“I saw some ships traveling by the coast while I was out on patrol. I believe that they saw me as well. For a while I retreated into the forest and followed where they couldn't see me encase they tried to land but they didn't. It was strange to see a ship so close to land though. I got to admit that part of me wished that I could let them land and take on some provisions.”

Despite what he'd learned of the beast girl's Joseph couldn't help but be surprised by what Kersara had said. “Kersara you serious? You all seem so protective of the forest that I never imagined one of you would say that.”

“Well I only said part of me. The wrest of me knows that if I let one ship do it they'll tell friends and then their friends will want to do it. If I just let them take provisions more and more will come to take them and before long the forest will begin to suffer from the constant harvesting. If humans wouldn't abuse the forest so eagerly we wouldn't mind sharing. We just aren't willing to allow our precious home to be destroyed.”

In response Maria gave a quick nod. “That's right though I think it's a good ideal to watch such ships. We actually taken in a few claimed from ships for various reasons. Kersara didn't you end up bringing in a ships captain once?”

“Yep. His crew had set him adrift. He had no choice but to come to the forest. Last I checked on him he was doing alright though. I'm pretty sure that his keeper is a kind one.”

“You don't remember who it was?”

“Not really it's been a while you know.”

After a moment of silence Joseph chose to speak up. “It seems like that would be quite a massive change for him though. Going from being a captain of men to being a servant with no real choice in most matters. Still, I imagine he was quite grateful that you didn't eat him. Did he try to fight you whenever you approached him.”

In response Kersara shook her head. “No. He actually apologized for being there and asked for my understanding of his situation. I think it surprised him whenever I told him that I can sympathize with a bad situation though I know I scared him a bit whenever I explained that he was still an invader in our home though.”

“Huh? Maria didn't claim me right away though. Don't you need to wait until the person ever takes something from the forest or you have to save their life?”

In response Kersara gave a nod. “That is true so if you're wondering yeah I did save his life. It just wasn't from any beast or monster of the forest. You see the reason his crew had set him adrift is he'd come down with some form of sickness and they were scared to death of it spreading in such a confined space and to be honest they had good reason to fear it spreading. I brought him to the village for treatment after explaining how his life would change once I brought him here.”

“I see and he hasn't moved beyond the rank of claimed since you brought him here?”

“Not to my knowledge but you know he might have. We try to be fair to those who didn't end up here by any doing of their own or at least if they come from a situation where they had little choice. A group running into the forest to avoid bandits is different then the bandits that chase them into the forest after all. They are always limitations of course.”

“What would happen if the people that ran into the forest had children with them? I've never seen any children claimed.”

To this Kersara gave a nod. “Children can't be claimed at least not the same way that an adult can be. Typically while the parent is working as one of the claimed the child is raised by some of the sisters and brothers. As most have great hardship moving beyond the rank of claimed and even more difficulty leaving the forest after words this normally isn't a problem. There can be trouble though if one of the parents manages to earn a safe escort out of the forest.”

“What would you do?”

Before Kersara could speak up Maria chose to. “It depends on how old the child was whenever it was brought in. An infant isn't going to know anything that could be dangerous to us after all. It also depends on how long the parent has been here and thus how old the child. Let's say though that the child was brought here as an infant and the parent managed to earn their life back within a year or two. Then the child would be returned to the parent and the parent would raise the child. However, let's extend that and say the parent took five years to earn their life back. Well then we'd most likely keep the child as one of our own.”

“Even though the parent earned their life back?”

To this Maria gave a quick nod. “Yeah after all at that age the child may remember something that would be dangerous to us. Going beyond that though the parent failed to protect their child. Of course if the parent agrees to never leave the forest even if they never become a member of our society they can have the child back as that means the threat is gone. So the question becomes. Do they love the child more or do they want that shot at leaving more?”

In response Joseph gave a nod. “What would happen if after agreeing to stay the parent tried to flee with the child? After all, you gave me a great deal of freedom whenever I was living alone.”

“It's likely that they would be returned to claimed status once they were found and the child would be taken from them. This time it would be for good. Of course, we're talking about a very young child here. Things can get more complicated whenever the child is five or seven years old and especially if the child is older then that. As a claimed a parent can't really take care of them however the child isn't entirely ignorant of the world around them.”

“So what tends to happen?”

“Well if we let the child learn too much about us then there is no way that we can let it leave. So typically we first try to find someone that has progressed from being a claimed and we believe could take care of the child. You would have been a really good candidate though you never were actually one of the claimed. If that isn't doable then we'd try to find two of the sisters that could tend of the child. It isn't always possible to find a sister that could take on such a task though without risking the child learning too much.”

“I see. So the longer the parent takes to move beyond the status of a claimed the less likely they'll ever see their child again?”

“The least likely that they will get to see their child again without supervision. That and the less likely they'll get to take the child with them if they try to leave the forest.” As she finished speaking Maria took another bite of fish deciding to leave it up to the others to answer some questions.

While Maria was chewing Kersara spoke up. “It's not a situation we're really happy with but that's the situation that occurs from time to time. Of course, they are other complications that can occur. One danger with having a sister raise the child is she's going to bond with the child. If she bonds with the child and begins to see the child as her own it might be impossible to convince her to willingly give up the child and well. If we have to choose between hurting one of our sisters and hurting another we're obviously going to spare our sister.”

After a moment of silence Joseph gave a slight nod. “I can understand why you'd feel the need to take such safety measures. So I doubt it's very likely that a parent who ends up being claimed gets to leave the forest with their child.”

“It's very unlikely. Fortunately it's a very rare happening to begin with.”

“Do you ever wonder if some of your sisters might decide not to bring someone back as a claimed but help them out of the forest instead?”

Now Maria chose to speak up. “It's possible that they would help someone indirectly. One time that comes to mind is whenever one of our sisters caught some children lost in the forest. She frightened the day lights out of them and actually guided them back to their village albeit without them realizing what was going on.” A slight giggle escaped Maria as she shook her head. “They thought that she was trying to eat them.”

“Which sister was this exactly Maria?”

“My mother.”

A slight giggle escaped Kersara as she gave her head a nod. “My mom told me about Flora during her guardians days. That sounds like something she would do. Your mom really is lucky to have not one but two daughters and who knows she might have a third.”

“Yeah I feel lucky to be daughter as well.”

Joseph had actually been surprised by this admission from Maria. He'd always thought that the sisters were quite eager to take someone as a claimed. “So do you believe she only did that because they were children?”

In response Maria quickly shook her head in the negative. “Na. Of course I can't speak for all of us but its often up to the sister that finds you to decide how to handle the situation.”

“I see. So Maria why didn't you just chase me out of the forest?”

“Because you'd already seen me kill those guards, chase after and you were too deep into the forest. If we are to chase someone out of the forest then they need to be close enough to the edge that we can convince them that we're serious. If I had to chase you well I would have been chasing you for quite some time. In the condition you were in I don't believe you'd even reached the edge or been anywhere near it before you collapsed.”

“Well you have a point there. So are they any ships that you do allow to land on your shores?”

“Not anymore. There was one ship and they were a very good trade partner. They quit coming some time while I was asleep though. Whenever I asked what had happened to the trade ship no one could tell me except that they'd quit showing up.”

“Has anyone came to you all for protection after someone learned that they were a trading partner with you?”

To this Maria gave a quick nod. “Yeah and we do what we can to help them out in the situation. At times a few of us even leave the forest to help them deal with the problem if that's possible. At other times all we can do is welcome them back into the village and see if they're ready to truly join us.”

Before Joseph could respond Kersara spoke up. “That or we help them find another place to set up shop. This forest is vast after all and the difference between the humans on one side and the other can be quite surprising.”

“Well that is true.”

“You know it seems like those that trade with you would want to keep it a secret for several reasons. As even if there is the danger of people discovering what they're doing there is also having the benefit of the resources you can provide. I know about some of the deals you've made and I'm quite certain that your trade partners are making plenty to endure the risk. Have you ever looked for a source of metals and other difficult to obtain items in places other then trade?”

This time Maria spoke up. “Indeed we have. There have been attempts to use alchemy and magic to conjure the metal but that doesn't tend to work out well. Such materials are tainted with magic from the start after all and that makes them unfit for many uses whenever it comes to magic. We've also worked on developing compounds that can take the place of the metals and that has met with limited success. Why do you have a theory?”

“Unfortunately no. Such work really isn't my area of expertise. I'm far more proficient with living systems.”

To this Maria nodded. “It's not something our brothers can give full priority to though. After all the current trade system is enough to supply us with the materials we need and they are other methods if it begins to break down. Right now they're more focused on seeing to our hunger and survival. At times it feels like so little progress has been made though in all the centuries that we've existed.”

While only slightly older then Maria in waking years Kersara couldn't help but speak up. “Now hold on right there. Things are a lot better now then they were just fifty years ago. We have a far greater supply of emergency provisions and the health potions have grown much stronger over time. We treat rain shortages that would have once posed a serious problem as minor inconveniences now.”

“Well you do have a point. I remember some of the stories that my mother told me. Our brothers have also found a lot of ways to keep the forest healthier as well. Okay. You have to admit though that nothing has really happened to diminish our actual hunger though.”

“That is true. Still, we enjoy a better food supply. If it had been fifty years ago we'd all be several centimeters shorter then we are now.”

While Joseph found what Maria and Kersara talking about to be interesting he couldn't help but respond. “So you use to be kept to a smaller scale on the whole?”

Maria was the one to answer first. “Yes we were. So I guess I shouldn't complain too much. Still if your work with the life bloom proves fruitful we might all get to grow a little larger and diminish our hunger even more.”

Upon hearing Maria mention the life bloom Joseph felt his pulse quicken and he immediately looked to the others. “I thought I wasn't suppose to talk about that with others.”

A slight giggle escaped Kersara as she shook her head. “Joseph. You're one of our brothers now so we know that you won't be leaving us. Besides don't you intend to further develop the life bloom?”

“Well yes.”

“It wasn't hearing about the life bloom that upset us. It was the ideal that you were developing it so near by or could be developing and you might decide to leave. That ideal was horrifying to most of us. Now that you're hear to stay though we don't have to worry about that so much anymore. So have you made any progress with it?”

Instead of responding right away Joseph turned to Maria. He was a bit surprise whenever she responded verbally. “You don't need to look at me Joseph and don't think Kersara, Tesa and Sora missed that look you gave me. You'd probably should explain to them while you saw fit to look towards me.”

“Alright. I've actually managed to grow one of the trees though it is still a small one. It's currently residing within my lab. Maria has actually gotten to sample some of the fruit as well. I'm testing to see if it has any harmful affects on you. I'm also working on gathering enough seeds to grow several more trees so that I can see what happens whenever several are grown within a small area.” As Joseph finished speaking he couldn't help but notice all three of the girls had very large smiles.

Tesa actually chose to speak up now. “That's wonderful! So what else do you have to test?”

“I need to know how the life bloom interacts with other plant life. If it would be safe to let the life bloom grow wild in the forest or if it would end up choking off all other forms of life. I also have to worry about the energy it allows to bleed into the world around it.”

“How do you intend to test and see how it interact with other forms of life?”

“In order to do that I'm going to need enough plants and resources to go large scale. As I'll need a confined area that can sustain the life bloom and several other plants. Of course, I don't have the resources to do that kind of testing at the moment. I hope what I'm about to say isn't insulting but are there any large scale testing facilities? At first I never imagined you'd have half the things you do but now I really wonder.”

In response Kersara gave a quick nod. “Yeah. Well I guess it depends on what you consider large scale. From the way you've been talking though I'm certain we can provide enough space. It's not like there is much testing done there anymore and if needed we could use some of the sleeping chambers.”

“Sleeping chambers?”

“It's where we keep those sisters that have been forced to regress their size normally. Over two thirds of them are empty at the moment.”

“Why are they so many?”

“They're a lot of them in case there is a time of great starvation and most of us have to go to sleep. It's something of a last resort. That's one of the other benefits of being allowed to keep a larger body though. We can sleep longer and not have to worry about death if such a situation should arise.”

“I see. Well if there is enough room to accommodate all of you girls I'm certain there would be enough space. Is there a way to provide the plant life with what they need to sustain themselves though?”

“Sure there is. We'd have to temporarily modify the chambers but that shouldn't be an issue. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the chambers were already modified encase similar testing had to be done. Oh and if they aren't advanced enough there is always the testing facilities in the citadel.”

“Kersara the citadel has been mentioned before what is it though?”

“The citadel was the Luvarian's main base in the forest and where we were developed. We've protected it and kept in intact so it's still operational though they are some issues.”

“Like what?”

Before Kersara could speak up Maria chose to. “We can only get into so many of the rooms currently. Certain areas of the citadel were restricted to high ranking members of the Luvarians. Whenever our leader died though we lost access to them as they're protected and sealed by very powerful spells and glyphs. We've managed to find our way into a few of the rooms but many of them are still locked to us.”

“What do you have to do to get in?”

“The protective spells have to recognize you as a high enough ranking member of the Luvarians. The way we managed to get access to some of the lower level rooms is our brothers convinced the spells that they were Luvarians and had sufficient rank.”

“I mean is there a password or item you have to present?”

In response Maria shook her head. “Not as far as we can tell. You see the spells are very advanced they even seem to be sentient to an extent. They respond to two things we've identified so far. The intent of the person entering the room and their knowledge. At least that's how it works for our brothers they seem to respond differently to us.”

“How do they respond to you?”

“It seems like they're set to respond to our power. As far as we can tell the spells realize that we aren't Luvarians but rather they know that we are creations of the Luvarians. A powerful creation probably belongs to a powerful member of the Luvarians and thus should be allowed to pass. Effectively the spells think that we're guards and only the most powerful guards are allowed into the most sensitive areas. However, we've only managed to get so far.”

“So they're some rooms that haven't been inspected in all this time?”

“Oh no. They're a few beings in the citadel that can go anywhere they want. We just really can't communicate with them.”

“Are you serious?”

In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Yeah I am. I've seen them a few times when I was allowed to look around the citadel. We wanted to see how the glyphs would respond to my presence. We haven't ever really been able to examine the guards but we believe that they're earlier models of us.”

“If they're earlier models how are they more powerful?”

“They're more powerful then us physically. What's going on inside their heads we don't know. Also their eyes aren't quite like ours they're just one solid color. We don't even know if anything is going on inside of their heads.”

“Have you ever had a confrontation with them?”

“I haven't and there hasn't been one recent but one occurred whenever one of the brothers tried to enter a room with the wrong intent. You see normally the glyphs just act like a wall so long as you don't push them. We've found that they respond very differently though if you meet the power requirements but have the wrong intent.”

“What happened?”

“Kersara you know this story better then me would you explain it?”

“Sure. Apparently one of our brothers had become frustrated with our life style and how the citadel would only let us in so far. He thought that we had become bound to the citadel and had been for all these centuries so he wanted to free us. That's what he claimed at least. So he entered one of the protected rooms with the intent to destroy the contents. He was nearly killed by the protective spells. He would have been killed if a sister hadn't been with him to take the larger portion of the attack though she didn't know what he was thinking of doing. To give you an ideal of how powerful the spell was though the sister in question was a keeper and even she barely survived.”

“One of the brothers tried to destroy the citadel? How did you know that was his intent.”

“I'll get to that in a bit. Anyway, after the glyph went on several went to check on him. However, one of the protectors showed up a short while later to see what had happened. I guess it was there to insure that the glyph had killed the intruder. Naturally the sisters and brothers there didn't know why the glyph had gone off so they tried to protect the brother. It didn't end so well. I wasn't there as this was a while back but it was even more one sided then fighting Mina from what I hear. It didn't evade any of the punches but it didn't have to none of the keepers there could even harm it. No one died though.”

“So they ran away?”

In response Kersara shook her head. “No. The protector dispatched the sisters and seemed immune to the attacks of the brothers as well. Yet one of our brothers put himself between the protector and a sister. For some reason the protector stopped attacking whenever he just stood there and looked at him for a long while. After around ten minutes the protector finally turned and returned to whatever she had been doing before hand.”

“Ten minutes? It sounds like the protector was uncertain of what it should do.”

“That's the most commonly accepted guess so we believe that they do have some intelligence. The brother that blocked her assault was one of the ones that could pass into the protected room and unlike the other he didn't mean any harm. I guess that the protector decided that he was a Luvarian and was challenging her for command of the situation. For whatever reason the protector relented and let him have the command even though it could have killed him in one strike. It was later that they found out the brother had meant to destroy the contents of the room.”

“I suppose no one was too happy about that.”

“He was executed for it.”

In response Joseph gave a slight nod. “That isn't surprising. I suppose the brothers decided such behavior couldn't be tolerated especially amongst their own.”

“What makes you believe it was the brothers who made the decision?”

“Well it just seems they'd be the most likely to call for an execution over such a situation. After all that room may have had the key to ending your hunger. A goal that we all seem to be working towards quite actively.”

“Yeah and you were right. The sisters didn't really have time to dwell on it or become angry over the traitorous actions. As soon as the brothers were able to conjure up his intentions at the time they had him executed. Of course our brothers still insist that the information isn't entirely certain as they can't exactly retest the event. Given what happened with the protector they probably wouldn't even let it be tested.”

“Have there been any other encounters with a protector?”

“Yeah. They've not always been bad either. In one case one of our brothers was researching a tome in the library we have access to and something went wrong. A glyph inside the book began to respond he was able to recognize it as a hostile spell but couldn't defend against it in time. Before the spell went off though a protector placed her hand on the book and absorbed all the magic. She then took the book away from him placed it where it was previously and escorted him out of the library.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. They were actually quite nervous whenever he tried to enter the library again not certain if he had been permanently banished or not. None of the protectors responded though.”

“They do remind me a lot of you and your sisters. Do you have any ideal of what they eat though?”

“None. We tried offering them food and even some magic items. They actually inspected the magic items for a bit. Took a few of them a few times as well though they didn't take them very far. They carried them to a storage room and set them within some unsecured cases and just left them there. As a test we had one of our swifter sisters go in there and pick up the items but the protectors made no move to stop her. After some inspection we found out the room was used to store magic items of low value that kind of insulted a lot of our brothers.”

“I take it they worked quite hard to make those items.”

“Yeah. However, in the eyes of the protectors they were low value items and the wrest of the items provided weren't even worth noticing. I have a feeling if we'd left them there they'd been crushed to scrap and tossed away.”

“Did you find anything else in that room?”

“Nothing that I know of. From what I know it was pretty empty before we got there I assumed it was emptied out by the Luvarians before hand.”

“So can just anyone go to the citadel?”

“Not unless you have a reason like your experiments for an example.”

“Ah I see. I'm not sure if I would feel safe working there though. Besides we don't even know if I could get into the lab to conduct my research. Didn't you say that the glyphs responded to power?”

“They do. However, the power can be mental or physical it seems. We've seen some very well educated sisters go past some of the glyphs that would keep out most keepers while these sisters were only guardian size. Once again it's speculated that the glyphs recognized the sister as an important construct due to her education. After all not every magic user is content with a mindless servant that can't think for itself.”

“Hey Kersara could I have some more fish?”

Upon looking to Maria's plate Kersara was a bit surprised to see she'd emptied it. “Have I been talking that much or did you just start eating without regard to the remainder?”

“Um well. Joseph could I have some of yours.”

“Sure Maria.” As he spoke Joseph took his fork and used it to put some of his foot in Maria's plate. As he did so he was a bit surprised to see how the others were looking at him. “Is something wrong?”

A slight giggle escaped Tesa as she shook her head. “No. It's just the way you looked right now was a bit surprising. I believe you humans give one another sweet things as a sign of affection right?”

“Well yes.”

“Well in our culture sharing a meal with a sister is quite a gesture. Be careful of what sisters you do it with or you might give them the wrong ideal.”

“Oh I see. Thanks for the information.”

Before Tesa could respond Maria spoke up. “Yeah and thanks for the extra.”

***********************************************************************************

“Good morning sleepy head!”

Upon hearing the energetic voice Joseph gave a slight jump and nearly toppled out of his bed. Upon looking towards the window he was quite surprised to see Pera in a crouched position standing there. “Pera! What are you doing there!”

“I learned that you moved to the village and decided to come and pay you a visit.”

Instead of responding right away Joseph took a moment to look at the window. He was relived to see that it wasn't broken though it was the first time he noticed there wasn't a lock. “I see. Well it's good to see you but please don't enter into my home without permission.”

“I'm not inside though.”

“Well.” A sigh escaped Joseph as he shook his head. “You're smart enough to know what you were doing wrong.” It actually surprised Joseph whenever he noticed the expression on Pera's face.

“Wow. I didn't expect that response.” A slight giggle escaped Pera as she gave her head a nod. “Okay that was me being naughty. Still aren't you sleeping a bit late?”

“I was up late last night speaking with a few of our sisters.”

“The greeting dinner. It smells like you had quite a nice one. I should have decided to come and visit you sooner. So have you been taken to see your new workshop yet? I bet they've moved all your belongings there already.”

“Not yet and to be honest it's making me kind of worried. I guess that they want to give me some time to settle in. It still makes me concerned though that I haven't seen any of my work since I prepared it for transport.”

“Want me to take you there?”

“You can do that?”

“Sure! Just get dressed and I'll show you the way to the building. Well I'll carry you. It'd take too long if you were to walk. They're probably just making sure everything is prepared though.”

“Pera, you're going to carry me? Don't you believe that would be a bit awkward.”

“Hey! I'm strong enough.”

“I don't doubt that I just mean don't you think it would be very uncomfortable? If not for you I'm pretty sure it would be for me.”

“Ah good point. Hm. I know! I'll go and fetch Maria and she can take you. Though I have to say I'm surprised that she isn't here visiting with you. Aren't you two a couple now?”

“Yes we are.”

Upon hearing the voice both Joseph and Pera looked to the roof of the building to find Maria standing on it. It was Pera that spoke. “Good morning Maria.”

“Good morning Pera. I see you woke up Joseph early.”

“Early? It's not early Maria.”

“I didn't mean early in the day I meant earlier then I intended for him to be woken up.”

“Ah well. So you were letting him sleep in?”

Before continuing Maria quickly hopped down off the roof so she was standing near the window. “Indeed I was. You see today I'm going to begin Joseph's exercise routine so I wanted him to get plenty of wrest.”

While Joseph was glad to see Maria he was actually surprised by her declaration that they would be starting an exercise routine. Instead of responding right away though his mind turned to their previous conversation about his physical condition. “We only just became a couple and you're already planning to get my lazy tail in gear huh?”

“You're darn right I am.”

“Good to know. What's in the bag though?”

Instead of just telling Joseph Maria turned and opened it up so that he could see inside. “I went around the forest and gathered up some of my favorite fruits for us to eat for breakfast. I figure you can eat a nice breakfast first. Then after giving the food some time to digest we'll head towards your new workshop. Along the way I can get a better ideal of your physical condition.”

Well before Joseph could respond Pera spoke up. “Can I join you!”

A slight giggle escaped Maria as she looked at Pera. “I take it you see something in here you like.”

“Well yeah.”

“Joseph it's up to you.”

“Um, well alright then sure. Would you two mind going around to the front door and I'll be there in a moment. I kind of need to get cleaned up.”

Before turning to leave Maria gave a nod. “Be sure to put on something comfortable.”

***********************************************************************************

“I guess Stella has Allen away doing something. She's probably seeing to his lessons if Pera is going around visiting people.” As she spoke Maria pressed her tail gently against Joseph's back to get him to speed up once again. She'd been holding the same pace for five minutes now but Joseph kept wanting to slow back down. As she listened to his heart and muscles though she knew that he could keep the pace up for quite a while longer even if he didn't.

Joseph was having a hard time respond to Maria as he ran along side of her. As he moved he also couldn't help but feel rather silly as they moved past various homes. “I must look- so slow.”

“You're doing fine for a human who hasn't exercised in a while. Joseph you're slowing down again.”

Instead of responding to Maria Joseph continued to slow down even as he felt Maria's tail pressing against him. As he seemed to be leaning into the fury extension he was a bit surprised whenever he felt a sharp pain in his but and he quickly sped up. “Ouch! What-” As he spoke Joseph glanced back and noticed Maria had one of her hands behind him with one of her claws extended. “You poked me!”

“Yep.” A slight chuckle escaped Maria as she stuck her tongue out at Joseph. “If my tail isn't enough to speed you up I'm going to have to use a more convincing method. Now if you lean against my tail for ten seconds I'm going to give you another poke in the rear.”

“Maria is that really called for?”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

It was impossible for Joseph not to grin as he shook his head. “I swear you take this very seriously. Ouch!”

“I meant ten seconds whenever I said it.”

Normally Joseph would have found himself getting upset in such a situation. Instead of getting angry with Maria he felt himself grinning though he did pick up the pace. “So is this what Mina did with Dan?”

“I never actually asked her but I'd guess so. Now keep in mind I'm only getting an ideal of what condition you're in right now. Move your arms.”

“Huh?”

“Swing your arms like I am don't let them lay limp to your sides.”

“You're kidding-”

“I'll poke you some more.”

Instead of continuing to question Maria Joseph found himself swinging his arms as she ran along side of him. As his arms began to move though he felt her tail brushing against his back and immediately sped up his pace. It actually surprised him whenever he felt Maria's palm against his chest. “Huh?”

“Not so fast. You won't last long if you try to run like that.”

“You can really tell all that?”

“I'm listening to your heart rate, your breathing, I can smell your body responding and I can even hear your blood going throughout your body and other things. Joseph I'm not going to cause you to wreck your body but I need you to trust me that whenever I say you can keep going you can keep going.”

“Alright. So is there anything I should tell you about?”

“Yeah let me know if you begin to feel any pain especially if it's very localized.”

In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “You seem to know a lot about this.”

“Of course I do. We have to know about the bodies of our brothers if we're going to avoid injuring you. Plus all of us get plenty of practice cutting things up and seeing how they work. It's really helpful in food preparation and securing alchemical ingredients as well. After all whenever we're asked to bring back a heart of some kind they mean an intact heart more often then not. If we didn't know what we were doing we'd almost always bring them back a bunch of pieces of heart.”

“So you know a great deal about biology?”

“I know enough for general gathering. They're some sisters who've been trained in a wide variety of creatures so they can retrieve what they need. Typically they're sent along if there is a very specific organ we have to recover. I really hate whenever they send us out to get something from a hybrid species.”

“Why is that?”

“The organs aren't always where you would expect them to be.”

“Ouch!”

“You slowed down.”

***********************************************************************************

“Here you are.”

As the brother brought him into the room the first thing Joseph did was scan it for the life bloom. His eyes immediately fell upon the plant setting peacefully in a stream of sunshine. He showed no hesitation in walking over to it and examining the plant. He wasn't surprised to find that it was exactly how he'd left it but he felt that he had to check. He then began to search the room for the seeds that he'd been working on.

“Is something wrong?”

“There was a container of seeds in my lab. Could you tell me where they are?”

In response the brother walked over to a cabinet and touched an emblem upon it. A bright flash of light escaped the emblem and he proceeded to open it. “I'll need you to let me set the emblem to recognize you before I leave but here are your seeds.”

“A magically secured lock?”

“They appeared quite valuable from the way you tended to them so we felt they should be secured as safely as possible.”

“Isn't this entire facility secure? Pardon me but I don't believe I caught your name. I think you told me when I arrived but I was a bit winded to listen.”

“No problem and the name is Daren. As for your question. Well yes the entire facility is secure but they are the occasional issues. Rarely are they intentional but they have been misunderstandings and genuine mistakes. One example that comes to mind happened recently. One of our researchers had been given permission to borrow some basilisk blood for an experiment but he took the wrong container of blood.”

“Wasn't it marked clearly?”

“Yes but the researcher in question is still quite young.” For a moment Daren felt tempted to say that he didn't believe the researcher in question shouldn't even have clearance to enter such rooms but held his tongue on that part.

“Ah. Well there is no harm in keeping your main valuables in a secure place. Now I have to say. This place is amazing!”

A slight chuckle escaped Daren as he nodded his head. “Well I'm glad that you like it. We try to steadily improved the equipment here though I hope you'll understand if all the work areas don't have the same level of improvements. You're getting special treatment to an extent due to the importance of what you're working on.”

“I suppose this area is where you'd like me to grow a few additional plants.” As he spoke Joseph walked over to a large table with a massive cavity in it. He then turned his attention to the crystal above the opening and immediately recognized it as a sun stone though a very tiny one. It was still something he was far from being able to afford before hand. “If I'm getting special treatment it seems I should get to work right away.”

“Well first you should come over here and let me set this glyph to recognize you. You might want to consider picking a team to help you with your research before you begin growing several.”

“Wow. You're all being surprisingly patient.”

“This is an issue we've been working on for hundreds of years most have learned to take keep things in perspective. I should tell you this isn't the first time we've believed that we had our sisters hunger taken care of. The last few times though things didn't work out so well.”

“What did you try?”

“Once we tried using magic items that would constantly supply the sisters with energy. The problem was that the sisters didn't just absorb the energy they were suppose to. Their bodies also went after the energy that maintained the steady flow of power to the medallion and over time the items degraded. There was also the difficulty of producing the items. In the end it was realized that we wouldn't be able to meet the demand.”

In response Joseph gave a nod. “That must have been frustrating. Have you had any luck in recreating the method the Luvarians used?”

“Unfortunately no. Such knowledge was undoubtedly powerful and thus kept in rooms we have yet to gain access to.”

“Alright. Well how do I go about picking my team?”

“You can pick from amongst people you know or if you'd like I can provide you with a detailed listing of our brothers and what they're currently working on and opinions on their mentality. A list of sisters can also be provided and their current status as well as opinions on their mentality.”

“Why do you keep data in regards to their mentality?”

“Well we're not going to promote a foolish brother to a rank of authority no matter how skilled they are. Some magical mishaps and poor choices have taught us that a foolish brother wielding powerful magic or alchemy can be even more dangerous then an angry sister. At least an enraged sister can be taken hold of and restrained by another or several sisters. An explosion can be quite a bit harder to take hold of.”

“At least they can be more dangerous to other brothers?”

“That is true. Sometimes it's truly astounding the amount of energy our sisters can endure and not be harmed.”

“You said astounding but does it ever frighten you?”

“Why would I be afraid of my sisters strength?” For a moment Daren was silent but then a grin formed on his face. “No. I was raised here though so I never saw a reason to be scared of my sisters strength. One thing I do find frightening though is an enraged sister and you'd be wise to do the same. They might be our sisters but even they are affected by emotions.”

“You know. None of the others seemed to really talk about that.”

“They don't tend to think about it and we don't like to bring it up. I will say this. You'd be wise to keep in mind that our sisters are people to and you should never take advantage of them. Even if they care for you deeply it would only take an instant for one to remove your head during a moment of blind passion. You should also be very careful about putting yourself in the middle of their fights. I'm talking physically of course.”

“So getting involved verbally is fine?”

“It depends on the nature of the fight. At times it's really best just to let them fight things out. Anyway, why don't you examine your lab and I'll go and fetch that list of names?”

“Actually. I do have one choice already. I would like Dan, Mina's husband to come work with me.”

“Husband? Oh you mean mate.” In response Daren gave a quick nod. “Well I can't promise that he'll come but if you want I'll go have someone inform him.”

“Thanks would it also be possible to get Carter to come here? I can't tell you his last name or parents name as it were but he's a mage that helped me earlier.”

“Mm I believe I know which Carter you're talking about. That might be a little tougher but I'll see what can be done. In the end it is their choice after all.”

“Is he currently occupied?”

“Carter helps with a lot of projects that call for magic. I'm not sure if having him devoted entirely to one project will be doable but once again I'll see what can be done.”

“Alright. I'll just be keeping myself busy here then.”

“I should be back soon.”

As Joseph watched Daren leave his mind turned to Maria. He'd expected her to come see his lab but she'd told him that she needed to be going. Apparently she'd spent most of her free time making him run. The thought made him chuckle and remember the showers. Part of the facility included a rather large bath area encase the researchers felt the need to get cleaned off for one reason or the other. Joseph couldn't help but wonder how many researchers had a similar experience to himself. Of course they were probably used to insure no residue remained after one was done working primarily.

It felt odd to Joseph to think that Maria had a task to perform. From her general behavior she seemed so active and carefree like she had nothing but time on her hands. That impression had faded away a bit whenever she said she needed to be off. Of course, her speed might have been the reason she had so much free time. Even as these thoughts played in his mind Joseph searched the lab and soon found what he was looking. A large bag of soil for the life bloom to grow in.

As Joseph began to empty the soil into the opening beneath the sun crystal he found himself looking around the room. His attention quickly came to wrest upon the automated mixers he'd noticed. The machines had been designed so that they could keep an alchemical reaction at a certain preset concentration and temperature in order to free up the alchemist from monitoring them. All one had to do is set the timers, temperatures and put the reagents in the proper place and the machine would take care of the wrest.

There had been a few such devices in the larger labs whenever he'd been working for the Gale kingdom but none in his. At least none as complex as the one he found himself looking at. The two that resided in his lab now appeared to be able to handle at least twelve different stages each and probably had some features that the ones he'd seen previously didn't. One thing he noted was several devices that appeared to be designed to agitate the reactants. What surprised him even more though was that there were a few devices that seemed like they might be used to actually remove something from the potion before it was finished.

Such devices were amazingly complex to make and could only be done so by the most skilled craftsmen. Even then finding one with the skill and knowledge was exceptionally rare and securing their help was even more difficult. Was the machine from when the Luvarians were active in the forest or did the sisters have it made recently? In order to answer this Joseph scanned the device for an emblem and soon found one but to his dismay he didn't recognize the mark.

He would be able to make good use of such a device though regardless. The bag going empty took Joseph's attention from the automated alchemical assistant and he began to examine more of the lab as he evened out the soil. The beakers and flask he noted in the room appeared to be glass when he first entered but as he noted them more closely he wasn't certain anymore. He knew of specially made containers used for holding particularly powerful reagents he never expected to be working in a room full of them though.

Lifting his hands from the soil Joseph made his way over to the cabinet where the seeds had been stored and retrieved them. As he did he noted the glyph and nearly smacked himself. He'd distracted Daren and they hadn't taken the time to set the glyph to recognize him. Now if he shut it then he wouldn't be able to open it back up. A sigh escaped Joseph as he resolved to ask Daren to set it whenever he returned and made his way over to the soil and planted four of the seeds he'd taken from the life bloom. As he planted them he retrieved some water from the sink and began to spread it over them.

“Well I guess if I'm going to have some assistants I'm going to have to find some sisters other then Maria to experiment on. I bet Dan will be able to help me with that don't you? After all just one test subject isn't going to work but I still feel strange using living sentient beings like test subjects. I know that they won't be happy if I make them go slow like I did Maria but then again I can't use Maria as a representative sample. She has that mutation that makes her even faster then her sisters after all and while I don't know the details that means there is a difference in their genetics.”

***********************************************************************************

“So Alex how are you doing?”

In response to Markus's comment Alex gave his head a slight shake. “This is harder then I expected it to be.” As Alex spoke he looked up towards Markus. Currently he held a small shovel in one hand. He'd been attempting to dig a flower from the ground but so far his efforts had proven futile.

“Let me see what you're doing.” As he spoke Markus watched intently as Alex pressed the shovel into the ground but spoke up before he could begin working. “Not like that if you do it like that you're just going to hurt your wrist. Here let me show you how to hold it.” As he spoke Markus climbed down and took the shovel from Alex he then began to carefully work it into the dirt. “You see this way you don't hurt your wrist and you can get far more power into the push.”

“Ah I see. I hope that teaching me isn't too trying of an experience but I'm not used to this kind of thing.”

“It's not a problem. I knew that I'd have to teach you some things whenever I requested you be moved beyond the rank of claimed. Though at the rate we're going it's going to be several months before we're ready to depart from this place.”

“That doesn't sound so bad considering that I was one of the claimed not too long ago. I didn't even know if I would ever have a chance to depart. It must be a different story for you though.”

“I'm just glad that the date to get back to anything pressing has long since past. All the opportunities I had made for myself are long since dead by now. Of course I knew the foolish risk I was taking whenever I stepped into this damn forest.”

“You mean you knew that you might lose your life. I doubt you knew you'd end up a slave. None of us did.”

“That is true. You know it's pretty pathetic that they claim we're better then the claimed. If we don't work for them we won't be fed and we can even lose our shelter. If we do something to upset them we lose all sense of freedom and have to return to doing exactly what they told us to do. We're slaves we just get to pick what kind of labor we do for our masters.”

“Yeah and the claim that we can leave at any time we want is laughable. They know that humans will have great difficulty making it through the forest. In all likelihood a lone traveler would end up being killed before they escaped from this forest. Even if they're not killed if one of them happens to save our lives again we end up being brought back here and returned to our full slave status. I wonder if they truly let people leave though. It would be simple to set things up to insure those departing would fail.”

“Yet here we are planning our escape from this slave pin.”

“At least with two of us it improves our odds. Then again they may just decide to kill us and let the others think we either succeeded in escaping or were killed by something else. I'm certain you had already thought of all this though before you made your deal though.”

A sigh escaped Markus as he shook his head. “I don't believe that they'd be so bold as to openly kill us with all they go on about being honest. However, it wouldn't be hard to stir a pack of those damn tuskers in our direction and then claim that we were on their path. I intend for us to leave whenever they'll be the most distracted.”

“Huh? Are you serious? From the way you talked before it sounded like we'd leave as soon as I was ready.”

“Well I'm hoping that will be when you're ready. You're making good progress so it seems likely you'll be prepared before that time.”

“Just when is this most likely time though?”

“Whenever those beast have a reason to feast. They become so focused on their food during such events that they probably won't notice our departure until several days later.”

***********************************************************************************

As Maria took in several breaths of air she could easily make out the scent. A large number of kobolds had recently passed through the area. As she followed the scent she soon came upon visual proof as well. The creatures' natural desire for destruction was quite apparent in the paths they used as hardly any trees could be found unharmed. Various ax and sword marks could be seen as well as several clubs. It frustrated Maria to see such destruction to her home so that she quickly renewed her pursuit of the kobolds.

When the Luvarians had made the forest they'd meant for it to supply a massive amount of reagents to their efforts. One form of reagent was life energy from sentient beings. Using humans for this tended to be frowned upon but th Luvarians had found an alternative that was easier to get hold of and replace. Kobolds were indeed sentient beings and reproduced rapidly. They could also be manipulated so they had designed the forest with a section meant to support but also contain kobolds. They had placed several dangerous species of plants and animal life around the section that would keep the kobolds from spreading too far into the forest for the most part and harvested them when needed.

Maria had no doubt that at one time it had been an effective resource but now it had become a source of frustration for her sisters. Without regular harvesting the kobolds numbers swelled rapidly and soon grew large enough to breach the confines through force of those numbers. This was whenever Maria and her sisters had to reduce their population greatly. They had tried to go beyond that though. Unlike the Luvarians who had facilities throughout the region to support the sisters had little use for so many kobolds so instead of treating them as a crop they'd tried to exterminate them on numerous occasions.

It was something that they had failed to do in every attempt. The first few times had been the sisters acting on their own and with no regard to planning. They didn't need it after all. They just tore through the kobolds killing everything they saw, heard or smelt and figured the task was taken care of. In the end though some kobolds had survived and replenished their numbers each time. The fourth time the brothers had become involved and their had been a great deal more structure imposed upon the attacks in hopes of giving the area a clean sweep. The brothers had even assigned sisters to patrol the area for months after the slaughter to insure all the kobolds were dead.

It hadn't worked though. Despite the greater organization some kobolds had managed to survive and develop in the area. It had seemed like an explosion. One day the sisters who were patrolling returned to the village talking of an explosion of kobolds from beneath the ground. There had been so many that they had been forced to retreat. It had later been found that some of the kobolds who had survived had taken refuge in their underground caves and replenished their numbers before rushing back to the surface. Of course neither the brothers or sisters had been happy about this so they tried again.

Regardless of how careful they were though they never truly managed to wipe out the nest of the kobolds. After so many failed attempts they had finally decided to just control the population until they could devote more effort to insuring the kobolds were exterminated. Now it seemed like they were going to have to take steps to reduce the kobold population again.

“Get away from me!” Even as she called out Xelaney knew the creatures wouldn't listen to her. At least not until she forced them to listen. As the dryad reshaped her finger so that it shot out like a javelin she pierced the skull of the nearest kobold before withdrawing her finger and letting lose several more attacks killing the creatures.

Upon hearing the words Maria quickly hastened her pace. She hadn't smelt a human in the forest though she knew they were other creatures in the forest that sounded human. As she dashed in the direction of the sound she was soon met with the smell of kobold blood. What awaited her ahead of the sent was a site that was unwelcome though not entirely uncommon. A dyrad currently stood in front of her tree with several kobolds surrounding her. She'd already struck down several though it hardly seemed to diminish their numbers. “Are you alright?”

Upon hearing the voice Xelaney quickly turned in Maria's direction. She'd encountered the sisters before and felt a good deal of relief. “I could use some help.”

In response Maria didn't answer verbally but quickly leaped towards the kobolds. Before the creatures had time to respond she lashed out with her claws and felt them easily slice through the throats of the creatures. Even before the creature could recognize that it had been dealt a mortal wound Maria struck out at its friends dealing each one of them a similar wound before moving to the next group of kobolds. Why they were attacking a dryad Maria didn't know but at the moment she didn't care.

A sigh escaped the dryad as Maria began to tear through the kobolds. While she'd felt certain she could deal with her attackers she had great fear of being badly injured in the attack. Now that didn't seem it was going to happen. “Thank you miss.”

“You're welcome.” Even as she spoke Maria pushed off the ground and leaped back into the trees to avoid being surrounded by the creatures. She then wasted no time moving to the outside of the ring that had tried to surround her and resuming her work. “Just what is going on here though.”

“Um shouldn't I wait for you to finish?”

“No. This is about as involved as picking fruit.”

Instead of responding right away Xelaney took a moment to watch Maria. After a few moments of trying to follow Maria's movements it became clear that Maria wasn't bluffing. “They started attacking me two days ago after one of them noticed me. I don't know why but for several days now increasingly large groups have been trying to capture or kill me. So far I've been able to drive them off.”

“Three days.” For a moment Maria slowed down as she left a group of kobolds on the forest floor bleeding to death. By now the other kobolds had realized the situation and began to flee. “That's rather strange. Normally whenever kobolds encounter strong resistance they just pass the area by and take a different path. You don't seem too fearful though.”

“I was nearly to the point of asking for help from my fellow protectors of the forest.”

“Ah yeah at times I forget you dryads aren't exactly lacking for allies in this forest. You know you can call upon us whenever you're being attacked though.”

In response Xelaney gave a nod. “I know. Do you believe that they'll leave me alone now?”

“Given that this is the third day that they've attacked you. No I don't. Even if they do it wouldn't surprise me if they waited until the weather changed so you'd be weaker to try again. Three days in a row though. It looks like the kobolds are beginning to unify somewhat.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I first noticed that they'd come this far into the forest I guessed that their numbers had reached the breaching point again. When that happens they tend to spill out in every direction though or the directions of least resistance. If they're constantly attacking you though it means they're being directed to do so or motivated by something. Probably both really. Which means that something or one of the kobolds has gained enough authority amongst them to act as a leader.”

“So they're intentionally targeting me.”

“Not you exactly but a dryad. Given that it's kobolds we're talking about their leader probably got it into his head that if he drinks your blood or eats some part of you he'll become immortal or gain some great power.”

A frown formed of Xelaney's face as she listened to Maria. “Where do so many come up with such ridiculous ideals? If I was such a powerful being that just by eating part of me one could become immortal do they really think I'd let them take it or that they could?”

“No ideal.”

“Will you help me?”

“Of course! The kobolds having a leader powerful enough to organize them in numbers is almost as annoying as having their numbers grow too large. I'll get some of my sisters together and we'll just go kill the best decorated kobolds and a few thousand of them. That should put an end to this annoyance.”

“A few thousand?”

In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Even if their numbers haven't reached the breaking point they've still stepped outside of their territory. We clearly need to remind them exactly what their place in this forest is.”

***********************************************************************************

“So you already planted the seeds?”

In response Joseph gave a quick nod. “Yeah there isn't a lot to do once they're planted just keep them watered and wait for them to grow. How did your patrol go today Maria?”

“Alright the kobolds are pushing outside of their boundary again. A few of my sisters went to deal with the problem once I reported back after helping a dryad out. Not that she really needed help at the time.”

“A dryad? Was that part of the Luvarians' original design?”

“As far as we know it was. Dryads can be good sources of very useful reagents after all. Especially if you're on good terms with them.”

“So the dryads weren't a crop like the kobolds?”

In response Maria quickly shook her head. “Not as far as we can tell. They were more like tenants back whenever the Luvarians controlled the forest and paid with bits and pieces of their flesh from time to time. At least from what we were able to gather from the records they keep. Particularly helpful dryads were given special consideration it seems.”

“What did they do?”

“They were protected more intently and tended to more carefully then the others who were less willing to help out. The records we found were backed up by some of the dryads we've encountered as well. So what are you going to do once this new crop of life blooms have been grown.”

“I hope to transplant them into a large garden and begin harvesting the fruit for testing and the seeds to grow more. Daren was in here earlier helping me to pick out team members. I'll have to decide on some sisters to help with testing once the other team members have been finalized.”

“What! You mean I'm going to have to share with others? Aren't I test subject enough.”

“Maria. It takes more then one sample to do a thorough test. You could just be a special case that can handle the life bloom safely. That or they may be some sisters that just can't process it well.”

“Humph well that stinks. So who do you plan on adding to your team?”

“I was thinking Dan and Carter would be good first choices. However, that's kind of because they're some of the few brothers that I actually know.”

“So just the three of you?”

“That's all we need I believe. What are you going to do about the kobolds?”

“I'm not absolutely certain. Before I left the dryad I called for a few of my sisters and we went to the kobolds layer and dealt with some of them. We couldn't find anyone that might have been the leader though so we went back and explained that had happened to the dryad. She seemed content and we came back and told our brothers. They weren't so content with the fact that we couldn't find the kobolds leader and seemed like they wanted more done.”

“So they sent additional sisters to thin them out even more. Do you believe they'll send you back their tomorrow in greater numbers?”

“Not really. They'll probably assign other sisters to the task and leave us to our regular patrols if the group they sent after mine doesn't make any progress. I guess I can understand why they'd be upset. We're on pretty good terms with the dryads of this forest and they probably don't want anything putting a strain on that relationship.”

“How could this possibly strain the relationship?”

“Well they might not feel we're doing our fair share of the work. At least they might feel we're doing too little for what we ask of them in return.”

“You mean alchemical reagents?”

“That and other things. So. Got any fruit for me to eat!”

At first Joseph didn't quite register what Maria had said due to the frequency and speed with which she'd said it. When he did finally realize what she'd asked a grin formed on his face. “Yes I do actually. I know lately I've just been letting you eat bits and slices but I believe today we can move up to an entire life bloom. Just make sure that you don't eat the seed I need that.”

“Yay! Gimme and I won't eat the seed.”

“I'm glad you like these.” As he spoke Joseph made his way over to the plant and retrieved one of the fruit. “I figure that I should do some testing and insure that for the most part if not in all cases the life bloom is safe for you and your sisters to eat.”

As she took the fruit from Joseph Maria had to resist the urge to bite through it right away. “Then you'll be ready to start growing the life bloom in mass?”

“Yeah. If it turns out that the life bloom is poisonous to your sisters or to a moderate number of them then there won't be much of a reason to go large scale. At least not until that problem is fixed.”

“Ah! Why not?” As she finished speaking Maria quickly sunk her teeth into the fruit.

“Well it's not like it'll do much good if it kills or makes one in five of you sick.”

“Now that isn't true. While there might be some that couldn't eat it you could free up more food for those who can't by letting those who can eat the life bloom do so. Every sister would just have to find out if the life bloom makes her sick or if it is safe for her. We don't quit letting our brothers eat fish just because one of them happens to have a nasty reaction to one of them.”

“Well that is true. It seems rather reckless though to release something that could have adverse affects on such a large portion of the population.”

“Believe me Joseph we wouldn't mind if it freed up more food for others and provided a new source for the rest. The only problem I can is well if it actually started killing us.”

“Yeah plus I don't know about long term side affects. That's another reason why I want some team mates. So they can give you a physical examination as I have limited knowledge on how your bodies work.”

“Would you like a book on it?”

Once again Joseph found himself surprised by Maria's statement so he took a moment to respond. “Of course your brothers would have done studies on your physical condition.”

A slight giggle escaped Maria as she nodded her head. “Yep.”

Before Joseph could respond a knocking on the lab door drew his and Maria's attention. Maria had actually heard the person coming but she hadn't been certain if they'd be stopping at Joseph's lab or not. As they stood outside the door though she recognized their sent. Joseph was already moving across the room to open the door so she said nothing.

“Good evening Joseph.”

“Carter, it's good to see you.”

“Joseph it's nice to see you and you as well Maria. May I come in?”

“Sure.” As Joseph responded he stepped to the side and allowed Carter into the lab. “I was actually expecting to see Dan before your arrival though.”

“So you invited Dan to work on your project as well?”

“Yes.”

“I imagine he wants to speak with Mina before making any decisions. I don't have such concerns. Anyway, I came by to let you know that I would be happy to help you with your project and have you already planted the first of the seeds?” As he spoke Carter began to walk towards the table where the seeds had been planted.

“I did as soon as I got to the lab and had a free moment.”

“Ah I would have liked to see that. Was there any alchemy or magic involved in their planting.”

“I'm afraid not.”

“Oh? Hm I'm actually surprised to hear that. You know designing them so that a alchemical solution or bit of mystic energy would be needed to stimulate the seeds to grow is an excellent form of population control.”

“When I was designing the life bloom I actually meant for nature to be the limiting factor in its design. I wanted for anyone to be able to plant and grow it.”

“Ah I see. Well before I go further I should tell you. I would be happy to help with this project however I do have other task to attend so. Still most of them are here as well so I shouldn't be far. I'll give advanced warning whenever I plan to be away for some time however I would like advanced warning as well when you know you're going to need my aid.”

“That sounds reasonable. One thing I would like helping doing is finding sisters to serve as test subjects. Maria has been helping me and Mina was suggested but they both have mutations. I'm worried that something in their altered bodies could allow them to handle the life bloom while another sisters can't.”

“That shouldn't be too difficult. We'll need to pick from sisters who are trust worthy but have tasks that we can find some replacements for. I have a few in mind already actually.” Before continuing Carter turned to Maria. “So is that one of the life blooms you're snacking on right now?”

In response Maria gave a quick nod. “Yep.”

“Would it be alright if I had a taste? I've been curious as to what they taste like for a while.”

“Ah sorry. This is important research material and while I can understand your curiosity you have to realize that the actual testing has priority.”

At first Carter was silent as he looked at Maria. A slight chuckle escaped him seconds later. “Well aren't you just being greedy.”

“Yep!” Before continuing to eat her fruit Maria quickly stuck her tongue out at Carter for a moment.

“So Joseph has Maria showed any ill response to the life bloom?”

“Nothing so far. I've been steadily allowing her to eat more and more of the life bloom to see if her body has any negative responses but nothing has occurred yet. She seems to really like them though and has reported a great decrease in her hunger while eating one. One thing that I find intriguing though is that no matter how feeling she finds the fruit in the beginning the duration between when she feels sated and whenever she feels hungry again remains the same.”

“That's to be expected with our sisters. No matter how full they feel at any given time they always feel hungry again at roughly the same time interval. The only thing that seems to ever expand these time gaps between feeling stated and feeling hungry is whenever their bodies are allowed to grow larger. We theorize that it's because their bodies want to reach a sort of natural scale and thus seek to consume until it has the energy to reach that size.”

“I'm guessing to remain at that size though they would deplete the entire forest very quickly.”

“That is correct though we don't know how quickly. We believe that at a certain scale they would feel content almost as often as they feel hungry now if not constantly but we've never had one of them reach that scale yet.”

“So what do you hope the life bloom will do?”

“Joseph if we could give our sisters even another meter of height within the next ten years it would be seen as a great success. It would ease their pain considerably and perhaps will learn something from the life bloom while we're doing that.”

“So you'd be content with another meter?”

In response Carter gave his head a slight shake. “No. We won't be happy with the results until our sisters pain is no more. Only then will we be happy but if we can just give them another meter so soon that would be wonderful. Plus with the life bloom there would be less of a chance of them having to revert to a smaller size during a time of starvation.”

“I hate to say this but at times I forget about Maria's hunger. She just seems so lively most of the time that the ideal that she's starving at the moment seems so strange. I wonder what you would be like if you were filled all the time.” As he spoke Joseph glanced over at Maria who just grinned and remained focused on her fruit.

“That's a question all of us have wondered and has sparked some debate and issues.”

“Are they some amongst the brothers who believe if the sisters didn't have their hunger they wouldn't behave so nicely?”

“Indeed they are some that do believe that though we try to discourage such thoughts. A brother that wants to keep our sisters hungry so that they'll play nicely can't be tolerated though.”

“What do you do in such a situation?”

“Generally they're demoted to rank five if they have reached a rank above such status. They're assigned tasks of minimum importance and left to their thoughts. We can't have someone who'd use our sisters hunger against them holding a high position after all. This is of course assuming he never acts upon such impulses.”

“Have there been any incidents like that?”

“A few. There is one very notable case when a brother tried to use our sisters hunger to manipulate them. It involved a brother trying to convince a sister to murder another brother. The sister was a keeper at the time but she'd recently been demoted and was going to have to revert to guardian level. The brother promised to use his newfound influence to insure she wasn't demoted and maybe let her grow a little larger if she would remove someone who was blocking his progress. She dismembered him.”

“You mean she helped such a traitor?”

“No. I meant that she tore apart the one that had tried to bribe her. I do mean literally tore as well. She grabbed him by both of his arms and ripped them from his body. His legs followed soon after. You can imagine it caused quite a stir amongst both the brothers and sisters and there was quite an intensive investigation to find out what had happened.”

“What happened to her?”

“Those sisters that arrived shortly after restrained her though she was lucky they didn't try to kill her. Later though, those that had arrived confirmed that she'd been enraged. Her scent told them that she's had a massive rush of anger. She was well beyond infuriated at the time of their arrival so it's fair to assume that she'd been so whenever he'd actually made her the offer.”

“So was it the fact that he was trying to use her hunger to control her or the fact that she was being asked to kill a brother that made her so angry?”

“As far as they can tell it was a little bit of both. She was still demoted to guardian level but that had nothing to do with her response to the brothers offer. He should have known that one of our sisters wouldn't respond well to such an offer though.”

“So they take such offers as quite a serious insult.”

“Indeed. Now don't get me wrong though. It's fairly common to use food as a motivator whenever dealing with our sisters you just have to make sure you're not doing it in an insulting way.”

In response Joseph gave a nod. “I imagine it's like offering someone a job and acting like they're something that can just be bought with money. One is alright and welcome while the other can be very insulting.”

“You're probably right. So how long until the life bloom begins to grow?”

“It grows rather rapidly actually. We should be able to start gathering fruit from it in just over a month.”

“Now that is impressive. I'm a little curious what you're going to do until that time though.”

“Honestly I'm not sure. Before hand I would just work on healing potions but now that I'm not required to do that anymore I guess I'll have to come up with something else to pass my time. I suppose I should go ahead and get the crystals set up though. I want to monitor how the energy levels in the room change as the life bloom grows. I believe you know of my primary concern that caused me to flee the Gale kingdom.”

“The life bloom was allowing mystic energy to bleed into the world around it. I believe that was it.”

“Yeah. I didn't have time to find out if the bleeding was additive though or it behaves in a different way. Does having two life blooms together double the bleeding, increase it by four times or is the rate slower? That's one of the major questions I need to answer.”

“Hm just be careful to do all your measurements either before or after our sisters arrival. If you don't then your data will be inaccurate.”

“You make a good point there thanks for reminding me. Any sisters entering the room would probably absorb any energy that had been let into the environment. Carter how much of a burden would it be to start growing the life bloom on a large scale in a controlled environment?”

“By large scale I assume you mean around a hundred fully grown trees.”

“That should be enough.”

“ Give me a moment to think.” As he finished speaking Carter closed his eyes and began to lightly tap the edge of the table in front of him. “We could easily make room in the catacombs the issue would be insuring that we have enough sun crystals to provide enough light. I'm certain that it could be done though. We could also grow them above ground and just use a illusion to hide the garden from anything flying over the forest but I believe that it would be best to keep such a large scale and potentially dangerous operation underground. Overall I believe the best choice would be to use one of the old underground research wings.”

“You mean you already have places built for such research?”

“Well yeah we've had to do large scale research of our own you know. They haven't been used in some time though so I'm not absolutely certain about their condition. It'd probably take a week to inspect everything and repair any damage that need taken care of. Once that was done we'd need a few more weeks to bring in the soil, prepare an irrigation system and pick the sun crystals we're going to use. That is doing things at the regular pace. We could make it a high priority and probably have everything done in one to two weeks but that's only for emergency situations.”

“A few weeks? How do you propose to do that in a few weeks?”

“We have a lot of mages, architects a few dwarfs as brothers and our sisters can work harder and longer then most humans even with magic assistants and not even break a sweat.”

“I see your point. Carter I have a question to ask. Have you ever wondered why our sisters like to work on things like cloth work, gardening-”

Instead of waiting for Joseph to finish Carter spoke up. “I believe it'd be better if you asked some of them.”

“I have but I wondered what a brothers perspective was. One that has been a brother far longer then I have been.”

“Joseph if the only thing you had to do all day long was walk a few meters to pick up your meals, eat it, use the washroom and sleep do you believe you'd be very happy?”

“Not really. I imagine I'd get quite bored.”

“I don't think there is one answer to your question rather I'm certain that they are several answers to it. Some of them do it because they want something to do other then eat, sleep and poop something that they can show off. Others work because they enjoy being helpful to their sisters and brothers. I'm certain some do it for both reasons. They are also rewards for taking on such tasks. Finally I'm certain they're some that do it because if they don't help out they also won't eat.”

“That sounds right. It's actually very similar to what our sisters told me. Now another question. Why do you strive so hard to help your sisters? You could take the skills you've gained and knowledge then leave the forest and make quite a nice living elsewhere.”

“My reasons? I find this work satisfying. I get a nice feeling of accomplishment whenever I do something to aid our sisters especially if it has long term affects. I believe I enjoy a very comfortable life style here as well. Even if I were to leave and find a task that afforded me more luxuries I doubt the work would be as satisfying and to be honest I question the value of some of those luxuries.”

“You mean like a servant to clean your home?”

“Okay now that would be nice. That I do admit. Here though I can expect a nice steady supply of fresh fruit, vegetables and meats. I also get to try all sorts of interesting things at the dining halls.”

“Huh!”

“What?”

“I'm kind of surprised that you said you'd enjoy having someone to clean your home. You mean you don't have any form of house servants here?”

“Well at times young sisters or brothers are rewarded for cleaning up someone's home but there is no one that does it as a profession. Well young brothers and sisters are times rewarded for cleaning or punished by being made to clean. That's not much of a problem though as few homes actually get larger then your own.”

“I guess such jobs aren't considered important enough to devote any real resources to it.”

“I don't tend to think they are. They're plenty more productive things that one can do with their time after all.”

“How about childcare?”

“Ah now that is another story. Typically we like to insure that the parents can take care of the child however should something happen that requires the parents attention they're sisters that can tend to such tasks. Generally we take them from the less worrisome patrols and places like the libraries. At times brothers are also called upon to tend to the children. Especially if their work is in a waiting stage.”

“You mean like me waiting for these trees to grow?”

“Hm to an extent I suppose. I'd say that finding out how the energy from the trees interacts as they grow though is fairly valuable knowledge. On that subject though how about we start setting up the crystals to monitor it?”

“Yeah that's probably a good ideal.”

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It had taken some time but Dan had finally become used to standing next to Mina. Behind and in front of her had taken even longer though he'd came to enjoy it a great deal though it was awkward. So that as he stood next to Mina he reached behind her and quickly ran his index finger over the top of her tail where it connected to her back. Immediately he noted the incredible muscles in her body tensing up as she bit down on her lip. Before he could continue tickling her though he felt a rather large but very spread out impact as Mina bumped him with the side of her thighs.