Chapter 247: Fruits of Her Labours

“I’m… holy shit, I think I’m feeling it!”

Ann’s eyes flew open. Waheela’s gigantic nose was resting in her lap. The old wolf’s breath was ridiculously warm and humid, but she didn’t mind. The more time she spent with her internal Warped, she realised the thing was insanely lonely. Her coming in for training more often had seen a significant reduction in her usually grumpy attitude, and they’d often done Ann’s sensory training with Ann’s back resting against Waheela’s flank or other more comfortable positions.

What? What do you feel, pup? Waheela asked, her tail scattering steel trees as it wagged.

“I dunno really, but I feel something. It’s from your direction, and it’s not a tree or me touching you. Kinda feels like something just pushing its finger against my head in that direction.” Ann pet Waheela’s muzzle as she spoke. Even with how long her limbs normally were, she could only just get to where the nose ended, and the rest of the skull began. Her fur was not soft. It was actually quite rough and would probably make her itchy if she rubbed it the wrong way.

Progress. You make some progress. Now reach out to it.

“Reach out to something poking into my head?”

Yes. Try to pull. Draw it in.

“Oh? Want to be inside me that badly?” Ann teased, tapping the leathery nose.

Waheela huffed in her version of a chuckle. So quick to make innuendos. The Bitch chose well. Now pull, and we can hunt again.

Ann rolled her eyes. She knew Waheela just wanted to play again. Running and dodging each other had become a regular thing in the past couple of days. Whenever she closed her eyes she made an effort to show up and spend time with Waheela. Rosalyn was concerned how often she’d been doing it, but Kat had assuaged worries for now. Ann, after all, hadn’t even started to show physical changes after spending a lot more time with the wolf. Mentally was slightly different. Her wanderlust and antsy nature was getting a bit stronger. Sitting still was becoming a bit frustrating, and she took to pacing when thinking or talking with people. Having to sit at a ball with Junia again would be a nightmare.

Your mind is losing focus. What is wrong?

“Just worrying about the antsy crap I’ve got going. I want to be able to sit still if I need to, and it’s just becoming harder the more time we spend together.”

Hmf. A side effect of our nature as beasts of the hunt. When not resting, moving is the most natural. Tension and hunger means we need to hunt that down and fix it.

“Yeah, but I’m still a person. We’ve gotta find a middle ground, here. I’m not always going to be able to just up and run at a moment’s notice. Remember the ball with Junia? Or even the speech with Orlana? I felt the tension and fear there, but if I ran it would be a disaster.”

A silly notion. I understand why, but disagree with the conclusion. Anything should be free to move as it wishes when it wishes. Run when the mood takes them, breed when they find a suitable mate. Your kind make things so unnecessarily complicated.

“Yeah, that’s society for you, and we’ve gotta deal. Think you could pull back some of that when we’re in the city?”

I will try. It may hit you stronger when we find a chance to let loose. Be that in training or, as you say, in bed.

“Well, I’ve got mates who don’t mind me going a bit feral, so that’s fine.”

Distractions. Pull on the connection you felt. Can you still feel it?

Ann could. She closed her eyes and tugged on that weird feeling. It felt heavy. Not just heavy, immense. Larger than anything she’d met or felt. Was that really Waheela? She felt a strain in her mind and let the sensation go.

“Holy fuck,” she panted. “Was that you?”

All of me. I told you we would devour the world if you agreed.

“Didn’t think you were being literal,” Ann said with a shaky gasp. “Is that just you, or are the rest like that?”

To various degrees. We are all ancient.

“Yeah? Where you think you’re at?”

The apex, as I should be. Waheela huffed confidently, her chops flapping as she preened in Ann’s lap.

“You’re sure? Not just talking yourself up there?”

The lizard comes close. I would still crush its scales in my teeth and drink deep of its blood. The goat would be an interesting hunt, but the other two are not intriguing. The bird would be frustrating, and the cat creature is not a fighter. A fitting host it has found.

“Yeah makes sense. So, what can I do with this pulling on that feeling thing you’ve now shown me, oh great wolf?” Ann teased. She reached under Waheela’s chin and started scratching with her claws.

MMm, don’t stop. I do not know. This is something we will need to find out. You are unique, as you well know. Neither Katlyn nor Rosalyn would be able to do this. I felt your pull and refused it. See what you might be able to do should you sense another’s presence. Maybe that collection of worms you’re attracted to?

Ann groaned. She couldn’t hide that she did like Alruna’s weirdness from Waheela, but she was trying to not let it be too obvious for Kat. Even with her encouragement to open her horizons, it’d still take a bit. That step with their new mining friend was all she was going to worry about for now. There was legitimate concern, however, that Rosalyn would broach the subject. The girl had spent a lot of time with the alchemist.

“I’ll try. Guess it is time to wake up, huh?”

About time. Go, enjoy your world. I will see you when you return tonight.

Ann yawned as her inner world faded away to be replaced by the real one. Kat was already up, as usual, hugging her close.

“Ol’ beast doin’ alright?”

“Yeah. Made some progress,” Ann grunted, wiggling in Rosalyn’s arms a little to get more comfy with Kat. “Felt what she’s been trying to get me to. Now she wants me to pull on it.”

Kat snorted a laugh.

“Oh shut up,” Ann giggled. “I can give you even more ammo. She asked me to try it with Alruna.”

Kat’s muscles tensed for the briefest of moments, but she laughed immediately after. “Gonna tug on ‘er worms? See if ye can unravel the nest?”

“Don’t have to force yourself to laugh,” Ann mumbled as she buried her face in Kat’s chest.

“Nae, it’s funny. Can’t lie that it hasn’t been on me mind. Need tae spend some more time wit’ ‘er after all that Rosalyn’s been up to.” Kat’s eye was closed, just enjoying Ann’s face being where it was. “Might be fun.”

“She is a fighter. Could always see if she wants to talk shop?”

“Aye. Hopefully she ain’t as strong as Tarnu. He’s a beast, aye, but is also a total beast.”

“You and Alruna would be fun to watch. See how long you can keep up with that hammer swinging and whatever else she does. That earthquake stomp thing was really cool.”

“Right? Shite, that’s one o’ the coolest moves I’ve seen in a while. Polaris doesn’t even ‘ave somethin’ like that, but wit’ ‘er Strength, she doesn’t need one.”

“Not to mention that weird way she can swing her hammer around, too.”

“Momentum cancelling is actually pretty common fer people who wind up wit’ heavy weapons. Some choose not tae take the skills, so start tae deal wit’ the weight in other ways.”

“What if that’s her special resource thing? Like your tenacity?” Ann asked. Her princess’s pink, puffy nipple was right there, and she was doing her best not to chomp on it.

“Could be. Dinnae. Only get tae find out if she decides tae share.”

“True. You hear Abigail outside again?”

Kat broke into a wide smile. “Aye. Been hearin’ little tink tink tink noises fer a li’l bit. She’s waitin’.”

“She’s so damn cute. Every morning!”

“Ye definitely got a li’l fan,” Kat chuckled. “Go on. Why don’t ye play wit’ ‘er a bit. Lemme get Rosalyn up an’ ready. Meet ye fer breakfast?”

“Aye. Meet ye fer breakfast,” Ann echoed. Her will broke, and she gave Kat’s nip a nip, then clambered out of the tangle of limbs as Kat tried to drag her back in.

In her pants and a plain shirt, she left the tent to meet Abigail, who was eagerly waiting. The girl had been nearly glued to Ann since she’d been told she had a present for her. The girls thirteenth birthday was this week, and she was growing increasingly excited despite already being through the moon.

“Miss Annita!” Abigail cried, doing her best to run and jump on Ann. She wasn’t very fast and didn’t get very high, but her weight nearly knocked Ann over anyway. Alruna was one of the few in town who could easily pick up the girl. “You’re up! I been waitin’ fer a little bit. Was kinda bored, but I was working on my math. Alruna says it’s important, and even Lorvin agrees, so I’ve gotta. Are you gonna tell me what you got me today?”

Ann laughed, patting the Inlon child’s head gently and ruffling her straw blonde hair. “Nope! Not yet. You get to know on your birthday, and not a day before,” Ann teased. “Promise you’ll like it.”

“Ugh!” Abigail groaned. “It’s so hard to wait! I wanna!”

“Just like math, patience is a hard thing to learn. I’m still pretty bad at it.”

“But you’re so much older. How much more practise do I really need?” Abigail pouted.

“For some people, it’s their whole lives. For me, I dunno? All I know is that I’m antsy all the time and I want to do things now now now. I came to this town to figure out why all of you are like you are, and I haven’t made any progress on that. It bums me out sometimes. Still, I gotta figure this out. If I could punch it away, I definitely would because that’s a right now solution. I have to talk to the monster inside me to help right now, and what she’s teaching me is taking time.”

Abigail stood there, resting her weight on her rebar leg as she thought about that. She had this habit of twisting the nail that was punched through her left eye when she did. Apparently it didn’t hurt or do anything bad to her, so it had become just a fidget.

“That still stinks. It’d be a lot easier if you could just talk or do the thing and know what to do. Adults have stuff figured out.”

Ann couldn’t help but laugh. It was such a nice thing to hear from the poor little thing. Such a normal belief, and meant her upbringing here was genuinely doing a good job. “We do have some things worked out, yeah. There’s a lot of things I don’t know or understand. That’s the neat part about people and being a person in a town or a society. You don’t have to know everything. Kat knows a lot more about fighting and military stuff than I do. Bren is super smart when it comes to history. Lucia could hunt me down blindfolded. Well, I’m pretty sure she can. Rosalyn knows so much about how bodies work that she can figure out how a Warped is put together.”

“What do you know a lot about?” Abigail asked, clunking her way over to lean a shoulder against Ann’s thigh.

“Well, a lot of things. Some of the things aren’t really appropriate for you. I know old things, though. I mean really old things. I’m waaay older than I look.”

“How old?”

“Well, I’m younger than Eldest of All, but not by much.”

“Really?” Abigail’s eye glittered with amazement.

“Yeah. I was asleep for a long time, though. I almost died, and doctors saved me, but I couldn’t wake up. Orenous kept me alive until I did wake up. But yeah, besides that, I know a lot about art and buildings.”

Abigail pointed with metal fingers. “So what do you know about Eldest’s building?”

“Well, it was made a while ago. You can tell just by how the paint is flaking off. It’s a cross between an old Antebellum-style building and a European Renaissance mansion. Especially the inside. Still, it’s got some pieces that aren’t either of those because it’s gotta fit Eldest’s big butt.”

Abigail giggled. “He is pretty big.”

“Like a real dragon should be! But yeah, the awning on the front door is the biggest indication of the Renaissance style, while that flat front with those neat rows of windows is the Plantation part. The gables aren’t anything special for either, though. Just a standard triangular roof. Now, if you want to get more specific, where the walls meet the foundation doesn’t belong to either. Plantation style homes and the Mansions I’m talking about were usually raised off of ground level, so their basements weren’t entirely underground. His just sits on the stone floor. Now, that can happen with Renaissance mansions, so it could be leaning that way, but it’s built up on the outside of the walls too, adding reinforcement. That’s not right for any building I knew of.”

Abigail digested this for a minute. “Why?” Oh that question. Ann grinned.

“Well, mostly because we didn’t have anything that needed to reinforce walls from the outside. Just humans doing their things. If we did need to reinforce walls like that, we just made them heavier and thicker. That only goes so far, though, and Eldest of All is big enough that you’re going to need to use different methods.”

“So, you all were too small?”

“We were all human. At biggest, I think people were about my size, but that was really rare and they had problems with their bodies.”

“Like me?”

“More or less, yeah. They didn’t tend to live all that long.”

Abigail’s face fell.

“But we didn’t have magic, and what you’re dealing with is definitely magic. I don’t think the same rules apply.”

“Oh. Well, that’s good, then. I kinda like living. Like hanging out with Alruna and Fur and Eyes and Lorvin and Eldest and Tarnu and sometimes Bark, but talking to them is hard, and Cook too! She’s really nice.”

“She is. I’m gonna try my best to make sure everyone here is alright. Got it? Especially you.” Ann booped Abigail’s nose even though she tried to dodge it. “So, what are you up to today?”

“I dunno. Gotta help with the washing when other people wake up, then I think I’m gonna play with Eyes for a while, then Alruna has me for lessons, and then it’s helping Cook with dishes then bedtime.”

“Busy day. Gonna be able to keep up with all of it?”

“Yeah. It’s pretty normal,” the little girl shrugged. Her single ear bounced as her shoulder bumped it. “Everyone helps out. I think a couple other people are helping with dishes, too, so it’s not just me.”

“I’m gonna be helping Lorvin out in the stables today. Apparently, they need mucking, and since Kat is busy and Lucia’s nose is too sensitive, he asked me.”

“Be careful. Those boars are really scary.”

“No kidding. Gonna be on my pawpads around them.”

“Oh, and Biter. He tried to bite me once. Didn’t work really well because of the metal. Lorvin says I’m the only one he hasn’t tried twice on.”

The angry mutated head probably cracked a tooth when he tried. Ann wasn’t too concerned, though. These people healed quickly.

“Alright. I’m gonna go say good morning to Rosalyn. Run and help with the washing. I’ll see you at lunch, right?”

Abigail nodded eagerly, her ear flapping wildly. “Yeah! See you, Miss Ann!”

Ann waved as the little Inlon hobbled off toward the water, her rebar leg clanking with each step. Such a cute kid. She turned and ducked back into the tent only to be met with a faceful of Rosalyn’s boobs. “Agh! What the?”

“Hah! Told ye it was the right height!”

“Sure did! Good mooorning, Ann!” Rosalyn greeted her in a singsong voice. Kat was holding her up by her armpits, apparently just high enough that Ann would bury herself as she walked in. Now that she was there, Rosalyn latched herself to Ann like a face hugger.

“So, we’re gonna be a bit late for breakfast?” Ann asked, her voice muffled by the wonderful softness.

The strong hand grabbing her ass answered that question. “Ye started this. Gotta teach our naughty wolf what she gets when she bites people.”

“A reward?” Ann asked, looking up at Rosalyn from the valley of her breasts, tail wagging.

“Yup! Toss me on the bed!”

The cot squeaked as Rosalyn hit the cot. Poor thing would be doing a lot more squeaking in a minute.