Summer 15, 123
Caelum arrived back to the Basin with AEngie and his child in tow. He had hoped that it would be a peaceful arrival but it was anything but. The baby cried incredibly loudly, drawing the eyes and eyes of many aelves around him as he passed through town. He smiled apologetically as he flew by, untilhe finally got home.
"Hello Master, where've you… oh, who's this?" Flora had opened the door and was surprised to see Caelum holding AEngie by the arm.
"This is AEngie, and her child. My… our child. The aelves and I went hunting a year ago and one thing led to another… Anyways, AEngie, this is Flora, a child under my care."
AEngie tiredly nodded to Flora, offering an obligatory, "hello." She didn't sound very pleased with having been carried for hours and hours over the past handful of days. In Caelum's defense, the trip would only have taken a short while in ordinary conditions, but having to carry cargo made things difficult.
Caelum pushed past Flora, pulled AEngie inside then closed the door. "Can you shut him up?" he asked angrily.
"I'll try feeding him, Master," AEngie said annoyedly as she did just that.
Caelum sat at the edge of his bed and buried his face in his hands. He let out a frustrated groan. "I need some sleep. Flora, come massage my head, it aches so."
"Yes Master," Flora said as she hurried over. She put her hands on his head and started slowly massaging his temples and the areas around his eyes. She had so many questions but knew better than to prod when Caelum was in this state of mind. But the feeling built up over ten minutes and she couldn't help but ask.
"Why bring her here? You know what the aelves will think if you start bringing home ever whore you knock up." She had nothing against AEngie, personally, and she knew that she probably didn't actually want to be there… but she did have Caelum's best interests in mind. Flora knew better than he how these aelves thought about humans and how they would react to his actions.
"I… I had an idea," Caelum said sheepishly. "Children of mine will be dragon touched. I believe that if I have many children, then the aelves would be happy with me. The trouble is figuring out how to do it without upsetting them. I can imagine just one crying human is annoying enough."
Caelum pushed Flora's hands off of him when he'd had enough. "And so, I've decided that we will be moving. Or at least, AEngie and those like her will be moving. I will relocate them to a remote area of the forest, someplace cheap. I've been working on my carpentry so I'm sure I could construct a nice home for them. With enough legwork I should be able to provide the necessary amenities to keep them happy while they produce my children."
Flora looked at him with incredulity. "You know the reason the aelves like you so much is because you're the dragon of fertility. As in they want to have more AELVEN children. What use could they possibly have for more human children? There's already way too many of them, which is why they have hunts in the first place. A large number of dragon touched children could be used against the aelves."
Caelum frowned. "There are many uses for a dragon touched child, I'm sure of it… even if I can't give great examples right now… A good deal of them would probably be gristled. They could make good soldiers, for one." He didn't want to voice the obvious fact that they could be trained and then sundered. The sacrificing of humans wasn't something he liked to discuss with Flora.
Flora rolled her eyes at him. "For the record, I think this is a stupid idea… but if Master wishes it, I will do whatever I can to help." A part of her could see where her master was coming from, but most of her apprehension was due to having to share Caelum with other people. She was his human. The only human he needed, in her opinion. She did literally anything he'd ever asked of her – hell, she'd even die for him if he asked. Even the knowledge that he'd been out having children without her knowing was shocking and disheartening.
"Good girl," Caelum said as he got to his feet. "I will need all the help I can get. I think the aelves can be convinced. I would pick a remote location that aleves wouldn't mind me occupying. If the experiment fails, then so be it. But I think spending a couple decades pursuing this idea would be fruitful."
A couple decades was a significant portion of the life he'd already lived, but he knew it was nothing in the grand scheme of things. To Flora though, this would consume most of her youth. Caelum realized this as he paced around his home. He tried to consider how she felt, but it wasn't as if the girl needed to stay with him if she didn't want to – she was free to leave if she found something more meaningful.
"Flora, you don't have to help with this. You are… young. If there is something else… you can pursue it."
"Master, we've talked about this. I want to be at your side. Nothing would make me happier than to make you happy."
Caelum nodded at that. He walked over to one of the walls and started focusing, causing a slab of wood to form out of his hands. He grew the wood to be big enough to block off a section of the home, effectively sectioning off a third bedroom. It was small, about fifty square feet, but he could expand it as needed by simply moving the new wall. He busied himself for a while with creating an opening in the wood to act as a door, then constructing the door itself.
This sort of work would have been challenging just a year ago but he'd worked hard at becoming a decent carpenter. Being a druid meant he could simply will what ever he wanted into creation by expending saol. He slid the door into place and voila, a nursery was born. There was the matter of creating a crib, but that would take a little more time.
"Flora, take AEngie to collect some bedding for the baby. There're coins on the counter."
As they shuffled off, Caelum busied himself with constructing the crib. He'd never made one before, but he didn't think it would be that complicated. He started with a simple flat surface for the baby to lie on, then four legs, effectively creating a table. Then afterwards he started making wooden beams that went up, much like a jail's bars, all around the perimeter to ensure the baby could not fall out. By the time the ladies returned, it was complete.
"It looks nice," Flora offered as she started putting the bedding into the crib. "Could be better, but not bad for your first try, Master."
"Oh? Think you could have done better?" asked Caelum with a smirk.
"Structurally? No. But this looks more like a jail cell than a bed." Flora giggled and put her hands behind her back, signaling that she was done. "Anything else I can do?"
"Heh, you'll have to show me what it should look like then. Later though… I tire. I expect you to help care for this child. I will be most displeased if anything bad should happen to it."
"Of course, Master" Flora said while inclining her head.
"AEngie, you've been awfully quiet. Go sleep," Caelum commanded while pointing to his own bedroom. AEngie looked hesitantly at the room but went over all the same. She slipped under the sheets and put her head on the pillow. It only took a few minutes for her to pass out.
"You will sleep with her?" Flora asked in surprise. "I suppose it makes sense, I'm sure you want another baby as soon as possible."
"Yes, but not today. I hardly trust her, but I don't believe she will be aggressive. As much as I want to rest, I need to go see about potentially acquiring land. I've no idea if I can even afford any… not that I think it would be all that expensive."
"It's more than just property… Who's going to raise the children there? You'd need to figure out food and water, Master. I'm sure a mother needs more than just fruits, which means someone will need to hunt, or you need to raise animals for slaughter. Your plan… I think it can work but it's so massive in scale that I doubt either of us can really comprehend it right now."
"Hmm, you're right," Caelum admitted. "But that's why I have you. We can figure things out, slowly but surely. We have time." With that he groaned and headed out the door.
