“Desires?” Gregory asked, puzzled.
“Will you admit to them?” Came a voice from behind him.
Looking over his shoulder, Gregory’s breath caught in his throat.
Daciana, Nessa, Victoria, Ling, Clover, Mindie, and more faceless women stretched into the distance of the room. All of them were almost completely naked, wearing just enough clothing to preserve what little modesty they could while showing off so much skin.
“There’s nothing wrong with wanting more, dear one,” Yukiko’s voice was throaty as she breathed against his neck. “Just be honest with yourself.”
“We agreed that we could look,” Jenn added, her hand resting on his naked thigh. “If you asked, we might even let you touch.”
All the women edged forward a step at Jenn’s words, hope written across their features. Gregory swallowed as he pictured each of those hopeful women in bed with him and his wives.
“Why one at a time, dear one?” Yukiko asked breathily.
“If you just tell us what you desire, who knows what might be?” Jenn added throatily.
Gregory swallowed as each of the women reached to remove the clothing that kept their modesty intact. As their clothes fell, they vanished, and Gregory felt his flame deep inside his core roar to heights he’d never thought it could reach. The room vanished as he groaned and huddled into a ball, his very core feeling like it was going to explode.
When the pain subsided, Gregory felt a strange peace wash over him. Breathing slowly and deeply, he finally pushed himself upright and looked back at the flame. It burned as it always did, but as he watched, a faint blue haze seeped out of it.
Blinking slowly, Gregory found himself in the rock garden of the clan hall. With each slow breath, he could almost feel the air around him. For a second, he could see the same faint blue haze from his aether flame spread into the air around him.
Yukiko blinked and a smile appeared on her face. She found him watching her, and her smile grew. “Dear one, I found it.”
“It wasn’t pleasant,” Gregory said softly.
Yukiko’s smile vanished. “It wasn’t.”
“It was horrible...” Jenn said softly. “But I can feel it now.”
“It doesn’t seem to go far,” Yukiko said as she closed her eyes and felt around her with her spirit.
“It will grow with time,” Dia said, causing them all to jump slightly. “Congratulations, Apprentices. Few ever find their resonance before becoming an adept, and even fewer before being an initiate.”
“It was your words that made it possible,” Gregory said.
“I’m happy to have helped,” Dia said. “It’s time for your training. Are you ready?”
“Yes,” Yukiko said, standing up. “A question, though, Dia? The growth of resonance— how and how fast?”
“By continuing to walk the spirit path. As long as you stay true to yourself, it will be fine. As for how fast? Well, that all depends on how fast you grow. Resonance is tied to your aether. The stronger it becomes, the farther it will go. You need to feel for it right now. You have to think about it but, in time, it will become second nature, as effortless as breathing.”
“Thank you, Dia,” Gregory said, standing up and bowing to her.
“Thank you, Dia,” Yukiko and Jenn added, bowing, as well.
“You’re very welcome,” Dia smiled.
~*~*~
The three of them were tired when they entered their bedroom. They’d been awake for more than forty hours at that point, and they were starting to feel it.
“Are you two okay?” Gregory asked when he shut the door behind them.
“Tired, physically and mentally,” Yukiko said as she went to the bed and sat on the edge. “I had no idea that it would be so difficult.”
Jenn sat beside Yukiko, clearly also thinking about what had happened earlier in the day. “I don’t think any of us really knew what was going to happen.”
“I didn’t,” Gregory said. “I felt it there, just out of reach, and then I heard Dia’s voice telling me about resonance. Then, my fears manifested.”
“It was your voice for me,” Yukiko said softly. “It was also my fear, first.”
“Same for me... your voice and my fears,” Jenn said, wringing her hands briefly. “I will be strong for us. I won’t fail in keeping our heart safe,” she said, her voice wavering as she spoke.
Yukiko touched Jenn’s hands, stilling them. “I know, just like I know Greg won’t toss me aside for you or others.”
Jenn looked up, meeting Yukiko’s eyes. “I’d never let him do that to you.”
“Losing you, either of you, or anyone else I care for,” Gregory said, his voice thick, “that’s my fear. It started with seeing my mother’s body again... mangled, bloody, torn, and savaged, just like she was when I saw her last. Then, it was you, Yuki, not my mother who lay there dead, and then Jenn appeared beside you, just as lifeless.”
“That helps ease my fears, dear one,” Yukiko said with a sniffle. She patted the bed. “Please?”
Gregory went to sit beside her, but Jenn shifted and opened a spot between them, so he sat there instead. “Fear gave way to weakness. Mine is insecurity. I hadn’t expected it, but looking back, it makes sense... Doubting that I’ll ever be what people expect or want.”
“Mine is my slight body,” Jenn said. “Without my aether, I’m no match for the people we’ll have to face.”
“My heritage is mine,” Yukiko added. “Neither of you cares, but most of the world will, and it might cause problems for us.”
“You are beautiful, wonderful, and special,” Gregory said, his arm going around her. “I wouldn’t change a single thing about you.”
“I know,” Yukiko murmured, leaning into his side, “but it still is my weakness, as I see it.”
“Strength,” Jenn said after a few seconds. “Mine is my willingness to endure anything for you. It doesn’t matter what, if it’ll help you.”
“Mine is the ability to balance gain against cost,” Yukiko said. “Not just money, but nearly anything. I balanced the cost of losing part of your affection against the benefit of Jenn joining us. The scale weighed heavily in Jenn’s favor.” She gave their wife a soft smile.
“I’ll never be able to thank you enough for that, Yuki.”
“Stubbornness,” Gregory said. “Refusing to give in. Being stubborn or stupid enough to even go as far as making the world change.”
“If you need to change the world, dear one, we will help you.”
“Yes,” Jenn agreed.
“I know. The more I think about it, the more I find myself wanting to do just that. It’ll be a long journey, but with you both beside me, I think we can do it in time.”
“The clan will be behind us, too,” Yukiko said softly, “and it’ll be growing in the future.”
The mention of the clan growing brought the novices to mind, and Gregory’s face heated as he thought of the last part of resonance. He shifted slightly, and both of his wives looked at him.
“Oh... desires,” Yukiko whispered. “Yes…” She bit her bottom lip unsure if she should mention them.
Jenn coughed and looked down, clearly uncertain herself.
“I…” Gregory started before he trailed off, unsure of how to approach it. “Maybe we should turn in for the night?”
Both Jenn and Yukiko sat there for a few seconds before they nodded, neither ready to explain their desires, either.
As they started to undress, Gregory shook his head slightly. How could I ever want more when I have them? It’s not as if the others would ever want me to look at them in those ways anyway...
Chapter Forty-six
Gregory met Jenn’s eyes before thrusting his piece forward. Jenn’s eyes widened slightly, and a smirk came to her lips. “Oh? Is that all you have?”
Gregory snorted as he flipped over the three cards he’d been waiting to play. “Nope.”
Ling moved her own piece forward at that point, flipping
one of her cards. “Combined charge,” she said with a grin.
Clover frowned at them. “But I intercepted the three messengers you sent last. How did you know to go now?”
Paul cleared his throat and held out the message that Gregory had sent to Ling at the very start of the game. “His first message was to invest in pigeons and use them exclusively for combat orders. The true messages would carry the correct color scale following the rainbow. He added that they needed to send false messages after that one on the ground, but would release pigeons with the right ones at the same time.”
“So the plans we thought we’d taken from them are false?” Jenn asked.
Paul shrugged. “You’ll have to decide that for yourself. Did you have a counter to the combined charge on your lines?”
“Clover?” Jenn asked.
“Turtle,” Clover said, giving her a guilty look as she flipped the card.
Jenn exhaled slowly and put one of her cards faceup. “Hasty retreat. I’m going to lose half of my men.”
“Glory for the empire,” Gregory said. “My commander whipped them into a frenzy before sending them off.”
“Most of my men will be lost,” Jenn sighed. “I’ll leave the field once the damage is done. You’re on your own, Clover.”
“I was hoping you’d be able to hold something back to keep them honest,” Clover told her. “If you quit the field, I won’t last another two rounds.”
“I’m not playing Krogga,” Jenn said. “I’m pretty sure that they’re going to leave me with less than a tenth of my men.”
“Anything else in play?” Paul asked.
“My archers will rain on the turtle to make sure they stay in place,” Ling said, flipping an archer shower card. “I’ll deduct the expenditure from my stores.”
“Since they’re in place and my magi has to go past them, he’ll use his aether for the day,” Gregory said. “Muddy the ground under them and possibly ruin their food supply.” Gregory turned his magi sideways to show he was exhausted.
Paul blinked, but nodded. “A two-prong attack with a full combined charge?”
Gregory looked at Ling, then handed Paul their last pigeon message.
Paul took it, read the small slip of paper, and shook his head. “I asked you not to use foresight.”
“I haven’t, sir. You have my word on that.”
“May I?” Jenn asked.
Paul looked at Gregory, who nodded. Paul passed the paper to Jenn, and Clover read it over her shoulder.
“That’s Ling’s writing,” Clover said. “She thought one of us would turtle and asked him to use rain to keep the turtle in place. But what if Jenn had turtled instead of me?”
Ling smiled and tapped her other facedown card. “Give up?”
Clover looked at the units charging at Jenn’s men— who would be in full retreat— and did some quick mental math. “Yes. Surrender and ask for good terms for my men.”
“Let’s see how many men Jenn loses, then we will end the game,” Paul said. “Ling, go ahead.”
Ling flipped the card she’d tapped. “Switch targets,” she smiled. “And since we’re a combined charge, he would’ve come with me. We wouldn’t break on the shell.”
“If we had both turtled?” Jenn asked.
Ling flipped her last card. “Probing charge. That means we’d pull back at a minor loss and can go again next turn.”
Jenn exhaled. “You put everything on the cavalry? I was going to have my pikemen in another turn.”
“Two for me,” Clover said.
“Figured you’d be building to stop us,” Gregory smiled. “Now, my light cavalry can do a decent amount of damage to the fleeing footmen…”
~*~*~
It took some time to total everything up and figure out the loss for Jenn and Clover. Farin turned to Yukiko and asked her about how pigeon-carried messages would work.
Once they had totaled everything and Paul officially declared the winners, he cleared his throat. “That was a good job, but I have news. You’re off for the next week. The week after that, everyone is off before the tournament starts so clans can do any last-minute training they want with you.”
“That means we won’t be here for three weeks?” Farin asked.
“That is correct. We won’t reconvene until after the tournament. Your tournament starts on the fourth day, after the final eight have been chosen. When I checked, there were only twenty groups registered with the academy to fight. For you three,” he looked at Ling, Clover, and Farin, “you have the option of joining a clan before it starts, or you can offer your services to a clan without joining it.”
“Mercenaries?” Gregory asked.
“Yes. The Hardened Fist clan, for instance, isn’t fielding a group. Their apprentices are going to be with the groups that bid for them.”
“That’s allowed?” Jenn asked.
“Yes,” Paul said with distaste. “It’s been allowed for decades now, which is a pity. I’d love for them to face our apprentices as units.”
“Sir,” Farin spoke up, “is your clan willing to accept others?”
Paul stared at him for a second. “I will ask for you, Farin. Did you just want to fight beside us?”
“Would you accept me into the clan?” Farin asked hopefully.
“You are improving,” Paul said. “I’ll approach Master Chen and ask him. If not, I do hope you find a worthy clan. You will be a solid magi if you’re allowed to grow.”
“Thank you, sir,” Farin said, bowing formally.
“Will it be the same as last year, sir? Multiple fights on the first day, whittling down to four on the second, and then having the semifinals and finals on the last day?” Ling asked.
“As it has always been,” Paul said. “I keep hoping that they’ll give the apprentices a full tournament of their own. Maybe one day, they will... Any questions before you are dismissed until the tournament ends?”
When no one spoke up, Paul nodded. “You are dismissed.”
As they gathered their things, Paul went over to Gregory. “I had a question given to me— would you be willing to spar with Magus Klim again?”
“I think I would need the approval of my clan, sir.”
“As it should be, but are you willing?”
Gregory paused for a moment. “Magus Klim has always been fair with me, as have you, and your entire clan, sir. I would be honored. I will speak with my clan and find out if they are okay with it.”
“If they’re willing, please have them send word to her at our clan hall.”
“I will, sir.”
“Good. May your training pave the way for a good tournament for you.”
“Thank you, sir,” the three of them said, bowing to him.
Paul turned on his heel and headed for the door. When he reached it, he paused and looked back at Farin. “Farin, fall in. We’ll go find out right now.”
“Yes, sir,” Farin said, moving quickly to get behind Paul.
Clover smiled as they left. “Good. He deserves a clan.”
“So do we,” Ling said softly. “Maybe we should see if any clan will take us for the tournament, at least. If we can prove ourselves useful there, maybe they’ll accept us fully.”
Clover frowned and looked down. “But then…” She trailed off.
“Then we might not be in the same clan,” Ling finished for her, touching her shoulder. “Yes. It’ll be hard to push without you there to encourage me, Clover, but we need to do all we can to grow.”
“Yeah, but… I don’t wanna,” Clover pouted. “I’d rather stay learning with you until the year ends.”
“We could always inquire with our clan,” Yukiko offered.
Both women looked surprised. Their eyes were wide as they turned toward Yukiko, clearly not having been expecting what she’d said.
“It doesn’t mean it will happen, but we can ask,” Jenn smiled. “Friends who push each other to learn and grow should stay together as long as they can.”
Clover practically leapt the length of the room as she scrambled to hug Jenn. “Thank you!”
Ling was more dignified, but she bowed much lower than equals should to each other. “We are honored you’d ask for us. We are nowhere near you in terms of power or training, but we’ll give everything we can.”
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