“Edgy, emotional, righteous…” Janai said with a roll of her eyes.
The Baronian frowned at the second princess. “Just tell her you’re out of sorts. She’ll understand.”
Ryelle nodded, bid them well, and swept off toward the royal chambers.
“Well,” he said looking to his wife-to-be. “At least we got to go into town and see the sun.” He sighed. “And the thing with Bertrand was—uhhh—interesting.”
“If it wouldn’t have made Mother so unhappy, she would have done everyone a favor by cutting off his traitorous lying head,” Sarai growled.
“If you so much as touch him,” Janai said looking off down the corridor after their older sister. “It will be the biggest mistake of your life. Sen is right, let Mother deal with it in her own way in her own time.”
Lunch was served late as most of the members of the assault team didn’t stir until well after noon. The King and Queen held court at the table but not a word was breathed about Bertrand. Ryelle seemed to have calmed down and ate with uncharacteristic zeal.
Several members of the assault team had been invited to the royal table for lunch. Loric and Desiray joined Cassandra, along with Aarlen, Dominique and Damay. Corim, Senalloy, Luthice, and Dulcere joined in along with Ziedra and her husband. Tal and his wife Terra dressed in court garb took seats as well. Though there were seats for them, both Wren and Marna were suspiciously absent.
The table bubbled as the different members retold their experiences on Homeworld, and themselves learned about events in the citadel in their absence.
When lunch was almost over, Wren and Marna entered the hall and joined them at the table.
The Kriar Vatraena bowed to the King and Queen before seating herself next to Dominique. Wren settled into her place next to her brother.
“So, what business did you and the youngest Kergatha have that kept you from lunch?” the King asked Marna.
“Wren was persuading me to return to the Gaea’s domain. We had a small contention over who should go, but we resolved it.”
Euriel frowned, gaze tracking from her daughter to the Kriar matriarch. “And who is going?”
Marna twined a finger in her long hair. “Anyone who wants to go.” She turned to her daughter. “Between Dulcere and I, we can comfortably take forty, so that is the one limitation.” She focused on Wren. “We don’t want to take more than that, do we?”
Wren shook her head. “The only ones who for certain should go are the savants. Savant spouses should go too. I think at least one member of the Shael Dal should come along. We’re going to consult with the oldest lady in the universe. Some may want to, some may not. Last time,” she looked to Marna. “She stepped on a few toes.”
“I’ll go,” Loric said. “Cassandra told me about her experience. I think it’s a fascinating opportunity.”
“If you’re going, I’m going too,” Desiray said.
“I will stay with Marna,” Dominique said.
“Terra and I will go,” Tal said. “This promises to be innerestin. Eternity’s old lady. Bet she’s got some stories to tell.”
“Not all of them nice,” Cassandra said with a frown.
“I for one, will not be going,” Aarlen said. “I can do without being lectured.”
Damay looked at Aarlen with a raised eyebrow. “How disappointing. I would have enjoyed that little encounter.”
“I bet you would,” Aarlen responded.
“When do you plan to take this trip?” the King asked. “I believe—” He turned to Kalindinai who nodded. “I believe we are interested to see this.”
Wren leaned toward Marna. “Three bells?”
The Kriar nodded. “Acceptable.”
“I will ask around to see who else is interested to go.”
The Vatraena stared at Wren. “I am still unclear in what you hope to accomplish by taking so many to see her.”
The blonde ascendant rubbed her hands together. “Think of it as a having a party for her.”
Marna frowned but didn’t say anything in response.
At a little before three bells, the ‘visitation team’ gathered in the council chambers. Wren didn’t get forty takers, but she did get close. Bannor counted thirty-seven including himself. Everyone from the assault team except for Algernon decided to go. The entire T’Evagduran family were there as well. Cassandra, though she apparently had bad memories from the first time, decided to go. Dorian said it was too good an opportunity to pass up, her husband Brin was going to keep her out of trouble. Gabriella was taking part, according to her, to be able to recount the experience for something she referred to as story night. To his surprise, Quasar opted to take the trip, most likely to be with Eclipse. The two elder Kriar had been quiet and to themselves which reinforced Bannor’s belief that perhaps the two had mended their broken relations.
Megan and Elsbeth, the two elders from the Shael Dal, accepted the invitation. Corim insisted that he must go for academic reasons if nothing else. Sindra and Drucilla announced that they would be going as their mother’s proxy, and Cassin and Annawen insisted they accompany both their mates and their parents. Senalloy and Luthice were the last two to join in, ‘just for the experience’ as the two of them put it.
Marna seemed a little taken aback that so many had decided to be a part of the mission, but she and her daughter agreed who would take whom.
Two circles formed, one around each Kriar lady. A moment of nervous trepidation hummed through all the bodies around them.
Bannor calmed himself and put an arm around Sarai. He had no idea what this trip would be like, but something in him felt good, like they were going home.
There were moments of conferring and adjustment as the two groups situated themselves. With a final nod and a chorus of assent, bodies taught, and throats working, the visitors flickered and leaped into the vaults nulltime…
* * *
Chapter Twenty-Five
Blessings of the All-Mother
« ^ »
I made two mistakes, one was confronting Gaea, the second was threatening her favorite, Wren Kergatha. The latter, I doubt I shall ever have the occasion to repeat. The former, all I need is a good enough reason, next time I shall be prepared…
—Vatraena Marna Solaris,
Supreme Counsel Dasta Fabrista
The threads of the universe spun and whirled, focusing down into a single pinpoint. Bannor had not traveled with the Kriar many times, but this place, this destination was not like other places they had gone. They seemed to spiral down into the very depths of Eternity’s inner workings, somewhere in-between the folds of the universe’s self; a place where the threads of the cosmos grew as tenuous as gossamer.
The energies of the Kriar transport ability released them with sharp tingle that Bannor felt like hot poke behind his eyes. He staggered and caught himself, finding the material underfoot to be spongy and insecure.
The people around him swayed, gazes panning around the vast landscape. They stood in the middle of an empty plane, the substance underfoot resembling thick ebony hair. Strange scents that reminded Bannor of spice filled the air. The sky overhead seemed to be a solid thing, a rich bluish glow emanating from it. The atmosphere hummed, soft tones rising and falling in some unknown but soothing melody.
He rubbed at the spot in the back of his head where he usually felt his nola. It itched and tingled. His whole body felt strangely light, even lighter than it had been since becoming an ascendant.
As he looked around, he noticed one very bizarre thing.
No threads.
The people around him had threads, but nothing else did. The energies he felt, the life force he sensed, the whole aliveness of the place was contradicted by the total absence of the causal lines of Eternity.
“Here we are,” Wren said.
Marna and her daughter looked around with unease. The ancient Vatraena’s brow furrowed. “That was not like the last trip. I just transported on the fix I left here.”
&nb
sp; “You sound concerned,” Megan said. She fluttered her rainbow wings and did a slow turn. “I feel no menace here. No danger or evil.”
The Kriar woman looked up to the dome of the sky. “I cannot fix our position.”
“Warping is being blocked,” Quasar said, rubbing her jeweled face. She shifted closer to Eclipse, who put an arm around her. That gesture was the first confirmation Bannor had seen that something had happened between the two ancient mates. “The collapsed space around us is preventing getting an origin trace.”
“You should never have ticked her off,” Cassandra murmured. “It’s an ant trap.” She rubbed her face against Loric’s arm.
“I’m not worried yet…” Desiray bent down and ran her hands through the dark substance they were standing on. “It’s so soft.”
“It’s hair,” Corim said, doing his own examination. “Or something very like it anyway.”
“So, Wren,” Gabriella said putting hands on hips. “Where is this Gaea? I see nothing here.”
“She’s all around us,” Kalindinai said, stepping back from the group. “I can feel it. It’s like being in the woodgod. So strong.”
Bannor looked to the other circle where Daena stood with Janai. The auburn-haired girl stared around with obvious uncertainty. She didn’t appear afraid.
As strange as this place was, he didn’t feel uneasy either… he felt—safe.
“It’s pretty much like I remember it,” Ziedra said floating up into the air. “The feelings are stronger though. That may just be this body though.”
Idun knelt down on the ground, hands on her knees and head down. “We are in the womb of the all-mother,” the pantheon lady said in a reverent voice. “She that made us. We can only ask for forgiveness for the spites of our mothers and fathers.”
“When everyone is ready, I’ll call her,” Wren said.
“Do you hear something, Bannor?” Sarai asked, hand tight on his arm.
“I hear that low humming,” he answered. “It’s like music.”
She glanced at her sisters and to her mother and father. “No, it is not that. I must be getting it through the shaladen. I think they’re thoughts… but not from anyone here.”
Her words filtered through the group as others intrigued by what she said, stopped and focused. Perhaps, it was just habit but everyone went quiet as if they were listening instead of tuning their minds for thoughts.
“Yes, I sense it too,” Elsbeth said, brushing at her red hair. “Intriguing.”
Terra studied the sky and ran a hand through her husband’s hair. “It’s like images—” She leaned her head to one side. “Dreams?”
Dulcere knelt and pressed her hand to the dark surface. She looked to Corim.
“Are what?” Corim prompted.
The Kriar woman shook her head.
Tal looked around with folded arms. “So, like old lady Gaea is sleepin’? Don’t seem so far out to me.” He leaned toward Wren. “She ain’t gonna be hacked if you wake her up, is she?”
“I don’t think so,” the blonde ascendant said. “Just in case, everyone back up a ways. I’m going to summon her, unless someone objects.”
Everyone shook their heads but gave a Wren a respectable distance, forming a large circle some thirty paces across. Gazes intent, everyone watched the Kel’varan kneel down on the hair-like substance and place her hands flat upon it. She closed her eyes.
After a moment, she looked up and her brow furrowed. “Huh. Maybe she is asleep.” She crossed her legs and placed her hands on the surface. She tilted her head back and focused.
The sky above them flickered, and energy crackled through the air.
Where there had been a complete void of threads, Bannor flinched back and shielded his eyes as the ground around Wren became a fountain of living energy as millions upon millions of primal threads whirled up around her.
Everyone staggered back with gasps as the black substance swelled up and engulfed the savant with a gurgling sound. The material pulsed and hummed, rolling over itself, becoming a shifting dark mound that continued to grow in size.
“Li!” her mother cried.
“Wren!” Ziedra yelled.
“Ah, spit,” Tal growled, pulling out his shaladen.
“No!” Marna shouted, throwing out her arms in a warding gesture. “Nobody do anything!”
The mound bulged out into a sphere, the surface beginning to sparkle and glow. Divisions appeared in the shape, and the leaves of the sphere peeled back like the petals of a massive flower. Revealed inside was what looked like the upper torso of a giant green female, her skin glistening as though wet. The giantess had her arms around Wren, clutching her tight to the creature’s massive bosom.
Bannor had no preconceptions on what the mother of all savants would be like but she fit none of his possible imaginings. Everything about the all-mother appeared exaggerated. From the roundness of her doughy body, to the ebony hair that flowed down her shoulders and back like a cloak, to the huge jewel-like gleaming eyes that gazed out at them. Though he didn’t know why, but he found her broad face to be the most exquisitely beautiful visage he had ever witnessed.
Gaea’s brow furrowed as her head turned to take them all in. She then looked down to the savant clutched in her arms.
The blonde ascendant stirred, still squished into the fleshy hollow of the all-mother’s mammoth body. “Mother,” she let out a sigh, and pushed back. “You surprised me.”
Gaea stared at Wren, dark eyes widening. She took Wren’s shoulders in her big hands.
Marna bowed to Gaea. “Domma prime, Gaea, I have come again to speak with you.”
The giant goddess raised her chin.
“Mother, in return for you and she being able to negotiate, I persuaded Marna to bring my friends, family, and colleagues.”
Gaea straightened. She looked around, her gaze stopping on Gabriella.
Gabriella put a hand to her chest. “High Mother, what happened was done to protect Wren.”
The green mother’s lip curled.
“Great Mother,” Megan said with a bow and a flourish of her rainbow wings. “I come with greetings from eternal Koass.”
The air maiden’s eyes widened and she took a few steps forward and kneeled before the all-mother.
Gaea rolled her dark eyes.
Megan swallowed, rose and stepped closer.
The goddess reached out and pulled the winged woman to her. She very carefully kissed the golden-haired warrior on the forehead. She let the tall woman go.
Megan blinked and only managed to stagger a few steps before Tal was forced to catch her. The avatar of Koass wore a dazed expression, apparently pleased and stunned at once.
“Megs?” Tal snapped his fingers in front of her face. “Heya in there, you okay?”
Megan nodded. “Fine. That felt—so—good.” She plopped down on the ground and sat there with a delirious smile, looking up
at the blue dome overhead.
“She can have that affect,” Desiray said with chuckle.
“So you didn’t foresee this, Mother?” Wren asked.
“Well, you may want to wait on that. I think it would ruin your mood.”
Gaea stared at Wren with those huge knowing eyes. She ran her hand through the blonde woman’s hair. The savant relaxed against the all-mother’s touch, eyes fluttering.
“Uh,” Tal said. “Not that I want to disrespect nobody’s mood or nothing, but can the whole lot of us just hang out? We left the whole citadel like undefended—heck, we left frellin everything undefended.”
The goddess turned slowly and looked at Tal.
Tal blinked. “Well, I—”
“Rinny?” Terra repeated, grinning with her hands on her hips.
Echoes of ‘Rinny’ went through the group as the other warriors familiar with super-tough Tal stared at the burly warrior with smirks on their faces.
“Hey!” he growled, glaring at everyone. “My mother called me that—deal with it.” He focused back on Gaea with wary dark eyes. “Errr, meanin no offense, High Mother.”
The broad-shouldered warrior glanced at his wife. Took a breath, and walked up to where Megan had stood. He swallowed. “You ain’t gonna do any of that mushy stuff are you?”
Gaea grinned.
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