Time passed, and things began to settle for Curt again, letting him focus on his relationship with his four sweethearts. Over the next year, they all grew closer, until they finally decided it was meant to be.
After a truly decadent wedding, Curt and his wives took a long honeymoon, traveling the world together, and of course, whenever his wives wanted, indulging in a little bit of “quality time.” Or a lot of it. Even between the four of them, a dragon’s stamina could go a long way.
Deaf Goldfish, meanwhile, began to pick up a sizable following, not just among the maids, but among the humans of the city as well. And after a video of one of their concerts became a hit online, they went on a nationwide tour. Cherry’s color changing provided just the spectacle to draw in crowds. Marceline in particular enjoyed the trip, sending photos of herself and her bandmates hanging out around various landmarks to her friends back at the mansion at every stop they made.
As the years went on, Cassidy eventually retired as the family’s personal bodyguard, joking that it wouldn’t make much difference. “A tiger protecting a dragon’s like sticking a paring knife on the end of a tank,” she said. Instead, she’d moved on to counseling juvenile delinquents, hoping to keep more kids from wasting their early lives like she had.
And speaking of kids…
+++
A seventeen year old brown bear maid, wearing nothing but her fur, and her sister, a fifteen year old cat maid wearing a purple dress and old-fashioned straw sailor hat, were walking past the mansion’s playrooms after finishing up a few chores, when they heard the Master’s kids making a bunch of noise in the playroom.
“Wanna take a peek at what they’re up to?” The cat nudged her sister with a little smile. “They’re always a lot of fun to watch.”
“Look, I don’t want us to be late for the 3D modeling classes and-” she looked at her sister, who was doing her best “bambi eyes.” “Ugh, fine. Just don’t spend more than a couple of minutes.”
The opened the door a crack, watching as a set of twin donkey boys, a pair of orange furred foxes, the younger a girl (and Kat's goddaughter), the older fox a boy, and a silver-furred kitsune boy (not that he looked too different from his red fox half-siblings at this age), all chasing after a dark-brown scaled dragoness toddler (who was actually the oldest of the group despite her small size), none of their ages in the double digits.
“Give it here!” One of the donkeys cried.
“It’s GOT to be my turn by now!” The fox boy insisted.
The two onlooking maids wondered just what it was that the kids were fighting over, when they looked into the little dragoness’s hands, and saw a plastic toy.
A plastic toy that was VERY familiar to the two teenage maids.
The two exchanged a quick, nervous glance, and burst into the room.
“Excuse us young Masters, Mistresses,” the cat said as quickly and respectfully as possible, “Would you mind if we took that back?”
“It’s very important not to mess with it, it could-”
“OH COME ON!” The dragoness pouted, flapping her still-developing wings as hard as she could to keep out of reach of he siblings, “First my brothers and sisters, now even the maids want it! Well you can’t have it!”
She narrowly flew over the maids heads, and made a rolling crash landing on the floor in the hall behind them. The other kids were quicker on their feet than the two maids, slipping around them, or even between their legs. The orange fox boy got to his half-sister first, and managed to yank the gun from her grip, before running down the hall with it, his siblings and the two teens in pursuit. He weaved between other maids and guests traveling the halls, occasionally turning around to face them while making “pew pew” noises.
And one of those times he was looking back, a silver kitsune tail stretched in front of him, tripping him as the gun fell to the floor. The two teenage maids dove for it at the same time as the kitsune boy, grabbing different ends at the same time.
The kitsune looked to the left for a moment, and called out. “Hey, Dad! Make them give it back.”
The two teens turned to the left, and saw Curt, and one of the older maids, a Bakeneko, with him.
“And then tell Tai that it was OUR TURN after Ellanor was done with it!” One of the donkey twins added.
“Which I was NOT!” The little brown dragoness huffed.
Curt sighed and shook his head. “Tai, Elanor, Jimmy, Tommy… All of you! I thought you had all learned to share by now! If you don’t stop fighting over it, I’m going to take it back.”
The kids let out a collection of “aws” and “No fairs.”
Elanor spoke up. “But Tai start-”
“It doen’t matter who started it, all of you know better than this. You all also know better than to just demand people give you things without so much as saying ‘please.’”
“We’re sorry,” the kids muttered with varying degrees of volume (and likely varying degrees of actually meaning it, as well).
“That’s better. Oh, and Sharon, Suzie? I know you’re probably worried, seeing the kids running around with a gun like this, especially given your own experience with them, but if you’ll look closely, you’ll see this one has an orange tip. It’s not the real deal. Nobody’s in danger.”
The two let go of their end of the gun, and saw Curt was right. An orange cap covered the end of the toy gun.
“Oh…” The cat, Suzie, said.
“Sorry, Master,” the bear, Sharon, said, bowing to Curt. She then turned to the kids. “Sorry young Masters and Mistresses.”
“You’re forgiven,” Curt nodded, then turned back to his children. “Now then, are you ready to share, or do I need to take this toy back?”
“We’ll share…” The kids mumbled., slowly shuffling off.
“Good to hear,” Curt nodded, he turned to follow them, when Suzie spoke up.
“Uh, Master… that reminds me…” The cat looked down slightly, fidgeting. “I want to apologize again, for we uh…”
“Went bonkers around town with your, uh, heirloom,” Sharon continued. “We didn’t really get the… um… full value of its… ah.”
Curt chuckled. “No need to worry about keeping it secret from her,” he pointed to the Bakeneko, “Sophie here already knows.”
“Oh, that makes things way less awkward,” Suzie breathed a sigh of relief. “Seeing that thing again… it kinda reminded me of what we did back then. We weren’t really thinking about anything we were doing… Just trying to make you more friends, and it sorta…”
“Spiralled into a massive mess,” Sharon continued. “Yeah… We didn’t really think about all the lives we were messing with at the time, we just kinda…” She trailed off.
“You were kids,” Curt said, “I can’t get mad at you for not knowing enough to avoid making a mistake. But… I guess now that you’re old enough to finally get it, it’s hitting you all at once, huh? Well, what’s done is done. You made a mistake. I forgave you back then, and I still forgive you now. Be sure to forgive yourselves, too.”
He paused.
“And since you’re probably wondering, my kids saw I kept the real gun on my nightstand and wanted to use it as a toy. Even with the safety lock on that, you can see why I was kinda hesitant about letting them have it, so I asked Skyla to make that replica. They’re not being let in on the real thing until they’re mature enough to understand the consequences.”
There was a distant sound of breaking glass. Curt frowned.
“Which probably won’t happen until I’m two hundred at this rate. Excuse me.”
As the dragon followed the sounds of destruction, Sophie turned to the two teens. “I didn’t realize you still felt guilty about all that.” She said, shaking her head. “Still, like Master said, it was a mistake. A mistake with a lot of consequences, but sometimes, even when bad things come mistakes, good things can come from them too. Master made a big mistake too, on the day he received the gun.”
“He did?” Sharon blinked.
“Yes,” Sophie nodded, and chuckled. “And he ended up marrying her, in the end. And without your mistakes, I wouldn’t be alive today,” she gave a small bow, then hugged them both. “So thank you.”
“Uh… You’re welcome,” Suzie blinked a few times in surprise.
“It’s important to learn from your mistakes, yes,” Sophie, “But don’t waste time beating yourself up about a past you can’t change. And sometimes, wonderful things can come from mistakes." A particular Dove maid around their age flew past above them. "Remember that, you two.”
+++
Sally Dover lived a unique life. She had been born a cat anthro, with a purpose, and was fully dedicated to it from the earliest point in her life she could remember. That purpose was to be the best maid she could be for her Master, even before she knew who her Master would be. It was her joy, her calling.
Everything she’d done that hadn’t been in direct service to Master had been done with the goal of better pleasing Master when he did need her. From attending the Maid College, to entering with her sister maids into a deal with Myra, in order to become a living “inanimate” object. But that last choice had come with a twist in the wish that literally changed everything.
Gone was her cat-like body that matched the maids in her class with eerie perfection, replaced by the plastic body of an animate doll, in the shape of a live-size green dragon woman, and decorated with glowing runes. Gone was the simple clarity of purpose, replaced by hundreds of conflicting desires competing for her attention, none of them having to do with Master! And to rub salt in the wound, her family had all but rejected her, refusing to acknowledge their perfect little girl was no longer perfect.
But many of the maids in Master’s employ had been willing to help her adjust, chief among them, the little dragoness Simone. Despite her self-important attitude, Simone still treated Sally like a person, and did all she could to help the doll maid get a grip on herself as she learned to deal with her conflicting feelings, inviting her to game nights, parties, and, of course, simply spending time and talking with her.
The two had grown into fast friends over the years, as Simone slowly grew from a little girl, to a teen, then an adult.
And here they were, four-hundred years later, in Simone’s large, lavish bedroom, modeled after a medieval palace, idly chatting as Simone helped Sally “re-fuel.”
“And then the young boy told me he felt he ‘was meant to be a dragon,’ and ‘had been one in another life,’” Simone recounted, her hands placed on Sally’s shoulders, the glow of the doll’s runes getting brighter as magical energy was channeled into her. “I could tell he hadn’t been. Didn’t bother casting a lie-detection spell, but I’m pretty sure he really believed it. But at the same time, something about the kid reminded me of myself when I was that age.”
“So what did you do?” Sally asked, looking back at the black and gold dragoness behind her.
“I… Felt like testing his dedication, so I gave him a few tasks. Bring me a dew drop from the end of a rainbow, form a horde of immeasurable value, hold back the tide with a broom for one night. You know, usual fairy-tale stuff.”
“So… a bunch of snipe hunts.”
“Well, that’s not as fancy a way to put it, but…” Simone shrugged. “Yeah.”
“You could have just said ‘no,’ you know.”
“If I’d meant, ‘no’ I’d have said, ‘no.’ I know he’s not gonna succeed. I wanna see how long he’ll try. Or what ‘answer’ he’ll find for my ‘riddles,’ that’ll show if he’s got what it takes to really be worthy to be one of us.”
Sally just smiled and rolled her eyes. Then she felt the energy flowing into her slowing down.
“There we go. With MY magic in you, I don’t think you’ll need to charge for another decade or so.”
“Thank you, Simone,” Sally nodded, and got up.
The dolls and Golems created by Myra, or other pseudo-deities and demigods that had been born or ascended during the past few centuries, had been marvels of magic, but they weren’t perpetual motion machines; while they were very efficient in using and storing magical energy, they still needed occasional recharges from a magical being every year or so, or their bodies would gradually lose their ability to move, and their souls would be released into the afterlife. Fortunately, many of Master’s magically inclined maids had been absolutely willing to help provide a little energy for their sister-maids, and of the original seventy-two “Doll maids” only two had “wound down” over the centuries, both of them willingly, to rejoin with family that had already passed on. There were more than a few projects to create golems that could feed off the ambient magic around them.
Sally got up and looked at her phone, where an icon had lit up, showing that someone had rung the doorbell. “We finished charging just in time! It looks like we’ve got a few visitors on the way.”
“Right!” Simone grabbed some golden, gem-studded anklets and bracelets, and a necklace, slipping each of them on before heading out the door, Sally right behind her. A short trip down the hall, and they found themselves in a large room, with a massive, golden throne, at least four times the size of the average human, with a sapphire-tipped scepter of similar size by its side.
Simone awakening as a demigoddess was definitely one of the more interesting periods of her and Sally’s lives. Simone already had quite an ego, and finding out she had powers that surpassed even Myra’s, including a voice that could force any dragon to do her bidding, certainly didn’t make her any humbler. But spending years around Master Curt and the thousands of maids in the community had left an impression on her, and rather than going mad with power, ultimately, she sought to use her abilities to aid the community she’d grown to love.
But, that didn’t preclude a little showing off.
With a snap of her claws, Simone, and the jewelry she was wearing, grew taller and taller, soon more than able to fill the massive throne she’d made for herself. She picked up the scepter, and with a little flourish, pointed to the main doors to her throne room.
“Enter, visitors, and state your name and your business!”
The large double doors opened seemingly on their own, and the first set of visitors stepped forth; a male silver dragon, and a dark brown, nine tailed kitsune.
“Mr. And Mrs. Evenson,” Curt said with a smile.
“We were just in the neighborhood, and thought we’d pop in to say ‘hi.’” Skyla added.
“Master! Mistress Skyla!” Simone smilled, immediately shrinking down to her usual size and flying down to meet them, giving a polite bow. “It’s always a pleasure to see you. What can I do for you? Something to drink?” With a wave of her hand, a table appeared, with a number of small drinks on it.
Sally just smiled. Simone had privately expressed amusement at the idea that she could force her “Master” to do whatever she wanted, as demigoddess of his species, but it seemed that even all these years, and all that power later, Simone still considered herself too much of a friend and maid to Curt to seriously think about doing that. Whether anything remained of her childhood crush on him however, she kept well hidden.
“Thank you, Lady Simone,” Skyla said, taking a sip of one of the glasses. “We can’t stay too long, though. Silvey and her friends have been working on something big in the estate, and it’s supposed to be ready to display today.”
“So that’s where they’ve been,” Sally said quietly. “Lady Simone,” she said in a more formal tone, as she knew she should around guests, “would you mind if I accompanied Master to the estate? I want to see what Silvey’s been up to.”
“I have no problem with that,” Simone said. “Do you, Master?”
“Nope,” he smiled. “I’m sure they’ll be happy to see you again.”
After Curt and Simone’s chat had concluded, Sally followed Curt and Skyla outside. The kitsune grabbed hold of Curt’s shoulders as he took to the air, and Sally, with a few beats of her wings, flew after him. With all the raw power Skyla now had, becoming air-born would have been a triviality for her; she could easily have shape-shifted into a bird, cast a levitation spell on herself, or more. But she enjoyed Master carrying her, something that before she'd have considered unthinkable as a proper maid, but now she wasn't just a maid, she was his wife, and she knew Curt liked it anyway!
Even though Sally had enjoyed working with Simone, being able to spend time with Master was satisfying, too. It had always been her goal in life to please him, so she was a little surprised to see him recommend working as Simone’s personal aide, but it did actually seem to make Master happier to see the two maids enjoying each other’s company, so in a way, everyone was happy.
Sally saw the estate in the distance long before they would actually land in it. With the many changes remodelings mansion had been through over the years, she still had a hard time believing this was still the same place she’d gotten her first job. It was a self contained population center unto itself now, while still maintaining the beautiful designs and decorations on the exterior the Mansion had originally features. Sally had heard from some of her sister maids that what had once been simple staff bedrooms had been expanded into full on miniature condos. The yard outside still featured dozens of ornately arranged flower gardens, carefully trimmed hedges, and elegantly crafted statues and fountains.
The three landed by the main entrance on the ground floor, where Emma and Kasai had both greeted them. The phoenix and the little unicorn had remained close, even as new staff had come and gone, the mansion and the town itself had been remodeled, and as the scientific study of magic had led to the development of unprecedented technological advances. Kasai was in her thirties in her seventh life cycle, while Emma now looked to be in the upper single digits rather than a toddler. But the level of power and respect she commanded was unquestioned. Many wondered what the true power of a fully adult unicorn would be, with some wilder theories speculating it was their purpose to trigger the next big bang!
Once she’d stepped inside, Sally was reminded again just how much the mansion had expanded. As she followed Curt and Skyla, she’d walked past indoor swimming pools, gardens (both recreational and practical), tennis courts, and a library that rivaled the size of the one in town. And the maps placed here and there had locations of multiple kitchens and dining rooms, playrooms that were practically playgrounds, art galleries, a catholic chapel, shinto shrine, and other religious sanctuaries. They even learning centers from preschool to high school existed so maids didn't have to travel far or worry about their children away from work. The building had become a small city of its own.. It also now had its own medical wing, morgue, and mausoleum. After four hundred years there had now been generations of maids (and butlers) who had been born, graduated, married, given birth, and been entombed within the Estate.
Sally asked Curt to wait a moment, and stopped as they passed a statue gallery, but one of a different sort. These were all made of beautiful, precious materials, like gold, or gemstones, and hadn’t been sculpted by human or anthro hands. No, these statues were the vessels for the souls of hundreds of Master’s maids. All of them had changed willingly, for a number of reasons. Some saw it as a way of cheating death in their old age, without risking a Kitsune’s trick when becoming a golem, or a way of being remembered as they truly were, long after they would have gone. Others saw it as a way of staying close to their Master, or remaining useful to him, even if only as a way to add a little life to the room.
And then there was Marceline, who just liked the experience. The golden spider statue stood near the front of the gallery, smiling and beckoning anyone curious inside. Sally stepped toward the statue, and touched the plaque on its pedestal, triggering a little spell Skyla had left on the gallery.
“Sally!” Marceline’s voice echoed in the doll maid’s mind. “It’s gotta have been at least of couple decades! How are you doing? Keeping Simone grounded?”
“As grounded as she can be,” Sally chuckled. “And I’m doing fine. How about you? Gotten bored in there yet?”
Marceline laughed. “Nah, the only thing that really gets old is how many times people ask me that. It’s honestly kinda relaxing in here. No real pressure to do this or that, you’re free to watch the world go by, and pay as much or as little attention as you want. And even just facing one direction, there’s a LOT to see happening in a place like this. Plus Skyla’s spell lets me and the other statues chat whenever we feel like it, so we’re never really alone, and we can sometimes even see through each other's vision. So, what brings you back here after all this time?”
“I wanted to see Silvey again, and I heard she’s just finished up a really big project of hers.”
“Ooh, sounds exciting! I might have to take a look sometime!”
“Is someone gonna stick you on a dolly and haul you over there?” Sally joked.
“There’s no fun in telling you when I could keep you guessing.”
Sally smiled. “Well, I better not keep them waiting. Talk to you later.”
“See you around!” Marceline said. The image of a smiling old spider lady waving goodbye entered Sally’s head for a fleeting moment.
Finally, Sally, Curt, and Skyla stopped in front of a set of big glass doors, where the pink cat doll herself, Silvey, was running through a bunch of checklists, alongside a red fox doll, Sasha, maid and a child-sized doe doll. The doe, Madison looked up and smiled. “Sally! Nice to see you here!”
This caught the attention of the other two doll maids, who looked up from their preparations.
“Hi everyone,” Sally said. “So, I heard Silvey’s been working on a new project?”
“Well, kind of,” Silvey said, tilting her head. “It’s more I’ve been helping Sasha out with something of hers.”
“It’s pretty much ready now,” Sasha added, a look of nervous excitement on her face. “Would you like to see?”
“That’s why I’m here.” Sally nodded.
“Here goes then!” Sasha opened one of the frosted glass double doors, while Madison grabbed the other, revealing a large greenhouse, which looked like a little plot of the Amazon rainforest, were it not for the glass ceiling.
“Woah…” Sally smiled as she looked around, hearing the gentle sounds of waterfalls further in as she stepped inside, alongside Curt and Skyla. “You’ve taken your gardening projects to a whole new level, haven’t you?” Sally said, turning back to her fellow dolls.
“Thanks,” Sasha smiled. “It took years and a lot of help to get it this far, but I feel like it’s been worth it.” She paused, looking at a small plaque near the entrance she had covered with a cloth. She stepped back over to it, and slowly lifted the cloth off.
“Dedicated to Silvey Bell, who helped make all of this possible.” Sally read aloud.
Silvey gasped. “Oh, Sasha, you shouldn’t have. You put your heart and soul into this.”
“Yes, I did,” Sasha said, putting an arm around her friend. “But I never would have thought to put my heart and soul into ANYTHING like this back before you’d interfered with our deal with Myra. I guess I just wanted to do this as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for making us realize how much there really was to life.”
Sally looked off to the side. “Yeah… I had been one of the maids who’d been really bitter about that, for the first year or so. But after I’d met Simone, and we’d started to become friends, I’d realized, I don’t think I’d have given her the time of day before. So in the end, you were right, it was hard, but it really was for the best. I know I’ve probably said it before, but thank you, again."
The four doll maids hugged.
A tall latex lizard woman carrying a clipboard stepped in. Her skin was blue, with dark, almost black marks on her arms and covering most of her head like a hood, while her front was a paler blue. She had not unattractive figure (but that was par the course), and was naked except for a fanny pack, and also lacked nipples and other sexual traits. There was a valve where her belly button would be, and what looked like molding lines along her body. Bright yellow eyes widened at the sight.
"Aw, you showed Master without me." But then her attitude flipped and she smiled and waved. "Hey! Sally! Great to see you! Happy you could be here for the big opening!"
The doll and latex lizard hugged each other.
"Great to be here Amazonia! How are you and your brother doing?" It had been a decade since they'd last seen each other, but they acted like it was nothing. They had become friends 200 years back. It had been a 'conserve nature' event that Master had attended along with all of them first generation of latex maids, even if some had shown up late to the party.
"Oh, he insists on painting himself a new set of colors every few years. I keep telling him that neon-rainbow-swirl just isn't him! I think his latex's normal browns look good enough, but you know him, he always has to try something new!"
"So you helped with this too?"
"Only in a support role, they needed someone who was easy to wash off like them, and didn't have to worry about their fur making them overheat in their miniature jungle!"
"And one of the best organizers in the family!"
"Well my teacher did learn from Head Maid Meredith herself.”
As the doll and latex maids bonded, Curt and Skyla had quietly excused themselves to a more distant part of Sasha’s little amazon rainforest.
“They really are something else, huh?” Curt said, looking around the greenhouse in wonder. “When I first saw them, I had been so worried they’d be slavishly devoted to me ‘til the day I died. And now, here they are, planting incredible gardens, heh, some of them are even helping build moon bases without a space suit. If you’d told me back then that they’d be doing something like this, without my even suggesting it? I’d never have believed it.”
“Well, four hundred years can change a lot of things,” Skyla laughed softly, “I thought I’d be glad if I never had to see latex again after that awful night, so when the option to make living latex anthro maids came as an upgrade, I hated the idea. But they’ve been very nice, not to mention a lot more lively and friendly looking than that mess from four hundred years back.”
"No less strange than getting that 'living toon' upgrade for Nutty."
"Yeah, true." She sat down on a little bench in front of a pond. Curt sat beside her, holding her hand in his. “I’m so glad you got to experience all of this with me.”
“Me too,” Curt smiled, “I can’t imagine what the world would have been like if I’d just stopped after changing you, Anna, Danielle, and Marceline, like I’d planned.”
He thought back to his sister, and his other wives. They’d all long since grown old and passed on. He’d offered to change them to immortal or long lived species, or even to let them live on as statutes, but each of them had told him they were content, and had lived full lives. He missed them, but respected their choices. The more magic had become a part of this changing world, the more that it became clear that there was more to the universe than could be seen in this life, and he wouldn’t deny them that, if it was their choice. Besides, even if it took many more centuries, he’d catch up to them eventually. And in the meantime, Alinbird, Atarah, and other maids with spiritual connections could deliver messages from loved ones.
“Well, you know what they used to say, the best laid plans…” Skyla rested her head on his shoulder. “If you could go back, would you do anything different?”
Curt looked up. He’d had some regrets, sure, but ultimately, they had worked out for the best. “Nah,” he said, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”
Skyla laughed. “Oh, I think you’d still change a lot of things. But they’d all have been the things you'd changed before.”
“Heh, you got me there."
He put a wing around, her, and she wrapped a few of her tails around his waist. Now matter what changes the future would bring, they knew they’d still have each other.