lovely. Look at their tiny tails!" Ashley squealed quietly. Her face was lit with such a look of joy and happiness the mothers calmed further. "Who's is this, she has three jet black tails?"

The two kitsune mothers looked sad for a moment before answering, "She did not survive." Each of the two mothers only had two children left; the other two babies, one with three black tails and the other with gold tails, were complete orphans. Though the mothers had taken them in without hesitation, they nursed them and treated them as their own.

"Oh...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to... can I hold her?" Ashley said with glassy eyes.

"Of course, mistress Ashley."

This was the first time I had gotten to see the young infants as well, and I was happy to note that they looked Much healthier than when I had first seen them in the bowels of the ship. The little girls were looking much plumper, and their skin had a healthy glow. Their tails which had been scraggly soggy clumps of hair hanging from their backsides, now the tails shown brilliantly with their inherited colors.

So began the ever-required cooing and fawning over the infants. Even Rachel, who seemed far more stoic to the whole thing, could not help but smile and picking up one of the infants as well. They truly were happy bundles of drooling joy that all babies have an inborn skill two utilized to the best effect.

As with all such interactions, the overly excited and happy infants in a nearly succinct coordinated fashion all began to shit themselves at the same time. I was surprised as the small bundle with two Golden tails let out an obscenely loud wet-sounding fart which ended in her face scrunching up and beginning to cry.

The mothers seemed horrified for a moment until I began to laugh and passed the infant off to one of the servants. Ashley, who had still been holding the kitsune with three black tails, almost looked disappointed that she would have to pass the bundle off to his servant to have its diapers changed. Rachel was far less hesitant to pass off her bundle to an awaiting servant as we then decided to remove ourselves from the room and continue to dinner.