“Swallow Mother,” Wren said. “Swallow.” She rubbed her throat to indicate what she meant.
Gaea made a humming sound and gulped down the mouthful.
“Ah, better. Mmmm.” She consumed the last of the berry, and immediately began fishing around in the bowl for another like it. “That was—good!” She found what she was looking for and bit down on it and chewed happily.
The childlike glee on the goddess face made a little pang in his chest. It didn’t hurt that the goddess, despite being green, was an extremely attractive female, one that seemed helpless and in need of protection.
Gaea finished her second berry and dabbed at her mouth. “I think I am going to like eating.”
“I hope that body doesn’t gain weight easily,” Janai giggled.
The green-mother focused on Wren. “Daughter,” she said, face turning serious. “I apologize for making you worry, please forgive my willfulness.” She put her arms around Wren’s neck and pulled her close.
With a sigh, the blonde savant leaned down into the hug and wrapped her arms around Gaea. The goddess made a cooing sound, taking a breath and rubbing her cheek against Wren’s. The embrace lasted for long moments.
The ancient creature pulled back with a look of surprise and dismay on her face. “All these eons I have been missing out! Hugs are much better this way!”
Wren blinked myopically as if she couldn’t see straight. She caught herself on the edge of the table. Shaking her head, she gulped and drew a shaky breath.
The green mother’s brow furrowed, and she looked concerned. “Daughter? Did I somehow injure you?”
“Huh? What?” Her voice cracked. She shook her head again like she had a pebble stuck inside her ear. “No. I’m not hurt. That was intense. I thought your other hugs were pretty strong.”
Gaea leaned closer. “You did not like it?”
“Oh, it felt a little too good is all.”
The all-mother looked perplexed. “How can something feel too good?”
Wren clucked her tongue and winced. “Well, let’s just say that beyond a certain level of enjoyment—it’s something we would prefer to experience it in private.”
“Why?”
Bannor felt the sting of that question. How did you explain the need for privacy to a creature that spent eternity alone? He could see in Wren’s expression that she understood the problem.
“There’s a limit to how intimate two people can be with others around. It’s a social custom.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense. For instance, here in Malan, kissing in public is tolerated but somewhat frowned upon. Other places, it’s all right, some places it’s not even permissible for a man and woman to touch in the sight of others.”
“That’s silly,” Gaea said, frowning.
“Humans are silly creatures,” Janai said.
“So…” Gaea said, drawing the word out. “Hugging is intimate?”
Wren opened her mouth, started to say something and stopped herself.
“Hugging isn’t normally considered intimate,” Daena offered. “The way you do it—the way you make it feel—that’s the intimate part.”
“I didn’t think sensations had anything to do with being intimate,” Gaea said. “I mean I’m not deliberately causing sensations.”
“Mother, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Bannor said, stepping into the conversation. “Wren is simply uncomfortable feeling like that in front of others. Sensations that strong can cause a loss of control and that can be—embarrassing.”
Gaea looked lost again.
“She’s not going to get it until she actually experiences it,” Janai said.
“Can one of you show me?” Gaea asked with an innocent expression.
“Uhhh,” Wren said.
“Well,” Bannor hedged.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea,” Vanidaar said.
“I’ll show you,” Janai said with a grin.
“You will?!” Gaea said with a bright expression.
“You will?” Daena repeated with a frown.
Janai pulled a chair from a neighboring table and slid it over to Gaea. She turned it sideways.
“Jan,” Sarai said with a warning tone.
“Sar,” Janai soothed. “This is nothing to get upset over, just watch.”
Wren was eyeing the second princess, but didn’t say anything.
Gaea was excited again. “What do you want me to do?”
“Just sit here sideways on this chair, with your left arm over the back. I have to touch you, if that’s okay.”
The goddess nodded. She maneuvered onto the chair as directed and wiggled to get comfortable. “What now?”
“Just relax for a moment. I’m going to touch your shoulders.”
Gaea smiled. “This is exciting.”
She looked to Wren whose brow was furrowed.
Idun walked up and put her arm around her grandson and leaned against him. Azir put his arm around the pantheon lady as they watched the demonstration. What was Janai going to do and how would the green mother react?
Janai drew a breath, she gathered Gaea’s long hair together and moved it around to the front. She placed her thumbs and fingers carefully on the all-mother’s shoulders, feeling around until she found something. Gently rubbing her thumbs back and forth she pressed in.
Gaea made a little noise, her chin rising as responded to whatever she’d felt.
“That’s what you were doing to me,” Sarai murmured next to him.
“Well, I can’t do it as well as she can,” he offered.
Janai moved her hands in a careful rhythmic cadence pushing at different spots on Gaea’s shoulders, shoulder blades, and moving down her spine toward her buttocks.
“Mmmm,” Gaea hummed. “That feels—nice.”
“Now,” Janai said. She moved the heel of her hand to the small of Gaea’s back. “This might be a little surprising.”
“O-okay,” Gaea said.
Janai did something with her fingers. Through his nola sight he saw magical threads race out from the elf princess’ hand reaching throughout the Gaea’s body. She pulled on the all-mother’s shoulder and shoved against the small of her back, focusing a burst of energy into the green flesh under her palm.
Gaea’s eyes which were hooded and relaxed from the gentle massage went wide, she sucked a breath and her whole form shook. “Wooohagh!” she let out. Her hand that was gripping the top of the chair clamped down and crushed the wood, snapping the upright section in half. “O-o-oh oh my!” she gasped, hugging herself. She took heavy breaths.
Wren rushed over and took Gaea’s shoulder. “Are you all right, Mother?”
“O-okay,” Gaea held up a placating hand and took a heavy breath. She swallowed. “O-okay. Now I understand about be—being—embarrassed. Oooh.”
Daena looked sidelong at Janai. “You’ve never done that to me.”
“Of course I haven’t,” the elf lady responded. “You’d never let me near you again if I did that.”
“Oh.” The girl’s face colored.
Bannor stepped over and leaned down to look into the green mother’s jewel like eyes. “I hope you’re not upset with Janai.”
“N-no,” Gaea shook her head. She reached back and touched Janai’s hand. She drew a breath, held it, and let it out slow. “Mmmm. That was—interesting.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Better than eating.”
He grinned. “I’m not surprised.” He looked to Janai. “With all due respect to the princess’ magical hands, those two pieces of fruit are not enough to keep you going. I’m certain you’re still hungry.”
Gaea glanced back to Janai. He could tell in the goddess’ eyes that there would be further inquiry concerning what she had done. Which he had no doubt had been a calculated gesture on the princess’ part. Wasn’t Daena enough of a playmate for her?
Gaea straightened up and rubbed her stomach. “It still does ache a little.”
“She probably s
hould get something to drink,” Sarai said. She glanced at Janai. “Something not fermented.”
“Fermented?” Gaea asked.
Bannor patted the green mother on the shoulder. “Let’s not go there.”
“Please,” Wren said.
“I wish we had something better than just plain staples,” Janai said. “Her first meal should be something really good; bread and cheese are so bland.”
“We have all the things to make something good,” Sarai said. “Just nobody who has the time and the ability to cook.”
“I could make something decent,” Euriel said. “I would be lost in a fancy elven kitchen though.”
“Mother, I have seen you cook precisely twice,” Wren said. “They were disasters.”
“Experiments—” the Aesir woman emphasized. “Experiments—not disasters.”
“She did roasted dragon once,” Azir said with a smile. “It wasn’t so bad.”
Vanidaar clucked his tongue. “Enough sauce will disguise anything.”
“Hey,” Euriel said punching him in the shoulder.
He leaned forward. “Note, I will only remark on her cooking when she can’t break my arm.”
The Aesir woman frowned at him. “We can put that to a test.”
“She is a warrior, and the daughter of a pantheon lady,” Idun said with a sniff. “She doesn’t need to know how to cook. She has menials for that.”
“I appreciate the sentiment,” Gaea said. “It gives me something to look forward to.” She picked up another honey berry and bit into it, sighing in contentment as she chewed.
Wren took a knife and sliced some bread and cheese and put them on a plate. She sectioned some sweet melon and other fruits and placed them on a plate and handed it to Gaea.
“All this for me?” Gaea said.
“Mother, when you get a good appetite going you’ll eat a lot more than this, trust me. I ate more than that when I was a skinny little mortal.”
They all made some plates and retreated to another table higher up the terrace so as to stay out of the way of other citadel guardians coming in to eat and rest.
Gaea was soaking up all the attention, which they had anticipated. After being alone most of her eons long existence, the opportunity to interact in the real world and partake of sensations was like a drug to the goddess.
As promised, Ziedra and her husband did come back to join in things. The ascendant of magic had dressed in white, which contrasted her dusky skin. She’d braided her dark hair, and had taken time to put on makeup. Layered on top of the perfection that was the body of an ascendant she was breathtaking sight.
As Bannor watched her interaction with her husband, he noticed that the time out had been to catch a breath and confirm their relationship after the changes. That he understood. He and Sarai had done much the same during her changes. There was no doubt that Radian was enjoying the bigger, exaggerated, and more powerful version of his wife and he was making sure she knew it. Like any woman would, she obviously enjoyed being doted on, served, and touched. Of course, even before the change, he had noted that they had an expressive relationship.
He saw Wren forcing herself to relax, trying to enjoy spending time with Gaea. The longer he spent around the green mother the more interesting the dichotomy of her nature took him. Things like magic, the nature of the universe, and general philosophy, Gaea understood with an insight and intuition one expected of a truly ancient creature. Personal and social things, she had little identification with or knowledge. It wasn’t that she didn’t actually know them, she actually seemed to, but being a cosmic creature that lived out of time, there was simply no context. A context she was rapidly building as she explored what it meant to have a physical body.
Time went on and it appeared that Wren had held in her desires to pursue business as long as she was able. “Mother, I don’t want to ruin your dinner, but I think perhaps we should spend at least a few moments considering why you are here.”
Gaea sighed. “I suppose we shall have to address that unpleasantness. I was really hoping to enjoy myself a bit more…” Her voice trailed off.
“Mother, it’s not like that,” Wren said. She took a sip of water from her goblet. “I don’t want to take anything away from you. I just don’t want to be sitting idle while you are acclimating yourself. You don’t need to be able to participate in order to provide some direction and ideas—assuming that you can do that.”
The all-mother nodded and rubbed at her green face.
“Now, the main thing seems we need to resolve this issue with the genemar. It doesn’t matter if we actually capture it, as long as it can’t be used, intentionally or not, to blow the dren out of everything.” Wren said. “If, for some reason we simply can’t get to it, is there a way to prevent it from doing that entropic whatever thing you told us about?”
Gaea raised an eyebrow. “Avoid it perhaps.” She stopped. She pursed her lips, picked up a piece of bread, took a big bite and chewed with a thoughtful expression. “Yes, now that I am outside like this I could direct and perform a shift. That would prevent the genemar from affecting me.”
“Would that be a hard thing?” Ziedra asked.
“Not with you to help me, my Dear,” Gaea remarked. “You did a marvelous job of binding. It wouldn’t be any harder than that.”
“Then we’re good to go, I’m still getting used to this body,” the ascendant of magic said with a grin.
“The only problem that I see,” Gaea said, now munching on a piece of cheese. “Is that shifting is only a temporary solution.”
“How temporary?” Bannor asked.
The green mother sighed. “In the hands of creature familiar with a genemar, it might delay them only a few bells. To one without specific knowledge of its function, it could be score-days or possibly never.”
“It’s something I suppose,” Wren mused, rubbing her chin. “But they wouldn’t know this ‘shift’ had taken place unless they actually tried to activate it, correct?”
“Correct,” Gaea said.
“Is there a way to know if the genemar has been activated and trace that back to the source?”
Gaea opened her mouth and tilted her head. She blinked dark eyes at Wren. “Yes—yes there is. That is so very clever, Daughter.” She nodded reached out and touched Wren’s face. The blonde savant leaned her face against the goddess’ hand.
“Excellent,” Bannor said. “That protects us, gives us time. If we haven’t found the genemar by the time they activate it, then we still have a shot at getting to them before they use it again.”
“I think Wren’s thinking is sound as well,” Radian remarked. “I’m still confused though. If the Daergons have the genemar like we surmise, why would they use its destructive power? The Kriar have too much invested in the subpaths. Their whole gate transportation network would be annihilated. All the planets the Kriar are trying to get access to would be destroyed. They have nothing to gain. Not even power on Homeworld because the Kriar would never accept them after causing so much damage to the livelihood of their citizenry.”
“Perhaps those in possession of the device have been deliberately misled as to its function,” Vanidaar suggested.
“I can’t think of any other reason anyone would be crazy enough to do that,” Azir said leaning back in his chair. “I mean it’s like blowing up a house while you’re still inside.”
“Mother, do you think there’s a permanent solution?” Bannor asked.
The green mother leaned back in her chair, curling her fingers in the strands of her long hair. She pressed her hands together, thumbs under her chin as she considered. After a few moments she looked at them. “There may be a way. I can see possibilities, but nothing I could point at. It would take time and research. The death response to the ‘kill signal’ is something integral to the entities that comprise my subspace body. It’s not really a flaw or an exploit. It is an understanding of how my kind of life-form exists. I don’t know if that weakness can be c
hanged, and even if it can, if it can be propagated fast enough to affect a permanent resolution to the problem.”
“But you just said this ‘shifting’ thing would prevent the genemar from working on you.”
“Yes,” she admitted. “To kill my subspace body, they essentially have to know where to aim. I can protect myself by shifting where that vulnerability exists. The problem is there are a small number of places to hide—a score at best. Finding where I’ve hidden is a matter of time.”
“But, you could keep shuffling the hiding spot.”
“To buy time, yes,” Gaea acknowledged with a nod. “The shift isn’t fast, and not every spot is available from every other spot. If they are persistent they will eventually guess right.”
“That’s fine, as long as we have a way to protect you while we trace the signal and kick their arses,” Wren said.
“It sounds like we have a plan of action,” Vanidaar offered to the group. The mage brushed at his copper hair and leaned on an elbow as he spoke. “Ziedra and Gaea will work on hiding Gaea’s subspace body. Hopefully, they will come up with a way to move it successive times if it becomes necessary. We set up a trigger so that if the genemar is activated to help us trace its location. We will continue to pursue the location of the genemar and fight the Baronians as necessary. In the meantime, Gaea can start researching a permanent resistance to the device. Since they have a vested interest, this is where Marna and Octavia may be our best resource.”
“I agree up to the point of getting the assistance of the Kriar,” Gaea said.
“Why, what’s wrong with getting them to help with a permanent solution?”
“To reveal that much about the structure of my subspace body predicates that they know how the genemar works. If they know how it works, they can create one.”
“So,” Wren said. “Like we said, it would be stupid for them to do that. They lose out too.”
“Daughter, you are being naïve. Homeworld has everything they need. They are not tied to this universe. They can destroy Eternity and look for habitable worlds in another continuum. It is very possible the Daergons seek to use the genemar in order to force the Kriar council to cut their losses and move on. They will not live in a universe where their gates will not function.” She moved her gaze over everyone, those jewel-like eyes taking on an intensity that was very new for this incarnation of Gaea. “The Kriar have wandered for eons. If they take permanent worlds here, the current ruling body cements its position as the ‘saviors’ of their people. They already have huge public support because the Techstars adopted Cassandra and she removed the Jyril curse. The only chance the Daergons have of regaining power is if they disrupt the council, and keep Homeworld from putting down roots. The coup that Marna is dodging is evidence of that.”
Reality's Plaything 5: The Infinity Annihilator Page 7