"Hoo!" Pot murmured. Opaline realized that he and Kettle had followed her out, and gotten a good glimpse of the nude Glamor. Voila was not as stunningly shapely as Weft, but she was slender and well enough endowed, a remarkable sight for backwoods folk who seldom saw the equivalent. It was just as well that Oak hadn't come out yet; Opaline would have had to take him back inside for more sex despite the recency of the last episode.
Voila changed. Her fingers lengthened and expanded into gross tentacles. Her head shrank into her body, losing the neck. She was, indeed, a squid. "Fetch Oak," she said. Her voice had become masculine; she was now Rafal.
Opaline fetched Oak, who normally rested or napped for a while after sex. She made sure he was dressed and brought him down and out.
"Squid," he said, smiling with recognition. He walked to the pool.
"Greeting, Oak," Rafal said.
"Greeting."
"I am Rafal in imprint emulation. We will be working together tomorrow."
"Affirmation."
"Give me your hand."
Oak put out one hand. Rafal reached out with one tentacle and wrapped it around fingers, palm, and wrist. "I recognize you," he said, surprised.
"Question?"
"You are a failed Glamor. You never got a constituency or an ikon, so your power was stifled. You can do very little. But your range is infinite, like gravity." Rafal considered. "Which is not remarkable. Gravity is your power, not magic."
"Affirmation."
"This could be very good. I am presently an imprint utilizing a borrowed host. My powers are somewhat limited as such. But with your assistance I may be able to establish a direct connection to my own body. Please reach out to the planet in my mind."
"Oak does not have telepathy," Opaline said quickly.
An eye swiveled to orient on her. "He does now. He is sharing mine."
Opaline looked at Oak. "Affirmation," Oak said, smiling. "Rafal is much smarter than I am, and is able to share his intellect with me while we are in physical contact. At the moment I understand much that I never understood before, and will not understand hereafter." He paused, contemplating her. "And you, Opaline, are an angel. Suddenly I appreciate the full range of your service to me and to my family. I realize that this is a chore you were assigned, but you have done it well, and I applaud your effort."
Opaline felt her mouth hanging open. As were the mouths of Pot and Kettle. Oak had never spoken like this before. Obviously what he said was true: he now had access to the phenomenal mind of an alien Glamor. It made him a relative genius. "Welcome," she said somewhat inanely.
Oak smiled. "I will remember. I will not comprehend the whole of it, but I will remember your dedication. Now, however, I must establish the linkage to Rafal's real body. This is a thing I may be able to enable him to do, because I can sense distant objects without limit. It is of course the corollary to my ability to move them, however slightly. If we can broaden the channel to full telepathic rapport, it will magnify our effectiveness tomorrow. I love you, Opaline." He turned back to face the squid.
Opaline looked at Pot and Kettle. Both of them shrugged, not knowing any better than she did how they should react.
For some time there was nothing apparent. Rafal's eyes closed, and so did Oak's eyes. Both faces were expressionless. Neither moved.
Then suddenly both jumped. "Got it!" they exclaimed together.
Oak turned to face Opaline again. "Telepathic rapport has been established."
"I can now draw on the full resources of my body," Rafal said.
"However, it will require some practice to prepare for tomorrow," Oak said. "This is apt to be dull for you, as we will appear to be quite still, as before. I suggest that you retire to the house and relax. We will signal you when the session is completed."
"Confusion," Opaline said, speaking for the three of them. "What preparation is this?"
"The machines space fleet will attack on several fronts," Rafal said. "Their main fleet will approach the human culture in a broad array, utilizing hundreds of wormholes. But there will be a special preliminary attack by four ships whose objective is to blow apart this planet and Counter-Charm. This is the thrust that Oak and I will counter.
The other Glamors will attend to the larger fleet. We need to plan the specifics, because three of those ships will be immune to Oak's power."
"How—how can you know this?" Opaline asked.
"It is well within the intermediate future seeing range that Voila's imprint of Idyll Ifrit provides," Oak said.
"This ability to anticipate the specific ploys of the machines is our main tactical advantage. But that does not necessarily make them easy to counter. We must labor on the specifics. Apology, but we must focus exclusively on that now. Parting."
"Parting," Opaline agreed, though they obviously were not going anywhere physically.
Oak and Rafal went still again, linked by hand and tentacle. They were in their own realm.
Opaline and Oak's parents went back into the house. "Wonder," Kettle said.
They waited two hours, none of them able to relax. They remained amazed by the change in Oak, and the attention the Glamors were giving him. He really was important!
Then there was a knock on the door. Kettle answered it.
It was Voila, nude, dripping. "We are done for today. Apology. In my distraction I forgot to mask my body as I emerged, and Oak—"
"Wait here," Opaline said, and pushed by her to run outside.
Oak was staring into the pool, bemused. Opaline ripped off her clothing and clambered in with a splash. "Come in!" she told him. "Drop your clothing first."
He got his clothing off, exposing his standing member, and in a moment splashed into the pool with her. The water was chest high on her, making her breasts float. "Remember how we did it in the river last month? This is like that."
He remembered. He clasped her close, and she hoisted herself up to get on his member. Then she clung to him as he thrust, their bodies making ripples. He ejaculated almost immediately.
She lifted her face to kiss him. "What was it like, Oak? I mean, being linked to Rafal?"
"I was so smart, and I saw so much!" he exclaimed.
And that was about as much as he could tell her. The familiar Oak was back. But Rafal's comment that he was a failed Glamor—that was weird, but explained a lot.
In due course they returned to the house, clothed. The remaining day and night were relatively normal, because they labored to make them so, so as not to alarm Oak.
"I like Rafal," Oak said as they settled down to sleep. "He's going to marry Voila."
"That's nice," Opaline agreed. Apparently it didn't matter to Oak that Rafal was a tentacular monster. Voila obviously knew what she was doing.
In the morning she got Oak up, cleaned, dressed, fed, sexually tapped, and ready for the day.
"Should we stay in the house?" Kettle asked.
Opaline didn't even have to think about it. "Negation. You're Oak's parents. You raised him. If he saves the planet, it's because of you. He needs you with him for the finish. I'm sure the Glamors agree."
Kettle shook her head, not in negation. "Rafal is right. You are an angel."
"Negation," Opaline said, but she was flushing with pleasure.
Voila appeared as they approached the pool. "I will emulate Rafal, as before. This time the link to his body will be faster. But there will be certain adjustments. Walk with me, Opaline." Opaline did not question this until they were out of the hearing of the others. "Problem?" she asked, concerned.
"You are needed elsewhere."
"But Oak expects me to be with him."
"Weft will emulate you, again."
Opaline made a wry face. "Necessary?" she asked distastefully.
"Affirmation. You will work with Flame and Fifth."