Side Story- Pelenia

Authors note

Here we go! Sorry it's late, the month was a bit more hectic than I ever imagined but  it's here before the end of the month! I'll have the new poll out tomorrow sometime after the chapter so consider voting then but in the meantime I hope you can enjoy! You can consider this chapter to be occurring a little bit after the sixth arc so either a bit before or running parallel with with seventh.

As she always did, Pelenia awoke from a knock on her door and the call of a servant, forcing her to start her day and fulfill her role to her nation.

“I’ll be out shortly,” She yelled back, opening her eyes despite the comfort that was her warm bed, with her husband beside her smiling happily.

“Morning love,” He told her as he caressed her cheek, as he did each day.

“Mmh, morning. Does this never get dull for you?”

“Never.”

As a spirit, Abrus had no need for sleep, spending all night by her side for no reason other than the love of his wife, even if she worried he’d grow bored of it eventually. Still, it was an old conversation by then and she felt no need to argue it, instead kissing him before getting up for the day, going down her halls for a meeting she’d arranged in the early hours in preparation for the guests that would be coming.

And how many there’s going to be.

Word had spread amongst her people, even if the official announcement had yet to be made, that their nation was about to gain a few hundred more citizens as the first group of the vampires arrived today, making Anailia their home.

---

As she sat on her throne, dealing with a few smaller matters while she waited, the person she’d called for entered, bowing deeply as she did.

“Greetings Valaria, may the spirit of Anailia ever guide you,” She said to the young enchanter who happened to be the best at making resistance braces in her nation.

“Greetings to Pelenia, queen of the succubi. May Anailia’s warmth fill you and her love protect you, I’m humbled to be in your presence.”

“Ha, I’d say you’re in it enough that there’s no need to be, and I would be fine with dropping the formalities at this point on.”

Pelenia couldn’t help but wish that she could do away with it altogether. While it was entertaining to pull on someone who hadn’t expected it, having to begin every single meeting in a day that way was a pain. In her life by this point, those must have been the words she’d said and heard the most, and she had it on good authority that their goddess didn’t particularly care about it either. Still, at this point it was tradition, and it was the people who wouldn’t give it up.

“I could never do something so disrespectful, my queen. I am just a humble servant.”

“Fine fine, all well and good,” She said as she got up to guide the woman. “In that case, my humble servant can share a meal with me as we discuss things. Come.”

Valaria seemed like she would object but was given no room to as she was firmly sat at a table off to the side, a tray of pastries the head chef had prepared sitting there for them to snack on as they talked.

“So how are you and the other enchanters fairing, Valaria?” She asked. “Is there anything that can be done to improve things for you?”

In the first few months after they’d gained the skill, all of them had been worked hard as they were pushed to make as many braces as they could, but since then things had calmed down considerably. They all always managed to have work to do to fill the day, but with all of the major individuals she ruled who needed to constantly leave for other lands taken care of, as well as members of allied races whose passive effects were also dark aligned, it had changed to getting workers whose need of a brace was less pressing sorted out, as well as anyone who wanted one for something as simple as travel. The workload was significantly more reasonable now, but Pelenia couldn’t help but feel a small amount of guilt for the beginning, even if she’d made sure they were more than fairly compensated for their work.

Valaria though still thought she was receiving too much and was quick to shake her head. “I’ve heard no complaints from the others and have none myself. Being able to help our people is a pleasure. Even if we were to ever make enough for everyone in the land, we’d never have to work again after, I don’t see how anyone could have an issue.”

“Well, if you could still ask around I’d appreciate it. Your work is valuable, we can’t have you all burning out or wanting to quit. Either way though, that’s not why I called you. Just out of curiosity, how opposed are you to being eaten?”

“Um, the normal level I guess?” She said, taken completely off guard as she was mid-bite into a pastry. “If I may, why?”

“Oh, I’m sure you heard the rumours. As of today, we’ll be having new residents around so for a little while you and the others will be transitioning to making them modified versions of the braces. It will involve having your hands in someone's mouth but we’ll be keeping their teeth capped to keep anything unfortunate from happening so don’t worry, It’s just that after the vampires will still need to be fed and well… Let’s just say our people can be annoyingly hypocritical.”

They’d been putting out offers to get people who would be willing to provide blood for the vampires but even among the unemployed, there were few takers. The goal was to find enough individuals that each day of the week a vampire would eat from someone different to keep anyone from being strained, but as she knew from her daughter’s experiences, her own kind had no desire to have their minds affected beyond what playful levels of charm they directed to each other. They needed a few thousand to do it once a week when they’d be more than compensated, but they’d only managed a fifth of that.

Well, perhaps when the official statement goes out later and the nation sees me giving my blood as well a few more people will be motivated, but beyond that we might have to pay the ones who agreed more easily to do it a few extra days and keep a few more healers on standby.

Valaria seemed hesitant to answer, the worry plain on her face.

“You aren’t being compelled to so you don’t need to worry. I understand why it’s not the most appealing option and I doubt that I could convince you with money given how much you make, it’s just something I hope you’ll consider.”

As she spoke, she saw Valaria’s eyes briefly brighten before she went to hide the look, embarrassed to have been so blatant, even as she spoke.

“Um, you’re right that I don’t need the money, but I might be able to talk the others into doing it with me if you’d do one thing for us.”

“Name it.”

She’d only really invited her to let her know about what she’d be making for a while, but getting a dozen more people to help would be excellent, not to mention that she’d already told her she’d do what she could to make her and the other enchanters more comfortable. If there was something that could compel all of them to agree to such a thing then there was a fair chance it was something that should have been done anyway.

“I’d like to have a church made for Myriad in town.”

…Oh this is definitely something I should have already done. Damn it Ben, aren’t you his apostle? Why did you never suggest this?

“Done. Talk with your god and let us know what sort of designs would be appropriate and we’ll get right on it, until then go discuss things with the others and we’ll call for you in a few days as the feeding schedule is sorted out.”

Only talking a little longer, Valaria left, giving Pelenia time to work on things until her next meeting began with the leader of the vampires, Mercy.

---

“Hello again queen Pelenia, thank you for the time,” Mercy said with a bow as she entered, trying to show as much respect as she could to the one who was working to help her people.

“Always a pleasure Mercy, do you need a bite since you’ve traveled for so long? You aren’t looking good.”

“Oh, um, I couldn’t…”

“No need to be shy, you’re going to have to do it in front of the nation as a whole when I make my announcement and it would be better for me to know what it feels like now than to be surprised in front of an audience so get over here.”

The vampire hesitantly walked over, taking her feeding tool and placing it in her mouth before taking the offer, sliding her teeth into the arm of the queen and drinking.

Hmm, not exactly pleasant, but not too painful after the initial poke. Still, it might be good to offer anyone who will be doing the feeding a good drink beforehand. Actually, scratch that, don’t want the blood loss to cause any problems mixing it with alcohol, I’ll have some people search among the alchemists for any numbing agents. It has to be something that wears off quick too, can’t let the vampires go the full day with numb mouths either. Ugh, so much to do.

After having her fill, Mercy pulled away, looking exceedingly satisfied as she did while taking the tool out of her mouth and wiping it down. With Pelenia’s resistance in the forties it didn’t even really need to be used, but it was better for the vampires to be in the habit of using them and once the nation was shown, part of the point was to let them understand that their tools worked.

“Anyway, is the current plan still on track from your end?”

“Yes, only twenty came with me today, just the children and their parents, with more groups coming over the next two months.”

“Excellent, getting the children first is probably for the best since they’ll eat less and hopefully seeing your young in need of food will help motivate a few more of my people to accept the role. We’ve been searching and haven’t found as many people as we’d like, but we’re hopeful that once the announcement goes out we’ll get more, and what we have now will be fine for a few months.”

“Any help is appreciated,” Mercy told her as she bowed again. “You’re already doing plenty for my people, I won’t hold it against yours for not flocking for us strangers.”

“Even still, we’ll make sure it works out in the end. For now though, get yourself settled, we’ve prepared rooms for all of you here for the next few days as your proper accommodations are finished up.”

Giving her thanks, Mercy left, led off to where she and the others would be staying as Pelenia continued on with her various meetings for the rest of the day until she could finally go to bed.

---

…What’s picking at me?

As her day had gone on she’d felt like a potential solution to the problem of feeding the vampires was scratching at the back of her mind, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She couldn’t just make anyone do it, she had to get them to willingly, the question was how?

“Something on your mind my love?” Abrus asked beside her, pulling her close as he did.

“Just work, sorry sweetheart, I know this is our time.”

“Don’t worry, I know what you do is important. Why not talk to me?”

“Ugh, it’s just the same thing I’ve been dealing with for a while now. There’s so many of us, why is it so hard getting the numbers to keep the vampires fed?”

“It might just take some time darling. As people get to know one another, eventually they’ll come to understand who they each are and help them out.”

“Mmh, well it would be nice if we could speed that up a bit… and maybe we can?” She said as an idea came to her, making her bolt upright. “Sorry love, got an idea so I might be back late.”

“Ha, I’ll be waiting then,” He told her as he blew a kiss, watching her tell a servant to call for her advisors while she went to get Mercy.

---

Sitting at the table in the meeting room, well over a dozen people had been dragged from their homes and beds for an impromptu meeting with the queen. All of them had worked with her long enough that they’d come to expect a certain level of eccentricity, but this was a bit much for a non-emergency.

“If I may, your majesty, why exactly have we been called?” One asked, flipping through a stack of paper that had been placed in front of each of them and finding every page blank.

“Just an idea to try and get a few more people to help with the feeding. You’re all writing profiles of everyone you know, place special emphasis if they’re single and we’re pairing them up.”

“Pelenia, you can’t possibly be suggesting we try and force romances between people as a means of getting them fed,” Another asked in disbelief.

“Mostly friendships,” She said defensively. “Although if we could get anything romantic to happen then it would be pretty convenient. Either way, people help their friends and lovers and it would be a good way to start integrating them into the community, if something comes of it and they feel compelled to provide some of their blood themselves then that’s just a bonus. Mercy, I’ll need you to write too. We’ll try to match people later and then you’ll all have the jobs of talking your friends and families into it.”

The table was silent as they each put up with being given what felt like a ridiculous request, only one of them heaving a long sigh as she began filling in her pages, saying something that got an instant laugh from the queen.

“Forcing friendships aside, creating any sort of romance might be a struggle with the difference in lifespan.”

“Surely you’re not going to tell me of all people that a difference in lifespan is an insurmountable problem? It will be fine, this is just to hedge our bets if the demonstration in a few days doesn’t get us as many people as we need. In the meantime get writing, this is going to be a long night.”

It wasn’t the best plan in the world, but it was just another way to get the ball rolling for making the vampires true members of the nation. Even if the effect was small, if it broke down any barriers then it would be a start.