As an elf, he wanted a salary for his work. I gave him an emerald. He gasped out loud. "Are you sure you wish to give me something so valuable!? A gem of this size can hold maybe half a dozen charges of an elemental spell!" he marvelled. "It is a live in position. You will have to live in my guest house and teach my children and their illiterate family members. I do not know the first thing about magic, so if you want to put magic in the emerald, you can do it. I'd simply ask you not to destroy my houses while experimenting. If you could teach low level magic to my children, that would be nice too." He was too focused on the gem to respond. I waved my hand in front of his face to regain his attention. "O-of course, Sir Rhombus! I will gather my things immediately." His name was Lyari Olocan. When he saw the huge space, he was wide eyed. I took him to one of the office spaces I had empty. "This will be a space for your language tutoring. The other study will be for your magic." He was ecstatic. I told him more people were coming. He could not claim the house's master bedroom.
Bonnie gave birth 3 months after that. Lyari Olocan was having a nice time teaching Grissell, Yon and Alard how to read and write. They were only in the very beginning stages, but it was looking like it would work out. I was fetched by one of Bonnie's friends. I was told that she had sudden complications and could not come on her own. It was something I heard before. That was not a good sign. I got Enetes and we went over to the free folk village together. He healed her right away. All 4 children were males. They were hybrids. They were human looking aside from the dog ears and tails. Bonnie was a mutt herself, so they did not look like hers much. They had her hair color. Their eyes were a piercing yellow. "My mother had yellow eyes." Bonnie said with pride. They did have my skin tone, eye shape and nose. I could believe that all these children were mine. I pat Bonnie on the head and scratched behind her floppy ears. She loved that. Her tail went crazy after I complimented her on how strong she was. We brought the five of them to their guest house. They were newest family.
Compassion aside, it was something that I did for the sake of having heirs. These 4 boys would be knights one day. As I walked into the main house from the yard, I was met by Grissell. She did not look happy. "Why did you let a beastkin into the guesthouse? They are going to get fur everywhere." Coming from a family of builders, they knew enough about math and art to be creative. The sitting room in the guest house was full of artwork that Grissell had completed and did not want to part with. I openly encouraged her to sketch and paint. It was a noble hobby after all. I was not very artistic, but I did like to appreciate art. That was from the gentleman thief persona. Old habits did not need to die here. There were lots of paints that could be purchased from the builders and sourced from the caravans. Because I encouraged Grissell to paint and do art, I always had an unveiling party where I put her newest work out on display for people to look at it. One piece in particular sold for some nice coin when a trader wanted to take it home with them. It was a portrait of a motte and bailey.
