Azerothian Dream Ch. 03

"I'm telling ye," Oilfist growled as he looked from Birdette to Pinkerpie to me in disgust, "Ye need to find another way!"

"Why?" Birdette shouted back at him, "Ye the one that wants Pinkerpie to get her caravan up and running as quick as possible. Why won't you forge a marriage certificate for them?"

"Because!" He yelled right back as he pounded his fist into the table, "If the Alliance even breathes a whiff that that document is a fake, there goes our relationship and trade with them! I can't take that chance not for ye, or me, or even Thorium Point!"

A long silence fell over the tavern as everyone processed what Oilfist said.

"Then what do we do, greasy hands," Pinkerpie asked, breaking the silence.

He looked from her to Birdette as he answered her, "Birdette, if I do this it will be a legal and binding marriage certificate. Right now, ye marriage is recognized only by us, ye people. However, there is precedent in our history when more than one Dark Iron lass has married a single fella, and to be honest, there have been a few times when two fellas married the same lass."

Birdette's eyes seemed to grow larger and larger by the word, until Oilfist finished, "This is up to ye lass. If ye don't wanna share ye man then so be it, this line of reasoning will end right here right now..."

Oilfist watched Birdette squeeze her eyes shut as she winced as if in pain. With an exasperated sigh he withdrew as he mumbled, "I will give ye some time to think... and talk it over..."

Once he was gone Pinkerpie admitted, "Well this is not what I expected, or wished for. I'm too young to be shackled down to some needy man who will probably want me to stay home and pop out babies on a semi-regular basis. I'm a free spirit, the road calls out my name and I gladly answer it!"

Birdette suddenly reared back and punched me hard in the shoulder as she growled, "This is all ye fault!"

I hissed and rubbed my shoulder where it ached as tears suddenly made like trails down her cheeks. Sniffling she wiped her tears away, as she mumbled, "No, this is probably my fault. My comeuppance for sleeping with so many husbands to fill my loneliness when I was young. Now it's my turn to share my man..."

Looking up from her hands to Pinkerpie she asked, "So if I allow this, will the free spirit be tied down? Or, will ye fly free and only visit when the wind blows this way?"

Pinkerpie gave Birdette an astonished look before she asked, "Are we really negotiating on time spent with Hruthgar? Because if we are, then I will need to get serious."

"How else should we handle this," Birdette asked.

"We can handle it like grown women," Pinkerpie replied, "Either you're willing to share your husband with another wife or you aren't!"

Ebonae held her hand up tentatively from the other side of the table where she was rubbing Coleson's ears. Once Birdette noticed, she turned to regard her with an expression that begged Ebonae to not say what she feared she was about to. When Pinkerpie turned to see what the distraction was she smiled and asked, "Is something on your mind Ebonae?"

"I... was just wondering," She said as she looked over at Overseer Oilfist who was leaning against the bar staring into his tankard contemplating it's foamy head, "Is the precedent restricted to only two women taking a single man as their husband, or can three participate in it?"

Birdette sighed as her shoulders slumped in semi-deflated agitation. Amberdine started to whine until Birdette pulled her blouse down exposing a breast for the babe to suckle.

"Should I leave," I asked, not wanting to be in the middle of these negotiations or blamed for this situation. Though somehow I figured I was going to be anyway.

"If ye leave so help me...," Birdette growled so fiercely that she didn't need to finish before I held up my hands in defeat.

Turning to face Ebonae, Birdette growled, "So from the beginning, coming into my home, telling me ye story, it was all just so ye could stay close to my husband and eventually make a play for him?"

Ebonae's expression changed from hopeful to fearful as she shook her head in denial as she explained, "No! That was never my intent! It's just... I feel safe... with him... and with ye, and so, when Overseer Oilfist suggested this arrangement, I thought it might be good for me. If I am his wife, and ye sister, then I will always have a home... and family..."

"Ye don't have to marry Hruthgar to stay with us," Birdette replied in a sudden change from betrayed wife to protective mother, "Ye can stay with us for as long as ye like. Ye needn't fear being sent away."

"And she absolutely won't need to fear you sending her away if she is Hruthgar's wife," Pinkerpie interjected.

Birdette sighed as she cut her eyes to Pinkerpie for her non-help to which the sly goblin simply smiled. Hissing as she looked up at the rafters Birdette growled, "Why am I even considering this?!"

Everyone in the tavern turned to look at her, and then went back to their eating and drinking. Only Overseer Oilfist shook his head as he took a pull on his tankard of mead that had the golden liquid dribbling down his beard.

"You are considering this because you want you husband back home in a month or three versus six months to a year," Pinkerpie answered, "Hruthgar is a very attractive human, and I certainly wouldn't mind bedding him, but I didn't come to Thorium Point looking for a husband. So, however long the trip takes is up to you Birdette. I will not have my feelings hurt either way."

Birdette inhaled deeply as she stared daggers at Pinkerpie, then Ebonae, and lastly at me, and I knew definitively that I was going to be blamed for this. Birdette looked like her hair was about to truly catch on fire, and then with a hissing exhale she said, "Fine! I will do it, though this is not what I wanted to do the day after I've told my husband I am with his second child!"

"Oh congratulations," Pinkerpie purred graciously.

"I'm happy for ye," Ebonae added.

Birdette cut her eyes from Pinkerpie to Ebonae before she grudgingly said, "Thank you."

Standing up she handed Amberdine to me then righted her clothes. Looking from the goblin to the Dark Iron woman, she declared her one stipulation, "I will go over there and tell Overseer Oilfist that I will allow the both of ye to marry Hruthgar, but in exchange I want only one thing from the both of ye. I want ye to wait to have relations with him until ye know whether ye are pregnant by those bandits. This protects my husband's reputation from rumors that he was bedding ye before today, and is why he is marrying ye."

"I will agree to that," Pinkerpie answered as she held out her hand to seal the deal. Birdette took her offered hand, but looked at Ebonae for her response.

"I agree," Ebonae said simply before adding, "I'm getting what I want most anyway."

I nodded and gave Ebonae a reassuring smile. Her world was destroyed right in front of her and then her dignity and sense of self worth and safety were taken from her and replaced with fear, self loathing, and despair. What she wanted wasn't sex, what she needed was love, self respect, and empowerment. Birgette looked over at me and her eyes seemed sad for a moment, and then it was gone and what I saw was determination.

----(!)----

By midday Birdette, Pinkerpie, and I along with Ebonae following behind us holding Amberdine marched out to Lanie. With a flourish Birdette handed the Certificate of Marriage to the gryphon master, "Here you go Lanie! Ye wanted a Certificate of Marriage, well, now ye have it!"

Lanie's eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped to such a point that it was almost comical. Then her eyes narrowed as she read the document, and then she laughed riotously. As she regained control, she wiped tears from her eyes and chuckled, "By the gods, if I had known ye were signing up wives I would have come in and thrown my hat into the ring!"

Birdette turned and gave me a dirty look, and then punched me again as she growled, "What have you been doing that all these women want to marry you?!"

I threw my hands up and shook my head while Lanie and Pinkerpie nearly fell over from laughing so hard...