AO 6 Ch 9

I woke up the next morning, lovingly tangled in between my lady's luscious bodies, keeping me nice and warm. There was a particular sort of comfort in being surrounded by people you love. Some primal part of me just knew the world was right.

However, my mind was already alight with delightful ideas, and I didn't have the luxury to lay around in bed like Emlyn would have chosen to sleep all day if given the option. I nudged her and the rest, rousing us from bed with a few muffled groans from the sleepier of my ladies.

Maribelle and Zuri were already long gone. 

The small structure I had built in the Badlands had been expanded last night to give Hecate and Aphrodite privacy, and mostly to put a wall between myself and the alluring new goddess.

I felt like she had an appetite and I was on the menu whenever she looked at me. Something about me being able to mix magics had really caught her attention.

"Why do we have to get up?" Emlyn growled, trying to jerk the covers back over herself, leaving just a tuft of her chestnut hair out.

Unfortunately for her, I had played this game with her far too many times. 

"Nope. Time to get up." I jerked the covers away more forcefully and got a patented Emlyn glare in return. The kind that was full of baleful rage of having her sleep robbed from her only to be tempered over with a wash of love.

I added it to my collection.

"One of these days I'm going to pay you back for all these wake ups." She narrowed her eyes dangerously. 

"And one of these days you will wake up without being prompted. I look forward to both of those with equal measure," I shot back a winning smile, having had this conversation many times before. 

When once again Emlyn tried to squirrel herself back under the covers, Aurelia came to my rescue. Aurelia picked Emlyn up by the shoulders and hips, physically lifting her up out of bed before standing her on her feet.

Emlyn wobbled for a moment before her eyes opened wide and alert. A flicker of understanding finally sparked in her eyes, as the reality of the waking world caught up to her. "You shouldn't help him," Emlyn chided Aurelia. 

"And perhaps you should help him, you are his anchor right?" Aurelia responded, tossing her hair where it got caught in her collar. "The biggest challenge we're going to have is food. The Badlands are going to be harder than I would like to survive within, but we do have options."  

"Don't you dare propose something like eating scorpions and spiders," Emlyn narrowed her eyes at Aurelia. "I remember the story you told us all about Virel Mountain survival." 

I shuddered. The Virels weren't just hostile towards monsters. They did not spare their own kin either. Hearing Aurelia's tale of being left in the mountain at eight years old to fend for herself had been illuminating as to her personality. It made sense why she was often on guard, and why underneath all of it, she really just wanted cuddles.

I beat both of them to the door and rather than opening it, waved it away with a gesture. Before I stepped through into what appeared to be a small kitchen that had been created.

"I hope you don't mind. I had Hecate give me a small chimney." Maribelle looked up from the small fire she had managed.

I yawned, hiding my mouth in the back of my hand. "It's fine. I think everything's going to be a little ad hoc." 

"Water." Aphrodite surprised me, walking around in a barely-there pink silk robe. It was so thin I hesitated whether or not it was see-through, yet at the same time I didn't dare stare long enough to answer that question.

Despite how much part of my brain demanded it.

She handed me a glass of water. 

"Ooh, water. Wait, I haven't melted any this morning. Is this bath water?" I squinted at the liquid.

The goddess laughed. "No, of course not. Many people often forget," she flicked a few loose locks of hair over her shoulder, "though I can understand why my beauty enraptures everyone enough that they don't remember my association with water and sea." She twirled her finger and a splash of water circled around it before she pointed at a glass and filled it up.

"Hey, Missy! Aphro here is more helpful than you," I said, earning a glower from the dark-haired goddess. However, that name didn’t work either.

"Really? So we're discounting all of the time I spent helping you figure out your magic, which has saved your life how many times? Or perhaps we should discuss the gifts I've given your anchors?" Missy retorted, apparently a tad bitter about my joke. 

"Kidding, kidding. You'll always be my favorite goddess Missy," I reassured her, coming up to give her a side-hug. "Besides, it's not like I travel around with a statue of Dyte in my luggage." 

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes in my direction. "Are you going to continue to trial pet names for me?" 

"That's kind of the plan. One of them is going to stick. But you haven’t given me much material to use yet. I mean, Missy over here at one point gave me a whole litany of titles that she went by.”

“I'm fairly sure Missy isn't one of them." Aphrodite smiled as if she was holding back a laugh, then glanced over at Hecate.

The dark-haired goddess put her face in her hands. “He shortened Mistress of the Night,” she said and filled in the missing piece for Aphrodite.

The blonde goddess covered her mouth as she laughed like tinkling bells of joy that rang throughout the small stone building. Her peals of laughter continued as she bent over and put a hand on the table to steady herself. 

"Yeah, yeah, eat it up," Missy said. "Why don't they have nicknames?" She pointed at Eva and my anchors who were settling themselves down around the table with glasses of water. The only one still standing was Maribelle, who was busy finishing up breakfast. 

"Oh, Ard tried to give me a nickname once. And he'll never do it again, right, Ard?" Emlyn chimed in. 

"Hey, I can get away with calling you Em," I said. "However, Princess Mudpie is a name that I will of course never utter again." I smiled as I attempted to side step the wad of cloth Emlyn had in her hands. Unfortunately, there was magical interference and the wad curved midair to hit me in the face. 

I grabbed the cloth and glanced at Missy. "You're the only person in the room that could have done that." 

"Me?" She asked inquisitively. "And besides, I'm sure there are shadows in that pile of cloth. Technically, Eva could have done it too." 

"Not without me noticing," I pointed at her. 

"Well, I guess. Perhaps the other goddess in the room could do something, too." Missy lounged back in a chair.

Aphrodite had managed to calm herself down from her laughter as she stood up, wiping tears from her eyes. "So, Missy," she emphasized the new name for Hecate, "Let me guess, you came in demanding he call you one of a dozen of your titles?" 

"I don't think I used a full dozen," Missy argued. 

I held a finger up to correct her. "You used quite a few. You came in this sort of ethereal, glowing silhouette of starlight when I first met you. Well, at least you did when you weren't a small voice in a forgotten little statue." I glanced in the corner where it had been set up, likely by Maribelle.

"My worship had all but died out, and I have found over the years if you want people to worship you, you need to act like a god." Missy stuck her tongue in her cheek and glanced at Aphrodite. "Why don't you regale us with your titles?" 

Aphrodite tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Well, there are quite a few. After all, the number of poets that tried to make a name more beautiful than my own were uncountable." She sighed as if the concept was such a burden. "However, some of my favorites are: Rising of the Sea, Heavenly Laughter, The Victorious and Beauty of a Thousand Stars. We could go on and on, mostly people trying to flatter me and compare me to various flowers." 

I smiled at her trying another. "Beaut. I have to say, there are a number of those, aren’t there?" 

She tilted her head thoughtfully at the newest attempt. "It sounds a little crass. However, in reference to that name, I don't necessarily hate it." She gestured thoughtfully. “You couldn’t call me Heaven or Victorious?”

"Your opinion is irrelevant," Missy informed her. "Ard does what Ard wants. It's unlikely you or I are going to be able to change that. Honestly, if you want direction on your nickname, she's your woman." Missy pointed at Emlyn. "Everyone else here has very valuable skills. Hers is that she understands Ard." 

Emlyn frowned into her water and then glanced up at Missy. "I think that was an insult if that’s my greatest value."

"Wake up a little more and think on that one again," Missy said, leaning her cheek and hands against the table. "Now, unless we're just going to hang out in these terrible Badlands and wait for the war to blow over, I assume plans are being made."

I cleared my throat as Maribelle came over with the food. It was simple fare that we had carried with us on the road: porridge with a little bit of jerky sprinkled on top, and some fruits that wouldn't last much longer mixed in.

"Yeah, I don't think we can hang out here this entire time. Food's going to be the biggest problem, without a doubt," I said, glancing over at Zuri for her opinion.

"Ard’s, right?" Emlyn scowled.

Zuri sighed. "A broken clock is right twice a day."

I chuckled. "Happy to be right sometimes. As for food, my thoughts on that have been mixed. Either we go back into Garrish to collect some food, or we head to the ocean, where hopefully the situation is hospitable enough for us to fish. Or we find another way to get food from the ocean. Fishing seems the easiest."

Zuri nodded. "I had the same thought. But would you really head back towards Garrish?"

"I had a few plans in that direction," I grinned at everyone at the table.

"OMG. Ard making plans." Emlyn hid her head. “Everyone brace yourselves.”

"Emlyn, put your head on the table and go back to sleep. At least until you decide to wake up enough to stop being such a grouch.”

Emlyn made a face at me but returned to sleepily eating her food.

"Regardless," I said looking around the room and running my fingers through my hair, it was getting a little long. "I am going to put it out there that we are not eating scorpions. Or spiders. Just not even going to pretend to entertain the option."

"It's good to know where you stand," Zuri said diplomatically as Emlyn nodded emphatically with my assessment. Zuri continued. "I do tend to agree. Not just for the ick factor, but because functionally surviving on those insects is really only a stopgap, or perhaps to make up for a lack of protein. Actually surviving on insects can be quite hard in the long term. Not to mention, there is a risk we all take in hunting for them. I assume cannibalism is also off the table.”

I did a double take. "That was never in the realm of possibility." The sudden horrors of cannibalism and life magic ripped through my head and my eyes went as wide as saucers. “Nope. Nope. Never.”

Zuri nodded and swished her fingers through the air as if mentally crossing an item off a list. "The only other idea I had was Ard forcibly growing plants with life magic, especially if he used our bath water or other ice that he melts, to keep the soil damp. We may be able to grow a few more hearty foods."

I rubbed my chin, not necessarily hating that idea either. "Anyone else? Goddesses? Do you have an answer?"

Missy shrugged. "Food hadn't exactly been my prime concern. I don't have to eat. What do you think, Aphroditzy?" She glanced over at Aphrodite who was twirling her hair and looking off into the distance.

Aphrodite thought for a moment before speaking. "I have a few worshipers and ships that I could call and bring you food by the ocean, but that's a worst-case scenario and would take weeks for anyone to sail around the southern tip of Zenovia.”

“Okay, so we’ve got options. Ocean, me becoming a gardener, Ditzy bringing in supplies but we’ll keep that in our back pocket or swinging back into Garrish. I personally know which one I would like to do, however, this is a gathering of equals and everyone in the family gets a say." I made eye contact with everybody before kicking off the vote.

Ditzy was scowling at her name, before curiosity at what was happening took over.

"Ocean," I stated, waiting for the others to decide. Aphrodite glanced back and forth before raising her hand. Eva and Aurelia raised theirs as well.

"All right. And yes, you do get a vote, Ditzy. All right, staying in the Badlands and making Ard's wonderful garden." I looked around the table.

Emlyn was the sole person to raise her hand before she looked back and forth at everyone else. "Really? You either want to go to the ocean with more unknown dangers or back into enemy lines?"

Zuri shrugged and took a sip of water. "Staying still in a situation like this is never really the tactically sound idea. We should stay moving, not only to not lose our momentum, but to stay active in the efforts against the war.”

Of course our tactician was just being reasonable. And she wanted to go with my plan, so she looked particularly beautiful.

Emily shifted her gaze to Missy for help. The dark-haired goddess could only shrug. "Ard could try to grow food, but it would be a waste of his magic. In these harsh conditions, it won't be easy. Not to say you can't use that as a plan B, but I certainly don't think it should be the first approach."

"All right, and those who want to swing back over into Garrish territory?" I asked. 

Zuri's hand shot up, along with Missy's. Maribelle stared at me with an intensity that I found familiar. The second my shoulder twitched for me to raise my own hand, Maribelle's hand snapped into the air. 

"Wonderful. Four going back towards Garrish, three towards the ocean, and one lone Emlyn who wants to hull up and make a garden.

“Would you like another vote, Emlyn?" I waited.

Emlyn challenged me. "If I do that, I can vote for ocean just to make it a tie."

"Really?" I asked.

"No," Emlyn shook her head. "I'm just a sore loser."

"Yes, you are, Princess Mudpie." I flashed her a smile, and this time I managed to dodge out of the way before a spoonful of her porridge shot past where my head had just been. 

"Right, if we're going to do this, then I think the first round of action should be mapping out a plan," I said, a large grin on my face. "Zuri, if you would please, your map."

Zuri reached into a satchel that never seemed to be far from her and rolled the map out on the center of the table. With a gesture from my hand, I lifted a topographical map underneath the paper one, using it as a reference in the center of the table, before drawing a square around it and extending the space over into the Badlands to indicate our current location.

"So, here we are." I made a little miniature Ard piece standing in the Badlands. "We were in these villages when the soldiers came." I made a couple tiny swords and stabbed them around the map. "They were going to successfully hem us into the Badlands. And their forces have to be all around here." Soldiers popped up with little Garrish crests on their helmets.

"So we can expect the first outlying villages from the Badlands to be completely toast at this point." Zuri gestured for me to make several more marks on the map. "Which means if you want to push into Garrish territory, you should probably go at least this deep." She tapped a city. 

"Deeper in..” I hesitated.

“I think it's unlikely that they destroyed an entire city, despite how desperately King Martin seems to want to find you.” Zuri explained and I slowly began nodding.

"Makes sense, makes sense. And if they're doing all of this, they most likely have people watching, which is actually something I think is going to work in our favor." I offered.

Emlyn had a spoonful of porridge halfway to her mouth. "In our favor?"

"Yeah, like I said before, I have a plan. We can go to the city, snag some food. I think at this point, I would just use Cyam and travel as quickly as I could with a small group. Perhaps while I'm doing that, Emlyn can tend to her new garden while she waits for me to come back."

"How are you going to carry all of the food? Because that's the whole reason you're going in there," Emlyn challenged.

"Well, I'm not going to use it now because we don't want to upset a certain crab, but I was thinking I'd use the soul magic mixed with darkness." I offered.

Emlyn's mouth made an 'O' of understanding. "That makes some sense," she squinted. "I am still suspicious about Ard's plan." 

I smiled wide at her. "Well then, how about you guys all hear me out, and then we take a vote?"

Despite Emlyn’s dislike for it, I quickly found support in the rest of the group. Even Zuri said my plan was tactically sound, which I would find a good time to rub in Emlyn’s face later.