Chapter Five
The healer was pretty good at peeling potatoes. “You know you are an opal omega?”
“I do. The skin gives it away.”
“Do you know what that means?”
“Well, the way you are talking about it means that if I am up for dibs, I am hella expensive.”
“Uh, something like that. Opal omegas are immediately sent to the imperial house. Their children are incredibly talented.”
“So whores to visiting dignitaries?”
“It is an honour to be in the bed of one of the glowing ones.”
“Uh-huh. Well, I am not in showroom condition, and I find the idea repulsive, so, ick.”
The healer paused. “Your experiences have been...”
“Brutal and bloody and unwelcome.”
He suddenly attacked the potatoes with violence. Peel went flying.
“Do those potatoes owe you money?”
He paused. “What?”
“Never put rage or hate into your food. It can be consumed and fester. That isn’t nutritious. I have a gym with a lot of boxing stuff if you need to punch something later.”
He paused. “Thank you.”
“Or you can go home and find a partner to work it off with. Dealer’s choice. I am sure that doctors can pull when they want.”
He nodded. “The money is nice, but the choice of specialty narrows the number of partners secure enough to join me in bed.”
“Do you cheat at pillow fighting or something?”
He paused and laughed. “No. I fight fair by the rules of my people.”
“OBGYN?
“Yes.”
“I can see the issue. I had to meet with one a few times. They have a hard job. I made them cry. Even the Omega Centre doesn’t want to check on me.”
He blinked. “Why?”
“I make them sad.”
He winced. “That bad?”
“I dunno. I don’t get down there that often. For all I know, there’s a haunted house. Wait. Why isn’t Aspen talking?” She looked at the nearest microphone. “Aspen?”
Who’s got the power?
“Oh, you are talking to the ladies.”
A classical barrage sounded. It was her agreement sound.
She smiled and continued embedding rosemary and garlic into the roast. Once it was pretty, she slid the pan into the oven on low.
The healer had chopped up the vegetables, and she smiled. “I will get the bread started, and then I can show you the gym if you need to hit something.”
“Please.”
Ingredients began to fly, and flour poofed in the air.
She washed her hands and smiled. “Let’s go. The bread is going to rest for a while.”
He washed his hands and nodded. “So something I can punch.”
“Yup, but wrap your hands. Your patients would not enjoy battered hands.”
“I heal quickly.”
“Right. This way.” She clicked to the far side of the kitchen and opened the door hidden by a cupboard.
She headed down the steps and listened to him behind her. The door closed, and the lights came on.
“Holy hells. Are you a prepper?”
“I like to save everything provided by nature. Look, I found some of your relatives.” She picked up a pack of vines.
“Funny.”
“Thank you.” She clicked her way to the gym, and the lights flicked on.
“This is spectacular.”
“Thanks. Wraps are on that table over there. Use the gym as you like. Dinner will be in four hours. I am going to go up and make some pie.”
He grinned, and while she watched, he went from tunic and robes to tight sleeveless shirt and snug shorts. It was a pity, but she had to leave him before he started to thud his fists into the dummies, but there were some things she didn’t need to see.
She listened to the sounds of savagery as she walked back to her kitchen.
The dough was ready to rest, and pastry was faster.
Bread was in the works, and pie was coming up next.
Rowan didn’t want to admit it, but she liked a house full of people.
Perhaps Aspen would be back at the table eventually.
She hoped it would be the case. She liked pie.
Rowan sang softly as she made the pastry, and when it was chilling, she continued her song as she peeled one apple after another. She used to sing with Aspen and hoped she would be able to do it again. Vegetables went into the oven, bread was shaped for the second rise, and the songs went on.
She got her ice cream maker out and made a few litres before the roast was done. She was planning on about a dozen people for dinner and four as a surprise.
The bread was cooling, and the kitchen smelled amazing when she heard the knock.
Rowan walked to the door and waved to see through it. Orcs with boxes looked a little nervous. She opened the door and said, “Upstairs on the left, you will know it when you catch baby scent. The adjoining door should be ready by now.”
She waved to the steps. “Welcome to my home. Dinner will be ready in half an hour, so you might not want to drag your feet.”
The three mages grinned, and the boxes made their way up the stairs, and more travelled behind them from an open truck bed.
“Well, that’s efficient. The family and baby are upstairs, obviously.”
One of the orcs smiled. “Who are you, miss?”
“I am Rowan, and this is my territory. You are welcome.”
Heavy thudding from the cellar could be felt through the floorboards. One of the men asked, “What’s that?”
“The healer got agitated and wanted to punch something, so he’s in the gym punching things.”
The three guys perked up. “Gym?”
She sighed and opened the panel to the basement off the main entry. “Downstairs; listen for the thuds. Enjoy yourselves. Everything is rated for enhanced strength.”
She backed up as they barrelled past her into the basement. She heard excited voices. The rhythmic thudding stopped, and she heard conversations. Machines began to clink, and the men were laughing.
She snorted, made an orb with a timer and exhaled, sending it drifting downstairs. The bubble floated, and it would pop at dinner time.
She sighed and walked up the stairs. She knocked softly at the door. Norecayet opened the door with a dazed smile. “Come in.”
Rowan stepped inside, where Mell was sitting in the rocking chair and feeding their son.
Rowan inclined her head. “This wasn’t on my bingo card.”
Mell laughed. “Mine neither. Rowan... did you do something to time around me?”
She drawled the answer out. “Mayyybeee.”
Her orc asked, “How?”
“I asked the trees. Trees grow slowly, so I just slowed your sap, so to speak. The plants told me how to do it.”
Norecayet asked, “Why?”
“She couldn’t speak or be seen. I didn’t know what the curse would do to the baby, so I stopped it. Well, I slowed it. He still developed, but it was slowly.”
Mell finished feeding him and put him over her shoulder. “He’s big.”
“Yeah, well, he’s gonna grow fast. It’s why we needed the healer on site. He could issue the birth certificate.”
“How fast is he going to grow?”
“He will be at the six-month mark by the end of the day. Then, he should be normal. Norecayet, start taking pictures. You’ll need them.”
The camera came out, and he followed her orders.
Rowan blinked. Mell smiled softly and posed with the baby. He spit up a little, and Mell frowned. Rowan walked to the change table, got a burping cloth, and took the baby, lifting him to her shoulder and rubbing his little back until there was a small tremor beneath her finger.
“He gulps his milk, so he gets air in. You need to get him upright right away to get the bubble to travel up, like a level.”
She returned the little one to his mother. “What are you naming him?”
Mellwyn looked at Norecayet. “We discussed it, and we agreed. We are going to announce it at dinner.”
“Dinner is in twenty-five minutes. Roast beef, roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables, all the fixings, and dessert. Norecayet, your buddies have brought all your stuff and tucked it into the adjoining room. Then, they headed downstairs to play in the gym.”
Norecayet perked up. “The gym?”
“New dad, you have to help Mell get ready for dinner. Maternity dresses are in the wardrobe. Flats are recommended because you are getting your balance back. All the other ladies are out talking with Aspen. Norecayet, I will show you to the gym later.”
Mellwyn smiled. “You put a gym in?”
“I have been doing less and less stuff off the estate. The house is my territory. I have put myself into it, and it provides what I need.”
Mell gasped. “You are stuck here?”
Rowan laughed brightly. “Yes, Mell, that is how I made you that hidey hole in the woods, and why I drive a motorcycle all over the city.”
“Oh. Right. Did you ever get a pet?”
Rowan felt tears well in her eyes. “I did. He didn’t survive the second attack.”
“The second... oh, no.”
“Yeah. That is depressing, but today is for joy. I will take you to Arborg’s memorial when you are out and about.”
Mell gasped. “Oh, no.”
“Yeah. Well, you have a baby, you have a mate, and you are healed and home. Life will move on.”
“What about you?”
Rowan smiled. “A treatment is being found for Aspen, the house is full of people, and I have made pie. All is right in the world right now. Oh, I have to go to the carriage house. They don’t know about a thing.” She stood and inclined her head. “I will see you for dinner.”
She created another timer, and it hovered in the air. “It will chime when it’s time for dinner.”
“Big dining room?”
“Yup. It’s already set.”
“Nice.”
“‘Kay. Gotta go.” Rowan walked out and headed downstairs, through the kitchen, and toward the carriage house.
Rowan walked up to the patio, where the ladies were sitting, sketching, and discussing things intently.
Rowan waved and walked to one of the statues in the small garden next to the carriage house, and she shifted it with a grunt, pulling a box out of the base.
She set the box down and put the statue of a howling wolf back.
Rowan walked back to the ladies and set the box down. “This will help.”
Arwell asked, “What is it?”
“The curse strip she cut off her skin. It’s the last physical bit of her and the curse.”
Regis’s eyes went wide. “That changes things.”
Win took a photo of the box. “That’s her core.”
Rowan nodded. “Today has been busy, so I had to remember the ingredients.”
Mik sniffed. “Dinner smells great.”
“It will be ready in twenty minutes. I made enough for about eighteen people, so if you have family who wants a free meal, bring them over.”