A young Caucasian woman near me said: "How often will the tournament be held, and are we obligated to participate?"
"She asks about the tournament frequency and if you gotta be in it. Answers: twice a year, including one today to assess your level, and yes, you gotta be in it, barring exceptions. Next one?"
An Arabî woman raised her hand. "My Overlady, can we smoke?"
"She asks if we can smoke. I would be tempted to say if it's wùsù made, then yes, but since I personally don't see the value of smoking, I don't give a damn, so knock yourself out if it's your jam. As for drugs, the answer remain the same, as long as you remain fit when in duty. Failing to do that, you'll be severely punished, and I won't be above banning such drug if a lot of you suffer its consequences at work. Outside of that, I don't give a fu*k. Anything else?"
A vyaktee man raised his hand as well. "My Overlady, you quickly mentioned it before, but how do we exactly deal with childbearing and rearing in our situations if we're allowed to have a family life at all?"
I nodded with a discreet sidelong glance at my husband.
Yes … a family … damn right I want that… "Childbearing … that's easy. You get yourself knocked up by a randy woman with gilded ejaculating tendencies -that would be preferable- and you let her infection balloon into a life you'll spit out of your brown little tw*t in a few months, how's that?" I replied under a collective laugh.
As I waved my hands to settle the noise down, I resumed, "For child rearing, we shall build clean mud nurseries and facilities, then hire daycare folks to care for our young when we cannot. Feel free to contact your kith and kin if they wanna help out, and if they want to stay in a permanent capacity, they shall be hired and paid for by the group. The same will be true for education.'
'However, if you're stationed, or wish to be stationed in one of our conquered places, you'll be able to use the brick and mortar places they'll have alongside their hospitals. You didn't ask, by the way, but childbirth will be made outdoors in nature, giving new life under the breeze coursing under the green sky. Therefore, you're definitely allowed to have a family, since I want one as well eventually. You guys can marry even in whatever culture or tradition you see fit.'
'And to forestall some assumptions, no, you won't have to invite me to your wedding. I'm Your Overlady, not your buddy. Outside of your working hours, barring exceptions, again, you'll be able to see or receive visits from your loved ones, wherever you or we are, but remember, their comfort, it's out of your pocket, not ours, understood? Anything else?"
A wìndà woman asked, "Will our children directly serve you when they come of age?"
I shook my head. "Excellent question! And the answer is not automatically. However, they will obey us for the first eighteen years of their life, as we teach them our values and our abilities, and attend primary and secondary schools—paid for by the group—so they can choose their path on their eighteenth birthday.'
'Should they choose to leave, they will be given a legacy check and sent on their way. Otherwise they will start T.M training the morning afterwards while sunlighting in college, and see what occupation they can fulfill according to their chosen field. Anything else?"
An olivà woman stepped forward, "I have, My Overlady. What happens if our loved one is outside our group?"
"She asked what happens if your spouses are outside our group. A very thoughtful question deserving a thoughtful answer, expanding on the back of my previous responses. And truthfully, it depends on the strength of your couple. Beyond your life at risk, you'll move around, unless stationed as I said earlier, of course.'
'Since they're your spouse, I can grant them a bit more leeway than your friends and extended family, of course, as they'll sleep with us at night and benefit from our items and protection. However, if your spouse intends on staying with us, as I said earlier, making themselves useful to our group would be appreciated, OK? Anything else?"
No one said anything. All right then… "If you have any inquiries, feel free to see me. Don't let my position in the way of your questions. Now, let me assess the members of the first group, as I can tell your power level. The best members will provisionally be team leaders until their leadership abilities show otherwise. Since I can't tell your knowledge and experience at first glance, you can talk to me later if you wanna be drafted to another group! When I call you, you'll line next to each other, until I say otherwise, understood?"
"Yes, Overlady!" They all said.
I gotta get used to this shit, hee-hee-hee! "All right! You girl over there, left! Yes, you!"
An n-gòmè moved out to the designated place. I pointed the next dude. "You, buddy, go right, now!"
A young wìndà man shuffled next to the n-gòmè.
As I called them in, my ranks emerged…
*
A dozen minutes later, my prospective 58 team leaders were in place.
37 women and 21 men.
All chosen based on their strength.
Good.
The strongest will be my provisional advisor, helping me sort out their strengths and weaknesses. Now, let's start the second row from the second strongest, and so on…