With a few coppers less

As you are buying lunch you find what could almost be considered a prototype donut. There isn't any icing and it is baked not fried, but there is the sugar substitute very lightly sprinkled over it. You spend a few moments asking about it and making some suggestions on how to create a real donut.

The baker doesn't seem to take you all that seriously at first. You blame the clearly noble clothes you are wearing while talking about cooking. But when you start making suggestions about frying the dough they get pay attention. This world does have pressed oil and animal fat that can be used, though it's not quite mass produced enough for a proper donut frying to be profitable without marketing it directly to nobles. Which is why you suggest making a few and trying to sell the recipe to the Royal Academy.

By the end of the discussion you aren't sure if you've managed to create a donut but you do have some treats to bring to Mary, Ana and Green. You know that Ana likes sweets but aren't sure about the others, guess this is the time to find out.

Now down to five coppers you jog to the muster grounds, with a bit of magic to speed you along. A few people give you some looks of surprise, and some of annoyance when you accidentally kick up some dirt in your wake. You are going faster than the carriages you are passing along the way but not by much so you move into the road and jog around them instead continuing along the sidewalk.

Moving out of the city and towards the muster grounds the smell of salt gets stronger. The buildings are replaced with crops, green stalks that are slowly starting to turn golden. Harvest must be soon though the crops here aren't like the crops back home. Home was mostly vegetables with a few grains. Here seems almost entirely grains. Makes sense, grains can fill more belly and can be stored for much longer. Perfect for a city next to the sea with a big population, more resistant to any blights thanks to the salt and easily harvested and stored by the population.

A few people are moving along the roads with you. Mostly soldiers who give you nods as you pass. On occasion you see groups of guys all dressed rather provocatively. The ones leave the grounds had larger pouches on their hips than the ones going in, the ones leaving also give some tips on where they had been working and so were tapped out. When a few give you suggestions you aren't sure if you should be embarrassed or flattered.

At the grounds entrance you see Ana's carriage and the driver chatting with a one of the provocatively clad guys. The soldiers on duty at the gate are carefully inspecting everyone entering and exiting. And not in a pervy way which you think makes a nice change. They are professionally examining everyone coming and going from the camp. You however, are waved inside with a respectful nod and directions towards the Princess.

Traveling through the grounds you hear the odd laugh, giggle and moan coming from tents. The place is mostly empty but as you near where you'd been directed you find out why. At the beach you find a crowd gathered watching something. Thankfully the soldiers part for you when you ask them.

"Again." Mary says, arms crossed with her back towards you staring at Ana who is standing up to her hips in the sea.

Ana is breathing a little heavily as her magic pools and she lifts her feet to the waters surface and stands up. On her ankles you see chains which are pulled taut. Your eyes follow them up to the beach to either side of Mary. One soldier for each chain walk over and pick them up.

This is supposed to be endurance training but it looks more like magic output training. Ana has to stay on her feet while the soldiers try pulling her off balance. You'd have thought it would more like doing laps or something.

"Remember, whoever pulls me off my feet gets ten gold coins." Ana said with a laugh. The soldiers cheered as those holding the chain started pulling. Ana crouched and then started running at Mary as the soldiers ran away from her. Trying to pull her legs apart.

Each step Ana took gave the soldiers more chain to pull but they weren't having any luck. Ana keeps running until she reaches the sand at which point Mary fires a burst of magic that knocks her back into the sea and causes the soldiers holding the chains to get pulled into Mary who catches them without any trouble. The soldiers curse as they get up off the sand but Mary pats them down.

Ana climbs out of the water and wipes her hair from her eyes, laughing. "You're soldiers must tough, I know you're going easy on me." She laughs, flashing the crowd a winning smile. The soldiers laugh and act tough, glad for the flattery from a Princess.

"Again little Sister." Mary said instead of engaging.

"Hello Christopher." Green said behind you. "Those two will be at this for hours." She walked to your side and stared at you for a moment.

"What?" You asked looking at her.

"Something for me?" She asked, nodding at the notuts you'd brought.

"Oh right." You offer her one, she takes a bite but doesn't stop staring. "Oh, right." You reach into your pocket and take out Mary's seal.

"Now where did you get that?" Green asks, taking it and places it in one of her pockets. You roll your eyes and look back at the training.

You catch Ana's eyes and she smiles at you. When Mary begins the next round and Ana charges you can see she is putting a lot more magic in than she had been. She reaches the beach and dodges Mary's first blast, Mary tries aiming at the sand next but that is a trick Ana had just witnessed yesterday. She jumps over the sand trap and reaches out for Mary.

The speed rush and predicting attack might have let Ana win against Asune but against her older sister it only meant getting a few extra steps in. Mary's final move was to hit the middle of the chins that her soldiers had pulled taut. The new direction of force while she was off her feet overcomes the magic she was using to keep her legs together. Ana crashes into the sand at Mary's feet face first.

You take a step to make sure she is ok but she jumps up laughing. "Guess that means I owe you two ten each." She said to the soldiers who cheered.

Mary ruffles her little sister hair. "Back in the water little sis. Whose going to try winning next?" She asked her soldiers as Ana winked at you and went back into the water. You're always impressed when you see Ana's people skills, she really is very charming. "Enjoy the show Christopher?" Mary asked looking over at you with her own smile.

"It's always impressive seeing Royals train." You say, earning some agreement from the crowd and a hint of pride in Mary's aura.

"You're always welcome to watch us." Ana said, biting her lip for a moment as she looked from you to her sister. You're also always impressed by easily she can make something sexual when it comes to her sister.

You have returned the seal and there are other people you could spend some of the day with. "I'll watch for a few rounds." You say. "And I brought-" You try to lift up the notnuts but can't find them. You hear nomming from your side and see Green smirking as she chews on a fresh one. "Nevermind."

Ana and Mary go back to the training while you glare at Green. "You did steal Mary's seal." She said with a mouthful.

"You gave it to," you stop yourself from getting caught up in this. Green is Lady Demise's daughter and you don't have a good track record of winning anything with her mother, starting the same record with one of her daughters would be more embarrassing than anything. "You owe me three coppers."

"Already paid you." Green says, faux offense with a mouthful of stole notnut is not as cute as she seems to think it is.

Your hand reaches to your diminutive coin pouch as the temptation to call her out grows. When you feel more coppers in there than there had been you give her a flat look. "It's going to be like this forever isn't it."

She winks at you and finishes her notnut and stares on the last one. "You're cute when you're figuring out what our future life is going to be like after marrying Mary." You shake you head and go back to watching the training. "Oh you're learning." She teases. "By the way there is something you should know. Come on." She walked back through the crowd as Ana got knocked back into the ocean. Ana is going to be exhausted on Monday both physically and magically.

You follow Green out of the crowd. Ana and Mary kept training, don't even seem to notice you leaving but you'll swing by after whatever this is.

Green leads you along the beach towards the previous injured troop section. She opens a tent flap and you walk inside seeing a remarkably familiar sight. There are rows of chair pointing towards the back of the tent, where there is a small altar, with bits of gold scattered all over it. Of course the most obviously familiar sight is Oriana in her gold almost see through robes.

"Stud." She says happily. Everyone turns around to look at you, Auria in the front row looking a bit less happy than usual. Cynthia next to her looking a bit surprised to see you. "Our Mother must have sent you." She hurries over and grabs your hand, is she is talking about Farrah or the Mother of All you aren't sure but you are sure you don't want to be dragging into anything religious.

"Actually Green just wanted to showed me here so I can check up on the people I helped heal themselves." You know it's pointless to try a subtle deflection away from your culpability but you try anyway. "How is everyone? Any changes you've noticed in your limbs. Stronger than they had been or anything like that?" You asked ignoring Oriana and focusing on the people watching.

"Of course." Oriana said marching back to the altar. "I've heard about the gifts the Mothers bestowed on these women through her Stud." She gestures to a few of the soldiers who are looking at you with a bit more awe than you like.

"My hand's stronger than it was." One said squeezing her fist.

"Proof of the Mother's love when you allowed her Stud inside you." There is a far less sexual way to put that, though you suppose it is on point for the religion. "Everyone tells me the same. You have truly shown them how the Mother of All loves all of her children, Stud." Oriana said, cooing over the soldier who'd spoken up.

"I'm afraid Christopher is still under my purview." Green interrupted Oriana before she could get more testimonials. "And I was under the impression Farrah had been asked here to teach some soldiers how to heal, not to start a sermon."

Oh, bad decision Green, no engaging with Oriana was ever going to go in anyone's favour but hers.

"I am her Daughter and will be a Mother soon." The religious titles are so confusing, she'll be a Mother without being a mother maybe she'll get called Double Mother if she has a kid afterwards. "Healing through the Mother requires understanding her love. How can I teach the Seekers to heal without first teaching them how the Mother loves them?" Oriana said with a matronly gaze, it was a lot more convincing than you expected. "And they have already experienced a part of through her Stud."

"And yet Christopher was able to do this without invoking any Goddesses. Do any of you remember Christopher making any mention of the Mother when he healed you?" Green counters calmly.

"Christopher is a Stud not a Mother, it is his duty to spread the Mother's love not her words. He is to show her love not teach it. And everyone here has seen her love, and can feel how that love remains within them." Oriana gestures at the various repaired limbs.

"Perhaps we should leave, Mary might be missing us by now." You try to bring this to an end, Oriana was winning over the soldiers the more this went on and getting more experience in debating as she did.

"Christopher was this Mother involved in healing these women or was it simply you?" She just had to put you in the middle of it.

"Of course it was only him." Oriana said, making you look at her in surprise and worry. "As I said, he shows the Mother's love not teaches it. If not for the Mother he would never have known how to heal these women." She gives you a pointed look.

"Ah, so the Mother can be given credit for the acts of others. Does that mean she is responsible for the soldiers being injured so that her love can be shown? Or is she only responsible for the good things that happen?"

Ohhhhh, good point.

"She, n-no it's not like that." Oriana turned around and grabbed a book from the altar. It wasn't gold so your figured it is a copy. Farrah probably wouldn't let the gold one out of the building after your visit, it must cost a lot.

"Perhaps you should investigate that on your own. Meanwhile the Princesses are training and offering ten gold coins to whomever could pull Princess Anastasia of balance." Green said hurrying out of the tent before Oriana has time to figure out the argument 'if the Mother can't prevent evil does that mean she should never allow any good to try and restore her Daughters.'

A few of the soldiers move out as well though not all. "Thank you for joining me, I didn't want Mary involved and knew having you there would be more effective than going alone." Green said. "Mary had asked Farrah to come to teach our soldiers how to set up and manage the field hospitals she'd helped set up after your fight at the academy.

"Happy to help, though would have preferred some warning." You said back. She stepped in front of you her eyes dancing slightly.

"But if I did that I wouldn't have seen how you actually feel about the Mother of All." She said with a smirk

"Damn it. Why are you so much like your mother?"

"One of her daughters had to be, plus with Mary I needed to learn fast." She laughed and started running back to Princess. "Say bye before you leave and I'll give this back." She holds up your coin pouch and waves it in the air. You are far to easy to pick-pocket.