Saya

We gather around the adorable little creature that is our brother passing him around like an artefact being inspected by the old farts at Paradisum. Da named him Morpheus and hasn’t left his or Ingwe’s side since the birth two days ago. I’ve never seen either of them this way but they both seem happy at least, though Ingwe looks worse for ware and da has been quiet. The rascals Hannah and them can’t get enough of little Morpheus who looks out at the world with big confused eyes that follow everything with uncanny curiosity.

I wait in line for my turn to come again as we talk about inconsequential things lounging about in the Family Room on the comfortable cushions da brought back from wherever he was for the Conclave amongst other luxuries. The white-velvet ornately curves lounging chair a special insistence by Shea for ‘the wives’ to each have. The Family Room isn’t really a enclosed room but more a depressed carpeted area in the centre of the second floors dimly lit and extensively warded with arcane runic sigils and sorcery marks that da keeps constantly adding to.

Da, Isis and Cicilia have formed a team lately that is obsessed with runes, sigils and tattoos of power. Cici because of the family responsibility to safeguarding the body runes passed down that we have all inherited responsibility for. I wouldn’t have dreamed da would have been able to coheres genuine soppy love out of Cicilia but the man is a charmer of unknowable proportions somehow, I really don’t see what such smart women see in him to this extent.

Even Mira who is part fae and apparently can’t be with a single man for very long to begin with has for some reason anchored herself to da’s life. From what I can tell he is a good father, a capable warrior, a good friend but he is just too silly of a man for me to see what my mothers see. Not that it’s for me to see anyways but having an adorable little brother come into our lives just wants me to someday have a baby of my own and I wouldn't choose someone like da. No ways, he's too flighty and unreliable, too playful too though that has it's advantages I guess.

Morpheus is finally passed to me and wiggles around in my arms with grasping handlings and kicking legs, he has been in and out of sleep all day passing from person to person. Even the rascals have had a chance to feed him from the stockpiled breast milk that we keep in the Cold Room. I can’t believe how small he actually is, I don’t know much about babies but I don’t remember even Nikita being this small...

*

Om

My life honestly isn’t turning out to be anything like I expected especially with how quickly this thing has escalated with Sachi. The man probably doesn’t have a full idea of what he has done to us, how could he when it hasn’t been done in over a thousand years? How does he keep learning these ancient rites, runic markings and rituals anyways?

Since coming to live here with my family I have realised that both my mates and my children are happier but are yet to fully feel at home, especially Kiera. Both are just happy to have actual friends and people to talk to but Kiera doesn’t believe it’s smart for us to be so dependent on another no matter how much we trust him, she doesn’t like living in someones home.

Our rooms are in the second floor which is actually where the family living quarters are, were most of Sachi’s mates sleeping chambers are along with the nurseries and child Play Room. The Play Room has anything from bouncing balls, puzzle sets, drawing implements to weapons enchanted for harmlessness. A very extravagant room to have in a house but this stopped being a house long ago.

I’m not sure how many floors there are since I haven’t been all the way down but the first three floors are occupied and comfortably hold all of Sachi’s family and extended family with room enough for extra chambers that Shea and Kuyoki aren’t sure what to use for yet. It’s only been four months living here and already I think I’m starting to like it a lot. The Quiet Room is currently my favourite place to be, designed to prevent any sound from leaking in or our it is mostly sterile to the senses and has a rune Sachi’s rune team has come up with that promotes inner peace.

Sachi, Isis and Cicilia have been all over the Keep curving runes all over the place, using crystals and blood for the initial activation but using his own spirit to keep them all activated. My friend really has become domesticated somehow, spending almost all of his time with his children, his mates, his family and only then his friends. He has been spending a lot of his time outside playing with his younger children and having conversations with his older ones.

Even mine, his uncles, his aunt’s, his two younger brothers ‘, Sachi plays with all the children almost equally on a daily basis. The man truly believes some of them will die and I can now see the little grain of sadness, the little grain of worry, the vast amount of worry he has on his shoulders. He seems to be taking the birth of such a strange child well and all his mates are about ready to pop seemingly at the same time. I really don’t understand how his life turned out the way it has but the man is turning into more of a thinker than he is a warrior, a strange transition for me to watch.

The pressure for me to perform keeps mounting though but to be honest I’m enjoying it, maybe a bit too much even. I have taken a break from my duties with the Proelium and have dedicated 90 hours of the 100 hour days to training. I don’t worry about providing for my family, I don’t worry about them needing me, I don’t worry about anything besides becoming stronger and Master Acamar has been pushing me as hard as I think anyone could ever be pushed.

The man is a genius and still so far beyond me in skill, power and ability that I worry I will never catch-up yet he tells me he isn’t even in the top 100 most powerful people in his family. The hammer isn’t even his specialty but the man is a master at its use and has been able to show me some interesting things even there. I have a dedicated healer that does nothing but heal me every day as Master Acamar lets me go all out against him fully unleashed like I never have before.

Only once have I been able to wound him in four months and that was only due to the uniqueness of my ability more than anything else, the man says I’m improving but against him I see no improvement whatsoever.

The bond between Sachi and I is also comforting and fulfilling in ways I never knew I had a lack, I feel like I have a brother again but it’s more than that. The connection between us is spiritual and started out tenaciously like some sentient thing that kept testing its grasp on either of us. But the more time we spend together and the more we work to achieve our goals it seems to strengthen. Bonding to someone spiritually is an intimate affair even though we may even be miles away from each other physically.

It started with me feeling his strange sight when it is focused on me in particular and other skills he uses on people on a daily basis that no one really notices. He has an analyse skill that is so naturally in tune with who he is that he didn’t even realise it was a skill, he analyses everyone all the time. He naturally releases miniscule ‘fumes’ of spirit energy off of himself when he gets comfortable with a person, bringing that person into the fold of his influence and making them like him, another thing he didn’t realise was a skill along with other little things that add up to him being the way he is.

I’ve noticed him flirting with both of my mates both when I'm around and when I’m not and as things go lithe Hiro won’t be sure who his father is but strangely I don’t really mind. I’m not sure why I’m not more possessive of my family, could it be the bond influencing us not making me mind? Maybe it’s the natural spirit he gives off that has probably been manipulating and brainwashing me for years that has me amused by their antics, I don’t know.

I know it’s crazy, I really know I shouldn’t even think of such things, I know it’s probably not right and would definitely appall Kiera as well. But sometimes when I have sex with her it’s so good that I wish I could share it with a friend, that I could someone share with him something special to me that is good but only I experience. That feeling has been growing with our growing connection and I wonder what is wrong me these days.

Sachi has been bringing in a lot of money somehow as well. I know he has a stake in the gem business with the two dwarven sisters but as far as I know he hardly touches that, then the is the stipend he gets from the Conclave Sovereign, but I suspect it’s really the Shadow that pays him. But almost all the money he makes for the household goes to Shea who then does with it as he sees fit. I don’t really understand how their relationship works especially now that I’ve gotten to know Shea better.

Even in his female form there is absolutely no question to me that Shea is a man, the way he interacts with me, the energy I get from him, the way he thinks. It all led me to look at Sachi differently, for though my friend is probably not getting buggered in the ass he is still having sex with a man. It happens, I know it happens and Shea is very pleasing to look at there is no question about that but still...

Sachi’s reputation is mine to protect when he isn’t around and I really don’t know how to defend him against the other man talking shit about him in this case. He probably has no idea the position he keeps putting me in by his weirdness anyways, complete ass living without thinking of consequences half the time.

Shea controls the families money, and I’ve realised a lot of people actually bring in money on a monthly basis, Divina, Damage, Helen, Eldritch, Brian, Kuyoki, Isis, Saya even that slave girl Katya. I no longer bring money in since I left the Proelium but I know my job, my job is to train until I become an immovable mountain fortress to protect this place and its people.

Sachi walks up to me with Damage in tow, we nod at each other and we are on our way. No one talks about it but somehow we all know each other, members of the club.