§ For the record, Amana did apologize for trying to ground me. It seems she’s been raising Inda’s daughter and son, an incredibly rare pair of fairy twins, and the words had come out by reflex. They’re in their thirties, but that’s still children by fairy standards.  When we parted for the evening, she promised to bring them to the …

§ Rod agreed in the end, but we didn’t go immediately to ask Mireia, for two different reasons. First, she wasn’t present. She had convinced Rod to let her go to the attack site, the destroyed Narses Army Headquarters, to use her healing powers on the many still in need of care. And second, I needed to brief Amana about …

§ My troublesome fiance wasn’t beside himself for long. He stopped once I grabbed his wrists (thus taking control of the hands currently gripping my shoulders) and hissed under my breath, “Your Highness, my maids are present!” My lady’s maid Genette had been watching with polite amusement– she was already acquainted with my emotional fiancé– but the two chamber maids …

§ I have developed a liturgy of sorts, a ritual of all the things I need to do before entering into combat. I draw Durandal and a magic focus (the Starfire Jade Writing Brush, this time), I inform him whether he’s going to shield automatically or wait for me to call it out, and I begin the [Body Fortification] skill …

§ “Big Sis fast fast!” I received this faint praise from my little sister as she flew upside-down with her arms crossed behind her head while looking up at me. It made it difficult not to believe she was making fun of me. “You could at least pretend that you have to make an effort at this speed!” I retorted. …

§ The entire time we had sat in this little circle around a blanket spread with Dorian-style hors d’oeuvres, Durandal had quietly nibbled on one or two and otherwise remained silent. But when Mother– Fairy Mother– appeared at the entrance to the Pavilion, he sprang to his feet. “Deharè,” he blurted out in surprise, crossing behind me and Kanon toward …

§ Sound is only one of the means by which we communicate in the Immortal Realms. Even in the Fundamental Realm, it is a mode mostly used out of habit, because the Human Clade immortals (and certain other sapient clades) used it as their mode in the Mortal worlds where their kind originated. But we also communicate direct thoughts, which …

§ I stared down at the barbie-sized pixie lying spread-eagle on my bosom with confusion. Thanks to the design of Fan Li’s Imperial Court dress, the area that would have been exposed by a low Orestanian neckline was covered in cloth, but she was rubbing her cheek on my bare skin above where the garment ended. “Kiki? How did you …

§ Curator politely guided this scholar through the grand “gallery” where the entrances to the many training scenarios hung on display as artworks. Having more access to the memories of the immortal Senhion who was our great predecessor, it had become possible to recognize that many of these were her own work, having enjoyed an Immortal Realm method of painting …

§ When switching incarnations, one requires no time to acquire information about the current situation from the prior personality. After all, it is information one already possesses. But the time taken to formulate a plan must necessarily be longer. The thoughts, theories and suspicions of our various personalities are unique to each of us. One must absorb and process the …