Elizabeth’s Quarters:
Elizabeth wakes up and feels herself being held. She could feel something soft being pressed against her back. It took her mind a few seconds to realize who was in bed with her. Her mouth had a weird taste, a taste she had never tasted before.

She was wet between her legs and hoped she wasn’t going back to how she was when she came to the vineyard. She manages to turn around in the arms to face who is holding her. A smile forms on her face as she realizes it is Carol.

”It all started three weeks ago. Peter Kowalski complained about a D he had got on his Math test. I tried to explain to him that while he is smart and probably understands the material, he is sloppy and makes stupid mistakes. He retorted that he was a victim of gender discrimination. Of course I refuted that. The idea was preposterous. Then Mary, a bright but not very pretty girl backed me up, sort of. She claimed that I only favored girls with pretty legs in short skirts. I ignored such a wild unfounded accusation.

The Visund departs Faralan alongside the Hopvalk and the Ten-Legged Brakky on the long leg to Fanir. Unfortunately those of Pakmal are waiting and only the Brakky keeps them from causing problems. Then a second Pakmal galley appears ahead...

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

99 - Faralan to Fanir

Orla inserted her scuffed bronze-colored key into the lock, turned it, and opened the door. With its peeling light blue paint, it fortunately did nothing to betray the apartment's relative opulence.
It hadn't been like this when her and her grandmother, Kahri, first moved in. No, at that time, the place had been the dictionary definition of what the locals might call a "shithole," a term as unfamiliar to them as it was second nature to their new neighbors.

The room erupted in audible gasps and loud murmurs following my mother's declaration.

I was stunned. How could I not be? My mother had just admitted to witchcraft.

Unlike my brother, I spent all my days with her. I was always with her except those times she left home to help bring babies into this world and care for ailing mothers. I was the one person that knew she wasn't guilty of such a thing.

Sam and Rick awkwardly got into the ride vehicle, a giant sturgeon with skin marred by peeling paint and bleach stains. The inside of it had been scooped out as if by some hungry giant, the organs and fat replaced by two benches dotted with droplets of water from previous loops.

Eriana finds that the Visund is overloaded and their departure from Bibek is cautious. Their passage is not helped when they are threatened by a Pakmal galley. In Faralan they visit Count Darkwin and receive an offer of assistance.

The Voyage of the Visund

A tale of Anmar by Penny Lane

98 - Return to Faralan

 
XXI. Mourning and Mothering

Maria snuggles against Grace and pulls Hawk’s arm closer to her body. She felt safer sleeping between both women. After everything that was done to her by the human traffickers that brought her up from Brazil. She wanted to feel safe again.

She buries her face against Grace’s back and shivers. She feels Hawk’s naked body press against her back, sandwiching her between the two naked women. She starts to relax and slowly fall back to sleep. She felt warm and safe between the two women that saved her from a life of sexual slavery.

After witnessing a murder. Young Robbie Dunkirk sees his family also murdered. He calls his mothers estranged twin sister. She comes up with a plan to hide Robbie. He becomes his twin sister Sarah.

Sasha and Susan’s Mansion, Beverly Hills, California:
Rose couldn’t believe she was giving up a day's worth of work to train with Sasha Wolfhart. She had arrived at six in the morning as Sasha instructed her to. She had called her assistant store manager to handle the store today. She would stop by later after she was done to check the deposit for tomorrow.

Chapter 10: Family Vacation
We took the train to the coast, excitement buzzing through me with each passing mile. As we approached our destination, the rhythmic sound of the train on the tracks began to blend with the distant roar of the waves, and I could feel my anticipation growing.

Group Meeting:
Demetria comes walking into the meeting room where she spots eleven other pregnant women sitting in a circle in comfortable chairs. Among the group of women, she was the youngest. She couldn’t believe how many of them had been forced or raped by people they trusted. She didn’t have that problem, she wanted to become a woman and became pregnant on purpose.

Fucking brute.

That was the only thing Jim could think as his Dad pontificated on all matters of life and love while he drove them both in his beaten-up white van to the job site.

His dad cleaned septic tanks for a living, and Jim was home on summer break for college, so he had been roped (read: forced) into accompanying him to today’s job, while his Dad’s regular guy, Simon, was out sick with a stomach bug, the product of some bad beef empanadas he had had for dinner the night before.