Female complications, day 17


    Kari''s back.


    Iselin is still far too early for my liking, but she understands her husband and just likes to snuggle up next to me in bed. Caecilia knocks on the door and as usual she has weather and breakfast information, and when I meaningfully lift the duvet she smile and joins us in bed. I know Iselin doesn''t mind, and Caecilia appreciates it even if it''s only for a short while before getting up to visit the toilet before breakfast. Caecilia gives me a good morning kiss, and so does Iselin. Caecilia show her hand to me, which she says feels better, but after breakfast she will visit Unn again to get the wound checked.


    Iselin remembers to remind me that tonight we will have the Torra blót feast, as it is apparently a tradition here on this day of the year. I know she and Caecilia have said something about it before, but they also know that I don''t really keep track of such things, and as the lady of the house she''ll be doing all the preparations anyway, although the others will help. There''s not much of a ritual to be done and should go fast. I have decided to be a bit active in the pagan rites so I will be. Next month is the ''men''s month'', and Iselin and Caecilia want me to choose a day where they celebrate me, and if the weather is bad that day it is a bad omen for the year. They both see my attempt to avoid a bad omen by not choosing a day as annoying, but very much me and a bit sly.


    It feels good that Kari is coming home today, because I have missed her. I look forward to being able to call Kari my wife. Concubine just feels wrong. Although that applies to Jane too. The fact that I''m actually thinking about and missing Kari while lying between two amazing women like Iselin and Caecilia actually feels good. And a little bad.


    I''m not complaining about my social situation, but it still feels ''wrong'' that I have four sambos and Caecilia. That is just too many relationships to juggle so no one feels under appreciated or unprioritised, so I''ll keep trying to do my best. Then there''s the whole topic of future children that we''ve been trying to avoid, but I know Iselin and Kari want to get pregnant. And not just once. And honestly, if it wasn''t for the whole uncertainty about the health of the half-elf child, I would have wanted to try. I know that Jane has no interest in having children, which is probably why I don''t really feel any desire or need to even try with her, but we also need to be careful that it doesn''t happen by accident. Sure, Jane has a Midg?rd IUD, but they are not 100% protection, so we are still careful and will continue to be so, especially certain times of the month. Lacking contraception and with the bad Alfheimr condoms, it is by far the easiest to have sex with Caecilia, and it feels too good to not need a condom and just be able to cum in her. Her happy, satisfied face when I have done so is a bonus.


    One of those ''I should have seen it coming'', is that semen is used in some magical ''cures'', and Unn has already asked if my semen can be made available for that. The downside, and the upside, is that the semen has to be fresh, which means the cure has to be done when I''m available for donation, so I''ve been asked if instead of Caecilia washing out any used condoms, can''t Unn have the semen? Frankly, I don''t really mind, even though it feels weird, and there will certainly be people travelling to Unn, hoping to get this medical cure. Of course my Sejdmann semen have to be extra potent. That''s not even the top of weird list. Apparently there is some belief in the southern kingdoms that a man''s semen can keep a woman''s skin beautiful. For a noblewoman to use her husband''s, servant''s or slave''s semen as a face mask is just... Oh, boy. But it''s better than using arsenic and such poisons.


    Some men who would love to help apply their beauty product to a paying woman''s face.


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    There are so many uses for more accurate lens grinding, not just for better telescopes and monoculars and glasses, so along with the others, I continue working on a simple lens grinding/polishing machine driven by a belt drive. The lower template or lens is centred on a large gear, and the upper one is attached to a similar one. They are connected by two gears on a shaft which makes them rotate, but between the two upper gears there is a small gear which change the rotation direction and speed, to avoid pattern forming from synchronisation. To create a small lateral oscillating grinding motion, there is a fourth gear right above the drive shaft that has an off-centre pin that causes the upper arm to oscillate with another tempo. The pressure on the lens being ground is from a lead weight and thus adjustable. We have a lot of experimentation to do.


    I have already learnt a lot, and will learn more during the use of the grinding machine, and will make a better one in the future with more careful adjustments and options. Prototypes are rarely perfect, and sometimes it is better to build new from scratch with the experience, than to modify and improve the prototype. And we might save the prototype to a future museum.


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    There''s a knock on the door of my workshop, and after I shout ''come in'', the door is flung open and Kari glides in, rotates my chair and sits gracefully across my lap and then drops her stately posture. She kisses me aggressively and hungrily as we embrace. My lovely concubine - and hopefully future wife - naturally gets my full attention when she tells me about her week.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    It''s a short day''s boat journey plus a couple of hours on horseback to reach her large estate and manor, or if the ship hadn''t been used, a whole long winters day on horseback. The manor is so very large and in beautiful countryside, but of course not as nice as Thrymheim. The manor is many longhouses surrounded by a pallisade, where the largest longhouse is larger than the length of Thrymheim and inside the open middle it''s very high up to the roof. She owns so many animals and so much land that it''s hard to believe. She spent a few days there seeing the land, visiting Skarde''s burial mound, greeting people, settling some minor disputes and future changes, and officially assigning someone to manage the manor on her behalf. She has also spoken to a few couples about her mother, whose name was apparently Iona, but it seems that few people knew Iona, but it is more than 20 years since Iona died.


    Skarde have also left her a huge fortune which he had accumulated over several years and intended to be buried with, as he had nothing to spend it on. His old inheritance would indeed have gone to King Asbj?rn. So he wasn''t interested in investments in the manor or animals, and being buried with it would be a revenge against Asbj?rn. But he changed his mind after he had met Kari last autumn, and she brought back two chests that she could barely lift even if she didn''t carry them herself. And that''s only part of her fortune. A construction team of 16 people will come here in a few days. Kari smile as she ponders whether she should build a manor house like Thrymheim on her own property, and perhaps even one on Orusingen? A hunting lodge seems a bit small for someone of her status and wealth...


    I''m rich, especially after the auction last autumn, but Kari is clearly richer and owns much more land and livestock. Actually, that makes it a little hard to figure out the morning gift, and I''m glad I don''t have to give a bride price. Many will suspect that Asbj?rn didn''t give her to anyone because of her then future inheritance, and waited until someone was worth the ''reward''. The truth is probably that he hoped Skarde would die without knowing what Kari''s life would be like, Asbj?rn would have inherited, and Kari could have been given to some good man anyway.


    Now that she had visited her estate, it was no big deal, and she should have done it before. She was very well received, and the people of Kariby liked her. It''s only a day''s journey from here, so in the future she''ll be visiting her estate every few weeks, maybe 6-8 times a year or so, and she''s hoping I can come along in the spring when it''s nicer, which I''m definitely looking forward to. Kari is so enthusiastic about her estate that I cautiously ask:


    "Have you started to have other plans for your future? You''re rich and could have a great future without me..." I shut up as Kari''s horrified look tells me to stop talking and never mention it again!


    Eventually Kari stops kissing me when she has convinced herself that I know I am the only man for her, and her heritage has not changed that. Her heritage only makes her worthy to be my woman and to become a Furstess. She is willing to give me half her estates right now, just to prove how seriously she wants to continue being my woman and future wife. Half makes me smile, because I like that she is still planning for her future, and has an honest backup plan, and Kari knows I like backup plans and honesty. It lightens the mood.


    I update her on what''s been happening here, of course first about Caecilia, which just makes her close her eyes and sigh. But she is not surprised. I continue about Ryla, Agnes and Heimir and Olafr. Kari thinks everything is excellent and for our good. I remind her about the rune stones and she immediately decides to raise three to Skarde and maybe make a stone ship, and she will also ask Jane to paint a proper painting from the camera picture and the sketch. Maybe two.


    Kari along with Hillevi are amazed at the lightning machine when I show it, but they both love it, and find it so fascinating, and Kari likes to crank and see the lightning and hear the sound. I should have guessed that Kari would be interested as it is electricity and a bit like radio, and she wants to know how it works. Of course, Iselin is quick to offer to help Kari understand.


    I promise Kari that we will go through how it works in the future. To make everyone a bit more surprised, I ask them to turn on the radio. When we crank the lightning machine, we hear strange noise from the radio. The lightning machine is basically a spark gap transmitter with no tuning or shielding, especially if we attach longer wires from each side as antennas, and it doesn''t matter how the frequency is set. We can still hear it. Frankly, a good example of electrical interference and what is called RFI - Radio Frequency Interference. The primitive transmitter I built and we tested last autumn is basically a more advanced version that is made to transmit at a certain frequency.


    Iselin has already said she wants to try to build her own 100% Alfheimr transmitter, and I am also curious about how ''good'' a mobile transmitter can be made. We haven''t actually tested exactly how far the one I built reaches. Honestly, the spark gap transmitter with a simple receiver can become a short range tactical radio because it is not that advanced and it is 100% Alfheimr. The receiver require no standby power, or only a really low consumption if a coherer and bell is used. However, the transmitter draws a lot of power when transmitting, and I need to improve the range considerably for it to be really useful, and of course make the radio much more practical to carry. Trying to raise the frequency would also be good to be more portable and reduce interference with existing radios.


    Kari has heard about yesterday''s radio test and Iselin is so proud and practically gloating, when she shows her very own radio receiver that she built, and tells how we last night sat on the mountain on the other side of the small cove and listened to Caecilia singing here, before Asta broke in from the ship. Kari really wants to do the same, and is annoyed that she missed it, and I promised she will build one too. Iselin must have been waiting for this opportunity, because she comments that Kari was involved in everything when I started the radio projects when she was away to get her parents, so it''s only right that she''s the first elf to make and own her own radio receiver.


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