The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 379 - Messengers Carrying The Weight Of Time

"Well then. If you’re going to travel all that way, wherever the young hero is, we should prepare you properly. Wouldn’t want you to lose what my Lady has you bringing to him."

She moved to Elua’s wardrobe, searching through drawers until she found what she needed - a small silk pouch with drawstrings. Meant for carrying the sigil worked gems to and from the jeweler, at least when she first started that work... but perfect now for securing the coin.

"There. That should keep it safe."

Ensuring the fox could grip the fabric strings in its teeth without dropping the precious cargo... or without hurting its teeth on the metal and quartz. She began to pet the fox again as it settled beside her with surprising patience.

While the avatar assured it that there was no time to waste, it also stressed that the creature should remain its own fox and not avoid doing anything that it wanted. Weeks of pampering had made it crave human attention. It had also accustomed it to the moody nature of the two legged beasts.

The room felt very peaceful to Klaytei, despite the supernatural strangeness of the situation. Like a safe space to speak truths that felt too dangerous to do so elsewhere. Like the young miss was right there beside her, hearing her out about her long term plan.

"I suppose you’d make a good listener. Better than most humans, probably. I’ve only told one other person this before. How infatuated I am. When she is on my mind, I feel ten years younger."

The woman leaned her head back and smiled up into the ceiling. It was a bit embarrassing, but felt great to speak happily about this out loud. The vague things she had said to her mother at the fort about her marriage prospects had been unsatisfying.

"I’ve never felt this way about someone before. My lady gave me permission to pursue her, too. Can you believe that? Actually encouraged it after some thinking. Though she also seemed to have lost a little warmth in her eyes at the same time..."

Her next words stuck in her throat for a moment, as speaking about the negative sides out loud was not nearly as exciting.

"I think it was because she’s a cultivator and I’m just a mortal. Even if she likes me back now, what happens in twenty years? Forty? When I start to age like natural and she’s still young and beautiful? When she could have... anyone else with a longer lifespan to offer?"

The fox made a soft chittering sound, almost like sympathy. Because it knew that snacks often came after making human women feel better.

"I know it’s foolish to worry about decades from now when I’m not even certain how she feels today, but I can’t help it. She’s brilliant and capable and deserves someone who can match her in all the ways that matter."

Klaytei knew that if she spent her whole life with Dima, she’d want to shower her with so much affection that she’d never be forgotten even after death. That it would never be regretted. But her confidence in that was low - first loves often ended in tragedy, in the stories she read.

"Still, my lady believed I should try. Told me that some risks are worth taking even when the outcome is uncertain. And spending these days with her... it feels right. Like we could be good partners, if I can convince her to want me."

The fox nudged her hand gently, then picked up the pouch strings in its teeth. It plodded over to the window, ready to begin its journey. It had come to the conclusion that this one wasn’t going to feed it more and that it would be better off hunting juicy grubs on its travels.

"Sorry, I’m holding you up, aren’t I? Go on then. And... tell the young master somehow, if you can, that we’ll work to protect his wife’s family here. I can at least convince the person I like to do that, I’m sure."

She opened the bedroom window for the beast before checking to ensure the fox would actually have a clear path down from there to the gardens. There certainly was a way to descend, though it looked a little tricky. It leaped onto the windowsill with grace, pausing to look up at her one final time.

"Safe travels, little messenger."

Jumping down, it quickly slipped and planted its chest into stone rough tiles below. The bag threw off its balance more than it had accounted for. It realized it should have listened to the avatar’s advice and taken it slower.

The personal servant straightened her shoulders, smoothed her clothes, and prepared to return to the former Coiled Serpent liaison with renewed romantic determination. Whatever happened between them, she would give it her honest best effort.

"And if that doesn’t work, I’ll give my best lies!"

⟠ ⟠ ⟠

Qatrand er Yecine’s strike force had made camp in the ruins of what was, during peacetime, a very prosperous grain storage facility in the region. Stone walls provided adequate shelter while elevated positions offered clear sightlines across the surrounding countryside.

Three days of methodical sweeps through abandoned farmland had yielded more screeching corpses than quantifiable glory, but the work was as necessary as the larger encounters. Coordination had collapsed completely since the leader-class eliminations, leaving only weak-minded Lessers and rare Intermediates to be hunted down.

The Whispering Skydancer arrived as one swordswoman cleaned and polished her blade, thinking of how her wife might be doing. As she had done after every successful engagement with the scattered Voidling remnants that they’d been sent out to pull into these battles.

’I’m sure she’s fine. Whatever she gets into, she can handle. Since she doesn’t need that protection, just think about how you can spoil her when you get back... without triggering her unfortunate... problem.’

"Commander Qatrand."

Leysah’s voice carried from her position on watch. The curved-blade wielder pointed skyward where a familiar form descended. When it grew close enough, it could be recognized by color and leg bands as her wife’s original Skydancer - a bit bigger than the other one that shared the similar purple and orange dusky hues.

A strong chest tightened with the instinctive awareness that something had changed. Her El had been using the dawn gold colored one rather exclusively. It could be that she was simply giving it a rest, but the speed at which the creature was diving was unusual.

The avian landed on her extended forearm with unusual force, its talons gripping perhaps slightly more desperately than necessary. White eyes fixed on hers with an intensity that seemed almost human in its urgency. The bird bent and pressed its head against her wrist, transferring the ’message’.

A shock of spiritual energy pulsed through the contact - not the bird’s simple animal consciousness that she had grown more used to feeling as a Primalist the last weeks at the fort with her spouse... but something far more complex and achingly familiar. And upset.

/~*My fortress. My anchor. My beloved.*~/

Elua’s voice resonated directly within her spirit, unmistakably the very monotone braced with deep emotions she would expect to hear if she was right in front of her... despite the strange method of delivery. The tiny, volatile spiritual fragment unfolded its compressed information like a flower seed blooming in her consciousness.

/~*I am going to be displaced, but I am likely safe. An ancient artifact was triggered involuntarily. I’ll be in an Astral Exclave - the pocket dimensions separated from our world I’ve mentioned before.*~/

Pigeon blues narrowed at the ’likely’ and again at the ’involuntarily’ parts. But it was the next line that made her eyelids flutter with more obvious emotion. A voice that sounded the same, but she knew was not her wife... exactly.

|**Realmshard still in this world. Makes immediate return impossible. Months of preparation now required for escape. Perhaps longer. Sorry, Qat.**|

The avatar in the fox had synthesized this message to help get the girl up to speed... on changes that the ancient cultivator had not been aware of before splitting off the fragment into the beast. Talons of the Skydancer’s grip tightened as a final jolt left it spent - the travel had been long and tiring already.

/~*My obsidian mirror could not come with me. But I have devised a purpose for it that I want you to take care of for me... if by some chance I can’t come back as quickly as I should. This fox also has a task for you to help with.*~/

|**Sent bird instead, better division of forces**|

Qatrand’s free hand moved unconsciously to the spiritual fragment nestled near her heart, seeking small comfort from the piece of Elua er Goltbred that remained with her always. These voices in her head were similar in nature, she could tell... but different. More complicated spiritual matters that her mint-drop wielded as if they were obvious and simple.

/~*I love you. Will be back as quickly as I can. Wait for me.*~/

’A recording, done prior to whatever happened. Or as it happened...?’

Rather than a random guess, it was part of the information being left in a corner of her mind. Most of which were instructions filed almost like paperwork that had been numbered and turned into illusions. Somewhat emotionless thoughtforms, unlike the feelings shoved into the words ’love’ and ’wait’.

|**Trust that you can handle anything life brings to you. With her, without her. You are strong. Be confident. Be yourself.**|

This other ’avatar’ she was less sure of what to think of, but clearly it spoke as if her wife was a separate entity. Yet, it also talked like her El... and was doing its best to reassure her, even without any emotive cues. Which did seem like something the spiritualist would make sure it could do.

’And explained why it would have no... actual emotions.’

The heiress would never intentionally allow any ’being’ capable of confusing their relationship split off from her. That was a conversation she’d had long ago with the person she loved. And had been repeated like clockwork... month after month from the date of a *certain incident*.

Where a false-spirited ’Adult Qatrand’ had made the cute girl flip out in embarrassment.

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