Chapter 747: Family Business

“Everyone, stay in your seats, the airship is going to bump around a bit while we dock.”

Klara’s instructions were met with a chorus of distracted voices acknowledging her, though the underlaying murmur came from continued whispered conversations and observations of the view as seen through the cabin windows. When one of the younger goblins sitting near the back got onto his knees to get a better look over his aisle mate’s head, Klara expertly launched a leftover biscuit from the lunch tray, hitting the boy in the head.

“I said, stay seated!”

“You know, it’s really not that big of a bump,” Jay commented quietly as she watched the orc glare daggers at the abashed goblin. “Even if someone did get hurt, we’ve got a healer on board and the best healer in the world waiting for our arrival on the ground.”

“Klara takes her duties seriously,” Bridget replied, her focus on the romance novel that Cora had recommended she try. “You told her she’s in charge of ship safety, so she’s going to make sure it’s safe.”

That was true, Jadis had to admit. She just hadn’t expected Bridget’s cousin to be so… vigorous when it came to dealing with the passengers.

A slight bump shook the cabin as the Garuda made contact with the docking tower that Jadis had helped construct with her own hands. Well, mostly she just carried around lumber and held things in place while Sabina and her brothers did all of the actual construction labor, but she had still felt accomplished when the forty-foot-tall structure had been completed. The fact that it had taken only a couple of days to put the whole thing together was still a marvel to her as well. The efficiency of multiple supernaturally enhanced builders working on a single project together put any construction crew from Earth to shame, and a concrete truck could not hold a candle to the power of a mage with earth magic.

“I’ll be back in a sec,” Jay told Bridget as she got up from her seat. “I’m going to help secure the ship to the dock.”

Bridget nodded, her attention still glued to the page before her. Jay grinned as she left the orc to her reading, knowing full well exactly which part of the lurid story had monopolized her interest. Cora really did have good taste when it came to erotic literature.

Walking down the aisle to the starboard side cabin door, Jay swept her gaze over the ship’s passengers to make sure everyone was doing alright. It wasn’t every day that the average citizen of the empire got to ride aboard one of the newly invented airships, and there had been a few among their number who had professed to a bit of motion sickness. From what she could see, it seemed that everyone was doing fine, the excitement of arriving in the capital likely overriding any nausea that flying for the first time might have caused.

Slowing as she neared the middle of the ship, Jadis corrected her assessment. Almost everyone was doing fine.

“I’m not a concubine, I’m her wife!” Sorcha did her best to keep her voice low despite her obvious frustration. “There are no concubines!”

“It’s a harem thing, though, isn’t it?” Tavish shook his head at his sister. “Concubines?”

“That’s a western continent kind of thing! Jadis isn’t from the bloody west!”

“But you aren’t actually married yet,” Lilias persisted, one hand tightly wrapped around her husband’s arm, the other holding onto their sleeping baby. “You haven’t had a ceremony. Can you really say that you’re her wife if you haven’t actually—”

“Yes,” Sorcha huffed the word out with growing exhaustion. “I promise you, we’re together. I literally have a bonded class! It doesn’t get much more serious than that, does it?”

“Yes, but what if—”

Before Sorcha’s head could explode, Jay came to a stop next to her seat, knelt down, and planted a kiss on her lover’s forehead.

“Hey love, I’m going to hop out and help with the landing. I can already see your parents at the base of the docking tower, so I’m sure you’ll be busy with them for a while, but when you’re done, we need to go see Bertha this evening. We can’t keep putting off our checkup.”

As she spoke, Jay made sure to put her hand over her own belly, making it clear what she was talking about.

“Right,” Sorcha mumbled, her face turning a darker shade of green. “Yes, I’ll be ready by six.”

“Good,” Jay leaned over and kissed her again, this time on the lips. “We’ve got to make sure our girls are healthy.”

Turning her head to look at Sorcha’s older brother and sister-in-law, Jay smiled at the two wide-eyed goblins.

“Sorry to interrupt, and welcome to Eldingholt! I’m sure you’ll fit right in with the rest of the family.”

As the two meekly nodded, Jay stood and continued on her way out the cabin door. She wasn’t sure if she had just settled the matter or added fuel to the fire, but either way, she had done her part as a dutiful spouse by bothering the shit out of her lovely wife. Sure, Sorcha was probably going to strangle her later, but the makeup sex after was going to be awesome.

“Now, how exactly is she carrying your child?” Jay heard Lilias ask as she exited the cabin.

Jay quickly shut the door behind her before she could hear Sorcha’s panicked reply.

The Fortune’s Favored compound had seen a few changes while Jadis and her lovers were away at war in Volto, and it had seen even more since their return over a month ago. The building that had once been used to house the clutch of Demons that Jadis had taken from the Dead Head Matriarch had been converted into a sort of terminal for airships that docked at the compound. A forty-foot custom tower had been installed onto the roof to make connecting easier, while also making sure that the working airships didn’t get in the way of the ones that were still under construction. The interior had been converted into waiting rooms for those arriving and departing, as well as storage spaces for all of the cargo that was being shipped or delivered.

Not that the building had become public space. The shipments coming to and from were for Fortune’s Favored business or, rarely, favors for people who Jadis trusted. All of the people riding on the personal ships owned by Ahlstrom Aviation were either employees, their families, or allied individuals who were well known to Jadis and her companions. Which was, coincidentally, a good description for the fifty-seven passengers who had boarded the company’s third active airship.

While Sorcha’s mother and father had been relatively quick to agree to join her daughter in Eldingholt due to the potential danger that vengeful cultists posed, the rest of her family had not been so willing to uproot their lives. In particular, Sorcha’s older brother, Tavish, who had a wife and five children of his own. Tavish worked as a cook in the local lord’s household and thus had felt his family was secure enough from the threat of cultist activity. However, after a few letters from his mother, Tavish and his wife, Lilias, had been convinced that the pastures were greener in Eldingholt, and so had written to Sorcha and Jadis with the intention of accepting the open offer to come join the Fortune’s Favored compound. Considering how pushy and opinionated Sorcha’s mother, Tyree, tended to be, Jadis had not been surprised that she had managed to convince her son to come to Eldingholt.

Jadis just hadn’t expected that Tyree had also been writing letters to the rest of her extended family as well.

Forty-seven additional brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and various other relations that Jadis had not mapped out yet had been waiting for the Garuda’s arrival when Jadis and Sorcha had gone to fetch Tavish and his family. The change in plans was… a challenge, for certain, but not one that couldn’t be overcome. In a way, the sudden influx of population was fortuitous, since Fortune’s Favored was in need of even more manpower thanks to the increasing spread of construction projects they were undertaking. That need for capable hands was why persons number forty-eight, forty-nine, and fifty had also been waiting for the airship to pick them up in Glitnir on the way back from Sorcha’s hometown.

“And that’s the airship propellers powered down,” Alban said as he took his hands off of the controls. “We don’t have to do anything else here, just let the dockworkers tie us down.”

“Was für eine großartige Schöpfung. Truly, magnificent!”

“I had never dreamed that I would fly across the skies in a ship, and yet, here we are.”

“Maybe next time we go up, you want to try taking the controls?” Alban asked as he turned towards the two older men.

“Nein, not us,” Gerwas shook his head vehemently. “We have no magic, we wouldn’t be able to control any of this.”

“And Gerwas would probably pilot us directly into that big tree,” Ludwas motioned out the window. “He’s terrible at directions.”

“As though you would do better,” Gerwas punched his brother’s shoulder.

“Better than you,” Ludwas responded while punching his brother’s shoulder in return.

Jadis internally smiled at the familiar sight of Aila’s two uncles bickering with each other. Gerwas and Ludwas had been the very first humans that Jadis had ever met on Oros, back when she was under the impression that she had arrived in an abandoned village of dwarves, rather than realizing that she was herself a giant. The two were strong soldiers, scouts by trade, who had up until that month been employed by the Bernd’s Blades mercenary company. However, Jadis and Aila had managed to convince the two to leave the company and join Fortune’s Favored, even going so far as to buy out their contract with the Blades for them so that they wouldn’t take a financial loss in the change. Luckily for her pocketbook, Jadis hadn’t had to pay to get the third person of their small group to come as well.

“You are both equally abysmal at directions,” Hela, the healer, commented from where she sat behind her fiancé, Ludwas. “How either of you have managed to make a career out of being scouts is one of Destarious’ great secrets.”

“See? Even your woman says you are terrible.”

“She said you’re terrible too, you old goat.”

Before the two brothers’ bickering devolved into a fist fight, Dys quickly got to her feet, shifting attention to her.

“Great job, Alban,” she lightly patted the orc on his back. “You’re really getting good at this piloting business. Let’s pack up here and head out, I can already see your parents and the rest of the family gathering in the courtyard.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied while Gerwas and Ludwas continued to quietly squabble in the background. “I’m all set here. Oh, and if I don’t see her, can you tell Sabina about the control changes?”

“Yup, I’ve got it,” Dys nodded as she led the three humans and one orc out into the main cabin. “I’ll let her know how the changes she made worked out.”

Alban truly was becoming an excellent pilot, a fact bolstered by his newly acquired primary class being Fortunate Airship Pilot. He had turned seventeen last month, while Jadis and the others had still been going back and forth from Volto to the capital, and he hadn’t hesitated for a second to take a class that let him fly airships. Bridget had been initially upset with her brother for taking the option that involved luck and chance rather than the version offered that was more standard, but since the choice had already been made, there wasn’t anything that could be done. So far, the class hadn’t had any crazy effects or dangerous gambles, though; just a skill that made it more likely for aerial maneuvers that could cause damage to the airship to go in his favor. Since his flights thus far had been restricted to shipping runs far away from any battlefields, there hadn’t been any need for Alban to use that particular skill.

Of course, that hadn’t stopped the young man from trying the skill out anyway, which was why Klara had been assigned as ship’s safety officer the next day.

While Dys helped the many passengers gather their belongings and get ready to depart the airship, Jay helped the handful of men and women who were assigned to the docking tower to tie the ship down. The winds weren’t strong that day, but a storm was supposed to blow in from the west later that evening and the last thing they wanted was for the ship to come loose from its moorings and be blown off into the ancient tree that overshadowed the city. Looking over the construction yard of the compound, Jay realized that the same would have to be done for the new prototype airship that Sabina had been spending so much of her time working on. From what she could see, the two balloons had been inflated, which meant the small vessel could be tossed around if not properly secured.

As her gaze swept over the yard and the many workers going about their business, Jay spotted the expected yet still thrilling sight of her own shadow passing over the ground below. Well, not her Jay self’s shadow; she was standing still and thus her shadow wasn’t moving. It was her Syd self’s shadow that had caught her eye, which naturally turned her gaze up to see her other self, while at the same time she looked down at her Jay self from the alternate perspective.

Syd circled high above, her aerial view of the Garuda landing confirming that all was well and no issues were visible. She had been flying along side the airship for the past ten minutes, ever since they had reached the outer boughs of Eikr, just to make sure that Alban didn’t accidentally fly them into any of the lower branches. She was confident in the young orc’s abilities, but the air currents around the colossal tree were tricky at times, and she didn’t see any reason not to show a little caution considering their valuable cargo.

Besides, it gave Jadis another excuse to revel in her ability to selectively choose which of her bodies would fly.

Jadis had gained quite a few levels from all the fighting that had happened in Kastoria, which meant a number of new skills had been added to her growing collection. The one that she liked the most, despite there being quite a few strong contenders, was her newfound ability to choose to cast a spell on only one of her bodies, rather than all three. Of course, the limitation of the skill was that she still had to spend the full cost of the spell the same as if she had used it for all of her bodies, but that was hardly a negative since the cost wasn’t increasing, just staying the same. Being able to pick and choose which of her selves got wings was great for situations where she wanted one of her bodies to fly while the other two remained inside an airship or a house, where her giant tendril wings would have otherwise caused a distraction to everyone around her.

The applications in the bedroom were also… intense.

Syd landed on the ground, just a few feet away from the back door of the main building of the Fortune’s Favored headquarters. Her Jay and Dys selves were fully able to handle the disembarking process with Sorcha’s family and Aila’s uncles, so Jadis had her Syd self head inside to both check on how things had been around the compound for the couple of days that they had been gone, and to warn Aila that they were going to need to figure out a few more bedrooms than they had originally planned to accommodate Sorcha’s extended family.

“Hey Hans,” Syd greeted the mustachioed man as she entered the kitchen.

Hans nodded at her, only briefly acknowledging her presence as he was busily preparing what looked like the butchered legs of several animals. Jadis guessed sheep, based on the size, which meant mutton for dinner. Having never had it before coming to Oros, Jadis found that she quite liked mutton, though she wondered how much of that like was due to Hans’ excellent cooking skills as opposed to the meat itself.

“Hey Oats,” Syd greeted the Demon squid with the same cheer as she walked further into the kitchen.

Hello.

Syd grinned at the Demon, appreciating her growing ability to communicate via their modified sign language. It was also funny to see the little tentacle monster covered in flour, happily working away at several balls of dough. The sight really brought the cheery kitchen feeling together.

“Welcome back, Jadis!”

Syd turned to see Eir standing in the interior doorway, a broad smile on the elf’s face despite being slightly out of breath. With her smile only growing wider, Syd walked over to her lover, leaned down, and cupped her red cheek with one hand.

“Hey Maeve,” she greeted her shapeshifting lover before giving her a kiss.

“Fucking dammit,” Maeve’s voice came from Eir’s lips. “How did you know?”

“Because I know my favorite little goo ball when I see her,” Syd teased. “No matter what you do, I’ll always know.”

“You’re laughing now, but I’ll get you yet,” Maeve warned as she transformed back into her usual orange form. “Just you wait.”

Entering into the main open room of the building, Maeve followed at Syd’s side, her size increased so that she could walk arm and arm with her.

“So, where is everyone?” she asked. “And is there anything urgent I should know right away?”

“Eir and Alex are with Hope in her nursery, last I checked,” the Fetch answered. “Meli is with Tegwyn in the greenhouse, Sabina’s in the workshop, of course, and Kerr went with Noll and Violetta on a supply run for some special enchantment shit or whatever in the market. I’ll be honest, the list Sabina gave them went over my head.”

“Enchantments for what?” Syd asked, curious as to why Sabina would need to send the three out on a special shopping trip.

“Some last-minute design change to her airship project,” Maeve shrugged her shoulders expressively. “You know her. Can’t let an idea rest when she has one. I think it involves ‘lateral movement’ or something like that, but again, that’s all over my head.”

Syd nodded, fully understanding where the Fetch was coming from. She always did her best to understand what Sabina was saying, but when the genius smith got into the details of her work, there were things that no one could follow but her. Or maybe her father and brothers, too, but even that wasn’t a guarantee.

“Severina went to the palace this morning and hasn’t been back yet,” Maeve continued her rundown of where all of her lovers were. “Aila is in her office, working on paperwork, Thea and Noct are having sex in the bathtub, and of course, Ammy is somewhere on the border of the Rubaline Dominion. Myra’s Falls, as of the last communication.”

“What was that?” Syd asked, turning a raised eyebrow on Maeve.

“Myra’s Falls. It’s some sort of old fortress that was destroyed during the last Demon invasion and was never put back together. Wilhelm and his companions are using it for a base of operations for the next few days, apparently, because—”

“No, not that,” Syd stopped her. “Thea and Noct?”

“Those two? Yeah, they’re having a good time in the bathtub,” Maeve pointed with one finger towards the room that was a couple of stories above them. “I think the pregnancy has really gotten that girl’s instincts ramped up,” she continued in a conspiratorial tone. “We might need to undo the pause on her baby and let her get through it, because she’s really horny all the time now.”

“So, she’s just like Kerr,” Syd smirked at the idea.

“Yeah, pretty much,” Maeve agreed. “But Noct has those straps, you know, and once she gets them on you—”

“Good afternoon, Jadis,” Gunnar called out from his station at the receptionist desk. “May I have a word with you?”

Syd suppressed her grin, not wanting to unintentionally make fun of the stoic elf. Of course he had overheard their conversation, what with his great sense of hearing, and considering the topic, had probably timed his interruption quite purposefully. Walking over to join him, she noticed that in the open space that was beyond the divider that cordoned off the dining area from the reception area, a young woman was sitting to the side on one of the benches that had been set up for merchants and other visitors who came calling on the company to relax until they were seen.

Jadis didn’t recognize the woman, a young human in a riding cloak and a nice, pale-yellow dress, but she felt like she should. Her face was definitely familiar, like she had met her before, but for some reason she was having trouble placing her.

“Your timing is fortunate,” Gunnar said as he nodded his head towards the young woman. “You have a guest who has come to call on you, specifically.”

People coming to call on Jadis was not an unusual circumstance. In fact, she dealt with letters, messages, and in-person petitioners all the time. Truthfully, Gunnar usually handled all of that for her, as that was what she paid the man for, since otherwise Jadis wouldn’t have been able to get anything done, even with three bodies at her disposal. The fact that Gunnar was letting this visitor through rather than turning her away or setting up an appointment, as he did with the more legitimate callers, told her that this person was someone she needed to pay attention to.

Rising from her seat, the young human curtseyed politely, her form elegant and refined, showing that she had been professionally trained in courtly etiquette. Certainly a skill that servants in a noble household would gain, but considering her manner of dress, Jadis didn’t think the woman was a servant. Then the human spoke, and her voice caused Jadis’ memory to click into place.

“Good day to you, Lady Jadis,” Estelle Voclain, daughter of Countess Voclain, who had once been offered to Jadis as a bride so that she could be tied to Duke Colgrave’s noble faction, greeted her. “I hope that Valtar’s blessings have been upon you since our last meeting.”

Momentarily taken aback by the unexpected reminder of a plot to force her into marriage against her will, Syd didn’t answer Estelle’s polite words. The silence was just long enough for Jadis to hear the sound of shoes scraping against the stone floor. Turning her head, she caught sight of Maeve slowly backing away, her expression calm, but her attempt to flee what would be an extremely awkward encounter for the Fetch obvious.

Taking hold of Maeve’s hand with a vice-like grip, Syd smiled and nodded as congenially as she could manage towards the noble.

“Hello, Estelle. It’s, ah, nice to see you under less crazy circumstances. Do you remember my wife, Anal Prolapse?”