They were awed. "We would not think of—" Copper said.
"Ever," Silver agreed.
Havoc produced a third stone. "In this manner." He held it up. "In the name of the king: help."
The stone flashed. There was a stir behind him. A startlingly beautiful blond woman appeared. "Who summons the king's minion?"
"Welcome, Weft."
She smiled with something more than recognition, inhaling as she did so. "Hi, dad. You're in trouble? Need firm female guidance?"
"Demonstration. I have given summons stones to these good people, Copper and Silver, the parents of Opaline. I want them to know that they have the protection of the king."
Weft turned to them. "I was the one on call this time, but any of the king's minions will serve. Had, for example, brigands threatened you, I would have treated them harshly." She snapped her fingers, and a spark flew out. It formed into a small ball of smoke bearing a ferocious face whose eyes glared malignantly about before dissipating. "Do not invoke the stones carelessly, but do not hesitate when there is need. Havoc would not be pleased if you suffered needlessly." She turned a smoldering glance on Havoc, and vanished.
So that was Weft, Flame's sister. Suddenly Opaline appreciated why Flame preferred to have Fifth with Opaline than with Weft. The woman was bursting with confidence and sex appeal.
"Confusion," Copper said. "Was that your daughter or your lover?"
Havoc laughed. "Daughter by adoption, lover by preference. She curses the day she became the one rather than the other. I won't touch her, but she hasn't quite accepted that. She's not accustomed to being balked by any man."
"Evident," Silver agreed.
Havoc turned to Opaline. "Ready to travel? We have territory to cover."
"Ready," Opaline agreed. She kissed her parents, then took his arm.
And they were back in the royal bedroom, their clothing dropping to the floor. Just like that they were in the throes of wild sex.
"I'm sure I could not compare to Weft," Opaline gasped as her climax ebbed.
"She and I tease each other, but we know our places," he said as he let his spent member go limp. "She's a good girl."
"Surely so." Opaline knew how firm Havoc could be when bound not to have sex with a woman. But it was plain that Weft desired him, and regarded the matter of his being her father as an incidental complication.
"We have two days of 'travel time' we can allow before you arrive at the village. Shee will show you the city in the interim."
Opaline looked around. "She? Who?"
"Shee. SHEE. That's her name."
"Oh," she said, blushing from face to breasts.
He kissed her face, neck, and breasts: all the affected skin. "You are delightful. We have just had marvelously graphic sex without embarrassment, but a minor confusion of names causes you to flush."
"Apology."
"Needless. It is part of your appeal. You remind me of my time as a villager before I became king. We become jaded in the big city. Now dress."
She did, after quickly cleaning up, and so did he. When she emerged from the bathroom there was a new woman present. She was delicate of feature and body and quite comely. Her hair was gently glossy, shifting from brown to red to blond depending on the angle of the light falling on it. She must have spent some time working on it to achieve that effect.
"Shee, this is Opaline, my lover of the moment. Please show her around Triumph City, and let her get to know you."
"A greeting, Opaline," Shee said. "I am sure we shall get along." Her eyes were subtly iridescent, another odd yet pleasing effect.
"Acknowledged."
"I will be in touch," Havoc said, leaving the room.
Opaline was in the care of this new woman. She wasn't completely pleased, but of course the king had other things to do than have continuous sex with her, and she did want to see the city.
"Are you familiar with the general structure of Triumph City?" Shee inquired. Her voice was dulcet.
"I have heard it is one big pyramid. That's most of what I know."
"It is a tetrahedron: a pyramid whose four sides are all triangular."
"Confusion: doesn't a triangle have three sides?"
Shee smiled. "The fourth side is the base."
"Oh." Opaline felt herself blushing again.
"This way. We must check out with Ennui." She ushered Opaline out the bedroom door and through a suite of chambers to a modest office where an old woman sat behind a desk. "Ennui, this is Opaline."
The woman looked up. "Aren't you supposed to be training Oak?"
Opaline found herself blushing again. She had thought she was anonymous in the big city. "I—"
"Havoc took her to visit her family before the wedding," Shee said. "Now I will show her the city. She will return to Oak in due course."
Ennui nodded. "Confirmation." She returned her attention to the papers on her desk.
They left the office and came to a small wooden room. Shee closed the door. Suddenly the room dropped.
"Oh!" Opaline cried, her arms flailing.
Shee steadied her with surprising strength. "Security. This is an elevator. A moving chamber. I forgot that you wouldn't be familiar with it. They don't have them in the villages."
"Affirmation," Opaline agreed weakly.
The traveling room stopped moving, and the door opened. They were in an entirely different place. "This is the ground floor," Shee said. "Though it isn't on the ground, or even at the base of the pyramid. It is the main concourse for residents."
Indeed, people were all around, walking busily to places only they understood.
Shee showed her the various aspects of the city, and Opaline was duly awed. But between sites they talked, and Opaline's curiosity was growing. "Question: may I learn more about you?"
"Confirmation. What would you like to know?"
"I almost seem to know you from somewhere. Have we met before?"
"In your dream."
Opaline felt her jaw dropping. That was it: she had been among the women of the wild sexual orgy. "You know of that?"
Shee smiled. "Let Havoc's teasing end. It was not a dream. We played a trick on him, putting all his women together, you among them. He had to service us all in rapid order."
"Me among them," Opaline agreed. "I couldn't believe it actually happened, so thought it was an illicit dream."
"It happened. You did well."
This was amazing. "Are you a typical city woman? You are uncommonly pretty, and I have never seen anything like your hair or eyes."
"I am not typical," Shee said.
"Are you one of Havoc's lovers?" But of course she was. All the women in the dream had had sex with him.
Maybe she was a bath girl; they were notorious.
"I am his second mistress, after Monochome."
No bath girl, she! "And your name—how did you come by it?"
"My complete name is Ban Shee, which translates roughly as Woman of the Fairy Mound. One whose wailing warns a family that one of its members is soon to die."
"That's cruel! Who named you that?"
"The machines."
Opaline stared at her. "Confusion."
"I am the one the emissaries sent to persuade Havoc to urge his daughter Voila to join them."
Opaline's jaw dropped. "Then you are—"
"A machine in the form of a woman."
"I never knew!"
"Havoc's little way. He did not tell you that either."
"He said I would meet you, but I didn't realize—" Now Opaline was blushing furiously. "Apology!"
"Needless," Shee said. "I am a very realistic humanoid robot designed to cater to Havoc's tastes." She smiled briefly. "Actually any young lush human female form would do, I think. Havoc does like sex."
"He—has regular sex—with you?" But of course he did; Opaline knew she was being stupid in her surprise.
"Affirmation. I am good at that."