Gula POV

Our trip through the underground wasn't nearly as swift as it was in the morning and the last slog on the road in the hold I lived in seemed agonizingly slow, especially with the crowd bringing its typical fragrance with it. When the white boards of my warehouse finally showed above one of the wooden dwellings, a sigh of relief escaped my lips with no resistance. Small nods from the Kelton men immediately followed. Making our way past the tunnel entrance, we made the left turn onto the street holding the rows of now-filled warehouses. Along with the regular crowd that now scurried about, near the front was the grey and black-haired priest Cassie. Around her black robes were a gaggle of six younger Orc girls.

Ranging roughly between eleven and fifteen, the girls all had rough shirts and equally distressed pants that bore patches of cloth and some rips left open. The bodies beneath were in almost as bad a state. A few had scabs and scars, all had thin frames. The first girl who spotted me was on the left of Cassie and raised her brown eyebrows in surprise with the others quickly following her eyes.

"Captain!" The priest exclaimed as she moved forward with my newest crewmembers. When they made it through the crowd, she made a slight bow which the girls quickly imitated without grace.

"ehu..."

It took two coughs to clear the throat that hadn't been used for speech in hours.

"Hello." Was all I said before looking at the girls directly. "Things have changed but for your benefit. I'll be on the ship for a few hours, so we'll be dropping you off where you'll be getting a feel for sea life."

Cassie looked at the girls with cautious eyes, weighing something in her mind, before looking back to me.

"Hard working and dedicated, every last one. They will serve you well."

The priest reluctantly waved her hands towards me, ushering the smaller Orcs forward. Not quite the small bundles of innocence crawling over Eli back at the base but not blossomed into full women, the girls just leaving childhood behind shuffled forward with uncertain strides.

"Excellent. Let me see to some things in the office and we will get you lot situated."

A few gave me too enthusiastic nods while most looked down. It was a quick visit through the wide door, seeing the typical curtains of segmented bedrooms in the back as I turned left to Shran's desk. The grey-haired secretary had a few papers to sign and I had a few instructions to give, with a relatively painless end to the exchange that saw me return to the street in short order.

On the left side of the street was my group, politely hugging the wall to keep out of traffic. The black-maned Kelton nodded to the group who fell in line behind us, with Cassie directly ahead of me. Our walk up to the tunnel was quick as it rested only a stone toss to the left of the warehouse. It was the only respite we received as we made our way through the two crowded holds before arriving at the exit of the underground. Coming up to the gaping hole where the tunnel to the outside started, Cassie drew to a slow stop and with her the whole group. I raised an eyebrow to her as she turned to me with a twitch in her short nose.

"Captain Gula, would it be improper for me to visit the girl's future lodgings?"

Her licked lips told me she knew of her brush against propriety. Fortunately, for her, the ship had been made appropriate for visitors.

"It's not for outsiders. I can have you brought up to the entry of the ship in a dingey and the girls can give you a report if you want, but a below-deck visit is out of the question." I offered. The priest dipped her head and went on, with the rest of the group soon following.

Walking down the tunnel walls with the occasional slit in the ceiling giving us light with extinguished lamps along the tunnel ceiling, the loneliness of the long chute was palpable as each slap of foot on stone could be heard instead of falling into the background. If not for the occasional scratch of an archer behind a murder hole, I'd say it was unwatched. Eventually, we arrived at the slightly open space with a table on the left and the watch working the lid to the outdoors. Waiting for her to lift the false boulder, I looked around at the girls.

Nervous. Excited and eager, but nervous more than anything.

"Miss captain." A smaller feminine voice to my left asked. Turning to the smaller girl with black hair flowing to her waist, her red eyes shot down rather than meet mine. "I have a younger sister staying at the Hole. Will I be able to send her some coin?"

Cassie was a bit further ahead and bit her lip. The church was dumping them on me because they couldn't care for them. Getting paid for the privilege of housing and consistent meals? That hadn't come up. Money, however, could be spent freely beyond the point that it drew suspicion.

"You'll get coin. Not as much as fully fledged crewmembers, mind you. Cleaning and kitchen aid are mostly what you'll be doing. A few hundred coppers each month, with opportunities to be made full members in the years to come. If you're interested."

That got them excited, with some even bouncing on the soles of their feet.

"We are!"

"How old do we need to be before becoming full crew members?"

I put my hands up in surrender.

"There's no hard number of winters. Just when you're strong enough to pull the ropes and shimmy up the masts. Far off days." The sudden encroachment of chill air and soft creak announced the opening of the entrance. "And most certainly not today."

Our conversation over, we headed up the hard stairs and onto the stone plains. The wind was mostly blocked by the surrounding rock and with the sun as high as it was going to be, the plains were as pleasant as could be expected. Most of the more obnoxious boulders had long since been moved out of the way and a small path through the sheered stone had been naturally established through time and traffic. As convenient as it was for my feet, that fact was the only thing that let the newest members of the ship make the journey to the mansion on the water further ahead. Sporting only small slabs of wood and leather, the shoes the girls wore were only just an improvement over bare feet.

Along the side of the ship facing towards Crasden, I saw the boats getting lowered into the water with some far-off specks moving over the mass of wood and sails like ants tending to their mound. The three guards stuck around the perimeter while we waited in a tight mass for the boat to arrive. Even being the best time to travel, the plains were not a welcoming place and winter showed its usual penchant for cruelty.

Long dinghies of wood with four Kelton men apiece were being rowed ashore at a pace both fast and far too slow. When the solid thunk of wood on stone finally announced the sailor's landfall, a small rush forward took hold without any directions being given.

"Get the kids in first," I ordered everyone.

"No cargo,Captain?" One black grey-maned man put in as he took in the young girls, who were looking rather reluctant to get into the boat.

"No," I grumbled as I surveyed the land around our little group. I would have preferred it to be a totally barren landscape and for a blessed second, it was before a vague shape shifted between the rocks almost too far away to be seen. Another second passed as I reconfirmed what my eyes were sort of seeing. Mentally working out which direction I was looking at took another second.

"North. Looks like one dead." I announced.

That made all the heads snap in my direction for a moment. The guards and sailors were the first to recover. My caretakers positioned themselves between the main group and the approaching thing while the sailors clumsily took out their swords. All this took enough time for the first pangs of panic to work through the girls.

"Lass." One of the brown-furred sailors called out from the boat as our newest members backed away from the general direction of our approaching menace. The black-furred Kelton guard near the front gave an exaggerated snort.

"One of ours." His rough voice rang out as he looked at the younger brown-coated lad. "Let's give them peace."

Taking out my sword, the slight hiccup in drawing it out of its leather holster told of some slack seeping into my routine. The two Kelton guards promptly moved forward, weaving through the shattered boulders and jagged slabs. Their positions in the guard ring were filled with two of the older Orcs armed with clenched fists while the other four were filing onto the boats in a rush.

"Girls," Cassie's stern voice went out over the crowd, her demanding, motherly voice working its magic and keeping them from trying to get in all at once.

"Go." The two braver girls snapped at my command, "This is just an inconvenience.".

To their credit, the older girls were obedient and left to join the others near the shore. The Keltons took off with only one left behind to 'guard' me. My view of the wasteland was still mostly dead as the splash of waves against the stone filled my ears. It took only a minute more before the girls were properly situated, with our newest members split evenly on the boats, Cassie moved in to join them. After nearly five minutes of waiting with my sword out, I nodded to the last guard to follow me. Fortunately, it was only a few steps before the approaching forms of the two male Keltons finally presented themselves. At first, I wanted to rush forward to see what the damages were, as their breathing was hectic, faces shocked, and the hands gripping their holstered swords were white from how hard they were squeezing.

"Any injuries?" I asked looking them up and down for some wounds or blood splotches. Aside from some dirt on the younger man's left side, they would have looked like they just got off a casual stroll if not for their posture and shocked demeanor.

"They… were a woman but she had…with her-"

A rough growl from the older man stopped him.

"Enough, lad." In a surprisingly mild tone that was more whisper than reprimand. His white eyes then looked at me and he seemed to have aged a decade in the few minutes he had been gone. "It's dealt with, Captain. I think it would be best if we were rotated out for some fresh guards. Some time on the seas is in order."

Refusing to let my mind fully process everything, I simply nodded and turned back to the group. When we came back to the shore, our group went into the boats without a word. I was sitting directly ahead of the priest, next to whom a sailor was wielding an oar to push us away from the rocks. A bit of rowing from the men saw us overcome the waves pushing us ashore and make a straight line to the ship. A chill wind blew over our now fully exposed clothes, infused with a sting of cold sea spray. My nose filled with the scent of that salty water, far stronger than it was underground but still just a small tingle compared to the northern base.

Arriving at the ship, we were situated on the side with some ropes being thrown down. The men promptly hooked the boat up through rings on the front and back. Wind pushed us back and forth as we rose out of the water, much to the worry of the girls. Their nerve held, however, and we came up to the deck with little fuss.

It was at this point that a big flaw in the ship's design became apparent. Designed by Beaton and his sailing crew, they had put a lot of love and expertise into every inch of this ship, but that didn't grant them omniscience. One big issue was getting people directly from the boat onto the deck when it was lifted up. Kelton men came forward with long poled hooks to keep our dingey in place as we awkwardly dropped the two feet onto the floorboards. It wasn't a big issue and no one had been hurt by it. Months of living in perfect housing with Eli's experienced eye, however, did make the small failing look far larger than it was.

"So," Cassie's voice rang out on my left. The wind blew through her grey and black hair as she looked up at the navigator's wheel, currently manned by the big, grey-haired man called Beaton. "You do have some human men here."

"A few." I agreed before turning to my remaining three guards disembarking from the boat, which when emptied was promptly pulled toward the back with the pulley and wench system. "Watch over Cassie while I take the girls around. After that, you'll be dismissed."

The girls looked around with wide red and gold eyes. Sailors would often swarm the deck, adjusting sails or seeing to any of a dozen other tasks. Of course, the ship wasn't often at anchor for days on end. Being in port for so long left little to do and only a watch dotting a few key points on the wooden landscape occupied the deck aside from our visiting party. Still, it was all brand new to the younger Orcs who stood on the spot with eyes darting around everywhere. Most stopped at the mast as they tried to decipher how such a tall mass of wood could stay up straight.

A short minute later, the other boat was brought up on the opposite side of the ship and my five newest crewmembers were finally together in a tight bunch.

"All right ladies. Time to show you around." I announced with a sweeping hand to the front. The double oak doors leading into the lower decks were wide open and my steps towards them were quickly followed up by a small stampede. We all went down the staircase with the occasional creek of wood and a chorus of chatter joining the crash of waves. As we turned left, the crowd's noise overwhelmed the other two sounds.

Slits of sunlight filtered through windows on the sides as crowded long tables filled the front of the room. Arriving at late lunch, the typical smell of cooking wasn't present. That didn't stop the girls from giving the kitchen in the back forlorn looks.

"I could go for some bread. You want any?"

A small cascade of shaking hair greeted my question. Keeping a smile off my face as we moved between the crowd was a challenge as we took to the right side of the wall. Coming up to the long, open window, we filched some rolls from a basket left on the counter. It was a bit cold and stiff, but the girls devoured the two they each received in short order. Taking the basket, I offered it to the bolder girl on my right. Her self-control was impeccable, far better than mine was at that age at least, as she carefully doled out the rest to the other five before taking her extra portion.

Our munching group walked past the tables filled with Kelton men and a few humans, all of whom only regarded us with a glance or two before getting back to a card game or story. The trip back to the staircase was short and we quickly descended further into the guts of the ship. We were led out into the next floor of the wooden mansion on water, this one being one of the two floors dedicated to sleeping quarters.

Rows and rows of two-bed bunks were neatly laid out in front of us, though only a few had any occupants. Empty bunks, signified by a bare mattress and no clothes or items dangling about, were few as this was the preferred floor to stay at, with only those valuing solitude at night willing to take the extra walk up the stairs staying in the quarters below. Even as crowded as it was, moving towards the back and finding five empty bunks wasn't too difficult.

"It smells nice here." One of the girls behind me said, accompanying her words with a few sniffs.

"We keep a clean operation, in ship and crew."

"It's probably a lot easier with water magic. They don't make the water cold, right?" An eager girl with short brown hair and a sharp chin asked as she came up to my left. Stopping in between two bunks, I raised an eyebrow at her.

"To who ,or what, are you referring?"

Her red eyes looked confused for a moment before she swallowed her spit and bit her lips. Taking a deep breath, I leaned back a little before giving her a look that I expected an answer.

"The priests at the Hole. I heard some of them talk about big frog people being aboard the ship. They said they can use water magic."

I raised an eyebrow at that. We had tried to keep the Frojan hidden to avoid too many questions. An effort apparently wasted.

"What is the Hole?" I asked as I resumed walking towards the back.

"The orphanage." One of the girls in the back answered with some bitterness.

"They are trying their best. At least, I haven't heard otherwise."

A few guilty faces were all I got in response, with the brown-haired girl looking down.

"Still," I declared with a wide sweep of my arms towards the empty bunks as we reached the opposite side of the room. "We can always do better. Pick one, preferably in pairs. It'll be hard for the men if they have to work around little girls first thing in the morning. They do need their morning to start right if they want to stay beautiful."

That got smiles on their green faces before they all broke out in a run to get a favored bed. The older ones took the top bunks on the left and right while the odd one out took the bottom bed on the further right bunk.

"Ooh!"

"Ahh."

Those sounds repeated along with the creaks of wood as the Orcs bounced on their new mattresses.

"They feel like they're filled with feathers." The older one in the top right bunk said with a slam back into the folded blankets. Nodding to the group, I turned to a couple of men lounging a bit further ahead.

"Fetch them some proper clothes and whatever food can be scrounged up from lunch. Tell the second to decide on how to start their training."

The idlers quickly nodded and got up to see to the task. Looking back to the girls, their satisfied stretches left little doubt as to how comfortable the bunks were to them. I was almost sorry that I had to take one of them away.

"If you're willing to stay on, I need one to say as much to priest Cassie."

They all put their heads out of their bunks, looking between each other with agreeable faces. Having reached an unspoken accord, the older, brown-haired girl got down from the top bunk. Wiping down her ragged clothes with a few brushes from her hands took a second before she came forward.

"I'll tell her we're staying."

I gave her a light smile and pointed to the upward staircase. We moved together, leaving behind the last guard to look over the girls. Walking past the bunks and coming up the stairs took almost no time at all. The girl was practically skipping with joy and her happiness did have an infectious quality that made the trip more bearable. Taking a moment to fetch some idle guard from the tables was the only delay and we reached the top of the stairs in only a minute.

Arriving on the deck saw what little heat we had managed to accumulate on our skin swiftly blasted off. Previously soft winds were turning into a proper storm, though only a light drizzle was coming down at the moment. Despite that, Cassie was standing firm on the left side of the ship with my two traumatized guards.

When we approached, I nodded to the two Kelton men guarding her. A swift nod was all I got before they abandoned their posts and made a beeline for the doors we just came out of. The priest's golden eyes only had room for the girl, however. The contagious delight coming off her small frame was too great for the worried older woman to deny. I saw a sigh escape her lips, though the rush of wind slightly blocked the sound as it blew through her black robes.

"I suppose there weren't any stacks of corpses or torture chambers down there?" She asked with a small smile.

A wave of brown hair flowed around the girl's head as she shook in disagreement.

"Just soft beds and food. I don't think the rest will leave now even if you tried."

Cassie took another deep breath. Her eyes darted between the girl and me for a moment before meeting my gaze.

"Then I leave them in your care. Depending on how it turns out, would you be willing to take on more?"

"Certainly. But, I will have to take on contracted crews who can do the full job at some point if I want to move all the cargo being requested. Though, it is the past I'm more interested in. How did you come to know of the Frojan aboard my ship?"

She gave an involuntary look down before turning back to me.

"One was spotted aboard a while back. A big, brown fellow. With their water magic and crafts presumably under your command… You have a lot of tools at your disposal. Tools that desperate times like these make very valuable. More than that, it's great gossip and lord knows we're all looking for anything to keep our minds off the current situation."

Indulging her with a small smile, I nodded to the guards and sailors, who moved forward to return the woman to land.

"Stay at the warehouse. I'll be there soon enough" I instructed them as I turned to leave with the girl. Going down the staircase and past the dining level, she quickly joined the others on the first housing floor to pick out shirts and pants with her fellows. Standing in front of the stairs for a moment to take in the happy scene, the important thing gradually pushed me to move. Taking a left to go further into the depths of the ship saw me make a turn and come into a nearly identical floor, save for the inhabitants.

Near the middle were my longtime Frojan companions, talking around a wooden ball that served as a heating craft. Among them was Lokan, a long, blue snake woman lounging in a low bunk with a casual yawn that stretched the scar along her left eye, a red-slitted thing. She wore a long purple robe lazily stretched over her body. Hers wasn't as large as the big frogmen's attire, including Baloo's, who sat on the floor in front of her in the squat typical of his kind. His green body with a darker green back, blue robe, and large amber eyes was the same as always. He saw me and nodded but stopped when he saw it was the larger brown Frojan behind him that held my attention.

"Did you go above deck, Sawoon?" I asked with an even voice.

The others turned to him with expectant looks. His amber eyes looked around before he turned downward.

"It's awfully cramped down here."

A few irritated faces greeted the admission, though I only stood there in silence. Taking a moment to collect myself, I tried my best to keep the irritation out of my voice.

"Keeping you and your magic was a secret we decided to keep because it would be a nice surprise for anyone thinking of attacking us. You've given away valuable tactical information about our abilities."

His companions were looking between each other or thumbing a spear, their irritated thoughts conveyed without saying anything.

"They're not s-soldiers." Lokan offered from my left. She was idly leaning to her right on an elbow with a tongue flicking through the air. "Keeping people idle for days at a time is almost as hard as coordinating them for work. Not that you've had that problem in the pas-st."

A huff from Baloo drew everyone's gaze.

"Cutting off a frozen leg will keep you busy. I can't say I don't understand wanting to stretch out in the open air, but these lands are not like back home. Barely any sun even when it's noon, cold as our harshest winter on a good day, and water salty enough to crust between the skin and tear it. I'll keep my hide here, thank you very much."

"You may not be able to."

That got everyone's attention. As loathe as I was to do it after using spirit connections after my morning, it was something that had to be done.

'We're going to steal some crafts from Eli.'

That got raised eyebrows at the sudden use of wordless communication, but they promptly started talking, with Baloo leading.

'I suppose we have some people onboard who aren't aware of Eli and his aims. Does this mean we have to start being more careful about these types of discussions?'

My nod drew a few sighs from the group. It was Songoo, a younger, red frojan on the right of Baloo, who spoke up.

'Are we getting some supplies from Eli or are we actually stealing from the supposed plant scion?'

'The latter. And it must be convincing. For all they know, this is a daring raid that could bring death at a moment's notice.'

Lokkan coughed with suppressed laughter, drawing a raised eyebrow from me.

'Make sure not to look too happy when you see him. It wouldn't be good for you to swoon in the middle of the guards.'

A wave of smiles went through all of my old comrades. For my part, I indulged their amusement like the phenomenal friend I was.

'This is about saving thousands of people tomorrow night. All a part of a wider plan to pull my entire species out of the mud. I think I can keep my mind on the objective for one night.'

All I got for my sincerity was some rolled eyes.

'Anyway,' I said with a quick look back to the main group. 'I need some watercrafts to move and stay underwater. So, do try to keep focused when we're done.'

Large Frojan hands were unfit for needlework, a fact demonstrated over many years. That left Lokkan and me to see to the task. An hour of threading and cutting leather straps went by until I had leather vambraces and a wide face mask. It was tempting to ask for a craft that would keep the cold water off of me, but Baloo told me many years ago that such a craft would suck in too much mana.

Sitting on the left of Lokkan, I watched the older brown Frojan run his hands over the leather with smooth movements. The heating craft down here was able to properly warm the space with a few shafts of fading light still coming through the windows. When he gave a satisfied sigh and removed his large fingertips from the leather, I got up and put my hand out to receive the new gift.

'It feels odd.' Sawoon said as he handed it over, 'Having to act afraid of someone we've been working with for weeks on end.'

'The danger will be partially real,' I refuted 'He may not be an actual enemy, but the stone spike I'll tell him to put in our sides if we're caught will be genuine.'

A round of dismissive coughs was the main response. The one from Lokkan on my right was particularly flippant.

'Yeah, I'm sure he'll do that.'

I took in the rolling eyes from some of the Frojan and the blue snake woman's smile. The fact none of them believed Eli would hurt me made my heart flutter. No matter the truth of the wider Orc position here and how the men came to lay with them, my closest friends did not doubt his love for me.

'Then he'll have to use a wave of water to wash us away.' Was all I said to them and the warmth in my cheeks.

When the Frojan started working on the leather mask, I decided to stop thinking. I was going to sit on the mattress and not think or puzzle through the if's and could's of my marriage. It was a few seconds before I felt myself sinking into contentment. Perhaps this was how Nersa became so confident, just refusing to run herself ragged.

After getting the items together and trying them on to test their comfort in front of the heating ball, I gave the group a satisfied nod. Baloo stood up, with a small smack of his staff on the floor.

'Will you want a companion for your underwater excursion?'

My first thought was no. Then the memory of my first conversation here came back to me.

'I don't see why not now that they know you lot are here. Though they will need the right skin color. Can't have a big green or red spot in the water that Eli can't pretend he doesn't notice.'

'I'll do it,' The older, brown Frojan volunteered as he got up on my left.

'Will you not be seen?' I asked.

Baloo nodded before coughing into a webbed hand.

'Dirt doesn't stay still in water, as the cleanings we occasionally had to do in the tunnels back home will attest. There's no doubt a good layer of mud along the bottom now.'

Satisfied with things as they were, I did one last nod to my future companion.

'Get ready then. We're going to start our grand heist late tomorrow.'

He promptly got up and turned towards one of the back bunks. I left him to his task, giving everyone a wave goodbye before heading up. The next floor was more crowded than the one I spent a good hour in, though supper was being made and a lot of the sailors had moved up to the dining section. Aside from the two in the back, tying belts around the newest additions to the crew. Wearing clothes that weren't anywhere close to properly fitting, the Orcs had to roll up their shirts arms, and pants legs just to move around. The attire here wasn't custom made but it came without holes, rips, or stains.

There was a moment of idleness as I took in how happy the girls looked. I wouldn't say they were destitute when they were in front of my warehouse but the smiles and giggles surrounding them wouldn't have been among them. It was nice to see before the day's labor began in earnest.

Normally, I would run a test on the run up the stream to the wall, but Kev hadn't gotten his people in place. That only left me with a foot-destroying walk back, time in the freezing river to make sure I didn't drown when the water moved at a good pace, and an avalanche of paperwork dealing with setting up my business. Oh, and I had to freeze my ass off in a smelly stall to tell Eli about all of this so he doesn't accidently blow my head off.

My soul felt the call of good food and well-washed companionship just a floor above. Forcing myself to turn around, I went further up the stairs. When I arrived at the crowded dining area, my will strained further as I looked over the long tables with servers putting out bowls of fresh bread and wooden mugs in preparation for the evening meal. Being a mostly Kelton crew, it was relatively quiet compared to the size of the gathering, which made the hard sizzle in the back far easier to hear.

In the wider view of things, how bad would half the underground flooding really be? A few new bunks and blankets and it'd probably sort itself out.

Pushing away the thoughts, I forced myself to do the adult thing. Going up the stairs lead me out onto the wide-open deck. I must have spent more time than I thought musing because my Frojan companion quickly came up behind me. Sawoon was fully dressed in a fluffy grey jacket and hard brown pants. Two layers of big white shirts contained his muscular chest, though bits of fat were starting to accumulate here and there. Doing a soft sway in place, I felt that we were all filling out our clothing a bit more these days. Putting his spear upright like a walking stick, his big brown head nodded to me.

"Alright," I said with the cheer of a coming execution. "Let's get this over with."

The rest of my day went by as I thought it would. Aside from some fuss with the guards when I tried to practice in the cleaning section of Crasden's river, it all passed in a blur of papers and sore feet until I found myself walking through the double doors of my warehouse at a time far too along into the night. Cold and tired, I had just gotten back from the freezing stalls to inform Eli of the plan. The guards were going to set a small fire near the back end of the new tower, where he would dash off and I would have Sawoon push me above the water and onto the platform in front of his home. It was a simple plan, one my husband signed off on. Our conversation was nearly as swift and ended with 'love you'. As nice as it was to talk with him, there was something irksome about spending more time getting to a meeting than actually attending it.

One of my new Kelton guards, a slightly thinner fellow with grey fur and tall ivory horns, opened the warehouse double door and looked inside before nodding to me. It seemed a bit much, but this lot was a lot more particular than my regular companions. Going in with only faint starlight filtering in from the outside ceiling, I saw the big, brown Frojan wrapped in a blanket on the right. Soft snores emanated from his fluffy wrapping as my Kelton guards moved ahead toward the stairs on the left.

Waiting near the entrance was grating but the men were rather insistent on my safety with the grey-furred man going up to the second floor. After a minute, I was finally given the all-clear to go to my bed. Exhaustion nipped at my every footfall and made my grasp on the railing going up tenuous. The floor was dark even for my eyes and when I finally made my way through the crates, I plopped onto the bed. The world immediately faded, with only the agony in my feet holding on before oblivion came.

My eyes first saw white sheets before I felt the need to stretch. The tiredness in my limbs was gone and my feet weren't feeling sore. They also felt the dirty shoe still on my right foot. On any other day, I would have been rushing about one task or another. Today, I had a big mission at night and that meant a lazy routine beforehand, with me having instructed Shran as much. Being tired can get you killed in dangerous situations and after yesterday I wasn't taking a step or moving a finger I didn't need to.

Sadly, I still had to bathe and eat. This time, I washed with a rag and a bucket of water delivered from the cleaning area. I felt bad that I had to send one of the Kelton guards to lug a pale of water around and get my breakfast, but they went about their work without any apparent resentment. In the typical way of things, the relaxing part of my day passed by all too quickly. I was doing some blade stances for light practice in front of my desk when Shran came up the stairs.

"A guard is here. Saying something about escorting you to the work site." Her raised eyebrows made it clear how curious she was, but she said nothing else before heading down.

Wiping off my black jacket, white shirt, and brown pants, I followed her. In front of the now-opened door was a leather-clad Orc with short black hair and a metal shoulder guard with fading afternoon light hitting the street behind her.

"Are you ready, captain Gula?" She asked.

I nodded with Sawoon on the floor to the left getting up. His water magic allowed him to wear the same clothes that he had worn yesterday, and his attire did nothing to hinder his movements. My three guards came up from the housing area just out of my left eyesight. Moving down to the floor, I regarded Shran with a nod as I walked past her desk and followed the Orc guard out onto the street.

The afternoon was mixed as far as speed went. Having an official guard gave us leeway to force our way through certain clogs in the streets, but the tunnel towards the back end of the cavern had no concern for government authority as the masses could only sidestep so far. Moving through the underground, our pattern of starting and stopping went on for a while until we were several holds deep.

I had lost track of where we were or what cavern we had just come out of after about twenty minutes of walking. The first indication that we were approaching our destination was the carts filled with dirt starting to take up most of the traffic. As we came through the exit of one tunnel, the space opened upon a work camp. On the left was a series of troughs with mixes of water and dirt that I assumed to be the ingredients of their concrete. Working in tandem were more carts of dirt, some loaded down with chipped rocks to dump elsewhere or going further into the gaping maw in the stone directly ahead. I found more evidence of the masonry directly ahead with the stone steps allowing for foot traffic while a long ramp on the left provided a means of moving the wheelbarrows elsewhere.

"You lot look a little too well dressed to be shovelers." A gruff voice further to my left shouted over the din of cracking stone and chorus of boots hitting rock. It was a shorter, late 30's woman with strong arms, shoulder-length brown hair, and a rough leather vest. Her air of authority, attendants, and high position on a wood platform looking over the entire area marked her as the overseer.

"A special guest that has an interest in our work here. With the permission of the council."

Our guide's face and tone were polite as could be. Even so, the slight look of irritation on her face made it clear her patience was being tested. The overseer only nodded before looking back down to her duties. We took the opportunity to keep walking down toward the big hole in the wall. It was still rather crowded with workers as we made our way across the open expanse between the tunnel mouths, though, since the place currently lacked any structures, the crowd easily made room for us until we came up to the steps.

Concrete had been applied to the sides and long since dried but as we climbed the stairs I began to notice how sharp the beast's edges were. Time had yet to work its craft on the stone here, as evidenced by bits of pointed concrete coming out of the walls and the steps still having an edge to them. Walking up gradually afforded me a full view of the tunnel's size and depth. I felt like a cricket staring at the inside of a fish's mouth. Its width was enough for almost four carriages to travel through at once, nearly twice the size of the others. Along the ceiling were slits letting in the failing afternoon sun, which shined down on the lines of workers.

Our guide motioned us forward through the dust and smell of sweat permeating this wound in the land. Looking towards the back, I couldn't see the end of the tunnel, though the glimpses that came through the crowd didn't give me a clear enough view to decide if it was from the length or obstructions. Following the intake crowd left us with a minute of walking before we came up to the only hole in the wall I'd seen. It was on the left and making that cut through traffic would've been impossible without our guard throwing her authority around.

The hole in the wall immediately lead to a wide, spacious room. It was the first time I had seen an underground section that wasn't big enough to hold multiple buildings, this place being somewhere between a far too large room and a single house. What was more pertinent to our interests was the doors on the far side. They let in some starlight from the outside and like their counterparts in the main section, the sound of water could be heard behind them. Though the sounds were more consistent with the back and forth of waves. Once we were all inside, our escort took a hook and moved a hooped curtain on the left wall to cover the entrance.

"You can leave immediately. Just hug to the left and go through the first open side of the stone you see" She whispered.

Raising an eyebrow at her, I started up a spirit connection with her.

'Will anyone be there to let us in?' I asked. Her response carried a bit of annoyance.

'Yes. Fortunately, the plant mage has put in a back entrance for anyone caught in the river. It seems almost perfect for someone to sneak in. An oversight or an act of compassion far too great that has worked in our favor.' Her apparent irritation at having to use a spirit connection faded as her red eyes met mine. 'I want you to know, the few who know of this operation appreciate your bravery. A mage's wrath is no small thing. Even before his massacre of the pirates, most wouldn't think of taking this risk. For a stranger to do it for our sake… A thousand thanks, captain.'

This was not the first time that the weird nature of this little dance presented itself. Everyone knew where I would be and why in order to hide me from Eli, my husband. Who I had already told about this excursion so he could play along. I had the same nerves all soldiers did and my years of combat, all involving enemies who actually wanted to kill me, made me feel a little ashamed to be cloaked in false valor.

'It's for all of us. But I prefer to do, not talk about doing.' I offered before turning to my men with a meaningful look.

The Keltons turned around towards the wide curtain while Sawoon and I adjourned to the doors. It was a few minutes before I had finally stripped down to my skin and set my clothes aside before putting on the leather mask and arm braces from the big frog man. Frojan males had sex drives and interests that were totally dissimilar to Orcs and humans. As evidenced by the complete disregard displayed in the big, brown Frojan. Which was good, because if our multi-layered deception was going to work, I couldn't leave behind a trail of water in Eli's home nor could I risk Sawoons' water spell loudly ripping my clothes when it pulled the water off me.

Opening the doors took some full-bodied movement until the wooden slabs finally pulled back. The wooden entrance lead into a much smaller room with rocks above and a decently wide pool open to the wider sea beyond. Slipping into it, I felt soft, slick hands take hold of my shoulders before I activated the mask's enchantment and an air bubble enveloped my head. Unlike back in the swamp, this water had salt in it and I dared not open my eyes for fear of any water rendering me blind. Not that any great sights would be lost to me.

After a second, my body began feeling the pull of momentum on it. Water rolled over my skin and for a while, the sea felt warmer compared to the freezing air. When a minute went by the chill started properly seeping in. My hands started vibrating from the cold, even if it was hard to distinguish from the water blasting my body. As the icy feeling started becoming intolerable and the mask a bit too stifling, a sharp turn left gave me a mental shot of tolerance.

Air suddenly enveloped my skin and my arms and feet felt the strength of stone beneath them. Pulling the uncomfortable mask off my face, I quickly wiped away the salty sea out of my hair as water fell down my face until I felt my eyes would be protected. Looking past the fog of steam from my breath, the faint starlight from behind me illuminated a wide room with stairs opposite of me. Over the rush of the water to my right came the sloshes of water and another odd pulling on my skin.

Sawoon was behind me trying to get the water out of his clothes as he stood in front of a pool of water that I assumed was our entrance. Taking in the rest of the room was rather easy since it was only the walls, stairs, and a rope going through hoops along the far side of the wall. I could only get up and appreciate the smooth stonework while my companion pulled the traces of freezing water out of his garb. A sudden crack appeared in the wall and what I saw for a brief moment was a younger lad in leather. If I had any doubts about his age, his sudden yelp and pull back on the door dismissed them.

"Lady Gula. I have a… here." He called before the door opened more widely and a brown blanket flew through. My first thought was how odd it was that he was so embarrassed, then I remembered that human men here didn't see my kind as a disease. As clearly evidenced by almost everything I had seen on this continent. Old impulses still refusing to die.

"Why are you humans and Orcs so uppity about not wearing clothes? It's just skin." Sawoon asked behind me with some amusement as I moved to pick up the dry cloth.

"Well, think about a female Frojan croaking and flapping their legs or whatever it is that get's frogs in the mood and you'll understand what we think when someone shows up with nothing hiding their goods."

A choked chortle erupted behind me as I took up the blanket and wrapped myself in it. I could see Sawoon putting a webbed hand over his giant mouth. Thinking about it, I hadn't discussed such things with the Frojan before. Too busy trying to avoid death or starvation to discuss home life. The subject had always been a painful one for me as well. These days I was trying to force myself to confront these issues instead of locking them away in the back of my mind like a feral beast.

"And how do the Frojan… enjoy their nights with the ladies?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We don't… At least, not for reproduction. Pleasure, we feel just as you do. Like our less handsome and intelligent cousins, we do the deed in a pool with the women laying eggs for us to fertilize. Unlike our relatives, men have the right to seed the pool based on their work agreement."

That brought a smile to my face.

"Like a labor contract?"

His jacket-covered shoulders rose and fell with a shrug.

"Eggs are a favored treat for all the denizens of the waters. Two people aren't nearly enough to properly protect them. Which means it's a communal affair with pools being located at the center of the village. It also means no one knows who the children belong to. You can have suspicions or hunches, as I did in my more reputable years. But the kids ultimately belong to all Frojan. They are not the chiefs, the mans, or the woman's."

I pondered that for a moment. In my youth, the kindest moments were those involving mother assuring me I was her precious daughter. This system of parenthood was weird to me, but that might be because of how little doubt there was about who the baby you just pushed from between your legs belonged to. Even after all these years, there was so much about my companions I found familiar yet alien all at the same time.

Freezing air still clung to my bare skin, relieved only by the blanket and my kind's greater constitution. Orcs weren't immune, however. Minutes rolled on and every second saw a bit more heat sap away from my skin or slink into the stone through my feet. Sawoon did his best by huddling with me, but there was precious little warmth to spare from both parties. When a small crack sounded out from the wall, a sigh of relief escaped my lips before I even saw who it was. It could be an enemy mage at this point and they would at least provide some relief from this cold drudgery.

"Lady. The fire's been lit. It's time." The tepid male voice announced. Looking up, I saw a brown-haired lad with a torch showing his red leather armor and pensive lips. I also noticed how hard his brown eyes were trying to keep on my face.

"Great." Sawoon intoned with that deep voice.

Getting up from our small huddle took some doing, hurried along only by the knowledge that we were on a strict time limit. Following the guard took only a few seconds walk to the right with the sound of running water getting louder. We quickly found ourselves standing over an open walkway above the river. The human put out his hand holding a knapsack while looking to the ceiling. Relieving myself of the relatively warm blanket and fastening the latest burden on my person, I grit my teeth before donning the mask again and affixing myself onto Sawoons' shoulders. A brief moment of hesitation later, the frog man did a half jump into the freezing river.

This time, it was only a few dreadful seconds in the icy bath. My view almost immediately changed from murky water to a star-laden sky and a sheer stone wall. Off to the right I saw flickers of smoke peering out above the stone line. Loud footsteps could be heard over the rushing water, but the side Sawoon was currently clinging to didn't give me a good view.

'I need a lift up' I said in a spirit connection.

A small gruff was all I got as he tensed beneath me. After a moment, he pulled back briefly before I felt the water around me rush upward and off the large frogman. For a brief second, the uppoer world opened to me. In the distance, the grey hair of Eli was walking in torchlight off towards a mass of stone with wooden ribs sticking out of the top. The back of the structure was lit up with red flame, though the flames couldn't be seen on the building itself. He was accompanied by a small group of indistinct shapes. We were a stones toss from the bridge and in the entrance of the bridge beside a square stone building were two standing torches illuminating the faces of a pair of guards.

This was all could be seen as a wall of stone rushed up to me before I slowed just on the cusp of impact. My arms scrambled up and my palms gripped the stone sides. Despite just coming out of the river, I felt rather dry as the droplets of water were pulled back. When the last bit of moisture had been sucked away, I pulled myself up and immediately dashed through the open door on my left.

I half registered the kitchen on my right before moving as quietly as I could up to the wooden door in the grey stone wall on the left. Opening it, I was treated to a dark hallway that even my vision struggled in. Looking to the left for the third time, I saw the appropriate door and went through. The room had a table on the far side of the entrance and stacks of wooden planks on the two sides. Both were the same to my eyes, a problem Eli remedied by having a long board with summoned stone atop it on the right stack to tell me which were enchanted.

Hanging on wall hooks above the board slabs were gloves of leather bearing the molding enchantments. Wasting no time, I quickly replaced three boards with the duds from my sack. As I raised a hand to one of the pairs of gloves, I heard footsteps across the bridge.

"Honestly, you shouldn't just rush ahead of the guards, Tilvor." A female voice rang out. A female voice at ease reprimanding a scion. That certainly meant the woman had some magical ability herself.

My heart almost burst out of my chest but the imperative to act outpaced panic. There was no chance of closing the outer hall entry, that left seeing to this room's door. A light sprint across the room and I quietly closed the wooden entry.

"Do you always leave your door open?" a woman asked. Different from the first one.

Shit.

The turn around to take in the room was immediate and tinged with a growing panic yet all I could see was a bare affair with only a small slit above to let in a sliver of light. That was until I noticed some of the boards going further back than they should. Going up to the unenchanted specimens, I found that the slabs of wood I could see were only a small part of the whole, with the rest placed in a long, slim alcove behind the false wall that I had taken for the real thing. It was the only place to hide here and if I was going to use it, I had to shimmy onto the stack.

"I do when people start yelling that the linchpin of my defense is going up in smoke," Eli rebutted in a voice that barely came through the door.

Every noise amplified itself as I squeezed into the shaft. The small creak of boards protesting my weight had the thunder of crashing trees and I debated breathing as mages would surely hear such a maelstrom. When I was as far back as I could go, I stopped to listen. There were more footsteps, though they were retreating. Probably. Possibly. A sudden creak and whoosh of air foretold of a door swung open. I spent a good second groping my left side for the sword I always carried. Cursing my stupidity, I resisted slapping my forehead as my mind ran through how I could get out of this mess.

"Gula?" Eli's voice ran out.

My lungs finally let go of the breath they had been holding. Trusting that the man I married wasn't an idiot, I moved forward with the occasional creak of wood.

"Here." I lightly called.

Rounding the corner, I found Eli wearing a white shirt and brown pants in front of the closed door. In his hand was a copper candle dish with small orange flames playing across his handsome face and the walls. His green eyes looked at me while his grey hair shifted with his sway. I looked to the right, motioning towards the entrance to his home.

"They're gone." Was all he said.

"And who were they?" I asked him with an undue amount of irritation. All this misery was to steal his stuff and I had a foul impression for those who had nearly spoiled my robbery.

"Princess Palta and a friend of hers who's working with me on the tower. Both scions, if that matters. I guess the city is getting sour because she used the excuse of inspecting the tower to get away. At the first signs of fire, she insisted I head right back to the house. Though, I suppose we should be thankful for that."

I took a moment to appreciate how close death had been. Still, I was here for a reason.

"The gloves are properly enchanted, correct?" I asked as I deserted my hole and moved across the room to the opposite wall.

"Yeah," He offered behind me in a mild voice that told of distraction.

As I reached for the leather gloves it hit me then that I was fully out of the alcove now. And icy air was playing across every part of my fully exposed body. Turning to him, his green eyes were greedily scouring my body, though my womanhood was still blocked behind my knapsack.

"Eli, are you paying attention?"

His eyes turned up to meet mine, meeting my gaze head-on.

"Right now, there is nothing in the world I'm giving more attention than you."

With that, he turned his eyes back to my exposed nipples and arms in a thoroughly unrepentant manner.

"You do realize that we could still botch this." I countered with a raised eyebrow, feeling some heat diffuse into my cheeks. Eli only absentmindedly shook his head while slowly roaming his eyes up and down.

"I raised the drawbridge and sealed it with stone after they left. The two quickly vacated the area and the wind scion's familiar is sleeping in their tower. We have all the privacy in the world and an hour or two before the guard captain comes by with an official report that I will personally go out to the tower to verify. All done without my input, I assure you. Palta is making sure nothing happens to her plant scion that has the legendary aspect of not being useless."

The fact I didn't deny him made me suspect my brain wasn't doing the thinking. It was also aggravating how intriguing his muscular arms were and how good he would look on top of me. Sawoon… was on the ground by now at the end of the river with a blanket, as was planned.

My groping for any reason to not take an hour or two of play was fruitless and if I was stuck here anyway… Even so, it felt very unprofessional. I was a soldier through and through and sex in the middle of the mission didn't seem like a good practice.

"We're not being very responsible." I refuted mildly. He looked into my eyes again with a mischievous look. My moment of confusion passed when the exact words I had just spoken came back to me.

"Gula, you have no idea how torturous a young male body is. Every single time I have to rejuvenate, I do nothing but think of sex for the first few years. Finally having a beautiful woman I can take it out on is very appealing. That doesn't mean we have to howl like animals, though. I can make it… as silent as the dead night."

Taking in his eyes again I could only blush at the lust my body inspired in him. Then it occurred to me that no other Orc here, including the prim and fine Nersa, had stirred such feral need in a male mage before. Forget a scion or ultimate mage. Without thinking, I shifted the knapsack out of the way and moved my hips to afford him a full view of his prize.

Bastard's beard, I'm petty.

Eli took in all that I revealed before turning up to look me in the eyes. He immediately pulled back to the right.

"Go." My husband ordered, inclining his head towards the bedroom.

My cruelty, however, knew no bounds. I lazily picked up two pairs of gloves from the wall and replaced them with some of their regular leather siblings. Taking my time, I filled my knapsack with my pilfered goods and slowly walked past my husband. My reward was a forceful squeeze on the bum as I walked by.

"You tease," Eli chided as he walked past. Moving ahead and opening the door, he placed the candle holder on an unseen desk to the left before he leaned forward with groping palms that were immediately affixed to my hips.

Like my time underwater, everything turned into a blur. Vague animal need and groping took over whenever my mouth was available. I found myself on his bed, pinned to the wall on its side and being covered in kisses and powerful rubs or squeezes. My first instinct was to attend to his member, but then I remembered the issue with that. After a few minutes or an hour, I found myself on my second or fourth climax while I fumbled my assault. My body began getting this light sensation, like floating in the air. As impossibly irritating as it was, letting this go on would endanger the mission. Yet another victory for the male side of my marriage.

'Eli,' I told him through a spirit connection.

He freed my mouth for a moment, pulling back and looking at me with raised grey eyebrows.

'I need to be able to walk out of here.'

The man's smile was so impossibly smug that it made me feel downright competitive. My first instinct was to swat him until I pondered just how good he made me feel. Pulling him closer to me, we kissed for a moment before pushing my bare chest against his white shirt.

'Until you put him back, I'm simply no match for you.' Was the only concession I gave him.

'I love you.'

Left defeated, I looked him in the eyes with only the flickering flames of the candle behind him.

'How are things here in the big plant scion's domain?'

From there, we descended into small talk. Insignificant, inconsequential, and vital chatter. For a while, we exchanged bits and pieces of each other's world's. None of which included my suspicion about what was actually behind the better Orc/men relations here. Both because it was too depressing if it was true and it might steal some of his attention away from me. In the course of our cuddling and rubbing, a cursed sound finally snapped us back into reality.

"Sir! We've conducted an inspection." Kev's voice barely pierced through the cloud of happiness and thick walls.

A pained look passed between us before Eli cleared his throat.

"I'll be right there." The quad mage called back.

Any haste he had was delayed by his quick theft of my lips for one final time. Our rendezvous had ended and he pulled back, pushing the sheets away with his step onto the stone floor. I tried to follow his pace, but my legs were a bit shaky. The slight stumble in my step onto the floor made that smug smile pop right back up on Eli's face.

"Go. Don't keep the guards waiting." I instructed with pursed lips and a sad attempt at a scowl. Eli turned towards the door and took a step forward. Feeling a bit whimsical, my hand did a swipe across his butt as recompense for his earlier assault. His counter was a good stare at my bare chest before proceeding out of the door with a longing look on his face.

Feeling relieved, in more ways than one, I donned my mask and leather arm braces while the cracks of stone could be heard beyond the bedroom door. Taking my position behind the hallway entrance, it took only a second for a fresh gale of freezing wind to blow through the house. Robbed of any residual heat from Eli, I stood still until the slam of wood told of the lowered drawbridge.

"Kev, am I right?"

The wind rendered the chatter a distant buzz. After a few seconds, I dared a look around the corner. The only thing that greeted me beyond the house was the flame-illuminated back of two guards across the bridge. The one on the left had apparently been left quite nervous, as his head turned to me with more sharpness than was warranted. When he saw me, his brown eyes went wide before he turned to look out over the bare stone plains on his left. He took only a moment before his head gave the slightest bob up and down.

Moving forward, I slipped through the door and into the open plains and all the cover it didn't provide me. Years of training in water took over and I slipped down the left side of the sheer wall with barely a splash. Activating my crafts was trivial and I had to thank my absent father for his black hair, since it let me look up every few seconds. The water needed no encouragement to help me along, however.

A permanent bridge above passed in a flash and only a few odd sparks could be seen on the right side near the big tower in the distance. As used to water as I was, strong currents were a challenge for even the Frojan. Taking a few precious seconds, my body finally adapted to the speed and after that, I was something approaching graceful. Not wanting to smack headfirst into the grate, I put my feet out in front of me with an air bubble around my head. Left with nothing to do, I drifted through a barely lit abyss with nothing but phantom kisses and strokes to keep me company.

With no grace or warning, my feet suddenly hit a patchwork of something solid. I took a moment to gather which way was up, but a big brown hand saw fit to inform me as it pierced the swirl of bubbles and grabbed my left shoulder. The world twisted again, and I found myself on my back staring at a stone ceiling.

"What happened?!" The deep, base heavy voice of Sawoon asked somewhere to my left.

"I got the stuff," I responded with a smack on the leather knapsack clinging to my right hip. "Despite a passing princess being a hen mother."

His raised eyebrows meant I needed to explain further.

"I'll explain on the way. Just get me back in front of a fire."

There was no argument this time.

With a clear shot into the ocean on the other side of the grate, we wasted no time getting back home. It was more dark water and tired limbs. More pressure squeezing every joint. All accentuated by a coldness nothing in the swamps could have possibly prepared me for and trying to concentrate on telling Sawoon what happened in a spirit connection.

When we made another sharp turn to the left, my torture finally ended when I found myself in the small grotto entrance. The first thing I did was wipe my face down. Sawoon helped by immediately pulling the water off of me. It took a moment before stomps were heard directly ahead.

"Lady Gula?!" A rough voice called out over the sound of muffled stomps and far-off chatter.

Ahead of me were my three guards with a torch on the wall. They quickly pulled back while turning around when I started getting up. Coming into the main room, I started putting on my clothes still neatly laid out on the left. The night had been too harsh for me to treat the crafts like they weren't made of glass. When I had put down my prize like a newborn infant to my right, I donned my underwear and had my brown pants up to my knees when the Orc guard came rushing up to me with wide red eyes.

"It was only supposed to be a half hour what-"

My raised hand stopped her.

"Ask Kev. Ask the guards. Ask anyone besides me right now." I offered with my strained patience on full display as I pulled the pants up to my hips.

"What about the plant mage? Did he suspect anything?" She further insisted.

I just stared at the stone wall straight ahead. My tongue was ready to deliver a crude description of Eli's tongue and all the uses for it, but residual good sense kept it only halfway up my throat. Taking a moment to collect my remaining self-control, I turned to the woman with as friendly a face as I could manage.

"I have the crafts, so let's put them to use before half the city drowns." Was the only response I could give as I fixed my bra over my chest.

She followed the look I gave the leather sack at my feet.

"Oh! Yes. At once." The Orc rushed forward and snatched the bag like it was a lost child. When she lifted it off the ground, a slight smack of the boards hitting each other rang out. Fortunately, my hands were caught in my shirt and prevented me from giving the woman anything more than a mean stare.

Her red eyes were too focused on the board she was pulling out to notice, however. Holding it close to the ground, her thumb pressed on a dark X-shaped cut in the top right corner. Sawoon gave a grunt that filled the room. The guards could finally look now that I was wearing a decent amount of clothes, with the large black jacket covering everything up to my chin. When a long slab of grey stone formed in front of the wood, a few grunts of satisfaction came from the men but that wasn't the big item.

The guard put on one of the glovers for her right hand, made of sturdy leather and too large for her smaller hands yet treated like a beloved family heirloom spun from glass as she brought it up to the block summoned from the abyss. Easy access to stone was nice. As great as the summoning crafts were, this part was the crucial bit as the ability to manipulate such hard construction materials with ease was what made repairing the damage to the underground possible.

When she put a finger up to the summoned stone block, the leather rubbed across the surface with nothing but a soft scrape to show for it.

"It's a manipulator," Sawoon offered to my right, his arms crossed. "And unless the mage wanted random gouges everywhere the gloves went, you'll have to activate it like the summoning craft."

Her red eyes traced over the glove until she found a darker patch of leather on the smaller knuckle. After a quick press, she brought the glove back up to the block. Running her finger alongside it, she left a smooth gash in the slab.

"Ooh!" Was all the guard said.

Given a taste of what it could do, the Orc put a hand down the middle of the block before elongating the sides into crude horns. Stone twisted around her palms and fingers like clay for a few seconds before she pulled her hand back. Even after all the work we did involving magical tools back at the base, my mind still had a hard time accepting that the rock which just moved like wet clay was suddenly solid as the guard lifted the hefty piece with her left hand and a grunt. Which was when I looked at the men.

"Shit. It's crazy what mages can do. Right, guys?"

Their disinterested faces weren't nearly as enraptured as those seeing such crafts for the first time should be. White eyes suddenly widened as the Keltons moved their heads closer with appropriate wonder. Satisfied with my haul, the Orc carefully put the glove in the leather sack before holding it to her chest. Her red eyes were gleaming with small tears until she gave me a slight bow.

"I have my home in the flood zone. This is a personal thank you in addition to the commendation for your service from the council."

"We're all in this together." I offered. My time could have been spent reminding her about my promised reward or walking with her to demonstrate the crafts but despite the sexual massage I had just received, cold had seeped into my bones and if it didn't involve a thick blanket or fire, I wasn't spending time on it. Turning to my guards, I cleared out my throat to make them look at me.

"Two of you accompany her. I want to make sure it gets where it's supposed to and I'm way too tired to do it."

A wave of nods went around the room with the only other woman here grabbing the hook off to the side. By the time she let down the cloth divider separating us from the rest of the work site, I had my shoes and socks on. Vacating the small cave brought us into the main vein of traffic as we tacked rightward. It felt odd how crowded the work area was. Being so late and all. Then I remembered that it was probably late afternoon or just before.

These lands had the sun going down damn near mid-day at the depths of winter. The spaces were cramped and cold. The food never stayed as hot as it should. When the sun deigned to visit these frozen wastes, it never graced me with its full presence and the freezing air was too eager to erase any residual heat.

Having abandoned whatever joy my time with Eli had given me, we made our way through the underground with two of the guards splitting off with the Orc while I headed back to my warehouse. Once I was back in my warehouse, I immediately went up the stairs past the ever-present Shran, weaved through the crates, and threw myself onto the blankets that quickly wrapped around me. Wrapped like an infant, I let the pillow take me into oblivion.

The next day I didn't do anything besides the bare minimum this cursed world demanded of me. My guards brought me a warm pale of water to wash and I kept my ass in my office chair, still wrapped in my fluffy protection. Shran had to suppress a smile as she handed me papers to sign before I swiftly retreated back into my cocoon, but no questions were asked.

My time was spent in a more normal routine the next day. When I was eating a lunch of meat and bread with water at my desk, Shran's voice came up the stairs on my right.

"Captain. It's Cassie."

Taking a moment to savor the roasted chicken on my tongue, I swallowed before yelling back.

"What is she here for?"

"I assume what she tried to talk to you about yesterday."

Luck was truly with me when I found the old woman.

"All right. Send her up."

The sound of footsteps made me turn right as the Orc with grey-streak black hair made her way up the stairs. Her form was housed in the same prim black robe. A stark contrast to my simple white shirt and brown pants with an ever-present black coat. When she rounded the bend, her face had a softer aspect to it and the smile was less of a counterfeit.

"Captain. Thanks again for your assistance." She offered with a soft landing into the chair opposite of me. Her gold eyes flitted down to my neck for a moment before coming back up to meet mine.

"All too happy to do it. I do hope whatever business you came for yesterday wasn't too urgent."

She casually waved her hand in the air.

"Just seeing if thanks were in order. They didn't tell me what was taking up so much coin with the repairs, only that the budget had been cut and wouldn't be restored for the foreseeable future. That was until we got another letter informing us of our restored finances. Would I be wrong to attribute such a swell of good fortune to your efforts?"

Leaning back, I tried to keep a smug smile off my face. Instead, I simply nodded while my fingers tapped on the chair's arm.

"Sadly, I can't divulge the means or methods involved. But I did my bit. More than, honestly."

"I'm sure" Cassie consoled with an indulgent look.

The wise thing was to not ask, but my curiosity got the better of me.

"What do you mean?" I demanded with a raised eyebrow.

Her motherly aspect seemed to intensify as she leaned forward with a piercing gaze and puckered lips. Thick cheeks rolled with her tongue moving in her mouth before she popped her lips and sank into her chair.

"You have an air about you. The pose and ease of having been with a man. A man who was skilled in his… work. Stress relief is certainly important in any work."

My face was as passive as I could make it.

"Not a shameful thing, mind you. Fornication is a rather pervasive aspect of this sinful world, even encouraged with wanton abandon in humans. Would I be wrong to assume that the man is one you intend to wrangle down for good?"

I couldn't think of anything better than nodding to her. My mind was too busy asking how I was giving off 'sexed' energy to the world. A question that opened a swathe of feelings and thoughts that were almost totally foreign to me.

"Good. Know that just because a man lays with you, that doesn't mean he intends to put child in you, or will stick around if they should happen. I would advise chastity. Not only for the security of your soul, but to also further entice your quarry into place. Honey that is hard to acquire tends to be the sweetest."

There was a lot I wanted to say to her presumptions about my life. None of it polite.

"Have I wandered too far into your personal affairs?" Cassie asked with a small smile and a lean back into her chair. "I would have thought after asking about family life from so many around town, you were looking for advice in this arena. No swordsmanship or sailing to speak of in my life, but people I know how to deal with. A needed skill when you have to deal with every section of the underground."

Remembering my celebrity here, I could only curse my lack of discretion. The first words that came to me were of rude dismissal. Then I considered where I would get another opportunity like this. Romance was a dead art to me and since Eli was missing the… equipment the women instructed me on how to handle, I was ill-prepared to fulfill my wifely duties. The quad mage was already sporting a two-victory lead in the bedroom since I had arrived and I needed some way of getting ahead of him.

"I feel we are headed where we should." I offered as my shoulders came down. "My big problem is figuring out what my place in the arrangement is. It's just… I've never been around men until recently. Certainly not one that I would have thought to lay with. As fond as I am of the Keltons. My first thought is to work hard for him and physically please him, but he seems to be the happiest when he's working on something for my benefit and I can't boast of any great skill in the bedroom."

Her black eyebrows raised in approval of Eli.

"Good. He's doing what the male side should do, which is to provide and create a safe environment for his woman. Our side, however, doesn't provide in a material sense. The woman was crafted by God to be a haven of nurturing warmth. If you want to please him, a simple compliment and an eager look is what most men require. As for the bedroom, it isn't in the middle of the act that we give pleasure. Men have a constant need to release and our permission for that release is the greatest joy we can give them. Don't fuss over how you're giving it."

The latter answer was rather unsatisfactory. Eli had clearly wanted some aggression in our play, something Salamede gave in particular abundance, and a streak of competitiveness in me wouldn't allow for the abandonment of any part of the battlefield. The fact this involved a long, sordid tale of Orcs growing up to be rapists back in my homeland meant this subject was probably a gap too wide to cross.

Still, her first bit of advice provided a nice path to the subject that was of great interest to me.

"Are men truly so happy to just be around us?"

Cassie got a small smile before adjusting herself in the seat to a more casual position.

"Oh yes. I've talked with men over the years, as both lovers and friends. They'll remember compliments given to them decades ago. Though, I will caution you to take your time before letting your desires run free even in marriage. Some of them don't know what to do when a woman is the chaser."

We both smiled at that. Taking my mug from the table, I enjoyed a light sip of the cold water before directing the conversation more toward what I wanted to know.

"These icy lands are quite different than the one I hail from. In too many ways to count. One big part of that is the human side of it. We do need them for our daughters, yet they always seem… dodgy when I ask about the lives they enjoyed among their kind."

Her reaction was swift as it was physical. The light smile fell off and her lips pursed in disgust. Black robed legs crossed, showing a body language most uninviting. Cassie relaxed after a moment, though some discomfort still lingered.

"That bad?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded her head, sending a wave through her black and grey hair.

"Too many winters ago, I was a sister in training. We put the new girls in all the departments as assistants in order to find a good fit for their skills. It was my turn at the healing house when a burn victim came in. Young human lad who had staggered into the lower portion of the slums before someone rushed him underground. He couldn't have been more than six or seven years into life and would receive no more between the blood loss and burns.

Come to find out later that he had been heading out to the market with his mother when they caught the eye of a male fire mage. The man made his intentions clear, but unlike most women, she resisted his advances. Offended at her lack of consideration for his station, the mage started getting aggressive and as all good boys aught do, the lad tried to defend his mother. The rest is a bit unclear, but the result was the same grave in the end."

My stomach churned, though it stayed off my face.

"Did nothing happen to the mage?"

She gold eyes got a hard look as she bit her lip before the words came.

"No. Nothing ever does. That was among the worst experiences I've seen, but it's far from an only child. For all the huffing and indignation about the green scourge, the humans seem to do a perfectly fine job brutalizing each other."

My thoughts about the human men here and their willingness to lay with my kind moved closer to certainty. In retrospect, it was rather close to my own experience. Saving my kind from the torment the Bastard put us through was the noble goal I set out on, but was it the real reason? Or did the dark corners of my soul scream that I did it because I was desperate for a man who actually wanted me and a life that consisted of anything besides slow starvation and misery in the swamps?

The answer, hopefully, would never come.

Most of the debates I was familiar with had the points being argued on the ends of swords, leaving me ill-prepared to parse through all the implications of what I suspected. Even it was true, what then? For most intents and purposes, the burning question had been answered and curiosity mostly sated. But personal interests weren't what drew me here. People were dying and if I wanted to do something about it, I needed to keep my mind where it was needed.

"It seems they get a better deal down here," I offered the priest. "In spite of the children's gratitude to be away."

A rueful smile stole over Cassie's face, dispelling the cloud of painful memories with only a small strain in her eyes left behind.

"Ungrateful little cusses."

I pinched my lips together, failing to keep a small laugh in before we both exploded in a fit of giggles like small girls joking over one item or another. It was a pleasant conversation that went on for a bit, covering items both big and small. A small thing, but still welcome as I let loose some tension in my shoulders and relaxed in my chair. We were two souls burdened with the responsibility of others and now a little piece of the day was set aside for us to vent. I considered the dull day that lay ahead of me and decided to make the most of it.