Beneath the Dragoneye Moons-Chapter 625: Homecoming I

“What does man-u-script mean?” Sara asked, slowly sounding out the word.

“A book or document written by hand.” I gave the textbook definition.

“Oh.” She looked at it thoughtfully, eyebrows scrunched up in concentration. “Well… how else could it be written? Everything’s by hand right?”

“Things can be written or copied with skills, you know. Like the book you’re reading.” Titania slapped her hands over her mouth as she suppressed a snort-laugh, then briskly walked out of the room before exploding with laughter in the kitchen. Sara was looking even more confused.

“But… if this was written by a skill, why is it called a manuscript?” She whined.

“Because the original copy, written over 20,000 years ago, was done by hand. Plus, I thought it was a neat name.”

I managed to say that with a straight face. One day the penny was going to drop with Sara, and it was going to be a sight to see. The longer it took, the older and more mature she was, the funnier it would be. I could tell her now, sure, but she wouldn’t get it.

Sara scowled.

“That’s stupid.” She declared.

“That’s also the second word.” I pointed out. “You’ve got roughly 16 million more words to go.” The Medical Manuscripts were not short texts at this point, and there were roughly 35,000 medical terms alone. Sara gamely plowed on ahead.

“By… healer. Hey, that’s your name!” She excitedly pointed to my name on the cover.

“Yes it is.” I had my best poker face on. Sara turned the page, and gamely kept going.

“Con-tri-bu-tors. Contributors!”

I was forever young and energetic, so I couldn’t miss that aspect of youth. The joy and excitement of new skills and new discoveries in such a pure way just sang to me. My brain sparked and jumped along a path I could barely describe. My skills I’d picked up with Arachne, my occasional desire to not know them, and Night’s memory skill, able to selectively forget things, only to pick them back up later when needed.

I had a much better understanding of Night in that moment, wishing my own skill allowed for selective removal so easily. I peeked into my [Astral Archives], looking over the endless books that contained my knowledge and skills. The book containing all the spying knowledge I’d gotten from Arachne snapped into my hands, and I hefted it, checking its metaphorical weight.

I could just destroy the book, destroy the knowledge. Forget it. It might fade away, it might spring back. I’d probably need to delete a lot of connecting knowledge. All the memories with Arachne. The training, the memories of working as a [Scribe]. All were connected.

Mmm… not today, and I wasn’t sure it’d stick. It’d change me in a way I was unsure about. Plus, I was a little busy with Sara, and she deserved as much attention as I could give her.

… okay, right now, she didn’t need my attention. Watching her puzzle her way through a series of textbooks she was about 16 years too young for was hilarious.

Auri and Fenrir weren’t exactly subtle when they made it back home. Sara and I were in the kitchen, flour on every surface except the inside of the bowl, and the less said about the butter, the better. Eh, we were having fun, and if we managed to get not-charred cookies at the end of it, I’d call it a win.

The two of them - honestly, only Fenrir mattered for this - landed next to the cottage with a house-rattling thump. I wasn’t sure if Sara jumped a foot in the air on her own, or if Fenrir’s weighty landing had launched her up. She looked at me with huge eyes.

“What was that!?” She demanded, clearly terrified. I swooped her up and held her in my arms.

“That was Fenrir, a wyvern. Want to meet him?” I asked.

Sara chewed over her answer. I was noticing she did that a lot, and I wasn’t quite sure if it was how she was, or if there was something else going on. Either way, I wasn’t going to complain about her being too thoughtful.

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“Is he a nice wyvern?” She asked.

“The nicest one I’ve ever met.” I promised. The bar was on the floor with that one though. I hadn’t met too many, and most were just vicious monsters. I leaned down and whispered in her ear. “He’s really a big softy.”

Sara giggled behind her flour-coated fingers.

“Really?” She asked. I nodded solemnly.

“Really.”

I held out my hand and snapped my pipe into it from storage, then put Sara down.

“Are you ready for the magic spinning change?” I asked her. She clapped her hands.

“Yes! Do the spin, do the spin!” She said. I held out my hand.

“Well, I need a bit of help with that.” I said. Sara knew what to do. She grabbed my hand and tried to spin me around.

“Almost!” I said. “A little faster! One more time!”

Sara pushed me even harder, and I leaned into it, putting one foot behind my heel and spinning around exactly like I’d been taught how to do an about-face. I chained three of them together, flour spinning off me in a dust cloud, before poofing my outfit from ‘baker’ to ‘witch’. Sara jumped, laughed, and clapped her hands at the transformation, looking happier than I’d seen her in weeks.

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“Let’s go meet the big bad wyvern!” I announced. We were almost to the door when Auri burst in.

“BRRRRPT!” Auri shrieked her happiness that I was HERE and we were BACK! The house lit up with a dozen tiny flames of a thousand different flickering colors, a burning expression of her joy. The flaming menace flitted around me, poking me experimentally, yelling her happiness for the world, before burrowing into my hair.

“Brrpt.” Auri declared she was never, ever leaving me or the nest she was making in my hair again.

“Auri! Knock that off!” I laughed. Sara was staring at us… but she could wait a moment. Auri picked that moment to poke her head out of my hair - it was going to take forever to comb out the mess she made, but trying to make an image where every single strand of hair was in the right spot to fix with Teleportation was a nightmare - and spotted Sara. Honestly, have a little more self awareness!

“Brrrpt?”

I held out my hand and Auri - after much thrashing and making of knots - disentangled herself from my hair and fluttered over, tilting her head at the newest curiosity.

“Auri, this is Sara. Sara, this is Auri. Auri is my bonded companion. Auri, I picked up Sara in Ithil, she’s an orphan and living with us now.”

“Brrrpt?”

“She’s so pretty. Can I pet her?” Sara asked.

I glanced at Auri, who nodded. Sara tentatively petted the phoenix. Auri promptly jumped onto Sara’s head, to her delighted shrieks. She then started to make a nest in her hair. I put my hands on my hips, and struggled not to smile. Sara laughed and tossed around, trying to dislodge Auri. There was no chance she’d succeed, not with Auri’s level.

“Princess Sara and her crown of fire.” I declared, wagging a finger at Auri. “Should I be getting jealous?”

Auri shot me a look, communicating without words. I lifted an eyebrow, talking right back. Goddesses, it was absurd how much we could communicate right over Sara’s head - pun intended - without her noticing at all. Auri promptly made a crown of flames on Sara’s head.

“Princess Sara!” Sara declared, suddenly delighted to have Auri on her head.

“Let’s go meet Fenrir.” I said.

“Oh yeah! I forgot about him!” Sara exclaimed, then sprinted right out the door, a trail of embers left sparkling in the air.

The little elf was utterly fearless. Somehow. I walked out at a more sedate pace to find Sara already hugging Fenrir’s snout, the massive wyvern frozen still. Which was fair - a small twitch from him was enough to flatten Sara. Auri was still acting as a burning crown, and the three looked like they were going to be fast friends.

I narrowed my eyes at Fenrir.

Or was he trying to expand his ‘cast?’ I held out my pipe, and a tiny flame flickered in it as Auri lit it. I puffed it and studied Fenrir more.

If he tried to drag Sara into nonsense, so help me, I was going to get a new pair of leather gloves. And boots.

Artemis knocked on the door in the middle of the day, which was rare. She was happy, sweaty - endless drills with the Rangers - and completely unharmed. My initial surge of worry was misplaced.

“I got it I got it I got it!” Sara yelled as she bombed out of the living room at full speed.

“Brrrpt?” Auri poked her head in from the kitchen.

Artemis. I mouthed to her, shooting the bird a thumbs up.

“Brpt.” Wasn’t worth stopping her baking for… rude bird. She could totally continue conducting her orchestra of [Mage Hands] while saying hi. I rolled my eyes and got up, flashing behind Sara right before she opened the door.

“Aunty Artemis!” Sara said. I was more than a little jealous - I still rated “only” Elaine. Sara frowned.

“Wait you live here why did you knock on the door? That’s no fun.” Sara pouted. Artemis laughed at her audacity.

“‘Cause it’s fun! Heya Elaine, Nina’s heading down the road now, figured we’d ambush her together.”

“Nina! Let’s GO!” I shouted, jogging down the road at a pace Artemis could match. The sun was shining, it hadn’t rained in a few days, and the road was nice and dusty.

Finally. After TWENTY THOUSAND YEARS it was time for sweet, sweet REVENGE.

“Hey Artemis! Guess what?” I shouted over my shoulder.

“What?” Artemis wisely sensed a trap.

“EAT MY DUST!” I sprinted in front of Artemis, artfully kicking up the dirt into her face. Dexterity was the quietest physical stat, until it was the most useful.

“You little-!” Artemis swore, before Lightning started to crackle between her hands.

“Uh, Artemis, this is supposed to be frie-”

A sharp shock landed on my ass, and I yelped.

“I’m allowed to get even!” I protested as I ran even faster.

“No you’re not!” Artemis shouted back.

I could hear what was going on for miles, and I always kept a steady ear out for Sara. Especially when only Auri was ‘supervising’, who knew when I’d return one day and poof, Sara had been turned into an [Arsonist].

“Uh. Are they okay? Like, are they actually fighting, or…”

“Brrrpt.” Auri patted Sara on the head. Even sprinting away from Artemis at a relatively low speed, I could see Auri breaking out the cookies.

“HEY!” I shouted from nearly the bottom of the hill. “Those are for AFTER DINNER!”

Artemis decided to punish my inattention with an extra-large [Lightning Bolt].

Oooh, that was IT! No more Nice Elaine!

“Nina! You’re back!” I rolled a barrel down the road, debating if I wanted to jump up on it and move like a [Circus Performer]. It would cause more problems than it solved.

Nina had clearly been traveling hard. Her clothes were worn and frayed, and she had a burr stuck to her ear. She moved with weary, practiced confidence. I deeply admired her ability to move all over Pallos on foot. Flight and high stats often made travel trivial, but Nina was still getting from place to place the hard way.

“Elaine!” The kitsune brightened up, running the rest of the way. I set the barrel spinning and opened my arms, letting the unfairly tall woman crash into me.

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“You’re home. You’re safe.” I murmured.

“I am.” Nina said.

The tender moment was utterly ruined by the sounds of Artemis barfing, followed by frantic pounding and muffled yelling.

“Elaine! ELAINE! GET ME OUT OF HERE!”

Nina glanced at the barrel, confusion written across her muzzle.

“Artemis.” I said, by way of explanation.

“Ah. Say no more, I totally understand.” Nina said.

“You traitor!” Artemis shouted. The note of panic was starting to worry me a bit. I [Teleported] the barrel away, stopping the prank from turning into bullying. Nina put her hands on her hips.

“You did shave me completely naked.”

Artemis coughed, and I debated dumping a barrel of water on her. The old barrel… well, I think Auri was going to be delighted to have something to burn, I wasn’t going to try and salvage that.

“Come on, let’s get you home.”

Nina’s smile was worth every scorch mark.

“What is this place?” Sara asked a few weeks later. “I’ve seen it before, but it feels weird.”

“It’s a memorial.” I said, looking upon the field of obelisks. I was trying to strike a delicate balance between showing Sara the place too early, and too late.

“Oh. A memorial to who or what?”

“The dead.” Sara’s hand gripped mine even tighter. I stared out, starting to drift through lifetimes of memories, trying to organize my thoughts for what I wanted to say. My planned speech was out the window. I was speaking awkwardly, from the heart.

“We are both Immortals. Old age will never take us. But in many ways, the title can be inaccurate. Immortality comes in many forms. Everything from a name in a song, a story of one’s life, to a whisper on the wind. Every - sorry, excuse me.” I was crying. I dabbed at my tears and took a deep breath, resettling myself. “People die twice. Once when their life’s string is cut and taken by Black Crow, and a second time when they are remembered for the last time. Every name on the obelisks is a friend or family member of mine who died. This is my way of carrying on their legacy. Making sure they won’t be forgotten.”

Sara slipped her hand out of mine and approached the first obelisk.

“There are so many names here.” She whispered, the weight of the place settling around her. It was a heavy place, and I hadn’t wanted to introduce it to her before I thought she was ready.

Better to offer, than to be asked.

“Would you like to give me some names to add?” I asked.

There wasn’t another dry eye until sunrise the next day.

I couldn’t say what had me flying up high, circling Orthus, by myself. It wasn’t a particularly nice day for flying - overcast and a little drizzly. I wasn’t demonstrating the beauty of flight to Sara. I just… felt called to be in the sky.

Which let me spot a tiny dot speeding along the bottom of the clouds, my day lighting up as if the clouds had evaporated.

“IONA!” I screamed, and flew through the air as fast as I could.

“ELAINE!” She shouted back, and the two of us collided like stars.

My muse, my love, my wife was back home.

All was right with the world.