<div class="floatright">(https://i.imgur.com/E3ET1uG.jpg)<br/><div align="center">Sera</div></div><br/><span class="bbc_u">Sera smiled</span>(https://i.imgur.com/Hsz1fYQ.jpg) and waved goodbye in the early morning dawn's light to master Cassian Lockwood.  Her master, along with his wife, the lady Lise de Durandier, had given young Sera, of no name, a wonderful life.  Growing up in an orphanage hadn't been wonderful, but she'd been pious.  She'd clung to the teachings that the priests and priestesses of Lihrit had taught her.  Maybe not in her heart, but in her words and actions, she was one of the faithful.  When she'd come of age and her body had begun to mature, it'd been clear she'd not find a home among some family.  Young children, able to be passed off as the true children of couples who couldn't conceive, that was what people wanted.  Not some gangly pre-teenager who was obviously adopted.  So she'd been moved to a convent, where it seemed she'd be trained as an acolyte of Lihrit.  But the priestesses there had sensed that her faith was much less strong than it appeared.  She knew all the words, the rituals, said and did things correctly, but it never really touched her heart, not truly.  Thankfully while there, her strength was discovered.  She was excellent at domestic duties.  She could sew with the nimble ease of fingers that an elven maiden might have.  She could almost sense dust settling on furniture and wipe it away with a flick of a cleaning cloth.  She seemed to have a knack for picking up the recipes to new dishes instantly and almost never overcooked a meal.  But most of all, she had an almost uncanny knack for getting along with children.  The priestesses saw that she could talk to children, babies, on a level that they responded too, but also maintain an air of superiority and control over them.  She was a natural nanny and house servant.  Certainly that was her calling.<br/><br/>So, when one of Lihrit's trusted servants, the noble paladin de Durandier announced that the goddess had graced her womb with child and she was seeking a nanny, it was a perfect fit.  One of the priestesses passed along Sera's qualifications to high priestess Venta herself, who then introduced the teenaged girl to the couple. Instantly both had liked Sera and had taken her into their home as a servant and soon to be nanny.  High priestess Venta had pulled her aside and had a long talk with her about decorum, following Lihrit's codex, and making the woman proud, and if she did so would find the family she'd always desired.  She even taught Sera an incantation, the waifish teen never knowing she could cast magic, was astounded at the spell and it's use, but could see how it would be useful.<br/><br/>Sera's first few months in the De Durandier home, for the wife was nobility and thus the home was named after her and not master Lockwood, were nerve wracking for her.  She was offput by the lady's great beauty, and the miracle of her growing stomach.  It seemed at times that she could almost sense the life growing inside the paladin, and had to admit that her stomach felt all fluttery wondering if some day the same would happen to her.  When Amelia was born, young Sera fell in love with the child just as much as her parents had.  She thanked Lihrit in her prayers every night for letting her find this 'family' even as just a servant.  She was a good and loving caretaker, quiet, obedient, and pleasant.  It was only after her naming day, when she was considered a full woman, that she attempted the spell that Venta had taught her for the first time.  Paladin de Durandier was out, on some official task.  Master Lockwood was on the road and wouldn't be back for days.  A 9 month old Amelia squirmed and squalled in her arms, not wanting to take the bottle of breast milk that had been left by Lady Lise.  So Sera bared her own small breasts, remembered the words to the spell she'd been taught, and rubbed her nipples in the way she'd been told, tracing strange symbols around them.  Her breasts had swollen and begun leaking.  She brought the child to her young suddenly full breasts, and the child seemed satisfied, latching on and sucking.  Sera smiled and felt a joy she'd never known.  Yes, this was her family, she'd finally found it.  She sat back and tended to her child, this lovely baby Amelia, who was not her flesh but was her child in her mind, and opened the bottle of the lady's breast milk and drank it casually.  They were family after all.<br/><br/>Years passed and she helped raise the second child, the boy, Lucius, and watched wistfully as Lise again grew more beautiful and gravid before giving birth.  She wished that it was her who was full with master Lockwood's child, that she could bring a baby into the wonderful de Durandier home.  But she understood that was not her place.  She remained always a quiet, dutiful, obedient servant.  Doing what was expected of her, often before it was even asked out loud.  So it made sense when Master Lockwood came to her servants chambers one night.  She welcomed him and spread her legs, dutifully, and gladly.  Understanding that the master and lady were going through a rough spat, and her silence would be required.  Of course she would, she loved her family, and she knew that they were stronger together.<br/><br/><strong>"Welcome home m'lady,"</strong>the now twenty five year old woman said as Lise returned from the barracks that morning.<strong>"You've just missed master, he left not but half a bell ago."</strong>Of course Sera knew that master Cassius had specifically left before Lise had returned.  They'd been fighting again, she knew.  She always knew.  The way he took her, angrily, several times in the night had been passionate and also angry.  She even imagined she could still feel his seed inside her as she welcomed the lady home.<strong> "You look tired m'lady.  May I draw you a bath?  The children should be up soon and I'll take them to their lessons before going about the day's shopping.  You should have the whole morning to yourself."</strong>Sera was glad at leas that she'd put on a heavy, chaste, dressing robe over the tight undergarments she wore beneath.  The lady looked to be in a mood, and she didn't want Lise chastising her again for flaunting her body.  A pointless argument, as Lihrit was on Lise's side on this one, no matter that it seemed silly among family members like they were.