A Jaded Life

Chapter 1328

After unburdening myself at Sasha’s grave, I returned my focus to the numerous scrying constructs. By now, I was confident that the giants didn’t need any help in the short term. That might change when the time came for their females to give birth, but right now, they were thriving in the cold climate, making me briefly wonder about their brethren further east. Maybe I should drop in on them; it would only take me a few days of flying there, and then I could step through the shadows to return.

The other scrying constructs were less successful. While any examination taken from up high was somewhat cursory, they didn’t spot anything interesting. Granted, that was likely because any sensible creature was avoiding the cold, northern nights as much as possible, but still, I had hoped to find something interesting. Probably an utterly exaggerated hope, given the vastness of the land, the presence of the giants and the short time-frame, but that hadn’t stopped my hopes and expectations. Alas, nothing had come of this brief moment, but that didn’t mean that there was nothing interesting to find, just that I had to investigate better.

A part of me was tempted to head south for a few hours, towards the coast, where I knew about a population of strange, humanoid creatures, but that would be cheating. I wouldn’t really discover those creatures, as I already knew about them, and their highly predatory instincts and weird Mind Magic meant that nothing else would be willing to live nearby. So, if anything, I had better chances to find something interesting if I headed in the opposite direction, simply because I didn’t know about any dens filled with deadly ambush predators there.

Or maybe it would be better to start my explorations in a kinder climate. After the change, people up here in what used to be Alaska would have been just as hard-pressed to build up their communities as they were everywhere else. Only that people up here had to contend with brutal winters and equally dangerous fauna, beyond the formerly domesticated animals that had been turned wild once more. Wild and dangerous, two things the local wildlife had been before the change ever came, as nobody would describe animals like Polar Bears as anything but that. And Moose weren’t far behind, just that they didn’t hunt humans for dinner, merely for sport and amusement.

The only advantage the locals would have was that some of them likely had more outdoor experience than the people in milder climates, but if that was enough to bridge the gap in sheer environmental hostility, I had no idea. So, it was quite possible that nobody had survived in Alaska, maybe some of the native communities that kept their old traditions and crafts alive. Though I had no idea how many had done so, compared to those who had mixed those old ways with modern technology, things that the Change had massively disrupted.

While a part of me wanted to investigate immediately, it was quite unlikely that people who had survived the first winter, and most of the second, would suddenly be in serious trouble, allowing me to discover them just in time to swoop in a suitably heroic fashion. Not that I was the heroic type in the first place, but even if I were, to come across sufficiently dire circumstances was simply unlikely.

Shaking my head, I let my various scrying constructs disappear in clouds of black feathers that immediately faded into the void afterwards. That way, the giants would be more curious and confused than anything else, as I wasn’t sure if they had been watching my constructs. Regardless, better to put on a show when nobody’s watching than give away any future trickery by letting them peek behind the curtain now.

Then, I stepped back into the shadows, letting them carry me towards Jademoon Tower and my throne there. The travel was swift as usual, though I noticed a few oddities just before I left the shadows, something I might have to investigate in the future. I wasn’t sure what had left its mark on the shadows in the local area, but it might become something annoying in the future.

The next step, after reorienting myself at Jademoon Tower, was to make my way to Maggie’s community. By now, I had woven enough magic into the buildings there that I would probably be able to use it as a beacon, just as I could use Jademoon Tower, but I hadn’t tried that yet, so I went with the slightly longer, but more secure and comfortable route.

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Upon leaving the shadows, I was immediately beset by my daughters. Well, mainly by Luna, but I could feel Lia linger nearby, just as curious as dear Luna was.

“Mom, we’ve been worried!” Luna immediately began, sounding both a little annoyed and even more worried. “Don’t just leave us behind with nothing but a letter,” she demanded, though her annoyance would have had a lot more sting if she hadn’t wrapped her arms around me, desperately clinging to my chest.

“Now, dear, what has you so worried?” I asked, uncertain why Luna was in such a state.

“Couldn’t feel you as clearly,” she replied, sniffling a little, “Before, I always knew you were alright, I could faintly sense your presence somewhere out there,” she explained, and I didn’t need to hear more to realise what was going on. Just as I had been able to sense her location and general condition, Luna had been able to do the same to me. Had possibly even relied subconsciously on that knowledge to feel secure, but now, with the Mother and I splitting into two separate entities, and me being aware of said split, that was fading. Or it might even be gone entirely, making me briefly wonder if I would be able to keep sensing her. Maybe I would have to lean on different techniques; I would have to experiment with that a little. Likely with Luna’s side of the bond, too, because it could be rather fascinating to see if she could somehow get a sense of the Mother and learn a little more about divine entities that way. But later. For now, I had a daughter to calm.

Which was exactly what I did, by hugging her back and quietly explaining what had happened. That I needed a bit of time to think, to simply be by myself. Here, numerous people had demands on my time, as evidenced by the fact that only about five minutes after I appeared within the hospital’s shell, my presence had been noticed. I wanted to believe that Maggie had simply told everyone she wanted to talk to me at my earliest convenience, rather than having sent someone at just the right time, but I couldn’t be certain. I had a feeling that Maggie might have quite the talent when it came to divinatory magic, making me wonder if I should increase my efforts to passively obfuscate my presence.

Another thing on that endlessly growing list. Maybe I should even try to remember some of the ideas I had on Mundus and add them to my current list, just to see if I could make a list long and dense enough to have the information contained within the list itself turn into something else, some sort of information singularity, dragging in everything in the vicinity.

“I shall meet with Maggie in a bit. For now, my daughters and I have a few other things to discuss,” I told the guy who had approached us, unwilling to simply acquiesce to Maggie’s request. She was no boss of mine, and it wouldn’t do for her to forget that.

“Now, Luna, is there anything else I can do to make you more comfortable?” I asked, once the guy was gone and I had pulled up a wind barrier around us, muffling any sound we might make. “The connection between the Mother and me is shifting, and the Mother is becoming her own entity. I think you could call it a tulpa based on my own mind, but I’m uncertain. Maybe based on my mind, but with an emphasis on certain maternal traits, who knows?” I mused, shaking my head towards the end.

“I don’t know,” she hollowly admitted, still unwilling to unwrap her arms from my chest.

“Maybe you could pray to her,” Lia suggested, an impish grin on her face.

“You mean to the Mother?” Luna asked, her face creased into a frown. “How would that help?”

“No,” Lia shook her head in response, “I meant Mom could pray to the Maiden. That would make her one of your faithful and give you that connection, right?”

Now, it was my turn to blink in disbelief. “I don’t think that would work,” I shook my head after a few moments, “I don’t have faith in the Maiden. That’s required for real prayers; the people praying have to believe. I don’t believe in the Maiden. I know she exists. I know Luna is tied to her, or becoming her, however you want to describe that. Knowledge and belief are in conflict here, and my knowledge makes belief impossible.”

“Oh,” Lia looked a little disappointed, and even Luna looked down at that explanation.

“But I’ll think of something,” I promised, before pulling Lia into the hug Luna and I shared. Just to make sure my daughters knew I loved them.