Chapter 301 – The Others

*** Armirynth ***

She just fainted in my arms. My baby just fell asleep. "Rainbow?" I say. "Alzi. Baby, are you ok?" She doesn't respond, and her body is heavy in my arms. "Kelly, what should we do?"

"I can handle this," Nanoka says. "Well, I won't make her wake up, but I'll make it easier to get you all into bed."

She doesn't give me a lot of warning before she does her thing. A bedroom appears around me and my new wives.

"Be careful with Alzi," Nanoka says. "If she starts to freak out, try talking to her before you try touching her. Whatever the Dragon Goddess did to Alzi is coming back to bite her. Your kids are in the room next to us. I'll make sure Yuki keeps Alzi from getting woken up by their cries. She'll need all the sleep she can get for the next few weeks. A lot needs to happen before this fight, and I'm sorry that she's going through all of this. I do promise I'll be dead before any harm comes to Alzi."

"Thank you," I say. Akhae and Ilka take Alzi from my arms and put her into the bed. "We need to strip her first. She prefers to be naked in bed."

"We may need the maids," Mai says. "This dress is on pretty tight."

"I can help with that," Nanoka says, pulling the dress into her ring. Kelly had warned us against pulling clothing into our rings without care. I guess she wanted to save us from the work of fixing them, but now we have maids to do that. "The maids or I can deal with the knots later. Have a good night. If you need anything, just say my name, and I'll be right there. Sweet dreams, my new wives. It really has been too long since I've been able to say that."

"Thank you for helping us," Mai says. "This is a strange time for us. I guess we have a lot to do for all of this."

"Remember, we are family now. There's no need to thank me for something this simple. Get some sleep. We all need to support Alzi through this mess that the Goddesses are dropping on us."

"I suppose," I say. Nanoka vanishes again from our view and leaves us with just my dear daughter twitching on the bed, her face scrunched up. "What did they all do to my sweet baby?"

"We'll help her," Akhae says, pulling me into a hug. "We'll figure it out together. She finally has us, and nobody can take her from us. We'll support her and help her get through this."

"She was always so nice and kind. Everyone avoided her in the village, but she would help anyone if they asked or looked like they needed it. I felt bad when I tried to get her to play with the other kids. All she ever wanted to do was help her Mommy, and then I did this to her. I ruined it all."

"No, no. Sweety, you didn't ruin her. The Mistress took advantage of the girl. She knew that Alzi didn't need to sell herself to save you, yet she let her do it anyway. Your sister and the Mistress hurt Alzi. She's still the kind, helpful girl you worked so hard to raise. We just have to help her through the memories of those who hurt such a kind, sweet girl. Ok? We'll help her stay true to herself. That is our job. Everyone else is in charge of keeping us safe while we undo the damage they've done. They've failed Alzi, but we won't."

"I should've done more. The Mistress didn't even heal me. Alzi did it. All those years ago, all I needed was her. If she just waited a day before she went. If she just weren't so proactive."

"If she weren't so proactive, she wouldn't be Alzi, honey. Why don't you get some sleep, and we'll watch over our wife?" Akhae says. "Morning will come soon. We'll work one day at a time to help Alzi get through this. We'll all push through this. Nothing stops you, dear. I stupidly rejected you all those years ago, and you made it through just fine and even got me to marry you."

"Ok," I say, trying to stop my tears. Mai is already whispering something into my daughter's ear. She should know how to comfort Alzi; I'm sure she's done it plenty already. Why are there more people who want to hurt my daughter? Why can't they just leave my baby alone?

"I love you, Armirynth, and none of us are going to leave you or Alzi in pain."

"Thank you."

"Goodnight, dear."

*** Mai ***

This isn't working. Why is Alzi getting worse? Alzi, come back to me. Please, leave those terrible memories alone. Make them leave you alone. "I love you, Alzi," I whisper. "You're safe with us. You are in your bed, and no one here will hurt you. You're safe and free. Nobody owns you. Only those you love are here."

"Ten," Alzi mumbles, her face wincing.

Suddenly, Alzi relaxes, her face going blank as her heart starts to relax and her breathing slows down to a calm pace. The tension leaves her body, and I hope the nightmare goes with it.

I wait for it to start back up, but it seems that it has passed, so I join Alzi under the covers just as the door slowly opens, and a succubus comes in, holding Osanna by the hair. "Why is that devil here?" I spit out. "Is she going to have the skin flayed from her body? Otherwise, throw her out with the trash."

"She is here to help Alzi recover," Sarania says. "I'm just making sure she's doing what I told her to. This won't be a perfect fix, but it will help to eat away at the worst of the fear. You'll make sure the hate stays around, right? We don't need our Mistress forgiving those who hurt her, Osanna. Just the fear needs to go."

"I can't eat hate," Osanna says; one of her wives is still standing in the doorway, heavily pregnant. Alzi gave out too many kids to those who hurt her. It's something we will need to fix, and I'm happy to see that Sarania is already working on it.

"We have quite the crowd," Aurora says. "Oh, sorry." Her pregnant body hides Osanna's wife as she sees her Lady sleeping. "Why is there a crowd here while my Lady is sleeping? Take them out of here, Sarania. Goodnight, my Ladies. Sorry to disturb you all."

Sarania follows the command, dragging the damn devil out of the room, and lets Aurora close the door behind them. Sarania better keep Osanna away from Alzi. That woman brings nothing but torment to Alzi, almost as bad as the brothel owners themselves.

"Goodnight, my love," I say. "We are finally together."

*** Elora ***

Everyone hates me. Even Victoria doesn't like me, and she doesn't even know me. I rushed down here from a nap for what? So I can just add to those who hate me?

How do I fix this?

I won't be Alzi's lover. I'll never stand beside her with her Mother and the catkin, Mai. But I should be able to be included. I shouldn't be left behind like this. I got her out of the brothel. I wanted to protect her. I tried so hard to do it. I showed I was willing to get hurt to protect her.

I wasn't everything she wanted. I wasn't at all what she wanted. I wasn't strong enough. I clearly lacked what was needed to protect her. But I can find some way to be valuable. I've basically been gifted with the Queendom, so all that is left for me is to give Alzi my everything. I just need to find out what that looks like.

"We should get to sleep," I say. "Alzi needs us all at our best so she can focus on herself."

"You aren't the leader," Yuki says.

"Yes," Shimmer says. "You aren't the only pregnant princess around here. But we do need to get to sleep. The negotiations will be done tomorrow, right? We'll need to find some time to meet with my Mother and make agreements with Alzi."

"Why are you here if you can't fulfill your promise?" I say. "You said the Phoenixes would take care of the Dragons. Are you going to force more out of Alzi?"

"No," Shimmer says. "But I need to at least have her talk to my Mother. How would it look if the Queen didn't at least try to get something before sending us off to war? My people will be happy to fight the stupid Dragons. We just need to keep up appearances. Dragons aren't the only proud race."

"You'd better not break your agreement."

"She won't," my Mother says. "But no, tomorrow will not be the negotiations—or at least not the complete thing. Tomorrow, Alzi can relax a bit and make the basic decisions about some of the slaves. Esiyae may not make it to the end of the day as it is, and then you have the changeling and Azula De Vil. We need to know what Alzi wishes to have happen to them first, and then we can make our demands. Edeozia may not be in a state to fight us, but it would be better if we don't spill more blood right before Nature and the Dragons try to exterminate us all."

"She needs to come by and help my lover," Tanatsu says. "Don't let her forget that."

"I will work on that, dear. But you hardly did anything to earn that much of a demand," the Kitsune Queen says. "Do not hurt her."

"I don't need to hurt her."

"You've said that before, and I know what happens to most of the women who join you in that disgusting room. Now, goodbye for now." The Kitsune don't stick around, and Nakuma takes that as permission to pounce on Yuki, pulling all her tails into a strange hug.

"I guess this is our position now," Yuki says. "Nakuma."

"Yes, my love."

They couldn't have brought along the rest of their wives? Does that make it three groups, or are more going to show up?

"Seems we get to walk," I say. "I think a few of us may want to change before we walk back. I know I do." Sounds like tomorrow will be when I have to find my purpose in life again. Not in life; my purpose for Alzi. My life will be hers now.