The Oracles of Mer

Chapter 19: Flow

Essa tossed and turned. Bau was busy with Thao and Cor in meetings and planned to be all night. Sarah was busy keeping an eye on them, she knew something was up and was trying desperately to figure it out before it surprised her. That left the girls to themselves.

Exhausted and frustrated Essa sat up "I give up, what else can I do..." she climbed out of bed and headed for the table that Bau had sat up in the corner for her. "It's not like I don't have options" She sat down in the chair and looked through the papers on the makeshift desk. Until she came to the Harem list. Silently she wondered to herself how many of those women were honestly loyal to the princes that protected and spoiled them.

She pulled out the tablet and looked up the names randomly in the multitude of databases she had access to. After only a few minutes she had already formed three lists. One for those who were hoping to marry one of the princes and were wanting more time with them. One for those who need help with a problem, some of these were complicated but all were not caused by the women. But the last list made her nervous it was for those who can't be trusted.

"You're supposed to be resting," Ki came in with a frown "I'm going to get into trouble, if they catch you."

"I can't stop tossing and turning, I don't understand why." She leaned back in the chair and rubbed her belly. "She is resting right now."

"Well, what are you doing?" Ki came over to look "the Harems..." she cringed "it's never well received when one of the women who aren't in the Harem tries to govern them."

"That's just it, I'm not governing them, they are clearly not comfortable where they are and some of the women are really miserable." She pulled out a file "this woman has a brother and a sister that were abandoned on a foreign planet and have nobody to look after them. Her brother is sixteen her sister is seven."

"What?" Ki pulled the folder away from Essa and star flipping through it "why weren't any of us informed of this?"

"That's my point, there is so much we don't know." She sighed "I found three women who are only here because the men they connected with are listed as barren and can't father a child..."

"So they were forced into military service, and are guards here." Ki's heart sank a bit "nothing we can do about that."

"I don't know about that, we have a potent Living Oracle here that might be able to heal them, if not why can't we elevate those women to some point where they get there own harem of sorts and gift them those men?"

"Or, if Bau can heal them then the princes could release them all, the women from the Harem and the men from service. However that brings a stain on them, the girls would bear the bad looks from everyone and the men would not be allowed to do anything..."

"Maybe become paid soldiers instead of indentured soldiers." Essa made another folder and tucked the information she had just found and printed out into it.

"That would work." Ki smiled

"But who really needs to know, we can gift one half of the couples to the other as a reward or something."

"That's brilliant actually." She looked at the stacks "what is that stack for?"

"Women who I can prove have been bedding the guards, the paid guards" she sighed "that can father children. By my calculations three of the women who are pregnant are pregnant by way of a guard not the prince they claim."

"Wow, you actually have the guts to go there huh?" Ki tried not to get upset. "Look, questioning the loyalty of a harem woman is only acceptable if you are in the harem."