Chapter 240 Day One with the Kids

"If the council needs me in a dire emergency, as such as happened only a few years ago, these tattoos would allow you to contact me no matter where I am. If you want only a few to have the mark, then that would be alright, as I am getting tattoos on every leader in each kingdom," offered Aella, figuring the full moon must be over, causing her pheromones to no longer work. She was going to miss that.

"The problem isn't us getting tattoos," said a different councilmember, that hadn't spoken up yet. "The problem is that the council is changed out every couple of years. No one stays a councilmember for life. You would have to reapply the marks every time we got new members."

"Ah," said Aella, scrunching her brow in thought. "Is there anyone who remains in the same place consistently, close enough to the council to acquire the mark?"

The council turned to each other, speaking quickly to each other, then turned back to her after only a few minutes.

"Unfortunately, no, there are no positions near the council that remains more than a few years. No gnome is allowed to have a permanent position to ensure there is no corruption within the government. Besides, none of us enjoy this job."

Aella thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Then I will remove the marks when you are out of power and mark the next ones. This is far too important to not do."

"Are you sure this is completely necessary? Any event that would require your help would no doubt already be brought to your attention," said another of the gnomes.

"Your race has the best communication in the realm, yet it is restricted to the range of your hubs. If I am not in that range, you cannot contact me. Surely, you would understand the important of being able to contact someone in times of need."

"She is right. We have stressed the importance of being able to contact everyone, immediately, if a need arises. This would be no different."

"What specific needs would be necessary to contact her?"

"She is the one who would help us if another major storm comes, or we are needing massive evacuation, similar to what we have already faced. The hope is that nothing of that caliber would ever happen again, but we must prepare in case the need comes."

"He's right, we assumed our underground bunkers would be sufficient in the case of an emergency, and they were not. We ended up losing too many lives when they failed, before she arrived to help us. We must not allow that to happen again. What if the next emergency is such that we can't get to the bunkers, or using them would be bad?"

"I believe the general consensus is that no one wishes to contact me, however because of recent events, the need is there," said Aella, looking around at them, seeing the unhappy agreement on some of their faces.

"You will remove the marks when we are done as council members?" asked the female who was the most against them.

"Yes," said Aella, thinking she could figure it out when the time came.

"Alright. Let's get this over with then," the gnome sighed, turning in her seat to allow the elves to get to her arm easier.

"Where are we going next?" asked Sarah, watching in boredom. "Have you gotten the dwarves tattooed yet?"

Aella went to tell her yes, then thought about that. She didn't want to have to drag the kids with her everywhere she went. Maybe she could leave them with Daefina for a while, while she dealt with the demons and the humans. It shouldn't take that long with Alfred and Frederik.

"I think I will take you to see the dwarves next," she said, with a nod, causing the three kids to bounce up and down in excitement, clapping their hands and looking at each other with glee. "But you have to promise not to do anything that would upset the dwarves while I'm gone."

"Wait, you're supposed to be the one who watches us," said Merle with a frown. "Are you dumping us off with the dwarves while you do other stuff?"

"I have to go to several places and it would be quicker to deal with things if you were with the queen for a bit. She just got married and doesn't have much to do at the moment," said Aella, hoping that was still true.

"I think it will be fine to play with the dwarven queen for a while," said Sarah with a wide grin.

"Can we see the mines and the dwarves actually making stuff?" asked Donovan.

"If it's alright with them," shrugged Aella.

"They're not at war, so they won't be making armor and weapons," said Sarah with a frown to Donovan.

"Then what are they making?" he asked, turning to look at Aella.

"I'm not sure," she said, with another shrug.

"This is going to take us a while," said one of the elves, looking up from the arm of the gnome he was working on. "If you want to take them and come back to get us, you probably have time."

Aella nodded and waved for the kids to get closer.

"I'm not sure Daefina will be okay with this," mumbled Precious as Aella teleported them to the throne room in the dwarven city.

"Aella, is there a problem?" asked Voluri looking up from the conversation he was having with several dwarven nobles.

"I was wondering if Daefina would be here," said Aella, noting that the elf wasn't in the room.

"She should be in her room," said Voluri with a slight frown, turning back to the nobles.

Aella nodded, understanding she was interrupting, and teleported them to Daefina's room. Daefina was just stepping out from behind her changing screen, smoothing her dress into place.

"A dress?" asked Aella with a raised eyebrow. "What happened to the wild elf I knew before you were married?"

"I got married," laughed Daefina, settling into her chair.

"Wow! You're so pretty!" said Sarah, clutching her hands in front of her.

"She's not as pretty as mom, or her golems!" cried Donovan.

"Don't be rude," said Merle, bowing slightly to Daefina. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty."

"Who might these be, Aella?" asked Daefina with a raised eyebrow of her own. "It's a pleasure to greet you, young man."

"These are children I am tasked with watching for a week," said Aella, not wanting to give their identities away too easily. "I was hoping that I could leave them with you for a short time, while I finished getting leaders tattooed."

"You still haven't finished with that?" asked Daefina with a nod to the children as they quickly bowed and curtsied, having remembered their manners in front of royalty. "And who in their right mind, would think it a good idea to let you babysit?"

"Dad said this realm was far enough out here, that the chances of anything dangerous enough to hurt us were so insignificant, this was a perfect place for us to stay while him and mom-"

"-have time to themselves," interrupted Merle, giving Sarah a look and nodding towards Donovan.

"This realm? So, I'm to believe these children came from a different realm? Aella, just who are you friends with?" asked Daefina in surprise. "Never mind, don't answer that. I probably don't want to know. So, you want me to watch them for a short time, while you go see Frederik? I'm assuming that's why you don't want to take them with you?"

"Frederik? Is he her boyfriend?" asked Sarah in excitement.

"What?" asked Aella, glancing quickly at the little girl as Precious tried not to laugh on her shoulder. Even Daefina was fighting to keep her composure. "He's not my boyfriend! I don't intend to mate with anyone anytime soon!"

"Oh, you don't have to mate with him! That's just if you want babies. He can be your boyfriend so no other girl gets him," explained Sarah, as if she needed to explain these things to Aella.

"What, no, never mind," said Aella, rubbing her head and turning to see the wide grin on Daefina's face. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

"No, I insist!" laughed Daefina, as the children all cracked smiles in response. "I'll watch them, so you can go see your boyfriend!"

"He's not my boyfriend!" growled Aella, teleporting back to the gnomes with a serious frown on her face. This wasn't turning out anything like she was wanting! How dare they assume she had a boyfriend! He was a good friend, and she trusted him far more than any other demon, but that was it.

"We're done here," said one of the elves after several more minutes.

Without a word, Aella nodded to the gnomes after having healed their marks, and teleported them to the demon throne room.

"Aella! Just the person I was wanting to see!" said Frederik with a grin, coming down from the throne to greet her.