I hadn’t thought to de-manifest my wings while we were checking on the passengers of the plane, and it once again slipped my mind when I teleported my group along with Vivian and Lucy back to Varüus’kiel. I’ll blame Jonesy for that. Remembering to nix my wings just wasn’t as important as making sure he got a warning to behave himself and ensuring that the timing of the teleport and dropping the force field was just right so he couldn’t shoot any of us. Besides, I was having too much fun getting him all torqued up since that first phone call, and that was entirely his fault for being such an easy target. Bad Jonesy, he really needed to watch that blood pressure.

So, when we appeared in Varüus’kiel I was suddenly quite aware of the looks of interest that I was receiving from my loyal subjects as we looked for my Mahair and the other Queens. The nearby Sül’shael were particularly excited about this turn of events, especially when I told them that I had, in fact, already learned how to fly. Eventually, though I had to de-manifest my wings as we walked through the crowds so that I wasn’t bumping them into people. Once I had finally willed them away I sighed in relief and said, “Much better, having extra appendages feels weird.”

Lucy seemed disappointed to see them go as Venika alighted on my shoulder and offered, “You get used to them eventually. They really did a number on your Lindwyrm-hide armor though, the back of your tunic is completely blown out from just beneath your hood to your butt.”

“Yeah, it feels pretty breezy back there,” I agreed with a sigh. “It was not a pleasant feeling when they first manifested and burst through, so I kinda figured that the back of this was toast. I hope Yola can repair it.”

“The tattoos are pretty though,” Salem offered absently.

“I’m sure they are,” I started to reply before catching myself. “Wait, what?”

“You have these stylized wing tattoos on your back,” Nishalle confirmed, placing a hand gently on my shoulder. “They look Celtic and they’re glowing violet, like your eyes.”

“Of course they are, let’s go find Mahair so we can see how soon it will be before we can get Vivian into a F.I.T,” I said with a sigh.

While in search of my Mahair we were led to the narrow peninsula that led out a kilometer and a half toward the center of the lake, where my eyes were immediately drawn toward a large crystal formation at the tip of the peninsula that had definitely not been there before. It was white in color, iridescent in the way that it sparkled and reflected the moonlight, and I could feel the magick in it. “That’s sooo pretty!” little Lucy said in awe as her mother and the rest of my group stared.

“That’s new,” my fiancée muttered beside me before her eyes widened and she tilted her head slightly as if to get a better look. “Wait, is that getting bigger?”

She was right, it was growing. Not just that, it was growing fast as Mahair, the other Queens and Narek looked on beside a very pleased-looking Jhuras. I picked up the pace to approach the group and asked the High Artificer, “So, was your expedition fruitful then?”

They all turned to look at my approaching group and the Atlantean was beaming like a kid in a candy store shopping spree when he replied, “Very fruitful, Your Majesty. The Crystal Tower and the workshops were both intact and there is a lot there that can be used. The other members of the expedition are transporting everything useful as we speak. The contents of the workshops will be particularly useful since we can use them to begin mass production of mana batteries and other technology that we will need for building the city. That though is the crown jewel.”

“Well, it is shiny,” I agreed as I looked again toward the crystal that he was pointing at. “I can feel some major magick at work too. So, what is it?”

“It is a programmable crystalline matrix, one of only two ever created, and what I was most hoping that we would find. Now that it has been activated, it will continue to grow by gradually feeding on ambient mana until it reaches its programmed size and configuration. The other was used to create the Crystal Tower and this one was created as a backup in case anything happened to the tower,” the elderly Atlantean explained almost giddily.

“What? So you’re going to create a copy of Atlantis’s Crystal Tower here?” Lissany asked.

“Not exactly,” Jhena said as she stepped from behind the growing crystal formation. The Atlantean in human-guise was grinning as wide as her father. “I wasn’t about to let our Empress have some cheap knock-off of something that my ancestors thought would look cool at the time as her palace, she needs something impressive, something that people will look on in awe. I’m familiar enough with the programming language that I was able to upload a new design through the interface. I call it the Moon Palace. I developed a thing for fantasy architecture when I was learning how to create virtual environments and studying other VR games on the market but Moira wouldn’t let me program anything like that into Apocalypse Dawn because it wouldn’t fit the theme.”

“You shouldn’t be building me a palace; we have thousands of people who need homes right now,” I argued with a frown.

“Now that it’s started the palace will build itself,” Jhena assured me. “We’ll just need to add proper doors and windows in the spaces for them and all of the modern artificed conveniences. We used the crystal matrix to build it because we want the palace to be secure, and this crystal is almost as strong as that Nythrin stuff that your fiery friends work with. We have some ideas for the city as well, don’t you worry. We’re assuming that you’ll want something environmentally low-impact and that isn’t a complete eyesore?”

I nodded slowly. “Yes, we have plenty of Magi that can manipulate stone, earth, and wood into comfortable living spaces.”

“How do you feel about hobbit-holes?” she asked with a grin. “These plains are pretty vast and we were thinking of a massive hobbit-like city with farmlands for crops along the outer edges of the plains. The natural canals could give access to most of the city for those of us of a more aquatic nature and we could reserve the canal areas for stores and other small businesses. I was thinking that for things like hospitals, government buildings, other necessary large-scale services, and bigger businesses we could just create larger hills for more space and then build downward rather than upward. With earth, stone, and wood magick and some artificing, we could make the structures really sturdy and secure and easily add new levels further underground as needed.”

I found myself smiling as I thought about rolling hills with the occasional chimney, windows, and brightly painted doors in the hillsides facing cobblestoned streets. Finally, I admitted, “I like the idea, It’s charming and it would be confusing as hell for any visitors to find their way around if they’re used to towering buildings to find their way by, giving us an air of mystery. Cobblestone streets would look nice with that style and be easy to make or repair with earth and stone magick. You mentioned farms though, and I’d love us to be able to grow crops to be more self-sufficient but do you have any ideas for how we could do that year-round?”

“We did grow some crops in Atlantis year-round with rooms containing artificed devices on the ceiling that produce artificial sunlight and the occasional ‘rain’, so the same could be used on those farms in the winter months since it doesn’t get that cold here. Maybe we could create smaller versions of the crystal matrix to produce large greenhouses. We’ll about it and let you know what we come up with,” Jhena said thoughtfully with a look toward her father.

“Ohh!” Salem interjected with a sudden grin. “On the grassy hills above the homes and such, we could graze useful animals like dairy cows or goats for milk and sheep for wool, if the structures beneath are sound enough. Possibly chickens too for the eggs, but free-range, no coops. Have you noticed how much fresh grass there is here, even though there’s been no sunlight?”

“Yeah,” I agreed, “when I met the Sül’shael and had dinner in their village, Xixie told us that the grass here grows year-round, and fast too. It will use just about any light source it can get, and some wild grains do the same. They only really start to wilt during the longer moonless periods in the night months.”

“How is that possible?” Daenyss asked, looking a little confused.

“The abundant mana here has helped some plants to adapt and there are a few that only bloom or produce fruit in the night months, like those nightberries and some small pink plum-like fruit that the Sül’shael call hoshan, both of those grow in clearings with a type of phosphorescent moss,” I offered in explanation. “You Nymphs and Liyun’shael are going to have an interesting time when you go to tend these forests.”

“Are the grains edible?” Salem asked. “They might be useful as feed if we do end up keeping chickens.”

I nodded my head and smiled. “Yup, Xixie told us that the Sül’shael use them to make a type of bread sometimes when they can get eggs,” I offered in explanation. Then I turned to Jhuras and Jhena. “I’d like the two of you to get started on figuring out what materials you may need for artificing your ‘modern conveniences’ and for building homes and other buildings so I can add them to the list of resources that I need to purchase outside Varüus'kiel. I would rather buy supplies that are already on the market than cut down any trees here and the same goes for metals other than Nythrin.”

“Except for doors, hinges, and a few other things we should be able to form most of the homes here by growing wood into the correct shapes with magick, or Nature’s Call if we need to. It’s what we do in the Glades, by making the homes an extension of the tree they’re built on or, in rare cases, by hollowing out trees. It could be adapted to grow underground structures; we’d just start from seeds instead of using existing trees,” Queen Qwenyth of the Summer Court suggested thoughtfully. “Nymphs, Liyun’shael, and others gifted with a high aptitude for nature magick should be able to do so.”

Narek looked thoughtful for a moment. “They can’t do much to build help build the Glades until the scouts return from finding suitable locations. We can get them started on some homes for people here while we wait, and a secure location for the servers and F.I.Ts until then. At least t will give people something to do.”

“I was thinking that I’d like the F.I.Ts in secure chambers beneath a hospital since we’ll be using a lot of them for medical purposes. That might be another good building to start with, so our Healers and Doctors have a place to work on any sick or injured, I was thinking we could put it alongside one of the canals near the lakeshore so it’s easy for everyone to access,” I said before looking toward Vivian and Lucy standing back and trying not to get in the way. “Speaking of F.I.Ts and the hospital, I would like you all to meet Dr. Vivian Murdock and her daughter, Lucy. I need Vivian in a F.I.T as soon as possible.”

Once I explained that Vivian was living on borrowed time and what exactly she was a doctor of, the discussion became very animated. It seemed that the programmers had just finished the simulation for the Guardian training program and that Harley and the other candidates were being prepped for their tubes at that very moment. Since they only needed the skill downloads and a bit of training, they were expected to emerge from their tubes the next evening.

The simulation for the second server for those among our Human population who wished to try living as another species and learn new skills was expected to be ready in a few hours, hopefully by the time all the sleeping Humans awoke later in the morning. We had arrived in Varüus’kiel very late, or rather very early in the morning. As soon as the simulation was ready Vivian would be the first person in a F.I.T. We would have put her in one immediately but that would only monitor her health, it couldn’t actually start changing anything until it interfaced with the simulation’s character generation program.

We couldn’t be sure how much time she had left and Rei was very concerned. She was putting up a good front but now that I knew what to look for, I too could see that Vivian was in pain, extremely tired, and was mostly putting on a show for Lucy’s sake. She could barely stand and she had had barely any color in her face when we first met, and she had even less now.

Mahair did want to know if Vivian would volunteer her knowledge for the skill archives though, once she was stable. They hadn’t gotten the chance to acquire knowledge from an OB/GYN or a Reproductive Endocrinologist before the game started and she was eager to have those skills in the archive so she could train others who might be interested in learning. She had acquired skills from various types of surgeons and general practice doctors but Vivian’s occupation was of special interest to the Fae, and important to the growth of our dwindling population. It could change everything for us.

Vivian had agreed and even went so far as to say she would do it right then, in case something happened before she could get placed in a F.I.T. My Mahair looked uncertain about that, not wanting to risk weakening her further but Vivian insisted so that, no matter what happened, we would have that knowledge available. So someone was sent to fetch the Aen’kuorüis that held the skill archive for the server being programmed for the new simulation.

We found a comfortable patch of the meadow for Vivian to rest while Amoiraishe had the doctor close her eyes and held the violet-hued crystal to her forehead. She silently uttered the incantation that would dredge up all of the memories and knowledge related to her medical training and channel them into the crystal. She tried to take it as slow as she could but it was still taxing for Vivian in her current condition and by the time that Mahair was finished and had sent someone to place the Aen’kuorüis back in the server, the doctor was as white as a sheet.

As Jhena and her father looked into their assigned tasks and what resources we would need, my Fae parents and the two other Queens of the Courts left us to look into people from their Courts who might be interested in gaining Vivian’s medical knowledge for the benefit of their Glades and the city that we were planning to build. While they were busy with that, I and my small group explained everything to Vivian as she rested; how her knowledge could be shared, what exactly the F.I.Ts were, and what they did and how. I even stressed how they could change her into another species or they could just give her a healthier and younger version of her own body. I wanted her to go into this with full knowledge of what would be happening and what her options would be.

We explained about the game and how the F.I.Ts that we had been convalescing in had changed us and though Lucy was fascinated, Vivian was perplexed. The doctor was a little disbelieving about what we had told her and downright shocked when Venika told her that Lissany was her daughter. She just looked from the tiny Sprite to the powerful Beastkin teenager in the heavy armor and her jaw dropped. “How… can you say she’s your daughter, you’re not even the same species?” she asked after a moment of stunned silence.

The Sprite smiled patiently as she flitted over to land on Vivian’s shoulder and gave her a more serious look. “Vivian, it’s not all about genetics, and I think that you know that. We both like who we are now and what species we are doesn’t matter to either of us or lessen our love for one another. I gave birth to her, I raised her on my own, and all that I want is to watch her grow up and live a good life, happy with who she is. Our bodies might have changed, but who we are to one another never will because that’s in our hearts and minds, not just genetics.”

Rei snuggled up against me as she allowed herself to briefly shift to a male form, just long enough for Vivian to see and her jaw to drop once again. Now that she had her attention she smiled and kissed me lovingly before speaking. “We don’t love people for what they are, Vivian, we love them for who they are. My gender changes based on how I feel inside and I could be any species that I want physically. Taelya wasn’t female or Yseil’dhraí when we went into the game, and she changed again when Danu ‘promoted’ her. None of that has changed the way that we feel about one another though, because real love isn’t about the flesh a person wears but the soul inside of it.”

For several minutes Vivian just laid there quietly as she considered their words and looked at her daughter thoughtfully. Eventually, she smiled wanly and watched as her daughter played with Daenyss and Lissany. Seeing that she was starting to think about it with a more open mind, I began to tell her what her options were so far as the various Races, explaining the benefits and downsides of each. I was really glad that Lucy was occupied when I explained everything about being Fae.

I even told her that if she decided to just go with a younger and healthier version of her own body that it would only take a day at most before she was finished baking, whereas with another Race she was looking at four to five days out in the real world and around a month in a simulation from her perspective. Not that that would be bad since she could use that time to grow more comfortable with her new self and learn new skills. I also told her that she could have Lucy join her in the simulation so she could learn new skills and get used to her mother’s new form in the simulation if she chose to change Races.

She seemed surprised that we were doing our best to keep her well informed on all of her options but she understood once I told her that we hadn’t had the reality of the situation revealed to us until after getting out of Apocalypse Dawn. So she could completely understand why I wanted everyone who goes into a F.I.T from now on to know exactly what they’re getting into. She was also eager to have Lucy with her for however long she stayed in the simulation. She didn’t want to be separated from her daughter and I couldn’t blame her.

Vivian wasn’t quite sure whether she wanted to stay as herself or try something else, though she did want to learn to speak Elvish and about Fae culture since she would be living with us and a good portion of her patients were likely to be Fae. She felt that it wouldn’t hurt Lucy to learn those things either, and possibly to speak Japanese as well since other than English and Elvish it would likely be one of the three main languages spoken in Varüus’kiel. She was leaning toward becoming a Nyiir'dhraí with a similar appearance to her old self, with blonde hair and brown eyes.

I was growing more concerned as we got to that part of the conversation though as she had tried to hide a coughing fit but it had gotten Lucy’s attention enough that she was watching as her mother tried to decide on a new form. That was when Lucy looked from my playing with my Guardian to her mother and said with all seriousness, “Mommy, can I be a Kitty an’ a Knight like Lissy?”

We all had a bit of trouble not laughing but it did get a tired-looking smile out of Vivian as Lissany reached down to ruffle the girl’s hair. “Well, Lucy, I’m sure you’ll make a great Guardian for somebody one day. Maybe even Taelya or her little sister, but you don’t have to be a Beastkin to do it. Beastkin like me usually don’t figure out what animal Calls us until we’re teenagers and you might not even end up being a kitty like me. You could end up being any animal, and you wouldn’t know which one until it happened.”

Vivian gave another tired-looking smile as she watched Lissany try to gently steer Lucy away from her focus on Beastkin. She did raise an eyebrow though as she inquired, “What do you mean by usually, Lissany?”

“Umm… well, I talked to a few of the Beastkin who were pulled out of the Veil to provide DNA samples and help with the AD project. They said that it usually happens around when puberty hits, they think the Call might be triggered by the changes in hormone balance and stuff. Some have been Called earlier though, I guess, when they’re under a lot of stress or sometimes with major illnesses or medical conditions,” Lissany admitted uncertainly.

“It could be triggered by severe or sudden changes in the endocrine system,” the doctor said pensively. Then she turned to her daughter and asked, “Lucy, do you really want to be a Beastkin? I need you to think about this carefully, Sweetheart. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather stay as you are or be one of the Fae, or a Kitsune or something? I’m not trying to make you be something you don’t want to, you should decide for yourself, just like me. I just want you to be happy with who you are.”

To her credit, Lucy took a long and careful look around her, and while her eyes did linger a moment on Venika and then Rei, she shook her head. “No, Mommy, I wanna be like Lissy.”

As luck would have it, that was when another coughing fit hit Vivian and she bent over, coughing into her hands as she turned away and tried to keep her daughter from seeing. When she was finished she all but collapsed, laying on her side and breathing in heavy rasps that didn’t sound good at all. That was when Nishalle slipped between me and Rei and whispered, “She’s coughing up blood, I can see it and smell it, and Lissany probably can too.”

I could smell it faintly and frowned in concern as I knelt beside Vivian. From the silvery glow of my hair, I could see the blood all over her hands as I gently wiped her hair out of her face. “Vivian, hang in there a few more hours. Lucy needs you to stick with us just a little while longer.”

“I…” she began tiredly, barely able to rasp out the words, “If I don’t make it, please take care of Lucy.”

“Oh, hell no.” I turned to the sound of Salem’s voice. There was a faint green glow around her, and as she allowed her clothing illusion to drop for a moment I could see a tiny little sprout growing from just beneath her navel. She snatched up the small seed that it bore and joined me at Vivian’s side, pressing the seed to her lips. “Dr. Murdock, I need you to swallow this. You’ll fall asleep for a bit but when you wake up in a few hours hopefully you’ll be feeling better. Everyone else, I need you to back away and give me a bit of space here.”

Lucy was frantic now, trying to reach us as Lissany held her securely but gently in her arms. “Mommy!”

“Shhh, it’s okay, little one,” Venika tried to assure the child. “Salem is trying to help your mother; she’s giving her a gift. She was given the same gift once when she was dying and she’s still here.”

“Wha…” Vivian asked, barely able to focus on Salem and me as I backed up several feet and made sure the others did the same.

“We can’t wait for the F.I.Ts to be ready, Dr. Murdock. I think that I can save you but you need to trust me and swallow this right now,” Salem explained as calmly as she could, a determined expression on her face. “You won’t be Human anymore but you’ll be alive for your daughter, I’ll make sure of it.”

Vivian’s tired eyes drifted lazily toward her daughter’s anguished cries from where Lissany tried to comfort her and calm her down. She didn’t hesitate but allowed Salem to push the seed between her lips and swallowed. It was an effort and a slightly pained expression briefly broke through her weariness as she managed to get it down her throat and rolled tiredly to her back to look at Lucy. “Don’t worry, Baby. Salem is helping me; Mommy just needs to sleep for a bit.”

Then Vivian’s eyes fluttered closed and her labored raspy breathing eased a bit as Salem called upon her magick and Vivian slowly sank into the earth, leaving a patch of moss in her wake. Once Salem seemed satisfied she sat cross-legged in front of the mossy patch and turned to me and the others. “She’s alive and the induction process is starting. From what my mother told me it will take a few hours but now that my seed is inside her I can keep her stable until the process is complete.”

“What can we do to help?” I asked in a mix of relief and concern.

Salem shook her head as she replied, “Not much, I’ll need to stay here with my new... umm… daughter to monitor the process and keep her stable. Maybe Lucy can keep me company and get some rest while I do that, it was like, after four a.m. when we left that beach so we’re probably all getting tired. You should all try to get a few hours of sleep too. It’s going to be a long night and you might as well get something out of it.”

When I checked my cell phone upon waking, the time said 8:37 so I guessed that I got about three to three and a half hours of sleep. It seemed to be enough and I could see Nishalle beginning to stir as well. The only other person awake nearby was Salem, still seated in the lotus position with Lucy sleeping on a bed of cozy-looking moss beside her. The Liyun’shael thought that it would be another hour or so before Vivian could be unearthed but promised to wind whisper me when the time was at hand if I needed to get anything else done while we were still in Varüus’kiel.

Sadly, there were things that I needed to do so I took off to do them with Nishalle shadowing me. I didn’t want to wake the others, especially since Lissany and Rei needed more sleep than us Fae, at least a few hours more than they had gotten so far. I decided to wait until the other Fae of the group were up and Vivian was revived to eat breakfast though since Vivian was likely to be very hungry from her induction and most of us could eat with her that way.

It was as I walked through the maze of people, many of whom were still asleep that Danu’s voice slipped into my thoughts. ~Good morning, my daughter.~

It was a bit strange since usually it was only when my thoughts strayed to her that she spoke with me, or when she wanted to advise me, so I was a tiny bit concerned as I replied, ~Good morning, Great Mother.~

I had tried not to let my concerns about her contacting me out of the blue reach my conscious thoughts but I guess that didn’t work so well as she teased, ~Can I not just say good morning to my child without there being something important going on?~

~I… well…~ I mentally stammered as I tried to gather my thoughts.

~You are the only one that I can talk to directly like this and I find that it is nice to have a child that I can do so with again,~ she said, warmth filling my mind before she moved on to what apparently was the reason for her contacting me. ~In this case though, you were correct. There is nothing to worry about but I would like you to pass on a message to your Mahair when you see her later. Tell her to use a locator spell to find all those of her lineage.~

~There is another. Amoiraishe’s son sired another child that he was not aware of before marrying your human mother. The child has awakened and your Mahair must find her new heir to the throne of the Autumn Court before the humans do. I shall do what I can but I cannot show myself directly to anyone in the mortal world, even one of my own children. I can only help her directly when she is asleep, alone, and in the presence of one or more of my aspects.~ A pregnant pause settled in my mind before she added, ~I will leave you now to your tasks, rest assured that the one known as Vivian will emerge from her induction healthy and whole.~

I stopped walking as two conflicting thoughts warred for dominance in my mind. I was relieved at her assurance that Vivian would be okay but I was also completely freaking out about her assertion that Nishalle and I had an older half-sister. The latter won the battle, hands-down as I muttered, “Holy shit.”

Nishalle stopped at my side taking a moment to look around for whatever made me curse but seeing nothing, she turned to ask, “What’s up, Sis?”

“We have an older sister,” I told her wide-eyed, barely able to get the words out.

The Tokh’dhraí’s jaw dropped and she stared at me for a long moment before she managed to utter in a near-whisper, “What?”

“Danu just told me that our Dad had a kid that he didn’t know about before he married our mom, and she’s awakening so she wants Mahair to find her and bring her here. And from what Danu said, I think she may be a Yseil’dhraí,” I explained, still trying to wrap my head around it all.

“Holy shit,” my sister half-gasped.

It was several minutes before we both snapped out of our dazed state enough to get some directions and make our way toward where Hadrick and Yola had set up shop with some of the Sül’shael. To my relief, it seemed that they were already awake and working when I got there. Hadrick was the first to notice my purposeful stride in their direction, not that I was easy to miss with the light that I was giving off. “Yer Majesty, what can I do fer ya today.” He called out in greeting.

Then I found myself mobbed by a group of excited Sül’shael, with Xixie at their lead as delighted cries of “Inu’Mahair!” filled the air. They examined me in confusion for a moment, Xixie practically bouncing around me in her excitement before she too looked at me with a confused pout. “Risha said that you had wings Inu’Mahair. We wanted to teach you to fly,” she said sounding very disappointed.

“Good morning, everyone,” I said trying to calm the Star Maidens a bit. Then, figuring that I wasn’t going to get that disappointed look off their faces until I did, I concentrated on manifesting my wings. “Yes, see I do have wings but I had to learn to fly already. That’s why I’m here. I got in a fight with a Goddess and I find myself in need of some new equipment. My wings blew the back out of my tunic and both my swords were broken. I was wondering if they could be fixed or if we’ll have to replace them.”

Hadrick and Yola both looked on wearing distinct smirks while Xixie and the other Sül’shael excitedly confirmed the presence of my wings by caressing the soft feathers. That felt weird and I briefly wondered why the sensation was causing a wet warmth to build up between my legs before Xixie beamed at me. “These aren’t like our wings at all, they’re soft and white and there are no flames. They’re so pretty, like a bird’s wings.”

And of course, the word ‘pretty’ set them all off. They were all suddenly eagerly babbling about all the pretties that they had made me. They wanted to show me right then and there but Hadrick and Yola interrupted by asking what the damage was. The swords had been connected to me by my mark along with the Lindwyrm-hide armor and other gear so I used that connection to summon both the hilts and the blades from wherever they had been lost to in the fight with Tiamat. While Hadrick had a look at those, Yola looked at the tattered back of my hooded tunic.

Sadly, both the tunic and the swords were a lost cause, they couldn’t be repaired and still have the structural integrity of the originals. “One good pull and the whole back will rip,” Yola said sadly of the tunic. I could make you a new set if I had more Lindwyrm or dragonhide to cure.”

“How about those nasty little dragon-things we were taking down before Tiamat showed up?” Nishalle suggested thoughtfully. “They were tough fuckers. Daenyss had to use the Dragon’s high explosive rounds on weak spots like the base of the skull or joints to damage them, she said that the crystal shells barely tickled them. I couldn’t pierce their hide with a sniper rifle, that’s for sure, it’s why I went for the eyes.”

“We probably wouldn’t have been able to cut them either if I hadn’t put such a strong enchantment on Pete’s claymore and my swords,” I admitted.

Yola nodded. “I’ll need something that can cut the hide but If you can get it here then I can prepare it so Shaoli and I can get to work on something once it’s cured. I’ll get Shaoli to measure you so we have your current measurements when the time comes and so we know where to put slits for your wings, so this doesn’t happen again.

“I’d like to make ya more durable padded grieves, bracers, and a breastplate from Nythrin as well, Yer Majesty,” Hadrick added. Then he quickly assured me, “Nothing too bulky that will restrict yer movement, just some extra protection. We’ll make yer new swords from Nythrin as well. We’d like to get Lissany and the other Guardians equipped with Nythrin gear as well eventually.”

I couldn’t blame them for wanting to make armor and weapons from Nythrin, the stuff was lighter and stronger than steel and damn near indestructible. We were going to need that dragonhide though so I cast a very small portal to the beach and parking lot where we had fought them the night before. It was just big enough for me to see through. It was light out there, it looked like the police still had the area cordoned off, and they had what I assumed to be forensics people going over the whole area.

I was grinning mischievously as I cast tiny portal after tiny portal so that I could mentally tag each and every dragon corpse, even the one that a group of people was currently examining. My grin only got bigger as I watched the examiners and teleported all of the scaly corpses to a space near the Dwarves’ work area that was currently unoccupied. The looks on their faces were priceless. Then with a bow to the Dwarves and Sül’shael, I inquired, “Will that be enough?”

I made sure to enchant a knife for Yola to cut the hide with before Nishalle and I said our goodbyes to head back to Salem and the others and the female Dwarf got to work. With my new armor planned and Hadrick planning to make my new swords similar to my old ones, I wanted to get back to check on Salem and the others, eat something, and talk to my Mahair and a few other people before we had to go back to Vancouver since we still had a lot of supplies to get. Nishalle and I were about to do that when Xixie bounded toward me carrying a Nythrin box about two feet long by one foot wide and deep.

“Inu’Mahair!” she squealed excitedly as she fell in step with me and my sister. “We made you so many pretties! Would you like me to keep them safe here for you, or will you be taking them with you, so you look your best?”

I peeked into the box and holy crap, it was damn near filled to the brim with Nythrin jewelry. It looked like there was enough there to cover every part of my body at least once. I had no idea what all was there, let alone what I was going to do with all of it. And there, atop it all, was a Nythrin crown inset with large amethysts and intricate patterns resembling Celtic knotwork that looked engraved but had to have been purposely made in the metal before it had cooled and become impossible to even scratch. It seemed like most of the pieces had similar ‘engraved’ designs in them, even the simple ones without gemstones. So, it wasn’t just the volume that had me in awe, but also the artistry that had been imbued into seemingly every item.

It took me a moment to speak and I just couldn’t say no, they had worked so hard on them and Xixie was so eager for my reaction that she was practically vibrating. Finally, I managed to smile at the Priestess. “Thank you, Xixie, they look beautiful. I appreciate you girls going to so much effort for me, you have all done your Inu’Mahair proud. Why don’t we see what my Attendant thinks I’ll need and then you can keep the rest safe for me, I wouldn’t want to lose any of it.”

From the look on Xixie’s face, she probably would have glomped me then and there if she hadn’t had her hands full. She continued to beam happily as we made out way to where Nishalle and I had left the others. We were nearly there when Salem’s voice whispered, “Vivian is almost ready to be unearthed.”

We double-timed it and found that Venika and Daenyss were awake now though they were trying to let Lissany and Rei get a bit more sleep. Salem was gently waking Lucy though. The girl might need more sleep afterward but she needed to be awake when her mother was unearthed just for her peace of mind. Salem had had to cast a sleep spell on the poor worried little girl just so she could get some rest before her mother was ready to awake.

We waited a few minutes before Salem was sure that it was safe to return Vivian to the land of the living. During that time Xixie eagerly showed Daenyss my new massive jewelry box and Daenyss chose some things that I might need. There were replacements for my multiple earrings, the large ring that gathered my braids above my head, and the ornaments that adorned the end of each braid as well that would go better with my new coloring and new ‘spell focus’.

Daenyss was eager to make use of all of them and some other assorted jewelry as soon as we could get me some pampering time in. Luckily, I had some spare pouches on my belt because my attendant had no place on her illusion-clad body to put the growing collection, small as it was in comparison to what was in the box. Thankfully she was distracted from adding to it any further as Salem said, “It’s time.”