The Reeve Amidst The Green (22) Under Pressure

Shuffa lay squished between Oddri and Charli on the great mattress tick, buried in blankets, only the top two thirds of her head poking out, her face mashed into Oddri’s great soft breasts. She felt Oddri and Charli’s arms around her and each other, in a great wonderful warm tangle of flesh. And Shuffa thought about her future.

The first crop was in. The first two payments to the Magician were guaranteed, and on time, as soon as the mustard could be sold. These two wonderful people, man and ogre, had helped her. She owed them so much. And… well… where to go with that?

Shuffa was daring to dream. If another crop could come in, even just selling off the mustard seed could keep the Magician’s debt off of her until the spring, until the snowmelt, until the next crop. There was enough of the grape must to even maybe sell more mustard… but… how did she feel about … her home life?

The human and the ogre had been so good to her. She’d got her farm off the ground. Come the summer, she could seed and reap crops faster than even Charli could hope to. She could dream to be the Herb and Spice Queen of Refuge Town! And… perhaps even more? The touch of an ogre had proven to be sweet, to Shuffa, and, well, she’d developed a taste for humans, certainly. The winter was looking to be sweeter than she expected it to be. There’d be work, certainly… but the human Charli, the ogre Oddri, they were… well… vok. What WERE they, to her? They’d begun as an obligation to be paid off. But… certainly, now… there was more?

They’d helped her. They’d treated her like family. And they had been kind to her. Kindness was a thing in short supply to one such as Shuffa, who’d lost all status before the tribe, to be near outcast, almost no better than Fire Clan! It had hurt. Shuffa had listened to bad counsel, made bad decisions. And Shuffa had paid her price. And she’d … godsdammit, she’d changed. She’d made adjustments. She’d finally walked away from the tribe, to live like a human, on human land, trying to make human money, in defiance of all she’d been before.

And now she lived … in a human house. As a human’s servant! But… wasn’t the human her servant as well? It was he who’d saved her farm, he and Oddri. They’d plowed, they’d weeded, they’d harvested, on her crops as well as their own.

Shuffa had trusted Fahks, and had thought perhaps Fahks was the one, the one, the one who would father her children, the one who would make things as they once had been, the one who would make the world make sense again. She had been wrong. They’d all been wrong. And they’d died for it, that terrible night, at the House of Orange Lights. And after that, trust hadn’t been a thing. At all. After that, she’d known there was one person she could trust: herself.

She’d used the Magician to get a bank loan, and to start a farm… only to discover that there was so much more to it than just growing weeds! And there had been the terrible moment of despair… and Charli and Oddri had come to the rescue.

They’d asked for little, and given much. Against her own best judgment… Shuffa had found herself having feelings for them. Beginning to trust them. And she hadn’t been betrayed. Not yet. Not yet. The human Charli, with his kissing and his strange human ways… she found strangely appealing. More so than the lumber men, who were friendly enough, but mainly just wanted to get their dicks wet. But Charli … seemed to want her to be around, and as more than just a domestic servant. Evenings with Charli and Oddri were… well, social, to borrow Oddri’s particular word. Weirdly enough, Shuffa found herself having feelings for Oddri, as well, who wasn’t even male… but seemed to have an endless capacity for affection… and for love. Shuffa wanted to trust them, dammit.

What madness was this? And why was it so… seductive? Why do I want them? Why do I want to stay here, to be a part of … whatever they have? Shuffa held herself in check, though. First, sell the mustard. Get the money. Pay the Magician. Wait and see…

*************************

At the table in the back of the kitchen at the Goblin Pie, Bekk and Wanna talked over lunch.

“Oh, ho,” said Bekk. “Well, now we know what he’s thinking. Mother, when a human is staring at your tits, and then when you look at him, he suddenly looks away? That is a human who was wondering what your stiff nipple would feel like on his tongue. There are no other explanations or excuses for that, especially if you caught him looking at your ass as well. This is a human who is seeing you as a sexual being, who wonders what you would look like naked, who thinks about the feel of your skin on his.”

“You seem awfully sure of that,” said Wanna uncertainly. “Can’t he be interested in me as a person? We have wonderful conversations …”

“I am awfully sure of that,” said Bekk. “I have loads of experience with humans. Maybe he does like you as a person, but he’s looking at your tits. They’re taught that it’s rude to stare at women’s tits, even if the tits are right out there on display. Ollie flat out told me that. I deal with it at the counter every day. They want to look at my tits. They’re trying not to be impolite. If a goblin is interested in your tits, he stares at your tits until you remind him where your eyes are. But if you catch a human, and he immediately finds something else to look at? He was thinking about handfuls, but didn’t want to offend you.”

“Why would I be offended, if he was just looking?”

Bekk sighed. “Because humans have the most fucked up development of anyone I’ve ever heard of,” she said. “Ollie’s told me all about it. They don’t do coming of age ceremonies or anything in the way of education or answers; they’re just taught to pretend it’s not there, and when the hormones light up at puberty, they turn them loose on each other and just hope for the best. It’s insane.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously. I think it’s why the House of Orange Lights is so popular. They can go there and leave their crazy human rules at the door and just ASK someone something. Why do you think the humans like to eat here?”

“…excellent food?”

“Well, yes,” said Bekk. “But it’s also because as long as you keep your hands to yourself and don’t behave like an ass, it’s okay to look at my tits!”

“Which brings us to my issue,” said Wanna. “What do I do about Arnuvel?”

“Depends. Do you want him to look at your tits?”

“Well… I don’t mind him looking at my tits.”

Bekk rolled her eyes. “Mother… “

“What? He might be a human, but it’s still flattering.”

“And you came all the way into town to ask me if it was all right for a human to look at your tits. Bullshit. You’re interested in him, aren’t you?”

And for a moment there was silence. “And what if I am?”

“Glory and sunshine to us all. The light at the end of the tunnel beckons,” said Bekk happily. “I would never offer my father disrespect, but I know he wouldn’t have wanted you to be miserable, much less as long as you have been. Go take your top off and let the human look at your tits and see what develops. From what I hear, he’s likely too honorable to just rape you. Especially if he’s gracious enough to look away when you catch him looking.”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Of course not. He’s a human. It only worked that easily for me because mine was a virgin when I caught him. Does this one of yours have real interest, or is he just interested in your veema?”

Wanna frowned. “That’s the question,” she said. “He gave me earrings. He said I was pretty. He looks at me. But… he won’t do anything, dammit.”

“That’s humans,” said Bekk, rolling her eyes again. “Interest, affection, and horniness are the things they hide above all else. Try indicating that you might be interested… but… do it subtle. Take a light touch, a gentle approach.”

“And how would you suggest I do that?”

“You’re asking ME how to do subtle?”

“Point taken,” said Wanna.

***********************

In the dark of the night, Arnuvel lay back on the bed, his hand on his cock, and stroked himself. His erection stood tall and proud, and glad of Arnuvel’s attention.

Arnuvel was in a bit of a position. He’d found lemans before, certainly. But this was a post he’d hoped to make a lifetime of. At thirty one, Arnuvel hoped to find his place before he got old enough to be awkward in a new placement. Arnuvel wanted a home. And he’d hoped that Refuge could be that home. And, well, a man had needs. But where to see to those needs inside a month? Arranging a liaison, much less a semipermanent relationship, making a local woman into a pleasant and pliant leman… well… this was a thing one didn’t rush into. Not without making a scandalous mess in a place he'd hoped to make a home.

But a man had needs, dammit. Arnuvel stroked himself and thought about Wanna.

Arnuvel never would have thought he’d find himself dwelling on thoughts of a goblin woman. But… goblin or not, Wanna was a woman, and a right pleasing one at that. In the past, when arranging affairs and partnerships, Arnuvel had concentrated largely on physical attractiveness, and the discretion of the woman in question. But he’d also entered into a business relationship with Wanna with no thought of sex beforehand, and… well, for all that she could be frightfully ignorant on human matters, Wanna was quite sharp, quite experienced, and quite well versed in goblin matters. She’d proven to be a colossal asset as far as understanding how goblin society worked, and what goblins were likely to think and do under a given set of circumstances.

She was a fascinating conversationalist. He'd come to like and respect Wanna. And… one did not make a leman out of one that one liked and respected, did one? Or did one? The damned book, The Duke’s Housekeeper, drifted through his mind again. The fictional Duke of Oxton had neither liked nor respected Melia the Housekeeper, but had come to love her by the end of the--

STOP that!

Arnuvel closed his eyes. His pecker was still at full attention, unfulfilled and unsatisfied. Arnuvel took it in hand, and tried to think of something, and someone, who wasn’t green. Her loins afire, Melia rose from the bed, and cast off her filmy night clothes…

************************

The strange trio broke the treeline into the clearing. The clover and weeds in the clearing was still green, but would likely not be much longer in the November cool. And notably, there were no mushrooms in the field.

“It’s nice of you to come with me,” said Shuffa, who carried a bag. “But you don’t have to do this.”

“Leave you to walk all the way down the road down here by yourself?” said Charli. “Naw. This way, when your business with the Magician is done, you can ride back with us, after we get done in town.” Charli, too, carried a bag of his own. It had something heavy in it. Only Oddri carried nothing, as the trio approached the gazebo in the mushroom field.

And as they approached the gazebo, the Magician and the Red Witch appeared out of nowhere, sitting in the gazebo’s benches. The Red Witch held a staff. Both were looking right at Shuffa, Charli, and Oddri. Plainly, they had been expected. The three stopped, a good ten feet from the circular platform the gazebo rested upon.

“I have the money,” said Shuffa, holding up the bag. The Magicians said nothing. Shuffa approached the gazebo, and put the sack on the wooden floor of the structure.

The Magicians smiled. “It is good,” said Tolla.

“I … have a favor to ask,” said Shuffa. The Magicians looked at her expectantly, but said nothing.

“I have a second crop in,” Shuffa said. “I’m hoping I can harvest a fall crop before the next frost. If I can, then payment for the winter months isn’t a problem. But… if I lose the fall crop… may I hold off payment until spring?”

“And if she can’t,”said Charli unexpectedly, “might a bribe be in order?”

Shuffa spun and looked at Charli with a shocked look on her face.

The Magician spoke. “I thought you looked familiar,” he said. “You’re Charli Buds. I used to do business with you.”

Charli grinned. “You did. Back around the time you first got here. Used to buy pork, eggs, chickens, and bottles of my mother’s back rub liniment.”

The Magician chuckled. “I remember.”

“So if Shuffa can’t make her next payment,” Charli continued, opening his bag, “might this distract your attention until spring?” Charli drew a small wooden keg from the sack, and rested it on the wooden platform next to Shuffa’s offering.

“Is that what I think it is?” said the Magician.

“The very finest,” said Charli. “You haven’t been around lately, but it was the only thing I have handy that I thought might be of value to you, for sure.”

Shuffa stared at Charli in shock. “You two know each other?”

“Sure do,” said Charli. “We did good business, back a ways. Treated each other proper. His money helped me a big fair piece, back when I was still getting my farm going. There’s them who’d speak badly of him, but he never did me anything but right.”

The Magician stood up, and under the Red Witch’s watchful gaze, he walked to the edge of the platform and picked up the little keg. It made a sloshing sound in the Magician’s hands. “We did do good business, back then,” he said. “I was new here, then. And all alone. Charli’s corn wine helped me through many a dark night and shadowed morning, for all that I drank entirely too much of it. Charli never did me anything but fair.”

Shuffa’s gaze darted between the Magician and Charli, not quite believing what she was seeing. Oddri watched, and said nothing.

“We had heard that an ogre had taken up residence at the Buds farm,” said the Red Witch. “I am Tolla, and this is Ben. Might we know your name?”

“I … am Oddri,” said Oddri uncomfortably.

“And life on Charli’s farm suits you?”

“I… yes. Yes. Charli and Shuffa are good sweet friends,” she said. After a moment’s thought, she added, “They never did me anything but good.”

“And Shuffa,” said Tolla, turning to Shuffa. “You, too, are living there?”

Shuffa looked at Charli. “It’s better than being alone,” she said. “Living by myself on my plot. I didn’t know he was going to try to bribe you.”

“I didn’t tell her,” said Charli to the Magician. “Shuffa’s had a hard time of it, and she’s still working on understanding farm finance. I know that keg isn’t the equal of three months’ payment, but perhaps you could see your way clear to—”

“Say no more,” said the Magician, with a smile. “Shuffa, you have made some good friends. Good people. And the bribe is accepted. I won’t be expecting payment until… April, let’s say?”

Shuffa stared. “I can have a crop in and harvested before then,” she said. “I can pay, by then.”

“Then we will see you in April,” said Tolla with a smile. “Have a good winter. All of you.”

And in the wink of an eye, they were gone, and the keg and Shuffa’s bag with them.

***********************

The grain exchange in Refuge was a site of some spectacle later that day, as farmers and workmen witnessed a wagon pull up to the loading dock. In the seat sat a man. Beside him sat a goblin. And in the back of the wagon, atop a great many full grain sacks, sat an ogre woman wearing a halter top and a short blue and white striped skirt.

Everyone recognized Charli Buds, of course, although this was the first time anyone had ever seen him come in accompanied. The ogre woman slid out the back of the wagon and held up her hands; Charli heaved bags from the wagon, and the ogre woman caught them, and upon being directed, began slinging the fifty-pound-bags of maize, wheat, and oats across the dock to the weighing area, while the workmen … normally inclined to help … made a point of staying out of the way. Upon unloading the wagon, the strange trio headed over to the weighing station, where the ogre woman assisted in hefting the bags onto the scales for weighing. Upon verification of the sack weights, the agent paid Charli in gold and silver, and the three remounted the wagon and headed into town.

The agent and two of the workmen on the dock watched them go. “That Charli must have a pecker like a damn log,” one of the workmen said. “How the hell you tame an ogre? AND a goblin?”

***********************

Breakfast was late the next morning, and was pancakes, a thing of which Jeeka was fond, after the babies were seen to. And upon eating her first bite off the stack, Jeeka remembered. "I had another dream about Ilrea last night," she said.

Tolla had just sat down to table, and glanced up. "That only happens when you've been reading too much, or you're stressed," she said. "Which is it?"

"Neither," said Jeeka. "That's the weird part. Reading the Ilrean books sets me off, but I wasn't doing that last night. And I'm not stressed about anything I can think of offhand."

Ben entered the living room wearing a houserobe, his hair wet from the bath. "So what was the dream?"

"The part I can remember was a bunch of guys in gold armor," she said.

"Gold armor?" said Ben. "That doesn't sound like any of my memories. Describe?"

"It was on this big field, where all the grass was the same height," said Jeeka. "Very neat looking. There were these guys in gold armor, humans, a lot of them, all standing shoulder to shoulder holding big gold two-pronged forks. And another man in different armor was standing in front of them, yelling at them." Cutting another bite from the stack, Jeeka continued to demolish the pancakes.

Ben sat down and picked up the tea mug Tolla had set for him. "Did the men have shaved heads? And were there emblems on their chests?"

"Not shaved," said Jeeka, "but cut really short. And yes, they had emblems. A sort of crescent, but lying down with the points pointing upward, and a big dot above that."

"THAT, I remember. Sounds like the cadet corps at the Great University," said Ben, sipping his tea. "They used to use the spross field for drill."

"That makes no sense at all to me," said Tolla, loading her plate with pancakes and sausage.

"Or to me," said Jeeka, "and it was my head it was happening in. That's what I get for sharing memories. What was I looking at?"

"Well," said Ben, "the cadets were basically officers in training, and would later join the military. The yelling man was probably their drill non-com."

"So Ilrean soldiers wore gold armor," said Jeeka, spearing a sausage, "and attacked each other with big forks?"

"Not forks," said Ben. "Lightning rods. Like the staffs, but nowhere near as versatile. They launched lightning bolts when you aimed and touched the kedra symbol, just like the staff can shoot kinetic bolts. And the armor wasn't gold, it was challic. Looks like polished brass, with a coppery tone. Metal armor isn't a good thing to wear on a field where there's lightning flying around, and challic armor takes protective enchantment really well."

"These were soldiers in training?" said Tolla. "Equipped with staffs that shot lightning? Sounds like a rough training school."

"The training rods were way underpowered," said Ben. "Enough to knock you on your butt and encourage you to not get hit again. On the spross field, they weren't even charged up; they were there mainly for flourishing and swinging around in formation. To look impressive.”

"I didn't know you'd ever been a soldier," said Jeeka.

"I wasn't," said Ben. "I was an academic. Strictly a scholar and theorist. But the cadets still trained at the spross field once a week. I used to see them as I walked from the transit station to the Transportation building in the mornings."

Jeeka frowned. "So... this wasn't even an important part of your life? Just a thing you used to see in passing? That's unusual," said Jeeka. "I still remember when I was having morning sickness every day, and for a week straight I was dreaming that I was watching endless reruns of At Home With The Vorxes."

Ben grinned. "Sorry. I used to like that show."

"That's because you had the cultural references to get all the jokes," growled Jeeka. "To a goblin, it looks like a bunch of humans in funny clothes doing crazy things in a living room, and an unseen crowd laughs at them occasionally for no reason. And that Rauss guy was just weird, not funny at all, even the first season with the monkey. So you weren't even interested in the cadets? They were just... background?”

Ben sipped his tea. "Pretty much," he said. "It was a thing you'd see if you were anywhere near the spross field at certain times of the week. That's it. I never paid much attention."

Tolla ate a bite of pancake, looked thoughtful, and swallowed. "So," she said, "you're not stressed. You weren't reading griimoires. And you had a dream about something Ben used to see in the background. What's THAT mean?"

Ben frowned suddenly. "It could mean prophecy," he said.

"Prophecy?" said Tolla.

"Seriously?" said Jeeka.

"It doesn't happen often, but it happens," said Ben. "Jeeka's a talented magician, even under my underskilled tutelage. She has raw power, and magical aptitude. That can affect people in a lot of ways. One of them has to do with manifestations of cause and effect, retroactively from the future."

The two goblins stared at Ben for a moment. Ben nonchalantly drank his tea. Finally, Tolla said, "You don't think you're getting away with not explaining THAT one, do you?"

"Things can have causes in the future," said Ben. He reached for a plate and began forking pancakes onto it. "Before they happen. Sometimes, significant events can work backwards through the plenum and manifest in psychic echoes before they happen. Back before people understood it, they called it "prophecy." Still do. I don't know if that's what this is, but it's a possibility."

"You're saying that the Great University's Cadet Corps is going to make an appearance in our future?" said Jeeka skeptically.

"Unlikely," said Ben. He drizzled honey over the cakes. "First of all, you're used to seeing what's in front of you, and remembering things in your past. That's normal. Psychic echoes of things that haven't happened yet are not normal. Furthermore, it's being filtered through your subconscious mind, which distorts it and tends to insert symbolism that might only have significance to you. And then, finally, we have the fact that some of each other's memories are tangled up in our heads, which confuses the issue even further. So if your dream was a prophecy, which it may or may not be, it's unlikely to be recognizable in any coherent form... except possibly symbolically. And I couldn't tell you what the Cadet Corps could possibly symbolize for you."

"Hm," said Tolla. "What's a spross field?"

"A field where you play spross," said Ben.

Tolla gave him a look that could have melted lead.

"A game," added Ben hastily. "Team sport, played on a field, with ten men to a team and three different sized balls..."

************************

On the back porch, upon returning from Refuge that evening, Oddri and Shuffa sat and watched the sunset while Charli cooked up something in the kettle for dinner. Oddri sucked absently at a peppermint stick. Shuffa munched an enormous sweet pickle. Luxuries had been the order of the day after the payment at the grain exchange, and Charli had been insistent that the two women should choose their pleasures while they had the chance to buy in town. Shuffa’s mustard had sold at the Dry Goods for a fine price, but Charli had insisted that she save her money, that the price of pickles was a pittance that he was happy to pay.

“Shuffa?” said Oddri.

“Mmhm?” said Shuffa, around a mouthful of pickle.

“What do goblins do with babies?”

“Well,” said Shuffa, swallowing her pickle bite. “The first thing you generally do is feed them. Wrap them in a hraffa, so when they soil themselves, they’re easy to clean up. Look after them. Keep them clean and fed. And teach them, as they grow up.”

Oddri nodded. “And what do the goblin boys do?”

Shuffa glanced up at Oddri. “Well, the good ones take care of you and the baby,” she said. “They hunt and gather and bring home food. They learn to wash hraffa. They take over some of the chores, so you have more time to take care of the baby.”

Oddri nodded, and sucked on her peppermint stick. “What do human boys do?” she asked.

Shuffa stared up at Oddri, who seemed so lost in her own thoughts, she didn’t notice. “I don’t know,” said Shuffa. “I’ve never seen a human baby. At the lumberyard, I worked with men, except for one woman, who didn’t have a baby.”

“Men. That’s boy humans?”

“It is. You could ask Charli; I guess he’d know better than I do what humans do with their babies. Why? Are you thinking about having one?”

Oddri’s head jerked around, and she looked back at Shuffa for the first time. “No,” Oddri said softly. “Is dinner ready?” And she rose from the stoop and headed back into the house.

Shuffa looked after her. Thing about being “social,” Shuffa thought, is that you learn how to lie convincingly. And you told us that ogres aren’t very social in the wild, didn’t you? And Shuffa, too, rose and went inside as well.

https://www.newgrounds.com/dump/draw/9e7602b65eb0d4515d9f4ed7991f4401

Back to Chapter 21:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinGirls/comments/107qkcd/the_reeve_amidst_the_green_21_the_coming_of_autumn/

Ahead to Chapter 23!

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinGirls/comments/10cstjt/the_reeve_amidst_the_green_23_a_tall_order/