Chapter 123. Dryad’s

Tarakona caught me while I was jogging towards the house.

[She is fine my love.]

"If you tell me not to worry I'm going to slap you." I warned her not bothering to stop as I opened the door.

Zeldi was lying in a pile of pillows while Dríade was ordering around three people I'd never seen before in an effort to make my Centaur more comfortable.

[I would never do that. Just know I would never let anything happen to her.]

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "Thank you Tarakona, sorry for snapping at you."

There was a laugh in my head.

[No need to apologize. You are only acting the way you should in this situation, I myself may have overreacted as well.]

Zeldi having noticed my arrival opened her arms in the universal sign of 'give me a hug'. I saw no reason to refuse and got into the nest of fabric trying desperately not to put to much weight on her.

"So they told you I'm guessing." She sarcastically joked as her chest was crushed against me.

"I'd be very angry with them if they didn't." I replied kissing her lips. "It is a rather big problem."

Zeldi rolled her eyes. "It's not that big of a problem."

I bopped her on the nose.

"No you listen here missy. Collapsing by itself is problematic, collapsing when you're pregnant is serious." I scolded before pulling her closer. "You need to tell me these things Zeldi. Even if you feel just a little bit off it's not something to ignore."

I gave her another kiss before looking at the rest of the girls. "And that goes for all of you as well." My gaze lingered on Tarakona.

[Don't worry yourself my love. I am taking every precaution a Dragon can to make sure our hatching is given the best chance of survival. I haven't asked for your assistance as that would require you to be able to hunt outside of your farm.]

Deeds. I really need the ability to turn into a Dragon at will.

Working on it.

"You make it sound like I'm not." Zeldi grumbled towards Tarakona before letting out an exasperated sigh. "Fine I admit it. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to get in the way of your plans Master. You've made such good progress I didn't want to jeopardize that."

I gave her another boop on the nose before untangling myself from her embrace and making my way over to the stove. "Zeldi everything I do is for you girls and our future children. It's not a hindrance to request help when you need it, now I have a few slabs of steak here you are going to eat and you are not allowed to leave this room until you have."

I gave a shrug towards Tarakona. "Sorry, stealing from your food supply here."

[I have eaten already. Dríade was kind enough to point me towards an encampment of Orks after you left. They were tough to chew through but very nutritional once the armour they wear is stripped away.]

Good to know...

"Speaking of which. Dríade are you going to introduce you new friends?" I asked as I began cutting up the steaks.

The Dryad's had all migrated to the far corner of the room away from me with the three smaller ones all cowering behind Dríade who was now in her monarch form. I'll admit I'm a bit partial to this one as it was both revealing and beautiful to look at. Especially with the thigh gap she had... Try not to stare Clovek.

It was easy enough to tell they were Dryad's as unless they were traders or other Livestock there was no way they would be able to enter the farm add onto the fact they were behind Dríade it wasn't hard. They were also green, that might have been the biggest giveaway.

"Yes. Well this here is... What is your names again?" Dríade started before failing to come up with an answer.

"Freya."

"Felly."

"Fallow."

Came the three replies almost in sinc.

"Right Freya, Felly and Fallow here are the first of my budding Grove. Tarakona helped me secure their services as well as transporting them here." Dríade quickly tried to correct herself.

"And are they always going to stay like that?" I tried to subtly indicate towards their spindly forms. Forms that wouldn't be good for doing anything.

"No. They are in the process of creating new forms from the soil you have benevolently given us to grow on. They will retire these ones when the new ones are ready." Dríade responded with the smallest smidge of a bow.

I so wanted to joke about her sudden change in demeanor but thought better of it. If this was how she wanted to portray herself as a Grove mother I wasn't going to stop. Was I going to tease her in private? Absolutely.

"They are also rebuilding their own trees to provide a variety of fruit like you have requested of the Grove." Dríade continued. "I thank you again for providing us with the opportunity to grow safely."

"You control our Grove mother?" One of them asked. It was hard to tell them apart even after being introduced due to how similar they were like identical triplets.

"Control is a strong word. We have a mutual understanding that living together will benefit both of us in the long term." I answered getting that satisfying sizzle of the fat melting into the meat. If I wasn't so concerned about Zeldi I'd have snuck a piece.

"Dríade did not describe it to us like that. She said we are to do everything you say as if it were her word, that you control the fertile soil we now have our trees in." Another one said still hiding behind Dríade.

She wasn't wrong but also that wasn't completely correct. The room was Dríade's so in a sense selling her off would get rid of it but apart from that I had very little control of said room. I couldn't even enter it without her permission.

I caught Dríade's gaze and she gave a nod that I took to mean do whatever you want. From her previous discussions all she really cared about was being a Grove mother. Everything else was secondary so long as she achieved that.

So what did I actually want from them?

Food was an easy answer. All the girls seemed to think a Dryad's Grove would be able to feed them with fruit but was there anything else?

"Quick question to the three of you. Can you farm, fight and, or create anything?" I asked trying to find my answer.

The unkillable army was still very appealing but even then having people I could use to deliver messages or get things from far away could prove invaluable. Not that I didn't enjoy my date with Voras but it proved my complicated situation.

"Yes to all three." The one who hadn't spoke yet said with a tilt of her head. "Well. Not right now but once we have proper bodies we can create additional ones for each task. Farming is easy enough without extra resources but if you want us to fight we would need time to create a body that could be used in that regard. As for the creation... What would you have us create? Fruit is easy as we can grow whatever we consume but we cannot forge items as metal is beyond our abilities."

"And this whole addition bodies. Do you have to make one then you're stuck with it? Sorry if this seems strange to you but hold does it all work?" I asked trying to form a picture.

Again an unkillable army is a nice thought but if they can't farm in the meantime there's very little use especially with trespassing. Having them prioritize a body to grow the seeds I bought would be much better.

"Allow me to explain." Dríade took a step forward. "I myself have two bodies currently. The one you see here and another that was more for combat. I can freely switch between them so long as I safely allow the one I currently control to enter a type of stasis within a pod under my tree. If I quickly switched without doing that this body would die."

Got it.

"And what determines how many bodies you can have?" I asked flipping the steak over.

It was a beautiful medium rare but my father had a saying. If it's bleeding it's good to eat, the only exception is if you're pregnant. Then you make sure it's dead. I like to think I can eat a steak at any method but I preferred rare... Zeldi however didn't get a choice on the small chance my father was right about it needing to be cooked properly.

"The size of our trees." Dríade responded. "My tree is about average to most Dryad's and allows me to have up to three bodies. I am growing my third but it won't be ready for another few days. However all of these three will need additional time to grow before they can have multiple bodies like myself." She hesitated for a second before coming to terms with what she was about to say. "Please Clovek. I know the opportunity you have given me so what type of jobs are you going to require of my Grove going forward, and what would you like me to prioritize in the short term?"

"Je n'aurais jamais cru voir le jour où Dríade supplierait quelqu'un d'autre." (I never thought I'd see the day Dríade would beg someone else) Madu tried to whisper but was heard by all. "Hey Voras, think we can get her do do something for us as well?"

"You would have a better chance trying to fuck Clovek right now." Dríade growled in place of Voras's answer.

"Farming." I interrupted the building argument. "Fruit from your trees is good and all but we'll need vegetables as well. Probably some animals at some point so for your priority, bodies that can farm I guess."

I followed this up by pulling the three crates of seeds out and from the looks on all four of the Dryad's faces you would have thought it was Christmas morning.

"It will be done, breeder of our Grove mother." One of the Dryad's said with a bow as she started sorting the seeds into piles.

Voras scoffed behind her hand. "I see Clovek. We weren't enough for you so you wish for Dríade as well."

""Not yet."" Both Dríade and I said at the same time.

"Yet?" Zeldi questioned with a smirk aimed directly at our resident Dryad.