AN: These first five chapters combined cover a period about twenty-four hours long. I'll speed up the pace starting with the next chapter.
With her petals open again, Colette tried to simply relax. But it was an impossible task. If she tried to close her eyes even for an instant, her mind began to fill up with memories—recent, vivid, traumatic memories.
Can't… Can't think about that… have to do something else…
Colette looked around. Her two half-sisters were tugging on Auntie Mary's arms, trying to get her to do something.
"You girls can bathe first," Auntie Mary said. "I'm not sweaty or—"
"You've been doing the most work today, Mom!" Amelia insisted.
"If you won't go there on your own, we'll—we'll pick you up and dump you in the bath!" Elise added.
Colette giggled. "Auntie Mary, maybe you should go along with it."
Auntie Mary sighed. "Alright. I'll finish quickly so you girls can—"
"We can just go together!" Amelia said. "Seriously, Mom, you can lighten up a little!"
Thus the four of them went into the bathroom together. This was a spacious room with a marble bath sunk into the floor, currently filled with warm water. There were no taps around the bath, making Colette wonder just how it was filled up. There was a wide variety of soaps on offer, as well as vases of flowers that filled the air with comforting aromas. Lighting was provided, both here and in other rooms, by oil lamps: funny-looking things shaped like various animals, each with a small hole on top to let out the oil vapour for burning.
They stripped down in preparation. It was at this point that Colette realised why Auntie Mary had initially wanted to bathe alone.
Everyone, both in this world and the previous one, knew about the scar on her face. Yet, as Auntie Mary slipped off her clothes, Colette saw many more scars: bite marks on her right forearm, a huge patch of reddened skin on the left part of her abdomen, and one long scar running down her left thigh.
"M-Mother…" Elise said quietly. "You've been hurt that many times?"
"By my enemies," Wilmarina said quietly. She touched scar after scar in a self-conscious manner. "I could heal these wounds fully… but I allow traces to remain, as a reminder to myself to stay sharp." She then pointed at the bath. "Now, let's go in, before it cools down."
The four of them stepped into the bath. For Colette, this meant stepping out of her flower and just entering with her humanoid part. Like all alraunes, the flower was part of her body yet also something she could separate from.
But I haven't been doing much with these legs lately… Colette stretched out her humanoid legs, which were now tingling from the sudden exertion. Been using just my roots ever since… last night? Last afternoon? Hard to keep track of time after getting summoned to a different world…
Colette peeked at Auntie Mary and saw that her body had completely loosened up.
She must be incredibly tired… The rest of us just had to stay awake, really, but she was constantly on the move, casting magic to the point of exhaustion again and again…
She also saw the scars again. She was tempted to ask how each one had been obtained, but the potential answers frightened her. She suspected the same was true of her half-sisters.
Colette picked up a bar of soap. She preferred using liquid soap, but this would have to do. And the soap did smell rather nice. She began rubbing it along one arm, then the other.
Then she flinched as something poked her in the chest. It turned out to be Amelia's finger.
"Say, I didn't bring this up before, but do you not wear bras, Colette? Because I didn't see one after you took off your shirt."
"N-Not usually," Colette replied. She tried not to look at her half-sister's glamorous figure, which always made her feel envious. "Usually, I just throw on something from my wardrobe… since I rarely go out, so my appearance doesn't really matter."
"Well, you should probably start now," Amelia said. She lifted up Colette's breasts with both hands. "Because you're bustier than any of us, and these two babies will really stand out without a bra!"
Colette blushed, red mixing with the normal green of her face. "I-I-I…"
"That is a good point," Wilmarina said, though she pulled Amelia's hands away. "Colette… to be clear, I'll never make you go out in public if you don't want to. But if you ever want to, it would be a good idea to be prepared."
That was something Colette understood. With just a shirt and nothing else, her breasts would stand out in various ways. That wouldn't have been a major problem back in Lescatie, where the streets were filled with monsters dressed even more provocatively.
But here, I'm one of a few monsters… I'd draw a lot more attention…
The attention Colette had sensed today, even through her petals, made her uncomfortable. It would be prudent to take measures to reduce that attention.
"Okay… I'll try."
"But do they have brassieres in this world?" Elise asked.
"I checked these big wooden chests lying around," Amelia said. "They're packed with all kinds of clothes, but not a bra in sight. But don't worry, Colette. I'll ask the humans for material, and by tomorrow, I'll have three ready for you!"
"Thank you…"
Wilmarina looked at Amelia and pursed her lips. Colette guessed it was because she disapproved of how her elder daughter had learned so much about lingerie.
I wish I was that bold… Colette glanced at where Amelia had left her clothes, spotting the black silky undergarments that lay on top of the rest. Wow… is that the kind of thing she wears for her pictures…?
"Speaking of which… we're now in a strange new land, full of humans," Wilmarina said.
"Yeah, and they're humans who don't have any idea what monsters are like," Amelia said. She ran wet fingers through her golden hair. "Hard to believe that's really a thing."
"It's not just limited to this city," Elise said. She was scrubbing her pleasure rune-covered torso. "From what we've heard, there's multiple continents, all of them big enough to have many countries. Apparently, it can take months to travel the world! It might even be bigger than ours!"
"Actually, I think that's just a limit of their technology," Auntie Mary said. "Bear in mind that even back home, it would take most humans months to travel the world on foot, horseback or ship."
That reminded Colette of just how sheltered her upbringing was. She hadn't stayed in Lescatie all her life, she'd been to Royal Makai and Zipangu on family trips. But those were all monster realms. She'd never been to a neutral country, much less an Order-dominated one. What she knew of the outside world came mainly from books.
"At first, it all seemed so confusing, and scary…" Colette said. "But then it turned out there's good people here as well."
"Aaand it looks like one of us wants to know them better," Amelia said, playfully nudging her full sister with an elbow.
Elise countered with a splash of water that struck Amelia in the face. "Well, what's wrong with that!?"
"Please try not to waste water," Auntie Mary advised. "Heating up water and filling a bath with it takes great effort in a world like this. They'd have to heat water by burning wood, then carry the water here manually, bucket by bucket."
The two succubi looked sheepish.
"And be careful about… getting too close to the humans here," Auntie Mary continued. "First, turning any of them into incubi or monsters could cause problems."
"But it would solve more problems," Elise protested. "It would cure them of diseases, without you needing to heal them, Mother, and then prevent them from getting sick again. With more strength and magic, they could live much easier lives. They could live longer—I remember learning that humans are lucky to live to seventy or eighty, and that's in our world! Who knows what it's like here!"
"It would do all of those things," Auntie Mary agreed. "The question is, are those benefits worth the permanent problem of no longer having any sons? There's a good reason why our world hasn't been fully converted yet, despite how easy it would be."
Colette sank into the bath until only her head was above the water. She'd never thought of it that way.
"What if… What if only people who were sick or hurt got monsterised?" Amelia suggested. "Then the ones still human, they could still have sons!"
"That would still mean converting thousands, at a minimum," Auntie Mary said. "It could never be contained. We could hardly force those thousands to never have intercourse with any of the remaining humans. And said remaining humans, seeing their fellows live much better lives, would rightfully demand the same for themselves. Eventually, Meereen would end up the same as Lescatie is now, a population who are very content with their lives, but dependent on new males being brought in to have new generations."
The three younger monsters fell silent. This was a problem that everyone in Lescatie knew about, even if some didn't consider it serious.
"I know it's a difficult situation," Auntie Mary said. "I'm not ruling the option out permanently. Perhaps, once I bring the queen back, we can discuss it."
They continued the bath mostly in silence. Colette, and probably her sisters as well, spent much of it thinking.
Not turning humans, even when they're in real trouble… it goes against what we learn in school, what the leaders of monsters say. "Conversion is a gift, one that should always be offered to those in need"…
But not being able to have sons… it's hardly talked about, but anyone who thinks about it even a little can see it's a problem. I've heard a few of my sisters complaining about how single men in Lescatie are rarer than lilim.
A few minutes later, Amelia raised another topic. "Wait, Mom, are you going to be okay without Dad? I mean, he's nowhere to be seen, and you're… a married monster."
"That's right," Elise said. "Earlier today, you mentioned… going away from him on missions, but none of those lasted longer than a couple of weeks, if I remember right. But we don't know how long it will take for us to return home."
Auntie Mary was partway through cleaning her tail. She stopped and said, "That's a fair thing to worry about… But I once spent more than a year without being able to lay with Elt. I should be able to manage."
That came as a surprise to Colette and, based on their stunned expressions, to her sisters as well.
"More than a year?" Colette said. "But how? When?"
"That is… an unpleasant story," Wilmarina said, narrowing her eyes. "I'll tell it in future, I promise… but not tonight. You've all had to deal with quite enough already."
Amelia and Elise protested, but their mother remained firm on this.
Thus, the four monsters eventually finished their bath. They left the now-lukewarm water and dried their bodies using towels provided for them in the bathroom. In Colette's case, she also returned to her flower.
The bathroom was stocked with robes of various sizes and colours. Colette decided not to bother putting one on, since the night was warm enough to go without. Her half-sisters and stepmother did put on robes.
"Say, how do they handle laundry here?" Amelia, now in a pink robe, wondered.
"There is that basket over there," Wilmarina said as she tied the sash of her white robe. "See the note attached to it? I haven't learned much of the written language here, but one of those words is 'clothing'."
Colette and her half-sisters put their clothing in the basket. However, Wilmarina simply folded up her clothes and kept them in hand.
"Mother, aren't you going to have yours washed?" yellow-robed Elise asked.
"This is one of my sets of clothing that has defensive enchantments," Wilmarina explained. "And because it, like your clothes as well, has anti-stain enchantments, it doesn't strictly need to be washed."
"Yeah, but… are you seriously planning to wear that every day?" Amelia asked with a raised eyebrow. "Especially after a day this hectic, with everything we've been through? Seriously, Mom, you can at least have them washed! These humans have left lots of clothes for us, I saw in the chests! I can make those fit us, you don't have to keep wearing… those boring things!"
"Since I plan to be leaving this city to retrieve the queen very soon, I'll be wearing this outfit for that," Wilmarina said in a tone that brooked no argument. "But your help will be needed, that's true. Amelia, please refit clothes both for our family and also for the two dragons. I have a feeling they'll need them."
They left the bathroom and began heading towards the bedrooms.
"Well, I have learned about clothes for winged monsters—ones with wings for arms, I mean," Amelia said, putting a finger over her lips in thought. "Not enough to make 'em from scratch, but I can definitely…"
"Maybe for tomorrow morning," Elise said. "We're all very tired from…" A shadow passed over her face. "Everything that's happened today…"
Colette glanced out the window and saw the pitch-black sky. Unlike her home of Lescatie, there was no artificial light and so she couldn't see the cityscape of Meereen. The clearest things she could see were the raindrops spattering against the window itself.
A lot has happened today… I could definitely use a bed now…
There were more than enough bedrooms for each of them, it turned out, each with a fancy-looking double bed. And at home, they did all sleep separately. In Colette's case, she often slept inside her flower.
However, Colette tugged on Auntie Mary's sleeve and said, "S-Sorry, I know I'm not a little girl anymore… but tonight, can we…?"
Auntie Mary put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Of course, Colette."
"For tonight, perhaps we should all be together," Elise suggested. She looked at her full sister. "Don't you agree?"
Amelia had always been an independent one and she'd frequently gotten into arguments with her mother. Yet even she quietly agreed.
They carried a double bed from one room to another, setting it next to the existing bed to create enough space for them all. Then they all snuggled in together. Colette—leaving her flower again—ended up having Amelia on her right and Auntie Mary on her left, with Elise to the other side of Auntie Mary.
"Hah… a real bed at last…" Amelia sighed. "And with a sweet-smelling sis to hug, too!"
"Th-Thanks," Colette said. "But I don't smell that good, I'm pretty sure I'm average for alraunes. The perfumes you own are much better."
"You should be more confident in yourself!"
The conversation continued in this light-hearted vein for a while. Eventually it took a turn for the serious.
"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Amelia asked.
"I'll go out into the city again, to heal those whose lives are still in danger," Wilmarina said. "After that, I'll gather up travelling supplies, and also some of the belongings of this city's queen."
"Belongings?" Colette asked. "What for?"
However, Elise managed to figure it out first. "To track her down. Right, Mother?"
"Yes," Wilmarina said, smiling a little. "You should all remember from your magic lessons the Law of Association. If I have belongings of Queen Daenerys that she used recently, such as clothes or jewellery, I can then track her down. I plan to go out with the dragons to bring her and the third dragon back to Meereen." She hummed in thought. "No, it would be better to go out with just one dragon, either Rhaegal or Viserion. The other should stay here in the city, just in case something happens."
"Okay… but what about the prince guy, Quentyn?" Amelia asked. "What's your idea on how to heal him? Is it to try bringing him back as an undead incubus?"
Colette recalled the grotesque sight of the burned prince. He looked—and, disgustingly, even smelled—more like a hunk of roasted meat than a human. It was hard to imagine anyone being able to heal him.
But if anyone can do it, I'm sure Auntie Mary can!
"Necromancy is not that simple," Auntie Mary said. "Not only have I never practiced it before, but even trained necromancers have their limits. There's a reason why, for example, Sasha used to care for monster orphans. Those orphans weren't like that because their parents abandoned them…"
Colette shivered, causing Amelia and Auntie Mary to pat her on the head. It was a reminder of Lescatie once being a country focused on monster-slaying.
"To heal Quentyn… I'll first need to do some experiments," Auntie Mary said thoughtfully. "I might need to borrow some animals—goats, sheep, for example—for that. But it would have to wait until after the queen's return." Seeing both Amelia and Elise open their mouths, she added, "Because the prince can live for at least a few days longer. But for every day, every hour Meereen remains without leadership, it is in chaos. I have to prioritise one over the other."
"…I don't like it, but fine," Amelia said. "Just wish it didn't have to be like that."
"Healing is more difficult than I thought…" Elise said. "It's not just a matter of skill. You also need to decide… who to heal first, who needs help more urgently."
That struck a personal note for Colette. In the past, she'd been thinking about her future career. Healing was one of the options she'd seriously considered, as she had the magical skill needed for it. Yet she'd opted for spatial magic research in the end, finding it a more interesting path even if it was less lucrative.
If I'd gone into healing… would I have failed out of it? I don't think I could handle being responsible for people's lives…
But there has to be something else I can do.
Colette wouldn't be able to resume her spatial magic research. Just the thought of it made her tremble. Yet she couldn't just sit back and let Auntie Mary take care of everything.
I'm not a girl anymore… well, I'm only fifteen, not exactly an adult yet, but I have good grades in most of my subjects. There has to be something I can do to help!
She looked at her green hands. As an alraune, Colette had an inherent advantage with certain kinds of magic. She'd never really practiced with them, but in the present situation…
"What about us?" Colette asked. She grasped her stepmother's hands and clenched them tightly. "I'm sure you don't want us going out on that queen search with you. But we can still help."
"Yes, that's right!" Elise said. She sat up, allowing Colette to see more of her. "I've already—starting this afternoon, I've already thought of some ideas to help these people!" She took a deep breath. "Alright, so I'm sure you've all noticed that this city's sewerage system… is not up to Lescatian standards."
Amelia grimaced. "That's one way to put it."
"I briefly saw that while flying around this morning," Wilmarina said. "There are brick-lined openings along the city's north wall, which discharge sewage to the river… and that river's water looked visibly tainted, even from the air."
Colette wanted to vomit upon hearing that. The combined waste of a city of many thousands of people… it would be an incredible burden on the local environment.
"The problem is even worse than I thought…" Elise said. "But luckily, there's an entire kingdom of life perfectly suited to handling that problem! And once it's solved, the river should be much more useful for fishing, irrigation or other uses!"
"U-Um… as for me, maybe I could ask if I can look at their gardens?" Colette suggested. "There's lots of plants growing on the sides of these pyramids, and… it's not my specialty, I might be able to, to improve them a little…"
"Certainly," Auntie Mary said. "But you shouldn't be alone for that… perhaps I'll accompany you for that before I—"
"Come on, Mom!" Amelia cut in. "You're gonna be busy enough tomorrow already! I'll go out to the gardens with her, and we'll take some of those Unsullied if it makes you worry less."
"…That should be enough. I just feel that…"
The conversation continued until late in the night. Yet eventually, fatigue overtook them all and they went to sleep.
As her consciousness faded, Colette remembered all of the things that happened today. She remembered seeing a completely new society and meeting more humans than she'd ever met in her life before. She remembered bloody corpses, even those of babies, and the gruesome reality of a battlefield.
Remembering it made the alraune shiver. For someone who'd come from a peaceful society, who felt scared even from people raising their voices, it had been terrifying.
We're here… all because of me…
But she wasn't alone. She could feel warm arms around her, and that helped her to stop shivering.
AN: In the original draft, I had Wilmarina saying her unpleasant story. I decided to postpone that so as to not overload the readers with information.