Chapter 137. Family revelations

I let out a breath at dodging that bullet. It wasn't a full solution, but at least they weren't outright trying to kill her... That being said, I might have spoken too quickly with how white Daxel's hands were from balling them into fists.

Helayt thankfully gave me an out. "Be that as it may, I don't want her around today." The dark mare tried to keep her voice even. "She will just sour the mood more."

Dríade jumped on that. "Sounds like a great idea. We're going to go somewhere that isn't here and relax."

"You don't want to stay?" I asked, not really surprised that Dríade wanted to leave. She was by far the least social of us all.

"Clovek, I am your Livestock for all extensive purposes, but I ain't your girl. This feels like more of the latter, and for that I will take the opportunity to leave." She sassed.

No one stopped her as she started to flutter her wings and leave. Tilty offered a bow before she followed after the Dryad.No one spoke until they were out of sight.

[Again, not how I wanted to meet you all, but as I'm sure you have realized already, we're a bit of an odd bunch. My name is Tarakona, as I'm sure Zeldi has already told you, and it is my pleasure to meet Zeldi's family.]

Attention was returned, then directed at Tarakona as she kept her head low in as submissive a state as she could. I tried to help by getting up close and patting her snout to prove she was peaceful.

To surprise us all, though, it was Gally that made the first move. "Well, hi there, Tarakona. I don't know if Zeldi would have said much about me to you, as I've only recently been granted permission to join Daxel's herd, but I'm Gally."

Tarakona gave her Draconic smile that made a few of the others flinch back.

[You have such beautiful eyes.]

Gally giggled and started to wink on each side to show them off in there miss coloured show. "Glad you think so because my foals might have it, and I've been trying to explain that it doesn't mean they will be hindered in any way."

"Really?" I asked, looking at Daxel. "After all that effort I went through to get you to pay attention to Anna, and you find some new excuse for Gally?" I made sure there was enough sarcasm in my voice that he wouldn't mistake my joke.

The stallion still blushed as he became the center of attention. "Well... I... Well..." He stumbled through his words, unable to properly articulate.

Gally giggled again and ran up to place a kiss on her husband's cheek. "I'm just teasing you. I'm still young and have many years ahead to wear you down. Plus I agreed with Helayt that I wouldn't ask properly until Anna had given birth and I had shown that I could be a good mother. So you have a bit of time to prepare yourself." She finished this off by whacking his hindquarters with her tail.

That revelation sent a shock through us all, and I replied in the only way I could think of."Congratulations, Anna. And you as well, Daxel. Or is it father-in-law now?"

Zeldi let out a squeal and abandoned her birth mother's embrace to go over to the brown mare. Anna didn't hide away, but she was a little shy about all the attention she was now getting.

"How far along are you? Do you think we'll both give birth at the same time? Ooow, have you already picked out some names? Could you imagine if you had twins?" Zeldi's bombardment of questions drowned out any answer that could have been given as Zeldi lined herself up with Anna, only to wave me over. "Master, can you see if we're both the same size? I want to see how close our births will be."

Anna was taller than the younger mare, so the question had no real standing, but her excitement was infectious. Madu tried to approach, but Anna flinched at the movement before offering an apology.

"Sorry, Miss Gorgon. It's..."

"A natural reaction to my kind." Madu finished. "Don't worry about it. I just got use to everyone on the farm treating me like I wasn't a dangerous person."

"I don't know." I drew out. "You could be tremendously dangerous given the right conditions." I winked, and Madu responded by sticking her tongue out at me.

Voras caught my eye as she did so. The nervous Arachnid woman was fidgeting nervously by Tarakona's front leg, unsure how she could insert herself into the conversation.

"Well, since you guys are all here now, I think it's time for some proper introductions." I pointed to Zeldi and Tarakona. "You know your daughter, of course, but shortly after we returned from our last visit here, Tarakona literally fell into our laps."

[More of a crash-land than fell.]

"Took out a building on her way down," I added with a laugh. "Then we went to the Underdark to meet some of Zeldi's friends and ran into Voras."

Voras waved nervously, and I could see that she was thankful I didn't mention the exact details of our first encounter. As fun as it was to explain to Abelha that I felt Helayt and the others might feel a little differently."She was looking for a Deed owner to help her with a project and joined when she felt I fit the bill."

Voras beamed a little at that, especially when she got a few accepting looks from the Centaurs."This project of hers led us to Madu, who was rather quick to join once she met us all."

"C'était ton pantalon qui m'intéressait le plus, Clovek, mais continue si tu veux." (It was your pants that interested me the most, Clovek, but carry on.)

"She also speaks a language from my original world, but unfortunately I never learnt it," I added as Madu swayed her hips, trying to look innocent. It may have fooled Zeldi's family, but none of us who knew her were buying it.

"Where does Dríade fit into all of this?" Abelha asked, looking between our group. "She must have made quite the entrance."

[She was running from someone that she has yet to tell us about. We offered her safety in return for her fruit to fund Clovek's shop. She took it without too many complaints.]

"Right, I guess it's our turn then." Helayt took charge of her side. "I'm Helayt, and I don't know how much you know about Centaur culture, but I am the head mare of Daxel's herd."

Daxel stepped forward and gave a firm nod. "It is good to meet you, girls and while our first encounter may have been a bit... Well, not quite what I wanted, I am glad my daughter has found here a herd that can sympathize with her condition and protect her."

Yenem stepped up beside Daxel as he finished. "I am Yenem, birth mother of Zeldi, and I want to apologize for any problems my daughter has caused."

"Muuuuuuuumm!" Zeldi complained with her ears pinned backwards.

There was a collection of smirks and soft laughs that were hidden very poorly at that.

"Anna," Anna spoke like that was all that needed to be said."And I'm Gally. Youngest member of Daxel's herd, and it is an absolute pleasure to meet you all." The last Centaur said, puffing out her chest.

There was definitely some youthful charm she had that the others lacked. Makes me wonder how old she is. She looked around twenty-three, if I were to make a guess, though that could be wrong if Centaurs aged differently.

"And lastly, while not part of our herd, there is Abelha." Helayt indicated towards the Queen Bee. "She was a lone traveler coming through the village some time ago, and when we found out she was a Livestock like Zeldi, we introduced ourselves to her."

"You say introduced, but it was more of an ambush. Not that I blame you for wanting to know more about us." Abelha took to the air and playfully looked down on Helayt. "Though I can't say I wanted to escape with how well you fed me."

"We were hoping she would join you, Clovek," Daxel grunted, looking a little sheepish. "You seemed like a good man when we met, but Zeldi is well... Zeldi." He paused, trying to find the word he was missing, but we got it. "If you were just lying to us, Abelha was confident she could..."

"Remove me from the Deed?" I answered for him.

Daxel nodded with another grunt.

"Don't worry there, I'm pretty sure all of the girls will do something similar if I ever become even remotely similar to the Deed owners I've heard stories about. It's still something I'm struggling with because I get so much for basically treating them right." I said with a shrug. "But that aside were here today to celebrate. As for what we're celebrating, you can pick between Zeldi, Tarakona and Anna's pregnancies or just being able to see your daughter again."

"I pick seeing my daughter again and her arriving in something better than rags." Helayt said tipping her head silently towards Voras. "Something I'm sure her herd mates have had a hand in."

"Good enough for me."