by P. S. Power
He did feel a little stiff, though not sore really.
Looking around he realized that he'd never seen this many people in the mall before, much less the food court. Even more people walked the hall, looked in shops and watched people passing by. Almost like a real mall.
"Sit for a moment, while I hunt today's feasting?" Then the giantess went to the Chinese place to get food. She came back with two large trays positively loaded with food, and a plate of some kind of pastries. He asked her what they were, but she didn't know, saying only that Mac had said that Merri had made them.
The plate set in front of Zack held a lot of food. As he ate, Hilda watched him. She took a pastry and told him to stop eating anything else and to eat one of the rolls instead. He could see why. It had a soft, but flaky texture, a filling that tasted of almonds and didn't quite have the texture of a paste, with larger chunks of nuts, all mixed with spices laid between layers, like a really good cinnamon roll.
“These must have a lot of calories. There's a lot of protein too! No meat, this is pretty close to perfect for you to eat after working out. Have another! Merri is real genius. Plus these are very great.” She looked longingly at the plate, but ate the Chinese food, strips of meat and egg rolls with fried rice and sauce that she daintily dipped each bite in first.
As he finished the second roll, Mac, Merri's brother, came over to the table and asked, very formally, if Hilda could give them a moment for discussion. Hilda grabbed her plate and moved away from them, smiling at both men a bit.
“My sister is very pleased with the match our King has made, I think you should know. She tells us that you're pleasant and fair and that you have made an effort to learn her ways as well as teach her your own. Rare things! She's delicate and I worried you might be too... rough for her, but I'm glad to see that I was wrong to worry.
“As you'll probably have guessed, my father has asked me to see to the disposition of the dowry. Some of it is, of course, in lands and holdings. You being you though, their distance from here, in the Alfric lands, shouldn't be a hardship as it might have been for another. She also comes with a chest and some gold though, to start her house holding....”
The small man, much smaller than his sister, looked slightly embarrassed and rubbed his head self-consciously.
“To tell you the truth, my father had not thought her to marry for several decades or even longer and this took him by surprise. We're not poor by any means! Still, our Merri isn't coming to you as well dowered as she might have. It's not that we don't think her of value, mind. It's just a timing thing, the King, bless him, stole the march on father a bit...I hope you understand...”
Luckily Zack had read a lot over the years, including fantasy novels and histories, at least when he'd come back from the void with the big Shadow, so he knew what a dowry entailed. He wouldn't have to ask silly questions, at least not too many or insult the man and his family be refusing it.
“Of course! I mean, everything of late has taken me by surprise as well... I have to admit that I'm not certain exactly what I should do at this point, so why don't you take the lead? Our customs are very different here in regards to such things.” Zack smiled and turned both hands so his palms were up.
They talked for about an hour. Mac clearly relieved that Zack not only didn't take umbrage at the small size of the dowry, but didn't seem to care about it at all.
Zack made a point to invite the man to come for a visit to his home at any time, if he wished, so he could see where his sister went away to.
Mac shook his hand to seal the bargain.
Hilda came and sat by him again, eying the last pastry. He passed the plate to her without looking, pretending he was being sly. She produced a lovely grin, and took it. A short time later Merri walked over, clearly packed to leave for the day. Her steps bounced a little as she walked, clearly pleased.
“Mac said that you accepted the dower. I know that he and father were worried about that, but I wasn't. I know you to be a good man, not more concerned with material things than people.” Her Shadow glowed brightly, sending out waves of energy and a sense of joy that hit him solidly, like a happy breeze.
He mentioned to Merri that Claire had asked if she'd look after Nikki for a few evenings. He didn't know what it entailed, he told her, probably housework and such. He did let her know that Nikki seemed to be in a little trouble though, and that this may be a punishment detail of a sort.
Her eyes grew wide and her face serious.
“I'd be glad to be of service to one of my fellow wives in her concerns, of course. It was good of her to ask though, instead of simply ordering it done, holding precedence.” She counted off a list raising a finger with each name. “Claire, Lisa, Hilda, Valerie, myself. I know there are others on the list, but until they come and make their claim, they have no real place.”
She looked at him and blushed, then spoke again quickly.
“I know that you said they are not all wives, but... Well, they act as wives, and the same agreement that made me your bride named them as well. I think that you have to account for that.”
She shrank into herself then. He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder gently. “Well, if you suggest I consider it, then I will.”
She straightened a bit and nodded then.
Hilda asked, “But why do you think you're the last on the list? Aren't you the first really? Out of everyone, only you, have been accepted as a real wife so far. Correct?”
Merri shook her head. There are, she informed them, factors of age, power and position to account for as well. Since she only had charge over the house and now the house budget, she didn't rate very high, that being the least of all things, though still important.
Both Hilda and Zack disagreed if for different reasons. Hilda found house holding more important than accounting, because it made a larger impact on one's life. Zack viewed all of them as equals, and to Merri's surprise, equal to him as well.
“Why wouldn't you be?” He asked in surprise. Neither woman answered.
When they got home they found a tiny bit of a scene. Betty, Claire's Human servant, stood yelling at Val, apparently about Troy. Zack listened for a minute trying to get a sense of what might be going on. Hilda slowly walked up, put her arms around Betty carefully and pulled her back a few steps. The much smaller woman railed on however, though she didn't struggle.
Zack focused his Shadow projection on her, talking to her gently, softly. Telling her to relax, which she did so suddenly she nearly fell down. Then to calm herself and let the emotions die down for now, which she did instantly.
Only after she sat on the sofa and he had taken a seat himself, did he ask what had happened.
Apparently, while work had gone on over the last week, Troy had been busy getting on Betty's good side. Claire had even thought this would be a good idea, since it would give Troy someone to focus his attentions on without making a misstep with one of the other women. They'd been sleeping together for a few days.
Valerie had come home earlier and taken Troy to bed almost instantly, probably due to her increased excitement and energy, due to the unexpected payday.
Betty caught them having sex, and under the thrall of the moment, instead of acting embarrassed, he'd just continued having sex. She found this... insulting.
Zack could see that one, actually. In all the stories he'd read, the creepy people having illicit sex were supposed to cover themselves in shame and start trying to placate the wronged party when that happened. Betty, clearly, had a similar idea.
The Human servant felt mortified now that she'd calmed down a bit. She knew Val to be a succubus and even what that meant for Troy's ability to resist, or her own ability to keep Troy faithful under those kinds of conditions. She also knew that acting like a shrew wouldn't strengthen her case.
Zack suggested to Betty that she didn't really have a problem with this, and though she felt a little silly, perhaps, she didn't feel bad about it now even. He projected this hard
on the Shadow level, her Shadow being agreeing quickly.
Troy had locked himself in his room. Zack walked over and knocked, then announced who it was. The other man came to the door, poking his head out rapidly, then pulled Zack in, shutting the door firmly and locking it again.
He looked at Troy and smiled. Having felt a small bit of what Valerie had been channeling earlier, he imagined being close to it had probably left Troy without much choice in the whole matter at all, even though the embarrassment seemed clear in him now. Strongly enough he actually looked like someone was about to beat him.
“Be careful. There are forces and beings involved around here that you don't understand. You know, in fact, before you have sex with anyone talk to me... no actually, talk to Claire and get her input first. She's not a prude and has a lot more experience with these kinds of things than I do, supernatural sex politics and whatever. As things stand right now, Betty's all right. Talk to Claire though so you understand what's going on, this whole thing is... complicated.” He hoped Claire wouldn't mind his volunteering her, she just really did know more about this kind of thing.
“Yeah, cool, man, guess I really blew it, huh?” Troy hung his head.
“A little bit, yeah. You'll live though, this time. Talk to Claire.”
Now he just had to figure out what to do with Valerie.
Chapter twenty
That night his dreams were haunted by an army of dark Human forms. This time they didn't try to have sex with him. Just kill him. He ran away, or at least tried to, since that was one of his obvious strengths, he rationalized in the dream itself. It didn't work, not for long at least.
Then when they caught him Valerie came and made them all go away. Then she held him down and had sex with him, though it didn't feel like anything, just a presence trying to join with him at the waist. He woke up in a dark room, alone.
Some variation of this happened over and over again, ending with him kissing Val well enough that she seemed to enjoy it. When he woke up from that dream he knew that he had gotten at least somewhat turned on by the idea.
The next morning he got ready for work as he normally did, Merri making him eat some oatmeal and drink a small glass of juice, then taking everyone in to work. Today though, he headed past Candles and More and walked with Merri and Hilda toward their normal work places. Merri touched his arm in parting and Hilda gave him a quick hug. Then he went over to the Fun Zone.
Riley stood at the front of the small store, waiting. His smile was practically radiant.
“You came! I'd hoped you would. Be ready for this onerous duty though. Six hours of standing here, waiting to hand out prizes and give people change. Really, it's simple enough, just boring. This is the busiest day of the week, but, yeah, you'll see.” Riley spoke with a southern accent, a drawl that Zack couldn't place precisely, but that spoke of places where someone his color would have had a hard time in the past.
The Trickster went over how to make change, only into quarters, and seemed impressed that Zack could already do this. Then he showed him how to reset the various games, Wack-a-mole, Skeeball, Hoopster, and the video games, most of which involved shooting. If someone won enough tickets, he could give them prizes for the amount of tickets they had, though really he could give out prizes anyway, if he felt like it, Riley told him. They weren't high priced affairs and the Fun Zone didn't have to make a profit or anything.
"So, if some little child is crying, or you see a pretty girl that would look good carrying a stuffed iguana around the Mall, do what you feel is right. I know that I always do. It's what my kind are for. Making the world work out, in the end."
At the end of six hours, his relief would come. If he needed to use the bathroom, eat or what have you, it was generally safe to leave for a while. Like hours at a time.
Assured that Zack would at least try not to let anyone burn the place down, Riley left for the day, his inner rabbit skipping as it left.
The Fun Zone got a good washing in the first two hours, and the floor vacuumed, twice. He'd been about to start wiping down the machines again when an attractive woman that looked to be in her mid-thirties walked in. She really didn't seem like the Skee-ball type, but Zack wasn't one to judge. It was kind of fun, after all.
“And you, of course, are not my son, Riley. Are you?” She smiled, her rich skin, lighter than Riley's but smooth and clear, contrasted nicely with her very white teeth. Her robe had a flowing African look about it. Bright blues and muted reddish browns, wrapped around her tightly across the chest and loose everywhere else. Inside of her, instead of a rabbit, she had the Shadow of a giant spider.
“No, ma'am. I'm filling in for him today. Is there something I can help you with?” He decided that, since nothing else seemed to be going on, he may as well try to be useful to someone.
She told him that Riley had assured her that if she came in today, he could get her transport to the Lesser Shia Nexus. He'd not said how, but it had been ages since she'd been able to go. The markets there were, according to her, the best anywhere – literally. You could find anything you could think of and millions of things you never would have bothered imagining.
Riley had probably intended for him to transport his mother for him, Zack mused. Well, what the heck? It cost him nothing and from the sound of it, this represented a new location that might well come up again sometime. Really, just learning where that was for himself might be worth it.
“How long do you want to go for?” He asked casually. If she wanted to be gone for too long it would be tough. Though he could probably pick her up the next day, without it being a problem.
"Oh, a few hours would be perfect. Are you suggesting that I can go today?"
"Sure. We'll need to go someplace with a Node, but it won't take very long. If we hurry the store here should be all right, I think."
Getting a sense of the place from her Shadow self, in a way similar to how he'd found the other new locations from people and checking for traps on the other side first, he quickly took her first to Candles and More and then to Lesser Shia. Zack assured her that he'd be back to get her in three hours. The room he left her in was, she assured him, the right place, but it looked a little bland to him. It had nice and very smooth white walls and the ground was a clean and very nice hand woven carpet. There was nothing else there however. Of course this wasn't the market either.
The next three hours were the busiest he had seen in the Mall so far. Nearly a hundred people wandered the stores and food court. Six of them even came in and played games. He got change for people twice.
When the time came to go get her, he had to go back three times, trying to find her. She apologized for being late, blaming an amazing haggling session for her tardiness. She'd wanted to get something amazing for some special people she told him, smiling as she said it.
She waited for Rose, her daughter, to get there, since it had been a long time between visits and it seemed a shame to leave mere moments before she showed up. They made small talk while they waited, which Zack found interesting. The woman, Kamali she told him her name was, had to be the most extensively traveled being he'd met yet, at least that let him know about it.
The girl that showed up had no resemblance to either Riley or her own mother, and instead looked like a full-blood Cherokee. She looked... striking. What people would have once called 'handsome'. She had smooth skin, high cheek bones and straight black hair that she wore in a single braid, a lot like Hilda's.
“Mom!” She ran across the room and hugged the darker woman without hesitation. After a couple of minutes of catching up she looked at Zack and blinked.
“Hi. Did my brother trick you into working his shift for him?”
“Actually he heard that I filled in for Claire down at the Frozen YoGurt shop and asked if I'd take a shift for him. No tricks involved at all. I hope that's all right, there haven't been any problems or anything all day. I did get a lot of cleaning done though.”
The older woman looked at her
daughter and told her of how her brother once again set her down a path that should have led nowhere, a promised trip to Lesser Shia, only to have this man make it happen. She couldn't tell if Riley had been very clever or had simply done the wrong thing, only to have the right thing happen anyway. Both women smirked, their Shadows telling Zack that with Riley, you could never really tell.
“So if you took her to Lesser Shia, and brought her back, and aren't going on about how you now own all our souls or anything, you must be Zack Hartley?” She looked at him hard, her Shadow clearly examining his. “I have to say, you seem kinder than I thought you'd be. Cuter too. Nessa from The Chasm didn't seemed as enthused about your looks as she could have been. I'd say a six, possibly a seven point five if we dress you correctly. Maybe up around an eight if you can gain a little weight. You're a bit thin for a man.” Her tone seemed cheerful, though her eyes looked for flaws.
“Daughter, why are you analyzing a stranger like this in front of him? He did me a kindness, it seems that returning kindness would be a good thing to try...” The older woman turned to take in Zack more closely.
“Besides, what's good looking changes so rapidly. If he holds to this rough appearance, he'll be good looking within forty or fifty years, at least for this place, don't you think?”
“True, mother. But, thanks to my twin brother, your son, and some crazy scheme he had, I'm married by agreement to Mr. Hartley here. The only up side so far is that he does seem nice and kind and it pays well.”
Before Zack could speak, Rose's mother did. “Well, he could have done worse for you. This man is better than many, to be sure. If the situation is also lucrative, well daughter, you aren't getting any younger you know...”
Rose turned to her Mother, crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue. Then, a huge smile on her face, she turned to Zack.
“You'd best get out of here before she decides to marry you herself. Seriously though, it's nice to meet you. I do feel slightly less skeeved out about my brother trying to sell me into a life of servitude. Slightly. Perhaps we'll get a chance to talk soon?”