The Quantum Wanderer

Once the waitress brings our drinks, I lift my index finger up, she comes to me after providing the different cups of drinks.

“Yes, lord?”

“I think I didn’t ask your name yet.”

“I am Flora, lord.”

“Hi, Flora. Yesterday, I kind of left on a hurry. I would like to set the tab.”

She looks at me like I said something impossible. She opens her mouth, then closes it. She raises her index finger, then puts it down.

“Lord, your coin is no good here. Just enjoy. Please come as often as you can.”

“Alright, then. Thank you, Flora.”

She opens a smile and gets back to the kitchen. Opal sighs. Aquamarine looks at her an nods. Cecilia shrugs. I tilt my head, I raise my cup.

“To a couple of free drinks!”

Cecilia looks at me, shakes her head and raises her cup as well. They all do. We drink. After a little time, Autumstart breaks the silence.

“So, this evolution thing. How is it? You all look human to me. Of course, I can see in your shadow that you are not, but other than that, it is blurry.”

I take a look at the girls shadows, and it looks normal to me. Once I raise my head again, the girls look at me. I answer the question.

“Each of them gained stronger scales, nails and teeth. They are also a lot stronger and faster than other dragons. Even elders and councilors.”

I take a sip, enjoy the flavor, then I continue.

“Besides this, each one of them gained a new ability. It is particularly distinct in their breath. Perhaps not all of them.”

I smile. I still don’t know how Aquamarine was doing her thing.

“You don’t seem particularly worried about keeping secrets.”

“At this point, not so much. Most of my wives can protect themselves from almost anything else. I don’t know how Muninn’s and Huginn’s strength scale against an elder dragon, but right now I would only be worried about them, Opal and Cecilia. But then, nothing in the continent.”

“What do you mean, continent?”

“There is more than one mass of land in Andrea. Everyone uses the same name for planet and continent, but truth is that there is at least the continent where the dragons live. The bigger, older dragons.”

“So… Some of the dragons in that flight were from another land?”

“Most of them. What you call ‘Land of Dragons’ here is called Nursery by them.”

“How much bigger are the big ones?”

“Did you notice that the dragon that came to the square was bigger than the idiot that was eating dryads?”

”I couldn’t really tell, to tell you the truth.”

“The young ones are generally around 75 feet. Adult dragons are generally double that, 150. And elders are double that, at 300 feet. Of course, there are variations in sizes and ages.”

“What about females?”

“They are generally on the small side. From what I saw, 100 to 120 feet.”

“This is all… Fascinating. We don’t have nearly a tenth of that information in our records…”

I shrug.

“Are your wives powers a secret?”

“Not so much a secret, but something I would rather keep private among us. I feel more comfortable it is not divulged.”

“Who else knows about all this you told me?”

“I don’t really keep track of what I say to each one, but I am friends with Edward and Anthon in the empire, Rajesh and Sidhu in the demon empire, Dávrin and Brokkr among the dwarves. There are a couple of other people that I would not assume you’d know.”

“Wait – when you mention Edward and Anthon, are you mentioning the human duke and emperor? And Rajesh and Sidhu… Of course, Sidhu just has to be the new pope to the new religion in the demon empire. I would assume Rajesh to be the Rajesh? The demon emperor?”

“Yes, they have been nice to me.”

“Nice to you? As opposed to who?”

“I didn’t enjoy the treatment the Holy Kingdom gave me. They didn’t even allow me to enter the city with Muninn on my shoulder.”

“Hum… That is indeed interesting.”

“What?”

“Where were your entrance barred?”

“Angelica.”

“Hum…”

“What?”

“I am impressed. The city still stands.”

I shrug.

“Why wouldn’t it? They don’t want us near, we won’t go near them. I don’t have to destroy them just because they don’t like me. If they attack me, then I will attack back. But I have a live and let live policy. With a pinch of justice here and there.”

“Hum…”

I take a look outside, the clouds are all formed already, the afternoon rain is starting. I take a look at the door, there is a line of elves outside. The rain doesn’t scare them, apparently. They remain in line. The place is popular. But I can understand, the service is excellent, the drinks are good, the nuts mix is good, my cup is never empty.

There is a moment of silence in our talk. I enjoy my drink. It reminds me of grape soda with a touch of alcohol.

I feel an elf approach. He has a lute on his back. When he is a few feet away from us he kneels down.

“Friend of the forest! I request an audience!”

“Audience? For what?”

“I have collected some of what was said yesterday of your heroic tales! I want to immortalize them in songs and plays!”

He has this fanfare personal showmanship to him. Everything is said in a grand way, as if a bad actor were reciting lines. The gestures are grand. The voice loud. It feels like a bad play.

“I appreciate the thought, but I am not really interested.”

“But lord, to have the glory of having your name forever repeated in songs and plays! Surely you understand the importance.”

“Ok. What is your name?”

“You can call me Lirael, lord.”

“Nice to meet you Lirael. That being said, I want to go to watch plays, I want to drink with friends, I want to visit places. I don’t really need my name repeated throughout generations… You can’t eat glory, you can’t dress fame.”

He pulls out small notebook from a pocket, and the feather from his hat. He starts scribbling.

“I don’t really need my name repeated throughout generations… You can’t eat glory, you can’t dress fame…” He repeats what I said, writing it down. He looks at me, and continues. “Pure poetry, my lord. Absolutely beautiful. But think of what the ladies would think of you…”

I start feeling a murder intent coming from the table. Autumnstart notices it, and tries to make the bard realize his blunder. Muninn turns to me.

“Yes, father! Think of the ladies!” And he laughs.

I turn to the bard.

“The only ladies whose opinion matters are my wives’. They are right here in the table.”

The bard looks around, he notices the temperature dropped some degrees. Autumnstart is gesticulating frantically to our waitresses. She is frozen in place. A couple of elves come around, and drag the bard away. Autumnstart stands up. He bows down, placing his head on the table.

“I am sorry for that, lord and ladies. Idiots are all around.”

I turn to the girls.

“You girls know that you are the ones, I love, right?” I stretch my arm on the table, they grab either my hand or my arm. I send them some air kisses.

I smile at them. They melt back to their normal state. I feel a tug on my sleeve. I turn to my right, and the dryad is there. All the girls are looking at her. She is doing their very typical gesture of putting their indexes together.

“I am sorry for that, big sisters… Some children just… Misbehave…”

There are some seconds of silence.

“Do big sisters want him banned from the city?”

The girls look at me. I am thinking that the crime wasn’t this bad.

I make a face indicating that I think this would be too much. Opal clears her throat.

“No need. Just please make sure he understands that we are our lord’s wives.”

“Oh, that is happening already!” The dryad laughs. “Thank you, big sister!”

The dryad turns to me.

“Big brother, my sisters and I want to thank you. We haven’t tasted something like that in over millennia. Or ever.”

She gestures me to lower my face. She plants a kiss on my cheek. She then disappears against the floor.

The room is in silence. Cecilia and the girls have a smile on their faces. I wonder how natural the shape of children is to the dryads, and how much is just a survival technique. The point is kind of moot, though. Their desired effect is obtained. I smile to myself. And to my girls.

I take a look outside. It is later in the afternoon. I think the day has had enough emotions already. I turn to the girls.

“Girls, how are you? Do you want to go home?”

“Sure, my lord.” Opal says.

The branch on appears on the table, dropping the round seeds. Another gasp goes around the other clients in the place. We leave the tea house, we go to an alley and portal home.

Ruby drags me to the bedroom. We all have some fun. Then a well deserved shower, dinner and rest.

The next morning, we go down for breakfast. Huginn, after finishing her food, turns to us.’

“Papa, the children wish to come play again. Do you mind?”

“Not at all. It is going to make for a different day. We don’t have to go everyday to the elves. It is something we do for fun. The same happens with the schools.” I turn to the girls. “Talking about the schools, don’t you have some test to pass?”

The dragonesses try to think really hard. Cecilia talks between two bites on a piece of bread with some meat on it.

“In another two weeks we have the exams for progression. I imagine that they might have something similar too.”

“What is your exam like?”

“We have to kill a pig with a spell.”

“Don’t you mean a dire boar, sister?” Ruby asks.

“No. A pig. The other students are not as advanced as the people in this house.”

I laugh.

“Do you know what you’re going to use?”

“I don’t even know.”

“Do you need some help?” Ruby asks, with a smile that I would expect from Muninn.

“No, sister, I don’t need help to kill a pig.”

I laugh.

“Do you want me there?”

“I always want you close, my villain. You don’t have to come, though.”

“No, I insist.”

There is some silence on the table. Opal is the one to speak.

“My lord, how long do you think I have to wait for my evolution?”

I look at her. I check her out with my mana senses. Her mana is close to the state of evolution, but it is hard to say.

“According to what I am seeing in your mana, you should have evolved already. You have a tiny bit more than Aquamarine had before her evolution. That is all I can say, though. Perhaps the dryads might know?”

Opal looks at her plate. I shrug.

“It should be soon, though.”

She smiles at me. The other girls pet her arms. I turn to Rudolph. He is in the corner of the room. I gesture him to come closer.

“Rudolph, the children are coming again. Please check with Roberta if she has everything she needs to bake some cookies.”

“Of course, lord.”

Cecilia is playing with her fork and her plate.

“My villain, can we go to some ball? I miss dancing a little bit.”

“Of course. Rudolph, have you heard of any balls around?”

“Not really, lord. I haven’t spent time on that. The easiest way to get invited, though, might be to talk to the duke.”

“Good idea. I wonder if he is going to work today. Either way, I will ask him today. How does that sound, Cecs?”

“It sounds great! Thank you, my villain.”

Aquamarine turns to her.

“Sister, you keep calling him your villain. Isn’t this term derrogative?”

Cecilia and I smile.

“That is from when we were starting seeing each other.”

Charles and Lucille turn their chairs slightly towards us. They are apparently curious as well. I giggle a little.

“It is a little thing that I told Cecilia, and that is valid for all of you.”

“We were talking about Marcelo being a hero. He cleared a nest of goblins and rescued several women in the process. He is known to some as the hero of Frolk. Frolk is the name of the village where the women were kidnapped.”

I continued.

“Then I told her that I am no hero. And that she didn’t want a hero. A hero would sacrifice her for the greater good. I would burn this world for you.” I look at all of them. “For all of you.”

Next thing, I am on the floor. My chair fell back. Ruby is on top of me. The other girls are there as well. Cecilia approaches and jumps on the pile.

After some moments like this, the pile undoes itself. I put the chair back up and sit down. Lucille is drying up a tear with the napkin. Charles is making a face that almost says ‘smooth’.

I giggle a little. After everything calms down, I turn to Huggin.

“When are the kids going to come?”

“I was thinking of noon, papa. Do you prefer some other time? Or tomorrow?”

“No, that sounds good. As always, please keep an eye on them. I am counting on you to ensure their safety.”

“Of course, papa. I will keep several eyes on them. “

She momentarily displays her 4 eyes, then revert her image back to a normal crow like. I nod. I go up, and dress something casual to visit Edward. The girls decide to come with me. We go to his house. Before we even get to the gates the guard in the post is already running towards the house.

One of the other ones steps forward, and greets us.

“Good morning, lord Marcelo and wives. This way, please.”

“Good morning. Was the duke expecting us?”

“I don’t know, sir. My orders are to always escort you to the house if you come by.”

After the gardens, we reach the house. We are let in a living room.

“Good morning, friends! How are you?”

“We are well. How are you, Edward?”

“Very good. A tad concerned, but we are well.”

“Concerned?”

“Yes, friend. I don’t know if you heard the news, but Romuela had officially conquered Elator.”

“Do you have any particular interest in any of those two countries?”

“No. But let’s continue this conversation in a more comfortable position, shall we?”

He gestures us to the couches. We sit down, he serves us some drinks. He sits down and continues.

“Our worry is what Romuela is going to do next. They had success. We know they are greedy.”

“Yes, but I already told you that Skylar is bound by our agreement.”

“Are you sure it will hold?”

“Unless I talk with him, I can’t be completely sure. But if I take the last talks we had as a clue, I think it will. He followed the agreement with the caravans, did he not?”

“Thank you, friend…”

…

…

“That being said, how can I help you, friend?”

“Nothing too complicated. The girls and I were wondering if there is going to be any ball around.”

“There is going to be one four days from now. A kind of big one. I didn’t know you would want to attend, but you are invited, of course.”

“Thank you. Where is it going to be held?”

“Here, actually.”

“Is there any reason in particular?”

“Not really. Just one of those things I have to do as a duke. More of a protocol thing. But you are more than welcome to attend.”

“Well, I appreciate. Thank you.”

“What about  you, friend? Any news? I haven’t seen much of you around…”

“Actually, yes. Aquamarine also evolved.”

“Really?” He turns to Aquamarine. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you.”

He tilts his head.

“You also seem a little bit more… confident, if I can say that.”

Aquamarine nods.

“This is so impressive. There are no reports of ever something like this happening. But then again, we didn’t even know dragons could speak. Not many observers ever came back.”

He laughs. We do too.

“And other than that, have you been exploring some far away place?”

“Not really far away, but we have visited the land of the elves.”

“Oh. Did you enjoy it?”

“Immensely.”

Edward and I trade some looks. He asks me permission to ask about it, but I don’t want to disclose possible secrets that are not mine. Edwards look at the girls.

“Are you all aware of your advancement tests?”

“I am.” Cecilia responds.

The dragonesses look away, as if the question was not partially directed at them. I clear my throat.

“What test is going to be applied?”

“For magic school, it is to kill a pig with a spell. I know it is way short of what lady Cecilia…” He starts looking at Cecilia. “I am sorry, but did you get stronger? AGAIN?”

Cecilia smiles. She puts her tongue out, more of a fun face someone would do after a blunder. Edward fixes a hair that is not out of place. He sighs.

“As I was saying, that is the test for the magic school. For the knight school, we would have group battles, but…”

“But we can’t have the girls doing that…” I say.

“Yes.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“We are going to do a siege, where the defenders are the teachers. They are more resilient. The tests are to be completed by groups of four students.”

I see the smile on Ruby’s face. I turn to her.

“Remember, try to avoid hurting them. Specially now.”

“Can we do like Skylar? He didn’t hurt them too much.”

“Do you mean grabbing a soldier by the ankle and using him to beat up his colleagues? I would rather you didn’t. Besides, it is supposed to be a test of strategy, right? I already know my girls are the most powerful. I want to see what you learned in the school.”

Ruby keeps thinking, but then she nods. Edward is just horrified. But he is trying to look cool.

“I will try, my lord.”

“Thank you.”

While Ruby and I are having this exchange, Edward is staring at Cecilia. When Ruby and I finish our exchange, Edward asks Cecilia.

“How did the level up happen?”

Cecilia smiles.

“We had a little disagreement with a couple of dragons.”

“Really? What kind of disagreement?” Edward asks.

Ruby is the one that answers, very casually.

“The kind where one of them disobeyed and the other one dared to laugh at our lord. It was interesting, though, to test my strength against an adult.”

“How was the fight?”

“It wasn’t a fight. He was laughing, then his head was flying. And Ruby didn’t even use a sword.”

Ruby does her thing of cleaning up her nails on her shirt, and inspect them. This time, though, she is not satisfied with the result. There is a small crack in the nail polish.

She shows it to Cecilia. Cecilia sighs.

“We can just go there. We can ask any of the three.”

“Why don’t we ask Muninn to teach you, or us, the spell?”

Cecilia thinks a little bit.

“Not a bad idea. What do you think, my villain?”

“I don’t mind. Just use it responsibly.”

“I resent that. When I have I done something unresponsibly?”

I laugh.

“Your parents. We should have realized, when Muninn started trying to collaborate with the plan.”

“Hey! Now I resent that.”

We all laugh. After some moments of silence, I stand up.

“Let’s get back home, the kids are also going to go there.”

We walk our way home. When we open the door, the smell hit us. The smell itself is already exquisite. We walk forward, following the smell unconsciously. We are all kind of drooling. When I realize where I am, I am already in the kitchen staring on a small hill of cookies. The girls are looking at me pleadingly. Roberta is coming closer.

“Hi Roberta. Do you have more of these?”

Watching Opal, her normally regal personality, almost going berserk is fun.

“I have some more still baking, lord, but not many.”

We start eating the cookies on the tray. They are absolutely fantastic. They taste as if a cookie was made with the very best ingredient for each of them. I breaks inside the mouth, and the tastes are have such a combination that I close my eyes to enjoy them better. Exquisite does not describe them.

The girls and I are almost having orgasms with them. I am pretty sure that these should be made illegal. I can see someone selling a soul for one of these.

Once the tray is done, we move to the living room, and sit on the sofa a little bit. We keep talking about how good the cookies are.