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When Grace and I entered the dining room the atmosphere was surprisingly energetic. I had been worried the girls I had brought with me would have been more intimidated by the thought of spending time in a brothel and I knew some of them definitely had been, but I could tell through the bond that everyone seemed to be getting along well. The succubi that worked at the brothel here were showing the new girls tricks they could do with their shapeshifting, talking about what life was like working as a prostitute, or listening to the sad tales some of the former slaves were sharing. It was clear that the girls of The Ruby Vixen had taken the family part to heart and were already treating the new girls like family too. My friends were also rather popular, they were talking with some of the acquaintances they had met the last time we were here, and Mimi was unsurprisingly popular among them upon our return.

Fellia lit up when she saw me enter and excused herself from some of the women she had been talking with to greet me. "Welcome back, Lilith." She turned and looked at Grace with a smile and a short bow. "Nice to meet you, my name is Fellia."

Grace smiled. "It is nice to meet you Fellia. Lilith has told me a little bit about you, it is nice to put a face to your name."

Fellia suddenly looked a bit hesitant. "Ah, did she tell you about my past?"

Grace nodded. "She has. Not to worry though, you are our family. I will not spread your information around and none of us will use your family name in any way you do not approve of. Not without asking you first at the very least. Though until recently the Ruby Vixen has mostly been a place for beastfolk, this is now a home for all succubi, no matter what they look like. Whether they look like beastfolk, an elf, a human, or any number of other things, you are all family."

"Thank you, Miss Grace," Fellia said with a shy nod.

Grace turned back to look at me, "Will you introduce me to Nelly? I believe I may be able to have her introduced to someone within the Velenthel church. It would be sensible to do that here before you leave Goldenhearth."

I smiled, we hadn't been here more than two bells and Grace was already trying to help after hearing a little bit about each of the people I brought with me. "Sure, she's over here with Maddie."

The three of us approached Nelly who was chatting with another bovine woman that was there. I remember transforming her vaguely but there were so many people at the time it was hard to keep track of everyone. She apparently remembered me though, she stood up and gave me a big hug when I approached. "Welcome back! I was wondering how long it would be before you returned."

Chuckling, I scratched the back of my head. "Unfortunately, I won't be staying long this time. Maybe a couple of days at most. We need to make it back to Traehall soon and we're escorting Tenna and Kino there."

The other cow woman looked over at the two of them and smiled. "Ah yeah, someone told me that they knew about us. Are you planning on transforming them as well?" she asked.

"More like a matter of when than if. At least in Tenna's case. Not sure about Kino yet," I replied.

"Of course," she said with a nod.

Grace smiled. "I apologize but we need to talk with Nelly about something."

"Oh! Sorry to delay you, Miss Grace, I'll talk with one of the other girls," she slipped away as Nelly gave us a curious look.

"Did you need something from me?" Nelly asked.

Grace and I sat down across from Nelly and Fellia sat next to her. The tall doberman woman grinned and nodded. "Lilith told me you were interested in becoming a priest of Velenthel?"

Nelly's ears went back a little. "Well, yes. One moment..." She turned and looked at Maddie. "Dearie, will you go spend some time with Miss Bella? I need to talk with Lilith and her friend."

The young girl quietly nodded before walking over to sit with Bella who had been talking to some of the girls she had healed when we were last here. "Thank you Maddie dear," Nelly called after her.

Nelly turned back to us. "Thank you." She cleared her throat. "I've given it a lot of thought... Right now the only healer coming along with us is Bella and I think it would help everyone if I was able to take some of the pressure off of her. I've always wanted to become a healer and help others in that way, but the circumstances of my life up until now didn't afford me the freedom to pursue that kind of goal. Since my transformation... I think the abilities I've been granted would pair well with healing and I've always thought highly of how Velenthel treats commoners. I've even held back on spending all of my stats so that I can be a better fit for it if I had the option... What do you think?"

Grace gave her a sad smile. "Velenthel is not a goddess spoken of too fondly here, as many of her priests refuse to treat prostitutes. However, I think it is a worthwhile endeavor to become a priest dedicated to healing others. I have a friend who works in the Temple of Morkinnen and I believe I can ask him to set up a meeting with a high priest of Velenthel for you. If it is possible for you to become a priest before continuing on with Lilith, that will be the best way to make it happen quickly. However, in order to do that, you had better brush up on your knowledge of Velenthel's teachings."

Nelly lit up. "Oh! Thank you so much! I... I had expected to wait until we got to Traehall before attempting to become a priest there, but this would be a great help if the high priest allowed it!"

She smiled and nodded. "Of course, dear. Lilith, you may wish to go with her. I am sure you have your own questions for Velenthel, and speaking with a high priest will be one of the most straightforward ways of attempting to make that happen."

"You don't think it's a bad idea for me to go into her temple?" I asked.

Grace shook her head. "It should not be a problem. Velenthel is supposed to be a reasonable goddess, I doubt she would spurn you simply for wishing to talk. Especially if you have already spoken with Sorsette so amicably."

I raised an eyebrow. "You think that would help?"

She chuckled. "Of course it would, if what you told me was true, her prior reservations about you seemed to stem from being a demon. Because that is not the case, Sorsette's backing should be worth at least getting an audience."

I shrugged. "I hope it's that simple."

"Lilith... On another subject, what should we do about Madeline?" Nelly asked.

I looked over at the young girl quietly sitting with Bella and some of the other girls. Once we had gotten her cleaned up we found out that she had a little brown raccoon tail and matching ears poking out of her dirty blond hair. She had rather pale skin and brown eyes. She was a little short for her age, which turned out to be a little over twelve years old. The kid was pretty serious and quiet after the escape from the capital. She seems pretty mature for her age but watching her parents die the way they had has made her pretty withdrawn despite how much Nelly has been trying to work with her. She's not so bad that she refuses to speak, she's just... sad all the time. That's understandable though.

I sighed. "I'm not sure." I turned to Grace. "What do you think?"

Grace turned and studied the child from a distance. "There are not any easy answers in regard to her. This is a brothel, it is hardly a good place to raise a child. Even if we were somehow able to keep her away from the clients and nightly activities, she might make some of the girls nervous. You can ask Raya, we are very careful about refusing to let girls that are too young work here or even hang around. We could move her into the mercenary building but that isn't much better, everyone working there are still succubi so things can get... heated, even though it would be inappropriate to do anything there. You could leave her at the orphanage and I could have someone keep tabs on her as she grows older. The orphanages in this city aren't too bad but it is rather impersonal..." She turned to face me. "Or you could continue to take her with you. You would have to hide things from her as well, but it's rather obvious that she's grown attached to Nelly and probably Bella to a lesser extent too. I can tell just from looking at her." She gestured in their direction. Maddie was sitting next to Bella with her hand clutching her skirt but otherwise didn't seem to be engaging with the others.

"I don't know... We don't live the most stable life and we regularly run into things that are trying to kill us," I said. "Plus, she's young, shouldn't she be with other kids?"

Interestingly it was Fellia who spoke up next. "She's not used to a stable life though, her family were traders. She was already used to a life on the road. Rather than dumping her off in an orphanage where her best prospects are being a prostitute, uh, no offense, what if I took her under my wing instead?"

"What do you mean?" Nelly asked.

Fellia glanced at me for a moment. "Well, we hadn't worked anything solid out yet but Lilith and I were talking about having me focus on becoming a trader and traveling along with the rest of the group. I don't think I'm suited for fights and combat, but since the group is already traveling around, allowing me to buy and sell the things Lilith's group finds, especially once they start raiding dungeons, would probably be very lucrative for all of us. I know Cecilia does a little bit of this after talking with her, but she is also focused on taking care of the uunas. Letting me take the reins, uh, so to speak, would allow her to focus on other things more." She glanced at Nelly and seemed to remember that she wasn't pitching this idea for no reason. "And, the young Madeline was already traveling with her parents as a trader. If we treated her as my assistant, she could help us in a way that she is already familiar with and regain some confidence. She wouldn't be separated from Nelly and Bella, who she's become attached to, and she wouldn't be left to languish in an orphanage either."

What annoyed me the most about her pitch this time was that it made a lot of sense. I was uncomfortable bringing along a young girl with all of the sex we were having, but... it may still be the best outcome for her. We would have to be careful to separate her from all of that and set clear rules and boundaries, but it might help her thrive in a way that dumping her in an orphanage wouldn't.

I shook my head. "I'll have to talk with the other girls about it first but... we should consider that as an option. Or at least give her the opportunity to choose. What do you think Nelly?"

She frowned. "I admit... that I would be sad to see her go. But I also don't feel like I really have the right to argue about whatever you choose."

"No, I do want to hear your opinions on things Nelly. You're not a slave anymore. You're a member of our group, our family, and you absolutely have a say in what we should do," I told her. "What do you think is best for her?"

Nelly looked down at the table and played with the thought a little before looking back up at me. "I think it would be best if she came with us. I think Fellia is right, helping her as a trader might be the best way for her to flourish. Abandoning her in an orphanage after everything else she's been through would be cruel... Even if we can't perfectly hide what we get up to at night, she's getting old enough that I think she needs to have the talk anyway. She shouldn't be allowed to watch or participate of course, but it's not like we would have to completely hide what we're doing from her. I agree with what you said earlier, we should talk to her and ask what she wants too, I think."

I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. As if things weren't already complicated before adding children into the mix. Part of me cringed. Am I... being distant on purpose to avoid confronting more thoughts of being a mother? My stomach twisted in knots at the idea so I chose to dismiss that train of thought for now. I scratched my horn and looked back down at everyone. "Alright, I'll have to call a group meeting with everyone tonight."