We were on alert when we got close to Norta. Cecilia had been here to trade a few times, but this was the first time I would be seeing it since System's End. I had dismissed my carousel mount long before we reached the city since I didn't want to draw too much attention to myself. Instead, I rode atop the carriage with Lori as we approached the gates.
Cecilia shared a brief conversation with the gate guard, and we were let in without much argument. Her adventurer's guild tag, along with the manifest she brought with her, seemed to be more than enough for the guard to let us through, along with the silver coins Cecilia handed with it. Norta had started taking a toll for all carriages passing through a few months ago. Adding a toll right now seemed like a bad idea to me when the number of traders is already reduced, but with the current state of the town, it might be necessary.
I scrutinized the guard from above. His armor was worn, and he was only armed with a short sword. He looked a bit overweight for a guard, but his eyes had deep bags under them, implying to me that he had been working many long hours. None of the other guards nearby looked like they were in much better shape. Near the top of the wall that overlooked the gates were men holding crossbows. They looked like they were more fit than the ones down here, but they also seemed tired from their body language and the way they leaned against the crenelations.
We began to roll into town, and the people here looked even more destitute than the people at the gate. Every adventurer we passed that was holding a melee weapon looked exhausted and overworked. Several people near the gates were unloading cargo, and I noticed that the scrawniest of them were all wearing tattered mage's gear. Most of them didn't look as used to manual labor as the ones wearing typical sturdy clothes, but each one looked like they were working hard to earn their keep. Others wearing robes or the light armor of a mage had resorted to begging instead, holding signs and platters while wasting away along the main road.
"Useless class, looking for work or food," One of the signs read. The demi-beastfolk man holding the sign was slumped forward, fast asleep. He had likely been there a while. The only way I could tell the man was alive at all was his twitching ears and quiet snoring. I turned away from the sight, suddenly feeling more guilty about withholding the information these people needed to make a living. We might need to send a few succubi here to help out the town and look for people worthy of joining our family.
Some of the shops we passed by were boarded up, especially the ones that sold magical gear and tools to adventurers. There was a healer shop I remember passing by the last time I was here. Now, the people leaving were wearing bloody bandages rather than receiving the healing magic they were used to. A tailor shop had a sign in the front window that read, "All commissions are delayed, expect a much longer wait on orders." A building a few blocks off the main road had burned down, the scorched symbol of Allerella was left clearly visible in the wreckage. It had been more than six months since System's End, but the people in this town left the collapsed building as a reminder of who had done this to them.
I grimaced at all the sights. Cecilia and Silva had told me that places outside of Traehall looked bad, but they hadn't relayed the actual extent of it. I'm not sure how much we'd have been able to do for these people early on. There were plenty of fires to put out at home, but I hadn't realized how rough people had it here.
Cecilia pulled into the same stable we had used the first time I was here, and everyone started filing out of the carriage. We attracted a bit of attention because we looked noticeably healthier and more attractive than most people around us. Already, some of the mages were loitering around nearby, wondering if they needed to help unload our cargo. These people were hired by the stables rather than beggars on the street. Cecilia waved a few over and pointed out which crates to unload for her and handed out coins to each of them before they got started. They looked surprised by the money she was giving them and quickly went to work. I don't think I've ever seen our carriage unloaded that quickly.
Nikka and Landa, Cecilia's two uunas, didn't need much instruction and padded over to the stable stalls themselves before being let into the corral by a nervous looking mage. The two giant six-legged cats were quite intimidating, even if these two were always quite good-natured from my experience with them.
"I didn't realize things were this bad," I said to Morrigan, quietly.
Her face was grim as she watched the mages do work they were clearly inexperienced with. Even the ones that were eager to help didn't look entirely used to the manual labor they were doing. They looked like they had been fed, which was more than I could say for a lot of the beggars out on the main road, but that wasn't saying much.
"I hadn't considered how many mages would be completely helpless without their classes," she replied. "Maybe we should recruit people from here once our last batch of mages have made it through the first class."
I frowned as I watched an especially poor looking mage across the road. "Maybe we should work the people of Norta into our deal with Goldenhearth. We can't help everyone, but a similar picture to this is probably repeated in a dozen other towns, especially ones near the frontier. But Norta is one of our neighbors, and a key stop on the way back to other cities. We would both benefit from helping them."
Morrigan sighed. "I don't want to hoard our knowledge of magic forever. I know why it's necessary right now, but I don't want to let people suffer like this. We should try to do something. Getting to the point where we can freely share knowledge is what Sorsette would have wanted."
"I was already thinking we should send some succubi here to recruit new students. Maybe even create a presence in this city as well. I'm not sure about their policies on brothels, but I'm sure we could figure something out," I said. "Eventually, we can get to the point where we disseminate the information, but we can't do it until we're more firmly established."
Torien snorted. She had been standing next to us, but was quiet until now. "You're going to create sex cults in all the major cities, I can already tell."
I smirked back at her. "Would that be such a bad thing? You don't seem to mind my attention."
Torien crossed her arms and turned away, but there was a blush on her face. "I didn't say it was a bad thing, just that it would be what happens."
Morrigan's mood lifted at our banter, and I realized that Torien had done it on purpose to lighten the mood. I pulled her over to me and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, which drew a big smile from Morrigan while Torien floundered from the unexpected display of affection. While Torien was solidly one of my lovers now, she was still quite a bit more shy than everyone else about it.
I frowned to myself. This place still makes me a bit nervous. That building across the street is where I first killed somebody... We had run into the cult of Amphores for the first time here, and they attacked us because they were still hunting Silva. That led to a full-scale war in the city between the cult and the Tamin church. After that, the Tamin church took over the place. Even though the town was being led by Corrine, a much more moderate person in the Tamin church, this place had still been occupied and controlled by them for months before System's End.
"Let's go inside. I don't like it out here," I told the twins.
They nodded, and we headed in after the rest of our group. The others had already headed into the inn next to the stable to figure out our room situation. Unsurprisingly, nearly all of the rooms were empty, so we got enough rooms for our whole group at a pretty good discount. Even at the lowered price, the innkeeper seemed ecstatic that so many of us would be staying and could actually pay for it. The number of travelers coming through here had already been low before System's End, and now, next to no one came through here anymore. I hoped that would change once we had built up Traehall a bit more. Right now, there were only Cecilia and one other group making the trip to Norta, but I hoped that Traehall would grow again once the effects of System's End relaxed a bit. Morrigan's school would be a large part of that, I suspected.
I sat down with Bella and Nelly in the common room, who were playing with Ashe near the fire. Ashe's horns had already grown a bit longer since she was born, and they were starting to look like they would be little ram horns like I had. Most beastfolk children didn't usually hybridize. They usually look like one parent or the other, but Ashe was taking on traits of both of us, even if she did generally look a lot more like Bella.
The baby's face lit up when she saw me, and she crawled over to me on her little legs. A wide smile covered my face as I picked her up and sat down on the couch with the baby on my lap. She began to make some sounds typical of babies as she grabbed at my face with her cute hands. I still felt a bit worried about taking her on the trip with us, but having my daughter smile and laugh when she saw me made a lot of the stress I was feeling melt away.
Ashe giggled as I kissed her little stomach and tickled her. Her hands reached out and gripped my horns while making her cute little noises. When I pulled away, her bright face was still smiling up at me. I felt my heart clench a little as Ashe reminded me what I was doing all of this for. Ashe was my baby, the first of many, and I wanted her to grow up as safe as I could make her. Any trepidation I had about hoarding our knowledge of magic was secondary to firmly establishing Traehall's safety.
"You're so good with her," Bella said with a smile. "I knew you would be, but it's nice to be proven right."
I rested Ashe in the crook of my side and looked over at Bella. "You say that, but Ashe is good with everyone. She's such a good girl."
Nelly dipped her head. "Ashe is a very well-behaved child, but she still lights up whenever she sees you. She knows that you're one of her mothers."
"So smart, too," I said, before kissing Ashe on the top of the head. "She's going to be a beauty when she grows up. She already looks quite a lot like you, Bella."
Bella flushed a little at the praise. Her cute ears turned red as they always did when she blushed. "I don't doubt that, but I think you contributed to that far more than I did. Even my looks are because of you."
I laughed, "Maybe." I looked down at Ashe again. "I wonder what she'll be like when she grows older, when she begins talking and develops a personality. Will she be shy and cute like her mother?"
"Maybe brash and reckless, like you?" Bella suggested with a grin.
"I can already tell she's smart, much smarter than a baby her age should be," I said, smiling down at her. "Maybe she'll be like Morrigan, excited to learn new things about whatever she learns to love."
Nelly brightened with a gentle smile. "Maybe she'll be protective, like Torien or my Kal'daeryn."
I pulled Ashe back onto my lap. "I'm really excited to find out. What kind of person will you be, Ashe? A good girl? Maybe a bad girl?" I said with a chuckle. "Whatever you decide to do, all of us will be there to help you."
Ashe made some baby sounds before touching one of my breasts with both hands.
"It looks like she's getting hungry. Would you like to feed her this time?" Bella asked.
I haven't fed her before, the idea always felt a little... weird. After regaining my memories though, I think it was some of my residual dysphoria shining through. I didn't totally feel like a woman who deserved to breastfeed my baby. Now that I knew where those feelings came from, they were a little bit easier to face. I still felt awkward about it, but I think this is something that I could get over now.
Bella and I took Ashe up to one of the bedrooms we rented, and I slipped out of my clothes before shifting into my true form to get my milk flowing. I didn't know if my milk was good enough compared to Bella's natural milk, but I figured a little bit wouldn't hurt her, even if it wasn't as nutritious as Bella's. Ashe had seemed patient through all of this, and seemed happy to latch on the second I offered up my nipple.
There wasn't much that could make you feel more feminine than breastfeeding your baby girl for the first time. I couldn't help but tear up as I felt Ashe rest against my body and bond with me like this. The three of us went to sleep with baby Ashe cradled between us. I love her so much.