Phony Potions

Chapter 1 Part v

A sharp woman's voice cut across both of our concentrations. The sorcerer's gaze jerked up, color flooding his cheeks. A woman holding a small infant to her chest strode out from the shady doorway of the manor, a beleaguered looking woman in a black tunic chasing her with a shawl draped between her hands. The woman in black was holding it out, gesturing at the woman with the child, who ignored her. Rick's gaze flicked between the shawl-bearer and the baby-bearer, and when he spoke it was with the same out-of-control annoyance he'd shown his son.

"Bea? What are you doing out of the house?"

"Walking around to see our new city is a perfectly acceptable activity."

The woman was gorgeous, a splash of cool water in the desert of despair I was currently burning alive in. Her arms, flexed with padded muscles, indicated a life of activity before she started her life of maternity. A modest but well-tailored skirt hung off of her ample hips, pooling on the ground. One of her breasts was out of her lacy white top, obscured by the black haired infant feeding there. The breast was the reason for the sorcerer's red face. A poor woman's chest was a common enough sight, especially with infants, but an Arcanacrat hardly ever acted in such a way.

"While... exposed?"

The woman, Bea, loosened the arm that had been supporting the small baby and gestured toward the town. Some of the women in line had been feeding babies as well, though I hadn't even looked twice because of the commonness of it among ungifted. The sorcerer was protesting, ranting about dignity and decorum and the delicate responsibilities of a proper woman in the Enchanted caste, but she cut him off.

"There's no one important around for miles, finally. You've had delegates and guests in and out all month. It's been exhausting playing hostess. Especially to that obnoxious Charmster, ex-lover or no she's so tiresome Ricky... and anyway, I wanted to be in the sun on this lovely day. Who is going to judge us, the ungifted? Why is that man crawling around in coin?"

I winced as my Giant baby snatched a bunch of the skirt's fabric in her fist. She tugged, causing Bea to look down. Bea's face didn't squish in offense, but blossomed with curiosity.

"Is that... a tiny Giant?" She asked. Turning demurely away from us, she disengaged the small baby and tugged her shirt back up. The infant in her arms began to whine, working its way up to a full-fledged bawl. "Don't tell me you want to adopt another child. This little one here is fussy enough for triplets." She bounced the tiny baby in her arms, who fussed as its dark hair was stirred by the breeze. Even as she protested, she didn't pull her skirt away from the Giant's hands.

"What?" Ricky blurted, as confused as I was.

"I don't even know where I would start with feeding a Moon Giant. They're cannibals aren't they? Well I mean, they eat humans and elves. That hasn't been legal since the War, so it'd have to settle for pork. And how to properly civilize it? Suppose we'd have to hire a special nanny, a Wishid maybe..."

Rick scoffed in disdain.

"Feed? Bea, go back inside. This is between me and this Assistant."

She flashed her teeth at the baby Giant. My Giant flashed her gums back, eyes crinkling up. She tugged at the skirt again, attempting to climb this interesting stranger but lacking dexterity to do so. The baby Giant cooed, and for the first time, the sorcerer baby stopped whining. It turned its soft head and acknowledged the other infant.

"What a sweet smile," Bea admired.

"We're not—" Rick began, but he didn't get far.

"Still, I will not be swayed, Ricky. The Giants in the capitol Mystique Zoologic are most pugnacious... although they were captured as adults so perhaps it is a matter of nurturing. Still, no matter how well I do, if we find ourselves at cross roads... and.... If my powers flicker out I'll meet a far worse fate at the hands of a Moon Giant child than when whinny little Nini here tosses his rattle at me." She poked the infant in her arms in the nose.