The ride down the magic lift out of the Hexagon was rather awkward.  Neither Leon nor Talal had said a word to each other since Leon left the Director’s office, and though the Samarid was now to be his personal assistant, he’d yet to so much as speak a single word to Leon.

To an extent, Leon thought he could understand—whatever the Director had done to the man must’ve been harsh, for Talal could barely bring himself to turn in Leon’s direction, let alone look at him.  Leon wasn’t entirely sure how to break that ice, but as they left the Hexagon and started walking over to the adjacent tower where Leon, his family, and his retinue were staying, Leon figured out just what he needed to say to at least get them talking.

“So, you’re to be my personal assistant, huh?  What exactly does that mean?”

Talal appeared to flinch slightly when Leon began speaking, but he answered readily enough.  “It means a lot, but the biggest and most important duties I’ll be attending to are keeping track of your correspondence and managing your schedule.  If you need anything taken care of, but it’s not important enough for you to do yourself, I can arrange for it.”

“What sort of things would fall into that category?”

“The delivery of common goods and the like.  For the most part, I’ll be your primary point of contact with Heaven’s Eye, and if people want to get in contact with you, they’ll typically go through me.  That might change if you bring more people into your household, as they might require assistants of their own, and if you need me to, I can even arrange to have those assistants hired.”

“Does that include anyone besides assistants?” Leon asked.  “Say, if I need like a gardener or something, you can help with the hiring process?”

“Yes,” Talal answered.  “As your personal assistant, I’m to assist you in your personal dealings.”

Leon nodded in understanding as they entered the tower and immediately made for the magic lifts in the back of the busy atrium.  He could think of quite a few things that he’d need Talal’s help for, and he was sure that Elise would be more than grateful for the help—not that she didn’t already have some assistants, but an extra pair of hands to keep track of their affairs wouldn’t be wasted, he was sure, especially a fifth-tier mage like Talal who had an official position within Heaven’s Eye.

“Get ready, then,” Leon said.  “I think my family is going to be quite busy in the next week getting our affairs in order.  We’ll need all the help we can get.”

Talal didn’t blink, but neither did his generally tentative and fairly terrified demeanor change much.  As the doors of the magic lift closed behind them, he merely murmured, “Understood.”

---

After some short initial period of getting used to his new role, Talal did eventually settle into Leon’s retinue fairly well.  Elise was certainly grateful for his assistance, and within just a few days of their return to Occulara, he’d already taken their stated needs for a home and compiled a short list of properties for sale that roughly matched.

Leon was a little surprised at how quickly he worked, but he supposed that for a man that ran Heaven’s Eye operations in a significant trade city like Akhmim, dealing with the personal business of Leon and his family was child’s play.  Still, he didn’t get complacent, and made sure to keep an eye on Talal as much as he could.  Elise was more attentive to such issues, though, and after she had a conversation with Talal, she concluded that he’d make for a fine assistant.

And so, Leon, his family, and his retinue spent a few more days going around to the various properties that Talal had picked out, sizing them up for their needs.  Leon didn’t think that his retinue was going to live with him all the time, but he at least wanted a place with enough guest rooms that they’d have a place to stay while they got their own accommodations in order.

Fortunately, while the cost of property in the Ilian Empire was much higher than it was in the Bull Kingdom, the places that Talal found were still well within Leon and Elise’s price range.

The first place they visited was the smallest location.  It was located about twenty miles south of the Scamander River, in a more suburban zone than the rural areas that Leon had been expecting.  This limited the size of the property, which Leon wasn’t thrilled about.  The farms that Elise was planning on setting up didn’t exactly need to be directly adjacent to their home, of course, but Leon wanted more room to spread his wings, both metaphorically and literally speaking.  He also wanted a little more room for the safe testing of his enchantments, and having a larger property was a must for that alone.

The next few places they toured were similarly limited.  The homes themselves were beautiful and perfect in nearly every way, but the simple fact that Leon wanted a lot of land made things a little more difficult.

But then, just as his hope for finding a place nearly died out, Talal took them to the final property, and Leon found it so perfect he almost ended the property search right then and there.

It was a villa about fifty miles to the south of Occulara’s administrative limits—close enough for an easy commute, but far enough that the choking city centers were little more than a golden line in the distance.  The property was large, came with a long wall around it that was both decorative and functional, and had half a dozen ancillary buildings on the property.  It had fifteen guest bedrooms in its east wing, three bigger bedrooms in the west wing, and a huge master bedroom in the south wing.  Every bedroom had its own large bathroom.  There was both an indoor and outdoor pool, three separate courtyards with large gardens, several big training and meditation rooms, and a luxurious stable.  There was room for Leon’s enchanting workshop in one of the separate buildings, Helen’s alchemy workshop in another, and plenty of storage space for the herbs Elise and Helen were planning on growing.  All of this came with an adjacent lot of two hundred acres of arable land, a good size for the farms that Elise and Helen wanted.

In short, it was perfect, everything that Leon and Elise had asked for.  Valeria and Maia similarly fell in love with the place as they were given a tour, and before the day was done, Leon and Elise bought the place.  Just four days after returning to Occulara with the tau pearls, they were owners of a beautiful villa and more than two hundred acres of walled-off land.

It cost them about seventy million silvers, but as far as they were concerned, it was money well spent.

---

When Leon next met the Director, he was informed that his claim that there wasn’t much for an eighth-tier mage was only partially correct.  Jobs that he would be expected to do as an eighth-tier mage wouldn’t come around that often, but when they did, he could expect to be away from Occulara for months at a time—similar to the Director’s request for a tau pearl, which had cost Leon almost two months of time.

Fortunately, the Director didn’t have anything he needed Leon to do right this moment, so after going over a lot of paperwork with Talal, Leon was eventually formally inducted as one of the Director’s Hands.  He wasn’t required to make any grandiose oaths of allegiance, but he did have to sign a rather lengthy contract, with most of it devoted to enumerating the various political entities he was not allowed to do work for, along with the various political actions he was not allowed to perform.  Fortunately, there wasn’t any unusual or underhanded things hidden in the contract as far as he could tell, and he was specifically promised monetary compensation of ten million silvers per year, along with enchanting and blacksmithing instructors and other compensations to be determined by the Director as appropriate.

Nestor wasn’t too happy about the enchanting instructor, but Leon reasoned that having another teacher could only benefit him, giving him a new perspective on the art.  As far as he was concerned, Nestor was still his primary enchanting teacher, but there were things that even he couldn’t or wouldn’t teach him.

He received significantly less vitriol from his soul realm hitchhikers for his blacksmithing instructor, thankfully.  As he already had a solid foundation for enchanting, he decided after leaving the Director’s office to visit her, first.

So, when Leon and Talal left the Hexagon, they made their way through the huge number of Heaven’s Eye buildings until they arrived at a golden tower about thirty stories tall.  They made their way up to the fourteenth floor, which housed the smithery that Leon knew he was going to get very familiar with over the next few years.

His smithing instructor was already there in the large central workspace, along with several other apprentices.  She saw him come in, and immediately hopped over, an enormous grin on her face.

“Hey there!  How’s it going?” she gushed with great enthusiasm.

Leon smiled and took a second to give her a quick once-over.

She was a fairly tall woman, without a shred of fat to be seen anywhere on her incredibly well-muscled body—which was practically put on display by her extremely revealing clothing, which had been cut in a way that made Leon think it was a more functional choice than anything.

She was sixth-tier, and while she looked young, Leon knew that she could be as old as he was, or half a dozen times his age just based on how she looked.  Her eyes were, fittingly, an almost burning red, and her hair was a glossy black that had been tied back into a tight ponytail long enough for her to tuck into her belt—which she’d actually done.

“You Leon Raime?” she asked as she stopped in front of Leon, getting almost uncomfortably close as she leaned forward, her face contorted with curiosity.

“I am,” Leon replied.  “And you’re—”

Before Leon could finish, she cut him off and introduced herself, “—I’m Xenia Sideras!  But you can just call me Sid!”

“I’ll be sure to remember that,” Leon replied.  “You can also just call me Leon.”

“All right, Leon!” she warmly said.  “You know what you’re here for?”

“To learn blacksmithing?” Leon replied.

Sid put one hand on her hip, leaned back slightly, and then pointed with her other hand at Leon’s nose.  “To learn the art of blacksmithing!” she corrected.  “And you’re going to be learning at my side!  I hope you’re not going to think me too arrogant, but I am one of the best smiths that Heaven’s Eye has!”

“That’s good to hear,” Leon honestly said.  “I’d hate to think that I was getting cheated by being sent to someone subpar.”

“Not here!” Sid declared.  “Not a single person who learns under me can be considered ‘subpar’!  At least, not after I hammer them into shape!”  She then flexed her impressive physique and mimed bending something in the air.  “By the way!  These’ll be your fellow apprentices!  This is Loukas, Atticus, and Elias!”  She indicated the other three men in the room, all of them brawny and handsome.  Loukas was blond and tall, Atticus was short and stocky, and Elias was lithe and well-toned.  All three were bare-chested and wore only shorts that stopped before the knees, and all were covered in oil, ash, sweat, and other grit and grime from the forge.  All three nodded to Leon as their names were listed off.

“Good to meet you,” Leon said good-naturedly.  “Seems like we’ll be working together a lot in the coming days.”

“Hopefully it’ll be longer than that, but it’s not guaranteed,” Sid responded as her face turned serious.  “I can be a pretty harsh teacher, and many of my disciples have quit within a matter of weeks after coming to me begging for me to impart my skills unto them.”

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be doing that,” Leon smilingly replied.  “I’m here for the long haul, and so long as I’m learning, I’ll take the rest in stride.”

“Good,” Sid said.  “Now, I say that it’s almost time to get started—no time like the present, right?  But first, why don’t you tell me what do you hope to get out my lessons?”

“Everything,” Leon unhesitatingly responded.  “I want to gain the skills that if I ever need anything forged, I can do it myself if need be.  Tools, armor, weapons, bits and pieces so specialized that they don’t even have names, you name it, I want to be able to make it with my own hands.  Much of my desire to learn blacksmithing stems from my skills as an enchanter: I want to be able to control every step in the manufacturing process of the tools at my disposal.  I don’t want to try and enchant armor only to find that it was shoddily made.  To guarantee the quality of whatever I make, I want to make it myself from raw materials to finished items.”

Sid nodded in understanding, but a slight frown quickly passed over her face.  “You’re not the first enchanter to come to me looking for instruction.  However, I tend to find them the flakiest among hopeful disciples.  They tend to favor enchanting work over blacksmithing, preferring to pour over paper and ink rather than spend their time doing tedious hammering and metal shaping, or learning to use earth magic to do so without needing hammers.  Often, they find that they can’t fit time for both art forms in their schedules, and when it comes to choosing between the two, smithing tends to lose out.”

“I’m not going to flake,” Leon promised.

Sid stared at him for a long moment, and then her frown vanished, replaced with what seemed to be her more natural bright smile.  “Fantastic!” she gushed.  She then turned to her other three disciples, ordered them to get back to work, and then practically dragged Leon further into her workshop.  She was serious about getting started right away, but the first thing she decided to teach Leon was exactly what tools he was going to be using under her, and how to operate each one safely.  She made sure to emphasize that he wouldn’t so much as touch any of them until he could complete a written test repeating her safety instructions back to her, and if she ever caught him slacking off in his safety measures, she’d toss him out on his ass.

Leon, reading nothing but the utmost seriousness in that threat, vowed to never piss her off too much.  She seemed quite happy and upbeat, but she clearly took her work immensely seriously.

During all of this Talal was left sitting in one of the seats by the magic lifts.  Fortunately, the little tour that Sid gave Leon was quick, and he found himself back with his new personal assistant in just over an hour.  Once there, they fixed their schedules to give Leon three smithing classes per week, and then departed.

Leon practically skipped into the lift, satisfied that he was going to be learning something brand new.  He could barely wait to get started, but there was quite a bit of worry still in his mind.  He could sympathize greatly with Sid’s former disciples who’d chosen enchanting over smithing, for he knew what it was like to have a packed schedule.  He needed to learn enchanting and smithing, he needed to look into the possible presence of the arsenal, and he needed to make sure that his war beasts were properly taken care of—he was told by Emilie’s beastmasters that his Attican Snapper egg was going to hatch soon, and that wasn’t something he could just foist off onto others, at least until the thing was a little older.  On top of all of that was his continued lessons with the Thunderbird and Xaphan, the recovery of his soul realm, and seeing to the training of his retainers, not to mention his desire to not neglect his family.

He was elated that he was finally going to start learning the art of blacksmithing, but it was with a sinking heart that he realized sleep was going to be a rare luxury for a while, something to be indulged in only occasionally rather than a thing he got every day.  As an eighth-tier mage, he could afford to not sleep, but that fact alone didn’t make him happy.

Still, it was a sacrifice he was willing to make, for he needed to sharpen his skills, and there was no better time for it than while he couldn’t grow his soul realm without fear of exacerbating his injury.

So, he and Talal returned to his new home.  It was a fairly lengthy journey, with his home lying fifty miles outside of the city, but one made much easier now that Leon was an official member of Heaven’s Eye and had the privilege of requisitioning Heaven’s Eye transportation.  He still felt that he could fly faster, but that wasn’t an option, unfortunately.

By the time he returned home, he found Elise and Maia out in one of the gardens surrounding the back courtyards.  It didn’t take him more than a second to find them given the fact that even though it was heavily enchanted, his new home wasn’t quite up to his standards of defense.

‘Just another thing to add to the list,’ Leon thought, making a mental note to see to expanding his home’s defenses.  He didn’t want anyone to be able to spy on his family while they were on the estate, not just limiting that privacy to when they were inside the villa itself.

When Leon joined Elise and Maia, they greeted him warmly.

After a few hugs, Leon dismissed Talal to see to whatever else needed seeing to—the estate was large enough that it needed some people to help run it, not to mention Elise and Helen’s plans to set up a farm needed staff, as well, most of which Talal was taking care of until Elise could hire more of her own people.

“This is a beautiful place,” Elise said as Leon took a seat with his wife and river nymph lover.  Maia didn’t say much but she pressed herself into Leon’s side, and he knew that she felt the same.

“A good place to spend quite a bit of time,” Leon responded.

“Not just a bit of time,” Elise replied with a bright smile.  “This’ll be home for years.  Decades, probably.  I think I’ll enjoy living here.”

“Plenty of city to explore,” Leon whispered into her ear as he pulled her closer.  “Lots of people to shower you with the attention you deserve…”

“I only need the attention of our family,” Elise chided him, but Leon knew that she’d never be all that happy if they lived in what he found most comfortable.  She was a city girl through and through and needed the comforts of civilization.  He didn’t judge her for it, but he was aware of it.

“What say we go further break in the bedroom?” he suggested.  They’d done quite a job of that already, even just for the few days since they’d moved in, but even though Elise grabbed his thigh and turned toward him with an aroused fire burning in her emerald eyes, she shook her head.

“Valeria came to us earlier,” she said as she made quick eye contact with Maia, who slightly backed off from where she’d been ready to pounce on Leon.

[She wants you for the night,] Maia added as she straightened out her loose-fitting shirt after being mere seconds away from tearing it right off and dragging Leon inside.  [She thought it was about time you two finally got together, truly, and Elise and I agreed.]

Leon turned to stare at her in slight disbelief.  He and Valeria had already gone pretty far, pleasing each other with hand and tongue on multiple occasions, exploring each other’s bodies with abandon, but they’d yet to finally cross that final line.  Leon had been content to wait for her to say she was ready, but if she was ready now, then he was more than willing to take that next step in their relationship.

“She said she’d wait for you in her room,” Elise said with a knowing smile.  “Go on, my lion.  Go get her.”

Leon only took enough time to wordlessly look at Elise and Maia one last time, silently asking them if this was truly all right.  He didn’t think this was all a trick given their usual attitudes, but he felt it was almost too good to be true and needed that last confirmation.  When they each nodded to him, he sprang to his feet and did his best not to sprint through the halls of the villa to Valeria’s room.

Once he arrived outside her door, freshly painted in a deep blue, he paused for just a moment to collect himself.  He wanted her to be comfortable, and he thought that if he seemed too overeager, it might make her reconsider.  So, he took a deep breath, his hand outstretched and just about to knock.  And then he took another, to quiet his own anxieties that were now starting to bubble up—this was a big step, and one that he didn’t want to rush into.  Once he finally both worked himself up and worked himself down, he extended his hand again, only for the door to open from the inside before he could even knock.

Valeria stood in the doorframe, a welcoming, if anxious, smile on her gorgeous face.  “Come on in, Leon,” she whispered, and she stood aside.

Leon stared at her, a smile spreading across his lips, and he took her invitation.

---

Leon and Valeria had seen each other naked plenty of times by now, but Leon didn’t think he’d ever get used to it.  He still marveled at Elise and Maia bodies even now, and Valeria was no different.

He sat on the edge of her bed, not a shred of clothing on him as he watched Valeria slide her thigh-high leggings down her legs, the two articles of clothing being the last to adorn her body.  He was tempted to leap to his feet, grab her, and toss her down on the bed before the leggings were off, but he restrained himself.  There was still a bit of hesitancy in her movements, a nervousness that slowed her movements and caused her to look away after staring at him for too long.

But then, her leggings were in a crumpled pile at her feet, and she slowly stepped out of them to stand before Leon, as naked as he was.

Leon devoured her with his eyes, trying to let her know just how beautiful he thought she was without stating it outright.  But ‘beautiful’ wasn’t quite strong enough to describe what he saw.

Valeria was beautiful in a way that defied his description.  Her piercing sapphire eyes; her platinum blond hair that fell about her shoulders in long waves; her muscled arms, built by swinging around huge glaives; her full breasts, easily a match for Elise’s and Maia’s; her taut, toned stomach; her wide hips, flaring beautifully; her tight ass, built from constant physical exercise; her long, shapely legs.

From the way her eyes seemed to roam him, it appeared that she was checking him out just as he was her.  He hoped she liked what she saw, and with every hesitant step forward she took, he was more and more convinced that she did.

By the time she reached him, her anxiety hadn’t disappeared, but it was mostly buried beneath a loving smile.  She met his gaze, her stunning blue eyes glittering with arousal in the soft light of her bedroom.

“This is it,” she whispered.

“It is,” Leon replied as he let his hands rise and take her by the waist.  He pulled her down into his lap, but then paused.  “I love you, Valeria,” he said, returning her gaze with just as much ferocity as she stared at him.

“I love you, too, Leon,” she responded.

And then their lips met, and parted, allowing their tongues to twist and tangle together.  Their hands roamed each other without restraint, finding the erogenous zones that they’d discovered over the past few months, ramping each other up more and more with every squeeze and loving caress.

Leon tossed Valeria to the side, eliciting a quick gasp of surprise.  But then he was right there, bringing his lips down to her breasts and his hand between her legs, lavishing her with attention that had her gasping for more.  Soon enough, he made to move his face lower, only to be stopped when Valeria grabbed his head.

“No,” she whispered, causing his heart to stop for just a moment.  But she continued, pulling him back up to her face.  “I’m ready enough,” she said.  “Take me.”

Leon needed no further encouragement.  He positioned himself at the entrance of her soaked womanhood, and slowly pushed forward, his forehead pressed against hers, each staring at each other unblinkingly as they came together as one.

It took him a moment of slow thrusting, but when he bottomed out within her, he paused again, and whispered a second time, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered back again, and together the two started to move faster and faster.  They moved with greater and greater vigor as Valeria became more and more used to the sensations, until they were going at each other like starving animals who’d chanced upon a discarded feast.

Again and again they brought each other to the height of pleasure.  Again and again they went back for more, until finally, after many hours, they finished and passed out in Valeria’s bed, happy beyond belief that they’d finally made love.

Both were looking forward to many more nights like this one, and Leon fell asleep with a wide smile on his face.  Valeria was wrapped in his arms, her head resting on his chest.  Elise and Maia were only a few rooms away.  The four of them were finally a family, with a home to call their own in the Ilian Empire, plans for their future, and a viable path forward.

He couldn’t wait for their future together to begin.

—-

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