Chapter 24: bonding
Once again, Daniel was facing agent Sword, this time, she was teaching self defence. The other trainee, Agent Fox, was already knocked out and laying on the floor like a rag doll. Ivana Smirnov seemed to be in a good mood, her usual frowning face was replaced with a faint smile, which seemed to be pretty rare considering the reaction of her other colleagues. With controlled footwork, she was swiftly moving around Daniel who had his hands raised to block her attacks and keeping his distance as much as he could.
"Keep your hands raised! I want to see how long you can endure the pressure!" Sword shouted before making a way too wide right swing that Dan barely managed to block. "If you can't properly, how are you supposed to survive during the mission? Come on, pay attention!" She scolded, making an ample movement that hinted for an uppercut that connected with his jaw.
Dan flew back a good metre before hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Ivana sighed as she walked towards him, instead of seeing if he was ok, she threw him a towel. He sat up, wiping his sweat with the towel.
"Use your arms to either deflect or block my attacks, they aren't there to look pretty. Fang said that you met her and that I should train you harder. You're way too easy to read." Ivana declared before turning to Fox who was struggling to get on his feet. "You too, Fox. You might get a cosy position in the rear, but you must be prepared for anything. I won't get any agent killed under my watch."
Fox replied with groans and coughs. Ivana grabbed him by the collar and easily lifted him up like a puppy. The teenager blurred something as thanks before getting his face covered by a towel that the woman threw at him.
"Go hit the shower and don't forget to stretch. I'll take care of Blue Boy."
The pale young man dragged himself to the locker room under the watchful eye of agent Sword. When she was certain that she was alone with Daniel who somehow managed to sneak up behind her, she instinctively reacted and stopped her fist from connecting with his face.
"Damn. How did you do that?" She asked with genuine surprise in her voice.
"I was still panting, though. So, do you want something from me?"
Ivana shot him a content look that piqued Daniel's interest. With a motion of the hand, she invited him to follow her to the bench where they sat next to each other. Dan took a bottle laying there and proceeded in downing the water in one fell swoop. Ivana had already done the same and was watching him, her eyes were betraying her intentions as she grew some curiosity about him.
"Looks like Abby saw something special in you. I have too but I don't think it's the same thing. Tell me, what attracted you to her?" She asked after he had finished drinking.
Dan stared at her, trying to see if she had other intentions in mind. All he managed was unconsciously laying his eyes on her massive chest, luckily for him, she didn't notice his gaze.
"You wouldn't get mad if I told you? Knowing how you… treated me the first time we met." He asked, getting ready to get hit or at least getting a negative reaction.
Ivana looked at him while thinking on how she should react, she absentmindedly tapped at her bottle of water while Daniel was waiting expectantly for something to happen. She remembered her therapy sessions about overcoming her past trauma and made what could be categorised as a smile towards a man for the first time.
"I overestimated you the first time, but you aren't a spy from the Order. You might still be a bad person but you can easily be managed."
Her answer confused Dan as to how to react, he was torn between being reassured and offended, though a quick glance at her impressive muscular physique made him choose the latter.
"You may already know that, but Abby and I are… having a casual sexual relationship." He began but quickly followed with his explanation before upsetting Ivana. "I mean, she was the one initiating it. I don't know if it's love or just sexual attraction, but I'm fond of her. She might be weird at times but she's fun to be with."
Agent Sword answered with a genuine chuckle, thinking of young Abby's misadventures. The thoughts made her relax and Daniel did as well.
"A lovable goofball, right? I remember that when she was a teen, she was in love with a knight. You'd understand my surprise when I learnt that as we were actually going to raid a camp of cavaliers the day after. Turns out, it was one of her classmates, you."
Dan chuckled with embarrassment, rubbing the back of the head. Ivana seemed to slightly warm up to him but didn't let him see it.
"She's a bit wild at times, that's for sure. That reminds me of the day she fought the anatomy model and begged me for help when she got found out."
"Oh yeah! That's the week after we put down a rookie necromancer. Turns out, the Order loves necromancy. Nine out of ten times, it's agent of the Order. The art of raising the dead is pretty complex, mainly because you need to know a lot about anatomy and necrosis, not mentioning you actually have to use your own energy for all of these actions." She explained while making hand gestures as to pace her speech.
"Sounds complicated. Do you use magic too?"
Ivana took her phone that was laying on the bench and used a painting app, she began drawing with her finger.
"Here? No. In Avila? I'm using divine magic, it's the second most used system. You have standard mages that use elemental telekinesis. Divine mages are clerics who gain power from some unknown entity, supposedly the excess of concentration of magic essence. Most of our information about magic are taken from the Order's intercepted messages. Now I'm curious about what type of magic you'll use."
"Too much information to take in. Also how do you know what kind of magic you can use?"
"The standard magic system is accessible to any intellectual beings who have a will of their own, even dogs and birds could use it. Some do but it's very rare. As for divine magic, it's more about your connection to an entity, no need for prayers or anything, but people think it helps. There's many more systems but those are rarely used because it asks time and resources. The third most used magic is ritual magic, it requires gathering ingredients and magic essence. It's one of the strongest but also most resource consuming."
Ivana realised that it was actually the first time, since her traumatic incident, that she calmly talked with a man in a one on one conversation. Even if it was more explaining than talking, it felt weird to behave almost casually with someone of the opposite sex. She hoped that he wouldn't betray her, that thought alone made her clam up. Daniel noticed the visible change of attitude, from Ivana being relaxed to having her muscles visibly tensed up.
"I don't suppose we're going to talk as casually as that a moment before. Should I say something?" Daniel asked as if he was threading on a minefield.
Ivana grunted before picking up another bottle of water.
"I won't pretend that I know what you've been through, nor would I ask unless you want me to. I won't pretend that I'm perfect either." Daniel stated, trying to calm Ivana down. "If we can at least trust enough to not fear for backstabbing, it'd be a win. Don't you think?"
Ivana narrowed her eyes as if to see if Daniel was deceiving her, he seemed quite honest, nothing could hint at any ill intent. He noticed that her muscles relaxed a bit.
"Well, we aren't going to have any intimate relationship anytime soon. I'm already comfortable with Abby's shenanigans and that's far enough for me to handle." He added with an uncomfortable chuckle.
Ivana launched her fist to Daniel's face, he only had time to brace for impact, which never came. He opened his eyes and was greeted with a flick on his nose, it hurt a bit.
"Aren't you a rude one, Blue Boy?" She sneered. "Well, it's nice that you still have the galls to say such things to my face. I guess Fang was right, you really are bold at times."
Dan rubbed his nose as he looked at Sword who was back to being casual with him, though the atmosphere was still a bit tense. They were still sweaty and recovering from their workout. An awkward silence slowly stepped in as they didn't really know what to do.
"So… I'll go hit the shower." Daniel declared with a bit of hesitation. "I'm sure Fox is probably done by now."
Dan slowly stood up as his aching muscles were staring to take a toll, the week-old bruises having barely healed.
"Ah right, I need to warn you. Next week, when we'll be in Avila, you might want to get a good hygiene. Enjoy these commodities while you can, also make sure to get yourself a bar of soap in your kit."
The young man made a mental note about what Ivana said.
"Right, condoms, towels and a bar of soap. Got it."
Ivana was about to say something but decided otherwise and smiled.
"They also have condoms in Avila, not as good as ours. Maybe you should ask around for more things to add in your inventory. Don't worry about your gear, you'll get yourself a short sword, a dagger and some leather protections. Just make sure to not lose any of the stuff your bring with you, we don't want the natives to stumble on alien objects, right?" Agent Sword explained, cracking her knuckles to make her point come across.
"You're talking like I'm going to do a side-quest from an RPG. Do I also have to kill five goblins to level up?" He chuckled while getting a somewhat amused look from the woman.
"You can take it that way, but remember that this is real life. There's no checkpoint, nor save slot or cheat code. All I'm doing is giving you tools to be prepared, because if earth is normal difficulty, Avila is hardcore if you aren't careful." Ivana continued to explain.
The muscular woman felt some unknown sensation from being able to casually talk to a man, it felt new and good. Ivana felt some kind of pride in her achievement, almost wanting to hug the person who helped her overcome her prejudice. The young man, on the other hand, had the impression that the buff woman was ready to jump on him.
"Anyway, I'll be on my way." He hurriedly said before scramming towards the shower.
Ivana took her phone and called her therapist with a smile.
Once again, Daniel was facing agent Sword, this time, she was teaching self defence. The other trainee, Agent Fox, was already knocked out and laying on the floor like a rag doll. Ivana Smirnov seemed to be in a good mood, her usual frowning face was replaced with a faint smile, which seemed to be pretty rare considering the reaction of her other colleagues. With controlled footwork, she was swiftly moving around Daniel who had his hands raised to block her attacks and keeping his distance as much as he could.
"Keep your hands raised! I want to see how long you can endure the pressure!" Sword shouted before making a way too wide right swing that Dan barely managed to block. "If you can't properly, how are you supposed to survive during the mission? Come on, pay attention!" She scolded, making an ample movement that hinted for an uppercut that connected with his jaw.
Dan flew back a good metre before hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Ivana sighed as she walked towards him, instead of seeing if he was ok, she threw him a towel. He sat up, wiping his sweat with the towel.
"Use your arms to either deflect or block my attacks, they aren't there to look pretty. Fang said that you met her and that I should train you harder. You're way too easy to read." Ivana declared before turning to Fox who was struggling to get on his feet. "You too, Fox. You might get a cosy position in the rear, but you must be prepared for anything. I won't get any agent killed under my watch."
Fox replied with groans and coughs. Ivana grabbed him by the collar and easily lifted him up like a puppy. The teenager blurred something as thanks before getting his face covered by a towel that the woman threw at him.
"Go hit the shower and don't forget to stretch. I'll take care of Blue Boy."
The pale young man dragged himself to the locker room under the watchful eye of agent Sword. When she was certain that she was alone with Daniel who somehow managed to sneak up behind her, she instinctively reacted and stopped her fist from connecting with his face.
"Damn. How did you do that?" She asked with genuine surprise in her voice.
"I was still panting, though. So, do you want something from me?"
Ivana shot him a content look that piqued Daniel's interest. With a motion of the hand, she invited him to follow her to the bench where they sat next to each other. Dan took a bottle laying there and proceeded in downing the water in one fell swoop. Ivana had already done the same and was watching him, her eyes were betraying her intentions as she grew some curiosity about him.
"Looks like Abby saw something special in you. I have too but I don't think it's the same thing. Tell me, what attracted you to her?" She asked after he had finished drinking.
Dan stared at her, trying to see if she had other intentions in mind. All he managed was unconsciously laying his eyes on her massive chest, luckily for him, she didn't notice his gaze.
"You wouldn't get mad if I told you? Knowing how you… treated me the first time we met." He asked, getting ready to get hit or at least getting a negative reaction.
Ivana looked at him while thinking on how she should react, she absentmindedly tapped at her bottle of water while Daniel was waiting expectantly for something to happen. She remembered her therapy sessions about overcoming her past trauma and made what could be categorised as a smile towards a man for the first time.
"I overestimated you the first time, but you aren't a spy from the Order. You might still be a bad person but you can easily be managed."
Her answer confused Dan as to how to react, he was torn between being reassured and offended, though a quick glance at her impressive muscular physique made him choose the latter.
"You may already know that, but Abby and I are… having a casual sexual relationship." He began but quickly followed with his explanation before upsetting Ivana. "I mean, she was the one initiating it. I don't know if it's love or just sexual attraction, but I'm fond of her. She might be weird at times but she's fun to be with."
Agent Sword answered with a genuine chuckle, thinking of young Abby's misadventures. The thoughts made her relax and Daniel did as well.
"A lovable goofball, right? I remember that when she was a teen, she was in love with a knight. You'd understand my surprise when I learnt that as we were actually going to raid a camp of cavaliers the day after. Turns out, it was one of her classmates, you."
Dan chuckled with embarrassment, rubbing the back of the head. Ivana seemed to slightly warm up to him but didn't let him see it.
"She's a bit wild at times, that's for sure. That reminds me of the day she fought the anatomy model and begged me for help when she got found out."
"Oh yeah! That's the week after we put down a rookie necromancer. Turns out, the Order loves necromancy. Nine out of ten times, it's agent of the Order. The art of raising the dead is pretty complex, mainly because you need to know a lot about anatomy and necrosis, not mentioning you actually have to use your own energy for all of these actions." She explained while making hand gestures as to pace her speech.
"Sounds complicated. Do you use magic too?"
Ivana took her phone that was laying on the bench and used a painting app, she began drawing with her finger.
"Here? No. In Avila? I'm using divine magic, it's the second most used system. You have standard mages that use elemental telekinesis. Divine mages are clerics who gain power from some unknown entity, supposedly the excess of concentration of magic essence. Most of our information about magic are taken from the Order's intercepted messages. Now I'm curious about what type of magic you'll use."
"Too much information to take in. Also how do you know what kind of magic you can use?"
"The standard magic system is accessible to any intellectual beings who have a will of their own, even dogs and birds could use it. Some do but it's very rare. As for divine magic, it's more about your connection to an entity, no need for prayers or anything, but people think it helps. There's many more systems but those are rarely used because it asks time and resources. The third most used magic is ritual magic, it requires gathering ingredients and magic essence. It's one of the strongest but also most resource consuming."
Ivana realised that it was actually the first time, since her traumatic incident, that she calmly talked with a man in a one on one conversation. Even if it was more explaining than talking, it felt weird to behave almost casually with someone of the opposite sex. She hoped that he wouldn't betray her, that thought alone made her clam up. Daniel noticed the visible change of attitude, from Ivana being relaxed to having her muscles visibly tensed up.
"I don't suppose we're going to talk as casually as that a moment before. Should I say something?" Daniel asked as if he was threading on a minefield.
Ivana grunted before picking up another bottle of water.
"I won't pretend that I know what you've been through, nor would I ask unless you want me to. I won't pretend that I'm perfect either." Daniel stated, trying to calm Ivana down. "If we can at least trust enough to not fear for backstabbing, it'd be a win. Don't you think?"
Ivana narrowed her eyes as if to see if Daniel was deceiving her, he seemed quite honest, nothing could hint at any ill intent. He noticed that her muscles relaxed a bit.
"Well, we aren't going to have any intimate relationship anytime soon. I'm already comfortable with Abby's shenanigans and that's far enough for me to handle." He added with an uncomfortable chuckle.
Ivana launched her fist to Daniel's face, he only had time to brace for impact, which never came. He opened his eyes and was greeted with a flick on his nose, it hurt a bit.
"Aren't you a rude one, Blue Boy?" She sneered. "Well, it's nice that you still have the galls to say such things to my face. I guess Fang was right, you really are bold at times."
Dan rubbed his nose as he looked at Sword who was back to being casual with him, though the atmosphere was still a bit tense. They were still sweaty and recovering from their workout. An awkward silence slowly stepped in as they didn't really know what to do.
"So… I'll go hit the shower." Daniel declared with a bit of hesitation. "I'm sure Fox is probably done by now."
Dan slowly stood up as his aching muscles were staring to take a toll, the week-old bruises having barely healed.
"Ah right, I need to warn you. Next week, when we'll be in Avila, you might want to get a good hygiene. Enjoy these commodities while you can, also make sure to get yourself a bar of soap in your kit."
The young man made a mental note about what Ivana said.
"Right, condoms, towels and a bar of soap. Got it."
Ivana was about to say something but decided otherwise and smiled.
"They also have condoms in Avila, not as good as ours. Maybe you should ask around for more things to add in your inventory. Don't worry about your gear, you'll get yourself a short sword, a dagger and some leather protections. Just make sure to not lose any of the stuff your bring with you, we don't want the natives to stumble on alien objects, right?" Agent Sword explained, cracking her knuckles to make her point come across.
"You're talking like I'm going to do a side-quest from an RPG. Do I also have to kill five goblins to level up?" He chuckled while getting a somewhat amused look from the woman.
"You can take it that way, but remember that this is real life. There's no checkpoint, nor save slot or cheat code. All I'm doing is giving you tools to be prepared, because if earth is normal difficulty, Avila is hardcore if you aren't careful." Ivana continued to explain.
The muscular woman felt some unknown sensation from being able to casually talk to a man, it felt new and good. Ivana felt some kind of pride in her achievement, almost wanting to hug the person who helped her overcome her prejudice. The young man, on the other hand, had the impression that the buff woman was ready to jump on him.
"Anyway, I'll be on my way." He hurriedly said before scramming towards the shower.
Ivana took her phone and called her therapist with a smile.
Chapter 25: Enduring as a family
The storm was slowly creeping near Premer, the winds were shaking tree branches as well as anything that wasn't very sturdy. Everyone was hiding inside their house or in public buildings such as the covered market or the different churches dedicated to various entities. Most of the ships had disembarked their crew, some officers and a handful of sailors were still stationed on the vessels to make sure that everything was under control. The admiral Afarin would have stayed on land if it wasn't for her adopted daughter, Afardo, who she wanted to keep away from Premer as much as possible while still keeping an eye on her in the admiral's cabin. The senior captain Artin was watching the storm approach as he stood tall on the deck, when a young sailor came to him.
"Sir, the last preparations are done. Clear to move on land?"
Artin silently looked at him for a moment before setting his attention to the horizon and the dark clouds.
"Manar, unless you want to die young, I'd recommend that you stay here. The waves are getting rowdy and the mother of the seas would probably welcome you."
"That's… what should we do, then?"
The senior captain didn't answer, he instead looked at the horizon while tightly gripping the railing of the ship. Soon enough, a violent wind made the young sailor trip backward and the shock made the laufer rock from side to side with worrying creaking noises.
"Those fucking Ahas! Why did they have to create such fuss around the season change?! I hate that mossroni period!" An angry admiral could be heard from her cabin.
Artin calmly walked to hear quarters, passing by some toppled barrels of preserved food in the hallway, he took the time to put them back in place and made sure that these were tightly strapped. The senior captain knocked on the door and the voice of an annoyed Afarin came through.
"Come in!"
"Captain Artin, coming in." He announced as he opened the door.
He came across a not-so-unusual scene that often happened during mossroni periods. Sitting on the floor, Afarin was holding her flat nose that bleed on mouth and chin, Artin gave her a piece of cloth that the woman used to wipe the blood off her face.
"Thanks. I guess it's starting now?" Afarin asked with a defeated look on her face.
Artin looked at a strapped-to-the-bed Afardo who seemed to be sleeping soundly while lying on her right side, a basin next to her head. The admiral let out a sigh as she clearly noticed her officer's gaze.
"Yeah… I used some medicines so she wouldn't have to experience this shitty change of season."
"That's very considerate of you. Don't get too attached, remember your goal with her." Artin declared, extending a helping hand to his superior officer.
Afarin accepted his help, but a strong gust of wind made to boat rock from side to side and made the woman fall in Artin's strong arms as he didn't flinch from the shock. The embarrassed Afarin found herself feeling safe in his arms before realising her weird thoughts, though it wasn't her first mossroni.
"Thanks, again." She said while getting back on her feet once more. "I'll never get used to this."
"Took me forty years, so don't worry too much, admiral. You've been in the navy for almost twenty years now. On a boat, you can walk and run better than most marines on land, admiral. Still, do you need me to keep you company during this storm?"
Afarin glanced at the sleeping Afardo then sighed before sitting on the bed, caressing her adopted daughter's cheek with a caring look.
"I'm good. Thanks for your help. I don't know what I'd do without you, Artin. That reminds me that in a few days it'll be ten years that I've become the admiral of the royal fleet. It's longer than your previous admirals, right?"
Artin nodded as he remembered the face of every admiral he worked under.
"Indeed. Admiral Farlar was one of the best, surviving for nine whole years. Such a shame that he got killed by a stray arrow on that fateful night. You should be careful, admiral." The man said, though it sounded somewhat menacing.
Afarin acquiesced silently as the boat was rocked once again by the storm. The sea became more and more agitated, making the laufer creak menacingly. The admiral looked at her senior captain with a tired expression before collapsing on the bed, her head falling on her adopted daughter's chest. Artin was surprised by the loss of consciousness from the woman and shook her shoulder but didn’t get any reaction. A quick look around the cabin showed that she also took some medicine to fall asleep. The captain frowned at her before grabbing her unconscious body in his arms, witnessing for the first time such defenceless female admiral.
After some very long hours that felt like an eternity, where both the fleet and the harbour were harassed by violent winds and waves, the sunlight finally pierced the dark grey clouds, shedding light to a lightly damaged port. Some roof tiles got displaced, dozens of badly built windows got broken and lots of seaweed covered the harbour. A handful of people carefully looked outside while still being prepared to quickly go back to safety. On the horizon appeared a couple of vessels harbouring the colours of the royal fleet, those were the scout teams, three groups of them.
"How did they get through that storm unhinged?" The sailor Manar wondered as the friendly forces were approaching.
A grumpy looking admiral came to the deck, she looked like she tried to sleep during a storm though she was wearing her tidy uniform, with her small cape and bright colours, looking fresh if not for her face. She had her senior captain in tow, looking like his usual self, as if they didn’t go through this harsh weather. His impressive height and wide shoulders that were twice the size of an average man made him quite the contrast to his superior officer who was his complete opposite, both in physique as well as in their aura. The man gave a feeling of being an indestructible golem while the woman looked like a dandelion, able to thrive in unfavourable conditions.
"They don’t look like they encountered any problem. Maybe I should have gone with them." Afarin said with a croaky voice, her comment was taken as a joke and the sailor laughed at it.
"My thoughts exactly, admiral!" The young man declared, earning a stern look from the senior captain.
With a spyglass, Afarin confirmed that those ships were actually crewed by her own men, as Artin suggested that those might have been captured by the Order. The man signalled to the incoming ships for a meeting after nodding to his admiral. Despite being recently woken up, Afarin quickly regained her composure and acted like a proper admiral of the royal fleet, her back straight and an impassible face.
"Glad to see you intact, Vaso, Censo and Reso. Give me your reports." She immediately said as soon as the captains of the different scout teams set foot on her vessel.
"West team reporting. We stayed out of range of the Order fleet, no casualties." Captain Reso declared.
Reso was a man in his thirties who often volunteered for scouting missions, like other captains, he proudly wore a red tunic underneath a blue jacket, he wore a pair of green pants, though his were darker because of a lack of bright green colours at the time of his enrolment in the navy. Like most senior officers, he sported a beard, which was trimmed, since displaying their facial hair was thought to show veteran nature of the man.
"East team reporting! Nothing more than was what written in the earlier message. We avoided the storm by going north and following the storm behind." Captain Vaso explained.
Vaso was a young officer, freshly out of the royal academy of Hericart, the capital of the kingdom of Heri. He was barely eighteen, but his age didn’t interfere when he was on duty because he was raised in the strict environment of the royal academy. He wasn’t as tall as the average adults in the fleet, but it didn’t matter to him as he could impose his presence with his voice and manners.
"South team, reporting. We tried to signal the fleet of the Order multiple times without success. We didn’t engage as you ordered but we did notice that the storm was approaching fast. We disembarked as much as possible on the shore and followed the usual procedure. When the storm hit and left, the Order was nowhere to be seen. They didn’t sank or crashed. It's safe to assume that they left before getting hit." Captain Censo reported.
Censo looked quite unusual for a captain of the royal fleet, having a peg leg and an eyepatch. His clothes too were different, they were patched here and there, with the sleeves sewn back together at different places. Censo's look was so worn out and beaten up that he earned the nickname “undying” by his fellow crew. His usual role was to be a spear head to most skirmishes and his look was a testament to all the battles he survived, but the recent loss of his left eye forced him to take missions with low risks.
Afarin nodded approvingly to Censo's report before turning to Artin who hadn’t say a word until then.
"In regards to the possible menace, an order has been sent to the rest of the Herikfer fleet. We are to defend the maritime cities of the threat. Since your ships are the fastest, we'll send you to Valiamer to regroup with the rest of the fleet. The laufer boats will stay in Premer until the Ahas situation is under control, then we'll head to Valiamer and act following the situation. It might be a conflict of multiple fronts, so make sure to rearm and rest before leaving, just do it as quickly as possible." Captain Artin declared with a serious look on his face.
"Remember that the kingdom is being threatened. I trust your judgment on how to deal with the defense of the cities while I’m not with you." Admiral Afarin added, with trusting a smile. "Don’t let the kingdom down, men. And remember, you aren’t allowed to die without my order."
The three captains chuckled before hitting their own chest with their fist and a grunt.
"For Herik! We won’t die without your order!" They shouted.
Afarin felt bad for having such loyal men but didn’t show her sentiment, instead she pumped her chest as well.
"Make me proud of having you under my command!"
The men grunted in approbation before quickly leaving to their own ship. The fleet stationed in Premer went back to life, the ships were crewed to their usual capacities, anchors were raised and sails were being deployed. The decks were once again bustling with the running around of crewmen and sailors hurrying to their post. Soon enough, almost every ship of the royal fleet left the docks to sail to the south, safe for twenty boats that carried flamethrowers, the laufer vessels stayed with the admiral who watched the sails of the departing ships sink into the horizon as the sun was setting behind the woods that surrounded Premer. Afarin hoped to be able to see them again and prayed that the Mother of the seas would favor them once again.
Afardo slowly woke up from her deep sleep, finding an empty bucket at the foot of the bed as well as undone ropes. Groggy, she didn’t take time to get dressed and stumbled on the deck which was silent and bathed in the light of the night, some from some candles. There were some sailors walking around, minding their own business of moving crates back to where they were needed. For once, the young girl found her mother standing near the railing without the intention to throw up, instead looking at the horizon. With her foggy consciousness, she looked around before heading towards a rowboat. She tried her best to undo the knots of the ropes that kept the small embarkation to drift away. With a still sleepy mind, she finally managed to get herself an escape, struggling to row with her feeble arms. She found the task too hard and stood up to take the ladder to go back on the laufer, but a wave made her trip and fall in the water. Unfortunately, she didn’t make a splashing sound loud enough for people to notice it. The water was cold and still a bit agitated, the temperature made Afardo come to her senses and she began scream and flaying to stay above water, since she never knew how to swim. Her panicked screams were covered by the sailors who were in the mood to hum while working. Even with her best efforts, the young woman couldn’t stay afloat and her stamina quickly depleted. She was sinking, she could see the rowboat and the ropes that she undid but didn’t have the strength to reach any of it. She gave up, closed her eyes and mouth as she couldn’t scream for help and let the sea welcome her in her cold, uncaring depth.
"I'm so stupid. Why did I do that?" She thought before running out of oxygen.
She let out the air out of her lungs. But the sea didn’t accept her, instead, the waves pushed her towards the shore where washed away. Fate decided to let her live as a group of hooded figures noticed her silhouette on the sandy beach. They cautiously walked to her, discovering a naked Ahas looking young woman with seaweed on her. The hooded figures turned out to be city guards and took her as an escaped slave.
"What do we do with her, guys?" One of them asked while shaking Afardo's shoulder.
"Stupid slave who didn’t know that there was going to be a storm, huh? If she's still alive, we'll bring her to the slave center, if not, we'll bury her here. I don’t want to get hit by the plague again." Another declared, poking her unconscious body with his feet.
Thankfully for her, she coughed out water. The guards scrambled to make sure that she'd survive as one preformed mouth-to-mouth breathing, it didn’t take long before she coughed out all the water in her lungs with an exhausted breathing.
"What the... where am I?" Afardo asked as she came back to her senses, only to be surrounded by four men.
One of them took out his hood and put it on her.
"Be thankful that we saved your cheap slave life, Ahas. Now, where is your master?" The same one asked while lifting her in her feet and giving support.
"I don’t have a master. My name if Afardo." She replied with an innocent tone in her voice.
A guard mumbled something before turning to his peers with a grave expression on his face. He walked to her and held her arm.
"Daughter of the house of Afar. We'll bring you to the castle to get you some clothes and send you back to Valiamer by boat. Is that ok?" The same person explained before helping the girl to stay on her feet.
"Someone important, then? Are you sure you’re from Afar? I don’t remember that they had Ahas." Another guard declared before getting knocked down by a rock thrown at his head.
The three other guards got surprised by the sudden attack and looked around in panic. Another stone was thrown at them, but bounced on their raised shield. The man who understood the meaning of Afardo's name pushed the confused girl behind him. His actions made him look like the leader of that patrol to the eyes of the unknown attackers, they guessed that he was a sergeant at best.
"They might be after the Afardo! Protect her! Lord Olf might get in trouble if she gets hurts or kidnapped!" He barked before finally meeting the attackers.
The aggressors were also hooded figures, they were also four. They had rocks in one hand and a dagger in the other, they quickly dropped the projectiles as the three remaining city guards were now using their shield. One of the attackers pointed his weapon to the one protecting Afardo and said something in an unknown tongue.
"Foreigners. Stay in formation and we'll get through it. If you, take his spear and shield." The sergeant said to Afardo while pointing at the unconscious guard.
The young girl hesitated to follow his advice. The aggressors used the distraction to strike the group leader with what looked like a pouch full of something. The projectile hit the man's head, making him fall on the ground and completely demoralised the other two guards who decided to flee because of the lack of leadership. Afardo was once again in a helpless situation, left alone with four unknown hooded figures. The one who spoke in an unknown language pulled down his hood, she was an Ahas.
"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" She spoke in Shashari, the common tongue of the Ahas.
Afardo felt as if she knew the language, then she remembered that her adoptive mother mainly talked about Ahas slang. The young woman tried her best to remember what words to say but what came out of her mouth sounded like a blur of incomprehensible nonsense. The Ahas woman looked at her companions then put her hand on Afardo's forehead.
"They must have really messed you up, huh? Don’t worry, we'll get you back to our hideout. Hociq, give her the cloth you gathered from earlier." The female Ahas ordered to another one who carried a big backpack.
The person designated as Hociq pulled out some pants and shirts from the backpack, handing them to the naked Afardo that only wore the hood of one of the city guards. The runaway girl came to realise that the Ahas team was only composed of older women who seemed to have battle experience from the number of scars on their face. The female leader's left eye seemed to be partially blind as the right iris and pupil had a milky colour.
"What's your name, by the way?" The half blind woman asked after that the rescued girl was dressed.
Once again, the girl didn’t understand much but felt like presenting herself was a sensible thing to do. After observing the people around her, she came to believe that pumping her chest was a form a salute.
"I'm Afardo, I'm a few weeks old." She said in Meeri, the language commonly used in the area.
Having fought and lived in the area of Premer for quite a long time, such common words were easily understood by the Ahas fighters. It did made them curious as to why the girl, that they considered one of theirs, was speaking the enemy's tongue.
"A stranded one, huh? Don’t worry, when we'll bring you back, you'll be speaking a more civilised tongue." The female leader laughed while giving a friendly pat on Afardo's shoulder. "You're a burden?"
"I'm not a burden! I'm Afardo. My mother is Afarin now, you've heard of Afarin Hol?"
The mention of the admiral's name seemed to ring a bell as the women stopped on their track before turning to Afardo who looked confused at their behaviour. The Ahas opened their mouth, bearing their fang, but they didn’t drip any poison, it was more of a smile. They proceeded in pulling up their left sleeve, displaying their skin pattern and a tattoo that looked like a snake in an egg. The leader pounced on Afardo, who became even more confused in that weird display, and began speaking fluently in Meeri.
"A kin! You're a Ho! Now we definitely have to bring you back to Ahas land! Girls, let's hurry back to the headquarters instead! By the way, we are Ho too! I'm Hohon. You already know Hociq, the one with the backpack. Here's Hoshee, she's the one who threw the projectiles with precision. And the one with a big cutting scar on her mouth is Hony, don’t ask how she get her scar though." Hohon excitedly explained, pointing at each women who waved or bowed when presented.
The Ahas hurried their pace to their main base, a renovated building that used to be an orphanage. In their long walk, Afardo took a better look at each of the women to have a better way to differentiate them. Hohon was the tallest of the group, being slightly above the one meter sixty, and the fact that she had one half blind eye made it quite easy to remember. Hociq, on the other hand, was the shortest, being one meter forty, she was pretty small compared to the female average height of one and a half meter. The woman named Hoshee attracted Afardo's attention by the fact that her skin colour was dark red as well as her eyes, which were similar to cats. The fourth woman, Hony, didn’t have a lot of noticeable physical trait aside from her mouth scar, but she could notice some furtive glance from the woman who looked slightly older than Afardo's own appearance.
Once they arrived in front of the main entrance, Hohon, the leader, hissed at the door which opened slowly before letting the group enter. For some reason unknown to Afardo, Hoshee covered her eyes as she stepped inside. They were met by a handful of hooded Ahas who were sitting in front of two humans, listening to what they talking about. The room occupants simultaneously turned to look at the newcomers.
"Fifth squad of the outer wall reporting. Are we interrupting something?" Hohon asked, scanning the well lit room.
The female human sighed before nodding to confirm their interruption.
"Can it wait? We're almost finished with the meeting." Karen Smith said, with an annoyed look on her face.
The fifth squad and Afardo were invited to sit at a table and waited patiently for the humans to finish, they were talking about the storm and how they had to revise their plan because of it. The Ahas woman named Hony brushed the Afardo's hand before gently holding it, it surprised the young girl who looked at the slightly older one who wore a gentle smile even if it was a bit disturbed by the scar on her mouth.
"You'll be welcomed in the sisterhood soon enough, maybe I'll be the lucky one to initiate you to our ritual. Don’t worry, I'll be gentle." Hony said with a sweet voice while affectionately caressing Afardo's hand who seemed stunned by that. "I'll take care precious care of you."
The girl stared in confusion and before she could talk, the meeting was over and Hohon stood up, gathering the attention on herself. She clicked her tongue to ask for silence as some were whispering to one another.
"Brothers and sisters, I'm excited to present to you a stranded one. She ended up here, only able to speak barbaric. Thankfully, we saved her from being used by human men who had already stripped her." Hohon proudly explained, making Afardo stand up but she noticed that it didn’t interest the other too much. "But! We found out that she's a Ho!"
The two humans held a snicker, thankfully for them, most of the female Ahas present in the room let out a pleasantly surprised yelp while the male Ahas were left in silent confusion. Woso was there too and raised his hand in a form of protest.
"Is that a woman topic? Do we have to care?" He bluntly asked, looking at the other men in the meeting room.
"A word bearer doesn’t know what Ho is? Surely your mother should. "Hohon declared, with a bit of surprise in her expression. "It's simple, we are the followers of Ho, the Mother figure, She who takes care of her daughters and bring fertility and strength to those who bear children! After all, most of us here are named after Her." Hohon explained with the approving nods of the women, aside from those who were born a few days ago and didn’t know about Ho.
Karen stepped in, feeling like such conversation was useless and a waste of time for her and the operation as a whole.
"Ok, so go to the point. It's already past midnight and most of us are tired."
"Well, this girl is Afardo Hol! A Ho and most importantly, a kin of the director of the breeding district of our home city! Hol is closer to Ho than any of our sisters of Falmer. If we can bring back her kin, we'll surely be blessed with strength and fertility for generations!"
Markus, who had remained silent, decided to intervene before Karen acted rudely towards the excited Ahas. He poked at her side and silently made her understand to let them be for the moment, since having the cooperation and unity of the Ahas was a priority. The followers of Ho gathered around the Afardo who felt overwhelmed by their friendliness, she was smiling at their cheers and praises. Some even proposed to bring in all the sisters at once. Markus looked at one of his male Ahas friend and nodded, asking him to keep an eye on the women. The person in question carried surgical tools on an armband. He had scalpels, scissors and clamps.
The storm was slowly creeping near Premer, the winds were shaking tree branches as well as anything that wasn't very sturdy. Everyone was hiding inside their house or in public buildings such as the covered market or the different churches dedicated to various entities. Most of the ships had disembarked their crew, some officers and a handful of sailors were still stationed on the vessels to make sure that everything was under control. The admiral Afarin would have stayed on land if it wasn't for her adopted daughter, Afardo, who she wanted to keep away from Premer as much as possible while still keeping an eye on her in the admiral's cabin. The senior captain Artin was watching the storm approach as he stood tall on the deck, when a young sailor came to him.
"Sir, the last preparations are done. Clear to move on land?"
Artin silently looked at him for a moment before setting his attention to the horizon and the dark clouds.
"Manar, unless you want to die young, I'd recommend that you stay here. The waves are getting rowdy and the mother of the seas would probably welcome you."
"That's… what should we do, then?"
The senior captain didn't answer, he instead looked at the horizon while tightly gripping the railing of the ship. Soon enough, a violent wind made the young sailor trip backward and the shock made the laufer rock from side to side with worrying creaking noises.
"Those fucking Ahas! Why did they have to create such fuss around the season change?! I hate that mossroni period!" An angry admiral could be heard from her cabin.
Artin calmly walked to hear quarters, passing by some toppled barrels of preserved food in the hallway, he took the time to put them back in place and made sure that these were tightly strapped. The senior captain knocked on the door and the voice of an annoyed Afarin came through.
"Come in!"
"Captain Artin, coming in." He announced as he opened the door.
He came across a not-so-unusual scene that often happened during mossroni periods. Sitting on the floor, Afarin was holding her flat nose that bleed on mouth and chin, Artin gave her a piece of cloth that the woman used to wipe the blood off her face.
"Thanks. I guess it's starting now?" Afarin asked with a defeated look on her face.
Artin looked at a strapped-to-the-bed Afardo who seemed to be sleeping soundly while lying on her right side, a basin next to her head. The admiral let out a sigh as she clearly noticed her officer's gaze.
"Yeah… I used some medicines so she wouldn't have to experience this shitty change of season."
"That's very considerate of you. Don't get too attached, remember your goal with her." Artin declared, extending a helping hand to his superior officer.
Afarin accepted his help, but a strong gust of wind made to boat rock from side to side and made the woman fall in Artin's strong arms as he didn't flinch from the shock. The embarrassed Afarin found herself feeling safe in his arms before realising her weird thoughts, though it wasn't her first mossroni.
"Thanks, again." She said while getting back on her feet once more. "I'll never get used to this."
"Took me forty years, so don't worry too much, admiral. You've been in the navy for almost twenty years now. On a boat, you can walk and run better than most marines on land, admiral. Still, do you need me to keep you company during this storm?"
Afarin glanced at the sleeping Afardo then sighed before sitting on the bed, caressing her adopted daughter's cheek with a caring look.
"I'm good. Thanks for your help. I don't know what I'd do without you, Artin. That reminds me that in a few days it'll be ten years that I've become the admiral of the royal fleet. It's longer than your previous admirals, right?"
Artin nodded as he remembered the face of every admiral he worked under.
"Indeed. Admiral Farlar was one of the best, surviving for nine whole years. Such a shame that he got killed by a stray arrow on that fateful night. You should be careful, admiral." The man said, though it sounded somewhat menacing.
Afarin acquiesced silently as the boat was rocked once again by the storm. The sea became more and more agitated, making the laufer creak menacingly. The admiral looked at her senior captain with a tired expression before collapsing on the bed, her head falling on her adopted daughter's chest. Artin was surprised by the loss of consciousness from the woman and shook her shoulder but didn’t get any reaction. A quick look around the cabin showed that she also took some medicine to fall asleep. The captain frowned at her before grabbing her unconscious body in his arms, witnessing for the first time such defenceless female admiral.
After some very long hours that felt like an eternity, where both the fleet and the harbour were harassed by violent winds and waves, the sunlight finally pierced the dark grey clouds, shedding light to a lightly damaged port. Some roof tiles got displaced, dozens of badly built windows got broken and lots of seaweed covered the harbour. A handful of people carefully looked outside while still being prepared to quickly go back to safety. On the horizon appeared a couple of vessels harbouring the colours of the royal fleet, those were the scout teams, three groups of them.
"How did they get through that storm unhinged?" The sailor Manar wondered as the friendly forces were approaching.
A grumpy looking admiral came to the deck, she looked like she tried to sleep during a storm though she was wearing her tidy uniform, with her small cape and bright colours, looking fresh if not for her face. She had her senior captain in tow, looking like his usual self, as if they didn’t go through this harsh weather. His impressive height and wide shoulders that were twice the size of an average man made him quite the contrast to his superior officer who was his complete opposite, both in physique as well as in their aura. The man gave a feeling of being an indestructible golem while the woman looked like a dandelion, able to thrive in unfavourable conditions.
"They don’t look like they encountered any problem. Maybe I should have gone with them." Afarin said with a croaky voice, her comment was taken as a joke and the sailor laughed at it.
"My thoughts exactly, admiral!" The young man declared, earning a stern look from the senior captain.
With a spyglass, Afarin confirmed that those ships were actually crewed by her own men, as Artin suggested that those might have been captured by the Order. The man signalled to the incoming ships for a meeting after nodding to his admiral. Despite being recently woken up, Afarin quickly regained her composure and acted like a proper admiral of the royal fleet, her back straight and an impassible face.
"Glad to see you intact, Vaso, Censo and Reso. Give me your reports." She immediately said as soon as the captains of the different scout teams set foot on her vessel.
"West team reporting. We stayed out of range of the Order fleet, no casualties." Captain Reso declared.
Reso was a man in his thirties who often volunteered for scouting missions, like other captains, he proudly wore a red tunic underneath a blue jacket, he wore a pair of green pants, though his were darker because of a lack of bright green colours at the time of his enrolment in the navy. Like most senior officers, he sported a beard, which was trimmed, since displaying their facial hair was thought to show veteran nature of the man.
"East team reporting! Nothing more than was what written in the earlier message. We avoided the storm by going north and following the storm behind." Captain Vaso explained.
Vaso was a young officer, freshly out of the royal academy of Hericart, the capital of the kingdom of Heri. He was barely eighteen, but his age didn’t interfere when he was on duty because he was raised in the strict environment of the royal academy. He wasn’t as tall as the average adults in the fleet, but it didn’t matter to him as he could impose his presence with his voice and manners.
"South team, reporting. We tried to signal the fleet of the Order multiple times without success. We didn’t engage as you ordered but we did notice that the storm was approaching fast. We disembarked as much as possible on the shore and followed the usual procedure. When the storm hit and left, the Order was nowhere to be seen. They didn’t sank or crashed. It's safe to assume that they left before getting hit." Captain Censo reported.
Censo looked quite unusual for a captain of the royal fleet, having a peg leg and an eyepatch. His clothes too were different, they were patched here and there, with the sleeves sewn back together at different places. Censo's look was so worn out and beaten up that he earned the nickname “undying” by his fellow crew. His usual role was to be a spear head to most skirmishes and his look was a testament to all the battles he survived, but the recent loss of his left eye forced him to take missions with low risks.
Afarin nodded approvingly to Censo's report before turning to Artin who hadn’t say a word until then.
"In regards to the possible menace, an order has been sent to the rest of the Herikfer fleet. We are to defend the maritime cities of the threat. Since your ships are the fastest, we'll send you to Valiamer to regroup with the rest of the fleet. The laufer boats will stay in Premer until the Ahas situation is under control, then we'll head to Valiamer and act following the situation. It might be a conflict of multiple fronts, so make sure to rearm and rest before leaving, just do it as quickly as possible." Captain Artin declared with a serious look on his face.
"Remember that the kingdom is being threatened. I trust your judgment on how to deal with the defense of the cities while I’m not with you." Admiral Afarin added, with trusting a smile. "Don’t let the kingdom down, men. And remember, you aren’t allowed to die without my order."
The three captains chuckled before hitting their own chest with their fist and a grunt.
"For Herik! We won’t die without your order!" They shouted.
Afarin felt bad for having such loyal men but didn’t show her sentiment, instead she pumped her chest as well.
"Make me proud of having you under my command!"
The men grunted in approbation before quickly leaving to their own ship. The fleet stationed in Premer went back to life, the ships were crewed to their usual capacities, anchors were raised and sails were being deployed. The decks were once again bustling with the running around of crewmen and sailors hurrying to their post. Soon enough, almost every ship of the royal fleet left the docks to sail to the south, safe for twenty boats that carried flamethrowers, the laufer vessels stayed with the admiral who watched the sails of the departing ships sink into the horizon as the sun was setting behind the woods that surrounded Premer. Afarin hoped to be able to see them again and prayed that the Mother of the seas would favor them once again.
Afardo slowly woke up from her deep sleep, finding an empty bucket at the foot of the bed as well as undone ropes. Groggy, she didn’t take time to get dressed and stumbled on the deck which was silent and bathed in the light of the night, some from some candles. There were some sailors walking around, minding their own business of moving crates back to where they were needed. For once, the young girl found her mother standing near the railing without the intention to throw up, instead looking at the horizon. With her foggy consciousness, she looked around before heading towards a rowboat. She tried her best to undo the knots of the ropes that kept the small embarkation to drift away. With a still sleepy mind, she finally managed to get herself an escape, struggling to row with her feeble arms. She found the task too hard and stood up to take the ladder to go back on the laufer, but a wave made her trip and fall in the water. Unfortunately, she didn’t make a splashing sound loud enough for people to notice it. The water was cold and still a bit agitated, the temperature made Afardo come to her senses and she began scream and flaying to stay above water, since she never knew how to swim. Her panicked screams were covered by the sailors who were in the mood to hum while working. Even with her best efforts, the young woman couldn’t stay afloat and her stamina quickly depleted. She was sinking, she could see the rowboat and the ropes that she undid but didn’t have the strength to reach any of it. She gave up, closed her eyes and mouth as she couldn’t scream for help and let the sea welcome her in her cold, uncaring depth.
"I'm so stupid. Why did I do that?" She thought before running out of oxygen.
She let out the air out of her lungs. But the sea didn’t accept her, instead, the waves pushed her towards the shore where washed away. Fate decided to let her live as a group of hooded figures noticed her silhouette on the sandy beach. They cautiously walked to her, discovering a naked Ahas looking young woman with seaweed on her. The hooded figures turned out to be city guards and took her as an escaped slave.
"What do we do with her, guys?" One of them asked while shaking Afardo's shoulder.
"Stupid slave who didn’t know that there was going to be a storm, huh? If she's still alive, we'll bring her to the slave center, if not, we'll bury her here. I don’t want to get hit by the plague again." Another declared, poking her unconscious body with his feet.
Thankfully for her, she coughed out water. The guards scrambled to make sure that she'd survive as one preformed mouth-to-mouth breathing, it didn’t take long before she coughed out all the water in her lungs with an exhausted breathing.
"What the... where am I?" Afardo asked as she came back to her senses, only to be surrounded by four men.
One of them took out his hood and put it on her.
"Be thankful that we saved your cheap slave life, Ahas. Now, where is your master?" The same one asked while lifting her in her feet and giving support.
"I don’t have a master. My name if Afardo." She replied with an innocent tone in her voice.
A guard mumbled something before turning to his peers with a grave expression on his face. He walked to her and held her arm.
"Daughter of the house of Afar. We'll bring you to the castle to get you some clothes and send you back to Valiamer by boat. Is that ok?" The same person explained before helping the girl to stay on her feet.
"Someone important, then? Are you sure you’re from Afar? I don’t remember that they had Ahas." Another guard declared before getting knocked down by a rock thrown at his head.
The three other guards got surprised by the sudden attack and looked around in panic. Another stone was thrown at them, but bounced on their raised shield. The man who understood the meaning of Afardo's name pushed the confused girl behind him. His actions made him look like the leader of that patrol to the eyes of the unknown attackers, they guessed that he was a sergeant at best.
"They might be after the Afardo! Protect her! Lord Olf might get in trouble if she gets hurts or kidnapped!" He barked before finally meeting the attackers.
The aggressors were also hooded figures, they were also four. They had rocks in one hand and a dagger in the other, they quickly dropped the projectiles as the three remaining city guards were now using their shield. One of the attackers pointed his weapon to the one protecting Afardo and said something in an unknown tongue.
"Foreigners. Stay in formation and we'll get through it. If you, take his spear and shield." The sergeant said to Afardo while pointing at the unconscious guard.
The young girl hesitated to follow his advice. The aggressors used the distraction to strike the group leader with what looked like a pouch full of something. The projectile hit the man's head, making him fall on the ground and completely demoralised the other two guards who decided to flee because of the lack of leadership. Afardo was once again in a helpless situation, left alone with four unknown hooded figures. The one who spoke in an unknown language pulled down his hood, she was an Ahas.
"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" She spoke in Shashari, the common tongue of the Ahas.
Afardo felt as if she knew the language, then she remembered that her adoptive mother mainly talked about Ahas slang. The young woman tried her best to remember what words to say but what came out of her mouth sounded like a blur of incomprehensible nonsense. The Ahas woman looked at her companions then put her hand on Afardo's forehead.
"They must have really messed you up, huh? Don’t worry, we'll get you back to our hideout. Hociq, give her the cloth you gathered from earlier." The female Ahas ordered to another one who carried a big backpack.
The person designated as Hociq pulled out some pants and shirts from the backpack, handing them to the naked Afardo that only wore the hood of one of the city guards. The runaway girl came to realise that the Ahas team was only composed of older women who seemed to have battle experience from the number of scars on their face. The female leader's left eye seemed to be partially blind as the right iris and pupil had a milky colour.
"What's your name, by the way?" The half blind woman asked after that the rescued girl was dressed.
Once again, the girl didn’t understand much but felt like presenting herself was a sensible thing to do. After observing the people around her, she came to believe that pumping her chest was a form a salute.
"I'm Afardo, I'm a few weeks old." She said in Meeri, the language commonly used in the area.
Having fought and lived in the area of Premer for quite a long time, such common words were easily understood by the Ahas fighters. It did made them curious as to why the girl, that they considered one of theirs, was speaking the enemy's tongue.
"A stranded one, huh? Don’t worry, when we'll bring you back, you'll be speaking a more civilised tongue." The female leader laughed while giving a friendly pat on Afardo's shoulder. "You're a burden?"
"I'm not a burden! I'm Afardo. My mother is Afarin now, you've heard of Afarin Hol?"
The mention of the admiral's name seemed to ring a bell as the women stopped on their track before turning to Afardo who looked confused at their behaviour. The Ahas opened their mouth, bearing their fang, but they didn’t drip any poison, it was more of a smile. They proceeded in pulling up their left sleeve, displaying their skin pattern and a tattoo that looked like a snake in an egg. The leader pounced on Afardo, who became even more confused in that weird display, and began speaking fluently in Meeri.
"A kin! You're a Ho! Now we definitely have to bring you back to Ahas land! Girls, let's hurry back to the headquarters instead! By the way, we are Ho too! I'm Hohon. You already know Hociq, the one with the backpack. Here's Hoshee, she's the one who threw the projectiles with precision. And the one with a big cutting scar on her mouth is Hony, don’t ask how she get her scar though." Hohon excitedly explained, pointing at each women who waved or bowed when presented.
The Ahas hurried their pace to their main base, a renovated building that used to be an orphanage. In their long walk, Afardo took a better look at each of the women to have a better way to differentiate them. Hohon was the tallest of the group, being slightly above the one meter sixty, and the fact that she had one half blind eye made it quite easy to remember. Hociq, on the other hand, was the shortest, being one meter forty, she was pretty small compared to the female average height of one and a half meter. The woman named Hoshee attracted Afardo's attention by the fact that her skin colour was dark red as well as her eyes, which were similar to cats. The fourth woman, Hony, didn’t have a lot of noticeable physical trait aside from her mouth scar, but she could notice some furtive glance from the woman who looked slightly older than Afardo's own appearance.
Once they arrived in front of the main entrance, Hohon, the leader, hissed at the door which opened slowly before letting the group enter. For some reason unknown to Afardo, Hoshee covered her eyes as she stepped inside. They were met by a handful of hooded Ahas who were sitting in front of two humans, listening to what they talking about. The room occupants simultaneously turned to look at the newcomers.
"Fifth squad of the outer wall reporting. Are we interrupting something?" Hohon asked, scanning the well lit room.
The female human sighed before nodding to confirm their interruption.
"Can it wait? We're almost finished with the meeting." Karen Smith said, with an annoyed look on her face.
The fifth squad and Afardo were invited to sit at a table and waited patiently for the humans to finish, they were talking about the storm and how they had to revise their plan because of it. The Ahas woman named Hony brushed the Afardo's hand before gently holding it, it surprised the young girl who looked at the slightly older one who wore a gentle smile even if it was a bit disturbed by the scar on her mouth.
"You'll be welcomed in the sisterhood soon enough, maybe I'll be the lucky one to initiate you to our ritual. Don’t worry, I'll be gentle." Hony said with a sweet voice while affectionately caressing Afardo's hand who seemed stunned by that. "I'll take care precious care of you."
The girl stared in confusion and before she could talk, the meeting was over and Hohon stood up, gathering the attention on herself. She clicked her tongue to ask for silence as some were whispering to one another.
"Brothers and sisters, I'm excited to present to you a stranded one. She ended up here, only able to speak barbaric. Thankfully, we saved her from being used by human men who had already stripped her." Hohon proudly explained, making Afardo stand up but she noticed that it didn’t interest the other too much. "But! We found out that she's a Ho!"
The two humans held a snicker, thankfully for them, most of the female Ahas present in the room let out a pleasantly surprised yelp while the male Ahas were left in silent confusion. Woso was there too and raised his hand in a form of protest.
"Is that a woman topic? Do we have to care?" He bluntly asked, looking at the other men in the meeting room.
"A word bearer doesn’t know what Ho is? Surely your mother should. "Hohon declared, with a bit of surprise in her expression. "It's simple, we are the followers of Ho, the Mother figure, She who takes care of her daughters and bring fertility and strength to those who bear children! After all, most of us here are named after Her." Hohon explained with the approving nods of the women, aside from those who were born a few days ago and didn’t know about Ho.
Karen stepped in, feeling like such conversation was useless and a waste of time for her and the operation as a whole.
"Ok, so go to the point. It's already past midnight and most of us are tired."
"Well, this girl is Afardo Hol! A Ho and most importantly, a kin of the director of the breeding district of our home city! Hol is closer to Ho than any of our sisters of Falmer. If we can bring back her kin, we'll surely be blessed with strength and fertility for generations!"
Markus, who had remained silent, decided to intervene before Karen acted rudely towards the excited Ahas. He poked at her side and silently made her understand to let them be for the moment, since having the cooperation and unity of the Ahas was a priority. The followers of Ho gathered around the Afardo who felt overwhelmed by their friendliness, she was smiling at their cheers and praises. Some even proposed to bring in all the sisters at once. Markus looked at one of his male Ahas friend and nodded, asking him to keep an eye on the women. The person in question carried surgical tools on an armband. He had scalpels, scissors and clamps.
Chapter 27: hostile environment
Jacob became more and more annoyed at his friends sexual shenanigans, as he woke up and found his couch in quite a mess. It was covered in stains, both from sweat and cum. The man also found clothes all around the living room and an unused condom on the table. With a sigh, he took the remote and turned off the television. Jacob didn’t know if they did it on purpose, but every time the other two would have sex, they'd always do it loud and leave a mess behind, unless it was in Daniel's room. Thankfully, most of their roll in the hay were in his bedroom.
"Guys, I'm okay with you doing your thing, but please clean up after you're done. I'm not your maid. I know it's gross but you've got to clean the couch." He protested when he saw the couple leaving their nest.
"Morning, bro. Sorry for leaving the living room like that, we were pretty exhausted. Lemme make it up by preparing breakfast." Daniel apologised after yawning.
"Sure, sure. Hey! Put on some clothes, you idiot!" Jacob ordered when he noticed Abby's birthday suit.
The naked woman pulled out her tongue with a smile, making the man groan.
"Can't handle seeing a naked girl, cousin? You've already seen countless before, right?" She taunted while proudly puffing out her chest before turning to Daniel who was already in the kitchen. "Oh, Dan, I'd like some bacon with eggs for breakfast."
Abby's fuck buddy was already preparing some bacon, so he agreed to her demand. Jacob looked a bit annoyed, frowning at his cousin who was wearing a stupid smile on her face.
"You know, you can also make your own breakfast too. Don’t abuse of Dan's kindness. He's already done so much for us when we were young." He scolded her, with a serious expression.
The still-naked girl raised an eyebrow to his comment, looking like she didn’t understood him.
"Implying that we aren’t young anymore?"
"You get what I'm saying. And put on some clothes, we aren’t in a naturist resort."
"Fine, dad. I'll put on some clothes." She conceded, with a clear look of defeat on her face. "But after breakfast!" She laughed before running off to the kitchen.
Jacob was about to protest when he heard the doorbell. He reluctantly decided to see who was at the door in the morning, he secretly hoped that it wasn’t a neighbour who would complaint about the noise of yesterday's night. He looked through the door peep hole and was more than surprised when he saw that his father was outside.
His dad looked like the typical businessman, a nice suit and a leather briefcase. His hair was slightly less dense than in his youth and some lone grey strands could be noticed in his slick haircut. Some could compare his attitude to the one of loan sharks, earning him the nickname of Jaws by his rivals.
With a gulp, Jacob quickly brushed his hair with the hand and opened the door, letting in his old man who walked in with a regal demeanour. The man easily noticed the messy living room and snickered at his son.
"Having fun, I see?" He commented, gauging his son's reaction.
"You know I'm tidy, father. Can I ask what brings you here this morning?" Jacob asked with honesty in his voice.
"A father can’t visit his favourite son in his apartment?" The man said while walking towards the kitchen where some pleasant smell was emanating.
Jacob's dad wasn’t prepared to see his niece flaunting her body while eating some breakfast while another man was in the middle of frying more bacon. The businessman quickly recognised the cook as Daniel, a friend of his son.
"Well, looks like you've all grown up. Even you Daniel, you became quite a man. As for you, Abby... looks like my sister passed down that weird habit to you... " the man commented before taking a seat, resting his briefcase on his laps.
After some short greetings, everyone sat down at the kitchen table to eat Dan's eggs and bacon. The two best friends couldn’t hide their unease, both from Abby's type of clothing and the presence of Jacob's father. The two young men were sitting opposite to each other, with Dan being next to Abby and the father next to the son.
"I guess I should finally answer your question, Jack. That Spanish company, Marronas, is getting more and more persistent in buying the family business. Since I have bad feelings about them, I'd like that you and your friend... And Abby?" He added, acknowledging his niece's presence. "To move out somewhere far away, where they can’t easily find you. Rosalie Clark confirmed my suspicion when she noticed their hidden weapons as well as their covered tattoos."
The trio briefly exchanges looks of disbeliefs before Jacob's father pulled out some smartphones and wads of cash out of the leather briefcase.
"In case they already gathered informations about you, I've got some phones and cash for you to use in emergency. Once I made sure that they won’t pose a threat to any member of the family, or the employees, I'll contact you. I don’t know how long it's going to take, but I hope it'll be just a minor inconvenience for you all."
Daniel decided to stand up after getting an approving nod from Abby who got the same idea as him.
"Actually, Abby's boss have sent her and I to some foreign lands for an undetermined period of time. Maybe we can convince them to take Jack with us? That way we won’t be too much of a burden."
The father closed his eyes and rubbed his chin, pondering.
"The Argo is sending you to another world, right? Well, I guess I could buy some time before they become aggressive. I can guarantee you a week if they accept my sponsor for the future conventions." He declared, looking directly into Abby's eyes who nodded in compliance.
Being reassured about his son's safety, the man smiled and proceeded in eating breakfast with relaxed shoulders. They were finishing their meal when the doorbell rang again, Jacob let out an annoyed sigh and went to see who was at the door. To his surprise, it was the redhead named Amy who looked rather tired, with visible dark circles under her eyes as well as a bite mark on her neck. Unlike Jacob's father, she was wearing grey military fatigues, looking like a grunt from an RTS game.
"Sup, Jack. Can I crash at your house for a couple of days? There's some infighting at my company, so I'm not sure I can go to their safe house." Amy asked with a rough croaky voice.
"Damn, you look like shit. Sure? Come on in, though I have to say. My dad is visiting me and the other two are still here."
"Fine by me, I wouldn’t even give a shit if the president of the United States were to be here." She replied, a bit grumpy.
With a groan, the small redhead dragged her backpack, that was lying against the wall on the hallway, inside the apartment. The morning was getting weirder and weirder for Jacob, especially when Amy greeted his father by his first name.
"Mo'ning, Mark. Don’t mind me." She said with a smile for which she gathered her energy before quickly frowning at Abby. "Why you naked?"
"Oh, so you two met? Well I guess that's my cue to get out. Say 'hi' to your uncle from me." Mark, the father, said before waving goodbye and leaving as casually as he came in.
Jacob hugged his dad, telling him something then accompanied him to the door where two bodyguards were waiting, hiding in plain sight by pretending to be occupied by their turned off phone.
"You know, I was having a great morning until you came. Are you going to plant more spy-cams and the likes?" Abby grumpily asked to an even more grumpy Amy.
"Girl, if I wanted, I'd already have access to all the data on your computer in your bedroom. I’m just crashing by for a couple of days."
Daniel whistled at her miserable appearance, to him, she looked like a depressed military grunt that could been seen as a background character in an action movie. Amy didn’t notice him, but the whistling made her turn her head towards him.
"Thick D, how you doin'?" Amy acknowledged with a nod.
"Good, how about you?" Dan automatically replied.
Amy raised an eyebrow before noticing an empty plate in front of one with a handful bacon on it. She glanced at those two before pointing at the food with her chin.
"If I say good, can I get that? I haven’t eaten for twelve hours and I’m starving."
"Sure, go ahead." Daniel replied, pushing the food towards the starving woman who proceeded in devouring the leftovers.
Jacob came back just in time to see Amy licking an empty plate, while sitting at his seat. He let out a disappointed noise as he was still a bit hungry, instead on focusing on the bad events of the morning, he decided to make the most of it by making some strawberry milkshake. Once Amy had finished eating, she looked at Jack's buff body while licking her lips, earning her a disapproving look from Abby and a panicked one from Daniel. The strong man was humming to himself while filling the blender.
"So, how was your trip? From what I understood, you were in troubles during the phone call." Dan asked over the loud sound of the machine, so that he could defuse the tension.
"I don’t know if I can tell you, but it was... challenging, to say the least. Thankfully, I had backups nearby. I managed to get out of the mess in a bit more than two days, but I encountered a storm on my way back. I feel bad for all the guys who were sent to rescue me." Amy explained while looking around from time to time.
She got up and inspected the room before going back to her seat, a bit puzzled. Abby had a suspicion on what Amy was doing and gave her a smug expression.
"Can't find your spying tools? I easily found them and got rid of them." She boasted while puffing her breast to get Dan's attention, which worked.
Amy gave a reaction that Abby didn’t expect, she let out a sigh of relief while holding her chest, almost at the verge of tears.
"Good. Then I can speak freely. I need to ask you what you know about Avila so that I can tell what I can whiteout leaking important information. I need to empty my bag." Amy explained, relieved.
Abby's stern expression relaxed a bit, since she knew what it felt to be stranded.
"I know quite a lot, since I’m one of the writers of the guide." Abby proudly declared before turning to her friends. "Dan knows a bit and Jack knows... nothing, but he'll be coming with us for a future expedition."
"That's... you're A. Rodriguez? Well, that'll help a lot actually. So, we all know about the Premer incident involving Ahas and humans. Well, the big boss wasn’t aware of such incident and sent a handful of loyal agents to investigate because there might have been some agent of the Order involved in it. But there were some... disagreements. So here I am, in enemy territory."
"What do you mean?" Aren’t we not friendly?" Jacob laughed after he was done making his smoothies.
Feeling generous, he proposed some to his guests thought most refused except for Abby who had an idea in mind when she found a silly straw in a drawer of the kitchen.
"Friendly? Probably. But... " Amy started before the noisy slurping sounds that Abby made.
Abby proceeded in interrupting Amy with her noise until Jacob decided to lightly slap the back of her head. The annoying girl decided to pout while snuggling Daniel who didn’t know how to react or where to hold her from the added weight. Amy smiled at Jacob for his help.
"The big boss endorses a give-and-take kind of relation, so I'll give something in exchange for the hospitality. What do you say, big guy?" The ginger asked with a wink while resting her hand on Jack's thigh who quickly dismissed it.
"Sorry, I made a promise to someone else, so we can't have fun anymore." Jacob explained, feeling sorry for the restriction.
"Aww, you've got a girlfriend? Well, that's a dick in less in my list. How about I pay for the food or do the cleaning? Sounds good?" Amy said, a bit disappointed.
Abby the naked girl, who was snuggling against her fuck buddy Daniel, decided to speak up her mind since she was still wary of the redhead girl.
"Jack, are you really going to let an Order girl stay? She might cause troubles."
The man of the house decided to act like it by dismissing his cousin's concerns.
"Doesn’t matter, we'll be leaving in a few days since this place isn’t going to be safe." He replied with confidence.
"Oh? The Argo put you in danger already? I'd propose that you'd join the Order but yeah... we're in the same situation in the end."
"Well, what would you do if some unknown dangerous people threatened your life?" Daniel asked, trying to ignore the erection that poked the girl on his laps.
"Under usual circumstances, I'd secure my area, call for backups and plan to destroy them throughly. Now? I'd call for some people I can trust and find a safe place. What about you then? Are you sure your new location is safe from them? What do you know about the hostiles?"
"Why do you want to know?" Abby asked with suspicion while secretly dealing with Dan's manhood by rubbing her thighs together without the other noticing it.
"Well you asked a question, I answered and replied with another question. That's usually how a conversation work, girl."
Abby was about to get up but Dan held her back, accidentally squeezing her stomach, making her squeak while the other two giggled. The tanned girl blushed at the one handling her, making him blush as well.
"Well actually, what would it take for you to help us in that matter? It can be money or whatever. I know you're from the Order and my friends are from the Argo. Truth is, we're more like collaterals. You know that my father owns a company, but some people are getting aggressive to obtain it, even going as far as carrying hidden guns." Jacob admitted, ignoring Abby's annoyed look.
Amy rubbed her left side with a worried look before glancing at the girl who work at a rival company.
"Huh... I'm not the one to talk, but I’m carrying one right now. Some of my colleagues also have concealed weapons, since we actually have a dangerous job. Are you sure that they are really going to cause violence? What if they're some kind of undercover cops?"
"Huh? They're more like cartel people, they sport some distinct tattoo and call themselves the Marronas." Jacob replied.
Amy's tired expression soon changed for a panicked surprise, with her eyes widened and her mouth frowning. Her reaction made the other three worry, especially Abby who just learnt the name of the dangerous group that was threatening her friends.
"You mean they're a Brown variant?!" The girls exclaimed at the same time.
The two rivals were so in synch that they looked at each other with the same surprised expression, though one was blushing a bit. Both had the same idea and went through their phone, Abby's was lying on the kitchen counter while Amy's was in her backpack, under her chair. Daniel quickly reacted by putting back his cock in his pants without anyone noticing, slightly relieved that his new experience wasn’t discovered. Having hidden sexual intercourse in front of an unsuspecting audience was thrilling but mostly scary for him.
"I haven’t got any Marronas in the database, is that an unaffiliated third party of yours?" Abby asked with a calm voice, staring at her screen in disbelief.
The boys listened with one ear, feeling like they weren’t involved, though they were still a bit anxious about the unknown threat.
"Nope, the big boss confirmed it. Nice lady by the way." Amy replied, with visible concern in her voice outside of the compliment.
The news didn’t reassure the naked girl who frowned before shivering.
"I don’t know if I should be relieved or not. I'm not comfortable anymore." Abby said before running back to her bedroom.
The tired Amy turned to the guys who were silently watching them. Under normal circumstances, she would have teased them, but her mind was too foggy.
"I'll take a nap on the couch, wake me if something interesting happens." The redhead declared before shuffling her feet to the living room and collapsing on the piece of furniture.
It didn’t take long before she realises where her head landed, her face contorted in disgust, she let out a clear.
"Eww!"
But her body didn’t allow her to get up, instead she rolled on her side to avoid most of the cum stains and get a better lying position. She quickly fell asleep, dreaming of being in a comfy bed. The time for Abby to get dressed, Jacob had already finished cleaning the dishes with the help of Daniel while doing some small talk that the clothed woman barely heard. To their surprise, the tanned girl was wearing a blue tracksuit that didn’t compliment her figure.
"Yo. Does it make me look fat?" She joked, posing sideway.
"For someone who isn’t feeling comfortable, you seem pretty laidback." Jack commented before looking her up and down with a frown.
Daniel was enjoying her casual look, being used of seeing Abby in tight outfits, with shirts that would compress chest or skirts squeezing her ass, though she still wore her half-moon glasses at the edge of her nose.
"You're thinking to be an Insta girl?" Daniel asked without thinking.
"Insta what? Anyway, I’ll be going to the Argo headquarters. I think that any stranger wouldn’t notice me too much. I look like some random housewife." Abby said, picking up a sport bag with her usual clothes in it.
"You can be my housewife, if you wanna." Dan replied as both a joke and a semi serious proposition.
The young woman didn’t understand his compliment, on the other hand, Jacob groaned at the cheesy line that his best friend pulled out. After a short moment of silence, where it occurred to Daniel that the cute girl in sportswear might not have any social platform since he didn’t remember seeing any application on her flip phone. Then he realised that she had a flip phone.
"I still need some kind of escort, would any of you boys accompany me? How about you, cuz? That way you'll finally see where I work at." Abby laughed, heading towards the door.
"Guess you'll have to hold the fort, Dan." Jack shrugged, going to his bedroom to wear something similar to his cousin who was already waiting at the entrance.
"Don't worry about me, I've got some reading to do. And from Abby's look, I might have to keep an eye out for Amy."
"As long as you clean up the mess. I expect you to have removed all the stains form the couch for when we come back." Jacob declared before disappearing in his bedroom.
With the boys distracting each other, Abby used the opportunity to do something to the peephole of the door, blowing a kiss to Dan when she thought that he almost caught her in the act of fiddling with the door. After a couple of minutes, Jacob came out, dressed like a jogger. The two people dressed in jogging soon headed out after waving goodbye to the young man who was staying in the apartment.
Wanting to stay true to his word, Daniel gently woke up the sleeping Amy who begrudgingly opened her eyes with a groan.
"Five more minutes, dude." She mumbled.
"I figured that you might want to sleep on something cleaner. You can sleep in one of the guest rooms." He softly proposed.
"Ugh... couldn't you have said it sooner? Is that your spunk?" Amy complained, wiping some wetness on her cheek.
Feeling a bit ashamed, Dan remained silent, pulling out a piece of cloth from a box. Even in her state, Amy was still weirded out by the man's method of cleaning. With a sigh, she touched his hand that was scrubbing the couch.
"You need vinegar and warm water to clean a fabric sofa. Just... draw me a nice bath and I'll help you clean the cum stains." The tired Amy said before resting her head. "Wake me up when I can take a bath."
"Are you serious? First breakfast, now a bath?" Daniel complained but still complied.
"Good, that's spouse material." The redhead smiled before drifting back to sleep.
Accepting his role of butler, Daniel took care of attending to the girl's demand, being used to helping Abby until now. He still felt some pride for being able to please some girls outside of helping his mother around the house, that's when he thought of calling his parents to give them some news. They were delighted to hear from him, especially when he talked about the few girls he met and had frequent contacts with.
Jacob became more and more annoyed at his friends sexual shenanigans, as he woke up and found his couch in quite a mess. It was covered in stains, both from sweat and cum. The man also found clothes all around the living room and an unused condom on the table. With a sigh, he took the remote and turned off the television. Jacob didn’t know if they did it on purpose, but every time the other two would have sex, they'd always do it loud and leave a mess behind, unless it was in Daniel's room. Thankfully, most of their roll in the hay were in his bedroom.
"Guys, I'm okay with you doing your thing, but please clean up after you're done. I'm not your maid. I know it's gross but you've got to clean the couch." He protested when he saw the couple leaving their nest.
"Morning, bro. Sorry for leaving the living room like that, we were pretty exhausted. Lemme make it up by preparing breakfast." Daniel apologised after yawning.
"Sure, sure. Hey! Put on some clothes, you idiot!" Jacob ordered when he noticed Abby's birthday suit.
The naked woman pulled out her tongue with a smile, making the man groan.
"Can't handle seeing a naked girl, cousin? You've already seen countless before, right?" She taunted while proudly puffing out her chest before turning to Daniel who was already in the kitchen. "Oh, Dan, I'd like some bacon with eggs for breakfast."
Abby's fuck buddy was already preparing some bacon, so he agreed to her demand. Jacob looked a bit annoyed, frowning at his cousin who was wearing a stupid smile on her face.
"You know, you can also make your own breakfast too. Don’t abuse of Dan's kindness. He's already done so much for us when we were young." He scolded her, with a serious expression.
The still-naked girl raised an eyebrow to his comment, looking like she didn’t understood him.
"Implying that we aren’t young anymore?"
"You get what I'm saying. And put on some clothes, we aren’t in a naturist resort."
"Fine, dad. I'll put on some clothes." She conceded, with a clear look of defeat on her face. "But after breakfast!" She laughed before running off to the kitchen.
Jacob was about to protest when he heard the doorbell. He reluctantly decided to see who was at the door in the morning, he secretly hoped that it wasn’t a neighbour who would complaint about the noise of yesterday's night. He looked through the door peep hole and was more than surprised when he saw that his father was outside.
His dad looked like the typical businessman, a nice suit and a leather briefcase. His hair was slightly less dense than in his youth and some lone grey strands could be noticed in his slick haircut. Some could compare his attitude to the one of loan sharks, earning him the nickname of Jaws by his rivals.
With a gulp, Jacob quickly brushed his hair with the hand and opened the door, letting in his old man who walked in with a regal demeanour. The man easily noticed the messy living room and snickered at his son.
"Having fun, I see?" He commented, gauging his son's reaction.
"You know I'm tidy, father. Can I ask what brings you here this morning?" Jacob asked with honesty in his voice.
"A father can’t visit his favourite son in his apartment?" The man said while walking towards the kitchen where some pleasant smell was emanating.
Jacob's dad wasn’t prepared to see his niece flaunting her body while eating some breakfast while another man was in the middle of frying more bacon. The businessman quickly recognised the cook as Daniel, a friend of his son.
"Well, looks like you've all grown up. Even you Daniel, you became quite a man. As for you, Abby... looks like my sister passed down that weird habit to you... " the man commented before taking a seat, resting his briefcase on his laps.
After some short greetings, everyone sat down at the kitchen table to eat Dan's eggs and bacon. The two best friends couldn’t hide their unease, both from Abby's type of clothing and the presence of Jacob's father. The two young men were sitting opposite to each other, with Dan being next to Abby and the father next to the son.
"I guess I should finally answer your question, Jack. That Spanish company, Marronas, is getting more and more persistent in buying the family business. Since I have bad feelings about them, I'd like that you and your friend... And Abby?" He added, acknowledging his niece's presence. "To move out somewhere far away, where they can’t easily find you. Rosalie Clark confirmed my suspicion when she noticed their hidden weapons as well as their covered tattoos."
The trio briefly exchanges looks of disbeliefs before Jacob's father pulled out some smartphones and wads of cash out of the leather briefcase.
"In case they already gathered informations about you, I've got some phones and cash for you to use in emergency. Once I made sure that they won’t pose a threat to any member of the family, or the employees, I'll contact you. I don’t know how long it's going to take, but I hope it'll be just a minor inconvenience for you all."
Daniel decided to stand up after getting an approving nod from Abby who got the same idea as him.
"Actually, Abby's boss have sent her and I to some foreign lands for an undetermined period of time. Maybe we can convince them to take Jack with us? That way we won’t be too much of a burden."
The father closed his eyes and rubbed his chin, pondering.
"The Argo is sending you to another world, right? Well, I guess I could buy some time before they become aggressive. I can guarantee you a week if they accept my sponsor for the future conventions." He declared, looking directly into Abby's eyes who nodded in compliance.
Being reassured about his son's safety, the man smiled and proceeded in eating breakfast with relaxed shoulders. They were finishing their meal when the doorbell rang again, Jacob let out an annoyed sigh and went to see who was at the door. To his surprise, it was the redhead named Amy who looked rather tired, with visible dark circles under her eyes as well as a bite mark on her neck. Unlike Jacob's father, she was wearing grey military fatigues, looking like a grunt from an RTS game.
"Sup, Jack. Can I crash at your house for a couple of days? There's some infighting at my company, so I'm not sure I can go to their safe house." Amy asked with a rough croaky voice.
"Damn, you look like shit. Sure? Come on in, though I have to say. My dad is visiting me and the other two are still here."
"Fine by me, I wouldn’t even give a shit if the president of the United States were to be here." She replied, a bit grumpy.
With a groan, the small redhead dragged her backpack, that was lying against the wall on the hallway, inside the apartment. The morning was getting weirder and weirder for Jacob, especially when Amy greeted his father by his first name.
"Mo'ning, Mark. Don’t mind me." She said with a smile for which she gathered her energy before quickly frowning at Abby. "Why you naked?"
"Oh, so you two met? Well I guess that's my cue to get out. Say 'hi' to your uncle from me." Mark, the father, said before waving goodbye and leaving as casually as he came in.
Jacob hugged his dad, telling him something then accompanied him to the door where two bodyguards were waiting, hiding in plain sight by pretending to be occupied by their turned off phone.
"You know, I was having a great morning until you came. Are you going to plant more spy-cams and the likes?" Abby grumpily asked to an even more grumpy Amy.
"Girl, if I wanted, I'd already have access to all the data on your computer in your bedroom. I’m just crashing by for a couple of days."
Daniel whistled at her miserable appearance, to him, she looked like a depressed military grunt that could been seen as a background character in an action movie. Amy didn’t notice him, but the whistling made her turn her head towards him.
"Thick D, how you doin'?" Amy acknowledged with a nod.
"Good, how about you?" Dan automatically replied.
Amy raised an eyebrow before noticing an empty plate in front of one with a handful bacon on it. She glanced at those two before pointing at the food with her chin.
"If I say good, can I get that? I haven’t eaten for twelve hours and I’m starving."
"Sure, go ahead." Daniel replied, pushing the food towards the starving woman who proceeded in devouring the leftovers.
Jacob came back just in time to see Amy licking an empty plate, while sitting at his seat. He let out a disappointed noise as he was still a bit hungry, instead on focusing on the bad events of the morning, he decided to make the most of it by making some strawberry milkshake. Once Amy had finished eating, she looked at Jack's buff body while licking her lips, earning her a disapproving look from Abby and a panicked one from Daniel. The strong man was humming to himself while filling the blender.
"So, how was your trip? From what I understood, you were in troubles during the phone call." Dan asked over the loud sound of the machine, so that he could defuse the tension.
"I don’t know if I can tell you, but it was... challenging, to say the least. Thankfully, I had backups nearby. I managed to get out of the mess in a bit more than two days, but I encountered a storm on my way back. I feel bad for all the guys who were sent to rescue me." Amy explained while looking around from time to time.
She got up and inspected the room before going back to her seat, a bit puzzled. Abby had a suspicion on what Amy was doing and gave her a smug expression.
"Can't find your spying tools? I easily found them and got rid of them." She boasted while puffing her breast to get Dan's attention, which worked.
Amy gave a reaction that Abby didn’t expect, she let out a sigh of relief while holding her chest, almost at the verge of tears.
"Good. Then I can speak freely. I need to ask you what you know about Avila so that I can tell what I can whiteout leaking important information. I need to empty my bag." Amy explained, relieved.
Abby's stern expression relaxed a bit, since she knew what it felt to be stranded.
"I know quite a lot, since I’m one of the writers of the guide." Abby proudly declared before turning to her friends. "Dan knows a bit and Jack knows... nothing, but he'll be coming with us for a future expedition."
"That's... you're A. Rodriguez? Well, that'll help a lot actually. So, we all know about the Premer incident involving Ahas and humans. Well, the big boss wasn’t aware of such incident and sent a handful of loyal agents to investigate because there might have been some agent of the Order involved in it. But there were some... disagreements. So here I am, in enemy territory."
"What do you mean?" Aren’t we not friendly?" Jacob laughed after he was done making his smoothies.
Feeling generous, he proposed some to his guests thought most refused except for Abby who had an idea in mind when she found a silly straw in a drawer of the kitchen.
"Friendly? Probably. But... " Amy started before the noisy slurping sounds that Abby made.
Abby proceeded in interrupting Amy with her noise until Jacob decided to lightly slap the back of her head. The annoying girl decided to pout while snuggling Daniel who didn’t know how to react or where to hold her from the added weight. Amy smiled at Jacob for his help.
"The big boss endorses a give-and-take kind of relation, so I'll give something in exchange for the hospitality. What do you say, big guy?" The ginger asked with a wink while resting her hand on Jack's thigh who quickly dismissed it.
"Sorry, I made a promise to someone else, so we can't have fun anymore." Jacob explained, feeling sorry for the restriction.
"Aww, you've got a girlfriend? Well, that's a dick in less in my list. How about I pay for the food or do the cleaning? Sounds good?" Amy said, a bit disappointed.
Abby the naked girl, who was snuggling against her fuck buddy Daniel, decided to speak up her mind since she was still wary of the redhead girl.
"Jack, are you really going to let an Order girl stay? She might cause troubles."
The man of the house decided to act like it by dismissing his cousin's concerns.
"Doesn’t matter, we'll be leaving in a few days since this place isn’t going to be safe." He replied with confidence.
"Oh? The Argo put you in danger already? I'd propose that you'd join the Order but yeah... we're in the same situation in the end."
"Well, what would you do if some unknown dangerous people threatened your life?" Daniel asked, trying to ignore the erection that poked the girl on his laps.
"Under usual circumstances, I'd secure my area, call for backups and plan to destroy them throughly. Now? I'd call for some people I can trust and find a safe place. What about you then? Are you sure your new location is safe from them? What do you know about the hostiles?"
"Why do you want to know?" Abby asked with suspicion while secretly dealing with Dan's manhood by rubbing her thighs together without the other noticing it.
"Well you asked a question, I answered and replied with another question. That's usually how a conversation work, girl."
Abby was about to get up but Dan held her back, accidentally squeezing her stomach, making her squeak while the other two giggled. The tanned girl blushed at the one handling her, making him blush as well.
"Well actually, what would it take for you to help us in that matter? It can be money or whatever. I know you're from the Order and my friends are from the Argo. Truth is, we're more like collaterals. You know that my father owns a company, but some people are getting aggressive to obtain it, even going as far as carrying hidden guns." Jacob admitted, ignoring Abby's annoyed look.
Amy rubbed her left side with a worried look before glancing at the girl who work at a rival company.
"Huh... I'm not the one to talk, but I’m carrying one right now. Some of my colleagues also have concealed weapons, since we actually have a dangerous job. Are you sure that they are really going to cause violence? What if they're some kind of undercover cops?"
"Huh? They're more like cartel people, they sport some distinct tattoo and call themselves the Marronas." Jacob replied.
Amy's tired expression soon changed for a panicked surprise, with her eyes widened and her mouth frowning. Her reaction made the other three worry, especially Abby who just learnt the name of the dangerous group that was threatening her friends.
"You mean they're a Brown variant?!" The girls exclaimed at the same time.
The two rivals were so in synch that they looked at each other with the same surprised expression, though one was blushing a bit. Both had the same idea and went through their phone, Abby's was lying on the kitchen counter while Amy's was in her backpack, under her chair. Daniel quickly reacted by putting back his cock in his pants without anyone noticing, slightly relieved that his new experience wasn’t discovered. Having hidden sexual intercourse in front of an unsuspecting audience was thrilling but mostly scary for him.
"I haven’t got any Marronas in the database, is that an unaffiliated third party of yours?" Abby asked with a calm voice, staring at her screen in disbelief.
The boys listened with one ear, feeling like they weren’t involved, though they were still a bit anxious about the unknown threat.
"Nope, the big boss confirmed it. Nice lady by the way." Amy replied, with visible concern in her voice outside of the compliment.
The news didn’t reassure the naked girl who frowned before shivering.
"I don’t know if I should be relieved or not. I'm not comfortable anymore." Abby said before running back to her bedroom.
The tired Amy turned to the guys who were silently watching them. Under normal circumstances, she would have teased them, but her mind was too foggy.
"I'll take a nap on the couch, wake me if something interesting happens." The redhead declared before shuffling her feet to the living room and collapsing on the piece of furniture.
It didn’t take long before she realises where her head landed, her face contorted in disgust, she let out a clear.
"Eww!"
But her body didn’t allow her to get up, instead she rolled on her side to avoid most of the cum stains and get a better lying position. She quickly fell asleep, dreaming of being in a comfy bed. The time for Abby to get dressed, Jacob had already finished cleaning the dishes with the help of Daniel while doing some small talk that the clothed woman barely heard. To their surprise, the tanned girl was wearing a blue tracksuit that didn’t compliment her figure.
"Yo. Does it make me look fat?" She joked, posing sideway.
"For someone who isn’t feeling comfortable, you seem pretty laidback." Jack commented before looking her up and down with a frown.
Daniel was enjoying her casual look, being used of seeing Abby in tight outfits, with shirts that would compress chest or skirts squeezing her ass, though she still wore her half-moon glasses at the edge of her nose.
"You're thinking to be an Insta girl?" Daniel asked without thinking.
"Insta what? Anyway, I’ll be going to the Argo headquarters. I think that any stranger wouldn’t notice me too much. I look like some random housewife." Abby said, picking up a sport bag with her usual clothes in it.
"You can be my housewife, if you wanna." Dan replied as both a joke and a semi serious proposition.
The young woman didn’t understand his compliment, on the other hand, Jacob groaned at the cheesy line that his best friend pulled out. After a short moment of silence, where it occurred to Daniel that the cute girl in sportswear might not have any social platform since he didn’t remember seeing any application on her flip phone. Then he realised that she had a flip phone.
"I still need some kind of escort, would any of you boys accompany me? How about you, cuz? That way you'll finally see where I work at." Abby laughed, heading towards the door.
"Guess you'll have to hold the fort, Dan." Jack shrugged, going to his bedroom to wear something similar to his cousin who was already waiting at the entrance.
"Don't worry about me, I've got some reading to do. And from Abby's look, I might have to keep an eye out for Amy."
"As long as you clean up the mess. I expect you to have removed all the stains form the couch for when we come back." Jacob declared before disappearing in his bedroom.
With the boys distracting each other, Abby used the opportunity to do something to the peephole of the door, blowing a kiss to Dan when she thought that he almost caught her in the act of fiddling with the door. After a couple of minutes, Jacob came out, dressed like a jogger. The two people dressed in jogging soon headed out after waving goodbye to the young man who was staying in the apartment.
Wanting to stay true to his word, Daniel gently woke up the sleeping Amy who begrudgingly opened her eyes with a groan.
"Five more minutes, dude." She mumbled.
"I figured that you might want to sleep on something cleaner. You can sleep in one of the guest rooms." He softly proposed.
"Ugh... couldn't you have said it sooner? Is that your spunk?" Amy complained, wiping some wetness on her cheek.
Feeling a bit ashamed, Dan remained silent, pulling out a piece of cloth from a box. Even in her state, Amy was still weirded out by the man's method of cleaning. With a sigh, she touched his hand that was scrubbing the couch.
"You need vinegar and warm water to clean a fabric sofa. Just... draw me a nice bath and I'll help you clean the cum stains." The tired Amy said before resting her head. "Wake me up when I can take a bath."
"Are you serious? First breakfast, now a bath?" Daniel complained but still complied.
"Good, that's spouse material." The redhead smiled before drifting back to sleep.
Accepting his role of butler, Daniel took care of attending to the girl's demand, being used to helping Abby until now. He still felt some pride for being able to please some girls outside of helping his mother around the house, that's when he thought of calling his parents to give them some news. They were delighted to hear from him, especially when he talked about the few girls he met and had frequent contacts with.
Let's see the bright sight of this world!