After diner, Okami gently pulled Alex to the stairs that led to the upper level where the rented rooms were. As she was opening the room door for him, she winked one eye to Anika, that was being dragged by two grinning girls. Anika tried to plead for Okami’s help, only to see her closing the door with a wave.
While Okami quickly got rid of Alex’s clothes, Anika was trying to hold hers against her chest, with Wenammy getting rid of the seashell bra, and Pearl loosening the straps of Anika’s dress. For as much as she struggled, it was no use against the two horny girls. They managed to take of Anika’s clothes and were now helping each other to undress, with Pearl grinning at Anika:
“You may fight as much as you want, but I know you are enjoying this. Stop being so prudish, Anika, it doesn’t suit a Mermaid! For what I know, your kind is crazy enough, you don’t need to pretend so much that you are not enjoying all this teasing! If you don’t want to sit on the bed, grab a blanket and sit on the floor against that wall and enjoy the show. I know I will enjoy seeing you watching me!”
Anika rushed to grab a blanket from the closet and placed it on the floor, trying her best to look at the wall behind her and not minding the moans and sound of kisses coming from the bed. But her curiosity took the best of her, and Anika found herself slowly facing the bed, and gulping at the sexy image before her, of two gorgeous women kissing each other while smiling and glancing at her.
Before Anika could realize what was happening, she was already near the bed, strangely attracted by that seductive image. Pearl gently pulled her right hand while Wenammy pulled the left. As Anika was seating on the bed, Pearl whispered on her ear, between the licking of the ear lobe:
“Relax, you don’t need to be nervous. Close your eyes and enjoy, you are so beautiful Anika, you deserve to be taken care of.”
Wenammy gently bit Anika’s left ear and said:
“Yes, you sure are, you crazy and cute Mermaid.”
Anika stuttered while feeling a shiver along her spine:
“I… I n-never was with a girl… I don’t know… what to do…”
Pearl silenced her with a deep kiss while leaning her back, and Anika lost all the will to talk when she felt Pearl’s tongue caressing hers, and Wenammy kissing her belly button and going down.
…
In the morning, Alex was in the dining room with Okami, James Macdonald and Bethany Mathews, having breakfast. Anika arrived all red, with Wenammy right behind her, holding hands with a smiling Pearl Pearson. Alex asked, wondering why Anika looked so flustered:
“What did you do to her, Pearl? She looks like if she is about to die with embarrassment!”
“I will tell you after you tell what you did to Okami for her to be smiling so much! A complete description, if you will!”
Alex shook his head:
“A gentleman never tells! And it’s not polite of you to ask… Oh, I asked first, right… Sorry, forgot what I said. Eat up, I want to visit the Orphanage before lunch, and it’s probably better if we leave right after because we have a huge group waiting for us, remember?”
Pearl pulled a chair for Wenammy and another for Anika, that thanked her with red cheeks. Alex wondered what happened to them during the night, but they were all distracted by the arrival of a smiling Princess and her maid. She greeted everyone as soon as she sat on an empty chair and grabbed a piece of freshly made bread:
“Good morning everyone! I don’t know about you, but I had a good night’s sleep! Not that your carriage is not comfortable, Mister Alex, but a soft bed is way better. Well, it was not as good as my bed in Beliersia, but it was good enough. So, are we leaving after breakfast?”
Alex answered while pouring tea on a cup for the Princess:
“I think we can leave after lunch because I want to visit the Orphanage. I didn’t have time when we were here a few days ago, but I need to see the Priest and visit the children.”
Princess Ebell asked with a puzzled look:
“Why do you want to visit a bunch of orphans? If it was the City Market or a few shops I would understand, but what good will do, to visit an Orphanage?”
Alex faced the Princess and she gulped when she noticed the darkness in his eyes. It was a brief sight because Alex quickly disguised how annoyed he was for the Princess’ words:
“Maybe not to you, Miss Ebell, but I would rather spend my day with all those orphans than a minute with you, seeing some shops. We have different priorities, and while you prefer the frugal pleasures of life, I enjoy the company of people that likes to appreciate life and are happy with the simplest possessions. You could learn a thing or two with them if you managed to get down from that high pedestal of yours, and join the common mortals.”
Princess Ebell immediately grabbed the cup of tea and blew the tea inside a few times before taking a sip. Alex took one slow deep breath and mumbled:
“This is going to be a long ride. Shinatobe was right, she is indeed such a fine treasure to escort. I would give half my fortune if she didn’t spoke a word for the rest of the voyage.”
Okami frowned at the Princess, annoyed by such a dense girl that couldn’t read the mood around and spoke without thinking every single time she opened her mouth. James Macdonald tried to lighten the mood:
“Mister Alex, the Priest you want to visit, is the same one that gave you the news about Earl Kayden, right? I remember you saying that you wanted to visit the Orphanage, and we even found a girl that used to live in the Orphanage in this City, right?”
“Yes, I always ask Shinatobe to send to the Priest a share of the payments I got from the Quests I joined, and more than once I gave him some Magic Orbs. I also try to find a place for an orphan to live and work in my lands when they get to the proper age and leave the Orphanage. I have a few friends in this Orphanage, some of them I know for several years and I watched over them, as they were growing. I know very well that most Nobles prefer never to mingle with orphans, and a few even consider orphans as low beings, almost at the same level as dirt, but I was never like that, my father raised me to see the person for what he is, not for what he was branded with.”
James Macdonald made a slight smile and saw from the corner of his eyes the Princess turning bright red, realizing how dumb she was with her words. James spoke while munching a piece of bread:
“You are intriguing, Mister Alex. Even with all your possessions, achievements and money, you are very down to earth. Your father raised you well.”
“Thanks, I always try to make him proud, and I do my best to not let anything or anyone, go over my head. Sometimes it’s difficult because I tend to be annoyed with the stupidity I face every now and then.”
Princess Ebell was finding it difficult to eat or drink. It was as if her throat was closing little by little, with Alex’s words. She made a mental note to always think very well before opening her mouth like Alex warned her already. It was indeed a bad trait she had since she was little, and it was difficult for her to avoid. But she had to, or it would be too difficult for her in Bouria, with all the Nobles at the court watching and gossiping about her smallest faults.
It came as a relief for the Princess when everyone finished and began exiting the Inn. Her lady’s maid noticed how pale she was and whispered:
“What’s the matter, Princess? You don’t look so good.”
– “No, it’s just… I keep on speaking without thinking, and Mister Alex keeps on getting annoyed and warning me. If I don’t learn how to be quiet and to think before opening my big mouth, I will have a hard time at the court of Bouria.”
“I… always liked that side of you. You always spoke what is in your mind, but he does have a point. If you keep on speaking before measuring first your words, you may make a blunder at the court, one that will be too difficult to deal with. Maybe… maybe I also need to learn, tend to do like you do, speak before thinking, and it may cause you some problems. I will do my best to warn you when you are about to dig a hole for yourself, and I would appreciate if the Princess could do the same for me. I don’t want to put you in trouble with anything I might say with thinking first.”
Princess Ebell made a slight smile:
“Maybe getting used to calling me just Ebell could be a start. Remember what Mister Alex said yesterday? We need to be as inconspicuous as we can, and even addressing me by my title could be dangerous.”
“Yes, but it’s difficult for me! I always called you Princess! Calling you only by your name, doesn’t seem proper.”
“I understand, but give it a try, okay? Unless you want to face Mister Alex’s wrath! I tremble every time he looks at me with that serious face of his, I don’t want to find out how he looks like when he is mad!”
The lady’s maid slowly nodded:
“Yes, he sometimes has such darkness in his eyes that’s scary! I prefer to see him smiling, his eyes shine in such a way that I almost melt! But when he is annoyed or angry, he frightens me.”
“Yeah, I understand why those three are so crazy about him. If I wasn’t already engaged, I would for sure try my luck with him. But I know that I wouldn’t stand a chance, he thinks I am rather stupid, and he is probably right, I am indeed rather dumb than I should be. It makes me sad realizing that I am like this, but at the same time, makes me want to improve myself, to see him proud of me. I don’t know, it’s just… as if I want to see him acknowledging me, and realizing that I deserve to be his friend?”
The lady’s maid made a slight smile. She totally understood because she also felt like that. Despite being frightened with Alex sometimes, she also wanted to see him smiling and thanking her for a job well done.
Outside, Alex was talking with the City Chief, and asked him to send a message to the harbour of the ‘City of Keldunes’, requesting ships from his sipping company, enough to transport a group of almost one hundred hunters and fifty Armoured Boars to the Islands at east of Bouria. The City Chief reassure Alex that he would take care of his message, and Alex bid his farewells and went to the stable, to get his horse.
After getting the horses, the bear, the deer and the carriage from the stable, James Macdonald went ahead of the group, making his horse walk slowly along the busy street, so that they didn’t cause any accident. As soon as they exited through the door that led to Bouria, Alex took a turn to a side road at the right side of the City walls, and they trotted along that one, with edged fields full of grass on both sides. A huge herd of tri-horned cows was grazing the fresh, green grass on one side, and people were cutting the tall grass and making piles on the other side, for sure to stock in the stables of the several farms nearby.
Almost thirty minutes later, an old big building was ahead of them at almost one hundred meters, and there were cropped corn fields that went alongside the road, up till the building. On the right side of the building, there was another cropped field with wheat, and on the left side, an enormous field of green grass with a herd of tri-horned cows. James Macdonald asked with a puzzled face:
“Mister Alex, is that the Orphanage? Because I never saw an Orphanage with so many cropped fields around! How do they manage all this?”