Chapter 136. Nervous stand off

Abelha tapped the ring on her finger as if trying to decide how she wanted to handle everything I'd just told her. Dríade, however, was not so polite.

"Honey tits, can you please stop doing this whole will I, won't I routine? We both know you are going to say yes to him, and then we can start working on how we want our relationship to go."

"And what if I specifically say I don't want to work with you?" Abelha taunted as she spun to look at the Dryad. "You really don't portray yourself as the bastion of benefits that you seem to think you are."

"Says the girl that punched my Mas... Clovek without warning. At least Voras warned him she was going to kill him." Dríade spat back.

"Ladies, please." I interrupted. "Dríade, if Abelha does decide to join us, she will have the exact same things I have offered you. And if one of those things is that I need to keep you two separate, then I will make it happen."

Dríade grumbled and looked away, so I turned to Abelha, who was smiling at watching Dríade back off. The Queen Bee had stuck one of her hips out and crossed her arms under her chest. She knew what she was doing, but I refused to fall for her game. "And Abelha. What you do is completely up to you. I will not force you to do anything, but I do hope you will at least think over our offer."

"She's already decided to come back with us," Dríade yelled, but we all ignored her.

"However, as Tarakona said, we will drop this subject for now. Zeldi doesn't get a lot of time with her parents, and I don't want to ruin what little she has trying to prove I won't force myself on you."

"Prends-moi de force au lieu de cela." (Force yourself on me instead)

Again, we all ignored Madu.

Abelha let out a humph that bounced her chest. Something she did purposely, if her smile was anything to go by. In response, Voras thrust my head under her top and between her own chest. I wanted to reply that jealousy wasn't a good look on her, but from what I was seeing, it absolutely was.

[Abelha, please. He is still male, and we don't want to have to send him away because you are taunting him too much.]

"Unless you're volunteering to help him out," Madu added. "We are a family that despises blue balls when there are so many of us to share him with already."

[Not how I'd have put it, but she isn't wrong. Now play nice. Zeldi is here.]

I vacated Voras's clothes and straightened my hair as we all looked towards the village. Zeldi was leading her family over to us with a spring in her hooves, but it was obvious even from this distance that the rest of them were nervous.Tarakona tried to make herself look smaller in an attempt to placate them some, but she still towered over everyone. I tried to soothe her by rubbing behind her horns, but it didn't feel like it worked.

We all waited in silence for the group of Centaurs to get closer, and to everyone's surprise, Tarakona wasn't the source of their uneasiness. That went to Madu, as all of them, but Zeldi herself, refused to look in her direction even with her eyes being covered.

This was further proven when Helayt approached me with another ring. "Forgive me, Clovek, but can I get you to make the Gorgon put this on? It should suppress her gaze."

"She has a name, Mother Helayt. Madu, remember?" Zeldi berated, taking the offered ring and going over to my Gorgon. "Here you go, Madu. This should allow you to actually meet my family instead of hiding away."

"Should?" Madu questioned, taking the ring and slipping it onto her finger. The concept of a human marriage was lost on the girls, but I still felt I should have given it to her myself.

"My father is an amazing blacksmith who is known for his enhancements buuuuut no one really wants to test if it works. For most of us, it's a big risk." Zeldi said back, wincing and looking back at me with an apology in her eyes.

Got it. I'm the one where death is less of a risk. At least if it doesn't work, I'll make a nice statue.

"You better hope this works," I whispered to Zeldi as I took Madu's shoulders and spun her around. This made it so that she was looking away from the group, so on the off chance the ring didn't work, only I would be affected.

"Are you sure?" Madu asked in the first bit of vulnerability I think I'd ever heard from her.

"About the ring? Not really. But I trust you, girls, to bring me back, so all that really happens is I miss spending time with Zeldi's family today." I answered, reaching under her clothes to place my hand on her cheek. "I'm ready when you are."

Truthfully, I wasn't ready, but I hoped I had enough bullshit that Madu didn't notice.Madu made sure the ring was on twice before she started to remove the hood. Slowly. So slowly that I got a little impatient and took it off for her.Madu let out a cute squeak as her slitted eyes found my own, and we just stood staring at each other for a good while. This was only broken when Madu decided to say something. "Well, you're not stone, but I'm pretty sure you're rock hard."

Dríade scoffed. "Well, the ring works. Anyone hoping it would fix Madu, though, will be sorely disappointed."

Madu spun around and slithered over to Dríade so that she could envelop the Dryad in a hug. "If anyone needs to be fixed, it's you, miss murderous plant."

"I can fix her." I joked quietly to myself, knowing no one here would get the reference.

Dríade tried and failed to get away from Madu to little avail as the gathered Centaurs all watched. Zeldi, having gotten confirmation that the ring works, went over to the group and joined in the cuddle group.

"Nope. Nope. Too many people, let me out." Dríade complained only for Voras to join in and contain her in another pair of arms.

Tarakona and Tilty both didn't join in for their own respective reasons as I went over to Helayt, who stood ahead of the other Centaurs with her husband.

"Well, sorry about that. We knew that it was going to be interesting when we all came here, but this was a little more than even we expected." I said as an apology, only for Helayt to wave her hand.

"We would have wanted to meet them anyway, Clovek. So having them here is for the best." The dark Centaur politely said, but her eyes didn't match her words as they tracked Tilty.Daxel grunted his agreement, matching his wife's stare.

"Soooooo. Can I answer any questions you have before we get into it?" I winced knowing what was coming.

Yenem stomped forward and all but demanded of me. "What is she doing here?!"She wasn't quiet as everyone turned to me, even the ones in the impromptu cuddle pile.

"That's a long story." I tried to say.

"Then shorten it. You are aware of who she is, right?" Yenem spat, throwing a glare towards the Fawn. "I want to know why the reason my daughter was taken away from me is standing right there like she shouldn't be in the stocks."

I didn't have a good answer to that and tried to catch Zeldi's attention to help me out. Unfortunately, Yenem glared at her daughter as she tried to come assist me until she backed off. She then returned to me. "I want your answer, Clovek. You made such a good impression when you first brought my daughter back to me and mended wounds we couldn't fix ourselves, but this? This is a step too far."

I stood there trying to figure out my answer. The truth of the matter was I'd left Tilty's fate to Zeldi, as she had been the victim of her actions. I didn't feel I was capable of delivering a fitting punishment with the limited knowledge Zeldi had shared with me. But Zeldi herself had given me the perfect reason, hadn't she?

"While what Tilty has done is unforgivable, we have decided that instead of punishing her in other ways, we want her to work off her debt. She is a Livestock herself and..."

"That doesn't excuse her." Yenem tried to say, but I stood my ground.

"It doesn't, I know. But Zeldi and I both agree that looking towards our future is a better investment of what we can do with Tilty than anything in the short term." I said, hearing Zeldi softly trot up beside me for support. "Zeldi is pregnant, as she said, and she is not the only one in our family expecting, and I don't doubt that those that aren't will want some in the future."

Voras let out a slight whimper at that.

"So it is in the best interest of the farm and everyone on it that Tilty becomes the Livestock she wanted to turn Zeldi into."

That last part seemed to stop the argument Yenem was gearing up to have, and she pulled back ever so slightly."Good." Was all she said, shooting another glare at the Fawn before pulling Zeldi into a hug.