“The earth gives nothing to the zy hand, and the gods less still.”

  - Farmer's proverb

  Aurelia trotted home on sandals that were splotched a slightly darker shade than the usual dirt and dust. She'd been unharmed during the excitement of her morning break, so she'd seen no reason to risk punishment for shirking her duties should she have returned without a full pack.

  She rubbed her knuckles absentmindedly, still a little sore from the thrashing she'd given the greenskin menace. She didn't know what she'd have done if there'd been more than one. She'd heard from stories that individual goblins aren't usually a big problem, an average man is bigger and stronger. And she was much bigger than an average man.

  The problems came when many banded together together. They could pgue roads between settlements, and terrorize small communities. She was gd to live in a rge city like Rome, if the greenskin threat hadn't been dealt with already it would be soon.

  She decided that the goblin that attacked her was alone, the sole survivor of a righteous purge by Rome's great heroes.

  The alternative didn't bear dwelling upon.

  Aurelia calmed her nerves, and continued on her way back to the crowded masses of the city.

  She had tried to notify the city guard about the goblin encounter. The man in charge of the gate she'd try to inform had stared bnkly at her chest during her description of the location and nature of the attack. He evidently didn't put much stalk in the words of a non-human woman, deciding to devote his attention to the way her chest swayed during her recounting rather than the contents of her speech.

  When an exasperated Aurelia had finished, he simply looked up from her tits, and said "Aye ss, we'll let the proper authorities know right away.", and then waved her on without another word.

  As she passed through the cobble streets on her way to the temple, Aurelia gnced the many craftsmen at work. She wondered what the life of a seamstress was like, spending one's days thinking about cloth and fabric, trying not to prick one's finger on the bone needle.

  She couldn't see herself sitting so still.

  The temple, as part of her childhood education, had given her lessons in the practices of the fairer sex. They had brought in locals fairly often to teach the children in the care of the temple. The children got an education, and the locals got the opportunity to take on apprentices.

  Tomorrow was her day of majority. After that, she would no longer be cared for by the temple, and she still had to find employment and shelter.

  Livia's strategy of finding a husband was a common one, it was so accepted that local men occasionally checked in with the priestesses about finding wives, or household attendants. Livia was a pretty girl, so she'd likely be able to find a decent man.

  Aurelia wasn't so fortunate. As a non-human, she would not be looked upon as a potential wife, but as a concubine at best. And a breeding sve at worst. There were legal protections for non-humans, but after the protection of the temple was withdrawn, there was every possibility that someone would slip a Semis to some clerk to look the other way.

  As the day of her majority had come closer, Aurelia's decision had become clearer. She didn't fancy herself as some domestic woman, nor did she see herself learning a craft.

  Her eyes panned to the blue roofed building, with roars of ughter and the stench of alcohol wafting out into the street as she passed. The sign of the sword and scroll a clear image in her head.

  She took the st few steps to the temple, and while depositing her load to a smile from Livia, a younger child tugged at her robes insistently. She looked down at the little girl, crouching down to her level. The girl's eyes were still only level with Aurelia's colr, but it was the thought that counted.

  "Yes?" Aurelia said gently, looking down at the wide eyed girl.

  "Mistress Domitia said she wants to see you!" the girls said while staring at Aurelia's wings. "She said to come get you when you got to the temple!"

  "I'm gonna go py now bye!", and with those wise words the little girl ran out the side door, and out into the gardens.

  Aurelia had been expecting to be summoned by Domitia soon. Every child in the care of the temple met with the priestess before they became adults. She was told that they would discuss her future, whether there was a permanent pce for her wearing the cloth of Ceres, whether there had been interest by craftsmen wishing to take her on as an apprentice, or whether there had been interest in seeking her out as a wife.

  Aurelia bid goodbye to Livia, and began to walk to Priestess Domitia's quarters. Domitia's abode was deep in the more hallowed area's of the temple. Along with the other senior priestesses.

  She passed many swollen cloth covered figures, making sure to bow to each one of the heavily pregnant priestesses. Aurelia made her way to the threshold of Domitia's quarters, and knocked gently on the heavy wooden door.

  No response came, so she gently opened the door a crack. But before Aurelia could call out to announce her presence, the sound of pleasured moans rose to her ears.

  "Come now little ones mother wants you to come out" Aurelia could hear the pleasure hazed words of priestess Domitia.

  "You've been so good, but mother needs more, so you have to come out now"

  A wet sliding sound accompanied by orgasmic shrieks of pleasure filled Aurelia's ears. And suddenly she knew what was occurring just behind the door.

  Livia had said that Domitia's due date was soon, but Aurelia had forgotten in the excitement of the day. She tried not to imagine the scene of what must be occurring behind the door, but failed spectacurly. The sounds of the constant ecstasy of Domitia dominating her mind.

  Domitia would be lounging among pillows and chaises, surrounded by attentive acolytes in these tense moments. Aurelia could picture the image in her head. The acolytes would be assisting the priestess deliver the babes, quickly cleaning them of any fluids before swaddling them and making ready for the next.

  The priestesses prided themselves on their devotion to Ceres by attempting to embody her aspects. While they might bless the seeds of farmers eager to improve their nds, the priestesses themselves devoted themselves to embodying motherhood. The more gravid, the more devoted the attendant was.

  Domitia herself waddled about her days carrying as many as fourteen at a time, though only as many as four or five in each pregnancy. Overpping terms was one of the blessings one could expect to receive when one devoted themselves to the following of Ceres, the other quite apparent with her cries of exaltation at what would normally be a painful experience for a normal woman.

  "Goddess yes!" Domitia excimed with a moan. The wet sound of another child slipping from between her thighs apparent to Aurelia's ears as she waited outside the doorway.

  She knew that she would be welcomed inside, Domitia's birthing was a common enough occurrence that often times regur business with her was conducted even as she was attended to by her acolytes.

  Perhaps she didn't enter because of the anticipation of what was to come. A child only became an adult once, and the conversation which was sure to transpire between her and Domitia would determine much of her future.

  Another, more subtle reason was the slick wetness between her own thighs.

  The mental image of Domitia in the throes of pleasure, her gravid belly writhing and shifting as she delivered, still enormous with pregnancy despite birthing many already. Aurelia wasn't sure she could keep her composure should she be face to face with such a sight.

  In the end, Aurelia waited until Domitia's cries quieted, and four acolytes exited the chamber. Each holding small bundles of cloth to their chests. They gave her looks as they passed by, knowing that she'd been listening in, though none said anything.

  After they left, Aurelia finally entered the chamber, and was greeted by the sight of a tired, yet very satisfied priestess Domitia.

  [Interlude]

  Priestess Domitia gnced at the tall, winged form of the girl who'd been under her care for eighteen years. She rested on a low couch with plush cushions, still feeling the aftershocks of pleasure from her births.

  Of all the gifts Ceres had bestowed upon her faithful servant, Domitia was most thankful for that. Where others might dread the pain and difficulty which came with bringing new life into the world, Domitia craved it. Any pain during the experience had long since been wiped away, repced with earth-shattering amounts of pleasure. She admitted that she was quite addicted to the feeling, like most of her sisterhood.

  She brought her eyes back to the girl in front of her. Giving her an appraising look up and down her imposing form.

  The girl was tall, and extremely generously proportioned. Domitia would have raised her as her own protégé, eager to fill the ranks of the sisterhood with a mother of such potential. The problem, as always with this one, was her non-human nature.

  Domitia had been thorough in her suppression of her more outndish qualities from a young age, making sure to stamp out any notion of using those white wings as anything other than decoration. It had taken some time to beat the use of them out of a much younger Aurelia, but in time all things bent to her will.

  Her hair was an easier matter, the lustrous metallic gold waves falling from the girls head down to the small of her back. She had convinced the girl that greedy folk might wish to take her, thinking that her hair was true gold. It was true enough, superstitious folk were apt to do foolish things at times.

  She had checked of course, the girl's hair might look like gold enough to an outside observer, but unfortunately it was simply hair after all.

  She felt a kick from one of her little ones, this one further along. She'd have the pleasure of birth again in a few weeks if she judged her timing correctly.

  Having reacquainted herself with the girl, Aurelia, that was her name, she reminded herself. Domitia opened her mouth, and began to deliver the news.

  [Back to Aurelia]

  "You've been an adequate servant of the goddess throughout our care." Domitia started. "You've done well to embody the grace and virtue asked of all who learn under our tutege."

  "You may know that typically the sisterhood may offer three distinct options for those who grow to adulthood under their guidance. The first is to continue in the care of our goddess, to wear the cloth forever more, to become an acolyte wholly devoted to her divinity."

  Domitia paused, and gesture about herself with a hand. "Unfortunately we cannot offer such a position to a non-human like you, Aurelia, though we may be able to come to an arrangement, should the other options prove dissatisfactory."

  "The second, and most common option those under our care take, is to be taken on as an apprentice. We've received many inquiries as to when you reach the age of majority, and you have many potential pces you could go under this arrangement."

  "The third option we offer you is to offer your hand in marriage arranged by the temple. Though again due to your nature, we must offer you concubinage instead. We have received much interest in you for this as well, there appears to be many who would offer you a pce in their households, should your interest be piqued."

  She paused for a moment, considering.

  "And, I suppose, there is a fourth option, though the temple offers no support. I suppose you may simply walk away from your caretakers, and find what fortune offers you. Not many opt for such an approach, though it does happen on occasion."

  Aurelia considered. She couldn't see herself serving in the temple any longer, no doubt this "position" Domitia offered would involve her ying on her back most days, "receiving" those who visited the temple and squeezing out children as often as could be arranged by the priestesses many methods.

  Likewise, being taken as a concubine and living a domestic life didn't much appeal to her either. Her husband would be chosen by the temple, and would likely be the man who gave the sisterhood the rgest donation.

  Learning a craft under the tutege of a local tradesperson was intriguing, she might eventually be able to achieve some measure of independence, and be able to earn her own coin working in some way other than ying on her back, legs spread.

  One image kept intruding on her otherwise tranquil consideration. A rowdy mess hall filed with peoples from all across the region, a big board filled with opportunity and danger, songs of valor and glory filling the ears.

  Aurelia thought long and hard. The temple might offer three choices to the children under their care, but the world was vast, and there was more to see than the same bnk walls and the same swollen bellies. She'd heard tales of mountains so tall that their peaks were swallowed by clouds, of deep caverns so vast that entire peoples lived and died in their midst. She'd heard tales of Greece to the east, of Carthage to the south, of distant Egypt and so much more.

  Though the temple offered many options, only one resonated with her very spirit.

  "Though I thank the temple for the care it has given me, and the opportunities it now offers with open-hand, I must decline priestess Domitia, for my heart longs for elsewhere."

  She thought she saw Domitia's eye twitch, but the gravid priestess simply nodded, and began to speak.

  "I thought you might, you always were a tough girl to discipline. Never the less, should you change your mind before you arrive at the temple of Jupiter tomorrow, your choices remain."

  "I thank you for your generosity, priestess Domitia." Aurelia said sagely, though she knew that her course had been set the moment she'd first id eyes upon that blue roofed building with its bawdy tales, and the smell of adventure in the air.

  With those words, Aurelia bowed to the priestess, and made her leave to her room.

  It was the st time she'd ever see it.

  SarcasticMisfit