John yawned as he considered what to have for lunch. It had been a few weeks since he’d spoken to Rene and he was at the end of all of his morning appointments. He still had to see Gnost after lunch as well as Valen, and he’d even had a vaguely prophetic dream that meant his last appointment for the day was likely going to be [Incomprehensible]. There were no new clients, but that was a relief. That efficiency that Andressa had added to his calendar had meant that he was managing to help a lot more people than he’d been able to in the past, but he felt that he may be reaching the limit of the number of clients he could have at once. He’d either have to start taking appointments on the weekends, invest in some form of time magic, or maybe buy a duplication potion so that he could see more people during the weekdays. None of that was particularly appealing though, and seemed like a surefire way to burn himself out.
He pushed himself out from his desk and walked toward the door to see if Andressa was in the mood to join him for some troll stew up the block. He placed his hand on the knob and was surprised when it swung backward with him still gripping it and he very nearly stumbled face first into Andressa who was standing holding a letter in her hand which she managed to catch him with to keep him from falling on top of her.
“Practically running out of here, huh? That sick of work today?” she asked with a smirk.
“Nope. Though I do believe I asked my secretary to knock before she entered.”
“Why? Are you doing things you shouldn’t be?”
She asked it in an innocent tone, but John frowned at her anyway.
“I was just about to head to lunch. I’d been considering asking you to come with me, but now I'm reconsidering.”
“Your treat?”
“Isn’t it always?”
“Then, I accept. I was coming in to give you this letter; it just arrived by pixie.”
John frowned at the light pink paper of the letter and noticed that the seal had already been broken. He looked at Andressa whose smile was unmoved, and peeled it open, reading the incredibly fine calligraphy of it.
Dear John,
You are hereby invited to the royal wedding of Princess Grailia and betrothed consorts Zak and Carol in the kingdom of Lendaria. The wedding will take place at the royal palace and occur during the spring equinox.
Please RSVP by Winter and state whether or not you’re bringing a guest.
- From the Royal Attendant of her highness Princess Grailia
John smiled. “It looks like your suggestion paid off.”
“I accept,” responded Andressa with a smile.
“Accept what?”
“Being your plus one of course. It sounds to me like you agree the wedding wouldn’t be happening without me, so who else would you take?”
John was about to argue, but shrugged. “You’re right. I’m actually fairly surprised they didn’t send you an invite of your own. They probably even just assumed I would take you.”
Andressa nodded, satisfied and moved out from the doorway.
“So, where were you thinking for lunch?”
“I was thinking that place with the troll soup.”
She nodded. “They make a damned good soup.”
“Let’s just skip the version with the human meat substitute in it this time.”
“You’re sure it was substitute?”
…
John and Gnost stood at the opening of a very large basket. A birdfolk was standing at one end of it waiting for them. They’d been standing at the opening for nearly ten minutes. Gnost had made it to the basket fine. He’d walked in the open air with John and Andressa and had even taken a look at a different basket as it was lifted into the sky by a dragon to be quickly transported to the other side of Avalon.
Now Gnost was trembling, seemingly unable to lift his foot and place it into the basket.
John gently placed his hand on the dwarf’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Gnost. Your progress has been incredible. You can take a step back instead of forward. I know that me, your uncle, and Andressa are all proud of what you’ve done. None of us will be disappointed in you.”
Gnost let out a sigh and took a step backwards, his trembling actually increasing a little bit as he released all of the tension he was holding. He started to sob a bit and John gently guided him to a nearby bench.
He pulled a handkerchief from his jacket and handed it to him.
Gnost took it and blew his nose before drying his eyes and taking a few long deep breaths just as John had taught him to in a previous session.
“Therapy isn’t always a straight line,” said John as he folded the handkerchief and placed it back into his jacket. It had a self-cleaning enchantment. “Sometimes it goes forward, sometimes backwards, sometimes it zig-zags all over the place. You’ve had a very good run of forward, all we’ve got here is a nice little stop.”
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“I just thought… I thought if I managed this last big push I’d be better and I could move on.”
“I’ve warned you before about pushing yourself too hard. You’ve already made the kind of progress you need to in order to solve the problems you originally came to me with. You can work in your Uncle’s shop with only minor trouble, help out your aunt with grocery shopping, you’ve made friends in the city. It’s important to take stock of what you’ve already done and give yourself some grace, okay?”
He nodded, his breathing much steadier than when they first arrived. “Okay.”
“Let’s sit here a little while longer, I think my calf is cramping up a bit. After that we’ll go check on Andressa and I’ll walk you back to your Uncle’s shop. It’s not far right?” His calf was fine, but he figured it would be easier on the kid if he made an excuse for him to recuperate a bit longer.
“It’s close,” he sighed. “I hope Andressa’s not disappointed in me."
John laughed. “I don’t think so, you’re probably her favorite client of mine. She may be prouder of your progress than I am.”
When they walked out Andressa wasn’t just red, she was on fire as if she’d absorbed so much ambient anxiety that it made her burst into flames. Her eyes were like burning embers, and her skin like magma, but even with all of those changes to her looks she managed to look at Gnost with concern.
“Are you okay?” she asked in a voice heavy with worry.
“Are you okay?” responded Gnost with his eyes wide.
“I’m great! That’s why I’m worried about you.”
…
After an emotional afternoon, John found himself sitting across from Valen, the elven artificer who’d found himself infatuated with his dwarven co-worker. They’d already exchanged the usual tea and pleasantries and were now sitting across from one another with a bit of an awkward air between them.
John let out a sigh. “There’s just no good way to start this conversation, so I’ll just come right out and ask. What did you learn about yourself in the Red-Glow district?”
Valen coughed a bit uncomfortably, a delicate hand in front of his mouth. “I um, figured out quite a lot about myself. I am definitely attracted to female dwarves. I spent… several nights working through it and getting it all out of my system.”
“So do you feel your attraction to your coworker was purely physical? Something that wouldn’t be smart to pursue because there’s not an emotional component to the attraction?”
“Well… no. Even with all the time I spent with… similar women I still can’t stop thinking about her. She’s so difficult. She never lets me have my way. We spend hours arguing. I usually capitulate to whatever my bosses or clients want, but when I talk to her it’s like there is a forge in my gut and everything she says stokes the flames of it. Makes me feel like I could shout down a mountain. No one’s ever made me feel that way before.”
John nodded along, taking a sip of his tea. “Well… we’ve eliminated the easy option. It sounds like you may want to take the hard road.”
“The hard road?”
“I think you’re going to have to consider telling her how you feel.”
…
John sat with his eyes closed and leaned back in his chair. It had been a particularly long and emotionally draining day. He felt the satisfaction of a job well done, but it was more than a little tempered by the headache clawing at him from behind his eyes. He’d sensed the approach of his final client for the day, and took the time to use multiple scrolls to protect his mind and person from the presence of [Incomprehensible], but the thing that suddenly appeared in his office was not what he expected.
Suddenly appearing in a flash of darkness that moved like light was a creature pulled from Freud’s worst nightmares regarding oral fixation. The being was vaguely humanoid with obsidian flesh that seemed to expand and contract randomly in areas and all across its body were mouths. If the mouths had been uniform, it may have made it easier to look at, but each mouth was instead completely different. There were serpentine mouths with fangs, mouths filled with the sharp teeth of predators, beaks with long flicking tongues, and others that John didn’t really want to look at long enough to be able to properly describe.
He sat up at his desk and, unsure of exactly how he should react, before remembering that last conversation he’d had with [Incomprehensible] had ended in him deciding to find some kind of herald.
“You must be [Incomprehensible]’s herald. Would you care for some tea?”
“I SPEAK FOR THE UNENDING KING IN BRONZE! AS OF THIS MOMENT I AM HIS VOICE!”
John winced a bit as the herald’s thundering voice rang out.
“So, I see you took some steps to help with your communication problem?”
“I have chosen a herald and changed him to serve my purpose.” The herald’s yell had been from every mouth at once, but now it was speaking each syllable from a separate mouth and each time a sound left one, that mouth disintegrated and was replaced with a new one.
“Well it’s very good that you’re taking such active steps. That said, I’m assuming since you made another appointment that you’re still having issues?”
It sighed. “I am now able to tell my people my desires directly, but they… they don’t seem to like it.”
“Oh?”
“Last week I told them I wanted them to perform an offering to me during the full moon when the seventeen plas were totally out of alignment. They immediately suggested a newborn fresh from its mother’s breast. When I told them I would prefer the blood of a calf they were so… disappointed.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Everything I’ve asked of them through the herald has happened this way.”
“Could they have preferred the indirect communication because it allowed them to do what they wanted while still making it seem that they were doing what you wanted?”
The herald nodded its ‘head’. “That may be it. They seem to really prefer to take the most violent option. I feel great resentment when I pull them away from it.”
“Do you think it’s something they could move past?”
“I could make them, but I’ve bound the will of trillions to my own, I was hoping to have them serve me willingly. It has more value.”
“Have you considered… finding other followers? Ones that before you couldn’t access, but with your herald you now can?”
“I have considered all things at all times. Though that consideration has not happened as often as many others. I would hate to lose the work I’d done, but you’re right. I think I’ll simply make them explode and see who investigates what happened. Maybe slowly lead them to my worship through a series of dark and cryptic clues. That’s usually how I start over with things.”
“I mean, I didn’t mean to rush you into anything. You can always take some time to be certain.”
“Taking time is complicated. Pisses off the other outer beings when I eat too much of it.”
The Herald’s mouths closed for a moment and re-opened.
“Thank you. You have been most helpful. It is good to get the perspective of insignificant mortals sometimes. Though your morality and ideas are nearly incomprehensible to me sometimes.”
“Back at ya.”
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