Chương 974: Day Nine Hundred And Seventy-Two

Dear Diary, I'm still kinda worried about not living up to all the faith that people put in me. Seriously, they're putting a lot of faith in me all told. Gotta be a couple million people in the Alliance by now, and they all look to me as their Champion. Their protector, defender, and avenger. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them literally Worship me, with dozens at a minimum volunteering at my Temples. Fuck, I think by now I've got dozens of Clergy, even if only a few more than a handful are High Clergy now.

Four I live with, three I don't. One per City in the Alliance. My live ins trust me with not just sexual intimacy, but all those little things like letting me watch them dress, bathe, and sleep. My kids... Holy shit my kids look to me as Mama on top of all the rest, and that is just... It boggles my mind that anybody could look at me like that. Then... Saffron. Always Saffron. I think if somebody asked her whether she had more faith in me or her senses and the world itself combined, she'd put her money on me.

No pressure or anything, I'm just supposed to be the rock the Imperator and Archmage of the Alliance rests on while she's tryna fix the world. I've fucked up with her a few times. I know I've done worse with each of the others at least once. Disappointed them, upset them, hurt them. I mean, yeah, I'm better than most of the Patriarchs in charge of the local Pantheons, but if that bar were any lower Hades and Hel would both have to put up warning signs lest somebody fall into the chasm it rested in.

My Worshippers, and even more so my people, I've let them down even more often. I don't know how many got killed by kaiju, or by the Plague, or during the Battles before then. Fuck, I don't even know how many were killed by the Spartans I waxed on Thursday, because they desecrated the bodies at that second shack too badly for us to really get a good count, and then the bits blew up. But here's the thing. I'm still the best hope most of them see.

Even after all those losses, even after letting the Spartans kill at least a couple dozen people, including maybe a dozen I couldn't Revive, they still showed up at my Revel and sang me to sleep. They still thought I was worth Worshipping. But I can't let that be a reason I slack off. I have to see that as a reason I try to do better. But at the same time, I wonder how much better I could have done if I'd gotten more sleep during that chase my own self. But I can't change the past.

All I can do is do my best in the future, and hope it's better than I've done in the past. Of course, sleeping so late my wife had to wake me up for dinner didn't seem like a great start to that.

"Why'd you let me sleep so late?" As Siobhan snuggled in behind me, and I felt the warmth of Hailee's claws wrapped around Siobhan's baby belly, Saffron smiled at me.

"Because you needed it, love."

"Welp. I've got to get back to work now."

"No." I opened my mouth to argue, and her lips and brow drew down.

"Tabitha Diaz, do not think to argue with me on this. You pushed through to catch that group of Spartans, and did what needed to be done to keep your trackers pursuing them as well, but now you need to recover." I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, and asked, "what about the other three groups?"

"I've spoken with the Yakky and the Mansa. Their military is working to do much as you did, tracking the Spartans who took the Watchtower between Compton and Muscogee. The Alliance Military is doing the same with the two groups that landed between Camden Yards and Norfolk."

"Kinda worried that they're gonna catch them." When she frowned at me, I said, "not caring about Glory or any of that shit. Worried that they'll take casualties they wouldn't if I were there." Her frown evaporated.

"Which is why each group of trackers is being Scried upon from Alliance HQ at all times, day and night. Our Scryers are working in shifts to maintain that, as well as watching the towns and villages in their path."

"Even the ones down south?" She froze, then smiled ruefully.

"I honestly hadn't thought of that. Trust you to, as you'd say, wreck the shit out of my plan." I shrugged.

"Nah. Can you, though? Just to be sure?" She took a deep breath.

"I'm uncertain. We're pressed rather close to our limits as it is, and the only reason we're able to Scry on the trackers is because we need no longer Scry on the population centers along our northern border." I thought about that for a hot second, then asked, "would it help if I joined them?" At her considering look, I added, "I know it's been a while since my Scrying marathon back at Lancaster House, but I've kept in practice. Worst case I can probably maintain like half a dozen Scrying pools."

She hummed in thought.

"While you could maintain the pools, you can only really watch one or two at a time with any attention to detail. And you'll need to sleep on a regular basis," here she paused, half glaring at me, as she laid her fingers over my mouth. She didn't do anything except tone down her glare when I licked them, then she said, "if you're not sleeping, you get erratic, love. No less potent or dangerous, but less prone to noticing details. More likely to make mistakes." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road.

If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. I sighed, then nodded. Her fingers slipped down my front, and I said, "yeah. Okay." My grin twisted.

"Even if I don't see it, I'm guessing my ability to self-assess is pretty much the first thing that goes."

"Eh. You likely can evaluate your physical condition well enough. But here," she kissed my forehead, "not so much."

"I'm guessing you want me to sleep tonight?"

"Sleep tonight, and rest tomorrow, and sleep tomorrow night before you join the Scryers." Before I could complain, she added, "that will give me time to rearrange their schedules, as well as pulling in a few keen-eyed scouts to help you monitor your Scrying pools." I kinda wanted to argue, but then I thought about exactly what went first when I wasn't rested enough.

"Okay."

"Just that? Okay? Who are you and what have you done with Tabitha?" I snickered a little, then thought, one condition? At her interrogative hum, I followed that with, help me get to sleep? She smiled.

"Only if you do the same." At which point Hailee piped up with, "do the same what?"

"Yeah, guess I'm not the only one who slips a little when she gets tired?" So we trooped down to the dining room laughing as I explained to my kit.

"I asked your Mom to help me sleep."

"Oh. I thought maybe you'd asked Mom for sex." I half choked on my own spit at that. Then I realized that Hailee, who wasn't the smallest kit, but wasn't far from it, was walking hand in hand with Siobhan and, if she stood up straight rather than moving in the perpetual slightly slouched, ever so slightly clumsy prowl all the kits moved in, she'd be Siobhan's height rather than Saffron's.

"Why would you think that?" She head tilted.

"Because you're all very active that way?" She nodded toward Siobhan.

"Even Sister Siobhan, despite her gravid condition." Kinda funny and fun watching Siobhan blush so completely without the slightest hint of passing out.

"How do you know that?" I asked, half terrified of the answer, but asking the question anyway because sometimes you gotta do shit like that as a mom. She just blinked again.

"I watch you." I think I deserved rewards for not taking a tumble down the Bore at that point.

"You watch us?" She nodded.

"Having sex?" She jerked like somebody'd goosed her.

"No! No, I watch you before you leave. I see you when you come back. Before you're tense. Sometimes excited. When you return you're relieved." I started to relax until she added, "post coital."

"Who taught you those words?" Siobhan winced.

"I suspect I may be at fault there." At my look, she explained.

"Hailee was asking me questions about my pregnancy," she laid her free hand on her belly.

"I thought it best if I answered honestly, since she seems set on becoming a Healer." Far more quietly, she almost murmured, "I'm sorry if I overstepped." I glanced at Saffron, then scooped Hailee up into a princess carry, Saffron doing the same to Siobhan, my kit never losing her grip on our Darling's hand.

"You did nothing of the sort, Darling. How many times must Tabitha and I tell you? You are our partner. Godmother to our children. Soon to be birth mother of one of them, too." She kissed Siobhan, and I hugged Hailee, kissing the top of her head as I did.

"Yeah, Ice Pop. You are a full fledged member of the mom collective. Get used to it." Siobhan chuckled, her free hand still on her belly.

"I suppose I'll feel more like it once the little one is born." I recognized the tone in Saffron's voice as she asked, "it almost sounds like you still feel guilty for some irrational reason."

"I do?" Yeah, the Grin came out to play.

"Well then, would you like some onerous chore to purge you of that guilt?" Yeah, I think Darling had caught on too.

"Go on?" Pressing her forehead against Siobhan's, Saffron murmured, "you'll have to help me put her to sleep then."

"So all three of you will be having sex then?" Yeah, I think my kit needs to learn some social skills. Then again, it's not like any of us were really offended, just weirded out by how matter-of-fact she was about it. Nobody else in the dining room needed to know what we were laughing about. Steaks for dinner. Rare for most of us, blue rare for the kits, medium well for Lemmy. He's still a work in progress. I think the hunters may have gotten theirs medium rare.

The Heroic tracker trio weren't in evidence, and when I looked around Saffron quietly murmured, "they've returned to North House to rest and recuperate." Equally quietly I asked, "all three of them?" She just Grinned at me, then shrugged.

"Perhaps they've decided their fellow Hero deserves a reward. Perhaps Hero Aetos will aid them. Perhaps they'll all Revel." I just smiled.

"Yeah. They're all adults. Just kinda. Huh. Guess I still think like back in the day now and then."

"Need we cleanse that taint from your brain as we cleanse the remainder of your trail sweat tonight?"

"Nah. Not judging. Just surprised. Also, I kinda thought you liked me sweaty?" At that point Darling snickered her own self, although it had some kinda 'blech' tone to it.

"Normally, yes, but even your delicious aroma goes bad after long enough." I decided at that point to take turns feeding Siobhan and feeling her belly, trying to feel her little one kicking. No joy, but she seemed to like it. It amused her, anyhow. They were as good as their word, double teaming me to scrub me down more thoroughly than any time in recent memory.

Of course, after the Bath, after putting the kids to bed, including a certain kit who gave us a knowing, sly smile and nod before we left for the Bedroom, the two of them teamed up to make me sweaty again. Before I turned the tables on them, I looked to Marie, who sat on the Divan with some kind of sewing, and Tallulah, who sat on the floor leaning against Marie's legs, and asked, "either or both of you want a piece of this action?"

Tallulah marked her place with one finger, looked up, and asked, "was that an oblique request?"

"Nah." I slipped my hands around both of my littler partners, enjoying their reactions, enjoying them even more as they intensified when I added a few more limbs to the mix.

"An offer." She thought for a moment, then shook her head.

"No, thank you." Then she returned her attention to her book. Marie just smiled serenely and said, "Tomorrow Night."

"Eee! Anticipation!" As I started toying with the two in my arms, I asked, "me, or them, or...?" With a pointed glance at the back of Tallulah's head, Marie said, "Yes." Dreamt of my ladies doing a variety of arts and crafts while floating around my Maw. Okay, a couple of them practiced some Marital Arts, but more in a 'taunt the tentacle' way than anything serious. Woke in the morning to kids wanting to play. So, given that this was supposed to be a day of rest, I did just that.

Maybe Co-Located a little so I could play with each group in their own way, but none of them seemed to mind. Was not expecting the addition of two more late in the day, when a small force of Troops and Heroes in a variety of colors arrived escorting the two Cold Iron poisoned kids I'd rescued.