[TWS] Chapter 277 – The Garden of Artists (Patreon)

A brief silence passed between Asterios, Althea, and the girls while the duo kept gazing into each other’s eyes with soft smiles. No one wanted to disrupt the brief moment of unspoken peace. It was almost like they communicated without words. Or they were just admiring each other’s enchanting, draconic pupils and irises.

“Thank you. I really appreciate it. More than you might think.” Althea showed a grateful smile.

“I understand that this might be a lot to ask considering how you have lived for a long time. Don’t feel inclined to accept this request of mine right away and please think about your decision as much as you need. I’m sure we will have to come up with a way to inform Civienne about it too if we don’t want to suddenly break her heart. That can’t be easy to achieve with the strong connection between the two of you,” Asterios replied.

“At least she will still be able to see Althea from time to time rather than attend her grave.” Grea snorted. “But I don’t think we can use that as a convincing point for with the person in question soon getting back to health.”

“Leave it to us, Ast.” Tina glanced up to meet his gaze with an affectionate expression. “I’m sure the six of us will be able to talk it out with the queen. In the end, we did all leave our lives behind for you.”

“And look where it has gotten us. Right onto his fat—umph!” Grea’s comment was quickly interrupted by the smaller girl’s piercing elbow.

He shook his head with a wry smile. “It sounds as if I kidnapped you and hold you girls captive.”

“But you do, Master! We are all prisoners of love!” Miria cheered, rubbing herself into his arm and cheek.

“I guess that’s one way to look at it.” Asterios laughed and placed a loving kiss on her forehead. “Now, I think we have bothered the great deity of the elves long enough. The divine Dragon needs her rest. Let’s get back to the surface. I’m sure you are all dying to go for a little walk as much as I am.”

“If you don’t mind, Master, I would like to stay behind and continue the treatment,” Bryn suggested.

“Not in the slightest if that’s what you want.” He shook his head. “I promise to make it up to you later, then. We can’t have you dutifully working your butt off while the rest of us party in the town.”

A trace of a mild blush tinged Bryn’s soft cheeks and Asterios could guess what kind of making up his winged mate imagined. He didn’t mind it in the slightest, even if he meant something less active. But, he would lie if he said that he didn’t look forward to indulging himself in his lovers whenever they felt like spending some pleasant time with him.

“Alright. Just check if you can open a gate back home from here,” he added. “Better safe than sorry.”

She stood up, glanced to the side, and a dark crimson archway rose from the ground. Bryn stepped into it and returned right away, dismissing the portal.

“Works fine, Master.” She smiled kindly.

“Great. What about you, Umbra? Anything interfering with Shadow Movement here?” Asterios asked his hidden familiar.

A dark, swirling shape took the form of a big raven on top of his shoulder. ~The Tree emanates a lot of energy, which is then spread amongst all the gems embedded in this dome, but neither I nor you should have any issues slipping in or out. It might have been tough back in the day, but not anymore.~

“Perfect.” Asterios nodded to himself and they all stood up. “We will be in touch then, Althea. Feel free to call us through Bryn whenever needed. And I do mean it.”

“I will try not to disturb your pleasant time discovering the beauty of the elven capital.” She smiled at him while nodding politely.

“I think we should leave the way we came in. We didn’t exactly let the queen know that we have another method to achieve that,” Silvia suggested.

“Right. She might get confused after no report about our departure from this chamber reaches her ears.” Tina chuckled lightly.

They spared one last glance at the burial hill and Althea led them back to the bower, exchanging a word or two with the girls. Asterios kept Grea right by his side to prevent the mischievous demon lady from throwing more inappropriate jokes at their new friend. It came at the cost of his crimson-skinned mate humping his side and guiding his hand to her jiggly butt as she moaned silently into his ear, but it was a good tradeoff. He only hoped that his duo of beastfolk mates didn’t start pulling Althea into their usual schemes while he was distracted. It was a huge mistake to underestimate their level of persuasion.

Grea released him for a brief moment to let Asterios bid farewell to Bryn with a few loving kisses. He caressed the Valkyrie’s feathers as they brushed their lips together, ending up with one of them between his fingers. She chuckled with a modest blush as he brought it up. But then, he smiled at her and attached it to the open collar of his coat. The crimson shade spreading over her beautiful face deepened as she nibbled on her bottom lip, seemingly finding that sight mildly arousing. Asterios raised a curious brow at her, but she said nothing.

They parted before Bryn changed her mind about staying with Althea. And she did look a little hesitant now. Grea reclaimed her spot by Ast’s right side while Miria quickly secured his left arm. The struggle between them brought some chuckles from the other girls. But, it wasn’t just them who struggled. It was getting hard for Asterios to walk straight with Grea getting more intense with each step they took. It was only thanks to Miria’s similarly strong pushing force from the other side that he didn’t get toppled.

Somewhere halfway to their destination, he spun the demon lady towards a nearby tree and Grea caught onto it with a surprised gasp, shooting him a mischievous glance over her shoulder. Before they continued, he lifted her robes up over her bubbly butt with a single wave and lent Grea a hand to pacify his sultry mate’s rampant desire. Alcove of Serenity helped them silence the amorous cries and shouts since his other, free fingers were not enough to fully seal Grea’s dirty mouth. Obviously, she held nothing back.

With that out of the way, nothing stopped them from leaving Althea’s lair at a normal pace. Asterios happily carried the giggling and occasionally shivering Grea in his arms. If the sight bothered the sentries standing guard outside of the massive entrance, they didn’t show it, remaining stone-still as usual. No one mentioned anything about them missing a person either.

They expected to go through all the corridors and chambers they had experienced on their way inside, but right after passing through the next gate of swirling roots, they found themselves back at the starting point. They could see the stairs leading up and into the upper palace. It confused everyone greatly but they assumed that some kind of magic must have been at play there, probably of the spatial kind.

The wooden gate closed itself behind their backs and a royal guard approached them. Asterios and the girls followed the man as he made sure that they didn’t get lost in the winding hallways resembling the inner side of tree branches and roots. Wanting to explore the capital before it got dark, they asked the guard to bring them outside after confirming that the queen was busy. It would take a while for her to talk with the king and prepare the other things she had mentioned.

After finally stepping out of the palace, a familiar face greeted them. Asterios waved at the elf woman clearly waiting for them and Fievedem quickly approached his group with a hesitant smile. She bowed to them respectfully and locked her eyes with his.

“It’s nice to see you again. How did your meeting with the queen go?” she asked first.

“Not sure how much we can share with you yet so the only answer I can give is alright.” Asterios shrugged.

“Right. The queen did mention that she had something to speak with me about after taking care of important matters first. I guess it might be related to whatever you are doing together. I guess I shall await further orders before asking any questions about the nature of your visit,” Fievedem nodded to herself.

“You seem to be waiting for us again. Do you need anything?” He raised a brow at her.

“Back when we parted ways in front of the walls of your town, I promised to exchange our knowledge about summoning with you. I would be happy to fulfill that promise whenever you wish me to.”

She glanced at him as if asking for permission to continue and Asterios nodded lightly.

“I also concluded that you might want to use the help of someone familiar with the town and the queen agreed to appoint me as your guide. If you don’t find my company bothersome after my past offense, I would like to offer my advice in this area too,” Fievedem explained with a low bow.

“Cynthia offered her guidance too, right?” Silvia asked the other girls.

“Oh, and your two friends told me to let you know that they will be residing in their family estate. I’m to show you how to get there if you would like to know. They would love to introduce you to their history as one of the most renowned Spellsong families in the royal court. Neither of them minds me taking over their duty to guide you around. But, of course, you aren’t limited to just one guide and you can ask anyone for directions and information about the capital. Every single guard is obliged to assist you while you are under the queen’s care,” Fievedem added.

“What do you think?” Asterios glanced at the girls, and specifically at Miria.

The cute panthergirl wrinkled her nose a few times while squinting at Fievedem but ended up nodding joyfully alongside the others while showing a toothy smile.

“Yep! I don’t mind! But you have to show us all the best spots! Without missing a single one!” Miria beamed at her.

“Of course. Feel free to ask me anything. I’ll do whatever I can to make amends for my mistakes.” The white-haired woman showed a relieved expression. “Let’s move to the Grand Fountain at the center of the main square and then decide what you want to do and where you want to go next.”

Fievedem took the lead and guided them through the rich, wooden streets as they took the beauty of the foreign architecture in. It turned out that the place their new guide had mentioned was located in the middle section of the capital. The whole city could be segmented into three sections—the outer ring, the middle sphere, and the close vicinity of the palace.

As they wandered through the middle section, they noticed just how many gardens and patches of beautiful grass were there. The structures close to the palace were a bit more clustered together, forming long shapes, but in the current region, the buildings were unevenly spaced out. Each house was surrounded by its own small clearing and stripes of grass ran alongside everything.

It created an incredible scenery where every home was decorated by a myriad of flowerbeds, hedges, bushes, trees, stones, ponds, and multiple other natural elements. Some properties even had a tiny stream running through their territory, allowing the tenants to throw in a cute bridge over it or other clever structures. The ingenuity of the city’s inhabitants clearly knew no bounds. Rather than residents, they were all their own artists.

Even though every single garden was somewhat unique, they all created a single, giant mesh of captivating, natural beauty. Neighbors clearly worked together to make sure that their houses created a flowing composition rather than disrupted it. No one seemed to aim to be the flashiest and most prominent homeowner. They all took pride in creating something greater together. And the effect was breathtaking.

Asterios wondered if they couldn’t perhaps introduce parts of this design back at Glimmervale. It might make the visiting and resident elves feel a little bit more at home. Rather than changing the whole town, they could repurpose a single district. Maybe even do something like that for each race. He wasn’t sure if any other settlement or town had already done something like that before.

But, he knew that his idea would need to be discussed with the more knowledgeable and experienced members of the Committee first so he shoved it aside for now. It would be irresponsible to push something he knew nothing about. He wasn’t going to ruin Glimmervale like many other lords who suddenly receive their position and try to turn their new city into their own playground, caring not for how the changes affected the citizens.

Soon enough, Fievedem brought them to the place she had spoken about. And truly, the expression Grand Fountain did the awe-inspiring structure all the justice in the world. The girls gasped in amazement when a mansion-sized sculpture made of white wood entered their sight. The massive piece of art was about three stories tall and wider than most manors they could find in Glimmervale, possibly even in  Rosewind or Tyrienheim. Its sheer size was breathtaking and utterly overwhelming.

Multiple figures representing people, animals, beasts, flora, and manmade structures were joined together as one giant carving. Holes, spaces, windows, and tunnels ran through and around all the artistic pieces. Somehow, the way everything was connected made a lot of sense. Depending on the angle from which one looked at various sections of the complex structure, a different scene came into focus. Someone really put a lot of thought into every minute detail.

And the best part was that it was possible to walk into the fountain.

Multiple pathways led underneath it and twisted in every possible direction. Fievedem encouraged Asterios and the girls to follow her and they dove into the unknown full of expectations. It turned out that there were even more details to be found on the inside. Water flowed, sprayed, and trickled from numerous depictions, gathering in segmented pools placed all around the winding alleys. Or perhaps it was the path that cut through them instead.

They found plenty of niches that housed smaller sculptures, like the memorial statue of Mii that Miria had carved for him back at Rosewind. Besides those, sections of long murals poked out of the walls, depicting entire scenes and events just like colorless paintings. Fievedem noticed how enthralled by those her proteges became so she led the group through the hallway of historic events and offered a word or two about what each piece represented. They absorbed the chronicles about the ancient elves and the most important moments in their lives.

Stopping in the very middle of this mansion-sized fountain, they found a round, normal-looking one standing lonely in the center of a small plaza. A fountain inside a fountain. It actually felt out of place at that point. It seemed too ordinary. The cone-shaped, multi-layered waterfall of cascading water was just too... bland when compared to everything else.

“And here we are.” Fievedem spread her arms with a wide, proud smile. “We call this place the Well of Crossroads. There is a local legend connected to this wondrous structure. People say that you will end up exactly where you wish to after tossing a coin into this fountain. Assuming that you are aiming for something inside the city. Would you like to give it a try?”

The girls regarded the unremarkable fountain with some skepticism. Maybe if it looked more grand and magical, it would have been much easier to believe.

“Oh, I have an amazing idea!” Miria started bouncing up and down with pure excitement.

“What is it?” Asterios chuckled, plopping his hand onto her black hair to keep his energetic mate from stumbling into the fountain.

“We can use it to find the most perfect spots for a date with Master!” she announced cheerfully.

The girls instantly exchanged glances amongst themselves and Asterios could literally see the enthusiastic sparks in their beautiful eyes. The skeptical atmosphere had been turned a complete one-eighty in a single blink.

“Miria, you are a genius!” Grea laughed and hugged the panthergirl tightly, taking her for a spin.

“Let’s split and go with Ast each on our own,” Tina suggested. “What do you think about it, girls? Will that give us enough time?”

An immediate wave of nods answered her.

She glanced at Asterios. “Is that okay with you, Ast?”

As all the heads turned right to him with pure anticipation in their eyes, Asterios found it nigh impossible to answer with anything else other than yes. But, not like it mattered. He too loved the idea of spending some alone time with each of the gorgeous girls.

“A set of mysterious dates in this fascinating place with my beloved mates? Count me in!” He laughed too and the girls rushed at him to drown Asterios in hugs.

They stepped away quicker than he would have expected and formed a tight ring with their bodies while leaning forward.

“How do we decide the order? By seniority?” Selene asked, glancing at Miria, who was technically the first mate, an equivalent of the first wife.

“Master doesn’t really enjoy putting any of us above the others just because someone joined first.” Miria scrunched her forehead. “And I would be inclined to give my spot to Tina if he did since she had feelings for Master even before me.”

The blue-haired girl blushed faintly at her and the two exchanged warm smiles.

“The usual, then?” Grea raised a brow at them.

“The usual.” Silvia nodded and brought her fist forward.

Asterios watched with his arms crossed as the girls battled each other in a last-man-standing tournament of rock-paper-scissors. The game evoked a plethora of emotions from the more expressive of his lovers and some passersby even stopped to take a look at what was happening. He just chuckled warmly and shrugged at anyone who glanced his way while Fievedem had no idea what to do with herself as she stood next to him.

After multiple rounds, the order was completed. Tina won the privilege of being the first date. She basically glowed as Asterios approached her and linked their elbows. Miria pouted while Grea squinted at her, both of course doing so in a playful way. Tina pressed a quick peck to Ast’s cheek and they turned to the fountain.

“Now what?” she asked, peering curiously at Fievedem.

“Just toss a coin and think of your wish,” the elf lady explained.

She did as instructed and closed her eyes, frowning in deep focus. After a few seconds, Tina’s eyes flung open and she beamed at Asterios.

“I know where to go! This is so magical!” She practically vibrated on his arm.

“Lead the way, then. We will see you all in a bit.” He nodded at the others and let Tina eagerly pull him through the crowd.

A hearty chuckle escaped his lips as the usually shy girl took the initiative.