Family is a soul’s foundation. Without one, the soul craves acceptance and belonging.

~Mother Danu, The Primordial Goddess of Nature

26th Floor - The Archipelago

Cia swam in clear green waters surrounding the island. White sand highlighted anything between it and the water’s surface, so everything that moved was within her vision: mostly colorful fish and other crustaceans. There was bright coral and even some anemone swaying below.

It was beautiful and peaceful. There weren’t even many beasts that made their way to this hidden retreat. The island was only about ten kilometers long and about five wide, and the only thing on it were some exotic trees and a small bluff on one end.

Twenty years ago, before Crow was born, Conall built a small cottage among the trees, and it had remained largely intact. It took less than a day for him to rebuild the broken parts and create their paradise. This place was where Cia had finally agreed to marry him after almost a decade of pursuing her.

Conall’s favorite chair from that time was still there, even if the seat was gone. He repaired it before he did anything else, and now he was sitting on it in the shade watching his woman swim among the waves. He wasn’t sure how long they’d been here because he made it a point not to count the days. Cia regained her color and started to put some meat on her body, but her eyes were still dark and haunted.

The day they escaped on Burble, Conall bathed his wife’s frail body and felt unprecedented rage. He broke the tub, brush, and even crushed the soap because he couldn’t contain his grief. His red eyes and clenched fists didn’t escape his wife’s eyes.

Cia was always stronger than him mentally, and that hadn’t changed. She grasped his hands and gently pried them open. Afterward, she gently kissed each of his eyes and tugged at his ear until his head was rent sideways. Conall was so surprised he chuckled, and he continued to clean her from top to bottom. For a violent man, his hands were extremely gentle, and she almost moaned in pleasure a few times.

Despite his wife’s reassurances, light touches, and how she tried to soothe him, he couldn’t wholly calm the anger. A dangerous bloodlust had entered him, and it was like a dangerous beast waiting to be released. This incident became a knot in his heart that he couldn’t dispel. Conall wasn’t stupid and knew his cultivation was at risk. He even suspected the reason Cia asked to come to this place had nothing to do with her and everything to do with him.

It was dangerous to keep cultivating without a rational mind because it could lead to deviations, so he stopped. These last weeks he’d spent trying to relax, to untwist his soul, and to love his wife. Enthralled in his thoughts, he didn’t see Cia leave the water. Her soft lips pressed against his cheek, and he reacted violently. His big hand grabbed her by the throat and rose from his chair.

Cia didn’t stop him and instead reached out to caress his cheek.

“It’s me, lover,” she squeezed out, and Conall panicked. Releasing her throat, he grabbed her waist and pulled her body against his. He stared into her eyes but didn’t see any anger or reproach. There was an endless love and understanding that he didn’t deserve. “It’s been hard on you.”

Conall buried his face in the crook of her neck. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come sooner,” he whispered fiercely.

“You can cry.”

“No, I can’t. If that bastard son of ours ever found out, he’d never let me live it down,” Conall said gruffly, hiding the grief in his voice. Cia’s beautiful laughter was a tonic to his soul.

“Are you that afraid of our son?”

“If it’s combat, I’d still take the brat down, but with words, he destroys me,” he told her honestly.

“Hah! My two boys are quite outstanding.” Cia was thrilled to hear her husband talk about their son. Even if she wasn’t there, it felt like she was. In a spiritual sense, she had been connected to her boy, even if she couldn’t see him.

“I’m just afraid you’ll be a grandma by the time you see him.”

Cia couldn’t stop laughing. “Is he that outstanding?”

“Girls fawned over that brat nonstop. Even older women. Luthais said he already had claimed multiple wives.”

“Sounds like I need to talk to that boy.”

“Hey, don’t bring me into this!” Luthais said as he climbed down from Burble’s back. Following him were Niall and Alys.

Cia ran over and gave her father-in-law a big hug. “Dad, you are looking fit as ever. Who’s this young lady? Not one of my sons…”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Niall growled. “That’s my wife.”

Conall and Luthais looked at each other awkwardly, and Cia paused for a moment, unsure what to do. “Uh, hi, mom? I’m sorry I can’t call you that. It just doesn’t seem right.”

Alys grinned and didn’t seem upset. “You can call my Alys. Me and this guy only got together because we fought shoulder to shoulder against the Hex Vodun and spent every hour together for quite some time. So we can do away with formalities and treat me like a sister or something.”

Conall shook his head.

“You got something you want to say, you little bastard?” Niall asked, seeing his son shaking his head.

“Oh, I’ll leave that to Crow. He’s going to make it so awkward, and I’m going to laugh my ass off as you try to defend against him.”

“Dammit…” Niall grumbled, and the two women laughed.

Luthais approached Cia and thoroughly examined her while everyone laughed and joked. “You…”

Cia shook her head at him. Her heartbeat had slowed down so much that she shouldn’t be alive. Even she wasn’t sure what exactly was happening to her, and she knew for a fact that she’d died at least once. She didn’t tell Conall any of this as she knew he’d worry, but it was the real reason she couldn’t meet her son yet. The thing they shared would reveal it all to him, not to mention she felt he had specific abilities that’d be able to suss out her condition.

It all came down to time and growth. Cia’s sensitivity to fate and karma told her that her son needed more strength before he could help her. The kind of strength he wouldn’t get if he met her now, and so she had to endure before she could hold her son in her arms once more.

“How are you feeling?”

“Better. My strength is almost back, and my foundation was stable, to begin with, so another few weeks and I should be able to recover fully.”

Luthais handed over a bottle of pills.

“What are these?”

“I… hmm. I suppose you could say they are a gift from your daughter-in-law.”

“Oh? She. Alchemy… He married Song Lin?” Her voice was loud enough to attract the others.

“Well, his first wife is Song Xue.”

“That little bastard took both sisters!?”

“See!” Conall shouted. “I told you.”

“You shut up. I’ll talk to you after I’m done with your brother. What the hell did you teach our son?” Cia shouted, her face red in anger.

Niall was chortling with his arm around Alys, watching to show. Cia looked over at him, and he choked back his laughter.

“Sister, you can’t blame me. So many things happened, it’s hard to explain it all in one go. But I told Song Lin about Gideon, not even things I dared tell Crow. She created those pills after weeks of contemplation. She said they are called Soul Nurturing Pills, and if you take one a day, it will help reverse the damage done to your Soul and help revert any pre-mature aging. Based on what I know, it’s like she’s a fortune teller. These might be exactly what you need,” Luthais babbled, trying to appease his sister-in-law.

“She’s very thoughtful,” Cia said quietly. “Now… I want all the details about what happened with my boy. My husband is useless and didn’t even bother to check up on our son.”

Luthais, Niall, and even Alys filled Cia in on everything that went on after Conall left. Both parents listened attentively, and Cia cried no less than a dozen times.

“My poor baby,” Cia sobbed and laughed and, at times, did both because she wasn’t sure what to do. It was true her son was outstanding, but his actions were truly vexing. He had Conall’s unrelenting nature and Cia’s temper. Even Luthais couldn’t help but feel exasperated during the telling.