He scrunched up his eyebrows as he saw Nameless frown, and he smiled once he deduced the cause.
“And I will take your exception to attaching a price tag to the gal as a good sign. Still, if you are willing to part with her excess milk it should make your life more comfortable. Honestly, in a few weeks you could buy that shithole you’re renting in short order if you wanted. Although I wouldn’t recommend that, in fact…” Paul paused and then went back into the house without a word.
After a moment Nameless followed him, curious, but he stopped short at the sight of Milly, bent over with her magnificent ass shifting from side to side and her face stuffed deep into the bag, her horns tenting it above her head, snuffling and mooing happily.
She’s eaten nearly half the bag already!
Paul came back into the kitchen with a large rolled up piece of paper. He went towards the table, but thought better of it with a smirk as he saw the mess the hungry cow had made and was continuing to make.
“Into the den my boy!”
Nameless followed him deeper into his house; Paul threw back some curtains to let the sun in to the dimly lit room.
“I had a thought, now I don’t want you to get your jumpers up just yet, but just mull this over with me, cuz I don’t imagine you’ll want to stay much longer at your place.”
He nodded his head as Paul spread out the paper; Nameless recognized it as a property map.
“Here we are at the ol’ homestead, and here-” He traced his finger along a trail for just over a mile before it crossed a bridge, a field, then ended at a pond in the corner of where his property abutted Janet Skinner’s; “-is an old cottage that I used to let out to folks, till I got fed up with them wrecking the place. This little stamp of a field hasn’t been plowed or nothing in years and that old pond is only good for skinny-dipping so I’m not getting any value out of the property. That and Skinner’s damn Blomma always try to lure me into their petals when I try to work this section of it here.” He pointed to a section of the field right adjacent to his neighbor’s property; “Sweet gals and maybe someday when I’m ready to die happy I’ll take them up on the offer.”
Nameless gave a wry smile at the old man’s suggestion. Blomma were harmless, but Paul wasn’t a young man anymore and seemed to think that the girls’ amorous affections would finish him off. More than a few horny teens had tried to sneak into that garden to have a go with the flower girls, only to be chased off by the Old Lady Skinner herself, wielding an enormous meat cleaver. If the flowers didn’t end him, Janet almost certainly would.
“So anyways, I figure we could fix the place up a bit, and then Moon-Pie would have a nice little field to fart around in. Eventually, once you’ve sold enough of her milk, not to mention whatever other work you find for yourself-” He frowned at the young man to communicate that having a cow worth her weight in gold was no excuse to be idle; “-I could sell that chunk of land to you and we’d both be happy. By itself it’s not enough to grow any significant amount of crops on, maybe a few vegetable gardens. You’ll want to leave most of the field for wild grass for Milly’s fodder. Otherwise the space is more than enough to care for a few gals; if that is the direction your life takes.”
He leaned back and stretched his back for a moment.
“Like I said, think it over. I get that she just bonded with you and you probably have enough on your plate with the Aegis breathing down your neck, but once things settle down some you’ll need to consider what’s best for your heifer, which means thinking long term.”
Nameless continued to look at the map, his lips pursed in thought. He’d never thought he would ever be able to afford a proper home, let alone enough property to call himself a landowner! The prospect was heady, and scary. He didn’t think he was ready for all of the responsibility that had somehow found its way onto his narrow shoulders in less than two days.
At the same time, he was enormously grateful to the elderly farmer for the offer.
“Thank you, Mr Fle- Paul. Thank you, Paul.” He took the man’s outstretched hand and shook it vigorously; “You’ve been a huge help, and I will definitely think about this.” He gestured a thumb at the map; “I’ve been really worried about my, ah, ‘shithole’… well, Milly deserves better than that.”
“That she does my boy, that she does.”
Paul took him by the shoulder familiarly and led him back into the kitchen. The sight that greeted them was enough to draw a great guffaw out of the old farmer.
The kitchen was a disaster, scattered bits of oats all over and Milly, now standing, was wearing the sack on her head and over her shoulders.
Following Paul’s instructions to the letter, she was indeed chewing on the inside of the bag.
Chapter 5:
Bittersweet Memories
A very full Milly wiped at her face with a giant red hanky with white polka dots on it; Paul had given it to her while she blushingly apologized for the state of his kitchen, and when she tried to return it he told her to keep it. It soon rode in the back pocket of her shorts, a red and white tail to match her own white and brown one.
The old farmer had found the whole thing highly amusing and sent them off to check in with Ophelia while he fetched a broom, laughing the entire time.
“Who is Ophelia anyways?” Milly asked as they left his drive to walk back to town.
“She runs the orphanage where I was raised. She’s a wonderful person, or well, I guess she isn’t a person, she’s a butterfly girl, um, a Flutterby.”
“Oh. So she is really important to you?”
“Yes. She was my only friend growing up, I love her dearly.”
“I hope she likes me.” Milly’s tone had turned wistful.
“Milly, I doubt anybody who knows you doesn’t like you.”
Her cheeks turned pink and she abruptly hugged him.
He winced slightly as she licked at his hair again.
Not long afterwards Nameless and Milly entered the gate into the front yard of the orphanage, a few children played aimlessly in the grass, but not nearly as many as he remembered from his last visit.
He frowned at the apparent inactivity around the building; just two years ago when he moved out there were over two dozen kids underfoot.
“I guess Ophelia has had some luck placing kids with families?” He muttered to himself.
“So this is where you grew up Master?” Milly took in the scene beside him, her eyes wide, eager to see the place.
“Look! It’s Nameless! And he brought that cow-lady!!” One little boy announced their arrival and suddenly five kids swarmed around them.
Nameless was never comfortable being the center of attention and grew even more so when he was bombarded with the kind of fanciful tales that only children could spin out of fact.
“I heard you killed that guy when he beat her with a pipe!” One particularly bloodthirsty boy announced.
“That’s not what happened! It was a piece of lost tech! It spat fire at her but he deflected it and then the guy exploded!” Another boy, maybe ten years old, said while exuberantly gesturing with his arms to indicate destruction.
“No way! How could he deflect it? I bet it was just a big stick, you guys are lying!” Yet another, much younger boy, chimed in.
Meanwhile, two girls were pestering Milly with much less bloody, but equally fanciful tales while fussing over the Minotaur’s hair and face, or at least trying to as she was much taller than them.
“So he knocked the guy down and then took you as his wife right? That’s so romantic! Your eyes are really pretty!”
“Do you use makeup at all? Your skin is so soft! And I heard that SHE saved HIM, she knocked out the other guy for the lawkeeper to take away!”
Milly was almost as uncomfortable as Nameless while the two girls alternated between make-up questions and how boys were so gross, to what REALLY happened when Nameless came to her aid.
Fortunately they were rescued by a musical voice.
“Child
ren! Stop crowding our guests! Nameless, dearheart I’m so glad you are alright. You had me so worried!”
A gorgeous dark haired woman in a diaphanous gown half-flew out of the building, her wings were a pale violet where they stretched out of her exposed back, subtly darkening into a rich purple trimmed in black.
“Hello Mistress Ophelia.” He accepted her warm hug with a surprising lump forming in his throat, he had missed her hugs.
Milly looked shy as Ophelia fussed with Nameless’s hair.
“Oh! You’ve lost even more weight! I swear, if you don’t start eating properly I will drag you back here and tell everyone that you are a new arrival.” She kissed him several times on each cheek; and much to his surprise twice on the lips before she hugged his face into her low-cut gown, she was about a half foot taller than him. As usual she smelled like lilacs and he couldn’t stop himself from breathing her delicate aroma in deeply.
“It’s alright; he has my milk now so…” Milly found her voice but lost it again as the Flutterby turned her deep violet eyes to regard her.
“Oh hello, it’s Milly right?” At Milly’s nod she introduced herself; “I am Ophelia dear, and I have heard that you had quite the adventure yesterday! I am so glad that you two found each other.”
Then Ophelia flew over to give Milly the same treatment as Nameless, up to and including the kisses.
“But look at me making a fuss! Alright children!” She clapped her delicate hands to get everyone’s attention; “You can play for a bit longer but we will have lunch in less than an hour and I expect hands and faces washed when you are at the table, now scoot!”
“Yes Mistress Ophelia!” A chorus of excited voices greeted her words.
As the children fled in all directions, she motioned for Nameless and Milly to go inside. They walked in front of her and thus didn’t notice when she used her fingers to discreetly wipe a few tears from her eyes.
“You two will join us for lunch of course, I won’t hear otherwise!” She patted away both of their objections as they passed the common area of the orphanage and into the large kitchen.
Nameless couldn’t help but notice that the place was deserted.
“Mistress Ophelia…”
“Nameless, you aren’t one of my charges anymore-” Milly caught the slight hitch in her voice even if he didn’t; “So please call me Ophelia.”
He looked chagrinned for a moment.
“Right, um, Ophelia. Where are all of the other children?”
“Oh! Well, there aren’t any dear.”
He was shocked.
When he lived here there were nearly thirty children in the dormitories. He hadn’t visited in a while, too busy chasing one odd job after another, but he remembered there were still a dozen or so the last time he was here.
She gave a sigh.
“I can see that you are too curious, so there is no sense tip-toeing around the issue. I’ve sold the orphanage.” She was puttering around the kitchen preparing cucumber sandwiches while they stayed out of the way, not wanting to interfere with her domestic rhythm.
“What?! Why?”
“I’m afraid.” Her voice became thick as she deftly sliced the green vegetables; “I’m afraid my heart hasn’t been in it for a long time now, and the children deserve better than that! So I came to the decision several months ago. The five little ones still here are all set to go to a boarding school just outside Garland run by an old friend of mine, so I know that they will be in good hands.”
Nameless was dazed, he had no idea! That strange sense he had noticed recently seemed to kick in and he felt a desperate desire to be hidden away, to a keep a terrible secret.
He shook his head a bit, clearing the confusing sensation.
“Are you… are you going to be okay?”
“Of course dear. I’m fine! It’s for the best really! This place, well it sort of fell into my lap one day. I enjoyed the work immensely for a long time, but it’s… it’s time to move on now.”
Nameless wasn’t sure what to say, he felt a great uncertainty settle upon him. The orphanage was the one constant in his life, he had a great many bitter memories of the other kids, but Ophelia had been a steady point of love in his life.
She watched him out of the corner of one violet eye.
“None of that dearheart! None of that! This is a good thing. I know that you had a lot of trouble here growing up but…” Her voice hitched again and even Nameless caught it this time; “But you are a man now! And you have a girl to look after so just forget about worrying about me!”
Again that desperation, he couldn’t put his finger on it, a secret, deceitful... he shook his head again, deciding to be supportive of the loving woman.
“Ophelia, as long as you are happy, so am I. Is there anything I can do? Do you need help moving or…”
She had paused to regard him and he felt a deep longing in his heart that he couldn’t account for, and then he felt it ruthlessly crushed from within.
“No dear, that’s all been arranged, all the furniture has been sold and my own belongings…well I was never one for material things, you know that.”
“Where… where will you go?” He felt himself getting choked up; the thought of her flying out of his life was overwhelming.
“I don’t know really… I’m going to spread my wings and let the wind take me where it wills, I think… now hush! Please set the table, the good plates I think, yes this is a happy occasion, dearheart.” Her voice faltered to a near whisper by the end.
Milly looked between her master and the clearly upset Flutterby. She wanted to help but didn’t see how she could, so she assisted him in setting the table and then the two women left while Nameless and the other orphans sat down to eat.
She found herself staring into violet eyes as Ophelia wordlessly took her by her hand and gently led her into her bedchamber.
“I wanted to take a moment to talk dear; I just wanted to check in with you. To... to make sure that you two are really okay. I worry you see, Nameless was always a sensitive boy.”
“I think we’re okay…”
Ophelia caught her uncertainty and decided to be more direct.
“Has he taken you into his bed yet?” Her eyes were intense, this was important for some reason.
Milly swallowed, she didn’t know if her master would want her to answer, but she didn’t know how not to.
Ophelia got the answer she needed from her reticence and gave a great sigh.
“I was afraid of that, I’m so sorry dear. You will need to be very patient with him and I know how hard that can be… has he… told you about his past at all?”
Milly shook her head.
“Just that some girls were really mean to him and he has a hard time dealing with them now.”
Milly could feel herself getting emotional, she could see why Nameless cared for this woman; she had a way of making you feel like the center of the world just by gazing at you with those gorgeous violet eyes.
“I’m not surprised that is all he said.” She sighed as she drew Milly close; “He would probably not want me telling you any of this, but if anyone had a right to know, had a chance to help him overcome it… It would be his b-bond-mate.” Her voice faltered on the word strangely, she took a breath to steady herself then continued; “When he was ten, there was a girl here named Sophie and you see… she and her friends hurt him so very badly.”
“Wh-what do you mean?”
“I’m afraid even I don’t have all of the details. He came home early from school one day with only his underwear on. It was in the late autumn so the poor dear was half frozen. I ran him a hot bath to warm him up and then I held him while he cried.”
“Why was he naked?” Milly was wide eyed, her face steadily reddening with indignation.
“I found out later that Sophie and her friends had cornered him behind one of the sheds at school, they were a couple years older, and he was always so very small for his age. I don’t know exactly what the
y did beyond steal his clothes but it can’t have been good.”
Ophelia let out a heavy sigh.
“Anyways, I’m telling you this because after that he didn’t seem able to have meaningful conversations with girls, or women now I guess. It certainly didn’t help that he saw Sophie here every day.”
“So that’s why you said I need to be patient?”
“Yes dear, I can see in his eyes that he cares for you, and with the bond I know you would never hurt him, at least not intentionally. But I also know that the bond makes you crave his touch more than anything in the world, I c-can’t imagine that is easy.” Her voice faltered again.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, I am really happy that he has you. A Minotaur! So loving and yet so strong! You will keep him safe won’t you?” Her eyes welled with unshed tears as she pleaded with Milly.
“Of course! If I ever run into a girl like this Sophie-” Milly couldn’t help but let out an aggressive low before she regained control of herself; “I promise, no one will ever hurt my Master like that again!”
Her indignation went up in smoke however, when Ophelia unexpectedly hugged her. To the cow’s surprise the woman openly wept into her shoulder. She hesitantly brought her arms around, careful of her wings, and embraced her tenderly.
They stayed like that for several minutes as the emotional monster cried until she ran out of tears.
“I-I’m so sorry, I have been so very worried about him.”
“It’s okay, are you going to be alright?”
“Oh dearheart, I will be fine. Him finding you has relieved a great burden from my shoulders.” Ophelia affectionately stroked the Minotaur’s cheeks with one hand, while she held one of Milly’s hands in her other.
There was a sudden knock at the door.
“Um, Ophelia? One of the kids stuck a raisin up his nose and we can’t get it out…”
Milly and Ophelia shared a look then they both laughed at the absurdity of the situation.
Empath Rising Page 7