A New Day at the Castle

Early in the morning, when the sun was already in the sky, Mortis and Valeria entered the castle, arm in arm. They were warmly welcomed by Kathrin, Lumina and Zara. Almost reflexively, Valeria wanted to break away from Mortis, but he held her tightly. Lumina addressed Valeria in a stern tone, "I see you are still embarrassed to show your affection in front of other women. But you should really get used to it and open up to us too, Valeria." Zara merely nodded.

Valeria nodded and slowly detached herself from Mortis. She said, "I will take the pastries to the other women, I mean my sisters." Then she said goodbye. Mortis looked after Valeria and then turned to Lumina. He asked, "Did you have to be so hard on her?"

Lumina calmly replied, "Yes, I had to. Each of us likes you, Mortis, but each of us also has our duties, and she too must abide by them. Besides, imagine if your companions weren't with her and you weren't in town. If she leaves, she should be able to let us know. Believe me, she has a lot to listen to from the others. Even Jasmine went off the deep end, and that's really a miracle with her, as calm as she usually is. But let's not go there. I'm on my way to the prison with Zara. I want her to know the dark side of alchemy as well. I think you have other work to do today. I'll see you for dinner. See you later."

Mortis said goodbye to the two women with a kiss on the forehead and immediately headed to his study, as it was worse than expected in the south.

In the study, Mortis warmly greeted Shiva, Leonie and Marina. The three women were still thinking about whether they had not forgotten any important person and whether everything was prepared so far. After all, the first guests were to arrive today. Mortis did not want to dampen the good mood of the women and greeted them friendly. He took a map of the city and sat down at a small table with a few chairs.

Mortis spread out the city map and covered it with blank leaves. Then he summoned some spirits and instructed them to go through the city and check everything. When they returned, they were to mark on the blank sheets where more suspicious business and machinations were going on.

He then picked up the map and checked where he had been in the last month and where people had disappeared without anyone noticing. These barons and dukes he wanted to take a closer look at, or at least Leonie and Marina, since he would also be devoting two weeks of his affection and full devotion to Shiva.

The women in the room approached Mortis after some time, but he was deep in his thoughts and work. He filled out one slip of paper after another, and on each slip was written what the women were to do during the two weeks while he was busy.

Some of the tasks he assigned them included continuing the cleanup of the dungeon with all the women so as not to exclude anyone. They were to join the raid in the south that he was conducting with Merlin and make sure everything was going according to plan. They were also to make observations in other cities and look for missing persons reports.

Furthermore, they were to deal with adventurer guilds and rid the poor district of real riffraff by eradicating drugs and reducing alcohol consumption to curb sales.

Mortis was deeply engrossed in his work and trusted that the women would complete these tasks with the same determination as he had.

When Mortis finished his work, he sighed contentedly and put the pen aside. At that moment, Shiva stood beside him and handed him a cup of tea. The other two women had already taken the papers and were reading through them thoroughly. It seemed like there was a lot for many of them to do.

Mortis had big plans for this city. He wanted to make sure that no bad conditions continued to spread here. He even planned to build a large orphanage that would provide safety and a better future for the poor children of the city, especially those who had to grow up without parents.

The women looked at the instructions on the papers and were impressed by Mortis' determination to make the city a better place. They knew they would all do their part to make that vision a reality.

Shiva picked up the papers and sat down at her work table. As she studied Mortis' assignments and plans, tears welled up in her eyes. Mortis, who had raised himself and was not born into a family involved in politics, had amazing vision and took it for granted to tackle and improve so many things at once. She, on the other hand, the Queen by birth, had turned her back on her people and the outside world. She had hoped that the storm would simply pass over her and take her grief with it.

But Shiva knew now that it could not go on like this. In the few days she had spent with Mortis and his women, she had learned much. She had realized what separated them from her own people, and that was his women, on whom he could always rely. She too now wanted to prove herself and serve the people and politics in every way, not just the nobility. With new goals in mind, she was sure that tomorrow at the wedding no better man in this world could exist for her. She thought of her father and mother and was convinced that they would be proud of her choice.

Mortis didn't know if he should be flattered or if they were just using this as an excuse to argue again. But no sooner did things get more serious than a horn sounded from the gate of the castle, announcing that guests had arrived. This made even the two women pause for a moment and remember where they were. To cover the situation, when they realized Mortis was with the children, they said, "That's about what a serious fight looks like, if you manage to increase your skills and learn new ones."

Mortis nodded and clapped, pretending to buy the show they were now putting on so as not to embarrass them. But as he stood up, a paladin and a great knight stepped into the garden. They were Jochen and Baron William von Bernstein, his best friends from the north, who were like a father and an uncle to him, the uncle being a thuggish fellow.