As we made our way upstairs, we passed through a hallway with multiple doors, which I assumed were rooms, making this place more of an inn than a tavern or bar, I guessed. We proceed to a third floor to find Yunni and Devena waiting for us in an open style loft.

Piles of books were stacked precariously all over the place. At the far end of the room, where the Dragon lady and Nymph were, a large table was set against the wall and piled high with scrolls, and other trinkets. A large map of the continent we were on was pinned to the wall behind it. A curtained off section towards the opposite end of the loft hid a few beds and I figured this was where the three women both slept and worked.

Yunni looked sheepish as we approached, standing before the large table while Devena lurked to the side, drilling up with a stare.

“Welcome master,” Yunni said cheerily. “This is our headquarters. The home of house Velmar.”

I nodded politely while looking around. “Swanky.”

“So here I’ve gathered together all the tools you’ll need to start running the guild.” The nymph then pointed to several of the devices on the table, which looked like parts of a clock to me. Brass parts mixed with polished steel. “They attach to your amulet and give you the ability to interpret the ancient texts. At least that’s my theory. Then there’s this…” She pointed to a black iron box that appeared sealed on all sides. “We haven’t been about to find a way to open it yet, but I think you’ll—”

“I can’t believe you’ve done this…”

Devena’s sharp tone, cut her off and left ice in the air.

I couldn’t tell if the comment was direct towards Phee or myself. But then her target became clear as she stepped towards the Half Ogre, her eyes like hot coals of rage. “…after all I’ve sacrificed for this guild. This is how you repay me?”

Phee sighed. “Devena, please calm down and listen—”

“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you! I told you to wait. And now you’ve gone and put satisfying your filthy loins ahead of everything else!”

“Whoa, take it easy,” I said stepping in between them. “It was my choice. And yes, she is my Firstbond now. And I’m fine with that.”

Devena’s jade eyes shifted to me. “Are you really, you foolish man? You don’t even know what you’ve done”

Okay enough was enough. “Look, you made me Guildmaster right? So I’m making my own decisions. And frankly, you being jealous is not going to work out here.”

“Jealous?” Devena threw her head back with a sharp laugh. “Is that what you think this is? Do you think me…a dragon, could ever be jealous of the bonding between a human and a lowly half-breed like her?”

Phee shifted behind me and the big woman curled her hands into fists.

“Easy, Phee,” I said stepping in front of her and then I looked to Devena. “You need to take that back. I thought you guys were all friends. What the hell is wrong with you?”

“We’re not friends,” she spat. “We’re Guildmates. Partners. And what Phee did by Firstbonding with you violated all trust between us.”

I looked behind me to Phee and expected a retort but the Half-Ogress was surprisingly quiet. “Phee? What’s she talking about?”

The Hold ogre folded her arms and turned her gaze towards the loft windows, avoiding my stare.

“Phee?”

Devena laughed again. “Just as I figured. You have no idea what you’ve done, do you?”

“And just what have I done?” I said agitated.

“Your firstbond is you strongest bondmate, one you’ll be able to advance faster than any other. And you only get one. I’m not angry out of jealously. I’m angry because you chose unwisely.” She then glared at Phee. “But not without help. Truth be told, you’re merely ignorant. But her…she knew better. We had an agreement, Phee!”

“Whoa, what agreement?”

“There was no agreement!” Phee said. “Besides things just happened. And I admit I was probably thinking more with my heart than my head, but I never forced him to—”

“Your heart?” Devena said with an incredulous laugh. “You just met him! You were clearly thinking with something else. You stupid, stupid whore!”

A snarl came from behind me as Phee suddenly pounced. I expected Devena to fly right back at her aggressively, but instead the dragon woman let out a girlish, high-pitched squeal and ran in the opposite direction.

“Yunni! Help!”

“I’m going to pulverize you!” Phee screamed as she chased Devena around the room, knocking over stacks of books as she tried to keep up with the surprisingly nimble Devena. The dragon woman continued her ear-ringing shrieks of panic as ran daintily around the room in her high heeled boots, turning and spinning to keep Phee at bay.

I stood mesmerized by the whole thing, not knowing whether to be alarmed or simply burst out laughing.

“Do something you two!” Devena cried desperately. “She’s trying to kill me!”

I was about to step forward to break them up, but Yunni flew towards them and with a clap of her hands released a powerful blast of light. “Enough!”

Her clap went off like thunder and the two women froze.

It seemed to be merely light and sound, but it was enough to snap them to their sense. Finally Yunni released a tired sigh of her own, accompanied by an eye roll. “Really you two…? And in front of Master Cole as well?”

Devena harrumphed, fixing her hair. “Well I wasn’t the one who attacked. I was the victim here.”

“Like hell you were,” Phee said. “You attacked me first, you elitist prude! Maybe if you knew how to actually use those feminine charms instead of throwing them around like weapons, Cole would have picked you!”

Anger flared in Devena’s eyes and I feared she was about to breath fire.

“Okay, okay,” I said quickly jumping in between them. “Easy with all that talk now. Let’s reset things here. We’re a guild now and we all need to keep rowing in the same direction.”

If I was ever going to get this job done then the first thing I needed to do was ensure they were a cohesive team. And by my decision, it was clear I’d just thrown a spanner into the works. But as Bob used to tell me, if I was the project leader, then it was my job to fix it.

“Let’s clear one thing up,” I said, taking as manly a stance as I could in the midst of the two towering beauties. “The only reason Phee is my Firstbond is because of my decision and mine alone. Phee did warn me of the consequences, Devena, and I still chose her. So whatever the consequence, it’s on me not her. Always remember that. The buck stops here.”

“The what?” Devena said with a crinkle of her nose.

“Nevermind. What’s important is that if something goes wrong, I’m here to take responsibility. It’s my job as your leader. Now if you don’t mind, Devena. Can you please…calmly…tell me why you think I made a poor decision in choosing Phee?”

Oratory vs Devena: Success!

“Well…it’s obvious,” Devena said, placing her hands on her hips. “I’m a dragon. And a black dragon at that. It will take decades for me to advance naturally. But of the three of us, I hold the greatest potential. So instead of spending your one true worth as Guildmaster on the most beneficial member of our Guild—me—you chose her.” She pointed to herself and then Phee in turn. “A half-ogre with no magic or key abilities to speak of. The most she can do is get physically stronger. And that’s not much good for the job we need done.”

Phee opened her mouth as if to retort, but snapped it closed again, perhaps seeing the logic in Devena’s thinking—as narcissistic as it was. And I was too admittedly as I scanned both their character sheets again.

Damn…perhaps I did make a hasty decision.

“And my agreement to heal you was also based off of that,” she continued. “Growing to a point of being able to cast life and death magic will take me many levels to achieve. Without the strength of a Firstbond, I can’t guarantee I’ll reach that level at all in the time we have.”

My stomach sunk a little. “What?”

“That’s not true,” Yunni said. “We can all reach our full potential. It’s just a matter of how hard Master Cole is willing to work to make it happen.” She then looked to me. “Right?”

“What do you mean, Yunni?” I asked.

“It’s all a matter of gaining mana and then investing in us. You need to enhance yourself first of course. But the stronger you are the more bondmates you can have at once. And the stronger you can make them. So you’ll need mana. Lots of it. Sure you can’t enhance Devena as quickly as Phee, but it can still happen with a normal boding.”

“Bonding?” Devena threw her nose into the air. “We’ll see about that. The most I’ll offer you right now is a Bloodoath.”

“A bloodoath?” Yunni said. “That’s even less Devena. Why would you—?”

“A Black Dragon doesn’t settle for picked over seconds.”

“Ah,” I said with a wry smile. “Cutting your nose off to spite your face, huh?”

“Doing what to what?” Devena said indignantly.

“Nevermind, I get it. And right now that’s okay. The feeling is kind of mutual, to be honest. I don’t want to bond with you either.”

Black Dragon or not, this Devena babe was a handful and one I wasn’t particularly fond of dealing with right now. I looked to Phee and smiled. Yeah, maybe it was a hasty, sex influenced decision, but it was still the right one in my books.

“Okay so with that settled,” I said turning to Yunni. “How about you show me how these gadgets work.”