Chapter Five #2
Mik grinned. “What about the mage I am dating and business partners with?”
“Call him.”
Lucia smiled. “Yorwell is on the way.”
Ted chuckled. “Ormyet has to work, so he’s asking for pictures, and I have to describe the food.”
Win chuckled. “I will go home. My guys have already made dinner.”
Regis sighed. “Mine as well, but Ira is home from school. I should get going.”
Time flowing like a river, Time beckoning me. Aspen said.
Win nodded. “Six in the morning, Aspen. We will be here for you. Achilles will bring the statue.”
Rowan nodded. “If he doesn’t, I can shape one out of wood. Not as sturdy but faster to create. It just has to be a poppet, but I am guessing he’s an artist.”
Lucia nodded. “My statue was exactly like me.”
Rowan took the small box. “I am keeping you with me until tomorrow, Aspen. I will put the mark on the statue so that they have a spot to break it to let you flow in.”
Regis stared at her. “You know how this works.”
“I saw it once. That was enough.”
Mik looked at her. “I think you might need a therapist. My dance card is almost full, but Malinoth is excellent, and he also works with kids, so his room has puppets.”
Rowan chuckled. “Just my speed. I will consider it.”
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back, so shake him off.
“Yeah, yeah.”
Footsteps came toward them, and a woman with a brown braid, dark hazel eyes, and a scar from eyebrow to jaw on her left side walked up. “Hey, Rowan. Today’s a bad day? Should I go?”
Stay with me. Stay with me.
“Oh, hey, Aspen. Okay. Should I get into the booth?”
If you’d only, if you’d only say yes.
“Ladies.” The woman walked, stepped into the carriage house, and closed the door behind her.
Everyone looked at Rowan as Aspen got quiet. “Mira is Aspen’s playdate. They sing together and complete contracts and sing a number of jingles for ads and radio. It keeps Aspen interested, and she has a nice income and is still alive and active on paper.”
Mik smiled softly. “Occupational therapy. How often does she come?”
“Twice a week for sure. If Mira has extra time, she comes on weekends.”
Win frowned. “She looks familiar.”
“Like a friend?”
“Like someone related to someone I have met. It’s strange.” Win looked at her. “I am looking at her energy pattern. She is way stronger, but it is like she is a song on ten, and the other is the song on three. I am going to have to go through photos. Lots of photos.”
The ladies chuckled.
Rowan smiled. “I am going to start moving food to the table. There’s a lot. I cook to relieve stress. Today, I cooked a lot.”
She kept the box with her and walked back into the house, getting a crossbody bag and tucking Aspen’s curse into it so she didn’t let it go.
It was time for the Yorkshire puddings. She wasn’t confident, but she hoped she could get a few that were edible and not scorched or shoe-leather. It was her one weakness in the kitchen, but she kept trying.
She hummed and heard steps approaching from the cellar. She looked over as the healer came out, skin glowing dark green. He had a happy expression. “That is a wonderful gym.”
“Thank you.”
He paused. “I... you have a lot of room here. May I rent a room from you?”
Rowan looked at him. “Um, yes?”
He beamed and bowed. “Thank you, Miss Rowan. Fifteen hundred a month sufficient?”
“Sure.” Rowan smiled. “I will write up a contract and get one of the guys at work to look it over.”
“Nice. When can I move in?”
“Let’s find you a room. How close do you want to be to the baby?”
He laughed. “You mentioned there are other rooms?”
“The rooms are all set for sound dampening. It was a gathering house, after all. No one needed to hear couples going off.”
He smiled. “There is a certain delicate music to it.”
“Right. I am putting you next to the baby.”
He chuckled.
“Yeah, well, anyway, I will show you where you can stay after dinner.”
He nodded.
“Can you use that cleansing fire? You are a little musky.”
A wave of dark fire moved over him, and he was less sweaty.
“Can I do anything?”
“Well, you can greet Yorwell. He just showed up. I invited a bunch of folks for dinner.”
She touched the wooden bowls full of bread, and they flew out and into the dining room. One by one, the food flew into the dining room and took up position on the sideboard. A heat spell kept everything warm.
She hummed and got everything ready. She heard the chimes sounding, and the ladies who were staying for dinner came in, and the others got to their vehicles and left.
The guys came upstairs, and the healer whispered. The guys cleaned up, and it got quite a bit less musky than when they had entered the kitchen.
One of them asked, “May we help, miss?”
“No, have a seat at the table, or help the new family down.”
Another orc asked, “Where do you sit?”
“Head of the table. No one else can sit there.”
They nodded as if it was fair.
The small squeaks of the baby were coming from the dining room. Mell never missed a meal if Rowan was cooking.
She looked around, and the pies were waiting. She got the ice cream containers and a scoop out, letting them warm up from rock-hard.
A gentle chiming filled the dining room, and she walked in and settled at the head of the table. There were a lot of people. She smiled. “We have water and lemonade. I don’t like the smell of beer and wine.”
The orcs barely heard her. They were staring at the buffet.
Rowan smiled. “Norecayet, please fill up plates for Mell and yourself. Then the ladies, and then everybody else unless Yorwell wants to serve Lucia.”
Lucia blushed, and Yorwell squeezed her hand, bending his head to hers.
Mik chuckled, and Norecayet got up and went to carve pieces from the roast and the two chickens that Rowan had roasted on the off chance that there were a lot of guests.
She was glad she had made that call. When he brought the towering plates back to the table, the ladies got up.
Lucia said, “I will get you a plate, Yorwell.”
There was some laughing as the ladies jostled for food. Rowan smiled as the guys waited and jumped to their feet the moment the ladies sat down.
Rowan gestured, and her plate filled and settled in front of her a moment before the remaining guests got to the meal.
Mell picked up one of the puddings and said, “Good job, Rowan.”
“Thank you. You know they terrify me.”
Mell smiled. “You will face an entire yard full of magic users and teleport me out of my mate’s arms, but you are afraid of Yorkshire pudding?”
Rowan shrugged. “Everyone has their weak point.”
She filled her cup with lemonade and started eating.
There was silence for a few minutes, broken only by the clatter of knives and forks on porcelain. The baby was making squeaky noises, and it made the adults around the table smile, one by one.
When the platters were empty, Rowan had them stacked and returned to the kitchen, where they were replaced with pie and ice cream.
She segmented the pie and put it on plates, then scooped some ice cream on hers and delivered it to herself. “Dessert is up for anybody.”
Yorwell shot to his feet and got two slices of pie with ice cream. Lucia grinned and leaned her head against him when he gave her both pieces. “He gets me.”
Everyone laughed, and coffee and tea appeared on the sideboard.
One of the orcs asked, “Miss, how is it that you can use so much magic without any signs of strain?”
Rowan smiled. “That one is easy. I am using the casual lust you guys are throwing around to move things around. That’s the witch part of my designation.
For me, residual sexual energy that I can just collect is for moving stuff...
usually. Usually it’s off the guys, but the couples in here are crackling with power. I just take a bit off the top.”
Several of her guests were looking at her in surprise, and she shrugged and sipped her lemonade. “I also have batteries stowed around the house and property that let me do this kind of thing. They look like bowling balls on little stands.”
The healer smiled. “Sensible. Lady Mell, what are you going to name your son?”
“Well, Norec and I have gone over a few options today, but for different reasons, we came to a conclusion. He has to be Rowan.”
Rowan blinked. “What?”
Norecayet smiled. “It’s tradition to name one’s child after the greatest warrior in their family. Mellwyn and I agree that it must be you. There is no one else who demonstrates more ferocity and determination. You are an excellent namesake for our little one.”
Rowan stared. “You are joking.”
Mell smiled. “We are not. We had a long chat during our afternoon. A lot of that will be discussed with you later, but for now, he is little Rowan, and you are big Rowan, until he outgrows you.”
“So next year then.” She forked up some pie.
The folks at the table laughed.
The orc mage sitting next to Mik smiled. “How did you come to have such an expansive home?”
“Oh, I am an only child. My grandparents left me this place and the funds to maintain it in a trust. They said I needed a place to be me, and here we are. I invited Auntie Aspen to live in the carriage house. I did restoration projects, replaced all the pack beds and bedding, and I got the kitchen in usable shape with new appliances.”
Mell smiled. “And so many gadgets.”
Rowan laughed. “Yes. And I have a day job that can cover the expenses here, so this place isn’t dragging me down.”
Mell and her mate smiled. “We are going to be paying rent for the two rooms.”
The healer nodded. “I am moving in as well. This place is close to the clinic and hospital, and I have a major crush on the gym.”
Rowan smiled. “Use it all you like, but clean it up afterward. I don’t want to drown in musk or pheromones when I go down there. If my blood gets up, it really fucking hurts.” She smiled brilliantly. “More pie?”
The orc mages didn’t need to be asked twice.