A Dragon's Tale Ch. 32

***I finally found an editor, so hopefully you won't need to put up with my typos and poor/dyslexic editing skills anymore. :) ***

CHAPTER 32: A family Matter

* * *

"All done."

Ethan nodded to his first wife as she finished her enchanting work. She'd thrown herself into it with gusto when they'd returned to the Argo, and he got the distinct impression that she was distracting herself. He could feel her anxiety about meeting her mother, just barely held at bay by the work she was doing.

"Here you go." The wood elf handed the newly cut out and enchanted piece of dragon leather armor to him, and he took it.

Alana, Beth, Taloni, Rachel, and even Selene had seemed quite interested, so they had assembled in the Argo's captain's cabin for the first test. His wives were on the bed while the drop-dead gorgeous Brazilian beauty watched from just inside the closed door. Ethan didn't consider the wood elves enemies -- far from it in fact -- but he saw no reason to reveal his armor; hence the inside testing.

He poured a tiny drop of his deep mana into the newly enchanted piece of dragon leather and then tossed it to Selene. She caught it and looked confused. He grinned, then summoned it to his forearm.

It shot across the room, landing on his forearm where he activated both the sticking and hardening enchantments. Instantly it curved down and wrapped around his forearm, as solid as any piece of steel once in place. He could feel the sticking enchantments engage and moved his arm and hand experimentally. His new vambrace stayed put and didn't slide around, offering essentially complete freedom of movement while also perfectly protecting his forearm. He rapped on it with his knuckles and it didn't give; it felt nearly as strong as steel.

"Damn girl, you outdid yourself!" He said to the wood elf as he continued to move it around experimentally.

Alana beamed.

He deactivated both the sticking and hardening enchantments and the vambrace fell off his arm and to the ground, soft as any other piece of leather. He summoned it again, locked it into place, and then released it again and summoned it again before it had hit the floor.

Everyone clapped.

"Now, you just need to do something about the color master." The Fey said as her wings fluttered in excitement. "It's not very pretty."

"A good color scheme could help a lot, and it's not just aesthetics." Rachel agreed. "You should have some kind of symbol or sigil for yourself."

"And we could make a flag and fly it on the Argo!" Taloni said jumping up in excitement. Her wings became a blur as they held her in midair for a moment before she let herself down. Ethan didn't think she realized that she did it. It was wonderful to see her using her wings so instinctively.

"That would be pretty cool." He agreed as he felt the vambrace on his arm. "Damn, I feel like I just leveled up playing some RPG."

"Plus 10 armor to help with any good D20 rolls by your opponents?" Selene chuckled.

Everyone started at her.

"D&D?" Ethan asked.

She shrugged. "My little brother was into it."

"I didn't know you have brother." Beth said.

The Brazilian woman gave her a pained smiled. "I did."

As one, all of Ethan's wives got up, climbed off the bed and wrapped her in a group hug. She looked somewhat uncomfortable at the gesture, but also quite happy about it too.

"Anyway, how about that armor huh?" She said when they let go.

Apparently taking the hint, Alana nodded. "Yeah, now you just need to decide on what other enchantments you want on it. It currently has summoning, sticking, self-repairing, and then the enchantment which makes it harder, stronger, and stiffer; so four. I can fit one or two more enchantments on it, depending on what they are."

"I would suggest fire resistance." Rachel said immediately. "There's the black dragon to consider, and I'm sure Kyrupto will be around again eventually."

"Good idea." Ethan agreed.

"Agreed." The wood elf said. "Dragon leather takes a fire-resistance enchantment well, so there's room for one more; even a pretty big one."

"Strength." Ethan replied instantly. "When Lord Delmar ambushed us, Kendra was able to block and parry things so incredibly well because of that. I'd love the same advantage."

"Okay." Alana nodded. "Just realize that a strengthening enchantment -- or any other enchantment that increases physical attributes -- has limitations because each piece of armor with a strength enchantment interferes with the others. The more pieces enchanted to increase strength, the greater the interference, so there's a point of diminishing return."

"Oh?"

"Yes, it's like this." With her hand, Alana made a curve in the air that went up sharply at first then levelled off. "The first strengthening enchantment can add about half your original strength. The second can add about half that again, so about one quarter of your original strength, for three quarters total. The third only adds half that again, so only about one eighth of your original strength, and so on; halving each time. Two enchantments will increase your strength by about three quarters, four by over nine-tenths."

"About ninety-four percent." Rachel offered more precisely. "But it'll be very small increases after that, and you'll never quite get to double."

"Almost double still sounds pretty good to me." Ethan grinned. "But if it keeps halving from there, then yeah; I don't see a point in doing more than four."

"Still, nearly double is ahuge advantage." Selene pointed out. "I've done martial arts my entire life and that's an absolutelymassive advantage."

"And with the additional leverage of a spear..." He rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Damn, I already can't beat you." The Brazilian woman sighed.

"Well, I don't see why we couldn't make a pair of vambraces like Kendra's for you to use." Ethan replied. "There's enough dragon hide left for that, so if you wanted to use a pair we could probably make them. You'd be welcome to use them as long as you're traveling with us."

The Brazilian beauty cocked her head to one side and got a confused look on her face. "Really?"

"Sure." He nodded. "It's a useful enchantment and the forearms are a target in combat, so why not? Besides, I'd feel better knowing that more people on the Argo are combat ready."

"Thank you." She smiled and Ethan couldn't help but notice that she also had perfect teeth. Geez, was any part of her bodynot flawless?

A giggle from the bed made him turn his head. Taloni had a strange sort of smile on her face and mischief in her pretty lilac eyes.

"What?" He asked her.

"When she leaves the Argo master?" The Fey had a sly grin on her face. "We all talked about how she can't stay on Earth, so she'll need to come back to the Ten Kingdoms. And she can't do that unless she can communicate with someone here to open a portal. And she can't do that unless..." The Fey gave him a pointed look and then glanced at the bed.

"Why Taloni Ejder, are you playing matchmaker?" Alana asked with a similarly sly grin.

Beth had a barely suppressed smile which was making her adorable dimples stand out. "Well, that only leaves one wife left to find."

Rachel was nodding with amusement written all over her face.

It took Ethan a moment to do the math. Alana, Beth, Taloni, and Rachel were his current four; Kendra might be five. That in turn -- if the Fey's logical observation did come to pass -- would make the caramel-haired beauty wife number six, indeed leaving just one left to find.

"Don't I get a say in this?" Selene asked wryly

"No." All of Ethan's wives chorused with identical teasing smiles.

The Brazilian woman rolled her eyes.

"Ladies, I'm sure Selene has some guy on Earth to get back to, so stop teasing her." Ethan shook his head.

"Actually, there isn't one." She admitted.

"Did you hear that master? She's single." Taloni said the word 'single' in a slightly sing-song voice, barely containing the laughter that looked like it was dying to get out.

"But maybe not for long..." Beth added, teaming up with her fellow blonde teen. Those two could be so adorable together that he found it hard to be annoyed at them.

"Thanks, but no thanks." He said, trying to take pressure off the ex-FBI agent.

Apparently it didn't work.

Selene got a strange look on her face for a moment that he couldn't place. She didn't look hurt, or confused, or blindsided, or unsure of herself, but there was a touch of all those in her expression. Her slightly annoyed amusement at the teasing had been replaced with something else, and something he couldn't quite place. As he thought back, he'd tried to take the pressure off of her similarly before and she'd gotten a similar expression on her face.

He didn't know what it meant though.

* * *

Selene tried unsuccessfully to keep her face neutral at Ethan's comment. In the back of her mind she knew that he was probably just be trying to help deflect his wives from teasing her, but the rest of her...

"So anyway, how about that armor?" She almost kicked herself for the unsubtle change of topic, but thought that comment would get the point across.

It did.

Ethan and all his wives started talking about which bits to finish first and the ideal color. She piped up after a few minutes had passed. "I'm going to go see if Serif or Raklan wants to spar."

She nodded to the wives and then casually turned and left. She thought she'd waited long enough that no one would think her exit strange and she didn't detect any odd looks. Out on the weather deck, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Troubles?" She heard a feminine voice from the quarterdeck.

"Not really?" She replied to the high elf pilot.

Anthiel raised her eyebrow.

Selene sighed, walked up the stairs to the quarterdeck, and leaned against the ship's wheel next to her. "Objectively speaking, I'm pretty attractive, right?"

Anthiel looked amused. "No, 'pretty attractive' would be avery large step down for you."

"Thanks." The Brazilian woman smiled. "And, I'm a nice person right? I mean to talk to? I can hold a conversation, right?"

"Yes."

"And I feel like I click with the people on the Argo well enough right? I mean, we get along?"

"Yes, you click and get along with Ethan just fine." Anthiel replied with a knowing smile.

"How'd you know?"

"I've been married over four times longer than you've been alive, and lived quite a while before that; you learn to pick up on things."

"Fair." Selene conceded.

"What set things off this time?"

Selene explained about their conversation and the high elf looked thoughtful. "You shouldn't take it personally. He has his hands full with four or five wives already, and apparently there are more coming."

"So, am I being jerk for being annoyed that he doesn't pay the slightest bit of attention to me?" She asked, feeling for some reason like she could trust the high elf.

"You tell me."

"Okay, I suppose I'm being a bit selfish." Selene conceded. "I really have zero desire to share a husband because there's no way I could deal with him cheating on me with his other wives."

"He wouldn't be cheating." Anthiel shook her head.

"Come again?"

"You were here for Rachel's wedding. Did you notice that the vows for Ethan were different than the vows for Rachel?"

"Yeah, she promised to obey him." The Brazilian woman frowned.

"Besides that." Anthiel replied. "Did you notice that Rachel's vows included the phrase 'committing to give yourself only to him' while Ethan's vows didn't contain a similar phrase about him exclusively giving himself to her?"

She thought about it for a moment and then cocked her head to one side. "No, I didn't catch that."

Hmm.

"It's not 'cheating' as you say if he never promised to do it." Anthiel pointed out. "Ethan's wives swore to never take another man to bed as long as he lives, but he didn't swear to never take another woman to bed. He isn't 'cheating' and he didn't break a vow."

Selene opened her mouth to object, but couldn't find a flaw in her logic. Her degree in criminal justice had covered some areas of law, including a little bit of contract law. If he didn't promise not to have sex with other women, thentechnically he hadn't violated his marriage vows.

Hmm.

"Besides, Illuminar allows men to take multiple wives." Anthiel continued. "Thus, a wife -- even an only wife -- has absolutely no right to expect her husband to confine his sexual activity to her, because he could always take another wife."

"We disagree there." Selene shook her head. "I don't care what Illuminar says; I don't want my future husband having sex with other women. Period."

"It's not as bad as you might think; Ethan's wives certainly don't seem to mind." Antheil replied.

"Yeah, well; you don't have any personal experience with it, so pardon me for being skeptical of your opinion."

Anthiel's eye twinkled. "What makes you think I don't have any experience with it?"

Selene cocked her head to one side.

Anthiel just smiled.

"You're kidding." Selene looked at her.

"Don't you find it odd that despite me having a husband, I've spent nearly two months on the Argo without seeing him at all?" The high elf asked.

"Huh. I hadn't thought about..." Selene frowned. "So where is he?"

Anthiel had an amused smile on her beautiful face. "He's on his honeymoon... with his new second wife."

Selene stared.

What.

The.

Fuck.

"...and you're okay with that?" She finally got out.

"Dear girl, I was the one who set them up." The high elf replied.

"How did I not know this?" She finally said. "How does no one on the Argo know this?"

"You didn't ask; no one has." Anthiel replied looking amused. "You know, my life didn't begin when I joined the Argo's crew. Ethan and his wives are incredible people, but they've been a bit too busy to peer into the personal life of the ship's pilot."

"Wait, go back to the part where you set your husband up with a second wife? Why!?"

"To put it bluntly, I've hit the age where the red beast has ceased visiting me."

"Huh?"

"The red beast. It comes bringing pain and leaves a trail of blood in its wake." Anthiel said in a mock-conspiratorial, then added in a light-hearted tone. "All women go through it."

"Your period?"

"That's such a mundane way of saying it, but yes." Anthiel nodded. "I've hit the age where it no longer comes."

"Ah, menopause."

"Exactly." The high elf nodded. "For well over a year now I've had almost no desire for my husband to bed me, and some pain when he did. He is..." She paused, probably for effect. "...very vigorous and my body took the red beast's permanent departure far more harshly than most. So I wanted a solution for him until my body returned to normal."

Selene stared, mouth open

"Why?" The ex-FBI agent finally got out.

"It's simple; he has a great desire and I couldn't fulfill it, so I found a younger elven maiden who could. My husband and I also couldn't have as many children as either of us wanted, which she can help with too. She's actually quite lovely, and less than half my age."

"Less than half...?" The Brazilian beauty couldn't believe what she was hearing. On Earth, the very idea of a husband sleeping with a woman half his wife's age was supposed to infuriate the wife. But for the high elf, it seemed the opposite was true.

"He tells me that she can keep up with him in bed and then some." Anthiel continued. "From the sounds of things, I'll likely have a step-daughter from her in the near future."

"The sound of things? When was the last time you saw him?"

"The night we left Gralden; but I talk to him all the time."

"How do you..." Selene trailed off as she remembered that Ethan communicated telepathically with his wives all the time. Could Anthiel also be...

Huh.

She'd never considered...

"Are you..." She tapped her temple. "...with your husband? I've never noticed."

"I've been married for just over one hundred years." The high elf replied. "You learn how to be more subtle than newlyweds. I'm not sure if you know this, but things work at afar slower pace without a dragon in the mix. It took us many decades before we could talk to each other the way Ethan does with his wives. Anyway, my husband is very happy with both me and his new wife."

"But... but what...?" Selene couldn't make sense of what she was hearing. "How could you even tolerate that?"

"Because I love my husband." Anthiel answered simply.

"That doesn't sound like love to me." Selene countered.

"Well, what is love?" The high elf asked in response.

"It's..." She faltered. "It's... Hmm. It's a feeling of attraction towards someone?"

"Does love always include attraction?"

"Oh, I guess not." The caramel-haired woman replied thinking about love in a family. "Okay, how would you define it?"

"Love is doing what's best for someone else regardless of what it might cost you." Anthiel replied. "And in this case, it cost me nothing and helped two people that I care about."

"Wait,two people?"

"His new wife is someone that I had mentored and care for deeply, especially after..." Anthiel paused. "...well let's just say she needed agood man in her life for a change. She was somewhat smitten with my husband, and he always liked her. I made a few suggestions, and..." She held up her hands as if to say 'that was that'. "Now they're both happily finishing his tour of service as newlyweds and I'm able to help Ethan and company. Everyone wins."

"Except you and her." Selene pointed out. "Your husband is cheating--"

"Ah." Anthiel interrupted. "It's not cheating because he broke no vows, and Illuminar allows it."

"To be blunt, I don't care what Illuminar wants.I don't want my future husband having sex with other women."

"No, you want your future husband to lavish all his attention on you -- both sexually and otherwise -- which is why I'm guessing that you've never had a serious relationship."

"Ouch." Selene winced. "Guilty as charged. How'd you know?"

"When I was your age, I was nearly as beautiful as you are now." Anthiel replied, and Selene had no problem believing it. She looked incredible for a woman who was apparently well over one hundred.

"I had men falling all over themselves to get my attention, but that was very unattractive."

"I get that." Selene nodded vehemently.

"My husband was the first man who didn't do that." The high elf continued. "He was actually interested in someone else, and I fell hard for him because he was a good man, confident, and he ignored me romantically until I grew up enough to realize that I shouldn't be the center of anyone's world. Sound familiar?"

Selene shook her head. "I don't want to be the center of Ethan's world though."

"I never said anything about Ethan." Anthiel's eyes twinkled. "It's interesting how your mind went right to him."

The Brazilian woman felt her cheeks get slightly warm. "That's not what I was saying. I was just saying that I'm not interested in a man who cheats--" She stopped as she saw Anthiel about to object. "--okay, not cheating. But I'm not interested in a man who has sex with other women. Just no. I'd kill him."

Anthiel gave her a skeptical look, then leaned in and lowered her voice slightly. "Or have an incredible orgasm. Unless I miss my guess, you get wet when you think about Ethan or him bedding his wives."

Selene froze. "What?"

"I was listening carefully when you recounted your story. I recognized some telltale signs when you mentioned watching their apartment, and again when Alana and Beth mentioned what they said just before jumping through the portal to return here."

"I wasn't... that's not... I mean, I wasn't talking about that." She spluttered.