The Founding of Rumble.

Chapter 16: Making plans

Hi everyone.

Here is the promised chapter, I hope you enjoy it, as usual, it only has basic editing, please don't be an asshat.

Have fun and a happy festive season.

🎅🎄🎁🤶🍾🎆🎇🥂🥳

Chapter 16: Making plans.

Jayda, Frey, Astra, and Mia walked into the formal training ground of the Royal knights a few days later. Frey had finally agreed to a sparring match with the royal knights, at the same time the king was going to use this as a little amusement for the other royals and ambassadors. Arnold had also asked for the special training gear to be used so that his people would not get hurt. Jayda had whipped up a special set that he could borrow as needed but not own, the gear would only be used when his people sparred with War Horses.

Jayda walked over and offered a bag of training gear to the knights, before returning to her friends and giving them each a bag and they started to dig out the gear and put it on or in their item boxes. Frey leant the training buckler against her leg as she put on the harness which would track hits. She had two other shields in the gear as well as several spear types and swords.

Astra sorted through her training gear as she put it on or in her item box, Jayda already had her gear on and was getting ready. Frey moved into the centre of the field as she buckled her shield on and waited for Jayda to explain the gear. The Vice Knight Commander, Phoebe, was readying herself as she was going to fight Frey first.

"Okay, this gear counts hits not damage. You land one hit on us, and you win, ten hits from us and you lose." Jayda explained, "The gear will protect you from taking actual damage up until a point." She added before she turned and went to join the others sitting on the waiting benches.

Frey readied herself, "striith til vinna,[battle to win,]" she said as she knocked her sword against her shield.

Phoebe cautiously closed the gap and started to fight, Frey let her attack although she blocked every move and then pushed the other woman away with a shield bash. Phoebe used all the tricks and skills Jayda had taught her, had it been anyone other than Frey or a War Horse, she would have won easily, but like her, Frey too was being trained by Jayda.

They fought for several minutes, Frey was deliberately fighting in just a way to stay a step ahead of her opponent, allowing her to grow, but never to win. Frey found the weak spots in Phoebe's defence and made sure to strike those weak spots. Every time Phoebe thought she had found a gap in Frey's defence she realised too late it was a trap. Frey struck her for the tenth time and Phoebe got a shock.

Frey sheathed her short sword and offered a hand to Phoebe to help her up, Phoebe took her hand and stood.

"Against anyone else," Phoebe muttered.

"Agreed, against anyone else." Frey told her before Phoebe walked off to be replaced by the Knight Commander. Fulton rolled his shoulders as he prepared to fight.

"Phoebe did well," Astra remarked.

"Very well, she wouldn't lose against an A-rank," Jayda replied.

"Damn, Jayda really is good at fixing flaws." Arnold stated.

Tomas nodded, Jayda had also worked on his and Marline's skills over the journey and the time they waited for the conference, he doubted he could clear a S-ranked dungeon, but he probably would be able to fight safely against an Iron Minotaur and even win without it being a life-or-death battle. Fulton and Frey's fight was intense, Phoebe was a technical fighter, Fulton was a power fighter. When his blows struck Frey's shield they made a loud sound, Frey either blocked or dodged, looking for his weaknesses, when she found it she would lash in.

Power gathered around Fulton, and he did a charging shield bash. Frey braced herself, bringing her centre of gravity down a little lower than his, caught his charge, lifted him up and threw him away. Before Fulton could get up, she was on him and did her last touch, Fulton got zapped. Frey sheathed her sword and offered her hand. "Never charge a Barbarian with a shield," she warned him.

Fulton nodded, "Against anyone else?" he asked as he took her hand, and she pulled him to his feet.

"Oh, they would have been flattened," Frey told him. "But no Barbarian would charge another Barbarian with a shield like that. We would use a shield push, get up close and press shields together and if given the chance then and only then would we charge." She explained.

Fulton frowned not quite able to picture it. "Like this," Astra walked over, she pulled out a buckler like Frey's and both women stepped away from him to demonstrate. They locked their shields together and started to push against each other, bracing their bodies and testing the other's balance and strength.

After a couple of minutes Frey managed to shift her weight just enough to cause Astra to slip off her shield a little allowing Frey to push Astra away but not to knock her down.

"Just a warning, Astra isn't proficient with shields," Frey added as Astra put away her shield.

Fulton's eyes went wide, "That wasn't proficient?" Astra's form had been perfect to his trained eye.

"Not you or me proficient, Astra can use a shield, but it isn't one of her strengths." Frey explained.

"Let's show him," Astra pulled out her axes, Frey nodded and readied her shield again, they stepped away and again, they locked together, this time Astra's axes against Frey's shield. There was a lot more shifting and pushing between the two women, after a few minutes they were forced to shove each other away as they couldn't fool each other.

"No, I see now," Fulton stated, and both women nodded, Frey moved out of the ground leaving Astra. Astra rolled her wrists as she waited and one of the royal guards walked in, like Astra they were wielding two axes, they didn't quite have the dual wielding skill like Astra and Jayda did, but they were close to gaining it. Like Astra they were wielding axes, the only difference is style, Astra was using Barbarian Bearded Battle axes only their handles were designed to Astra's specifications, the heads were quite large, and the handles were a little longer and had strategic curves which helped add force. Her opponent was wielding Archer's axes, they had a much smaller head and could be held a few ways including up close to the head and thus could protect the hands a little. The ways both axes were used in combat were quite different although Astra knew how to wield the other axe type her opponent couldn't handle the large Barbarian style of axe.

The fight was intense as the two combatants clashed. Like, Frey, Astra was making sure to stay just one level above the person before her, she made sure to attack every weak spot she found. Astra saw her opening for her final blow, flicking the blade over she stepped to the side and slammed the back of her weapon into her opponent's mid drift. They zapped out curled over their stomach.

"Are you okay?" Astra asked as she knelt.

"Fine... just... winded." They explained as they panted. Astra stood and helped them to their feet. "Guess what?" they asked Astra.

"No idea," Astra told them as she helped them to waiting benches.

"I just got the Dual Wielding skill," they said with a grin.

"Good, you do realise your training is going to get harder now?" Astra asked.

"How come?" they asked.

"Because now you need to learn dual wielding, it is a very different technique then twin axe." Astra explained and they nodded, it made sense, whenever someone got a new skill, they needed to learn how to use it as the skill correction could only take someone so far. Mia walked into the field, on her left arm was a small forearm shield, a short sword was strapped to her back however, her bow was in her hand. Another Archer walked into the field.

Mia rolled her neck and bounced as she waited for her opponent to get ready. "On your go," she told them.

Her opponent went to draw, Mia used a skill called sky step as she took three leaping steps back into the air as she drew her bow and let loose. Her arrow landed a direct hit that would have killed a normal person, but she was already diving back to solid ground and rolling out of the way, rolling onto her right knee with her left leg out before her body, it would allow her to spring to her feet. She drew as she aimed and fired in a quick motion which again landed a direct hit before again, she was out of the way. Unlike her opponent she only had five arrows, however this is for a reason, to prove a point. Her opponent finally shot their bow, Mia shifted her body, reaching out she snatched the flying arrow from the air, she noticed them about to fire again so ran a few steps and dropped to skid, as she did this she aimed and fired.

To stop the skid, she shifted her body which allowed the momentum to get her back on her feet, she drew another arrow as she ran past the other archer, using sky step she leaped up three times and managed to change her direction, and she fired as she fell, although she had another arrow she didn't reach for it as she only had ten hits and she wanted to make a point. she slid into her bow then drew her sword as she continued to move to dodge the arrows flying at her, she even used the small forearm shield to block an arrow.

The archer tried to keep distance, Mia didn't allow it, she closed the distance in an instant using a skill called flickering step and easily landed another strike. Repeatedly, Mia dodged in, out and away, each time she got the chance she landed a hit until they shocked out.

Mia knelt as the shock wore off, "You need to learn a close up means of fighting and protecting yourself, your opponent won't always be at a distance, also, you need to move more and learn how to rapid aim and fire." She told them then helped them to their feet.

Jazmine was staring in shock. "I didn't know archers could be like that," she remarked.

"It has more to do with the fact that until she became a War Horse, Mia was solo, she needed both distance and up close. However, Jayda also fights this way and to be honest, it makes them more versatile and needing less protection than a normal rear guard." Astra explained.

"What was that instant movement skill she used?" Arnold asked he had never seen it before.

Astra glanced to Jayda, wondering how to explain the skills Mia had as she didn't know where the skill came from, she had only ever seen it used by Jayda and Mia, was it a monster skill derived from the fact they were Wildlings or was it possible for normal people to get it.

"It is a part of the divine step skill tree; she used sky step and flickering step." Jayda answered as she stood.

"Divine step?" Arnold asked as he hadn't heard of that skill before.

Jayda nodded, "It's the name given when 3D movement and Swift step are combined after mastering both skills, ridiculously hard to get as mastering both is hard. There are six steps you can use when you get this skill, Sky step, Flickering step, Water step, Quick step, Silent step and God step. Mia has only figured out how to do the first two successfully."

Arnold nodded, he knew a few people who had 3D movement and swift step, mastering one of the skills was hard, mastering both, not even long-lived species like elves managed it because the requirements to gain mastery were too extreme. He considered Jayda for a moment, he would not be surprised to see her using the same skills as Mia nor would he be surprised to hear she had mastered all the individual steps attached to the skill, not after what he had heard of her mother.

Jayda stood and walked into the ring, Arnold's people glanced at each other, Jayda was the person who improved their skills, they doubted they would be able to stand a chance against her.

Jayda smiled, "All at once," she told them, "Ten hits for you, one for me."

They glanced to each other even as Mia, Astra and Frey changed the stone in the training gear. Five of Arnold's people entered the ring, confident in their co-operation. Jayda glanced at them as she drew the practise weapons which looked like her normal weapons and then rotated her wrists to warm them up. She waited for them to make the first move and as a group they moved, Jayda didn't have to activate any skill, but the world seemed to slow down she sway away from their moves using the bare minimum of motion, she managed to land a blow on each of her attackers before she moved away from them.

"The fuck," Jazmine swore and noticed that the other rulers were just as shocked, they were all there to watch and get some entertainment, at the same time trying to judge the strength of the four S-class.

Arnold discretely glanced to the Emperor who was watching, although he seemed disinterested, Arnold knew better, the twitch of his eyes, the tightening of his lips. He was not happy and that made Arnold hopeful that the idiot would stop his stupid conquest plans.

The battle between Arnold's people and Jayda repeated until they all shocked out. Astra, Frey, and Mia stood and before the others even left the field they were attacking, unlike with Arnold's men Jayda's party members knew they didn't have to hold back.

If the rulers had been shaken before they were in complete shock now, they could barely make out some of the moves however they heard the thumps as weapons landed, saw flashes of light as the gear absorbed the damage. Mia kept alternating between distance and close attacks, she climbed into the air using sky step and drew three arrows at one time, aimed directly down on Jayda and released, she stowed her bow and drew her short sword and dropped back to the ground to attack again.

"The fuck," Jazmine said again and did her best not to blink so as not to miss a thing. Tomas was before her and not as focused on the fight as he had seen more vicious ones between the women as they travelled here, vicious because they had a bigger field, with natural obstacles for them to play off. More vicious because they used magic and their Wildling racial skills in the spar, except for Jayda, the battle before him was nothing compared to that. He glanced to the Elven king, it was hard to notice, but the Elven king was petrified in fear, Jayda was like a dragon, a creature you don't even think about poking just to see what would happen. He then glanced to the Emperor, like the Elven king he was petrified with fear.

Jayda had planned this, back long before the conference started, she had given this plan to Arnold, and he had decided to use it because it reinforced the fact that they weren't beholden to the country, they were Adventurers primarily. Her plan had been to keep the War Horses away from the conference, to not be involved other than a few balls, if people asked why they weren't around they were to answer simply, they are adventurers, free spirited and strong, not pawns in noble games or royal pets. Then they were to spar with the knights and have Arnold 'suggest' watching his people train to break up the tedium and it just so happened to be the War Horse training session the next morning.

Their allies were shaken but they knew Arnold would not use the four women, in fact he had gone out of his way to make sure he and his descendants couldn't use them like that. The women were free to do what they wanted, they had no obligation to Ashford other than to obey the laws and pay their taxes like everyone else. They were free to choose their jobs, live their lives and go where they wanted, it also meant they were free to take jobs in other countries although they were sure that before any jobs were done in another county the guild would make them sign contracts like Arnold's and to be honest it was likely they wouldn't go to countries who would try to use them.

Frey flew away from Jayda and slammed into a wall and since she had shocked out as she flew, she was out of the fight, the crystal in her gear cracked. "Fuck!" she swore as she slowly got to her feet. She noticed Mia had shocked out before she did, so walked over her to check on her as she lay flat on her back trying to get her breath back from the body blow Jayda had given her.

"You good?" Frey asked.

"No... give me a moment," Mia told her as she finally started to regulate her breathing. Frey however had noticed that Astra and Jayda were coming their way. Hooking her hand into Mia's harness she hoisted Mia into her body and dodged away from the fighting pair and made it to safety.

"Sorry, you didn't have a moment." Frey told her as she put Mia down, she knew how much Mia hated being the smallest and how easily Frey and Astra could move her.

"Thanks," Mia told her as she winced and stretched her back. "Yep... going to need an ice bath."

"Here," Frey focused for a moment, "cold air." She said as she focused on the air directly around Mia cooling it to help the inflamed muscles.

"Oh, that is nice." Mia told her and together they watched the pair fight, the God of War had said that Astra was the best fighter the Barbarians had ever produced. Frey didn't feel threatened by that as she knew she was the second best and that was cool as Astra was Rhianna's and she was Jarovit's.

Mia winced when the ice spell ended but she didn't ask Frey to cast it again. An axe came flying towards them, both shifted slightly away from each other, and the axe bounced off the wall at their backs. Just as they moved back into their previous positions Astra landed with thump and was zapped out.

Astra sat up with a groan.

"You, okay?" Jayda asked.

"No," Astra said as she pulled out a vial, in it a custom-made potion, it was a deep dark blue, after their blessings and becoming Apostles Jayda had changed their potion blend as people with Self-Recovery didn't get the same recovery effect from normal potions like other people did. She popped the cork and gulped down the mix. They didn't require a lot of potions as Wildlings had a monster's constitution, they just needed a boost. Frey and Mia were also gulping a vial, although theirs were distinct colours, made specifically for them.

"I thought you said people couldn't get hurt with this gear?" Arnold asked concerned.

"Your people were wearing armour on top of the gear, we are not." Frey answered.

"Also, when you are used to hitting through things... no amount of gear or armour will stop that." Mia added as she stood and kicked Astra's axe back to her. Astra got to her feet with a groan and touched the axe with her foot to return it to her item box.

Jayda glanced to the stands, the Elven King was in the process of leaving the Emperor was still in shock and didn't know how to process what he had just seen. He had two S ranked in his country, he now understood that just because someone was S didn't make them equal, he doubted his would last seconds against any of the four women. He also understood that Arnold's elite knights were not to be messed with, he would need a lot more people to even think about taking them on, more so since it looked like their plan to disrupt the Barbarians and get them to be meat shields wasn't going to work. "An interesting distraction," he said aloud before he stood and left the training ground.

Jayda watched him leave and turned to Arnold, "So... think both of them will stop being dicks?" she asked the room the moment before the four women left it. Some of the assembled royals laughed with good humour, a few laughed nervously while others just grinned as they realised that this had been a part of a plan, everything the War Horses had done since their introduction was for this, a warning to the Empire. It probably wouldn't help the eastern kingdoms, who hadn't bothered to come, but for the western kingdoms it would hopefully keep the Empire at bay long enough for it to implode.

"Do you want to know what bugs me?" Tomas asked Arnold.

"What?" Arnold asked.

"That wasn't even serious sparing for them," Tomas answered.

Jazmine turned to Tomas, "Not serious?" How could someone witness what she had just seen and say they weren't fighting seriously?

Tomas nodded, "They are all expert magic users."

"They didn't use magic," Arnold remarked with a little dread.

"Exactly, if they were serious, they would have been using magic." Tomas finished.

~*~

Astra growled as she summoned Cobalt, We should have worn armour! She complained, the potion was doing its job, but her body still ached she pulled herself into her saddle. Frey and Mia agreed as they summoned their beasts and mounted.

Jayda summon and mounted Onyx. Come on, I was going easy on you, she told the others.

We know, the other three women admitted as they rode off and returned their estate.

Jayda paused their group as their front gate had a group of people in front of it. the guards on their gate were trying to move them on. Jayda urged Onyx to use a skill called Heavy Hoof, he reared up and then slammed both hooves onto the ground causing a loud booming sound. It got the groups attention, "If you haven't got an appointment go away." She ordered, she in fact knew no one had an appointment because they didn't accept requests from nobles.

Their guards forced people out of the way to let them in.

"Rest assured we will let the king know you are harassing us." Astra added as she passed them and watched a few people blanched at the threat, they weren't hiding for whom they were working. The king had warned all the nobles to leave the S ranks alone, any work for them was to be lodged with the guild and they would be accessed and if it warranted the S ranks attention it would then be put on the list in order of priority, decided by the guild. However, it looked like some nobles thought the process didn't apply to them.

Once they were through the guards shut and locked the gate, they knew what was expected of them, so they simply stood on the gate and pretended no one was there. They had a small handful of people who were allowed in as for the others, they needed a recommendation letter from either Margrave Morris or the King.

They took their beasts to the field, removed their tack and let them roam before finally going off to their rooms for ice baths.

After bathing they all gathered in a sitting room to relax, they had one last ball to attend and then the conference was over, and they would be free to return to their normal lives.

Katie walked in with another maid who was carrying skewers of meat and cider, although it wasn't late in the day Toja had prepared this for her bosses to snack on having heard they were sparing with the king's men.

Astra snatched a cider; it was already cooled so she just gulped half of it down before she grabbed two skewers and relaxed back into her seat. Frey copied her.

Mia grabbed a skewer first and took a bite before she grabbed her drink.

Jayda went to grab a drink and some meat, "Do you need us for something Katie?" she asked.

"Yes, unlike with lower nobles I cannot write rejection letters to upper nobles." Katie started to say.

"Send them all to the King please." Jayda said, not bothered in the least about letters to nobles, they weren't meant to be contacted by them to begin with.

Katie grinned a little, "okay, make the king deal with it."

"They aren't meant to be contacting us. The king told them, all contact will happen through the guild, and only the guild. They are going against the king's orders, and we are bound by contract not to get involved with them. Margrave Morris is an exception to the rule only because he signed a contract which states he will not use us for any political gain, only to protect his people, and any jobs that are for those reasons will go through the guild." Jayda told her firmly and Katie nodded, she wasn't aware of the contract which bound them.

"I will make sure all letters are handed to the king and will report anyone coming to the gate without a letter of recommendation or on the list from now onwards." Katie told her and Jayda nodded.

"Thanks Katie," the other three women told her even as all four dug into their drinks and snacks, they watched her leave.

Jayda turned her head and her eyes focused on a shadow, noticing Jayda's attention, everyone focused on the shadow. "Anything you want to say to me you can say to them, I will tell them anyway," she told the shadow. They watched as a person rose out of the darkness.

"That is still the coolest thing," Astra remarked, she had asked Jayda to show them what shadow step was, and Jayda had shown how she seemed to be swallowed by her own shadow.

"And not a skill you are allowed to use while fighting," Mia added. "Juice?" she asked the new person.

"Sorry I do not have time." He told them, he was a dark elf and had been needing to talk to Jayda however the Elven King had been paranoid about him being out of his shadow, the only reason he was free now was because the king wanted privacy. He bowed to Jayda, "Please..."

Jayda sighed, knowing what he was going to ask her, "it isn't that simple." She interrupted him then frowned as she noticed something around his neck. She was on her feet and before him so quickly no one in the room could follow the movements. "How long have you been forced to wear collars of subordination?" she asked as she lifted his chin to expose the magic tool around his throat.

"A little over fourteen hundred years," he explained.

"Are you also bound by contract?" she asked as she released his chin.

He shook his head, no way in hell would his people agree to full servitude contracts, it would be an insult to the Ancestors, something they would never do. The subordination collars weren't much better, but they could defy an order at least, where contract magic would prevent them saying no. Jayda was right when she told the Elven king their most abided by law, a law they all would defy orders for, blood can't fight blood, they would not go after Jayda even though she was a monster child as she was born a Dark Elf. A long time ago their Ancestor, a seer, had warned them of the danger of becoming pets, of being forced to fight each other for the amusement of others. It was why they had changed their culture and their fundamental moral code to protect themselves.

Jayda watched him for a moment, thinking.

"There are many ways to destroy a country," Astra stated, pretty much guessing what was going through Jayda's mind. If they were held by contract magic, that would make freeing the entire race almost impossible, however, the subornation collars, for Jayda that should be easy.

It took Frey a moment to realise what Astra meant, "Yeah, remove their shield and remove their arrogance."

"But then the Dark Elves will have to leave Leaf Tree or else the entire cycle will happen again." Mia added.

"There is plenty of forest in Morris territory," Astra stated.

"Dangerous forest." Frey remarked, most of the adventurers in Morriston went no deeper than fifty kilometres, in fact the lower ranks barely went deeper than fifteen kilometres, into the monster infested forest, the forest was much deeper than that, a rough guess had it at over a thousand kilometres, before you even got close to the barrier between the mortal realm and the divine realm of dragon Gods.

He glanced between the women, his hopes rising that they might be able to free his people. "Dangerous forests, we can handle living in dangerous forests." He told them.

"We will have to speak with people; however, they are good people," Jayda told him as she reached forward and touched his collar. "Is everyone watching?"

He nodded in understanding, connect shadow, all dark elves were connected to each other through their shadow which also meant all the subornation collars were linked. They could see and hear what was happening through his shadow which was why he would know when the king wanted him back.

"I will release the magic however you must reclose the collars and pretend they still work, once we have things organised on my end, then and only then do you take them off." She told her birth race.

"We will discretely prepare to leave." He promised her.

Jayda nodded, "When you take off your collars, you come into my shadow from there we will get you to your new home, just a warning though, I have some powerful monsters in my shadow, do not aggravate them it is their home." He nodded vigorously.

"And if Morris is no good, I know some decent sized islands known only to my clan and not on any maps." Astra added although she doubted that knowledge will be needed, although the best island to put them on was a bitch to find because it constantly moved.

"Dispel," Jayda said as she touched the collar and there was a click.

"Reclose them," he ordered even as he lifted his arms and relocked the collar. He glanced off for a moment. "I must leave, thankyou sister." He told her before he slipped back into the shadow.

There was a knock on the door and a moment later it opened, Katie frowned, wondering why Jayda wasn't sitting with the others. "You have guests." She opened the door wider to show Arnold, Tomas, Marline, Kathryn, and Jazmine.

Tomas frowned as he noticed the serious look on all four women, "Have we interrupted."

"No, and it is probably a good thing you are here." Astra stated as she went to stand.

"Katie, lots of snacks and drinks please to the primary office and all at once. We will be sealing the room for our talks." Jayda ordered and Katie nodded and raced off, the primary office had a small toilet room attached and something like a small kitchen for making tea so once the room was sealed, they wouldn't have to leave it for any reason until everything had been sorted out.

"Should I go?" Jazmine asked.

"Up to you," Jayda told her as Frey and Mia stood.

Jazmine followed the group into the primary office and made herself comfortable.

Arnold pulled out contract paper, in preparation for whatever was about the be brought up. No more than twenty minutes later Katie was wheeling in snacks and drinks, a small barrel of cider was there as well as a whole heap of skewers, jerky, cookies, sweets and juices. Most of the skewers went instantly into Jayda's inventory to stay hot.

Katie bowed to the room and closed the doors. Jayda cast magic to seal the room, no one would be able to eavesdrop on them, not even dark elves unless they were already in her shadow.

"So, before you came in, we had a visitor," Jayda started to explain, first about Dark Elves as a whole and then their situation in Leaf Tree. While she explained they snacked and drank.

"An entire race, basically enslaved." Jazmine remarked in anger, her kingdom like Ashford did not discriminate against race. It irritated her that the Elven Kings had been using their people like tools instead of living creatures with the sole intention to sow fear, worse it was with a people who were nothing like Leaf Tree portrayed to outsiders.

"So, you're freeing them?" Tomas asked.

"Already have," Jayda told him.

"Can't leave them in Leaf Tree they'll just get forced into a more extreme version of servitude." Arnold stated, "Which is why you are talking to us." He surmised.

Jayda nodded, "They have reclosed the collars and will pretend even as they prepare to leave."

"Smart, gives us time to prepare," Marline remarked and got nods.

"I would like to situate them deep in the forest outside of Morriston." Jayda stated and Tomas frowned.

"Will they be fine deep in the forest?" Tomas asked not bothered by fact the forest which was considered a part of his territory was about to have permanent residents.

"They will be fine." Jayda promised and he nodded.

"And since they will build and maintain it, they won't have to pay taxes." Arnold stated, "Although that also means we won't be able to help them if they get rolled up in a flood." He had no problem letting the Dark Elves be free in his country, heck he was going to sign a contract on behalf of the kingdom granting them the rights of citizens of Ashford. If in the future they wanted to come out of the forest or if they chose to do it sooner if only for trade reasons it would protect them.

"If they need or want to, they will be more than welcome in Morriston to trade the high-quality materials from the forest for things they won't be able to get in there." Tomas added. "But through the guild, they'll offer fair prices and the protection of being adventurers."

"Huh, then we really should have Matt here," Arnold remarked.

Tomas shook his head, "No need, there is no discrimination in the Adventurer guild when it comes to membership. They will get their identification and protection by being members of the guild."

Arnold nodded and quickly started to fill out a contract which would bind not only him to it, but it would also bind future rulers to it as well. It basically said that any Dark Elf who chose to make Ashford their home would be protected as citizens of Ashford, they were to follow Ashford law when outside of their settlement and were afforded all the rights which accompanied being citizens both inside and outside of their settlement. Although their home would be in Margrave Morris's territory it would be considered a freely governed territory within Morris territory. As their home was in a monster nest, they were free of paying governance taxes to Morris although it also meant they were on their own if their settlement was overrun by a flood, they would be welcome to change this in the future, although Arnold doubted that they would. There were more clauses in the contract to protect both parties but nothing that would cause alarm, in fact he even added clauses which would keep the rulers of Ashford from using the Dark Elves like they were used by Leaf Tree, although there were clauses which allowed for hiring Dark Elves for jobs it would be through the adventurer guild and only if they wanted to take the job, they were under no obligation to take it.

Tomas was making a similar contract as the Lord of Morris territory, promising the same things as Arnold was. Once he was done, he offered the contract to Jayda to read, any changes could be made now. Astra was reading over her shoulder.

"That is more than reasonable and a much better deal than the one forced on them by the Elven kings." Astra stated and Jayda nodded and returned both contracts. "I agree. They will be fine with those contracts, possibly even surprised by them."

Arnold nodded and used a pin to prick his finger, his wife did the same and they both held their thumbs to the magical paper. "As King, this is my will, for life of Ashford this contract binds us."

"Witnessed," Kathryn stated and both glowed.

Tomas and Marline had done something similar.

"I will ensure copies are made and will be ready to present to them when they are out of Leaf Tree, I will also have it written into law." Arnold stated.

"And I will do the same." Tomas promised. "I would like to present my contract to the leader, I am sure Arnold would like to do the same."

"They might be skittish, probably best to let them settle into their new home a little, let them feel their freedom." Astra slid in.

Arnold nodded, "Agreed, however I would prefer to do it sooner than later, prove that we are honourable. Also, we will be bound by contract to keep this... Racial skill which allows them to travel in shadows a national secret."

"Yeah, you should also let them know they should only share this secret with those they trust." Jazmine stated as she quickly drew up the contract for them all to sign. She didn't even go into specifics she just wrote that those in this room would keep the secrets of the Dark Elves to themselves and to talk to no one other than the people in this room or to those who also swore to never speak of this to the people in this room. She was the first to press her blood coated thumb to it, she handed it to the others, and they all signed it, Astra, Mia, Jayda, and Frey included, they all glowed sealing the contract.

Arnold stood, walked over to the bar, and poured himself a rum, "Absolute idiots... their greatest asset, they turned their greatest asset into their biggest weakness and for what reason?" he asked as he returned to his seat.

"A prophecy." Jayda answered as she reached for a piece of jerky. "A Dark Elf will come, strong and brave and will destroy Leaf Tree, if you let it." She bit the jerky in half and started to chew.

Astra frowned, her people had Shamans and seers, people who were gifted with the sight, but they never would give such an obscure prediction. "Dalla would never have given such an open-ended fortune, if you let it... they created the situation for their destruction. It would have been smarter to fully integrate Dark Elves into normal elven society, make them love their country. Instead, they made them hate their country, in their haste to prevent a Dark Elf from destroying them, they created the very thing they feared."

Arnold nodded, it was part of the founding king's ethos, if you wanted to destroy evil, you first had to destroy what made people turn to evil. At the time he had only focused on slavery and discrimination, generations after that had simply followed what the founder had focused on. However, when he was travelling, he realised there was more to what allowed people to become evil, greed, corruption, poverty, they all contributed to why people turned to evil acts. So, when he became king, he added his thoughts to the founders, so that future generations would focus on a wider picture. He was also wanting to send his children out into the world, to see, to learn what real people went through just to survive, to feel that struggle.

"Is that what you would have done?" Jazmine asked, after all Astra had been a clan leader.

Astra nodded, "I would have taken one look at that prophecy, turned to the shaman and told them their warning was stupid, to come back when it made more sense. Then I would have done what my grandmother did, if they were going to become my enemy, easiest way to stop that is to try for friendship. It was how our two clans prevented a brutal war between us."

Frey nodded, "My clan were not always friendly with Astra's, they had things we wanted, this was long before Astra and I were born. Her grandmother turned around and instead of fighting when they came to take, she came and told them they could have what they wanted, but she wanted metal. Give her ore, they would get goats, give her materials, she would give them grain. No one had to die and considering both clans were founded by Wildlings, the fighting would have destroyed the clans so, they agreed. Over time the trading became more, we traded building techniques, my clan learnt how to build boats from Astra's, Astra's clan learnt better house building techniques. My clan learnt better food preserving, Astra's learnt better tanning. Our clans went from potential enemies to firm allies."

"Dalla told my grandmother, friendship with them will make both clans stronger, strong enough to weather any storm." Astra explained.

"Which it did, at this moment the clans are at war, however our clans are autonomous, again because Dalla's warning, by this time my clan were allowed to come to Dalla as a shaman. We pay our tidings, but we are not a part of them which means our clans have been kept out of the strife." Frey added.

"But it is also why we were forced to leave, to help prevent our clans being pulled in. See Frey and I are, infamous." Astra explained.

"She lies, they have statues, everyone knows who they are. The clan's chief, was like, you here to challenge me and they were like nope." Jayda added.

"Then he challenged you and we just laughed." Astra added.

"So, seers are a thing in the barbarian clans?" Jazmine asked, Barbarians didn't often allow people to know their inner workings, as it was Jazmine wouldn't be able to talk about it with anyone as she was bound to keep Astra and Frey's secrets and that meant the secrets of their people.

"Yes, seers are an important part of our culture." Frey admitted. "We are lucky though, Dalla is the best."

Astra sneezed, Yes because she is the Apostle of time.

The other three women laughed.

Jazmine frowned.

Tomas grinned, "Wildlings, a lot can be said with a sneeze." He complained.

~*~*~*~

Jayda flopped onto her bed, they were finally back in Morriston, they would be staying the rest of winter here and probably for the spring as well. They would use this time to scout the forest, looking for a new home for the Dark Elves and lay all the groundwork for their new settlement. They wouldn't leave until the Dark Elves were settled but that didn't mean they wouldn't be working, it just meant they would be working around Morriston. She closed her eyes and just relaxed into the soft matrass, they wouldn't be in town for long, maybe a few days before they left again. They needed to get supplies and chat to Dan, find out if he wanted any areas investigated, they also were going to explain the Dark Elf situation to him. Matt too had been made aware however like Tomas said, there were no rules against a Sapient race becoming an adventurer although he did insist on rules as to what jobs they could take if only to protect them.

Frey walked in and smiled at Jayda. "Dan will be here for dinner, and I checked us in."

"I don't want to move," Jayda told her.

"But you have to," Frey replied as she scooped Jayda up and rested her on her shoulder.

"My bed, our bed," Jayda complained as Frey walked her out of their room.

Frey laughed and heard Mia telling Astra to get up.

"We can't take this slowly Jayda, your birth race runs the risk of being found out the longer we leave them there." Frey reminded her.

"I know, but... bed, a real bed." Jayda told her.

"Yes, and that real bed will be there tonight when we go to bed," Frey told her, in fact she didn't intend for them to go straight to bed tonight, she fully intended to love her lover.

Frey put her down in a sitting room, no sooner had she done that did Dan walk in.

"I said dinner," Frey told him, dinner was a few hours away.

"Yes, but this gave me an excuse to get out of the guild." He told them as he walked over to the bar and helped himself.

"The work will be there tomorrow," Jayda told him.

"That's tomorrows problem." He told her as he returned to the seat and made himself comfortable.

"Huh, real reason you realised you could raid our dungeon liquor stash." Frey remarked as she made herself comfortable then pulled Jayda into her arms.

Dan barely took notice of the pair he just waited for Mia and Astra to come. As he was sipping his drink Astra and Mia joined them.

Astra sat and Mia curled up beside her. Dan pulled out contract paper and put it on the table, "Okay, what secrets am I going to be bound to keep."

"Secrets of the Dark Elf race." Astra stated.

Dan frowned for a moment, "So racial, historical and political secrets?" he asked and got nods. He started to fill in the contract and once he was done, he showed it to Jayda, she checked the contents and nodded. He pricked his thumb and pressed it to the contract, he glowed for a moment sealing the contract. "Okay, done."

Jayda took a deep breath and launched into first the falsehoods surrounding Dark Elves, then their situation in Leaf Tree and the racial skill which allowed them to be so dangerous.

Dan ran his fingers through his hair to give him a moment to think once she was done, he was disgusted by the greed of the Elven kings however he understood that some rulers would not be able to pass up the opportunity and now understood the rules Matt had added to the Ashford Guild Rules. There were only a handful of rules which were race specific and having new rules appear which only applied to Dark Elves made them stand out. "I take it, you are going to free them, and they are coming here?" he asked as that was the only reason, they would be telling him these secrets.

"Already have," Astra told him, "We have been given permission to move them into the forest, we just have to find a site, they will be automatous."

Dan nodded, after what they were put through, he doubted they would allow any kind of governance at least until they gained some trust in Ashford as a country and even then, he doubted it. "So, they will be registered as Adventurers so they can be protected by the guild system and earn money to buy what they cannot find in the forest."

The four women nodded. Dan pulled out a note pad and started to make a list of what he would need to organise. "Do you know how many identity cards we need to produce?"

Jayda shook her head, "Sorry I won't know numbers until they jump into my shadow."

Dan nodded, "It doesn't matter, we can produce as many as is needed. I will make Jace in charge of handling Dark Elves when they come into the guild and all business with Dark Elves will be done in private. I will write up rules for dealing with Dark Elves so that we don't stress them, I will inform Mather that Dark Elves will probably only interact directly with the Merchant guild, at least for a while. I would prefer they didn't shadow step into the guild."

"I will let them know they need to come through a gate, only when it is an emergency are they allowed to pop out of a shadow. I would prefer yours." Jayda told him and he nodded, easier to keep the secret.

"Okay, I think I have more work to do but it isn't something impossible, I suggest you tell Jace everything, it will help him protect them if he knows all the details." Dan remarked and Jayda nodded in agreement.

"We will scout deeper into the forest then most adventurers are comfortable going to find them a home." Frey told him.

"So, are there any areas you want investigated?" Jayda asked.

"Nope, if people go that deep then that is their problem, all I will need is a general idea as to where the settlement is and that will be kept in the guild's private records but not on any maps, I don't want to encourage people to go to the settlement, I am sure they won't want visitors for a long while." Dan stated and got nods.

~*~*~*~

It took them two weeks to get as deep as they wanted to go, they travelled quickly as their goal was to get as deep as possible, they culled any strong monsters that looked to be heading to the shallow areas as they went.

"So, what are we looking for?" Mia asked as she finished kicking dirt onto the fire to kill it after breakfast.

"Unlike normal elves, dark elves live in a tree city." Jayda explained.

"Elves live in trees," Frey stated firmly, her mother loved trees, her father hated them.

"Elves live on the ground, Dark Elves, live in the air." Jayda corrected.

"How high up?" Astra asked, made sense now, Jayda had them camping up trees the last few days, had shown Frey and Mia how to camp in trees.

"About a hundred feet," Jayda remarked, "these trees are almost big enough."

"So deeper?" Frey asked.

Jayda nodded, "but not much."

"And you'll start building with all the materials you brought." Mia asked, Jayda had spent a small fortune on materials, enough money to reinvest back into Morriston as it had been taken from it to begin with.

"Yep. I will lay the foundation for their new home." Jayda told them, they will have to do the rest, but she would make sure they had the materials to get started, the rest they would have to get for themselves.

"Let's go." Astra prompted and they all started to move again. They didn't move together, they spread out, they could see each other but they weren't on top of each other, by moving like this they were cutting down their risk of them all being ambushed. Fern, Void and Sol stalked with them, Kree and Soot's wing spans were too big to fly in here and Bruh, couldn't keep up with them if they ran for extended periods but would be ready to fight the moment they had to.

They moved like this for several days stopping at night to camp or to hunt and gather.

"So, these are the right trees huh?" Frey asked as she looked up the trees here were huge, they were also in a large grove numbering more than a hundred trees and on top of that, they had no low branches, she doubted she would be able to climb these trees without help.

Jayda appeared out of Frey's shadow having gone up to inspect the trees. "Yep, in fact, better than I wanted, there are even bigger trees by the looks of it and the grove goes further in that direction." She said as she gestured north.

"Alright so while you are building, we will be scouting." Astra stated and Jayda nodded.

"There should be a dungeon nearby," Jayda warned them, this deep meant the upper floors could be in a flood situation which meant there could be a heap of monsters in the area.

Mia frowned, "How can you tell?"

"Because remember what the trees were like while we were getting here," Jayda prompted.

Frey thought for a moment, "they weren't as big." She stated and Jayda nodded again.

"There are always indicators when you near a dungeon, larger plants if it is in a forest, everlasting ice like near the clan, unmoveable dunes in a desert, denser coral if in water, taller grasses if in a plane, or sometimes more monsters or rarer magical herbs." Jayda explained then glanced at the trees, "Probably B or A ranked."

"Having a dungeon nearby could be a good thing, if it produces materials they can use or sell." Astra stated, "We'll look for it and do a dive to see what it produces."

Jayda nodded, "Have fun, if you don't find it today come back and I will have at least put together a tree top camp."

The other three women waved and left Jayda to it. Jayda shadow stepped back up to the nearest branch of the closest tree. She moved around the trees for a bit, jumping between branches until she found the perfect starting point, a slightly larger tree with some good branches, she pulled out some large beams and started to get to work.

~*~*~*~

Astra, Mia, and Frey returned three weeks later towards evening, they had found the dungeon that first day, so they had dived right in, it was a B ranked dungeon, so they had no issues getting to the 30th floor in a few weeks, when they were done, they had looped back around to do some scouting. They had almost missed the grove, but Jayda had gone around and using dyed blue ropes, marked the trees she had already built on a little above Astra and Frey's eye height.

"Seriously, we were gone three weeks." Astra complained as she looked up into the trees and saw the sprawling platforms, walkways, and rope bridges.

"Leave that for now, how do we get up there?" Mia asked.

There was a sharp whistle which drew their attention, it took them a moment to find the source and then they moved to it. A boxed in platform was slowly moving down from the treetops, the three women got near it just as it touched the ground. Jayda opened the gate to let them on.

"Interesting system," Mia stated as she walked in to study the pully system which allowed it to go up and down. Once Frey and Astra were on Jayda closed the gate.

"Yeah, I mean they might not need it but still." Jayda stated, she switched the gear to ascending, then she started to wind the gears to raise it up.

The three other women watched. "The clicking is annoying." Astra stated.

Jayda released the handle, the women watched as it started to wind back but the lock which was causing the clicking engaged and the platform stopped.

"Okay, not annoying," Astra corrected, and Jayda started to wind again. It took a bit of time, but the three women enjoyed the trip up. Once they were up the top they watched as Jayda locked the gears then opened the gate to let them off. All three women walked confidently onto the platform; they had complete trust in Jayda's crafting.

"You've been back to Morriston," Frey stated as she looked around, she knew what they had managed to acquire before leaving although Jayda had put in an order for more and had even pre-paid for it.

"Twice using shadow step, there is still one more load of timber and building supplies to pick up but that is to build buildings and is not my job, it's theirs, so we'll pick it up just before they step into my shadow."

"And give Mather more time to gather the goods from the surrounding towns and adventurers thus reinjecting some of the money we've taken out... I hate having to think like this." Frey remarked however she understood why it was needed.

"Don't worry, Jayda will do the thinking for you," Astra teased, and Frey tackled her, they wrestled for a few moments.

"Don't fall out of the tree," Mia called as she followed Jayda to tour what she had done, she doubted a fall would do severe damage to either woman. A few moments later Frey and Astra caught them up. Jayda showed them some of the facilities she had made including an area which could be turned into a forge area. Some might consider it unwise to have fires up in the trees but if it was done right, it was safe to even have a forge in the treetops. The platforms hugged the trucks in such a way that the trees could still move and grow and were connected by bridges, only a few groups of trees grew close enough to have large platforms that linked them entirely.

"So, this is just the basics?" Frey asked.

"Yep, I still have about a weeks' worth of work then we'll return to Morriston." Jayda told them as they all settled on the platform Jayda had been living on.

"Cool, so we'll keep doing a rough scout of the area then," Mia stated, and Jayda nodded.

"How was the dungeon?" Jayda asked as she handed out cups of tea.

"A solid B, the drops were okay, the field floor will help them a lot and the guild will snap up anything they want to sell." Astra told her before she sipped her tea.

Jayda started to make dinner; she had missed having the others around. Frey glanced around and found an appropriate platform a little distance away, she went and setup their tent on it. Astra got the point and did the same with her and Mia's tent.

Once dinner was consumed, they put out the fire and using a light spell they went their separate ways to their tents. Frey pulled Jayda into her body, they didn't have to duck or anything as the tent was tall enough for her to stand in. It even had a bed, while not as luxurious as the one in their room still far more comfortable than a bed roll. "Have I told you how much I love this tent?" she asked before she buried her head into Jayda's neck and kissed it. Jayda groaned and relaxed into Frey's body. "Or how much I've missed and love you."

"Mm... I can guess, lots." Jayda told her as she turned around in Frey's arms, they kissed for several moments, Frey's hands found their way into Jayda's clothes, easy because Jayda wasn't wearing her armour and Frey was, letting her intentions be known. She wanted make love and going by Jayda's hands which were expertly getting her out of her armour her lover was just as eager.

Frey removed her hands and helped Jayda get her out of her armour, once the armour was off Jayda lifted Frey's shirt up and Frey helped her remove it. They pulled away from each other and spent a few moments taking off their boots. Frey got hers off first and went over to help Jayda out of her shirt.

Jayda chuckled as she stopped with her boots to let Frey get her shirt off, once it was off, she went back to her boots. Frey leant down and kissed Jayda's spine as her hands cupped Jayda's breasts.

Jayda groaned but managed to get her boots off as Frey's deft fingers undid the bindings of her breast band. She turned in Frey's arms and they kissed again, a little more passionately, Frey's hands cupped Jayda's behind, she gave them a firm squeeze to lift her up and deposited her on the bed. Frey took a moment to remove her bindings and the rest of her clothes.

Jayda just watched; she knew enough of Frey's kinks to know she preferred to shuck her out of her clothes. Once Frey was naked her hands went to Jayda's pants, she kissed Jayda's stomach as she undid the buttons which held her pants together. She then started to push them down, kissing the flesh she exposed. Jayda had once told her she could do it faster, Frey had simply replied it added to the mood so Jayda accepted it although every now and again she would tease Frey by slowly getting out of her clothes and not let Frey touch, it drove her wild.

Frey tossed away Jayda's pants, her underwear soon followed, Frey settled herself on the bed and kissed Jayda's inner thigh before she kissed her way in. Jayda's fingers gripped her hair as she arched her back and groaned.

Frey let out a rumble, that's it, sing for me. She told Jayda as she feasted on her lover's sex.

She slid a finger into Jayda's body and when she was moving smoothly, she added another finger, rotated her wrist, and curled them up.

There, right, there, Jayda huffed as Frey lashed her clit with her tongue. Frey synchronised her movements, growing stronger and weakening, not letting Jayda quite get there but still close, Frey kept her there for a few minutes before she finally let Jayda come.

Jayda called out and shuddered in climax, Frey slowly brought her down. Jayda tugged on Frey's hair pulling her up. Frey kissed her way up to Jayda's lips and they kissed for several moments. Jayda rolled them over, "My turn." She told Frey before she started to kiss her way down Frey's body. Frey groaned as Jayda paid attention to her breasts for several minutes before she moved further down. Frey's hands fisted her hair and started to urge her down faster.

"Impatient aren't we," Jayda told her but moved down to Frey's sex. Frey's clit was a lot larger than Jayda's and was already hard. The first time Jayda had seen it she had been a little surprised, Frey had gone on to explain it was normal for Barbarian women to have enlarged clits, some clits were even considered pseudo small cocks. Frey was not that big however she was big enough that Jayda could encase it in her mouth,

Jayda sucked the clit into her mouth and rolled her tongue around Frey's proud flesh. Frey's fingers fisted into Jayda's hair and started to grind her hips up into Jayda's mouth, Jayda slid one finger inside Frey and started to pump it in and out. Realising her first finger was moving easily she added a second and then a third, Frey groaned as Jayda started rub her fingers against Frey's forward wall.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Frey swore as her whole body tensed and she came, Jayda removed her fingers when Frey's sex stopped clutching at them. She then released Frey's clit, but didn't move, although they had made love many times, she often didn't get time to explore. She focused on the still erect clit, pulling back the hood to expose more of her clit. She used her fingers to rub the exposed flesh, Frey groaned and flexed her hips, Jayda pinched gently and when Frey showed no discomfort, Jayda used the pressure to rub Frey's clit.

Frey breathed out as pleasure tingled through her body. "Keep... doing... fuck." She tried to stay still, to let Jayda do what she wanted. Jayda removed her fingers for a moment much to Frey's dismay. Using her fore finger and thumb she created a tight hole and slid the clit into it and with small movements fucked Frey's clit with her hand.

Frey jerked herself up a little to watch as Jayda jerked her off. "Wait... wait..." she told Jayda as she pulled out a jar. She shuffled back so that she was resting on the headboard. Jayda moved back into position. "Here, use some slime jelly." She offered it to Jayda.

Jayda dipped her fingers into the jar, and they came out coated in a slippery liquid and realised why Frey wanted her to use it. She spread it out over her fingers, recreated the hole and went back to jacking off Frey's clit. The slippery gel made it easier, it also increased Frey's sensitivity.

Frey panted as she felt her body start to cum, Jayda sped up, sensing that Frey was about to come again. Frey twitched in Jayda's fist as she came. Reaching down she grabbed Jayda's hand and held it still as she jerked her hips up and held herself still. It took Frey a few moments to relax before she finally released Jayda.

Jayda grinned up at her, "you liked that?" she asked.

"Yes," Frey told her, "But now I want to fuck you."

"Not that I would stop you." Jayda told her.

Frey sighed, she had been taking it easy on Jayda, slowly introducing her to sex, so they hadn't done much more than fingering and tongue fucking. She wanted to use a magical toy on her, one which would allow them both to feel pleasure.

"I want to use a toy on you," Frey told her.

"Okay," Jayda told her.

Frey went into her item box again, she pulled out a box, while she was figuring out how to seduce Jayda this was how she managed to keep control, planning her seduction and what she would do helped to keep her from getting overwhelmed and going too quickly or forceful. However, learning about Jayda's teeth had helped to calm her down a lot.

Jayda watched as Frey opened the box, in it were a collection of penises, all of them were different shapes but around the same length of six inches (around fifteen centimetres). "What are these?" Jayda asked.

"They have many names, the most common is magic dicks. Women use them, some of them in same sex relationships, others in different sex relationships. Men can even get sheaths to change the shape of their dicks." Frey explained.

"Okay, why so many?" Jayda asked.

Frey blushed, "I didn't know your wildling race, wildlings females like to use cocks shaped like their adopted race, they also like them used on them. So, I got one of each of the most common, I do not have a dragon one." She explained.

"What ones do you have?" Jayda asked.

"I have, wolf, gorilla, bear, Pegasus, griffon, human and cave lion." Frey said as she pulled out each one.

"Common?" Jayda asked, some of them did not sound common, at least to the barbarian homeland.

"Well Pegasus and griffon are not common back home, wolf, gorilla, bear and cave lion are common. They were there so I got them." Frey explained as pulled out the harness then picked the gorilla cock; the rest went back into her item box.

Jayda watched as Frey got ready, the harness was only really a just in case the magic formation failed the device could still be used. The shorter end went into Frey and there was even a special hole for her clit to sit in. Once it was in place Frey focused and spread some magic into it, it locked to her body and Frey could feel the entire length of it become a part of her. Opening the jar of slime jelly, she got a good amount and coated her new appendage with it.

Frey then wiped her slippery fingers over Jayda's sex.

"This might hurt a little," Frey warned as she positioned herself over Jayda.

"I know," Jayda told her, after all the Goddess of life had explained all about sex. Her hands stroked Frey's chest, Frey smiled and leant down to kiss her even as she guided her member to Jayda's opening. Slowly she started to ease the toy into Jayda's body. The toy was a little wider than Frey's fingers, so she felt the stretch and burn but it wasn't uncomfortable. Frey hooked Jayda's right leg over her left arm, opening her further. Frey started to slowly rock her hips forward, not going too fast, making sure Jayda wasn't in any pain. It was hard though because all she wanted to do was to slam into her, repeatedly until they both came. Then she wanted to do it again, and again.

Frey growled gently as she dug her head into Jayda's neck and bit down, her body started move on its own. I'm sorry, I can't, she rumbled as she jerked out of Jayda's body. With strong hands she turned Jayda over, grabbing a pillow she jammed it under her hips and positioned herself between Jayda's legs.

Jayda glanced over her shoulder at Frey, Frey however was focused, her left-hand gripped Jayda's hip as her right hand guided herself back into Jayda's body. Jayda grunted as Frey started to move, there was nothing slow with her motions. Frey dug her head into the crook of Jayda's neck and bit down as Jayda squirmed a little beneath her, not to throw her off or stop her but to find a way to get comfortable.

It took a few moments to move her legs which allowed her to support her weight a little, Frey moved her hands to encircle Jayda's hips to keep her from getting away,

Jayda let out a little rumble, It's okay, just getting comfortable. She told Frey as she reached up with her hand to hold her face to her neck. Frey shifted her arms now that Jayda had settled, one hand hooked around her hips and found Jayda's clit to rub it, her other hand gripped a breast, she started to move again.

It took a few moments to get used to the new sensations, but once she was, she started to press back into Frey's thrusts, needing her to be deep within. Jayda felt her climax rush up on her, generally Frey liked to draw it out, however, at this moment, they were both chasing the bliss.

Together they groaned as they both came, Frey pressed deeply into Jayda as they both shuddered. They staid like that for several moments before she kissed Jayda's neck, "I'm sorry, I couldn't..."

"It's fine," Jayda told her as Frey finally removed herself, she removed the toy and harness. Jayda pulled the pillow out from under her hips and rolled onto her side.

"Cleanse," Frey said before she stored the toy in her item box and snuggled back up to Jayda. "Did I hurt you?" Frey asked as she ran caring hands over her lover's body.

Jayda snorted in amusement, "Frey, I am a dragon, you are a gorilla, I could have stopped you at any time if I hadn't enjoyed what you were doing."

Frey pressed her face to the back of Jayda's head, it was easy to forget that as much as she looked like a Dark Elf, she was a divine dragon. That as strong as Frey was, Jayda was stronger, if Jayda had wanted to stop her, she easily could have.

"I don't know why I always forget that you are the strongest." Frey told her.

"Because you are a Barbarian, big means strong and I am not as big as you." Jayda told her and Frey did have to admit that Barbarians did think that way. Frey pulled Jayda closer to hold her, she breathed in Jayda's scent. Jayda touched Frey's thigh and stroked it. "I love you." She said gently.

Frey smiled and held her a little tighter, "I love you."

~*~*~*~

They packed up their camp the day after Jayda finished her building. "Alright time to go." Astra said as she went to walk to the lift.

"So... want to take a short cut?" Jayda asked and Astra stopped.

"Oo... are you going to use dragonfication?" Mia asked, she had seen transformation in Jayda's racial skills but had yet to see her use it.

Jayda frowned at her, "I mean I can, but I am not big enough to carry you all on my back."

"Then how?" Astra asked but Frey grinned.

"Shadow step, you are going to use shadow step on us?" Frey asked and Jayda nodded.

"You can do that?" Mia asked as she walked closer.

Jayda nodded, "Easy, the only time I've used it on another person was my mother, she said it was an interesting sensation." She explained. "Hold on to me and you will feel cold and something like a nothing sensation, do not let go."

The other three women nodded, and each took a good hold of her, when they were ready, she drew them into the shadow realm. A moment later they were out of it and back in the forest however they could see the walls of Morriston.

Mia sat with a huff, "That was so fucking weird." She told Jayda.

"But useful," Astra told her, the cold had been there, although not as intense of some of the winters in her homeland, it was the weird nothing, floating and falling sensation of being in the shadow which would take getting used to.

"Ready to go in?" Jayda asked, Astra helped Mia to her feet.

They nodded and followed Jayda back to Morriston, they got in line and waited to be let in. when it got to their turn the guard checked their faces, he didn't bother to ask for identification he just waved them through, the four S ranked people were well known to the point that all the guards knew them.

They walked in and went straight to the guild to check in.

"So, looking forward to a soak..." Astra told the group as they got into Jace's line to wait their turn.

"Hey, did you notice the flags?" Frey asked.

"Yeah, the King and Queen's flags were up." Mia stated, she had gotten used to seeing them when they were in the capital.

"Probably here on procession," Astra remarked, "He does that, once every two years he goes to a territory and tours it, he hasn't been to Morris territory because it hasn't been needed."

"So, visible presence to show that he is the king?" Mia asked as they shuffled forward.

Astra nodded, "Something like that."

They got to Jace's counter. "Your back," Jace said as he held out his hand, he was aware of what was going on, so he was just going to check them in. Jayda handed him her card; he went and checked them in then gestured for them to come. They followed him out the back.

"Jayda... what do you have for me?" Borsh asked as he leant on the door jamb for the dismantling room.

Jayda tossed him a magic bag which he caught, "Four tusk boar, forest deer, black bears and great deer."

"Nice," Borsh turned and returned to the dismantling room.

"You really know how to make that man happy." Jace told her, she smiled.

"Borsh is easy, give him meat he can eat while he drinks." Astra stated and got chuckles.

They walked into Dan's office, Dan was at his desk, he glanced up and smiled at them. "Your back."

"Yeah, Jayda has skills," Astra sat as did the others.

Jace put a bag down before Jayda, before the four women had left, he had been told the whole story about what was going on and had been just as angered as the others although it was more work for him, he was glad that he was going to be a part of helping Dark Elves find their feet in the world. "A card writer, job assigner set to adventurer and five thousand blank cards as well as simple instructions of how to use them." he explained to Jayda, "If you need more cards come back to me and I'll get more. these are spare devices, ideally, I would like a Dark Elf to be trained as a guild representative, that way they can keep them, as for now I can only lend them for two months before I must explain why they aren't here."

"I will try to convince one to take up the mantle of Adventurer Guild representative, it will probably be easier that way." Jayda told him as she scooped up the bag and stored it.

"If you can we can set up a subbranch, give them a communication device so that we can send letters and material requests then it can be delivered to the main guild." Dan added.

"More reason to push for it." Mia stated and got nods.

"Also, dinner, your place, tonight, the king will be there obviously as will we and the Merchant guild master." Dan told them and gestured for them to leave.

"I will swing by the merchant guild, find out the status of the last of the order, Mia you swing by the black smiths and make sure that order is ready for pick up, you two go home and warn the staff and get food cooking." Astra told the rest of the group.

They nodded and broke up, Jayda had ordered specific forge equipment for the settlement, iron, and coal, to allow them to produce what they needed. She had also put in orders for staple foods, the merchant's guild was gathering it from all over Ashford spreading the wealth as far as they could and, in a way, to prevent the depletion of food in towns that needed it.

Jayda walked into their home, Anthony was waiting for them, "Anthony we are having..."

"The king for dinner, I know." He told her as he guided them to the kitchen and the waiting cook. "Tell me you have something exotic in there to wow our guests," he asked.

"Something his highness hasn't eaten, let's see," Jayda looked at the list of meat in her storage.

"Hey, do you still have that Frost Sky Deer?" Frey asked, even in the homeland they rarely eat it mainly because catching a deer that lived in snowstorms and travelled in the air, were hard to kill.

Jayda skimmed the list in her head until she found it, "I have it, but I haven't processed it." Jayda walked out into the outdoor kitchen, there was a dismantling rack. She was followed by the cook, their apprentices, Anthony, and Frey. She pulled out the deer, it was on the enormous size, in fact it was larger than a Great Reindeer, Frey helped her string up the beast and was glad there was foresight to have a large A frame dismantling stand like the guild used.

"What a magnificent creature, how did you manage to kill it." Anthony asked in shock. The deer had a large rack which looked to be crystal, it glinted in the light casting rainbows in the antlers. It's hide was covered in crystals which also reflected light and made gentle clinking sounds.

"It was an accident, I was out hunting, a storm blew in, I saw movement in the storm, felt a monster and attacked it." Jayda explained as she pulled out her knives, she had field dressed the monster, removed the blood and organs before storing it. she had shown it to Astra who had quickly shoved it back into her storage and told her not to bring it out again, not on barbarian lands. The creature wasn't sacred or anything, it was like a panic deer, it would have drawn clans from all over and possibly dragged them into a fight to keep it.

Jayda studied the carcass for a moment, figuring out the best way to dismantle it without damaging it before she got to work. Expertly she skinned the deer then removed its head to keep the antlers attached. The skin, head and antlers all went into her storage to be processed she then stepped back to let the cook inspect the meat.

"Nice, very nice, get the ground pit ready we will bake this in the underground oven." The cook declared and they got to work, they wouldn't cook the entire beast, it would be too much to feed them all even with leftovers so they were going to break the beast in half and only cook half of it, the other half would go into the cold store and be used later for meals.

Jayda produced a set of kitchen knives like the ones she gave to Tofa to Jane before she left them to it, if they needed help to move the beast they would ask. Jayda went to release her beasts into their field with Frey, Kim was there and ready to tend them.

Once they were done settling their beasts, they went straight to the bathroom to get clean and soak, they obeyed the no sex in communal areas rule although they did help wash each other's hair and back. Once they were done and in casual clothing, they returned to their favourite sitting room.

Jayda sat on the leather mat where she could work, "Are you going to process that hide today." Frey asked as she pulled out a book to read.

"Nah, not today, but I do have an idea as to where it can go." Jayda replied with a grin. Frey grinned and started to read.

Arnold wheeled a cart in, on it was labelled baskets. "Mail," he declared as he wheeled the cart forward before, he left, a maid walked in with a tea set followed by another maid who had snacks.

Frey marked her place and went to check to see if she had any mail, Arnold had already checked all the mail to make sure there was nothing dangerous or from inappropriate nobles. There were several letters in her basket, she scooped them up quite sure they were from her mother or her brother as they were the only people to write to her. None of her letters were open as this was not the first time her family had sent mail to her so Arnold was familiar with her family's handwriting. She didn't expect anything from her father, he could read but didn't have the fine motor skills to write so one of the letters would be scribed by either her mother or one of her siblings.

"Anything for me?" Jayda asked.

Frey checked Jayda's basket, it wasn't common but every now and again Jayda would get mail from acquaintances. "No, not this time."

Jayda nodded and started to work on sharpening disposable throwing knives, Mia had wanted a mid-range weapon, and although she had thrown a knife at Jayda that one time it was poorly thrown and only meant to be a distraction. Astra suggested throwing daggers and Jayda had shown her how rapid aim and fire could also be used for dagger throwing once she got used to the throwing technique. Since they were made from iron, she had mass produced a bunch of flat throwing blades in between making the metal fittings for the Dark Elf settlement. There was almost nothing to them, a blade and something that would pass for a handle, but she would not coat them as these were not for fighting but throwing. By being a flat double-edged straight dagger with a tang meant there was less air friction so would fly better.

Almost 2 hours later a freshly bathed Astra and Mia walked in, "Are those for me?" Mia asked as she walked over to Jayda.

"Yeah," scattered around Jayda was almost two dozen throwing blades. "These are only good for practise, humans and or monster up to D rank. Once you gain proficiency, I will make you stronger blades with the return function like your arrows."

Mia nodded, no use practising with higher grade weapons, she would never learn the correct techniques if she did, nor would she be able to gain the experience needed to gain the skill and get the skill correction needed to master it.

"I will make a sheath belt, it will go across your chest, right shoulder to left hip." Jayda added and Mia nodded.

"Once she has mastered daggers, she will be able to use pins, right?" Frey asked, Astra and she had crewed with a Catkin for a while who was deadly accurate with metal throwing pins and spikes.

Jayda nodded, "But there is a slightly different technique for them and a different sheath configuration but yes."

"Nice," Mia remarked before she sat next to Astra who was going through her mail.

Jayda kept working, sharpening, and working the blades to make sure they were balanced, although she did put in a few unbalanced ones to help teach Mia to be able to throw bad and or unfamiliar blades.

Jayda glanced up as Anthony opened the door, no one moved to stand as the nobles who frequented their homes knew they would be treated with respect but not like nobles. Tomas walked in, followed by his wife, Arnold, Kathryn, Dan and Jace came in a few moments later, the only reason Arnold had not walked in first was because he had gone up stairs to study the tapestry and his wife had gone with him.

"You are here kind of early?" Frey remarked, dinner was another four or five hours away.

"I discussed it with Tomas, it might be best to get this over with and them settled in for the night, then just let them relax, and explore and maybe in a day or two you check up on them and let us know how they are." Arnold explained.

"We also don't want to delay, every moment they are there they run the risk of being found out." Kathryn added.

Jayda considered him for a moment before she nodded. She pulled out ink and a piece of paper, she wrote in a script none of them had seen before but the Wildlings in the room could all read it. It is time, enter my shadow, I will take you to your new home. She blew on the ink to dry it before she held it over her shadow, she focused for a moment, connecting her shadow to theirs, once the connection was made, she dropped the paper, and it was swallowed by her shadow.

"That is so cool," Arnold remarked as he made himself comfortable.

"Yeah, but travelling by way of shadow... that is interesting." Astra said as she pulled out nearly two hundred high-capacity magic bags and handed them to Jayda who stored them as Astra pulled them out. Once the items were handed over Mia handed over another fifty magic bags.

"Are you sure you don't mind using your own wealth..." Kathryn started to ask.

"It is better this way, Mather did his best to spread it as wide as he could, you needed the money we had in our coffers out in the world." Astra remarked, even she had to admit since meeting Jayda she was earning too much money. Everything they had brought for the Dark Elf settlement hadn't even amounted to one medium white gold and they had hundreds of mixed sized white gold in their accounts.

Kathryn nodded, it was their money to do with as they pleased, the important thing was that they spent it instead of hoard it or Ashford's economy could stall.

"So, how long will it take for them to gather into your shadow?" Tomas asked.

Jayda shrugged, she could feel groups enter her shadow, knew they were scooping the things they hadn't packed up already into magic bags or into their shadows and leaving their homes. No more than half an hour later the man who had come to talk to them rose out of Jayda's shadow.

"We are all in your shadow," he told Jayda not even noticing the other people.

Jayda nodded.

"Are you the leader?" Arnold asked in a friendly tone.

He jerked and turned to the others in the room. "Be calm," Jayda told him firmly, "these people are good people." She told him before she turned to Arnold. "He is not the leader; Dark Elves are Matriarchal not Patriarchal like Elves."

He glanced to Jayda in alarm.

"We are all bound to keep the secrets of Dark Elves." Kathryn told him in a firm but friendly tone.

He hesitated for a moment however before he could say anything a woman rose out of Jayda's shadow, her clothes were prison issue as that is where she was, in prison before stepping into Jayda's shadow.

Arnold stood slowly, so as not to alarm the two newcomers, "I am Arnold Ashford, the king of this country," he told her, trying to control his anger. "I am sorry for demanding a meeting without giving you the proper time to prepare yourself." He continued before she had a chance to introduce herself.

"Khala, chieftain of my people," she introduced, her voice a little husky from disuse. She was doing her best not to stare at Jayda. Mia stood and quickly prepared tea for her.

"Greetings Khala, chieftain of the Dark Elves," Arnold greeted formally as well as acknowledging that her rank as chief of her people had not changed. "This is my partner Kathryn, Tomas and Marline, Margraves of Morris, Dan and Jace of the Morris adventurer's guild."

"Astra," Astra greeted.

"Mia," Mia greeted as she handed her tea, "this will help your throat." She explained before she sat.

"Frey," Frey greeted.

"Jayda," she finished as she scooped up all the blades on the mat, stored them including her tools and stood.

"This is my brother, York." Khala said before she sipped the drink after giving it a sniff, honey, herbs, and lemon was all that she could smell.

Jayda grabbed two chairs and sat them in a convenient spot before she sat in a free spot. "Please, sit."

Khala and York glanced to each other but sat in the chairs even as Arnold sat. There was silence for a moment until Kathryn elbowed her husband.

"Right," Arnold said as he opened his magic bag and pulled out copies of the contracts they had signed and handed them to Khala. "Please read these, if you agree to Morris and Ashford contracts simply sign, if you do not agree that is fine too, our contracts are still binding."

Khala took ten minutes to read and reread the contracts and no one rushed her, the secrecy contract meant little to her as it was a standard contract. The Margrave and the Kingdom contracts meant a lot, she had first been looking for loopholes which would bind them unreasonably, when she didn't find them, she expected unreasonable taxes or concessions, again she didn't find them. these contracts heavily favoured them, not the country or territory they were living in, they were only asked to obey the laws when they were in towns or cities, which was it. They would be completely free, something they hadn't had in nearly two thousand years.

"You signed these, without having met us, these are unconditional?" Khala asked in shock, she handed them to her brother to read and he did, he was just as shocked as she had been, and he hadn't even had a chance to fully study the contracts.

Arnold nodded, "that is the same contract my ancestor signed to prove he wanted nothing but to build a country where everyone was free, free to be themselves without discrimination. Back then there were many self-governed towns, where whole races had chosen to live, slowly we all found a way to be together as a country, it took time for us to become the melting pot you will see today. I hope that one day in the future, your town will be on maps, will be open to visitors and more but that can wait, we have time."

"And if we don't?" York asked daringly.

Arnold shrugged, "That's fine too, what is most important is that you are no longer being collared and held prisoner in your own country."

Dan sat forward a little, "I am the guild master of the adventurer guild here, this is Jace. Jayda has an identity card maker and cards for you to make identity cards for your people. Sadly, unless you setup a satellite branch we will need it back in a few months."

"There is a job assigner, it is fixed to adventurer," Jace added.

"I have been informed your new settlement is near a solid B-ranked dungeon. The guild will buy anything you can't use, so that you can buy what you need, we have also negotiated with the merchant's guild, you can buy directly from them, and they will always give you a fair price." Dan added.

"There are also books, about the adventurer's guild, how it works how it protects those associated with it. If a satellite guild is made, you can take jobs and rank up, keep track of what is in demand so that you can always get the best prices." Jace explained.

"That can be spoken about at another time," Jayda told the pair, they didn't want to overwhelm the pair, both nodded in agreement.

Khala frowned for a moment, they were being given the ability to earn money, so they could buy things instead of being given things and having to be grateful for what they got. This wasn't charity, this was self-reliance and freedom.

"Any questions?" Marline asked.

"You know about shadow step?" Khala asked and everyone in the room nodded.

"We would prefer you didn't shadow step directly into the city, unless it is an emergency." Tomas told them.

"And I offer my shadow for that purpose," Dan added.

"Some of us... don't have clean hands." Khala stated as she looked down to her own hands.

"Not by choice," Arnold told her firmly, "I understand that generally murderers don't get into cities, in Ashford you must have the title and a bounty to be bared, you could be a reformed criminal. As long as your job doesn't change to Assassin or Killer than you will be fine."

Jayda stood, "Come, let me take you to your new home."

"Once you've settled, had a chance to think, to consult, we would like to chat, to hear about your vision for the future of your clan." Arnold told her and Khala nodded in appreciation as she and York stood, they melted into Jayda's shadow.

"I'll be about an hour," she told the group before she vanished. She popped out of a shadow near the lift. "We're here."

People started to rush out of her shadow, they stood around a little, uncertain. Khala glanced around her people and took a shaky breath. "Brother's, sister's, we are no longer pawns of Leaf Tree." There was a cheer by the gathered people. She knew they had been watching, had seen and heard the contracts that had been prepared for them. "We better get ready to camp..."

Jayda grinned and pointed up; she was glad she had built the settlement for roughly Ten thousand people as the clan numbered a little over nine. Everyone tilted their heads back to see the prepared platforms and walkways. "While you guys were preparing, I was as well." She explained before she shadow stepped up to the platforms, she was followed up by everyone.

Khala had originally thought to scout out their own settlement site, however she had also not expected all this work to have been done. Jayda handed her a rough map of the area and then started to take out magic bags. "What's all this?"

"Things to get you started." Jayda stated. "Food, building materials, forge, ore and coal for smithing."

"We can't," Khala started to say.

"You can and will, you actually did me a favour, by getting all this together I have managed to get rid of some of the wealth I have gained." Jayda explained.

Khala frowned, "I don't understand."

"Yeah... I've earnt a lot of money as an adventurer, too much, if we don't start spending, we risk Ashford's economy. So... build your new settlement and turn it into a home. If you want to pay me back... do so by giving the outside world a solid try, explore your freedom, don't cut yourselves off out here." Jayda told them.

Khala considered her for a moment, "We can try."

Jayda nodded, "These trees are the only suitable trees in the area." She explained, "I've only built platforms, the rest is up to you."

"What type of monsters live here?" Khala asked.

"There are no monkey or climbing monsters. Only normal forest monsters." Jayda told her, "They do get stronger the further south you go, if you keep going you will start to encounter S class monsters and variants until you get to the barrier which separates the world of mortals from the dragon God domain."

Khala frowned, she hadn't realised that they were in the Forest of Origin, nor had she thought that this would be the place Jayda would place them for their home.

"Don't worry, you guys are only about seventy kilometres in, most of the strong adventurers in Morriston don't travel deeper than fifty and the border is like... a thousand kilometres from here." Jayda said thinking the frown was one of concern. "Also," she pointed to a point on the map, "here is a Gold Bee Beehive, they were very happy to know Dark Elves are going to be living here."

Khala glanced around before she gestured, ordering her clan to explore what Jayda had done, they were left alone. Jayda handed Khala a rough map of the fifty kilometres up to Morriston and a complete list of what had been gathered. "Mather will help you gather anything you need to finish building; however, I am sure you will thin some of the trees around the grove."

Khala nodded, that was the plan already forming in her head, they had good carvers in their clan.

"So, any questions?" Jayda asked and Khala shook her head. "Okay then, I will send you a message when Arnold would like to meet and then you can decide, here or there." Khala nodded as Jayda glanced around at the activity of the clan, it took her a moment before she realised why she was getting a slightly weird feeling. There were no children.

"Ah... no children have been born in over a fifteen hundred years." Khala explained. "It was why I was imprisoned, I refused to order my people to give birth to the next generation."

"Making it harder for the King to use you," Jayda surmised.

Khala shook her head, "We refused to bring a new generation to life only to live as slaves." She hesitated for a moment. "I am pretty sure you were one of the last few children born."

Jayda shrugged, not really reacting.

Khala took a deep breath, "I knew your mother."

Jayda shook her head, "No you don't," she stated firmly.

"Sorry," Khala told her, "Your birth mother not your actual mother." she corrected.

"Good for you," Jayda told her, "Look, everything I have learnt, makes me realise she did what was best for me." she glanced off for a moment, "doesn't mean I forgive her." She slid into her shadow and vanished.

York walked forward, "Was now really the best time to bring up her mother."

"She's family York," Khala stated firmly, Jayda was their niece, how could he not want to connect to child their sister had birthed.

"I know that, but she doesn't know that she doesn't know us as a people, she didn't live like we did. Just give her a chance to choose how much she wants to involve herself, how much she wishes to learn." York told her, the first time he met Jayda, back at the kingdom conference it had taken all his will power to not race up to her and hug her, she looked so much like her mother, his long-lost sister. He didn't, if only to follow his lost sisters firmest wish, to protect her daughter.

~*~

Jayda reappeared in the sitting room, "Excuse me," she told the room before she left it.

Mia sighed; she intuitively knew what was wrong with Jayda.

"I wonder what that was about." Marline remarked.

She got blank looks from Astra and Frey, Mia rubbed her face, "Remember, she is a true Wildling," she continued to get blank looks, she glared at her friend and then her lover. "You second gens, know nothing, you had your birth families." Mia stood and stormed from the room.

"Ah," Frey realised as she got to her feet, her father had issues about being abandoned as a baby.

"Second gens?" Dan asked.

"Wildling children being made wildling, raised by both monsters and sapiens." Astra explained as she got up, "Please make yourselves comfortable we will be back." Frey was already halfway out the door.

Frey quickly made her way to their room; she tested the door and it opened. She walked in to see Jayda curled up on her bed. Frey closed the door and joined Jayda, hugging her to her body. "It's okay," Frey told her as she hugged her tighter. "When you're ready." She added and was glad their rooms weren't close as she was sure Mia was yelling at Astra.

Frey just held her for long minutes, "Maybe... tomorrow, you go visit your parents."

"Yeah," Jayda said before she rolled over to face Fray. "Khala wanted to talk about my birth parents... that she knew them."

"Does it make you feel angry or guilty?" Frey asked.

"I don't know how I feel," Jayda told her honestly. "I love my parents; they've given me everything. Then I hear about them... and it hurts... rationally, I understand, they did what they did to protect me."

"Doesn't stop the hurt." Frey stated and Jayda nodded. Frey took a moment to stroke some hair out of Jayda's face. "It's okay to feel whatever it is you feel." Frey told her. "Your parents will stand by you, regardless of how you chose to go. Do you choose to know about them, or not, your choice."

"I have a family," Jayda said firmly.

"Full of very loving and indulgent aunts and uncles, all of them Gods, not that that is a bad thing." Frey told her as she stroked her face. "I get it, every now and again my father rages, he hates the people who birthed him, even though they are long gone, he loathes them. After all, he was given to the wild because they considered him weak, how could he not hate them." She explained, "then there's you... your parents didn't give you to the wild because you were weak, because you were one more mouth to feed or you were unwanted. You were given to the wild in the hopes you would survive. So that you could be free." She told Jayda.

Jayda pressed her face to Frey's chest. "I have..." she started to say.

"A Dark Elf family, I am guessing Khala and York, cousins... maybe?" Frey surmised and Jayda shook her head.

"Aunt and uncle," she corrected.

"Curse of having Dragon Eyes." Frey told her and Jayda nodded, Frey pressed her cheek to the top of Jayda's head. "It's not a betrayal you know, to have more than one family, after all, isn't that what we are, family."

Jayda sighed.

"Talk to your parents tomorrow." Frey told her. "I would say go now however... we have Frost Sky Deer for dinner tonight, no way I am letting you go off before you eat the beast you killed."

Jayda grinned, "You know I have four of them, right?" she asked.

"Four... you have four Frost Sky Deer?" Frey asked.

"Two Frost, two Blizzard." Jayda corrected.

Frey sighed, Of course you have the higher variant.

Jayda grinned and snuggled against Frey.

~~

Next update: 7/1/2024