The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 80

Part 13

“I mean, no offence, but we didn’t choose to be stuck in here, unlike the rest of you. It’s been wonderful, but I’m sure that if we have to stay in here for another eighteen years without even word of what’s happening out there, I’m sure I’m going to lose my mental stability.”

“Well you’re not missing much, you’ve only missed two weeks out in the real world so far!” Wittan pointed out.

“True, but still, not knowing is really bothersome.” Helemia declared. “To us at least. I had a nightmare once where the demons came early while we were still stuck in here, and when the time-bubble finally ended there was nothing left alive outside it but billions and billions of demons. Unlikely I admit, but we don’t know. That could’ve really happened already, and we’d never know.

“And as far as our military ability goes, we’ve gotten about as good as we can get with the techniques we have here, and our improvement is really slowing. We’re not inventing as many new techniques as we were before either. We’re stagnating. I want to go out and learn from new people, and learn new spells and techniques.”

“And improve them.” Valentia giggled. “Quewanak, do you think my plan would work? Could we get the gods’ attention and get them to let us out?”

“I think we could, though I’m not positive, and there’s no way of knowing without trying it.” the green dragon opined.

“Well. I didn’t know this was bothering you kids this much.” Mark said with a bit of surprise in his tone.

“It wasn’t really, until Nek asked us yesterday what we were going to do to top this.” Reggie said as he indicated the Sylvan settlement around them with a wave. “This has all gone so much easier than we thought. Everything here is too easy.”

“Wanting out of the time-bubble didn’t get to be a strong feeling until just now, actually.” Helemia revealed. “It came with realizing that this is pretty much finished already. If we had to, we could have these fourteen ready to assume command here in a week, then we could take a Reading of all the spells and military lore we want to teach them and put it in a diamond and give it to them. They’d be able to teach it as fast as they and the rest here could absorb it. And that’s it, done, we could just walk away and it wouldn’t really matter. With another eighteen years to get ready for the demons, they won’t need us.”

“Now that the subject has been raised,” Equemev interjected from a three hundred meters down the beach, where she and her family were running through the surf, “I would like to say that we, the unicorns of Homestead, share the children’s feelings. We find that being confined to an area the size of Hiliani feels very restricting, far more than we expected it to. Unicorns are a nomadic and migratory race, and it seems that traveling is a greater part of our inherent needs than we anticipated. I myself have run the beaches all the way around the perimeter of Hiliani over six hundred times, until I am bored of it, and I’ve run the interior routes almost as much. All of us have. We yearn for the great plains of Xervia, and for the company of our kin.

“Which is another issue. If I had it all to do again, I would make sure that we either brought far more of my people here, or none. Even with our new children, the fourteen of us are not near enough to fully fulfill our herd instinct. We increasingly feel our isolation and separation from our people.”

“I see.” Mark nodded, seemingly mildly troubled. “Then it seems we should follow the kids’ advice, and try to get the gods to temporarily open the time-bubble so that those who want to leave can do so. And if any out in the world would like to come here to replace those who leave, we can do that too.”

“If you who want to leave can bear it, I would appreciate it immensely if you delayed your departure for at least two or three years.” Hilsith requested. “The assistance of the unicorns has been very valuable in my research, and I had expected that the assistance of you children would soon be quite central to my work as well.”

The three children and Karzog considered the question over their Link for a moment.

“That may be a lot to ask, now that we’re getting our hopes up about leaving.” Reggie answered. “How about this; We’ll stay for one more year. We’ll do as Helemia said and prepare the Sylvan to not need us for their continued militarization as quickly as we can. After that we’ll spend as much time helping your research as we can possibly spare from our other projects for the rest of the year. We’ll even cut back on sparring and our own training and devote that time to your projects too.”

“Hopefully we can either have your two major problems solved or have you well on the way to solving them by then.” Helemia added.

“Yes, I think knowing we would be released in a year would give my people the strength to continue here for that time without suffering any appreciable distress.” Silaran agreed. “And we will also contribute all we can of our time and resources to your research for that time.”

“Well I’ll take what I can get, I suppose.” Hilsith smiled. “My research is important, but certainly not more important than preserving your happiness and mental health.”

“All right, I suppose I’ll let the Homesteaders know that they’ll probably have a chance to leave Hiliani in a year, and take a quick survey of how many would like to go.” Mark decided, and did so psionicly.

“Okay, it seems that the only ones who really want to leave are you four and the unicorns.” he reported. “A lot of The Hilian volunteers are undecided. I think they’d really prefer to stay, but their vows to serve me make them also want to go wherever I go, and of course if you four are going, then Talia, Alilia, Povon, Kragorram, and I are going too.”

“I’ll stay, to continue assisting with matters here.” Quewanak stated.

“When we go,” Alilia said to Bezedil with a warm smile, “I would very much appreciate it if you and Dalia came with us.”

“Oh? For more than the obvious reasons?” Bezedil asked.

“Yes.” Alilia nodded, smiling a bit mischievously now. “It’s not just because I love you and would like to keep my only son near me. That wouldn’t be a deciding factor, since I know that Dalia would also like to stay with her parents, who are staying here, since Hilsith is staying.

“I would like you and Dalia to co-rule our people as reigning Prince and Princess of The People of Life. Once they know how close and devoted my relationship with Mark and Talia has become, they’ll understand that I feel some conflict between my duties to Hilia and my duties to the People of Life, and they deserve dedicated leadership.

“If you agree, I’ll train you both intensively for the duty over the next year, with the assistance of Yazadril, Quewanak, and Mark. I would abdicate in your favor. Your ascension would still be subject to the approval of The People of Life and their Senior Council, but I don’t see any chance that they’d disapprove. I can’t see any other candidates being able to match the ability, character, attractiveness and appeal that the two of you would have as a co-ruling pair. And since you are my son and Yazadril’s daughter, you’ll appeal to those with dynastic tendencies.”

“Ah, give us a moment?” Bezedil asked as he and Dalia Linked, and Alilia nodded.

They conferred for a moment, then he answered. “First off Mother, we’re very proud and flattered and grateful that you’ve chosen to offer us this opportunity, and we would be glad to assume the responsibility. However, we don’t think one year of training would sufficiently prepare us for it, particularly when there’s so much more time available.

“We propose that we do the year of training, and then, assuming that the gods will hear the call and open the time-bubble, and that they’ll be willing and able to re-cast it again, and that they’ll be willing to give us at least a few hours out in the world before they re-cast it, we’ll use that time to get as much more study materials and Readings from other experienced rulers as we can. Then we’ll stay here in the time-bubble and study all of that for rest of the seventeen years.