A Foot Race

“Alright ladies, since you have trouble deciding things a bit reasonably at the moment I've decided that you will all have a foot race to decide the order each of you gets a day with me. First some ground rules; you can only use your natural physical abilities, you can not use any supernatural abilities or spells to assist you in achieving victory, you can use any of your abilities or spells to keep the other contestants from cheating, you are not allowed to fake your course progression, you can only use the limbs you had at the start of the contest. The course will involve running along the forest path leading here all the way to the Fallen World and back 4 times, each time you return you will honestly tell me if you completed the circuit, if you were honest I will hand you a ribbon to wear on your body, you are not permitted to take another contestant’s ribbon, when you have four ribbons your name will be written on the board in regards to your place in the race, you will each have a different color ribbon and the color will be decided by me after the race has begun. I am now open to questions and suggestions regarding the race.”

“I have a question,” said Lina in her new primally sexy slightly growl-like voice, “will clothing or protective materials be mandatory? From what you said earlier I'm assuming I can move on all fours.”

“That method of moving is valid,” I said, “as for clothing and protective materials, those are optional. I want you ladies to feel comfortable during the competition.”

“So, our physical ability only,” said Tammy, “that means we can climb trees and hop among them, but not make anything to impede the others.”

“Technically yes,” I said, “but as I stated earlier, you are racing each other on foot. That means no flying, no digging, no becoming one with any part of the environment, and no jumping or hopping the majority of the distance you have to cover.”

“Nice stipulation,” said Aisha, “you want to make sure we're all on a level playing field, regardless of what we are.”

“Agreed,” said Sasha, “Master is trying to provide an impartial method of selecting the order of his partners for the coming days. This competition has the prospect of being impartial, and since we are unable to go against the wishes of Master’s rules, and clarification of the rules, that he gave us will act as safeguards to ensure that we do exactly what is expected of us. He gave us the endpoints of the course, he did not tell us the route we have to follow.”

“That is correct,” I said, “the course you take is up to you, but you must follow the rules I set out for you. The foot race will begin in 3 hours, this gives me time to get the materials to make your ribbons and you time to plan your routes. I want you to remember, ladies, the race does not start before I tell you it is on the appointed hour, if you jump the gun on this I will send you to the lower regions of the ranking for the race and if you all jump the gun I will be trying this again tomorrow and the next day and so on until you can keep a handle on your hurried attempts.”

“Understood,” said Margret. With that, all the girls went to different sections of the compound to plan out their racing courses. As the girls prepared for the competition I looked throughout the complex for ribbons or objects I could make ribbons. After 2 hours of searching, I found a box filled with 9 differently colored ribbons. The ribbons were pink, violet, red, green, yellow, orange, white, black, and blue. I got back to the main entrance with the box of ribbons and waited. A few minutes later the girls all showed up, without any clothing.

I asked them all the same question I had originally asked Aisha after she called me master, they all gave the same answer Aisha had I then said, “Okay ladies, you know most of the rules now,” then said, “here's one more to remember, when I give you your lap ribbon, you are to tie it so that it is visible to me on return visits and I must be able to see all your ribbons. This means you are not allowed to place ribbons on top of each other or somewhere I am unable to check at a passing glance. I will ask you to remove a ribbon and relocate it to an unadorned part of your body if I suspect you have placed a ribbon over another ribbon.”

“Seems reasonable,” said Tammy, “it will accurately allow you to gauge our progress.”

“Not to mention, it takes about twenty minutes while walking to get to the Fallen World and back,” said Sasha, “and about half that at a full sprint for some of us. This race should only last a few hours at most.”

“Alright,” I said, “on your first return trip one of the 9 colors of ribbon will be presented to you, on each successive return trip you will be presented with a matching ribbon. Now that everyone knows how this is to go your race begins,” I waited a few seconds for emphasis and watched the girls physically prepare for sprinting, “now,” I said in a loud commanding voice. Like arrows the girls were out the door and on their way to the Fallen World. Half an hour later Aisha was the first one through the door, “did you only use your legs and arms for moving about, answer honestly” I inquired.

“Yes,” said Aisha proudly, to which I handed her a white ribbon, which she tied to her left forearm and was back outside. About 3 minutes later Tammy arrived and I gave her pink ribbon, which she tied to the region just above her right kneecap and was back to the race. 6 Minutes later Sasha was in and I handed her a black ribbon, which she tied around her left shoulder. 2 minutes later Margret arrived. I gave Margret an orange ribbon, which she tied to her left forearm and she was back to the race. 2 minutes later Lina was in and I gave her a violet ribbon, which she tied to the base of her tail and was back to the race.