The Wounded

by Marilyn Foxworthy

  But like most people, Irene was probably trying to create a world that fit the world in her head. In her head, perhaps she was loved despite her fears that she never would be; that she would never be as attractive or sexual or desirable or as happy as she deserved. Maybe she didn’t feel that she deserved that, but she probably thought that she did. It would make sense that any sense competition would be viewed as a threat, not an opportunity. Her only tool for fixing her world was to hate the things that might threaten her, and then to destroy or control them.

  At the end, she was filled with hate. So much so that she developed a habit of cursing people and anyone who was kind to them. Had that carried over to the Nogud? Did she effectively create a curse on those who would be kind to the Nogud? In Yuki’s case, her lover was shunned and cast out of his family home. Irene had created a custom that ensured that anyone who loved a Nogud was cursed by society! Damn her!

  Antonio hadn’t reacted that way when I told him that the women that went with Paul and Aaron had been misjudged, but Antonio had been around these precious women all his life. And he had learned that Irene was a hag and deserved no respect herself. Everyone, except Irene, declared an empty blessing on the little sisters out of pity and kindness, but that didn’t extend to taking away their shame and actually loving them as people. As much as they may have accepted them if the truth were known, there were centuries of custom and tradition, all built by Irene, to prevent them from doing it.

  I wanted to jump to the next step, but staying with this one, observing my feelings, was best finished before moving on. The first feeling was hatred. My mom hated us, and I now hated her on behalf of myself and everyone that she had harmed so directly; generations of innocent and wonderful people. I hoped that she hadn’t harmed my grandfather or his wives or other children in some way that I wasn’t aware of. I had no idea how she had come to be here again, after Pops had taken my parents to some other safe haven. I hoped that it hadn’t been by some manner that had been as bad for them as it was for my dad. I decided to leave that thought alone and ignore possibilities that I had no way of verifying.

  My pattern with this process was to look for fear next. Fear is by far one of the most common emotions buried underneath so many other things. Underneath anger was often fear. Jealousy? Fear. Anxiety? Fear. So, was I afraid?

  I thought for a moment and decided that I probably was. I might be afraid of Irene and her hatred of us and the possibility that she could still harm us. She was dead, but fear didn’t always take that into account. I wasn’t afraid of the consequences of having been the one who killed her. I was in the clear on that, both with the villagers and with myself. I wasn’t afraid of some kind of hereditary propensity that would cause me to act the same way that she had. That wasn’t me and that idea that it was me was ludicrous. What was I afraid of? Oh, there it was! I was afraid that her evil had caused something I could never make up for!

  Oh my. What if I couldn’t make Brenda’s life happy? What if she could never feel loved the way that she was meant to? What if there were Nogud still out there who never found happiness? What if Irene had remarried and had children? Half-siblings who would either be miserable, or who would seek revenge?

  What? That was unexpected. OK, let’s deal with that first. Yeah, the process wasn’t complete, but let’s analyze that one that now.

  The villagers had said that Irene had no heirs. Good to know. But there could have been some that they hadn’t known about. No matter. If there were, I would deal with them if they ever showed up. I would take care of it the same way that Pops would. I would give them choices to be happy and make their lives better if I could. Most likely, there weren’t any. Irene had had a very long life and anything was possible, but given everything that I knew, it was easy to choose to forget about that for now. Easy solution. That fear is dealt with.

  Anything else? Nothing that’s as important as those first two.

  The next step, after observing what I was feeling, was to analyze those feelings in a truthful manner that looked them in the eye. So, yeah, I hated what Irene had done. Not her, exactly, but certainly what she had done. She hated me and I was the enemy of everything that she wanted to do. She was a tyrant, and I wasn’t going to stand for it. Now she was dead, her kingdom was destroyed, her castle given to people who had suffered under her reign, and I was making amends to her most injured victims. Good. Hatred resolved.

  It wasn’t that easy for many people, but it was for me. Sometimes. This time, anyway. Yes, I had hated her. Now she was gone. Her legacy was nearly gone. I felt the feeling melt away as genuinely as the tunic that Lark and Raven had worn had floated away on the water of the river, disappearing, never to be seen again. And, in the same way that their shame had left them, I felt my hatred die and wash away. That felt good and I smiled.

  Next was the fear of failure. I feared that I wouldn’t be up to the task of repairing the damage that Irene had done. But I was. I had already helped Yuki and Viola and Raven and Lark. They were all happier than they had ever been and they didn’t seem burdened by the past. Clarice and the nymphs were happy again. And when Brenda woke up, I would do what I could to make her happy as well. I would do whatever I could. That was all that I could do. If there were others that Irene had wronged, I would offer them choices to be happy. If they refused them, that was up to them. I couldn’t guarantee that I could make everything right, but I could do everything that I could. If that wasn’t good enough, that was Irene’s fault, not my own. I wasn’t responsible for her actions. She wasn’t my child. She wasn’t my employee or agent. I hadn’t seen her evil and ignored it longer than it should have been allowed. The truth was that I had no responsibility for what she’d done. All I had was a desire to be generous in caring for her victims. I wasn’t the one who created orphans, but I could be the one who cared for them.

  And so, my fear melted away as well. My burden was lifted.

  What was I left with? I had peace. I was also exhausted.

  I remembered that the nymphs had mentioned scrubbing a pool. Maybe lazing about in a pool would be nice. I also remembered that they said that it wasn’t ready yet.

  I heard Clarice in my ear-piece say, “Joshua, you seem calmer now. It makes me feel really nice. It’s like I feel your feelings you know. Not the emotions, but your tension and blood pressure and breathing. You feel good now. I feel like you’re hugging me in a bath of your love. It feels so good. But, are you ready to do something or have me bring you something?’

  I smiled and answered peacefully, “I don’t know, Beloved. I do feel good, but I feel so worn out. I think that a nap would be nice, but all of you are busy and I don’t want to interrupt what you’re doing, so don’t even suggest it.”

  She said, “OK, I won’t. Tell you what. Go to the elevator and I’ll bring you somewhere for a nice nap. I’ll keep working, but I’ll be very close by. Just go to the elevator and let me show you something. And I’ll change the dressing on your arm before your nap.”

  I went to the glass entry between the roof top patio and the main house and went through one door, and then the next, and then down the stairs to the living area. The stairs continued downward to another level below, but for now, that was off-limits to me. I smiled at that, but I figured that if they wanted to keep that level a surprise for now, then I would enjoy it more if I went along with it. Across the large open room, at the far side, away from the kitchen, past the sofas and chairs of the living room, were the two side-by-side elevators. Apparently, having two of them made it possible for one to be almost always instantly available. The AI could sense when anyone moved toward an elevator door on any level and anticipate their need for transportation.

  As I approached, the door to the one on the left opened, and I stepped inside. Without a word from me, the door closed and started to move. When we stopped, just a few seconds later, the same door opened again to let me out. There were doors at both sides of the elevator, because some destinations were on one si
de, and some on the other, but where I was going was through the same side that I had entered from.

  When the door opened, I walked out into a nice open office area with desks and chairs. It was about twenty feet wide and about twenty feet deep, and a wall of windows stood directly across from me. The windows were opaque and what was behind them was completely hidden.

  Sitting in a chair, with her legs crossed, wearing a lab coat unbuttoned and naked underneath, was Clarice. She was stunning as always, and the lab coat was very sexy on her. It lay completely open, exposing her beautiful breasts, stomach, hips, and thighs.

  She smiled and said, “Welcome to the Bat Cave, your secret lair.”

  I smiled and said, “You look good.”

  She smiled at me and said, “You always say that. Of course, it’s true, so keep it up, and I do like hearing it.”

  I said, “It’s not as dark and cave-like as I would have expected.”

  Clarice smiled and held out her hand for me to help her up as she said, “Only the most modern secret lair appliances for a modern billionaire super hero. Out here is your office. We use it for conferences and design work, and hanging out in our lab coats. Behind the glass is the workshop. We have robotic manufacturing machines, 3D printers, stuff like that. Right now, I want to keep my project a surprise. I’m working with Brenda.”

  I laughed, “And how is that a surprise, if you tell me about it?”

  Clarice said, “Oh, it’s a surprise, all right. I might tell you what it’s about, but I won’t tell you what it is. You already knew that it was about Brenda, but you don’t know what the surprise is. It isn’t a great big surprise, but you’ll think that it’s nice. But, here’s what I need to show you.”

  Still holding my hand, she led me to a door to the right side of the office and pushed it open.

  She said, “This is your little mastermind apartment. You and I lived here most of the time for the three years between your eighteenth birthday and your twenty first. Pops gave you the lab and we just lived here.”

  We walked in to the room beyond the door where I found a king size bed and a dresser. It wasn’t a large room. There wasn’t room for much more than a small amount of furniture. The bed, two night stands, the dresser, an overstuffed arm chair beside the bed, a small writing desk with a lamp, and a nice wooden desk chair. At the back of the room was a clear glass partition that enclosed a large shower, and a separate area with a toilet and sink behind a glass with a half-height frosted glass block privacy wall. It was cozy, but seemed really comfortable for an overnight stay. There was even a small refrigerator built into the side of the desk.

  Clarice said, “Tooth brushes, deodorant, soap, and towels are in the bathroom. There’s a hidden closet here with both satin and terrycloth robes. You don’t have to have the bath towels because air vents come from the floor of the shower if you want to air-dry, but they are there if you prefer. Sit down here in the comfy chair and let me take care of your arm first.”

  I sat in the chair and Clarice pulled up the desk chair and sat beside me, facing me on my left side. She’d brought a small medical kit with her and as she started to work, she explained what she was doing.

  She said, “Here, first we’ll use this wipe to dissolve the adhesive so that the dressing will come right off. Here, see, it pulls right off now. Oh, that looks pretty good. There’s a little blood and drainage, but not much. It’s already starting to heal up. This may be the last dressing we have to apply. The wound needs to heal to a point before we spray it with a liquid bandage. Even with the liquid bandage, we’ll wrap it up for a while as protection. It will be completely waterproof and you probably won’t even notice it.”

  Clarice set the old dressing to the side, and then began wiping the edges of the cut with another antiseptic cleanser.

  She continued her reassuring explanations, saying, “I’ll clean it all up again, and remove the dissolving agent so that the new bandage will hold tight against your skin. I’m so glad that the knife was so small. Well, it could have been smaller, but it could have been worse.”

  She took a new bandage from her supplies and applied it to my arm, covering the evidence of her surgery, sealing it on all sides.

  She said, “There, the bandage has the medicines that you need built in to the pad and it seals completely. You can shower in it without any worries, but don’t soak in a hot tub.”

  I asked, “How long until we do have a hot tub to soak in? That sounds nice.”

  She smiled and said, “There are large tubs in each bedroom, well except for the big room. It will be a few weeks before any of the outdoor tubs are ready, but the nymphs want to try to get the pool, the indoor pool, ready in the next few days.”

  I said, “A bathtub will be nice, but, what about, you know, if I want company?”

  Clarice grinned and said, “The tub in each bedroom is usually large enough for three, at least. Even four. So it depends on how big your slumber party sleep-over is going to be. If they fit in a king-size bed, then they’ll fit in the tub. How many are you thinking of?”

  I said, “Just two. But now that you mention it, maybe three would be nice.”

  She said, “Why yes, yes it would. You know what else is fun? The tubs in the bedrooms can use bath oils.”

  I said, “That sounds nice, I guess.” I couldn’t really picture myself luxuriating in floral bath oils though.

  She said, “The bath oils make the water nice and slippery. It avoids that pesky problem of too much friction normally associated with sex underwater. With the oils, everybody slides around like slippery otters. It smells nice too.”

  Clarice stood up and took my hand and had me stand as well.

  She said, “You mentioned a nap. The bed is nice and cozy.”

  She opened the top drawer of the dresser and asked, “T-Shirt or no T-Shirt?”

  I said, “No, the bed looks cozy enough without a shirt. It’s kind of chilly in here, isn’t it?”

  She said, “It is. On purpose. You sleep better if the air is a bit cooler. It will be warmer when you’re ready to get up or take a shower or something.”

  She pulled back the comforter covering the bed and helped me in. After changing my bandage, Clarice had left the sling off of my arm, telling me that it was already healing enough that I should start using it for light activities. When I was under the covers, she leaned down and kissed me and tucked me in. She sat on the edge of the bed and stroked my chest for a few minutes. I was getting really sleepy and we didn’t talk much. We could talk later.

  I was asleep a few minutes after that. I don’t remember Clarice leaving the room.

  Chapter 17 Lunch With Wendy

  A bit later, I was awakened by a hand on my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I saw Wendy, sitting on the bed next to me, smiling happily.

  She beamed, “I brought you lunch! Crickets and a chocolate donut!”

  I smiled and asked, “Really?”

  She laughed and said, “No! Not really. Do you want to touch my girlie parts? They’ve been waiting a really long time. Maybe we could play hide and seek. I’ll hide your lunch and you try to find it somewhere on my body. It isn’t on my body, but you could check anyway.”

  I smiled and said, “If you want. But maybe my lunch is hidden under the covers and maybe you should come in and see if you can find it.”

  The fact was the Wendy and I hadn’t been together at all to get reacquainted yet, and I felt like I owed her some reassurance of our relationship. She was right, it had been nearly a millennium since we had spent any time together.

  I pulled up the covers and Wendy jumped in beside me. She was already naked and as she ducked into the bed, I grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug. She giggled and squirmed for a second and then suddenly went still and snuggled into me. I continued to hold her close as she nuzzled my chest with her face. We were completely under the covers, heads and all now.

  She cooed, “Joshua, that feels so happy on my skin. You make me happy. Do you
like me more now?”

  I asked, “What do you mean? How could I like you more?”

  She said, “You didn’t play with me like this before. We played in the pools and played tag or hide and seek, and a tickle sometimes, but this feels like you like me more. Did I do something wrong before and now I’m doing it right, so you’re happier to see me?”

  I didn’t know what to say. I asked, “Wendy, did we ever have sex? Before my accident?”

  She sounded a bit bashful as she said, “No. Not all the way. You did with Clarice, and you did with Ellie sometimes, and that was nice and we liked it when you did, but you didn’t like me as much. I don’t think so, anyway. When I asked if you wanted to touch my girlie parts, I knew that you would say no.”

  I said, “But you want me to, right? Wendy, I’m sorry that you thought that I didn’t like you. I love you a lot. I don’t remember what things were like before. But now, I know that I love you, same as the princesses. Listen, from now on, you’re allowed to tell me when you want something from me and I’ll try to do it. Well, not just anything, but when you want to be with me, we can all take turns and be together. And, what if I’m in bed by myself? Then you could come and crawl into my bed and we can snuggle or even maybe make love if you want to. I mean, only if you want to, of course. And, we’re going to sleep all together sometimes, right? Wendy, I don’t know what everything will be like from now on, but you are one of my little nymph princesses and you get to be a princess with me.”

  Wendy looked into my face and smiled and said, “I like you more now. And you like me more. Now I know. I liked you before. You are the Master and I love you and I would do anything for you and I can tease you and make you happy and you can tease me and make me happy and I do your laundry and you always let me not wear clothes and you are the most kindest monkey man in the whole universe and you have a really nice penis…” and she paused and continued more quietly, “But I never really got to be in your bed and so, I didn’t ever get to be like a princess and I never got to help you in the shower and I was last when we woke up and…I was always last.”