by Zack Finley
We sat around the kitchen table, reading our respective books while Allo slept in Argon's lap. Argon was going to stay in while I visited with Tobron's bunch.
We'd agreed there was no need to wear armor inside our living quarters. What we weren't sure of was whether we should wear it in other places within headquarters. I could see both sides of the issue. Should we need to teleport to a conflict zone, we'd be armed and ready. During normal work hours wearing armor made sense. Wearing armor and being fully armed seemed overkill while having a meal or a drink at the pub.
Argon reminded me we were both well-armed and had heavy protections even without armor or backup weapons.
Something to think about.
Tobron wanted me to wear my armor to the pub this time. He expected it to pique the interest of several of the retired combat mages.
I got the call, and Tobron sent me the direct 'port site for the pub. I kissed Argon and patted Allo before 'porting out. She grabbed my tongue with her teeth and promised we'd christen the shower when I got back.
This just might be a very quick visit.
The drinks were flowing, and the talk was loud and filled with good-natured teasing and laughter when I showed up.
Tobron met me with a drink and suggested I leave the sissy graal to the womenfolk. I took it but sent him a question.
"Faral," he messaged back. "It's a lot more fun than graal. It's what a lot of guys drink when they get together. Women don't react to it the same way so offering it to them is considered an insult. When women get together they frequently drink nachea, it seems to have a similar effect on them. A real party serves faral to the guys and nachea to the gals. But I haven't been to one of those parties in years; Inoa can't handle the mind shield leakage."
I sipped. It was sharp, clean and with a mild effervescence. It banished any fatigue and everything around me felt more in focus. Somewhat like graal, it boosted the sense of camaraderie. The effect wasn't strong enough to reduce any concerns I might have about anyone or to incline me to change my opinion of someone. I liked it, but I wasn’t going to have more than one drink in a crowd of strangers.
Tobron engaged the group with exaggerated accounts about my battles with raiders in Augun. Some had seen the spear Cleon removed from my chest. The more I tried to minimize my actions, the more they believed Tobron's account. They all assumed it was those exploits which persuaded King Ruton to offer us Toffad's Keep. From the comments, these guys thought King Ruton was a genius, and we got the short end of that deal.
They knew the Klee Mage Guild was going to be the big loser. I was warned by everyone I spoke with the guild would be looking for some way to get the lost revenue from us.
Tobron wanted them to get my measure. He also wanted them to see we were close and he respected me.
Several asked me what I was trying to accomplish and I fell back on the desire to create a safe place to raise my younglings. I shared my thoughts that a keep needed to be self-sustaining, so I was recruiting mages and mundanes alike. I mentioned we so sympathized with the plight of the slaves we freed in Augun, we had offered them all a new start with us.
I finished my glass of faral but declined a second. Tobron saw I was ready and messaged me it was a good time to go. He intended to remind them I had been mated for only a few weeks. He assured me it would get quite a roar.
I 'ported back to our new home. I noticed immediately Argon was wearing her new night clothes. These were a lot sexier than any I saw before. I began stripping down to my under armor. Argon was sitting in a recliner-like chair in the living room. She set her book down, nudged Allo out of her lap, and came to join me in the front hall. Her armor was secured against the wall with clips. A similar set of clips was waiting for mine.
She placed my two blades in a holder on the wall and snapped my armor beside hers.
As she faced the wall, I clasped both breasts and pulled her back sharply against me, marking her neck with kisses. The nightie was the softest silk, but I had no time for it. Her breasts were so much softer and sweeter. In no time the nightie was a puddle on the floor. I lifted Argon into my arms and carried her to our new bed leaving behind a trail of my garments.
***
My weird dream about giant squids morphed into an erotic experience. I didn't know what happened to the squid, but I didn't care anymore. Happy was rubbing against something warm and luscious, and I wanted both hot mouths to stay where they were.
My transition to reality was a wonderful one. I had a full-length Argon blanket. She was alternating between sucking my left breast and dueling tongue to tongue. Her slit was teasing Happy. I was now wide awake and ready to rumble.
Argon continued teasing Happy but eased up on the oral action.
"If you want to christen the new shower properly this morning, we need to get moving. Of course," she said sliding over Happy's tip, "We can always christen it tomorrow."
I used a pulse of force magic to thrust her onto Happy and rolled her onto her back. My mouth took possession of first one breast and then the other, all the while stroking her deeply in a steadily increasing primal rhythm.
She lost patience with the teasing and pulled my mouth to hers.
***
Argon declared the new shower a great success. It extended our morning lovemaking with what could easily become a new playful ritual. Those areas that got extensive soaping and sponging were super clean and very happy. Other areas were clean but did not get as much attention.
There was a strong sexual component to our shower, but the much greater aspect was quiet comfort. It was fun to share and explore.
I could imagine shared showers becoming a family tradition.
We had just donned our armor when Master Orik com carded us. He forwarded a teleport location. We agreed to meet him there mid-morning.
Findot was already making the rounds of the slave camps. Her assignment was to document whether the camps had any immediate security, health or other needs and to report any decisions reached by the group. Argon requested a brief update once Findot was prepared to leave each camp.
She was expected to collect any completed applications for the king's guard, provide the new applications for the civilian corps, and offer skills assessment forms to those interested in joining our keep. We also wanted to know if any had left the camp to pursue matters on their own.
Argon was a little annoyed we hadn't heard from Findot yet but decided to give her another few minutes. We knew anything involving the camps went slower than you expected.
We sent Tobron an enthusiastic thumbs up on the first young adult residence area. Each mini apartment had a small living area, a bedroom, study area, and bath. Each was similar, with some the mirror image of the original layout. There were 32 of the small apartments located in a ring around a central common area.
The common area had a kitchen and eating area next to a gaming area and a large leisure area with a fire pit, couches, and chairs. The last area was a small low light alcove with a scattering of eight large chairs with individual reading lights.
There were live plantings throughout and a water feature separating the eating area from the rest of the commons.
Discrete control panels in each area controlled the overhead light fixtures. Each common area either had moveable acoustic walls, plantings or both. The various tables and chairs were also moveable to allow the residents to create their own space.
Bravo, Tobron. Who wouldn't want to live here?
We stopped by the main desk to advise we were expecting a package delivery. Jofi was on duty. Argon asked her whether she'd moved into the building yet.
"I moved in last night. It's a little spooky with only five of us there but kind of fun too. We need my mom to come over and impose a chore schedule--especially for the kitchen."
Argon said we'd be by to pick up our package after we finished our morning schedule.
Still no word from Findot. I suggested Argon contact her once we settled in for breakfast.
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We'd decided to start in the Losan market, to check on any changes from our last visit. We ordered breakfast. Argon commed Findot to find out the reason for any delay.
They were still arguing when breakfast came, but Argon used its arrival as an excuse to disconnect.
I used the time to locate the mages and get a general feel for the Losan crowd. The rivalry between the two factions in the harbor area had intensified. It was now top-of-mind for most of those at the market. I was becoming concerned this conflict might be the opening salvo of a pending coup.
The more I thought about it, the more concerned I became. I messaged our partners I needed to find a mage in Losan we could trust. I sent the same message to Ramda to forward to King Rufix.
Cleon said he'd forward my request on to the king to obtain permission to release the name of any Klee agents in Losan. He had already sent a request to the head of the Klee Mage Guild for a meeting at his earliest convenience. The Klee master mage was aware of events in Klee and Augun. Even if he had no personal contacts in Losan, he might be able to find one within his inner circle.
I considered asking Argon to randomly crack mind shields until we found a member of the conspiracy or an honest mage because we needed both. In the two known plots one of the first steps involved replacing a key mundane member of the king's staff with a mage. That left only the king above suspicion.
I told my partners we needed a way to talk privately with the Losan king. Inoa said the only ones in Klee who might be able to do that were King Ruton or Queen Mother Jenia. She thought Jenia would be willing to go to Losan on a state visit, but she doubted kings Ruton or Rufix would be in favor of letting her take such a risk.
We all agreed we needed more proof than just my hunch that the conspirators were targeting Losan before dragging the royals into it.
While I was pondering high-level conspiracies, Argon was trying not to slam her head into the breakfast table over her apprentice.
Findot was having problems following her instructions. Because the trouble stemmed from Findot trying to fix problems at the camps, Argon tried not to come down too hard on her. Findot agreed to survey all the camps first. Then, they'd discuss why we weren't doing more to help the refugees.
The first camp was still undecided although spirits more upbeat from the impact of fresh clothing, clean water, and showers. Several took their weapons and rations and left to go find their families. Most others had seen their villages burn and were inclined to try the civilian corps. About 12 indicated they were leaning toward joining our enterprise. Still too preliminary but it was more data than we had before.
We had time to visit the Losan Mage Guild before our meeting. First, we checked to find out why Erfo had not contacted us since our visit.
The guild office was very apologetic, but Erfo was not available. We set up a drop box and placed a help-wanted poster for Toffad's Keep that Tobron had provided.
The ad sought mages of all skill levels wanting to get in on the ground floor of a new keep in Klee. Interested mages were invited to leave com-cards at our drop box at the Losan Guild. They could also apply in person at the new headquarters for Toffad's Keep in old town Klee.
Benefits listed included a relocation bonus, magic training, lodging, and compensation commensurate with experience. Onsite childcare and schooling were available for mated pairs with younglings. Retirees were welcome.
The package looked very professional. If it solicited any response, our six employees were going to have their work cut out for them.
We dropped by the bank and added several jewels to the escrow account.
Tobron had provided the teleport location for Reeter, the shipping broker who arranged the food shipment now on route to Augun on the Malan. Visiting him seemed a reasonable way to check on potential cargos. Coincidentally, it gave us an excuse to use our mind-reading apps in the port district to see what the feuding parties were up to.
Reeter was very cooperative. He could provide little new information on Losan's bizarre dockside feud but assured us it offered tremendous opportunities for business persons like us. We asked if he'd noticed any ships staying in port without looking for cargos. He found this an odd question but said there were always a few picking up supplies, hiring new crew members or just taking a break. We didn't insist he give us the names because they had surfaced to the top of his mind while we talked.
He wanted to emphasize he had several ships ready and willing to move cargo for us. We thanked him and said Tobron would be in touch. I understood why Tobron wasn't trying to hire him for our dockside business partner, but he was pleasant and hard working. A nice asset to have on the Losan docks.
We had a few more minutes before our appointment with Master Orik and walked along the docks trying to locate any suspect ships. There were very few mages anywhere on the docks. Most were in shipping office areas. The two feuding factions had good mind shields. Each had armed guards limiting entrance into their compounds. While we watched no shipments arrived or left from either compound.
There seemed a lot of idle ships in the harbor. I was starting to wonder how badly this was affecting barge traffic. When we last visited I didn’t know how important barges were to the vitality of these countries.
I told Tobron and Ramda there were deals to be made in hiring shiploads of food and other supplies out of Losan. Some of the ship captains were willing to take loads out of Losan for cost, especially to go to Klee. There were some low-level rumors things were bad in Augun, Ylee, and Kavil.
No one we scanned had any hard information; they were just passing on rumors.
It struck me the conspirators didn't need Klee to fall to totally disrupt the western half of the Jaloan continent. Pushing half the countries into chaos would pull down the rest. If they brought Losan down, Klee would have no healthy trading partner. All businesses based on free trade would be pushed into dire economic straits. It would trigger a major recession at best and a financial meltdown at the worst.
It made me wonder what was happening to the countries on the eastern half of the continent.
I 'ported us to meet with Master Orik.
A mundane member of his staff escorted us to the meeting room and said Master Orik would join us momentarily. The room was suitable for meeting with high-end clients. We sat in a pair of comfortable chairs. Just as I was beginning to wonder whether Orik was playing some political game, a short barrel-shaped mage strode in. He had a smudge across one cheek and wore a heavy leather apron that had seen heavy use. His brawny arms were bulging with muscles.
We rose to meet him.
He looked us over carefully before saying, "I'm Orik. It seems I'll be looking for a new apprentice."
He gestured for us to return to our chairs and planted himself across the table from us.
"I apologize for my miserable excuse for an apprentice. He is my sister's grandson. We hoped he would learn something. I should have let him go before, but he's family," Orik shrugged.
Argon acknowledged his apology, saying no damage was done. She praised his shopkeeper and said if the lad had listened to him there would have been no problem at all.
"Yes, if my grandnephew had shown any propensity for listening he'd be a journeyman apprentice by now. Enough about my family problems, what did you wish to see me about?"
Argon explained we had two reasons for contacting him, to learn more about the armor we had been given by our patron and we needed an armorer for our new keep.
She explained we started with him because his armor shop was located in the Losan Mage Guild. Argon asked him to point us toward someone in Losan able to assist us. Since our armor was of Losan origin, we thought a retired armorer or a historian would be able to identify it.
"While we would be honored should an armorer of your reputation choose to settle in our new keep, we have no such expectations," said Argon. "We thought Losan might have a skilled journeyman armorer looking to graduate to the next level."
I thought
Argon was slathering it on a bit thick but kept my own counsel.
Listening was something Orik did well.
He asked if he could approach and examine our armor. I ended up taking mine off so he could examine the straps and other design elements. By the time he finished with my armor, it only took him a few moments with Argon's to speak.
"I can tell you about your armor, although I am very interested in learning where you got it," Orik said.
Argon decided we should outwait him, especially since she didn't want to lie to him nor did she intend to tell him where we got it. She was sticking with the patron version of the story. Something that was technically true but could mean almost anything.
Orik wasn't used to being outwaited. I just tried to look expectant. Argon smiled encouragingly and exuded a "we have all the time in the world" vibe. I know I'd have fallen all over myself to tell her whatever she wanted to know. But I do that anyway.
