Chapter 449 – Playing with the Fairies

"Fuck, this doesn't get any better the second time," I say. "Next time, you're going to have to deal with following my instructions."

"It's better than having my mana pull it out," Ioelena says. "And it feels good to be close to you. But I'd be happy to follow your instructions sometime."

"I guess that's true," I say. "Kids?"

"They should be finishing up their classes right about now," Daisy says. "Just go outside, and a fairy will lead you to them. There should be a park nearby that you can play around in. Just a warning, many won't go with you. I'm working on that part."

"Sounds good," I say. "We'll see how this goes. Just have to get dressed."

"You'll be handed the dust on the way out as well," Daisy says.

"I see it," Ioelena says. "Thank you."

...

Ok, I thought the kids would be coming out in some orderly line, walking in lock step or something, from how Daisy was acting. Instead, they look like pretty normal kids, small groups of friends laughing together in little bunches as they fly out of the schoolhouse.

"They look normal," I say.

"I think they'll be happy to play with you," Ioelena says. "I don't see them doing anything strange. They look like noble children. They probably just have a warped view after seeing what happens with the pixies."

"Hi, everyone!" I say, stepping forward. "Um, I'm visiting, and soon I'll have some kids joining your city. Well, I'm having kids with the royal family, and I wanted to see if I could play with you all for a bit. If any of you would like to come, there's supposed to be a park nearby, and we can go there for a bit."

"Sure," one squeaks out. The little group around her shakes their heads and starts flying off towards the park. I'm not sure what makes it a park. Maybe just that there are no homes built into the trees?

"If anyone else wants to come, you're welcome to join us," I say. "I'm pregnant, so I'm not going to be the most active. I'm sure we can think of something I can do with you all." They can't do something worse than the pixies.

I waddle over to the park and find the kids all sitting on a branch, waiting for me. There are four of them right now, but hopefully, more will come by. I guess it isn't too weird for them not to want to play with a random pregnant dragonkin.

"Hi, I'm Queen Alzi, and I recently had a meeting with Queen Daisy. Um, that's probably the most I should say about that. What kind of games do you like playing? I'll do my best with the pregnancy. I did a ritual, so it's just the fact that I have a massive belly that causes me issues right now. I'm normally better with my own kids; I don't know why I'm talking so strangely with you all. Let me start over. I'm Alzi, and I want to get to know more about you all after some deals I made with Queen Daisy."

"Hi, I'm Mazen," one says. "These are my friends Eseled, Lomon, and Kerstyl. Most don't like playing, but I've got them to join me, and a few others may come by. Tag is the usual game, which helps us with flying! But we could try playing catch? Not sure how that would work with the size difference."

"Yes, I think that would be the best start. Ioelena can't fly, and I can't fly in the park with all the trees. My wings are a bit too big for it to work."

"Great! Eseled, can you go get the ball?" Mazen asks.

"Ok," Eseled says.

It seems Mazen normally drags these three around. "What do they usually do if they don't come out to play?" I ask.

"Study," Mazen says. "Or help their parents. We make a lot of potions."

"I helped my Mommy a lot when I was a kid," I say. "It is fun. But they should take some time to play. You don't get many chances to do it when you get older. It almost feels weird doing it at my age." If only I had brought Irlo with me, I could've let her handle the playing, and I could just watch. I'm pregnant enough that I don't want to run around for everything.

Though Irlo may disagree, as she really loves it when I join her.

"Here she comes!" Mazen says. It looks like Eseled has an acorn with her. "Throw it far, and we can chase after it! That will work well. Eseled, pass it to Alzi first!"

"Ok, we know what is going on," Eseled says. "Here you go. Try to keep it in the park."

"I'll do my best. I don't throw things that often," I say. Eseled softly throws it to me. "Well, here it goes."

It arcs well in the air, giving Lomon plenty of time to catch the acorn. She flies pretty fast through the air and meets it, then flies a bit backwards when she catches it, but she manages. Then she does a little spin and throws it towards Ioelena.

"Oh, I'll throw it next!" Ioelena says.

"Of course," I say. "See what you can do!"

"Alright, dear."

...

"Ok," I huff. "I think this is it for me. I'm too pregnant for this. You're all really sweet."

"It was great playing with you!" Mazen cheers, flying in little loops for some reason. "You can throw so far! You should come back again and play with us again when you aren't pregnant, so we can see how you fly!"

"I'll be back soon," I say. "I think your Queen will need me around soon, so we'll see if I manage not to be pregnant again when I come by. I have a nasty habit of getting pregnant these days."

"Well, you look beautiful pregnant," Lomon says.

"Thank you. You all look really cute. Thanks for indulging me today. Goodbye."

"Bye!" the fairies say.

I have to use Ioelena for support. I think I did more than Fertility ever thought I would while pregnant.

"I'm going to pass out when we get back," I say. "I did way too much."

"Well, I'll tell Kou you ate lunch. That should soften the anger she feels from this," Ioelena says.

If only it were that easy. Maybe she'll be happy that I was playing with kids? Of course, I don't think she'll care too much. It was my decision, and it got us an extra bag of dust from both groups, and it was fun.

"She'll live," I say. "I'm just tired. Nothing is wrong with me. I would know, with all my Skills. Just tired from all these kids."

"You are looking rather big again," Ioelena says. "But you're mainly walking on your own. I think you're just scared of falling over right now. Maybe you're sleepy. We can push dinner back an hour for you."

"That would be nice," I say. "Could you get Elora not to drink so much? I'm worried about her."

"Sedriresa is on it," Ioelena says. "Don't worry. She'll keep her from drinking herself into an early grave. I'll let her know she has your support to limit Elora."

"That's good," I say. The edge of the garden comes into view, where Kou is looking out at us with a small smile. That's a bit different from what I was expecting.

"Hello, my Queen," Kou says. "I'm glad you were able to play with the fairies. We'll give you some time to sleep."

"Thanks," I say. "The ritual isn't that strong, apparently."

"My Queen, I'm sure the ritual is plenty strong. You just played with kids for much longer than you thought you would. Now, Eterna would love another sleeping partner."

"She's still sleeping?"

"Yes, my Queen."

Eterna is a real mystery.

...

"Baby, you should wake up," Mommy says. "Dinner is coming up soon."

"Ok," I grumble. Is that an echo? Someone kisses my lips, and my eyes shoot open twice. Well, four times. Somehow, all my bodies got some time for a nap. "Why did I just kiss myself?"

"How would I know, baby?" Mommy asks. "You should be asking yourself that question."

Well, I asked for something big. "I must've been confused," I say. 'Space, anything special about this one?'

'Just another body to help with your growing number of kids.'

'Thanks, dear.' I say. "More help with kids. That'll be good for Sedriresa tonight. We'll leave tomorrow morning, I guess."

"That is what Kou was planning for," Mommy says. "Now, can you try to get Eterna to wake up? I haven't been able to get her up."

My second golden body is free of her strong hug, so I'm able to slide down and hug her myself. My hands slip under her clothing, and I give her nipples a strong pinch.

"Ouch!" Eterna yelps.

"I'm glad you're awake," I say. "Is something wrong? You're sleeping a lot."

"No, it's just a way for me to stay safe," Eterna says. "Normally, we're kind of hard to kill, with the whole coming alive from ashes thing."

"You can do that?" I ask. Nobody ever told me about that! Does Shimmer know about that ability? I could see them keeping knowledge of it to just the Queen or something.

"Yes, phoenixkin can't, but we can. But we can't do that when pregnant. So, I get to sleep all day with my mate watching over me for safety."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," I say. "But I'm not very good at keeping people safe. I'm kind of heavily pregnant as well."

"I trust you," Eterna says. "You've got some Skills that will protect me, or I would be clinging to Geta or someone else. Our instincts aren't that stupid. And I would be trying to drag you over to them as well."

"That's nice to hear," I say. "Do dragons have something like that?" I guess my Dragoness Mother Skill is enough. I could've tried that during the fight with the old Dragon Queen.

"They get cranky after their pregnancy. Yzzorres is going to be a real bitch after her birth. It'll probably be shorter than normal since I think it'll be a live birth instead of eggs like normal. Be careful if you ever do manage to get her pregnant with eggs. She will show you what a real bitch is then."

"With the count I gave her, it's probably eggs," I say. "The other problem is me. I get pregnant a lot, and I'm supposed to turn into a true dragon."

"I think you'll be kind, just needy. Like me."

"We can all pray for that," I say. "Let's go eat some dinner."

"Ok," Eterna says, letting my main body go. "You got another body."

"Yes, I guess I wasn't asleep with all my bodies long enough last night for it to come out."

"It's weird how you just keep waking up with bodies."

"It is," I say. "But I'm going to use them."

"Let's get you all dressed, and then we can get down to dinner, My Queen," Kou says.

...

"Who is the beautiful dragon?" Ortis asks with a chuckle.

"Me," I say with the newest body. "Still Alzi. A strange Skill of mine."

"We've heard about it," Omylia says. "We're just surprised to have it happen in our home. Well, we can bring out an extra chair for you."

"This body will sit with the babies," I say. "It is here for the purpose of helping my kids."

"That's nice," Omylia says. "Bodies for the kids. That's a nice thing for your family. We all wish we could spend more time with our kids while they're younger. What could change if we had that extra time with them? Just need to be careful not to suffocate them."

"They'll suffocate me soon if I keep this up," I say. "Every belly bump around me is almost certainly more than one kid."

"You'll figure it out," Ortis says. "I believe in you. Most Mothers wouldn't sit with the kids, even if they had a body built for that purpose. You're doing well for your family. I thank you for accepting my daughter. She had a hard time with that in our home."

"Dad!" Ioelena screams.

"Oh, let me get a bit sappy. It's been so long since you've been here. I have to spend some of this time embarrassing you! But I am serious about you caring about our daughter. You and Elora are great for her."

"Thank you," I say. "It's taken a bit for me to accept them all, but I'm coming around to it."

"That's good to hear," Omylia says. "But enough stalling. We have dinner to eat."