As the spell takes hold, the woman in front of me morphs into a strapping young man, red hair down to his chin, a full beard of the same, pale skin, freckles, and green eyes. He's tall, a good six feet at least. The soiled dress he's in is a bit incongruous, but that's okay.

  He takes a look at himself, “How long is this temporary stage going to st?”

  I shrug, “Until I turn it off. Here….”

  He dances away, “I like being young again.”

  I raise an eyebrow, “It's appearance only. Sure, your wrinkles and gray hair are gone, and you look as muscur as you did years ago, but the strength isn't there: It's all fake.” I can see his true form thanks to a running Glimpse of Truth spell. His hair is about half gone white, he has a lot of wrinkles, and his muscles have rgely gone to fat.

  “Lots of things are,” he shrugs, “I like this.”

  “Okay,” I shrug, “I picked the spell because it is a harmless Polymorph spell and so will wash away others… but it will, itself, be washed away if you let another Polymorph effect in.” I pause, “So if you want to keep it….”

  “I need to avoid shapeshifting spells,” Richard nods, “got it. Thanks.”

  I nod, “I'm happy to help. By the way…” I pause, “...what did you name your daughter?”

  “I HAVE NO DAUGHTER”, I rub my ears from the volume of the man's scream.

  I suppose that answers my question, “All right then,” I shake my head, “See you ter.”

  I hear him ordering another drink as I walk out… I hope he doesn't get too addicted to that stuff: A drunkard as the town speaker is just begging for trouble. Still shaking my head I head to my Keyhome and go inside. Checking the library, I find a book id out on the reading desk. I check it… a spellbook, but not one of Mom's. No magic, so I open it to the first page… ah. Wesley left me notes.

  They hired a woman named Betty to handle the orphanage for seven silvers a week plus room and board… untrained bor rates, huh?... and moved her in with some of the priestesses for now… it even tells me which one. That's convenient. Oh, and we did commit to funding the kid's clothes and stuff too, I see… that's a non-issue. Cool. I should probably arrange for some instructors for them once they're older. Hmm… for now, though, I know where I need to go.

  I head out, and pause at the door. Eh, I'm the only one using it now, so… I close the doorway after I'm out. That should prevent anyone else from sneaking in, and the guards are still inside, so… all good there.

  Checking my mental map, I head off to visit my employee, my aunt. She's in one of the shops, of course, making do with a hammock hammered into the stone walls as she sleeps, the unnamed little girl in her arms, mouth still wrapped around one of the Tiefling's taps. One of my summoned Clerics is quietly keeping watch over them while she massages her own chest, which is now successfully expressing milk into a bowl… apparently the starvation window was pretty short. Still… one life saved, and I was going to need someone real to watch them anyway.

  I watch as my minion continues massaging herself for a good ten minutes after she's wrung the st drop out, which should improve production for the next run… not that it matters at all.

  When she's done, the cleric doesn't bother covering up, but addresses me, holding out the bowl, “Are you thirsty, my lord?”

  Not really… but I suppose I may as well, milk is generally tasty, “Thank you,” just because she's a soulless extension of my will is no reason to be impolite.

  I take the bowl and drink it down… a slightly lighter taste than Wanda's, but just as sweet… and hand the bowl back once I've emptied it (which doesn't take long; she's not making much yet). “Delicious.”

  The fake woman doesn't bother covering up as she takes the bowl back, and begins cleaning it with a rag and some water. I ignore her as I hear the baby stirring and switch forms myself, walking over and picking the little one up to feed her.

  My aunt wakes up as I'm enjoying the moment, and eyes me, not bothering to cover up when it's just us girls and we're all exposed, “Am I out of a job already?”

  “Hmm… no,” I smile; that little girl has a good tch, “I just came by to talk to you, didn't want to wake you, and figured I'd help out when she woke.”

  My aunt isn't convinced… of course, this is the first time we've met, “Hmm… and who might you be?”

  “Your employer, now that the rest of the party is on sabbatical in the wilds,” the child finishes my left side, so I switch to my right, “but I understand if you don't want to just take my word for it. Here…” I feed my nearest summon a short script via Telepathy.

  “This is Lady Mary Sue, also Lord Marty Stu, my master or mistress, depending; she is being quite honest,” she pauses, “and is a generous goddess.”

  Funny, I didn't feed her that st part… eh, whatever, “As you can see, I have full control of the magical minions here. That should suffice for my credentials. If not, you can talk to Richard, I restored him a little bit ago… and if that doesn't work for you,” I consider: Eh, she can know part of it, she probably can't tell anyone anyway, and can't do much, “...Grandpa has you on sabbatical to learn something. Hi auntie.”

  Betty blinks, then smiles, “...who's daughter are you?”

  Ah, truth, such a wonderful thing for obvious tests, “He literally can't tell me his proper name.”

  She considers a bit, “...that does line up.” My aunt rexes, “I could never tell Zachary. I still can't tell anyone, that's why I go by Betty.”

  I chuckle, “That tells you this isn't permanent then, doesn't it?” She frowns briefly, and I expin, “the rule from Grandpa that mortals can't know your real name still applies. It makes it clear He hasn't disowned you. You're being disciplined, yes, and that's never pleasant, but you're still His daughter.”

  That draws her up short, “...all this time, I thought they were just stringing me along, but…” she starts sobbing, “...this DOES have an end….”

  I take a gamble and get up, putting my free arm around her, and she practically colpses into me, still sobbing. Despite the urge to explore with my hand… there is NO shortage of tempting targets, and honestly there's nowhere to hold her that ISN'T groping… but I manage to just hold her as she wraps her four arms around me and cries; she doesn't seem to mind what I'm holding. I try to make soothing sounds as she works it out of her system.

  Somewhere along the line the little girl falls asleep, and eventually my aunt calms down. “Thank you,” she sniffles out.

  “You're family,” I shrug as we release each other, “...but I'm still putting you to work. There's eleven more people pregnant by that rapist gnome, most of whom weren't born female, and I expect a lot of them won't be interested in raising his kids, so….”

  I trail off at the very deep frown from the old Life, who fills me in, “...gnomes don't make crossbreeds naturally: Humans can make halfbreeds with elves and orcs, but not gnomes. There's fertility magic involved there.”

  “You'd know…” I think about that for a moment, “...which also means that demon in the flesh of a mortal gets off on the idea of making men go through childbirth.” That also expins why the gnome’s harem had a dozen pregnant women while the dwarf's small harem had none. There were three actual women in the mix, though… hmm. I suppose he could just not care….

  My aunt shakes her head sadly, “would that I could still do something about it… such abuse of something so special….”

  Well, I can, “Good news: I'm pnning on terminating that idiot already. It's just going to be a little complicated.”

  Betty nods, “well… good luck.”

  I smile as I handle the baby back, “Thanks. I have some preparations to do… I'll make sure to stop by occasionally. By the way… what have you been calling the little girl?”

  “‘The baby’, mostly…” she considers, “...but after today, I think I'd like to call her ‘Hope’, with your permission.”

  I consider… it fits, “I like it. She can be Hope.” I smile, “Take care.”

  “You too.” I walk out. I mentally send a few orders to a few of my summons: They're to keep ‘Betty’ fed, make sure she has a reasonable assortment of simple clothing, handle her sary, and make sure she has the resources needed to keep the orphans fed, sheltered, and simirly clothed. There's enough material production going on for the castle that it should be a complete non-issue.

  That handled well enough, I call over LastShadow to update our respective buffs. After all, I have access to significantly more spells now….