Chapter 140. Milkmaid discussion

"Because my milk is special." Zeldi rolled her eyes. "Clovek mentioned this, but could you imagine my foals with unlimited stamina?"

It was obvious which mares had gone through pregnancy and raised foals, as they all had the same reaction.Helayt and Yenem shivered as if struck by their own memories, while Daxel winced at the thought. This reaction was not as prevalent in the other two, especially Anna.

"Why would that be bad? Wouldn't a foal able to play all day be a good thing?" The brown mare asked, looking between them all.

"Oh God no." I spat out quickly before catching myself. "I mean no."

Thankfully, Helayt helped me out. "Anna Darling, as a family, we will all help in raising your foals just like you will do when Gally inevitably wants her own. But know this. After the glow of holding your child wears off and you haven't had a proper sleep in cycles, you will wish upon anything and everything that your child would sleep for a few hours so you could as well."

"Forgive me for asking, but isn't that the point of having multiple mothers?" Madu asked, turning her head to face the darker mare without moving away from Yenem, who was still stroking one of her snakes. "Like Lamias will give the child to another so that they can have a day to themselves quite often."

"You would be correct, but Centaurs are slightly different from Lamia. We believe in helping but not overtaking a mother's job so that they may experience motherhood and all that it entails. We are more likely to cook dinner and help bathe each other while leaving the birth mother to spend as much time with her child as possible. Lamia are raised as a collective, with one mother not being any different from another. Unless I am wrong?" Helayt answered.

There was an obvious relaxation that was settling into the group as more alcohol was consumed, and it helped everyone loosen up. Gally even got up to touch Tarakona's scales.

"No, you are correct." Madu hummed. "I was raised slightly alone because I was a Gorgon, I guess. Not many wanted to help raise me because of my gaze. Thankfully, my father was a wanderer and wanted to take part in my life, or my mother would have been exiled from the nest."

"Your mother wasn't a Gorgon?" I asked, trying to understand.

"Nope. She was a Lamia through and through. No snakes or deadly gaze. It did mean I spent most of my life blindfolded, and of course that resulted in some bullying by the other kids, but that stopped when I bit one of them." Madu shrugged. "And that was also the event that led me to discover I was a livestock. The look on her face when she slithered home, saying I bit her only to not have a wound to show. She was called a liar for a few weeks."

We laughed at that easily, able to picture it as Tarakona filled them in.

[Madu has a healing effect in her venom. A strange combination for a livestock we know, but it is amusing.]

"Wait a minute," Daxel grunted. "You don't all produce milk like Zeldi does?" The male Centaur went beet red as he said that, realizing exactly what he was saying.

I looked to Abelha, who shrugged back; apparently she had not explained to them that Livestock all have different resources. Not that I could blame Daxel, as Zeldi was quite obviously a milk producer, and Abelha, the only other Livestock he knew of, was just as gifted in that department. I could see how he made that assumption.

"Nope," Madu replied. "I produce venom with healing properties, Voras has her silk with its resistances, Tarakona, I believe, has mentioned that she lays eggs, and Dríade has her fruit. If we were all to make milk as Zeldi does, then my tits did not get told." She rubbed her hands over her chest with a pout that had Anna covering Daxel's eyes.

[My eggs have been a little slow since I became pregnant, of course, but Madu is correct. Did you think we were all milk producers?]

"Ummmmm." Daxel drew out.

"We lacked a few key pieces of information, it seems," Helayt said, saving her husband. "It... Well. Producers are not very common, you see, and..."

"It's fine, Helayt. Madu is just having you on." I offered to save her the same embarrassment.

"Could you imagine if you all grew a second pair of tits as I have?" Zeldi joked.

[That would be... Awkward for me.]

"Not even going to imagine how that would work for me." Madu hissed as she looked at Voras. "I think Voras would be the weirdest, though."

"About the milkmaid you need." Yenem cut through the conversation before it could grow out of control. "I think it would be best to get a Hollister instead of another Centaur."

Cow girls... Oh, I was definitely interested in this development.Madu's tail tapped the front of my pants subtly. The minx winked but thankfully stayed quiet.

"Why a Hollister? Wouldn't another Centaur that knows what to expect be better?" Zeldi asked, tilting her head to the side while her ears focused on her mother.

"Because another Centaur would have to be pregnant or already have been pregnant to produce milk, darling. You are an outlier of that, and even a mother with a foal will not produce enough milk for two." Yenem explained. "If a Centaur has twins, they typically have help from their herd mates in feeding through magically inducing lactation."

"Couldn't we just induce one to lactate when she is on the farm?" Zeldi countered.

Yenem shook her head. "Where are you going to find a mare that has been pregnant and is not attached to a herd already?"

Zeldi flattened her ears as the answer came to her. "The village's breeding post." She almost spat out.

"And for those in the cheap seats that don't know what that means?" I said, reaching over to scratch Zeldi between the ears.

"It's a not-so-nice way of saying whore." Gally answered with a sneer. It was the first time I'd seen her actually disgusted with something.

"And that's bad, why?" Voras asked. "Prostitution is a highly successful business wherever you go. Even the Underdark had a whore house, though admittedly it was staffed by men..." Voras trailed off as she gained more and more attention.

"Centaurs are a little different," Daxel grunted, nodding in Voras's direction. "While we don't condemn the job, we don't actively like it within our societies."

"A mare without a herd will struggle to raise a foal, and a stallion that abandons his young is a disgrace. Working on yourself to earn a mare's attention is part of what motivates stallions to do better." Helayt explained as she drained her cup. "If that motivation is gone because some filly decided she wanted to see how many dick she could fit at once, then it just leads to stallions that don't do more than the bare minimum to get her to lift her tail."

Remembering how Helayt had staked her future on Daxel, I kept my mouth shut.

[What about widows?]

"Would need to accept the whole herd in that case," Anna said, sipping from her glass. "There are no single widows in the village right now, and the smallest widowed herd is three mares. They will not separate from each other, and chances are they won't be as emotionally invested in the child's life apart from providing milk."

"So Hollister." I prompted so we didn't go further down that rabbit hole. "What makes them different?"

"They lactate the moment they come of age, no pregnancy required." Yenem nodded, taking the offered bait. "They make wonderful nurses, with a lot of Centaurs using them if the first mare has twins or triplets. They also adore babies of any species, so they make the best wet nurses."

Daxel winked in my direction. "They also like to stay with families that treat them well and are one of the few species that can mate with almost all species."

Anna slapped him.Zeldi, however, smiled at the thought in a way that was becoming far too familiar to me.

"Unbelievable." Helayt shook her head in disappointment.

I did not want to think of the logistics required for that. At least on my farm, I adapt to my partner, a Centaur and a Hollister?

"As much as I really don't want to share Clovek, I guess Zeldi does need one. I don't want to chase a young Centaur that doesn't tire out." Madu sighed.

"Or any child for that matter. Could you imagine a Lamia that doesn't stop?" Voras giggled.

"I was bad enough. Mother forbid something worse." Madu gave a look of mock horror.

[I know it may be far-fetched, my love, but is it possible you could speak to the Deeds about this? If there is a chance that there is a Livestock Hollister somewhere out there, it would be much easier to convert than a normal one. I agree with Madu that I loathe to share you, but far better for it to be another one like us if we had a choice.]

I nibbled on my lip as I thought. "I can ask, but it's not like there are any guarantees. We would also have to hope that her product is not milk as well, or that the buff isn't as effective on our children."

[Good point.]

"If I may?" Voras asked, fighting again. "Could I get everyone's measurements? I would like to thank you for the meal next time we come back."