Quills

"I was joking, brother." Leilanna said playfully. Liem knew what she was implying. 

"I was not joking. She learned our language, and then she finished all ten years of the education program in six cycles. She could out learn me in six more." Liem smiled. "If there is not anything else, we have a lot to discuss with Mother in private. Please excuse us." Liem said. Leilanna's face flushed in a mixture of rage and embarrassment. She folded her arms and huffed. 

"Good day then." Leilanna said, exasperated. She watched him disappear. Lenora Quill looked at her in an odd way as she passed her.

'He technically was not out of line there. He was close.' Leilanna thought. He had just called her stupid in a way that she could not fight back against, as Mother had told her to be on her best behavior.

"We need to talk about some of the formalities and customs for the event tonight. We will be adjourning to my conference room." Allurai addressed her family. "Dorien and I wanted to speak to them privately." Allurai gestured towards her other spouses and everyone sat. She followed Allurai, Dorien and Liem down the long hallway. 

"I am sorry about that. She failed her etiquette and diplomacy courses," Liem said as he placed a hand on Nora's shoulder and guided her in, away from Leilanna and the big group. He felt the slight tremble as she walked along with him. He would protect her today and speak out for her.

"Don't remind me." Allurai said, walking ahead of them. Sure she was in a good mood right now. His Mother may not be very gracious to Nora once they discussed things. It would be very overwhelming to face so many people at once.

"That was unbecoming, I apologize Young Matriarch Lenora Quill.' Dorien said. He did not know what had come over Leilanna to become so aggressive suddenly, she normally sucked up to any other Matriarch. She was prone to anger if she did not get what she wanted and was aggressive towards her brothers.

"It is alright. We all age and learn at different paces. You can call me Nora, or Nora Quill, Dorien. If you would like," Nora said shyly to his father. Liem appreciated her respect. Her hand grasped his tightly. This was the first time Nora had not even interacted with his sister beyond greeting her. He wished he could correct Leilanna, but she had access to the full suite of tools that a Matriarch was granted once they completed their education and took mates. It would be very detrimental now. Liem decided it would be best to move on today due to the problem at hand. Leilanna could not ruin his mood. He had to be strong for her today. She was shaking like a leaf. 

'She is going to be livid. I wish he would have told me that it was customary to wait. I have that and I suppose he is right. I was not prepared to do this, I was ignorant in having the perceptions I did, but I am already here. Calm down.' Nora tried to coach herself through the nervousness. She was meeting her mother-in-law for the first time. The woman who was inviting her into her home and she was actually going to have to admit what she had done.

"Wow." Nora said while looking around. Before she knew it they were in the 'Office'. The luxury made her first room in the delegate tower look shoddy in comparison. The high ceilings, fine leathers, furs, golds and gems adorned the office. The room was dripping with wealth like a pharaoh's tomb. A large stone table with a thick vein of actual gold running through it was the central focus of the room. Delicate flowers and immaculate fresco made out of tile and precious stones glittered on the walls. A fountain added ambient noises to the large main room. Nora's eyes widened at the scale of the room.

'Did Nora want to move back to the delegate tower? How much longer is this going to be delayed?' Allurai thought as she did her best to be warm and welcoming to Lenora. The young girl was shaking visibly. She cleared her throat.

'What is it now?' Allurai exclaimed sarcastically in her head. She smiled at her son. He looked very happy, yet he seemed nervous. She recognized that look.

"Welcome home son, what did you want to talk about so privately?" Alllurai questioned her son, with a trace of exhaustion detected in her voice. Liem looked his mother in the eyes. Liem nervously cleared his throat. He would have to blurt this out and let her scream her head off. 

'Would she scream like usual in front of The Lenora Quill of the Northern Tribes?' Liem thought as he felt Nora grip on to his tunic nervously. The tiny tug and weight of her hand made him realize that he did not care about his honor anymore, he could throw that all away for this woman. His posture changed into that of a protective one as his hand found her tiny hand and enveloped it in his own. He swallowed his dignity and groveled to Allurai. They would need her help to get through this.

"We are going to have to speed things up along with the selection of the other spouses. Nora received a notification this morning on her Interface. It was an early conception notice." Liem spewed the news nervously to Allurai and Dorien. Liem and Nora watched Allurai process the information and her face started to turn red from anger.

"Son, you should not have!" Dorien exclaimed. His honor would be tainted if this got out.

"Mother. Please do not be angry." Liem said, trying to garner pity from his mother. Allurai's eyes widened as she processed the information. 

'So she accepted him, and he was lying the whole time? If this got out? Why could he not control himself? The north might have different rules, but he knew better.' Allurai shrieked in her head. There were so many tempting things to throw. She wanted to break something. Allurai's face started to contort in shock as she digested the information and attempted to keep her composure. 

"Mother?" Liem softly said. He knew she was about to start yelling. He could read her. Allurai picked up a vase off her desk and threw it on the floor. Nora squeaked. Liem hid Nora behind him. Nora gripped on his tunic. She finally got what he had said that morning when she had told him about the pregnancy. He stated that there would be issues, but nothing like this. She felt like she was in a cheesy soap opera at the moment. 

'Is premarital sex and an unwed pregnancy that much of a taboo in this futuristic world or was it the political implications of it to the Allari Clan that was causing emotions to rise and visibly cycle on her face. Her hands were shaking. Oh god, she is going to freak out?' Nora thought. She toughened herself, prepared to take responsibility, the trauma based maturity swelling in her, she stopped shaking and raised her chin bravely tightening her grip to assure Liem.

"Rai, calm down." Dorien said as he walked up and stroked her arm. "It is good news, she accepted him. We will figure it out somehow. A conception is good." Dorien assured her, stress was not good for her. Allurai shook him off.

"You were supposed to be a professional. You were supposed to ask and then wait. If it gets out that you did this without following the rules, it will ruin your career as a delegate, it will ruin our clan's reputation, it will affect our relationship with other groups. You and your sister want to kill me with stress?" Allurai said angrily, her hands trembling. She started to wring her sash in her arms to get out the rage. She could not lose it completely and melt down, there was still the banquet to deal with. Now a binding ceremony? No way. Allurai puffed out some anxiety.

"I understand you completed the cursory education quickly, that you learned about the customs and culture of the rest of the world. It is my duty to guide you so that you may learn. You will have a great deal of responsibility to not only my son, but others now. You must show no more bias, Lenora" Allurai said in a strict, angry tone. 

"It is 'Nora'. In the North, it is not considered as unhonorable to be intimate before binding. These were the ways of my people. My clan is dead, and I am probably the only one left. I am sorry I was ignorant of your society and cultural rules," Nora said in a calm voice.

"I am in need of your guidance. Mother, I do not want this poor child to be a shame to Allari. Or to shame the Liem. We can leave and live off my meager stipend in Izaberne if you are too angry to accept us," Nora said. 

"It will be alright Nora. You do not need to go anywhere. You are welcome here." Dorien rambled off in a panic. Dorien quickly reacted to her tears in a panic, finding her a soft square of fabric to wipe off her tears. Allurai moved and patted her shoulder. 

"Oh child, it is alright. You have had such a hard time. I guess you were acting in your customs. This child is welcome." Allurai said in an apologetic tone. Liem was perplexed by her strength. She had stayed calm in the face of a Prime Matriarch. Not many had her confidence. She was aware of the power she held. She had manipulated both her parents so skillfully. He knew that this was not how she usually acted. He had never seen her so confident. It was true that the customs of the Northern people differed, but they generally waited to formally announce their relationships prior to engaging in the level of activity that Nora and himself had. Allurai was none the wiser. She did not have the education that Liem did and certainly did not have time to read all the material he had. He watched Nora as she seemed to be handling his mother. Nora excluded an air of superiority, he had noticed it when she had introduced herself. He was proud. She had changed her mothers rage into sympathy and forgiveness with a small lie. She did not respond to Leilanna's provocations. 

"Sharing the experience of their first night and conceiving a child with your first set of spouses together is an important milestone for a Matriarch. It has been hard for you, as a Northern household might differ, but you will find that it brings the family together when you have many to love you and your children. You will have to pick out candidates tonight, you will have to share your bed with all of them tonight. One of them will be Liem. The others, we will have to choose carefully. They will have to be from an allied family as the world will be critical that this first child is an Allari." Allurai said her tone was laced with stress. Both women felt dizzy. Allurai sat down in a huff. She sighed into her palms. She removed her hands and tented her fingers deep in thought. Dorien sat down beside her.

 "Who should we pick, and how do we pull this off? If she does not open her interface in the next three days of conceiving, will it be suspicious?" Allurai said nervously. Nora waited for them to present a solution. She had thought of all the outcomes this morning. It was best to wait and then present her solution.

"Please calm yourself, Allurai. She can simply lock herself in her room. Or act annoyed." Dorien said, concerned about her. Liem helped Nora sit and prepared a glass of water for her.

"That will not work, and it may appear suspicious later on, especially if she does not respond to all the communications that she receives," Allurai said with a sigh.

"I understand. I am fully prepared to be bound to Liem and others. I have put some thought into a resolution." Nora said, trying to smooth the situation over. 

"What kind of resolution did you come up with? " Allurai said in a tone dripping with frustration. 

'Three days of conceiving with all three of them is the best solution she had. Really. I came up with this in a minute. I will just pretend to be sore like I was the first time.' Nora thought. Nora held Liem's hand tightly.

"Is there a way to change the read-out or decrease the sensitivity of the sensors?" Nora asked. Allurai stared at her across the room, her eyes widening with realization. 

"Yes there is." Allurai said. 

"I thought so. Liem was able to make temporary changes to update interpretation software to understand her after clarifying terms with me. He had to upload it every seven days after it was overwritten by the operating system update. That same access is still open. I just need my Guardian or Liem to make the change. We could make the change and wait for it to be overwritten after the update or I can come and see you, and we can do it in three days' time." Nora explained.

 "I am due to call you in for your practical lessons and assessments. Very clever." Allurai was impressed by the idea. 

"It has only been under one day. Look, it still says I am fertile. It is still very early. We can just have it say that I am fertile. After the updates, we celebrate the news. If this is at all possible?" Nora continued. 

"It is possible. But I do not think it is the best idea." Liem looked at her puzzled and continued. "That may cause your defense tools to not work properly until we can change the settings back again." Liem said. He could not risk that happening to her again. The building was full of staff and would soon be flooded with people. More people now know that this was a binding ceremony. It was supposed to be a joyous day. Liem was now very anxious.

"Really? It is something that we will just have to sacrifice for now. She is safe here." Allurai said as she rubbed her temples. Both her and her son looked at each other pointedly. Allurai had received a list of security requirements and preferences from him. It seemed like the attack had really rattled him. The complex was secure. For generations there had not been a soul brave enough to breach the security measures. Liem had enhanced them but only after having Dorien beg on his behalf. He knew her weak points. Liem sighed as he looked down. 

"Alright, the modifications technically are not hard to complete. I can help you complete them," Liem said. He knew that she would not be able to go without opening the Interface tonight to exchange permission to contact her. There was no way to avoid this. "Are you really ready for this?" Liem said to Nora, completely leaving the adults out of the discussion.

 "I think it will be fine. We are just doing things a little sooner than I thought we would. Can you show me who will be in our new family?" Nora said, knowing that he was not hurt, as this was normal to their culture, they had discussed it and it was inevitable. She bravely smiled. She had to be brave. A lot was about to happen. Allurai and Dorien looked to Liem with surprise. Lenora had this great reverence for their own son. It was hard not to be touched by the respect and care she showed him. 

"Wait a moment. You let him choose and put forethought into this?" Allurai said, her face reverted to a pleased look. 

"Yes, as it was inevitable, I care about Liem's feelings, he knows whom he will get along with, and his happiness is important to me." Nora said. Allurai opened up her interface and enlarged the display. Nora did not know anyone in their society, so in her stead, Allurai picked candidates for her as her guardian. Allurai was curious to see who Liem chose to see if it was whom she thought it was. He was very bright, besides this short-sighted act. It was enough to forgive this, because of the results. Nora was shocked by the pregnancy. Nora did not think it would be possible for them to be compatible genetically and at worst she would be labeled as infertile at worst, or her children would be. They looked human, but there was more diversity in eye color and bone structure. Her hypothesis changed from this being an alternate planet to this being an alternate version of Earth really changed quickly this morning. 

She felt very stupid and terrible for Liem and her future children. The gender roles were skewed here, parts of them fascinated her, others bothered her. It was his reputation on the line and his own family. She was guaranteed a wonderful future, with gorgeous men that would spoil her. She could have that big family she wanted in a society that empowered her and encouraged it. She was not wired that way. She did not feel comfortable raising a son in a society like this. As much as she would treasure him, she would not be able to shield him. Two more men were entering her life tonight. She never imagined that she would be doing this on the day she found out that she was going to be a mother for the first time. She will be sleeping with three men tonight to protect Liem and her unborn child's reputation. It was objectively just a clump of cells at this point that had started to that imbed itself somewhere in her uterus right now. Liem thought it was best to hope for the best this morning. He assured her that he was ready and, just like that, the two other men that she would be spending the rest of her life with were picked and they were his closest friends.

Liem picked Kadir Sedai and Cerez Halid. He grew up with him and attended the Intra-Provincial Education Program together, traveling from city to city, across the globe. As their friendship grew they attended Military Instruction together. The men all had similar tastes and came from families that the Allari wanted to firm their alliance with. Liem had chosen wisely, although it felt wrong to her. Nora knew he had put a lot of forethought into choosing them. She would give her spouses this choice again in the future. Nora was not expecting the news this morning and the timeline to be sped up by over a cycle. She had already heard a great deal about them as she got to know Liem. Their pictures were just of their heads, it was nice to put faces to the names.