Chapter 503 – Grumpy

*** Geta ***

'Get up, Alzi is gone again. One more time, and I'll turn you into a test.'

'I'm sleeping with my kids! Don't blame me for this. Who has her?'

'Yzzorres.'

'Oh, come on. That's her mate who has her. That doesn't count!'

'Fighting with your Goddess? Alzi is rubbing off on you. Get pregnant again, and maybe I'll think about forgiving this mistake. Now go. Get Nakuma. Nanoka is too lazy right now.'

"Lady Geta, you're up," my maid says.

"Yes, Yzzorres stole Alzi again," I say. "I have to go get her back, or something."

"Ok, I'll handle the kids and check in on Empress Alzi's other bodies," my maid says.

"Thank you," I say. I'm dressed, so I just have to go and hope that Nakuma is willing to work with me.

*** Alzi, Main Body ***

"Yzzorres, put me back," I say.

"No, I'm giving birth soon," Yzzorres says. "I need you."

"Eterna is saying the same thing," I say. Ok, the bed of gold is comfortable, and of course, Yzzorres is warm and very pregnant. "I promised I would stay with her today, so you have to put me back. If you want to stay with me, you can ask Eterna if you can join us. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until she's done giving birth. She thinks she'll go into labor tomorrow, so you won't have to wait long. But I also have to think about others like Elo and Elyne. And Nanoka and Nakuma are also close. Send me back."

"No," Yzzorres says. "Alzi, I'm going to need you after the birth. I can't just let you go."

"Then you should've thought of that at least once with the number of times I've tried to reach out to you," I say. "You had your chance to work something out with me, but you slept through it. Now, send me back!"

"Please..."

"Yzzorres, when are you going to remember that you're not the strongest one around?" Geta says, standing at the edge of the massive gold pile of a bed, in a nightgown, with Nakuma pouting behind her. "Alzi, Space has an offer. Go see her. Nakuma, can you please help our wife?"

"Yes, yes," Nakuma says. "Just make it quick. I have to help Yuki feed the kids in ten minutes."

How does she know the time for that down to the minute? Is she going to have the same obsession with the kids? She's been really protective of them, but I didn't think it was this abnormal.

Just watch her closely, Alzi.

Nakuma starts to try to walk over the pile of raw gold, but Geta quickly figures out that the kitsune isn't thinking straight and carries her over to us.

Then there's a quick flash of mana, and we're now in Space's temple.

*** Space ***

Well, it's time to have two conversations at once. My Champion is being stupid. I knew what I was getting into with her, but I was hoping she would calm down when she got bloated by Alzi, and Alzi has certainly bloated her up. Space's Champion takes up plenty of space.

"Nakuma," I say. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired," Nakuma says, moving to bow.

"Stop, just sit there," I say. "You're pregnant, so don't try to bow or anything. I just want to talk for a bit."

"Thank you, my Goddess," Nakuma says.

"Relax," I say. That gets Nakuma to sit back in her chair, and she finally moves her hands to her belly. "So you do know that you're pregnant. Do you know how Alzi feels about you?"

"I don't care," Nakuma says.

"I do," I say. "Alzi cares. Alzi sees a lot of value in you and your kids. You need to care about yourself and the kids. Yuki cares as well. She hates you, but she loves your kids."

"She doesn't hate me," Nakuma says.

"Haha, no, but she wants to," I say. "Promise me that you will care about yourself and your kids. They're important to me, Alzi, and Yuki. I hope they can be important to you as well. It's ok to slow down. You're pregnant, so it's natural for you to be tired. Get some sleep. Rest. Take care of yourself. Make sure you're pretty and alive for Yuki, Yuki's kids, Alzi, and your kids."

"Are they important?" Nakuma asks.

"Very," I say. "Ask Yuki, and listen to her answer. She will say they are important."

"Ok," Nakuma says.

"Good," I say. "Now, here is what I need you to do." It's not the best thing to say after telling her to rest, but I need this to get done if Alzi is to help all of her wives.

*** Alzi ***

'Pray.'

Well, that makes it easy.

"Hello," Space says.

"Hi, dear," I say, with Yzzorres still clinging to me for dear life.

"Hi," Yzzorres says.

"Good, that is a good start," Space says. "Now, Yzzorres, I'm being very nice to you, more than you deserve right now. Release your mate."

Yzzorres finally lets go, but she actually starts to pout as I scoot away into my own little space.

I'm going to be a mess at the end of my next pregnancy if this is how Yzzorres is acting.

"There we go, and stop it with that face," Space says. "You're nearly a Goddess. Nearly. So don't go begging for attention. If you cared about that, well, Alzi went over that already. Now, since I'm Alzi's wife, I'll be kind to her aloof mate and give you a chance to make things up to her right now. You are her mate, her submissive mate, and you're putting more effort into ignoring what Alzi wants than into trying to build a working relationship. I would advise you to be careful, since we don't know if you'll remain mates when you two join the divine beings."

"Sorry," Yzzorres says.

"That was absolutely pathetic," Space says.

"What do you want?! I'm pregnant, and I feel the need to have Alzi around me! I've tried to fight it off, and I just can't anymore. I fucking can't! I hate this. I hate you! I hate everything! Let me fucking sleep with her in my arms until the damn kids come out, and I'll fucking go to sleep until I die or become a Goddess, and then I can just sleep for the rest of eternity! I don't fucking want this!"

"I want this," I say. "I want you. You're an ass, an awful partner, and extremely annoying, but I've made it work with people similar to you. I think I know what you feel. Parts of what you feel. I don't know what drove you there, but I know the feeling. I want you around, Yzzorres. I want you to help me raise our kids, and you have nine to give me over the years as well. I'm not letting Contract hang that over my head. I don't love you or care that much about you, but I want you around. And I want to see if we can make it work, even if it's just a short walk or flight every month. We're mates, even if neither of us really wanted it to happen. And I've been extremely mad at you for a long time, but I think that is because I wanted to check up on you, and you ignored me. Are you willing to give us a chance? I don't expect you to be active or anything, but can you be part of my family? I'm not exactly going anywhere, and I will get more personal about bugging you when kids start to get involved. They deserve to have both their parents' love if possible."

"You don't want me," Yzzorres says. "No, you just..."

"Power? Do you think Alzi needs you for your power?" Space says. "She has Geta. She has me. Fertility. Malralloz and a number of Goddesses are willing to jump in to help her. She has Eterna. And she has herself. She's a demigoddess, just like you. Power is not a reason for her to stick around you."

"What do you really want?" Yzzorres asks.

"A mate," I say. "Unfortunately for you, that is something the bond is forcing on me, and I'm sure it's being forced on you as well. Right?"

"Yes," Yzzorres says.

"I guess this is good enough," Space says. "Nakuma is going to write out a little ritual so you can easily move between Yzzorres's cave and your manor. Only your family will be able to use it, and you'll need to supply the mana to use it in cases of emergencies. That's the best I can do. Give it a bit of mana, and Yzzorres's bed will appear to merge with your bedroom, Alzi. That should let you spend the day with both of them."

"Thank you, dear," I say.

Space opens her arms and moves me over to her, and Sky pops in to join us in the hug.

"I'm going to be giving birth soon as well," Space says.

"Just let me know, and I'll get here," I say. "I just hope Nakuma and Nanoka aren't both in labor then."

"I'll cheat if I need to," Space says. "Now, go wrangle this idiot into bed. I think you're right about her, but don't get lost trying to save her."

"I'll get her," I say. "She wanted more kids. I'll work on her."

"I'm right here," Yzzorres says.

"Not for long," Space says. "Goodbye, you two. Don't break anything."

Spaces puts us back into Yzzorres massive pile of gold with Nakuma. Geta is staring at us with her red dot eyes.

Is she mad at us?

"Geta, draw this," Nakuma says. "Then I'll fill it with mana, and we can go about our day."

Well, at least Nakuma is sitting down now. I wonder if Space talked to her about resting or something. I hope a Goddess was able to get through to her.

"Thank you, Geta," I say. "You will get this done the fastest."

"I just want to get back to my kids," Geta says.

She's still worried that they'll die. "They're fine," I say. "I'm holding them with one of my other bodies. But I'm glad you love them."

"Hmm," is all Geta says as she focuses on the strange pattern Space created for this spell or ritual thing, with Nakuma starting to fill it with mana.

Yzzorres is back to pinning me to her side, but at least I know how she feels a bit better. The women around me are really lucky that I'm so forgiving.

...

"All done," Geta says.

"Almost," Nakuma follows. "And done."

As soon as Nakuma says that, I see that my room is now bordering the massive gold bed. Only Eterna and Elyne are still in my bed, with Kou off to the side, waiting for my return.

"Now, Yzzorres, you have to ask Eterna for permission to join us," I say.

"That's stupid," Yzzorres says.

"That's the punishment for stealing your mate," I say. "Now let me go."

Nakuma and Geta immediately run off. Eterna, however, is staring daggers at Yzzorres, but she must be too afraid to say anything.

"Fine."

Once free, I slowly creep down the bed of gold and get over to the soft bed. Both are comfortable, but only the soft one will let my other wives join me. However, maybe Mommy and her wives will like Yzzorres's bed as well.

Eterna snatches me up the second I touch the bed, snuggling into me like I'm a teddy bear.

Yzzorres lets out a groan as she gets up and walks down her pile of gold, pouting the entire way down like my little Irlo. "Can I join you?" Yzzorres asks.

"Maybe," Eterna says.

"What do you mean by 'maybe'?" Yzzorres asks.

"Crawl over here and kiss my belly," Eterna says.

"You're pushing your luck," Yzzorres says, but she starts to crawl. Elyne is cowering in the corner of my bed, yet Kou is keeping her professional poker face, waiting for me to ask her for something. Yzzorres's belly drags along the covers as she crawls over.

I'll need to fix her clothing problem. Kids may want to sleep with either her or me, so we can't have her just be naked all the time now. Yzzorres pauses over Eterna's stomach, but eventually gives it a little peck.

"Now bring that mouth up here," Eterna says.

"You..."

"Do it," I say. We'll see if she starts listening to her dominant mate. Eterna had better not push her luck here.

Yzzorres gives me a short glare, but she still crawls up to meet Eterna's face. Then, Eterna kisses Yzzorres, and her hand works its way into Yzzorres's hair, keeping her from retreating. A good ten seconds later, Eterna lets the old dragon go.

"Now, go lie next to our mate," Eterna says. "I was her mate first, so listen to me like a good girl. Mommy has started sharing some of your secrets, so don't think you'll be able to avoid your fate if you continue being an asshole. Alzi is too nice to have a mate be rude to her."

"Shut up," Yzzorres says, her face a little redder than before. She quickly shuffles to my side and hides her face in the crook of my neck.

"Elyne, want to join us?" I should ask.

"I'm good," Elyne says. Good choice.

"I'll help you get to another body," Kou says. "One that doesn't have so much heat around it."

"That would be wonderful," Elyne says. "Two dragons and a phoenix are a bit too much for me."

Well, there's nothing left to do but sleep for a bit.