Side Story: Inanos

*** Inanos ***

Could I just pretend to be a baby and sit in Alzi's lap? I feel bad complaining when Vanya has twice my count in her womb, but I'm like half her size. If only things were that easy.

"You can talk to us," Vanya says.

"Shimmer gets to run around with Alzi, and we're stuck here," I say. "Are we worse than her?"

"No," Vanya says. "I don't know if I would say that we're better, but we can't be as bad as her. But we both know that isn't the right way to think about this. All of us need to improve our relationship with Alzi and her lovers. Come on, come out of your room. The kids will like you. They latch on to anyone who is nearby. They're a lot like Alzi probably was before we and the brothel got to her."

"I know," I say.

"Come on," Vanya says. "We all know you're not that gloomy. You just look like you are. Come on, we've got a few others joining us. There isn't much else for us to do right now, and the rumors say Elora is going to marry Alzi. We need to make sure Alzi knows that it isn't a mistake. That we'll be here to help with all her kids. I'm pretty sure my job is going to be guarding the nursery for a while after the pregnancy. I'm going to be putting enough kids inside it for it to be a good match for me."

"Pregnancy is hard for us," I say. "Most Death Elementals are accidents, not naturally born. I'm sorry."

"Then it's a good thing you're small," Vanya says. She scoops me up, and it seems I don't have a choice about where we go. "You already know you don't have to do much. Some of the kids are crawling now, and they would love to have some people to crawl between. And you shouldn't be alone when you're sad. At least, not for too long."

I really am a baby. A pregnant baby. Soon, we hear the nursery. Is she going to drop me off in one of the play pens or by the door?

She doesn't stop at the door and wanders deeper in. It isn't fair that she can carry me even with all her kids. She has to be using a lot of mana to hold me up. Or is her womb so full that my weight doesn't even hurt it?

"You can put me down," I say.

"Yes, these kids only have maids around. I'll be on the other side. There are a few kids who seem to want out of their cribs."

Fluvis's kids. It makes sense; I am the other elemental of the harem. Will I have a rainbow of elementals as well, or dragons?

"Oh, hey, I didn't know you were coming down," Lottie says. "I'm glad to have the help. The kids are much better at using their elements than we thought they would be. They really like you. How are you doing? I'm finding out that pregnancy really takes a lot out of you."

"How do you think a death elemental normally gets during pregnancy?" I say.

"Fluvis has hinted about how death elementals get," Lottie says. "But she doesn't know the extent, just that it's harder on them."

"Yes, and how I treated Alzi makes things difficult," I say.

"Yes, that part, we have in common," Lottie says. "I wish I could give you some help, but Fluvis had to fix things for me. No, not even fix things; she just made it so it isn't as bad between us. But look at Alzi. She's doing better."

"This isn't her real body," I say. I don't need to look at Alzi. I don't want to. I'm sure this is how she would be if the nobles weren't such pieces of shit. All of us worked together to drag her down. "Her main body is a lot worse. She just has things to do and people pushing her to keep busy. She'll crash when it eventually stops. The kids can only do so much."

"It probably is just hopeful thinking on my part," Lottie says. "Still, we can only do our best to help. Come on, the kids want some attention from us."

"Ok," I say. The kids are surprisingly good at kicking us out of our funk, but only for a bit before we get tired ourselves.