A Jaded Life

Chapter 1329

“Maggie, you wanted to see me?” I asked, after casually strolling into Maggie’s office. A part of me felt just a little amused at how quickly the paperwork had reintroduced itself into society, but then it made sense. Any society that ascended beyond the simplest hunter-gatherer communities would want to know what supplies they had, and how much of those, just to make sure they had enough to survive the winter. That meant paperwork, which was probably why the earliest examples of writing were, as far as I could recall, the slates of some ancient Mesopotamian scribe detailing grain stores. Hel, it even gave a remarkably logical way for writing itself to develop, simple symbols depicting specific supplies, combined with some sort of crude numerical system, and you have a good way to track the amount of supplies you have. Formalise it a little, and you have an early script; tack on supplier tracking, and you get a basic bureaucracy.

“Yes, thanks for coming,” she replied, looking up from the notebook she had been writing in. At a glance, I thought it was a basic census, updated for the sudden influx of people from the formerly Blessed City.

“A few people complained that you completely rejected the idea to perform abortions. Could you explain why? It should be easily doable with the abilities I know you possess,” she asked, her tone casual and completely non-confrontational.

“Because I believe that interfering in those pregnancies would have problematic consequences,” I replied, letting the words hang in the air for a few seconds before elaborating.

“Now, let’s start with the basic reasoning. We all agree that the circumstances around those pregnancies aren’t natural. The chances for everyone in that city who wasn’t already pregnant to conceive during the same night, regardless of previous infertility and age, are about as close to zero as you can get without something being physically impossible. Though I’d argue that this actually falls into the category of physically impossible, due to the aforementioned infertility,” I explained, making sure to keep things clinical and formal, as if I were a doctor or scientist.

“No, I believe we all agree that some supernatural force was involved,” she nodded, though she apparently hadn’t drawn the conclusion I wanted her to draw.

“So, would you also agree that such a force might have some investment in seeing the pregnancies it created come to fruition?” I prodded, pausing again, curious if she would reply. However, she only frowned deeply, her jaw moving a little as she struggled to find an answer.

“We simply don’t know what force was involved. It might be their Goddess, it might be another divine force, it might be nature itself, trying to replenish the human population on the planet; it might be something we’ve never even heard of. But, no matter what, I’d rather be cautious when it comes to directly interfering in the work of a supernatural power strong enough to accomplish such a thing, simply because we have no idea what else that power might be capable of. Curses and such are a thing; I already carry one. I have no interest in having more added on top of that,” I shook my head, briefly pausing before adding, “And I would advise everyone else to avoid interfering as well, we simply don’t know what consequences interference might have.”

For a moment, Maggie didn’t answer. I considered elaborating, but quickly decided against it, letting her stew in her thoughts as that short, quiet moment stretched longer and longer, turning into minutes of silence.

Eventually, Maggie spoke, her voice quiet and filled with uncertainty. “You might be right,” she paused, “We don’t know what caused this and we know that there are,” another pause, “There are higher powers out there. We have no idea what they might do if we mess with their plans,” she finished, her voice giving away just how uncomfortable she was with the idea. Maybe because this was a case where those ‘higher powers’ had acted in a way any normal human would consider completely inexcusable. Forcing a large number of women to go through a pregnancy without offering the required support could easily poke some mental buttons people had buried for the last two years, and were now emerging as they became relevant. Reproductive health had always been a contentious issue, and this was trampling all over believes a lot of people had held at one point.

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“What are you going to do about it?” I asked, “I mean, I started working on a large hospital, but I doubt that’s going to be sufficient. We are talking about a massive challenge and, if I’m being honest, I have no plans to remain here permanently,” I admitted, noticing Maggie’s shoulders slump in disappointment for a moment, before she rallied.

“We’ll be making plans,” she replied, “I’ll explain your stance to the different people, and we’ll have to see what they think. I have no idea how to handle this, so I can’t tell you more. But, no matter what, thanks for your efforts,” she added, and I recognised a polite dismissal. I even decided to honour her space, instead of being obnoxious, merely to show her that I wasn't under her command.

After leaving, I was uncertain what to do next when a sudden Jess took the decision out of my hands. Her approach was rapid, almost a dash, and it looked as if she was about to physically throw herself at me. Not quite a tackle, but close enough to make me brace for impact, only to have her pull up short and pause, suddenly looking shy and indecisive.

“What can I do for you?” I asked, not even trying to hide the amusement at the rapid approach, the sudden shift or her uncharacteristic shyness.

“I have some questions,” she admitted, looking down as she was wringing her hands.

“And you wish to have them answered in private, I assume,” I reasoned, getting a nod in response.

“Then we'd better find a private space,” I accepted, before turning and walking towards the village edge. It was only after I had started to walk that I realised this was the very same path we had taken a few days back, when she had first approached me on Luna’s urging.

Just like I had back then, I wove together spells to conceal the sounds we made, while also adding some magic to keep us from being too cold.

“Now, what is the matter?” I asked, looking at her with a serious expression, trying to figure out just what had her in the odd state she was now in.

“Did Luna tell you she taught me a certain ritual?” Jess asked, still unwilling to look me directly in the eye. Instead, she was fidgeting, her eyes darting to me, only to immediately look away when she noticed me meeting her gaze. That process repeated itself every few seconds, until she apparently decided that a specific patch of snow was just too interesting to look away from, and she focused on that as she spoke.

For a moment, I was tempted to tease her, making her spell the ritual she meant out, but instead I simply acknowledged that Luna had informed me.

“Can you tell me why the statue I received?” she paused, “Or is it created?” she interrupted herself, before shaking her head, “Well, can you tell me why the statue is an image of you? Shouldn’t it be an image of the deity I’m feeling the strongest affinity to?”

“It’s not an image of me,” I shook my head, causing her to make a strangeled noise of disbelief, “It’s really not. I believe it’s an image of the Mother, and, due to certain rather weird circumstances, the Mother shares my appearance. You could say we are twins, but that’s not really correct either,” I paused once again, “Let’s just say, it’s complicated, weird and incredibly unusual, but that’s the way it is,” I tried to wave things off with a shrug, unwilling to explain the complexities in detail.

“That’s…” she started, only to pause, her eyes still fixed on the snow. “That’s not really helpful,” she finally admitted, leaving me wondering what she really needed help with.

“I had hoped you would be able to explain to me how that all works,” she admitted, her voice forlorn.

“That depends on what you mean by ‘that all’,” I told her, unwilling to assume anything in this case.

“I’m supposed to be able to use magic now, but I have no idea how that works,” she finally explained, making me want to snicker in amusement.

“Not quite magic, you are able to channel Divine Power, in exchange for transferring your Astral Power to the Mother every morning,” I explained, “Normally, you would then be able to channel that Divine Power into what some call miracles, or some other fancy word for ‘Divine Magic’, but I have an inkling why you aren’t able to do that at the moment,” I paused, curious if she might realise the reason. “At the moment, you are pregnant, so any additional exertion might be hazardous to your child. I could imagine that the Mother’s Divine Power has a quality that makes it impossible to consciously channel it into anything while in your condition. It might just strengthen you passively, helping you to sustain yourself through your pregnancy, but, honestly, I have no idea,” I admitted, and finally, Jess was looking at me again.

Though I wasn’t sure what to think of the expression on her face.