Chapter 43.3

I had to wince at the lengthy pause.  That had been an awful lot of questions, and I had little doubt they had sent Mia into a fit of tics.  Which was not to say that I was not also curious.  I wanted to know what the Faen was telling her almost as much as I wanted Lynnria to quit being distracted and finish the job!

Damn it.  What was all that about hopes and fantasies?  And expectations?  Didn’t she want to be a Warrior?

“That’s… utterly insane.  They would kill for abilities like that.  Anyone would.  Why would I even consider the alternative?” she asked finally, and doing nothing to satisfy my interest.  Who was she talking about?  “You’re dodging the question.  Mia, come back here this instant!”

“The nerve.  The—cunt-slug—should be grateful to get even that much,” she grumbled.  “Why do mortals always assume they are entitled to answers?  She’ll have to figure it out just like everyone else!”

I closed my mouth, half a dozen follow-up queries dying on my lips.  I figured it best not to be the example that proves the rule.

“I think that’s your lot,” I said instead, addressing the mortal in question.  “You’re going to have to take a stab at it and see where you end up.”

Lynnria finally let my length go in favor of restless pacing.  “Bloody useless… ugh!  There has to be a consequence to this, or else she would never have bothered bringing it up.”

I nodded along, a tad mournful at having been left half finished.  But this seemed important, so I owed her my full attention.

“That seems reasonable,” I said as I followed her with my eyes.  “We had been assuming you would want my next lilim slot anyway, but that won’t be coming for a while.  So I don’t see how you could step off any paths, mortal or otherwise.  Unless… would this grant her immortality, like the others?” I asked inwardly.

“It’s not really immortality, my lord,” Mia corrected me gently, almost like a cat leaning into a head-scratch.  “It isn’t as though they revive themselves under their own power.  And without the binding in place to make it work?  Well, I very much doubt it.”

“I guess that’s out then,” I grunted, turning back to Lynnria.  “What did she tell you?”

“Some… personal things,” she said evasively, halting her pacing.

For a few moments, she seemed hesitant to elaborate.  There was a deep pain there, just behind her eyes.  It pulled at me.  I needed to comfort her.  To tell her it was okay, but those words could only ring hollow.  I did not know her pain.  Who was I to tell her anything about anything.

Still, if she did not want to talk about it, that was okay, too.

However just as I was about to lift myself from the bed and gather her into my arms, she seemed to reach a decision.

“Do you recall the difficulties I had when choosing my first skill?”

I nodded slowly.  I had always encountered difficulties when it came to that, so her experience had not stood out as particularly unusual.  It was easy enough to put it down to a combination of an unfamiliar Class and Mia having forgotten so much, but it seemed there was more to it.

“I… already knew there was going to be a problem,” she admitted, slowly shrinking into herself.  “It was…  Look, it’s… it’s complicated, Donum.”

I had to smirk.  Turnabout was fair play.

“What ain’t?” Jax said, plopping onto the bed beside me.

To that point, she and Arx had been quietly ‘getting to know’ one another better on the other side of the room.  In the biblical sense.  One of the perks of being a lilim was that they could feed just fine no matter who was demanding my attention, and they had been content to let their little sister have some private time.

But now that we were talking…

“Clan troubles?” Arx asked while settling into a casual lean against the bedpost.

“That’s… a bit of an understatement,” Lynnria confirmed, eying the two of them warily.  And blushing from their unabashed nakedness.  “I think you two might be even more unrestrained than Donum.”

The lilim turned to look at me, their collective eyebrows crawling up their scalps.

“Wasn’t me getting ideas all the time,” I grumbled under my breath.  Then, a little louder: “Like I’ve said, it comes with being a Quester.  You stop worrying about it after a while.”

“I think we passed worrying by when she got to choking on yer knob,” Jax quipped.

“Anyway,” Lynnria squeaked, “that was part of why Grandfather was training me to become a Warrior.  Their skills are much less demanding on your Core, early on.  We had thought that might be enough to overcome my issues, but… well, you saw.”

“And as I was explaining,” Mia cut in, “Her situation would be greatly improved were we to implement your Do-lilim’s version of Core management.  With your permission, of course.”

“So what’s the problem?” Arx asked.  “Won’t all that happen anyway once she’s bound?”

“I honestly haven’t a clue.  As far as I can determine, most of it was a result of the Fifth’s lack of… of experience.”

Jax’s eyebrow twitched.  “If that one’s so inexperienced-like, why’s Her version more powerful, then?  Eh?”

Mia growled with frustration.  “Because, I—wanna eat your asssshit… I’m starting to get a headache again.”

Arx crossed her arms.  “I thought you didn’t have a head.”

“Quiet, you.  Look, none of this is anything a bunch of mortals need ever worry about.  I swear it.  And if I’m being honest, I mostly just wanted to see what would happen.  If we’re lucky, it might prompt the rest of her evolution.  We can’t have the girl ripping our lord’s pants down every time she gets a little hungry.”

“I can think of worse things,” Jax said, licking her lips.  “Unless she was to do it with people about.  Then he’d just get all shamed and foul the taste.”

“Wait, what?” Lynnria cut in.  “What would I be doing?”