private suites for the girls, each of which had a balcony overlooking the garden along with a bathroom and about a thousand square feet of floor space. The big glass windows and sliding glass doors on the balconies seemed to impress them, as did the sheer roominess.
“What am I going to do with all this space?” Elin exclaimed.
“Whatever you want,” I told her. “Fill it with books, set up a private workshop, whatever catches your fancy.”
“A workshop?” She gave the space another look. “I suppose that could work.”
“If you want. I’ve got another huge space set aside for a ritual chamber and whatever other magical facilities we need, mind you. There’s room there for each of us to have several spacious workrooms.”
There were a couple of extra suites, just in case we ever added more members to our coven. Then came the private bathing chamber. The girls had fallen in love with the concept of hot baths, so I’d gone all out on that. At the entrance was a changing area with a mirror and some shelves for towels and clothes. A sliding door of frosted glass led from there into a spacious shower, with enough high-volume shower heads that using it was almost like stepping into a heated waterfall. Then came the inner room, dominated by a hot tub big enough to hold all of us and more. The whole thing was done in fancy white marble, with mirrors and a glass block window on one wall to give the room an airy feel. I’d even put in an enchantment to keep the temperature warm enough for lounging around naked.
At the end of the hall another door led into my own suite, which was laid out like the others but slightly larger. Not that I had any need for more space, but I figured Avilla had her reasons for setting things up that way in the keep. She was the one with the magical household management powers, so I wasn’t going to second-guess her.
Besides, I could guess at some of it. Medieval societies put a huge emphasis on status distinctions, to the point where a man who didn’t claim as many of them as he could would generally be looked down on as some kind of spineless weakling. Cerise was independent enough not to pay much attention to that kind of social conditioning, but if I tried to dispense with these little signs of deference it would probably make the rest of the girls worry that I was losing my nerve or something. Considering how dangerous our world was the last thing I wanted to do was give them another reason to feel insecure.
The girls quickly settled on their room selections, and Avilla stepped in to help Cerise direct the workmen on where to put the furniture they were carrying. We hadn’t accumulated all that much of it yet, and with a dozen men on the job I could see the move wasn’t going to take very long.
Tina emerged from the bathing chamber, and enveloped me in an enthusiastic hug.
“I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” she declared. “When Avilla gave me a chance to be your maid, I never dreamed I’d end up living in a palace.”
“It’s quite extravagant,” Elin observed. “Not that I don’t appreciate being pampered, but don’t you think it’s a bit much? I can’t imagine what we’re going to do with so much space. You could have made it a fourth as big and it would still be far more than we can use.”
“I want to make sure we never need to move again,” I explained. “That’s really important for Avilla. I thought about being more restrained so we could use the space for other things, but when I got going I realized that my ability to build more living space is never going to be a constraint on our projects anyway. I built this arcology block in a couple of days, and it’s going to take us weeks to recruit enough people to fill it. Maybe months, and when we do fill it up there’s room on the island for another half-dozen blocks the same size.”
“I suppose you have a point,” she conceded. “But still, three huge wings around that giant garden space?
“What am I going to do with all this space?” Elin exclaimed.
“Whatever you want,” I told her. “Fill it with books, set up a private workshop, whatever catches your fancy.”
“A workshop?” She gave the space another look. “I suppose that could work.”
“If you want. I’ve got another huge space set aside for a ritual chamber and whatever other magical facilities we need, mind you. There’s room there for each of us to have several spacious workrooms.”
There were a couple of extra suites, just in case we ever added more members to our coven. Then came the private bathing chamber. The girls had fallen in love with the concept of hot baths, so I’d gone all out on that. At the entrance was a changing area with a mirror and some shelves for towels and clothes. A sliding door of frosted glass led from there into a spacious shower, with enough high-volume shower heads that using it was almost like stepping into a heated waterfall. Then came the inner room, dominated by a hot tub big enough to hold all of us and more. The whole thing was done in fancy white marble, with mirrors and a glass block window on one wall to give the room an airy feel. I’d even put in an enchantment to keep the temperature warm enough for lounging around naked.
At the end of the hall another door led into my own suite, which was laid out like the others but slightly larger. Not that I had any need for more space, but I figured Avilla had her reasons for setting things up that way in the keep. She was the one with the magical household management powers, so I wasn’t going to second-guess her.
Besides, I could guess at some of it. Medieval societies put a huge emphasis on status distinctions, to the point where a man who didn’t claim as many of them as he could would generally be looked down on as some kind of spineless weakling. Cerise was independent enough not to pay much attention to that kind of social conditioning, but if I tried to dispense with these little signs of deference it would probably make the rest of the girls worry that I was losing my nerve or something. Considering how dangerous our world was the last thing I wanted to do was give them another reason to feel insecure.
The girls quickly settled on their room selections, and Avilla stepped in to help Cerise direct the workmen on where to put the furniture they were carrying. We hadn’t accumulated all that much of it yet, and with a dozen men on the job I could see the move wasn’t going to take very long.
Tina emerged from the bathing chamber, and enveloped me in an enthusiastic hug.
“I’m the luckiest girl in the world,” she declared. “When Avilla gave me a chance to be your maid, I never dreamed I’d end up living in a palace.”
“It’s quite extravagant,” Elin observed. “Not that I don’t appreciate being pampered, but don’t you think it’s a bit much? I can’t imagine what we’re going to do with so much space. You could have made it a fourth as big and it would still be far more than we can use.”
“I want to make sure we never need to move again,” I explained. “That’s really important for Avilla. I thought about being more restrained so we could use the space for other things, but when I got going I realized that my ability to build more living space is never going to be a constraint on our projects anyway. I built this arcology block in a couple of days, and it’s going to take us weeks to recruit enough people to fill it. Maybe months, and when we do fill it up there’s room on the island for another half-dozen blocks the same size.”
“I suppose you have a point,” she conceded. “But still, three huge wings around that giant garden space?
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