***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

Astra was... eating...

Three men's worth of food, in fact

So I decided to make myself scarce.

My wife's appetite had increased to supernatural levels. The same was the case for her size, but I was far too smart to even hint I had noticed – or that it bothered me. Every time my tongue threatened to escape the control of my brain, all of my spidey senses tingled thanks to Precognition.

I knew something horrible would happen if I wagged my tongue, so I said nothing.

Unfortunately for Astra, her ability to pack away what the family servants sacrificed on the altar of her dinner plate had not undergone the same transformation.

It would take her some time to satiate herself.

I figured sitting next to her, watching her while she ate and ate, would pose an entirely different dilemma once she became aware of the situation.

In a way, I was protecting her by not being at her side.

It wasn't like I didn't need some time for myself anyway. I needed to cool down, order my thoughts, and get my head straight.

My reaction to seeing Iv with Hector had opened a mental abyss I hadn't been prepared for. I liked to think of myself as a rational person, so the incident bothered me more than I wanted to admit.

Thankfully, Astra was there to prevent the worst.

I blew all my safety fuses when I saw Iv in that man's embrace. The mere idea still didn't sit right with me. If my partner hadn't forcefully ended the fight, I would have killed the guy.

And then what?

Should we have gone back to Etan and Teresa and brought them the news of another diplomatic fiasco? That would have been bad – catastrophic even.

I never thought it possible for me to flip out in such a way. I was the calm and rational type, but ever since I arrived here on Tirnanog, I was beginning to slip.

It was a problem.

Unfortunately, I didn't believe some mutation was at fault. No.

Thinking back, I believe my slip-ups began when I found Ivona hale enough to reconnect with her. Finding her was like finding a hope I thought lost. Hope that everything I did to get here was worth something. That I could save the few family members I had left.

Astra was another reason. We had joined forces for all the wrong reasons, but I couldn't deny I had fallen for the woman – hard. Even if I lost Iv, I couldn't consider myself alone anymore.

Before this, I mostly cared about myself. My revenge was my sole driving force. The destruction I left in my wake was an unavoidable consequence. Now my deeds no longer had consequences for only me and my enemies.

I chewed on my inner cheek while I tried to wrangle the knot of conflicting emotions which had formed inside my chest. On some level, I had gotten used to taking the shortest path to achieve my goals.

Like throwing that bastard off the elevator.

But the shortest path was no longer the best.

I was still a little miffed at how Thalia had handled things. She tried to influence my mind! I should have hit her for that alone. A warning would have been nice – instead of giving me the cold bucket when I opened that door!

But she probably knew I wasn't thinking straight when I realized something was off with Iv. There was no doubt. I would have vented my frustrations first on Thalia and then on Hector.

But she was hardly the only person to blame. Teresa, Sienna, and Thalia, any of them could have approached me with their convoluted plan to get Iv and Hector together and draw the Mora to our side. But no, they first wanted to see how things went. Damn, even Iv could have told me that she had developed romantic feelings for someone.

Then again, hadn't she mentioned making a friend in the hospital?

I ruffled my hair. Now I was frustrated that I hadn't paid more attention to her earlier!

Even if it went against my sensibilities, Iv was her own person and as safe as she could be in this world.

Maybe having her hook up with Hector was the best possible outcome? If the partnering went through, she would be a strong candidate for a leadership position, an elder even. Also, if she became Hector's partner it would be unlikely for her to run off in search of Evanne and get herself killed.

Despite all my misgivings, I didn't take Hector to be the type who would allow his wife to throw herself into danger.

But who was I to judge? I met Hector twice, gaining one very bad impression of him and one even worse...

I sighed.

No. I had to be honest with myself.

Hector hadn't done so bad in that second encounter. It was me who looked like a mad dog.

Though, it still grated on me that the people in this world were fine with having teenagers hook up with each other. When Astra took me aside for 'the talk', she explained how her parents began hopeful introductions between her and Hector when she was fifteen!

At least it looked like, while not exactly climbing barricades at the suggestion, people still had some lingering Earth-sensibilities regarding such matters. While it was encouraged among clanners, they weren't exactly thrilled about such pairings. And as one could see in Astra's case, the society as a whole wasn't gone far enough to force her into a partnership like in medieval times.

But no matter the redeeming points, such a thing was still just wrong to me!

I huffed.

It was unlikely for me to be able to change a few hundred years of cultural development.

My personal feelings on the matter aside, from a purely rational point of view, I had to admit they were... right.

They needed the children.

I blinked and returned from my silent musings. My aimless wanderings had brought me into the estate's gardens. It was the first time for me to spend some time in here. Teresa had shown me through once, but that was all.

The garden was a big dome with a base area of half a football field. The plants were a random selection of what I had seen when Astra took me on a hunt into the Belly. It was more like one of these miniature biotope gardens with winding paths leading the visitors to points of interest. In between, there some open spaces to relax, maybe even do some training.

I sighed and went to sit on a stone bench to relax and have my brain cool off. Thinking about shit like this just made it worse.

The one thing I really missed from Earth were movies. Something to just watch and switch off your brain and to forget about the idiocies of life.

That worked for a little less than a minute before my eyes found the inscriptions on the far side of the garden's walls.

I stood up and followed the walkway leading to the wall which was some kind of remembrance monument.

Someone had spent a great deal of work with engraving a time genealogy. The more recent parts were well maintained, but the further one went back, the more moss and cave ferns covered the inscriptions.

I began with the oldest section.

“3392. Aerie City is founded,” I read aloud.

501 years before I was born – one of my sub-identities supplied helpfully.

I belatedly realized that Aerie must have been one of the first colonies to be founded after Earth created the stable connection to Tirnanog.

I skipped a few decades' worths of entries as I followed the walkway which led along the wall. The entries were boring and benign enough, mentioning things like the development of the central cavern.

Eight decades later, there was a sudden shift in the artistry of the engraving – which was why I paid closer attention. Before, the entries had been machined into the stone. Now, it looked like someone had used a pick to scratch a message. The lack of expertise with which it was done was painfully obvious.

'3475. Earth closed the gate! The systems are down! It is dark. We are on our own.'

I stared at the message from the past and wondered what the first colonists must have felt when Earth's government suddenly cut their lifeline to turn them into an experiment. Everything must have run on Earth's technology. Did the colony's systems shut down when Earth terminated computer support? Did the colonists already cultivate the glowing plants, or did the lights simply wink out?

Back then, they wouldn't have had any of today's body enhancements. Normal humans, suddenly bar their technology.

My eyes drifted to the spiky grass next to the walkway. Nowadays, I would simply cover myself in a protective layer of filaments and the grass would bend beneath my feet. When I first arrived on Tirnanog, the spikegrass would have turned me into a pincushion.

For the baseline humans of Aerie City, the closing of the gate must have been a death sentence.

I drew a deep breath and followed the walkway.

The messages turned increasingly desperate until they spoke of new arrivals with body enhancements – mutations. From there, the demonstrated skill with the engravings improved again – although the style had changed.

'3568. Harold Frost(۩3629 k.i.a.) and Nina Frost(۩3678 d.t.m.), Founding Elders of the Twelfth Strata!'

I pondered over the inscription's meaning and compared it to later entries. Supposedly, Harold Frost and Nina Frost had taken the position of elders in 3568 and Harald was killed in action in 3629, while Nina had suffered... death to mutation? In 3678?

Going down the path, I found out that a new pair of elders would take over the torch as soon as a member of the previous elder pair died, which was 3629 in the case of Harold's and Nina's successors. It looked like losing one's partner automatically retired the remaining elder.

Once I had puzzled it out, I began skipping the names which held no deeper meaning to me. What was interesting though, was that aside from 'k.i.a.', 'd.t.m.' was the highest reason for deaths. There were a few 'r.i.p.', but they could be neglected compared to the other two.

I assumed some people had gotten the elder position without a starfish mutation – and died to old age. It would be interesting to know whether it was a willing choice for some. Forsaking the starfish mutation meant giving up potential immortality, but it freed up a mutation slot for something more powerful.

I knew that only a few hundred people could even hope to reach the power level of a juggernaut. And I had seen how the average hunter struggled with things like the ratkin. So, at least for the general population, choosing more power might be the right move.

Another interesting thing I found was that there was always a line joining the two previous elders and pointing towards one of the new ones, accompanied by either a 'b.' or an 'a.', which meant 'birth' and 'adoption' I supposed.

The Frosts had a history of simply adopting suitable successors for their family if they couldn't conceive one the normal way.

If I understood correctly, then the adoptions outweighed births with six in ten!

It also looked like the normal half-life of an elder wasn't all that long. Many lost the position within one or two decades, while some held out far longer.

I supposed the more powerful they were, the higher the survival chances.

Then I almost skipped over something important, so I took a step back, not believing my eyes.

I looked around the garden to make sure I was alone before I ripped a spikegrass stem from the ground and used it to scratch away the moss.

'3694. Dominic Frost(۩3777 k.i.a.) and Mary Frost(۩_________), Elders of the Twelfth Strata!'

“No way,” I whispered. “The crone is 232!”

Older, I had to remind myself. These dates documented when the new elders took over, not when they were born. Ah, and I had to consider that not just anyone would become elder. You had to be powerful, influential, and knowledgeable.

Mary forewent a few 'great, great, great' when she introduced herself as Teresa's great grandmother.

It was probably safe to assume that Mary had already more than a few decades on her back when she took the position.

I scratched my neck while I regarded the name and pictured the person it stood for. It was a little morbid to have your name already inscribed on a tombstone before the world was finished with you.

Maybe I would be a little more respectful the next time I met her.

The crone outlived four generations of elders, one of them she had personally adopted.

I finally reached more recent history where someone had found it noteworthy to document a 'War Of The Six Clans 3878-3890'.

Okay... note to self... these people didn't fuck around when they decided to kill each other. To fight twelve years of war under survival conditions was insane.

Maybe they didn't go all out with the winter posing an obstacle? Then again, humanity proved again and again how insane we are.

We fight and kill each other while the world tries to kill us and yet we thrive contrary to all obstacles. Going by logic alone, we should be dead ten times over.

I was already told about this, but seeing this monument made it more real.

The Frosts alone burned four elders within one decade of war.

Julian reigned with Carrey until 3884. They had a natural birth, Elsie, who took over with Nielsen. Also, both were killed in action.

Their natural daughter Teresa followed with Etan Frost in 3888. Which meant they had seen to the end of the war – likely played a huge role in it.

I hummed while I had my sub-identities juggle the numbers. I had been exiled in 3926. If I wasn't completely off the track, then Astra arrived on Tirnanog in 3913, twenty-five years after the clan war ended.

And Etan said it took a long time for the following unrest to cool down and for the clans to establish the current status quo.

Maybe the five remaining clans had some final peace talks when Astra was dropped into the pond at Teresa's and Etan's feet.

I had asked myself how two elders would be allowed into the Old Camp with all the restrictions going on.

Etan had shown me the official peace treaty which prohibited the clans from sending paired warriors to the Old Camp. It was furthermore a no-fly zone for airships and the treaty regulated the distribution of exiles, supposedly ensuring that everyone got a piece of the pie so that nobody could gain a population advantage over the others.

I sighed and dropped the grass stem before I turned arou-

I stumbled away from the person who wasn't supposed to be there while inhaling air and gurgling in surprise. It was one of those moments when you desired to inhale in surprise and shriek at the same time.

“Goodgod! Holy. Fuck. Don'tsneakuponmelikethat!” It was embarrassing, especially since I thought of myself as a manly man, but there were simply surprises in life which warranted almost wetting your pants.

This was one such case.

Teresa crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. “I am sorry?”

“At least try to sound genuine when you are apologizing!” I reached for my heart – which had all but stopped when I found my mother in law standing behind me. How the hell did she sneak up on me? I was completely unaware of her presence.

“It's hardly my fault when you have your head in the clouds,” Teresa replied. “But I am here to apologize. Astra told me that you were very upset when you ran into Hector and Ivona.”

“I was.” I glared at her. “Still am.”

Teresa nodded and looked at least somewhat guilty. “It's understandable. My only excuse is that I wasn't aware of how far Iv had taken her investment in Hector. Sienna and I had Thalia facilitate a meeting in the hope of mending the relationship between us and the Moras. It would solve many problems. I intended to inform you as soon as Iv had confirmed her willingness. For all I knew, the two would be like fire and ice and nothing would come of it. I-”

She paused before she continued, “Didn't want to light the stove before I knew there was enough wood to burn.”

“So bad luck? I ran into them prematurely?” I fake-smiled at my mother-in-law.

“I already said that I am sorry,” Teresa replied somewhat primly. “I am not a bad person. I had Thalia and Sienna monitor the situation and I talked with Iv about it after her first encounter with Hector went well. When I adopted Iv, I fully meant for you and her to be a part of this family. I take care of mine.”

“But being a part of this family comes with certain responsibilities,” I added what she had left out.

“It's good that you understand.”

We held eye contact for a long time.

“Okay,” I admitted.

Everything had a price and it felt like Teresa was genuine. “I forgive you if it's true that you were watching Iv, but am still angry. If Hector hurts my sister in any way, I will punch his head off.”

Teresa tilted her head. “Fine. So we are good?”

“It would be better if I would get Evanne back too,” I pointed out – which was admittedly a little childish. “But we are good.”

Teresa nodded. “Then let's use tomorrow to lean a little on all the levers we've set in place.”