For The Whored: Beyond Ch. 15

Making her way down to the Alchemist building, Elunara considered her notes. Her knowledge of alchemy was weak at best, but she knew that they produced the birth control drink for Ina, among other things. This new project intrigued her, and she was already contemplating the uses for her newest invention.

"Hello, your majesty, what brings you into our shop?" The woman at the counter curtseyed.

"Please don't call me that." Elunara sighed. "I'm just another customer, and I have a specific set of requirements I was hoping you could fill for me."

"Anything."

"You may regret that." She grinned.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I need some lubricant, like engineers use in their machines, but I need it specifically for use on the body."

The woman began writing on a notebook. "Body of what?"

Elunara snickered. "The human body... or any race for that matter."

She paused in her writing and blinked. "Is this for your... businesses?"

"The same. I'd prefer if it was clear, body safe for insertion purposes, and tasteless." She paused and tapped a finger to her chin. "Though I might consider flavorings at another time."

"I..." The woman blushed heavily. "This is most unusual."

"I admit it's a new concept, but I wonder how many women exist that would benefit from this new concoction. See what you can whip up for me and I'll make it worth your time. If I can sell it, you'd get a portion of the proceeds of course."

"Y-yes, of course." She swallowed hard and made the necessary notes in her notebook. "I'll bring it to you as soon as I have it ready."

"Cool. Let me know." Elunara waved as she left the shop. Her next stop in her day was the Keep.

"Mommy!" Emaline hopped off the throne and ran over to Elunara.

Elunara stooped down and scooped up the small child. "There's my little sweet."

"Daddy was letting me play queen." She held up a small scepter.

"Well isn't that fun?" Elunara cuddled Emaline. "I'll let you get back to playing; I have actual queen work to do." She winked.

Tulani sighed as the packaged up the dress. Cataloguing her orders, her work was always quick and efficient. However, today she was dragging her feet. It had been almost two months since she had seen Carla last, and she was getting worried. The pick-up date on her dress had passed, and though the weather meant the dress couldn't be worn yet, Carla never missed a fitting or a pick up until now.

Tucking Sinea in the stroller, Tulani adjusted the little dress on her precious baby girl. "Come now, we must make a delivery." She tucked the package in the basket of the stroller and headed out. On the way she waved and smiled at those she knew, many of which owned her dresses. It always amused her when someone would bow or curtsey at her. Her wife was queen, goddess, whatever they were calling her this month, not Tulani.

She pushed the stroller up on to the porch and sighed as she knocked on the door.

Carla's father opened the door. "Ah, Tulani, it's so good to see you, what brings you to our door?"

"Is Carla home? I've come to deliver her dress."

"It must have been quite the dress, to have taken so long." He chuckled. "Normally Carla comes home with them sooner."

"Yes, well, I finished it some time ago; Carla just hasn't been by to pick it up."

He blinked at her, eyes wide. "But... she never misses an appointment with you."

"Sir, I hate to tell you Carla's private business, but I haven't seen her in quite some time. I've been worried about her."

"Come in, come in, we'll sort this out." He gestured for her to follow him inside.

Tulani managed to get the stroller up the stair and into the house. She parked the stroller in the parlor and waited while Richard got Carla. Meanwhile she began to wring her hands and pace back and forth.

Not looking at Tulani, Carla walked in and closed the door behind her. She stood there for a few minutes before sighing. "Tulani..." She finally looked up, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Carla, don't do this."

"I'm sorry, I never knew..."

"I know Elunara told you the truth. Please don't change your opinion of me. The past in unimportant and doesn't hurt me anymore."

"I can understand if you don't want me in your shop anymore."

Tulani rushed over and put her hands on Carla's arms. "I never said that. Carla you're like a daughter to me. I love you to pieces and it hurts me to see you like this. Please, please come back. You can't be my lover, but you mean something to me."

Carla laid her forehead on Tulani's chest. "I'm so, so sorry. I don't..." She began to cry and hiccupped. "I don't know what to do."

Tulani lifted Carla's face up. "I want you to be my friend. I want you to come to me to talk. Please, Carla. This is unnecessary." She wiped at a tear.

"How could they do such things to you? You're so sweet."

"There is a lot of evil in the universe and it tears at the innocent. Who I am or was then was never important, I was a piece of property, and now I am not. That is the gift my wife gave me. She gave me my life. She gave me strength and every little piece of who I am."

"I see that now." Carla wiped at her nose. "I... I spent a long time listening to her, and all about you. I'm so sorry, I never knew."

"Please, let's not mention it again. It tires me out, and it hurts my heart to know others think of it. My past is what I have made with Elunara, not that time period." Tulani hugged Carla. "Come now, I've brought your dress and you need to try it on for me."

"You did?" Carla sniffled. "I do want to see it."

"Good girl."

Jordan sat down at the table and leaned back, waiting on his order. Today had been a fairly standard day down at the yard and he was looking forward to his lunch. He spotted the girl and sighed at the look on her face. Before she even had a chance to sit down, he knew where the conversation was headed.

"Hi." She blushed at him. "I'm Katie, what's your name?"

"You must be new here." His lip twitched, but he knew a grin would just make the doe eyes worse.

"I just flew in from Westfall an hour or so ago." She leaned up closer. "Your uniform shows me you're a soldier." She put a hand on his arm. "You didn't tell me your name."

He took her hand off of his arm. "It's Jordan, and before you get any further, I'm married."

She froze and then dropped her hand, the pout obvious on her face. "Of course the cute one would be taken."

Laughing, Jordan shook his head. "Sorry about that."

"Oh well." She sighed and fiddled with her fingers.

"How old are you anyway?"

"I'm twenty-two." Katie looked around the inn. "I'm sorry. I am really new here and was hoping you'd show me around." She blushed. "I've never been to Stormwind before; my father wouldn't let me leave." Stopping a moment, she considered. "How old are you?"

"Honey, I'm in my fifties."

Katie's mouth dropped open and she stared at him in complete shock. "But... but... you don't LOOK fifty!"

With a shake of his head, he began to laugh. "Sorry, my wife is a healer, and with her constant energy shots... well I guess I'm not aging as fast as anyone else."

Elunara walked in and cocked her head to the side. "Don't tell me you found another maniac."

Jordan laughed. "No, this one got the hint fairly quick."

Elunara brushed a kiss on Jordan's mouth. "Good. I'm tired of dumping the trash in the canal."

Katie blinked back and forth for a moment. "Is this your wife?"

"Elunara is the name." She held out a hand.

Katie stared at it for a moment before taking it. She lightly shook Elunara's hand. "Is he really in his fifties?" She blurted.

She laughed. "Yes, yes he is. I like to keep my husbands nice and healthy."

"Hu-husbands?" Katie blinked back and forth.

"Yes, I have three of them." Elunara nodded and gestured to Tippy who brought over Jordan's lunch and Elunara's slice of cake.

"Buh?"

Bradly walked in and plopped down in the chair beside Katie. "Who's the girl?"

"New kid." Jordan dug into his food. "Where's Evelyn and Casey?"

"Hanging out with Lydia." Bradly gestured to Tippy.

Katie eyed Bradly. "I take it you're married too?"

"Happily."

"Is he really fifty?" She jerked her thumb at Jordan.

"He's my dad, and I'm twenty-eight. Do the math."

"This is so confusing, you both look identical. Except the hair." She began to bite her thumbnail. "Oh, I'm so confused." She jumped up and ran out of the inn.

"Poor kid." Jordan sighed.

Katie felt the tears of embarrassment, but she didn't stop to think, she just ran. After a moment, she realized she was totally lost. Sounds caught her attention and she found her way down to the training yard. Watching all of those men practicing their routines made her want to drool. She had always had a thing for the soldiers at Sentinel Hill, but her father forbade her from ever speaking to one. Of course, the first man she tried to speak to was married, and even older than her father.

With a sigh, she watched the action. Frowning, she looked around for a place to sit and finally spied the platform off to one side. There were already some women and children sitting there. She made her way over, and tried to gauge their involvement. She didn't want to embarrass herself again.

"She's so adorable." Lydia rocked Casey in her arms. "I remember when mine were this small."

"It's been so fun, having my own. I was always so jealous of yours." Evelyn sighed.

"Well, now you won't have to be." Lydia stuck out her tongue.

"Who is that?" Evelyn pointed to a girl creeping up to the side of the platform.

"I don't know, I've never seen her before."

Katie scooted a bit closer. "Hi!" She called brightly, burying her nerves deep under her skin. "Can I sit with you?"

"Certainly." Evelyn gestured to the platform. "There's plenty of room."

Katie made her way up and sat in one of the chairs. "I'm sorry, I want to watch the men train, and I didn't want to be a bother."

"Oh, it's no bother." Lydia smiled. "It's always nice to meet new people. Where you from?"

"Westfall." She sighed. "I've always wanted to see Stormwind, but my daddy never let me leave. It feels so good to be out on my own for once."

"Did something happen to your father?" Lydia frowned.

"Oh no. I..." Katie blushed. "Well, I kind of snuck out. I grabbed all I owned and poofed when he wasn't looking. He's probably livid with me about now."

"Daring." Lydia winked.

Katie giggled. "I couldn't take it anymore. The only time I was allowed to leave the house is when I would do small jobs like cooking and cleaning for some of the other farms. Even then I had to give him all my wages. I began to lie and told him I got paid less so that I could hide the extra." She sighed. "But now I'm free and I can do something I want."

"Like?"

"I don't know yet."

The baby began to fuss, so Lydia handed her back to Evelyn. "Well, maybe you should talk to momma. She is aces at finding people jobs."

"Well, that sounds like..." Katie trailed off as she recognized the form charging at her. "Daddy!" She gasped.

At once, he was upon her, yanking her up by her hair. "You little BITCH!" He roared. "How dare you run off like that!" He punched her in the face.

Lydia was up like a shot, her own fist plowing into the man's face. "How DARE YOU?!"

The man tried to backhand Lydia, but she was faster and dodged effortlessly. The yard froze, and Darguni and Grogek headed for the platform. Summoning her batons, Lydia began to attack the man and landed several hits to his face and body before Darguni had the man by the throat.

Katie sat on platform holding her face as she watched in horrified fascination as the pair of them beat her father into submission. By time the man was unconscious, she had nearly recovered from the shock of the attack.

"I can't believe you did that." She whispered, as she watched guards haul her father away.

"Are you hurt, Baby?" Darguni examined Lydia's face.

"He never got a shot off on me." She stooped down to Katie. "Are you alright?"

"I... I think so." Katie shook her head. "You were so brave. No one stands up to my daddy like that."

"We won't let him hurt you again. Here, let me see your eye." Lydia tugged at Katie's hand.

Katie hissed in pain and tried to open her eye. "It hurts."

"Come on, let's go see Momma."

"Is she a healer?"

"The best there is."

"She went to Tippy's for lunch." Evelyn nodded.

"Alright."

Katie stared in baffled amazement as she was led back to the inn.

Once inside, Elunara got up and went to Lydia. "What happened here?"

Katie's hand shook. "My father." She hissed in pain as Elunara pulled her hand from her eye. "It was my fault, I shouldn't have ran away..."

"Being hit is never your fault." Elunara laid a gentle hand on the swelling. "He broke your eye socket. Thankfully it's just a hairline fracture." She channeled her energy into the poor girl.

"She left her home, Momma. I can see why, if her father is like that." Lydia rubbed a hand on Katie's back.

"Daddy just loses his temper sometimes. I wanted to... I wanted to get away..."

"I understand that." Elunara nodded as some of the bruising faded away. "Tippy, can you get me some ice?"

"Sure." Tippy disappeared into the back room.

"Where are you staying?"

"Here." Katie fiddled her fingers. "I took everything I owned and ran away. I just couldn't take daddy's rules anymore." Tears welled in her eyes. "I could only visit the places he told me, when he told me. I could only do the things he told me, when he told me. I'm an adult now; I just wanted to have some friends." She sniffled. "Is that so bad?"

"No, no it's not." Elunara wrapped her arms around the girl.

Tippy quietly handed the pack of ice to Elunara and went back to her work.

Elunara put it to Katie's face. "That will help with the swelling. I've never been able to deal with that using just my abilities."

"Okay." Katie sniffled.

"Come sit down." Elunara led her to a chair. "Tell me, what skills do you have?"

"Um, well... I used to clean for some of the ladies in the other farms for a little bit of money. Things like washing dishes and scrubbing floors. It helped us during the lean months."

"Is that what you like to do?"

"Oh, my no. I mean, it wasn't that bad, all things considered, I was never very good at farming. I get too hot and I pass out. Just hit the ground with no warning. So, I needed to stay indoors." She fiddled with her fingers. "What I really enjoy is writing. But daddy would find my work and call it garbage and just shred all my work. I got better at hiding things then." A deep blush worked its way on to her face. "I mean, I don't know how good I am, because I never showed anyone, but I like doing it, so there's that."

"You should always do what you enjoy." Lydia put her hand on Katie's shoulder.

"Do you have some of your work here?" This from Elunara.

"A little. I mean, I have all that I managed to save, but it's not much."

"Go get it, I want to see."

"It's probably terrible." Katie shook her head.

"Just go get it, honey." Jordan smiled at her.

Katie flushed darker and turned and ran upstairs.

"Someone has a crush." Elunara grinned at Jordan.

He held up his hands. "Don't you start."

"Can't help myself."

Katie returned with a packet of papers and she held them out. "This is all I have."

"So little?" Elunara began flipping through.

"Daddy shreds what he finds." Katie bit her lip. "This is all I've managed to hide."

"Is this all one story? It seems a little jumbled."

"I have many ideas, and I write them down as they come to me, but mostly there's one I've really been working on I really like."

"Sort this for me."

Katie shuffled the pages around and handed it back. "Sorry."

Elunara flipped through, reading the pages. She considered them for a moment. "Tippy, this girl is on my tab."

"What?" Katie blinked at Elunara.

"Your gold is good with me." Tippy shrugged.

"I want you to write. Write this story for me, front to back, make it work, and let me see it."

"What?" She repeated, completely dumbfounded.

"I'm commissioning you to write me your story. I think you have a good base here. I think that you just need a push in the right direction, and I don't think you have enough money to stay long enough to write it for me, so I'll pay you to stay here and do just this."

Tears came easily to Katie. "You really mean it?"

"Momma doesn't lie about these things." Lydia smiled and put her hand on Katie's shoulder again. "If she wants you to do this, I say do it."

"Thank you so much!"

Katie flung her arms around Elunara.

"Can I borrow these?"

"Anything for you!"

"You may regret that." Elunara grinned. "Lydia, show the girl the city, I want to do something real quick."

"Sure, Momma. I left the girls at the training yard with Susan and Evelyn when we came over. Come on Katie, let's get my kids and I'll give you a rundown of how this city works." She winked.

"And get her some paper along the way. Not my art paper, some writing materials."

"Of course."

Elunara made her way down to the yard. She found Grogek on the sidelines considering his troops. "Sugarbear, you love to read, I want you to look at something."

"Oh?" He took the sheaf of papers. He began to read through them. His eyebrow shot up. "Adding a new market?"

"Yeah, Elunara, whore, goddess, queen, whatever else I do, and now publisher."

"Publisher? Did you write this?"

"Nope. New girl with a broken eye wrote it."

"I saw that girl. How is she?"

"Healed her. Talked to her for a few minutes. Her name is Katie and you're reading her work. What's your opinion?"

He considered the papers in his hand and began to flip through them again. "Not the best thing I've ever read, but the potential is definitely there."

"I think I'm rescuing another one. I'm commissioning her to finish her story. Her father didn't approve of her hobby."

Grogek snorted. "He's sleeping it off in the Stockades. I'm curious to read the rest of this little story. Let me know how she comes along."

"Can do."