§
<Big Sis back!>
The coming dawn was not the morning after the battle. It was the morning following that. The intervening period had been a running pursuit down the river by the main force while the ‘delousing’ crew held the captive fairies and Shindzha advanced toward this place.
I spent that day mostly fretting, since I could only rarely get information. I barely managed to get any work done.
My physical posture was the same, cuddled together with my Servant in bed, and the procedure also went as before. However, rather than Rhea doing it, Mireia conducted the mysterious ritual using her new [Divine Gift] from Rhea, remotely operating her goddess’s power in order to send my mind to a closely related body like Kiki.
The [Gift] applied only to certain specific rituals which Rhea taught her, but it seemed as long as she used them properly, she had become capable of a limited number of miracles well beyond the miracles of Healing magic that other Healer or Priest knew. This put her at the level of the ‘Saints’ of ancient lore, which the Temple commemorated but claimed were no more.
An example of using her new power improperly would be performing this particular ritual with my prior Incarnations operating through the [Blood Effigy], which would apparently work if she tried, but with devastating results to me. But Kiki, it seems, was a safe target.
Rhea had told us, “You can also safely contact your Servants this way, but because you don’t share as much affinity with them as with Kiki, you won’t ever ‘think together’ with them as you do with Kiki. It will be more like a [Secret Voice] technique in their case, although you will have some use of their senses as well.”
<Huh?> Kiki’s thoughts responded to mine. <Heaven friend?>
I wasn’t in sync with her yet, so I didn’t catch the thoughts behind the words, but it seemed Kiki caught my recollection of Rhea’s lesson.
I explained, <Rhea is one of the Immortals. She works for the big bosses. She’s helping us.>
<Ooooh! That one!>
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. But I couldn’t tell if she remembered Rhea from Senhion’s time or if she had encountered her during her own life, after she somehow survived as a sundered fragment of the Elder. It seemed I was the reincarnation of the larger portion, while Kiki grew from the bit torn away from me. That’s why she calls me ‘Big Sis’.
<Kiki and Big Sis one before, two now,> she agreed.
My connection to her became strong enough to use her eyes. She obligingly scanned around to show me her location, as I also felt through her location sense that her position was very near to Serera’s reported position of Mother’s resting place. Somehow, Shindzha had made it here in only a day.
I immediately worried, and Kiki immediately assured me, <Sneak sneak hide hide!>
Kiki could speak proper language if she wanted to. Her limited vocabulary is mostly from not having the time to spare to wade through long lists of mortal words for the right ones. She would rather just pick from a short list to get her meaning across. In this case, the meaning of telling me not to worry because she was using her stealth method.
We were leaning over a small rock on a peak adjacent to our destination, with our fists propping up our cheeks. The slivers of the two moons that a short time ago rose from behind our goal told me that we were west by northwest of it.
A silvery dome sat on the peak in question. We couldn’t see well enough from here to deduce how it was made, but we knew it was our goal, the protective bubble that Mother had erected around herself and Owen’s body. Serera had been there when Mother made it. Her spell had allowed Serera to escape but nothing to enter.
But it would still be at least two days before the expedition would arrive here. Now, I needed them to work out exactly what the enemy had in store for my people.
<Where’s Shindza?>
<Pretty demon girl? Sneak sneak hide hide!>
In other words, she was also stealthed somewhere. Objects or people must be in contact with Kiki for her stealth method to work on them, so Shindzha was hiding herself. In this high-altitude place under this bright spread of stars, the Darkness mana would be weakened out in the open, so it had to be a hollow or cave, somewhere deeply shadowed.
I had learned what I came here to learn. I used the link I formed with Mireia before coming to tell her and Kiki together, <Alright, I’ve seen what I came to see. I’ll come again.>
§
I opened my eyes, and Mireia gave me a welcoming smile. My husband was quietly almost-snoring behind my back, and the lights were off, but my vision had no trouble in a room with starlight coming through the windows and softly glowing magic nightlights in various spots around my room.
I woke her to help me do this, and she probably wanted to go back to sleep, but I needed to check on the expedition.
“What was it?” she asked, “No difficulties?”
“You managed it just like if Rhea did it.”
“Technically, she did,” Mireia said. “I’m just calling upon her power.”
“Right,” I nodded. “Did you have any trouble staying awake? I woke you for this awfully early.”
She grew an impish smile. “Wanna do something to wake me up more?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“What are you two doing?” came my husband’s groggy voice.
I looked over my shoulder. “Nothing like that, okay?!”
He chuckled and stroked my arms. That’s about as much contact as he tries with me, knowing my feelings, which does make me feel a little guilty, but I appreciate his thoughtfulness.
<You should at least allow some more contact than that,> Lydia grumped.
<I’ll… think about it, okay?>
I do love him. It’s more sibling love though, and I personally think that’s what his affection for me is, as well. But I’ll never go through the progression of attraction to affection to attachment that a loving couple goes through, because we started from the wrong place.
He is precious to me though, so if one concubine isn’t sufficient to make up for my lack of physical interest, I’ll get him more.
Lydia literally sighed inside my head.
Firmly changing the topic, I said, “We were using the technique that allows me to observe the expedition. They should be done with their detour soon, and I have scouts already observing our parents’ location, looking for the ambush.”
His hand tightened slightly on my upper arm, then relaxed. I think the first was reaction, and the second was him forcing himself to relax his grip.
There’s no way my mortal husband could hurt me without a weapon and determined effort, so he didn’t have to worry about hurting me. But it was good he realized what he’d done.
“Isn’t allowing a small group to go ahead a little too dangerous?” he asked.
“It’s my hellspawn servant and Kiki,” I told him, trying not to giggle as I realized how nuts that sounded.
“That pixie?”
“She’s quite reliable, Husband,” I told him. “And Shindzha is better off without any obviously mortal or fairy companions, while she’s going into enemy territory.”
I took control of Mireia’s hand, which had become a bit mischievous, and told her, “I need to check on my Servants. I would like to try contacting Shindzha directly. Can you do it?”
Mireia’s smile grew a little uncertain. “I’ll have to ask Rhea’s help, to be frank. The Servants are trickier than Kiki.”
I looked over my shoulder again, when I recognized that my husband woke because it was time to go out and do his sword practice. Despite how much he seems to have grown up since the war started, he’s still a muscle head. He’s so diligent he’s generally out there getting in his thousand swings before the castle guards start their pre-dawn exercises.
“Are you headed out now?”
“As soon as I’m sure you’re not doing anything dangerous,” he stated, fixing his gaze on my eyes for emphasis.
“Your Royal Highness,” I stated firmly, “I’m being a good girl. I’m not taking any risks. I promise. Now get going.”
He eyed me for a few additional seconds before sighing, slipping out from under the covers and standing up. I looked away, remembering just in time that Mireia had fully stripped both of us last night.
It’s embarrassing, you know?
§
All I felt at first was a vague awareness of having a body, motionless other than gently breathing. Vague supernatural senses existed, but I didn’t seem to be connected to them directly. I had the sense they were primed like a trap to catch anything approaching, and I shouldn’t disturb them.
(“That’s her natural mana awareness. When she’s asleep, autonomous security instincts take control of it so that the rest of her can relax and rest. You need to wait a bit longer before you can feel her surroundings,”) Rhea informed me through Mireia. (“I’ll wake her now.”)
She came to a semi-unconscious state, in which she became conscious of sound and of that mana awareness. It seemed to be something a bit like [Vampire Sight], in the way it gave a dim image of her vicinity, although it didn’t come through her eyes. It wasn’t actively sending out Dark mana to sense things like [Vampire Sense] though.
(“It’s probably closer to [Fairy Sense], My Lady. Except it’s an awareness of the nearby mana rather than spiritual sense. The Demons found this ability in some elves and dwarves and copied it.”)
I knew Arken had the ability to see mana through a skill, but I had never heard of any elves or dwarves having additional senses. For the most part, they were improved humans and nothing more. Elves were prettier and Dwarves were tougher, and both were longer lived and had better odds of being magically adept.
(“That’s a fair assessment, but their higher rate of skill development includes a number of skills that are unique to their races, like this.”)
That matched up with things Uncle Matthias had taught me. But how would Demons be able to borrow those skills and give them to Shindzha? I felt like I was on the verge of solving some puzzle when I noticed this question we left begging.
I could hear Rhea’s sigh through Mireia. (“It’s a long, sad story. And one that you shouldn’t think about just yet, since it’s about events from your life as Senhion. I shouldn’t have mentioned it.”)
I realized that feeling had been a memory nibbling at the edges of my mind. Had she backed off to avoid triggering it?
“Mistress?” Shindzha asked quietly.
<It’s me, Shindzha,> I answered. <I’m not here with you, but I’m checking on you. Are you alright where you are?>
“I’m safe right now, Mistress. In a completely dark place, I can use my [Shadow Shelter] indefinitely.”
(“She can speak in her mind to you. Tell her not to use her voice.”)
“Who was that, Mistress?”
(“Ah… she can hear me through you.”)
I told her, <As she said, don’t use your voice. You’ve had people speak by [Secret Voice] to you before, right?>
<Yes…>
<Good. That was the Immortal who is helping me talk to you. Her name is Rhea.>
I concentrated on her ‘mana awareness’ and quickly worked out that she had hid in a shallow natural cave perhaps ten paces lower than where Kiki was keeping vigil. The rearmost section was just deep enough to cast a truly black shadow at night. Not deep enough for the daytime, though.
<You won’t be able to hide here properly during the day. Was Kiki using her stealth on you?>
<Yes, Mistress.>
Which meant she couldn’t watch outside. <You have Earth affinity. Do you know [Dig]?>
I was thinking in terms of redesigning this cave to create a space where ambient light wouldn’t reach once the sun came up. That would be happening sooner here than in Narses, since we were farther east, so it was a pressing concern.
<I can do it by raw mana manipulation, Mistress.>
<No, that’s not safe. Doing it that way lacks the safety and disguise properties of the spell.>
[Dig] was really a fully developed mining spell, highly valued by mortal civil engineers. It was also highly popular with field commanders.
<Mistress, do not be so concerned. Kiki and I have a system worked out. I will be okay. I’m only hiding here to rest up before the daytime.>
My worries ground to a halt. Here I had been busy trying to figure out how to keep her hidden, and she had no intention of hiding. I felt a little sheepish as I realized I was trying to protect her when my loyal servant was focused upon her mission and didn’t want my protection.
<What’s your system?>
<A demonic presence is indeed using detection magic in the area, but they are watching for mortals and fairies. Even if they notice a random pixie in the area, they won’t care. And their own demonic presence is far more than what my presence contributes once Kiki uses her stealth on me. What’s left is no different than the impression made by a random gidim passing by. So we simply move surreptitiously with her riding on my shoulder. We plan to work our way around the area, locating their forces.>
<What have you found, so far?>
<On our way here, we encountered lower demons only. Mostly ghouls, with some wraiths and hags. They should have a higher class supervising them, but for the moment, we only see the pickets the enemy scattered around. Based upon how many miles away we began encountering them, they are covering quite a wide area, though.>
<Does it bother you at all to call them the enemy?>
I felt her puzzlement. <Why should it, Mistress? This is no different than warring on a rival demon lord.>
Any sense of camaraderie she might have had with them was gone. I needed to stop worrying about any emotional conflicts Shindzha might have.
