Aliandra: nymph: Book 1 The Nymph chronicles (26 page)

Ali learned a great deal about the true state of the marriages of the goddesses. Much of the advice Ali got were all the things the women did to attract their husband's attention. Once their children had left the family home, the goddesses were mostly sad, lonely and ignored by their husbands. The younger goddesses went to great efforts to please their husbands and attract their ever-diminishing interest. Ali put her mind to work, in order to figure out how to get the gods to become loving and attentive to their wives again. The women had to stop trying to please their husbands all the time and let their men chase them to fire up their marriages again. Ali decided the women needed to be distracted away from man-pleasing with their own interests, hobbies and classes.

Chapter 48

Hera confided excitedly to Ali, there would be a full god conference held just before Ali was supposed to debut. Ali offered to help out with planning the entertainment and suggested the goddesses got busy perfecting their own singing and dance acts. Ali said it would be interesting to prepare arts and crafts to display that were done entirely by the goddesses under the direction of Hera. Hera agreed and the women got busy encouraging the goddesses to work hard on their skills to entertain and display at the upcoming god conference. Ali roped in Gramma to teach goddesses traditional island dancing and belly-dancing skills. When the women were busy on their own projects their husbands began to pay more attention to them.

When Ali returned to the children, she decided to bring in a ton of computer gaming equipment and hook them up to a mortal online account. The gaming was a reward for the carers as well as an incentive for the children to be well behaved and kind to each other. Everyone chose their gamer-tags and in the online environment the name 'Demon child' was not unusual. They communicated with mortals during the gamer chat and Ali was roped in by the children to play too. She found that with her incredible speed and reflexes she was unbeatable. She lived up to her gamer tag 'Invincible1'. Martris joined in on the fun too.

Brand showed up and saw all the excitement over the gaming with mortals. At first he looked at it scornfully, but was eventually convinced by the children to give it a try. Within the first few hours of trying out various games Brand was hooked. He tried to choose a gamer-tag but all those he wanted were taken. Brand called in Ali for advice.

"What is your gamer-tag?" asked Brand.

"Invincible1" replied Ali.

"I am having difficulty choosing a gamer-tag. The ones I want are taken, what do I do to get the name I want?" asked Brand.

"If they are already taken then you have to accept that. I will get the children in to help you choose a gamer-tag. They have become very good at it" she replied.

Ali called the children and explained Brand's dilemma. The children all took to the gaming consoles and called out names Brand might be interested in. Ali asked Brand to say the sorts of names he was interested in. When Brand told the children they rolled their eyes and said of course those sorts of names were already taken. Ali asked the children to work with Brand to come up with a gamer-tag that reflected the tough image he wanted. Brand asked Ali if he could have her gamer-tag and was met with a resounding 'no'. Over the next few days the children made a list of available gamer-tags Brand might like. When Brand returned he chose one only to find it had already been taken since his return. Brand bellowed in frustration.

The children continued their search for Brand's gamer-tag over the next two weeks. Finally, Brand returned and reviewed the list, chose a name and it was available. Brand was now 'Assassin Lord'. He was referred to as 'My Lord' online and Brand was satisfied with that. Brand quickly became expert at the games but Ali was better. Dinner table conversation now included discussions about their epic online battles. Ali also discussed with Brand about teaching the children and the matured how to fly.

"I have no experience teaching anyone to fly, demons under my command are too damaged to do so" he said.

"Can you fly?" asked Ali.

"Yes, not with wings but I can rise into the air as a god does" he replied.

"I have wings but I am not confident enough with them to teach yet. You can catch the children if they fall" said Ali.

"Yes" he agreed.

The next visit the children and the matured assembled around the cliff edge. Ali expected that many of the matured would have more difficulty flying than the children because of the injuries to their wings they carried. Ali told them that one at a time they would go to the edge, get their wings working and try to fly to Brand. If they fell then Brand would be ready to catch them. As the day progressed more children had taken successfully to the skies and were flying around and strengthening their wings. Sardin was the first girl that matured and her wings were so damaged Ali was unsure she would be able to fly. Sardin went to the edge and nervously spread her wings a few times in preparation. A big gust of wind blew Sardin off the edge and she fell screaming, without hesitation Ali immediately dived after her. Brand urgently dove in to catch them both before they hit the ground. Ali had Sardin by the hand and tried to think how to fly before they splattered on the ground. Brand's big body struck them both hard as he encased them in each arm and drifted them slowly to the ground. Ali felt relieved but Brand looked thoroughly shaken.

"Ali, you are never to do something so stupid again. You could have been hurt" he bellowed at her.

"Brand, shut it!" bellowed Ali back. Ali checked Sardin over to make sure she was unharmed while Brand regained control of himself. "Did you want to try again, Sardin?" asked Ali. Sardin nodded and Ali 'ported up with Sardin to the top of the cliff again. Ali called out to Brand to get ready and he 'ported to the ready position in front of the cliff face.

"Ready? Try again, you will get it this time for sure" assured Ali.

Sardin flapped her wings and stepped off the cliff. She wasn't able to fly up as much to flutter down slowly. Ali 'ported Sardin up several more times to practise. Sardin looked pleased with her progress each time she tried.

A flood of messages were sent to parents proudly telling of their new ability to fly. Brand approached Ali cautiously and said he would teach her how to fly if she wanted. Ali thanked Brand and said they could plan it for next time. The children were excited but exhausted by the time they went to bed that night. Ali sat down with Brand and worked out a flight program for the children.

Demon mothers were now sending their barely-weaned babies to Ali's care. Ali ordered in bottles and formula to cater for the demand. Plenty of the children had matured so she now had ample helpers to feed the babies their bottles of formula and change nappies.

Ali received word from Demeter that a Kortan Beast had wandered onto her land. Ali had no idea what a Kortan Beast was so she got the matured boys together and told them to fly around to look for it and when they find it report back to her and she would check it out and deal with it. A group of boys returned carrying a badly injured boy. Ali asked what had happened and the boys said they found they beast and they decided to capture it for her. When the beast gored the boy they returned immediately to the house. Ali checked the boy's injuries and saw they were not only serious but they were poisoned. Ali said to the boy that if he swore fealty to her only then could she heal him and she did not think he could survive his injuries otherwise. She asked him what he wanted to do.

"Fealty" he said in an agonized voice.

Ali told him the words to say and he repeated them and the kissed her ring. She then healed him immediately, his feathers instantly turned white and he stood powerful, strong and unharmed. Ali sat down shaking and crying in relief. Ali then explained to him exactly what the repercussions of fealty were now that he was sworn to serve her. Ali then went to find the Kortan Beast and 'ported it out of her territory. Brand gave Ali instructions on how to fly wingless and she eventually got the hang of it. It was more like jet-propelled levitation since no wings were involved.

As day and weeks passed, the children watched the healed boy cautiously as he went about his regular work with health, strength and vigor. Eventually a group of matured approached Ali and asked to swear fealty to her. Ali explained what that would mean and she wanted them to think very hard about it before approaching her again. The matured discussed it and returned to Ali a week later and asked again. Ali agreed and let them swear fealty to her. As they did so their feathers instantly turned white. They proudly walked back to the other children and showed they had sworn fealty and how they had changed. As weeks passed more matured asked to swear fealty to Ali and she accepted their requests. Ali instructed the younger children that they had to be mature before they could approach her and ask to swear fealty to her. Ali also advised them of their other options so they were fully informed before approaching her. Eventually every matured had sworn fealty to Ali and the house was regularly swept for white and black feathers.

Chapter 49

Ali received word from Hera telling her she was needed back for god conference preparations. She checked everything was in order and running efficiently for the babies and children before she 'ported out to help Hera. Ali asked Hera what she needed help with and Hera provided her with a list of things-to-do for the preparations that the event manager had prepared. Ali looked down the list and looked back at Hera in shock.

"Hera, this list includes everything. Is nothing arranged yet?" asked Ali.

"The fools cannot get anything right and now time grows short. I hated everything they did, it was so boring. You must do it. You always get it right, Aliandra. I rely on you so, I know it. You simply cannot be replaced. You will direct all the arrangements" ordered Hera.

Ali bowed "It is my great pleasure and honor to serve you Hera. I will begin the planning now. Please advise Zeus of my current tasks and that his new armor will be delayed until after the conference" said Ali.

"I have already told him. He did not like it, of course, but the conference is important and must be done properly. It reflects on us all if it is done badly. He has conceded to the truth of this and has agreed for you to complete this vital task for us. You will do us proud, Aliandra" stated Hera.

Ali bowed and left to begin the planning. Ali met with the event manager and asked all the things he had done so far. He showed her a mountain of rejected plans and Ali browsed through them. Ali picked out a few that she liked, reworked them and added a few more ideas. Then Ali returned to Hera with her choice of plans.

Hera, you were so right about the planning. It was so incredibly standard and boring. Nothing to excite and interest our very important guests. I quickly threw a few ideas together that you might like, have a look and give me some feedback as to the direction you prefer to follow" said Ali as she passed Hera the plans.

"I knew I could count on you, Aliandra. You understand what it is to create something impressive and memorable" replied Hera as she excitedly browsed over Ali's reworked plans.

Ali pointed some flaws with some of them, then pointed out she could do amazing things with just one of them. Ali built up Hera's excitement levels over her preferred plans and then Hera instructed Ali as to her choice of plan. It was the plan Ali had preferred.

"Excellent choice, Hera. This conference will become the pinnacle of Olympian achievement and will be remembered as your greatest triumph. I will get to work on it immediately" said Ali as she bowed and left.

Ali returned to the event manager and handed him the chosen plan. He gasped and said that the plan had already been rejected by Hera.

Ali responded "There are a few small changes but you just have to know how to talk to Hera. Leave her to me whenever she approaches or wants to discuss the planning and I will keep her out of your hair while you work. Agreed?" said Ali.

The event manager gave her a grateful thanks and got to work to set up the circus-themed god conference in which Zeus would be the ringleader and Hera was his headlining trapeze star. Ali contacted the trapeze artists and arranged for them to train Hera for her part in their show. Ali would be the big cat trainer and Rom as her starring act. Ali headed back to the cottage to get Rom to practise clawing and snarling ferociously. As Ali tried to encourage Rom to look mean by showing him how to snarl and claw, but he just looked at her like she was crazy and lay down at her feet to sleep.