Alice said, “How did you know about being Elves?”
April kept her hand away from my penis, but idly stroked my stomach, as close as she could go without going too far.
She said, “Jack says that all the time. And Shaheen is here. Why would she be here if we aren’t Elves like Jack says? And Daddy is a hero, and how could he kill all those monsters? And ever since we came to the house, I’ve felt funny. Like I need him to be with me. Like he is calling my name even when he doesn’t say anything. Like I love him, I think. So, if he’s my husband, that’s probably because we’re Elves, like Jack said. Do Elf-girls get to have their Daddy love them, like a lady and do wifely things? Is that why? And because he isn’t my father, but he is my Daddy?”
Alice said, “Well, the cat’s out of the bag now. Sweetie, do you really want Ronin to be your husband and nobody else, ever?”
April exclaimed, “Of course! It’s like Lucy. I mean, Stacy. Brenda told us that she was here because she loved us and no one else could ever be a good mate for her. I just know that’s how I am too.”
Alice laid her hand on my chest and said, “Sweetie, we have a really big secret. It’s scary to tell you. I was going to let Ronin tell you, but this is better, I think. Or it’s at least as good, anyway. Sweetie, don’t be afraid, but I’m not your real mother.”
April sat up straighter and the blanket fell down a bit, letting her very young-looking breast show, and she said, “What? How come?”
Alice said, “Sweetie, when you were little, your real parents died, and you became my daughter. Ichabod wasn’t your father.”
April shouted, “I knew it! I knew it! He couldn’t be. I knew it! My real father was kind and lovely and generous and a prince! Like Ronin, but older.”
Alice said, “So, I took care of you. I was just a girl myself. I was only thirteen-years-old when I found you. And I took you home and said that you were my daughter, and I never told you, or anyone, until yesterday, when I told Ronin. But, since I’m not your mother…”
April said, “So, since you aren’t my mother, not really, not by blood because you didn’t give birth to me, then wait, that means that I’m just some girl from somewhere, like an orphan.”
Alice started to say something, but April waved her off and said, “No, wait. This makes it all different. If I’m just some girl…”
I stepped in and said, “Whose real father was probably a kind and wonderful Elven prince.”
She said, “Yeah, like that, then if I come and Ronin is my husband, it’s totally OK.”
She sat up fully beside me, letting the covers fall to her waist, and said in a very mature voice, “Hello, Sir Ronin. I am April. I don’t know where I’m from, but I am supposed to be with you. And I have no family but you, if you will have me. I am a poor lost foundling, but if you will change my name and make me a woman, I will love and serve you all my life.”
Then she lay back down and laughed and said, “Like that. Right? Like a very mature lady and not a girl. Momma, this is amazing. I am your daughter, of course, and even if it’s not you that was pregnant with me or anything, I love you, and this is perfect because it’s just perfect. Can I touch it now?” and she ran her hand toward my groin again.
Alice said, “His penis? No, not yet, Sweetie.”
April said, “Because I’m too young to have a husband? That’s stupid. Can we do it in secret?”
Alice said, “No, but we won’t have to. April, I’m glad that you aren’t upset about what I told you. But, Sweetie, there’s more, I’m afraid.”
April snapped her head up and looked across my chest at Alice, waiting for another secret to be revealed.
Alice said slowly, “Sweetie, you aren’t 15. You are quite a bit older than that.”
April frowned and said, “Then why aren’t my boobs bigger?”
Alice said, “Well, we don’t exactly know. In some regards, you do seem to be younger than you really are.”
April said, “How old am I?”
Alice said sheepishly, “We don’t know exactly, because we don’t know how old you were when I took you in, but um, at least 27.”
April shouted, “27! That’s as old as Dawn! Exactly the same! I’m the same age as Dawn? But my body! My boobs! And my girlie parts! It hardly has any hair! Like Tanya. Hardly any! And I don’t shave it off yet like Dawn and Val and all of you! 27? But how?”
Alice looked mortified, and I spoke up for the first time. All of this was a shock to me, and I had tried to stay out of the middle of it and just disappear from this until now. I hadn’t been prepared for any of this. Alice had expected me to talk to April. I knew that. But I didn’t know that she expected me to take April as a mate in addition to all the rest of them. April was right though, and I guess if I thought back over the past few days, several things could have been interpreted as the women setting the expectation that April would indeed be one of us and even that it was the only reasonable choice. She was the same age as Dawn, and she did need a strong Elven husband. And unless we kept the secret and forced her to stay a little girl forever, she would only be happy if she was my mate. And she felt a very strong physical, emotional, and psychic attraction to me. I took a breath and jumped into the deep water.
I said, “April, is this really what you want?”
She looked at me and said, “For you to be my husband and to be a grown woman? Yes, I do. It was making me so frustrated to have these funny feelings and think that my Daddy couldn’t love me the way I wanted you to. Can I touch it now? I’m not scared.”
I said, “Not quite yet. OK, April, I love you. Now, here’s what’s happening. Um, change places with me. Lay down here in the middle of the bed and let me sit beside you.”
We shifted positions, and April lay in the middle of her bed on her back, only her lower half under the blanket, and said, “Are you going to teach me about sex now?” and she started to part her legs.
I said quickly, “No, not yet! You have to be patient. Here’s the thing. You are part-elf. And something in your body is keeping you a little girl and not letting you grow up.”
April said suddenly, “Oh, that! I wondered what that was for. Let me get rid of it right now!”
I said emphatically, “Wait! Not yet. What do you mean?”
She said, “I have these weird things. Like blue spots. If I close my eyes. I can see me with my eyes closed. It’s weird. And there are these blue spots. Here, let me get rid of them.”
I cried, “Wait, just wait a second. April, can you see me? Or Alice when your eyes are closed?”
She said, “No. Well, I never tried.” She shut her eyes and said, “Oh, I kind of can. Sort of. A little. I thought it was just me. I thought it was my imagination, kind of. You have blue spots too.”
I said, “I do?”
She said, "Yeah. Tiny little blue spots. Like in your head, and in your legs."
I said, “Well, don’t touch them. So, April, those blue spots are Elven parts of us that aren’t awake yet. Does that make sense?”
She opened her eyes and said, "Sure. I knew they were there. I can hear them. Well, sort of. And these I have like this are what makes me not grow up."
I said, “Listen, we need to be careful, I think. I think that if we let them loose that you will grow up very quickly. And that might mean that your body will change, just like you said. And if it happens too fast, it might be uncomfortable.”
She said, “Like a growth spurt? So, if my boobs got big all of a sudden, it might hurt? That makes sense. But I’m not afraid. It sounds scary, but it’s not. Not really. Not since you’re here with me. What should we do? I don’t have to never grow up, do I?”
I said, “No, you get to grow up. But maybe we should go slowly, and a little at a time. So, you think that you can get them, the blue spots, to open up by yourself?”
She said, “Sure. I’m the one who closed them. I don’t know when, but I’m sure it was me. Not all of them, but the ones that make me not grow up. If I ju
st sort of think about touching them, they’ll let go, I mean open up, really easy.”
I said, “Let’s be very careful. I want to come in and see it with you. See, elves like us have these special ways of doing sort of magical things, and if we try, you and me and Alice can all be in that same place with our eyes closed together. Try it. You first. Close your eyes and wait and see if you can see us come to you. Alice, I’ll come get you, and then we will go to April together. Everyone close your eyes.”
A few seconds later, the three of us were together in the other realm, Alice and I sitting with April, the girl lying on her back between us.
I said out loud, not wanting to tire the other two out by speaking silently, “April, I see the spots, and several more. You seem to have a sense of what needs to be done. Do you have an idea of which spot to start with, if we were going to do just one at a time?”
She said, “Well, not that one. That’s a hard one. It isn’t ready. And that other one isn’t important right now. And that one there is OK, but I don’t think it’s the best one. Oh, it’s like a puzzle! Like a knot. You have to find the end and pull it one at a time in order. That’s how it works. Like untying a knot. OK, let’s see. This one. It’s the first one. If I do it in order, it has to be right. Ready?”
I said, “Hold my hand. Now, do it slowly. Just the first one.”
As I watched, one of the blue gems glowed a bit brighter and then began to move. It didn’t blossom or burst the way that I had expected. It didn’t react like the ones that I had activated in the other women. This one stayed intact but started moving around within April’s body.
April said, “Oh, that feels good! That’s like when I got in bed with you last night. It feels nice. It has to stop moving and then it will be done. I’m not scared at all. If I did the wrong one, it could have been uncomfortable, but if I do the right one every time, it just feels good and when it’s done, I do the next one. But I can’t get up now.”
I said, “What do you mean you can’t get up, Sweetie? Why?”
April said, “It just feels too weird. If I try to walk, and it moves in my leg, I might fall down. Everywhere it goes, it makes a change or something. I better just lay here for a little while. You better kiss me again!”
I said hurriedly, “Why? Are you OK?”
She smiled and said, “I’ll be better if you kiss me.”
I smiled and thought, "Why not?" And kissed I her on the lips briefly. I kept it short, and afterward, she said, "Thank you, Daddy!"
I was concerned as I said, “Sweetie, I won’t be your daddy much longer. Not if I’m going to be your husband.”
She beamed and said, “Oh yes you will. You’ll be my Daddy forever and if I ask you for unicorns, you’ll get them for me. Now?”
I said, “Now what?”
She sighed in frustration and said, “Can I touch your penis again now?”
Alice laughed and looked at me for direction and seeing the look on my face, said, “Not yet, Sweetie. But I’ll stay with you while this is happening. Do you want anything?”
April smiled and said, “I guess not.”
Alice said, “OK, I’ll be right back. I’m going to talk to Daddy for a minute and then I’ll be right back.”
Alice and I stood up, and she led me to the door.
Out in the hall I said, “Alice, I didn’t know that we were planning for April to be with me. You know, as her husband. I think of her as a teenage girl.”
Alice said, “But, she’s not. And she loves you. And she’s ready for a mate. Or she will be very soon. And you are the mate that she needs. Oh, I’m so happy about all of this.”
I said, “We have to explain it to the others.”
Alice frowned and said, “Explain what? We talked it over at the pools yesterday. Everyone was in agreement. April is one of us. She’s the same age as Dawn and she was brought to us by providence. Everyone knows that. Now, you go off and do some adventuring or hero stuff, and I’ll look after April. Think about it: by the time you come back tonight, you might not even recognize her. How exciting is that?”
I said, “And what about Jack and Tanya? How will we explain to them what’s happening?”
Alice said, “I think that we should tell them the truth. Jack will be relieved that we finally believe him. Shaheen says that he and Tanya will find mates, when it’s time, in her home village, if it’s still there, and she’s sure that it will be. We can tell them that when it’s time, you will take them to Shaheen’s clan, or your own, and they will find lovely Elf-boys and girls to mate with. And that Jack can have three, like he says he will need, for reasons that he says he can’t share with womenfolk. Go on. I’ll have a talk with Brenda, and then the two of us will talk to Jack and Tanya. It’s nice not having to worry about being dressed in this part of the house.”
Chapter 9 - First Expedition
OK, I handled that. But I didn’t want to think about it. I wanted to get out of the house and do something else. Let’s see, yesterday, we added two new mates to the house. One was the woman that I had been resisting as my beautiful, sexually alluring, supposed mother-in-law, and the other was a 311-year-old elf-woman that I had never met before. This morning, I woke up squeezing the firm naked butt of what I had been thinking of as my 15-year-old stepdaughter, but who was actually a 27-year-old suffering from stunted growth, who all of my current women, including the two new ones, and the girl’s adopted mother, had decided would also be one of my wives. Number seven. No! Number eight! Eight! And I swore to myself as I rushed to find pants and a shirt that I was going straight to the edge of the village and building a wall and a gate to keep any more half-elf beauties from getting in and claiming me as their husband as well. Then I’d go to the mapmaker and make sure that the village was removed from all maps, just for safe measures.
I shut my eyes and called the women using my Elven senses, “Val, Dawn, Harmony, Shaheen, and Stacy, I’m going to explore the Kobold cave. I’m leaving in five minutes. If you are coming with me, I’ll see you at the front door. Otherwise, I’ll see you tonight. Oh, and I love you all and I’m the luckiest man on earth and Brenda, and Alice, thank you for everything that you do for us,” and I cut the communication.
I found my leather pants, and my boots and a shirt, and a vest, and my weapons, and I headed for the front door. Just as I was leaving the room, both Val and Dawn rushed in and said that they would be ready in a minute and that I had to wait for them. I watched as both girls hurried to get dressed. Both wore the same outfits that we had used in our initial expeditions against the rats, including the short skirts and no undergarments, and a leather vest with no blouse. They grabbed their weapons and buckled them onto their belts, and we headed downstairs.
Harmony rushed down behind us, still fumbling to fasten her own skirt at her waist. They had taken me at my word, and when we were assembled, Brenda came from the kitchen with some food that she had hurriedly prepared for us. Shaheen was already there, dressed in her cloak, but unlike yesterday, she had weapons as well. She had a sword at her back, very much like the one that I wore at my belt. She said that she also had a short sword, again much like mine, attached to her belt, under her cloak, and she wore a small pack next to the sword at her back.
The rest of us were a little out of breath, but Shaheen was perfectly relaxed and smiling. I stopped and forced myself to check the girls’ weapons, clothing, and provisions, and when I was satisfied, I took a breath and tried to calm down.
I said, “I want to get started. It’s been five or six days since the Kobolds left, and I want to go see what they left us. Stacy says that she is resting today. Alice is with April. April is going through a growth spurt. You don’t all have to come.”
Val smiled and said, “Of course we do. Where you go, we go. Don’t we ladies? There are five of us to be Adventurers now.”
I relaxed a bit and tried to smile.
I said, “I think that I want to go out through the tunnels under the village. Is ther
e a reason not to?”
Harmony said, “Not at all. I know the way. Ronin, why the hurry?”
Val said, “The reason doesn’t matter. We will know when we need to.”
Harmony looked at Val and said, “Oh. Yeah. You’re right. Tell me when you’re ready.”
I said, “If I hurry us too much, we will make some type of mistake. I shouldn’t be in so much of a rush. Everyone think. Are we ready?”
Dawn said, “We have two bows. Is it enough? And do we have darts and pipes?”
I said, “I think two bows is the right number for today. And just 50 arrows. Unless someone feels something different?” No one did.
Harmony said, “I have two knives, and a dozen for throwing. Val has two good knives. It looks like Falcon has a long sword and a short sword. Ronin, you have the long and short swords, your sharp ones. Our armor isn’t the best, but it’s all we have for now.”
Shaheen smiled and said, “We’ll make some better stuff when the Kobold leathers are tanned and ready. They need another week at least. We’ll just have to stay away from sharp claws and teeth.”
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, and a candle on a table in the front room fell in two pieces. And Shaheen slid her long sword back into the scabbard at her back.
She said, “That felt good. This all feels good. One thing I would say, if we aren’t in too much of a hurry, is that we could bring more food. And if we aren’t back tonight, we can send a message to those staying here to assure you that we’re safe. Unless Ronin is certain of being home, I would say that we should bring a pack with a bit more food. Ronin hasn’t even had breakfast.”
Brenda ran to the kitchen, and after a quick look around, Harmony went to retrieve another pack to carry more food in.
Five minutes later, we were climbing down the ladder under the trap door in the lower level closet.
The Heart of the Falcon: The Guardian Maidens Book 3 Page 8