Seventeen
Four years had gone by since my conversation with Fel about mythics, and not a lot had changed, if I was being honest. It was just easier for me to get around now. Rolling over, I gave Solenne a kiss, then sat up in bed as she stretched and yawned.
I smiled at the crib in the room. Solenne had a daughter, Lyre, who was now three and a half.
I'd been here almost two weeks; this was only the second time I'd been here since the shrine was built.
Getting here was still a bit of a trip, and I'd come from Amnar after spending several months there with Rachel, Darlene, Laria, and Kani.
Kani had given me another son, Nue had given me a daughter, Carol had given me a son, and Suzona had given me a son and a daughter, as had Tia.
"What time are you leaving?" Solenne asked as she crawled across the bed and hugged me.
"After breakfast."
"Do you need a ride?"
I shook my head. "I'll be opening a gate to another church."
"Well, I'm happy I got to see you again," she said, rubbing her face against my shoulder.
I smiled, turned, and kissed her again. "So am I. I'm also happy you gave me Lyre."
"Well, maybe one of these days, I can give you another daughter?" she teased in a husky voice.
I laughed and hugged her again. "I think I'd like that."
"So where are you off to?"
"I need to check in with one of Vikoria the Bountiful's priestesses."
"Oh? Why?"
"To see if they need any help. Vikoria doesn't have a champion, and she and her followers tend to practice a lot of restraint."
"And you, of course, don't," she teased.
"Nope. So about once a year or so, I end up having to remind people that Feliogustus is more than happy to loan me out to help her followers with some of these little problems."
"I'd say I'm surprised you're willing to do that, but then I remember what you did for me and the others. They must appreciate you considerably, that a man of your reputation and stature is so quick to aid those so many overlook."
I blushed a bit at that. Solenne's praise was so sincere. Everything about her was. I'd thought that after she'd had a daughter, a major status event in elf society, she'd take up with an elf. But no, she was still interested in just me.
"Well, let's go eat before they send one of the maids up to scold us," I said with a smile.
Two hours later, I opened a portal to Vikoria's temple in Mulberry on Savoy.
It'd been some time since I'd been there, and I really wanted to check up on not just my child, and Lillis, the priestess who bore them, but also on the situation I'd set up there.
I hadn't gotten any complaints or requests for help, which was good, but I still needed to check.
"Will!" Lillis said, running up and hugging me shortly after I arrived. "How'd you get here?"
"Vikoria was kind enough to allow me to open a gate."
"A what?"
"Champions can open a gate or portal to their home temple, and some can do it to more than one. Since I've become a mythic in the Seven Worlds, I can open a portal to all of my god's temples and churches, as well as any god I've got a known alliance with who will let me."
"And she let you open one here?"
"She's let me open one to several places. I've been going around to several of her communities that have been having problems."
"Not unlike when you came here, right?"
I smiled and kissed her. "Exactly that. So, how have things been? And when can I see my child? Oh, and what's their name?"
"Her name is Nellis, or Nell."
I smiled and kissed Lillis again, then I let her lead me off to see my new daughter.
"Huh, she's human? I was wondering if she'd be a catfolk."
"I'm not an elf, Will," Lillis said with a chuckle. "I'm a priestess of a fertility goddess, and it's a lot easier for all involved if our children are the same as their mother."
"No exceptions?"
She laughed. "There are always exceptions; you of all people should know that! However, there has to be a reason, even if it's just that you, as the father, want it."
I nodded. "I'm not going to ask for one, I was just curious."
"You're not?"
"I don't want to make it any harder on you or my children. Now, how about we go look at the canning factory, and I'll talk to a bunch of people, and maybe at some point, I'll go into Mulberry just to keep everybody honest?"
"I think we can do that. How long are you going to stay?"
"Part of that depends on whether Vikoria has something I need to deal with. If not, at least a week."
"So I get you to myself for a whole week?" Lillis said, leaning into me.
"Well, I've been a good boy, and I thought I deserved a reward," I teased.
"I'll be sure to see to it that you get one, then! Now, let's take a walk over to the cannery. I'm sure Hansmith and Perrin will be happy to see you."
"Will!" Hansmith said, standing up as soon as we stepped into his office. "What brings you back?"
"Visiting," I said, and, turning and looking down at Lillis, I smiled, "my daughter."
"Well, it's nice to see a father who cares!"
"How's business? How's the plant doing?"
"Business is far outstripping our best predictions. We're already at capacity and looking to break ground on another plant here next month."
I blinked. "How'd that happen?"
"Well, first off, the canned juice from the Trevia berries turned out to be a lot more popular than we expected, partly because we kept the price low, and partly because it's shelf-stable.
Second off, Khortz is quite the businessman.
He built a couple of warehouses, and when the off-season for anything hits, he buys out our excess, then either ships it off to another world as cover for his smuggling operation or sells it off when the market comes back at whatever price we set.
"He's even asked to partner in the next cannery we're building, which is the only reason we're able to start on it this year."
"Nice to see your interests align."
"We've already partnered with him on some improved warehouses, and we've put in a small dock on one of our lakes so we can load our wares here and not have to ship them into the city for our product that's bound for other ports."
Perrin and Sam came in, and I shook hands with both of them.
"Good to see you again, Will!" Perrin said, smiling.
"That goes for me, too," Sam said, then added with a chuckle, "never thought I'd say that, but it's true."
"So Hansmith here is telling me things are going well with the plant, and with Khortz?"
"Are they ever," Perrin said. "We got him on the town council, so they'd take our interests more seriously. He comes out at least once a week to go over business with us and has been helping us plan our expansion. We may know food, but that orc knows logistics."
"Really?"
Sam laughed again. "He's been helping us with our crop rotations and planting schedules so they align better with the market. He's also helped us with our seed buys, which has helped us drive our costs and our prices down, as well."
"I'm surprised he's not trying to keep prices high."
Perrin shook his head. "No, he gets us, and he gets it. He's not greedy and has been telling us that as we increase our production, money will be the least of our problems. He's also big on charity. He's always looking for places we can help out with free food shipments."
That made me stop. An orc giving away stuff for free? I couldn't wait to hear his reasoning on that!
"I was thinking about going into town to visit him and see how things were."
"Why bother? He'll be out tomorrow for our weekly meeting. I'd think that you and Vicar Lillis might have better things to do?" Perrin said with a wink and a smile.
That made me laugh and Lillis smile.
"Yes, I think we do," Lillis said.
"Well, on that note, I guess I'll see you all at tomorrow's meeting?"
"Of course!"
"Wow, things turned out better than I thought," I said, heading back to the temple.
"Khortz is a very business-savvy orc, and an orc of his word, as well. He's quickly becoming a leading citizen in Mulberry and is already a highly respected member of our community."
"You know he's a smuggler, right?"
"Oh, we all know he's very much involved in both semi-legal and illegal activities, but he doesn't get involved in the kinds of things we'd object to, and we help him when we can, and look the other way when necessary. He watches out for us, and we watch out for him. It's a good fit."
"So you're not at all worried?"
"He'd lose too much face if he tried to cheat us; after all, what good would his word be then, right?"
"Plus, I'd come back and have words."
Lillis laughed. "I think he's more worried about his reputation than you killing him, Will. He's moving into that level of orc society, as well as society in general."
"Well, that's good to know. I wonder if I should try fixing him up with one of my daughters?"
"Catfolk?"
"Some orcs are quite enamored with them, though I think he's more interested in an elf."
"Well, we can talk about that later. For now, how about I see to rewarding you for being such a good boy?" Lillis asked with a grin as we got back to the temple.
"Oooh, I like that idea!"
I spent the rest of the day and that night being thoroughly and quite shamelessly rewarded. I was enjoying myself and Lillis, and she was obviously enjoying me. She very much had a thing for catfolk; that was obvious.
The next day, I showed up at the meeting and shook hands all around, and Khortz and his assistant came up and shook hands.
"Will, what brings you back?"
"Just visiting," I said and turned my head to look at Lillis, who was talking with someone else, then back at Khortz.
"Ah, so nothing's wrong, then."
"Oh, I'm sure there's something wrong somewhere, but not here, thankfully!"
"Well, stick around after the meeting, and we can chat for a few."
"Sure," I said with a smile.
The meeting itself was interesting. They talked first about schedules for a number of things. The train now ran out here weekly, as there was always something ready to ship into the city. Boats came in about once a month, except during certain harvest seasons, when they came more often.