For the Record

So that took way too long to explain… but at least the look on Orv’s face has gone from bafflement to amazement to bland acceptance.

“I’d offer for you to stay here for the night, but I’m guessing you won’t considering your own home is literally a couple doorways away,” I say.

“Well,” he starts, and then looks at his daughter. “Do you want me to stay?”

Izahne looks thoughtful for a moment and then replies, “No, it’s ok daddy. I’ll be fine here. I’m… with my wife, after all. We’ll be fine.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

He stands and gives a final look around, absentmindedly dusting his dust-free hat again. “Well, it was nice meeting you all. Will you be staying in the area long? If so, I’d love to treat you to a meal if nothing else. And don’t worry about your mother, sweetpea, I’ll talk to her. I’ll figure something out.”

“Okay,” she says back.

We all say our goodbyes and my father-in-law heads through the portal – but not without stopping to look over its surface again. I should really make him one of these, maybe he’ll be able to, I don’t know, reverse engineer it into something mortals can produce.

But not right now.

No, right now I’m…

…

Did Izahne just yawn? I thought she didn’t need sleep?

(Emotional strain does some things. I’m not that surprised, to be honest,) Nyx comments. (Plus, she’s been tense ever since we got to the Sand Sea, that’ll wear someone out too.)

That’s fair enough.

I rise from my chair and hold a hand out to my wife. “Well, come on then.”

“Hm?” she asks, blinking blearily first at my hand and then at me.

A small sigh escapes me. “It’s been a long day. You’re tired, and don’t pretend you’re not. So you’re going to come lay down. Right?”

“Oh. Um… okay.”

And then she just… sits there. I’m not reading any disagreement from her… actually, that’s acceptance…

Oh, hells with it.

I manifest a number of feelers and scoop her up, pulling her smoothly into my arms. She looks startled at first, but then settles against me, her head on my chest.

***

Well, however tired Izahne was last night clearly didn’t spread to me. I’ve been awake the whole time.

But that’s fine. There’s something peaceful about hearing her quietly snore against me.

…

I wonder if it’s actually morning now…

(Yep.)

I see.

But my wife hasn’t stirred yet. I may as well let her rest though, I’m sure she’ll wake when she’s rested enough.

…

…

Through Will Sense I can tell that everyone else here is already up and moving, not counting those who never actually laid down to rest.

Also, Artemis continues to hide in the corner of the room, watching from shadows cast by nonexistent lights… I wonder if that’s a Skill or a spell or something. I silently release one of my kin and float it toward her.

The fox goddess glances at the wraith, then at me, before I spawn a feeler from it and gently scratch behind her ears. She lets out a quiet moan.

“Mmm… Mm?” Izahne grumbles in her sleep at the sound. I pull her in closer with the arm she’s laying on, and she sighs before pressing in closer and mumbling something incomprehensible. Not even a minute later she’s already snoring again.

I glance back toward Artemis.

Something about humans is… almost kind of endearing. Isn’t it?

She gives me a soft smile.

…

Maybe Owyn is right.

If I was always a killing machine before, every time I was reborn…

Then what changed?

***

“So,” I ask, “did you have more questions, or…?”

Orv politely waves me off. “Oh, no. No, I’m plenty satisfied after our discussion last night.”

We’d just retired to the sitting room after sharing breakfast together, expertly prepared by Artemis. I’m sure it’s not every day that a mortal craftsman has a literal god’s cooking, but I can safely say I haven’t had anything that competes with it either. She’s just too good.

…

Well, maybe her mana is better…

Maybe.

I absentmindedly brush her with Consume, catching myself just in time to limit it as much as possible…

And she still whines embarrassingly. Everyone looks at her, and then looks at me.

Wonderful. I can’t help but sigh.

But… it was worth it. Delicious.

Blinking, Orv asks, “What just happened?”

“Yeah, of course he was going to ask,” Pearl retorts.

Before I can respond, Izzy gestures to him and then leans to whisper in his ear. After a moment of his eyes slowly widening and finally a blush blooming on his face he says, “Oh. I see,” in a solemn voice.

“She does it to me too sometimes. It’s… Nice.”

He responds with an awkward smile. “Ah… haha. I don’t need the details of your, erm, intimate life, sweetie.”

Intimate?

Well, whatever.

“Let’s change the subject!” he suddenly says. “I spoke with your mother last night. She… well, she’s still upset, and of course she is. But she’s at least agreed to allow you home without complaint. Just… you may want to limit your time around her for now. Give her some space, and some time to get over herself.”

“Okay, daddy. Thank you.”

I glance between the two of them. “This isn’t a normal occurrence, by any chance?”

“Well…” Orv trails off.

My wife sighs. “Remember how I said my brothers and sister already left? I was the only one who stayed?”

I nod.

“She… kind of chased them all off.”

“Oh. So yes, normal occurrence then.”

A pair of sighs are my answer.

***

“Here.”

“What? What do you want?” Sodaca snaps, ignoring my outstretched hand and instead glaring at me.

“Take it. Consider it a peace offering,” I say, gesturing with my hand again.

My mother-in-law sighs heavily and then actually looks at the small object I’m holding, and finally takes it. Looking closely while grumbling, she suddenly goes silent.

“I don’t know these runes. What is this?”

I chuckle quietly to myself. “Focus your will somewhere… say, right here, and then activate it. You know, with mana.”

She furrows her brow at me. “Whaddaya mean, ‘will’?”

“I mean…”

Wait.

What do I mean?

(The closest mortals probably have is focus, they don’t have divine will,) Nyx comments.

Ah, focus. I see – WAIT, WHAT? Divine will, what?

My former Assistant sighs. (You really didn’t figure that out yet? You’ve been using it since we woke up in that containment facility!)

How would I have figured that out!?

“Are you going to explain yourself or not?”

Ah.

Sodaca is glaring at me impatiently, even tapping her foot.

“Focus is what I mean. Focus on a spot, and then activate it with mana.”

She gives me a sideways glare before actually trying it.

And when the portal appears, her jaw may as well have hit the floor.

“What… What is… Is this?” she stammers, unable to form a sentence for at least this moment apparently.

I shrug. “Portable interstitial. I showed Orv mine last night and he almost dropped dead from the shock. I thought you might want one. There’s not much in it now though, sorry. I get bad headaches or even fall into a coma if I try to use Spellspeech too much.”

My mother-in-law’s eyes kept getting wider as I spoke.

“Spell… speech?”

“Yeah so, I apparently can instinctually –”

“I know what it is!” she interrupts. “You mean to tell me that you have gods-flogging Spellspeech?”

“Yep. {create ice}, here you go,” I say, offering her the ice crystal even as it finishes forming in my hand.

And then I wince.

Alright, yeah, that was a bit too much for the moment.

Sodaca absentmindedly takes the piece of ice and looks at it contemplatively, and then looks at me.

…

And then she furrows her brow. Here we go, more insults…

“It’s… not supposed to hurt.”

…

“What?” I ask. That was… not remotely what I expected her to say.

“Spellspeech,” she continues, her eyes regaining some of their previous hardness, “isn’t supposed to hurt the user. There are literal books on the subject. Users of Spellspeech are known for being the most prolific crafters or creators in the known history of the planes, and there’s no record of them experiencing any kind of pain or discomfort from its use. They just speak the words of creation, and the planes change around them.”

“Then why didn’t anybody I’ve talked to about it know anything about it?”

“Has anyone you’ve talked to about it spent literally hundreds of years reading obscure science and history texts as a hobby?”

I… don’t really have a comeback to that, so I say, “No? I don’t think so, anyway… I guess Mimir could have, but he was mostly interested in magic devices I think… or at least this incarnation is?”

“Fine, fine,” my mother-in-law says dismissively and then starts walking purposefully away.

…

“Well?”

“Well, what?” I ask.

She puts her hands on her hips. “Are you coming or not?”

Huh.