“Form up” he screamed while weaving a piece of his soul into the words. He didn’t particularly want to waste himself on such trivial things, but none would hear him otherwise. Even with his words amplified it took Chanters time to hear and obey his orders. ‘Hold the Nightmares off’ he’d been told ‘The Mines can’t be lost, fail in this Task and know your Worth will be marked, and you Taskmasters will find yourselves at the front of the next Host to retake the grounds you’ve lost.’

He hadn’t paid much heed to the words, he’d never failed in completing a Task forced upon him, though that record looked to be changing now. He leaned over the edge, others following his example, and peered down into the depths of the carven his people had mined out. Down there was a tide of Nightmares clawing their way up along the walls, a skill Xhar wished he had at his disposal. ‘How in the Givers name are we to hold that Hive back?’ He and his fellow Taskmaster had hundreds at their command, which in most cases would warrant no worries at all, it would have been the easiest Task in the realm to complete. But this wasn’t a normal Task, nor was he facing an ordinary swarm.

There had to be thousands down there, slowly working their way up to his level. In that tide of Nightmares, he could see glimpses of Ancients. ‘Oh Giver what have I done to deserve dealing with this mess?’ He’s always been good, done what was expected of him, never let his Mothers down. Yet for all that here he was, merely because he wasn’t as blessed as the rest of his brothers.

‘They’ll be down here with me soon enough.’ A Task such as this will require more Worthy individuals to end it, especially if most of his Host ends up as Nightmare food.

‘You are not to retreat, know that if you or those under your command do so, you’ll find no home to came back to.’ The women smiled after saying that, quite happy to be the one to deliver the message. He should have cut her head off, let the rage in him guide his hands. True he didn’t have the Worth to cover the cost of killing her, and he would have been branded, but it wouldn’t have changed anything. He’d still be here regardless, forced to deal with a foe none of them were prepared for.

The flicker of light over at the other side of the cavern pulled his attention, the signal that the preparations were down. He replied with his own light, others doing the same along the rim of the gaping hole. Then the final signal was given, and he motioned to his group “Release the waters.”

Channels were opened, choruses formed were formed guiding the flood into a stream over the edge of the cliff. At the same time, they changed the water into either large chunks of ice or shaped into spears. The Nightmares protested, the tune of their screeches changed to those of pain. He watched unable to stop his curiosity hungry to know the damage they were causing. He frowned, it was hard to tell, the beasts were a long way down, and with the number of them moving about it was hard to see if they were killing a decent amount of them.

They had to be doing enough, as the swarm, once taking its time rampaging about the many mined tunnels, doing all sorts of damage. Turned their full attention up to them. Nightmares crawled their way up the walls, many rushing to fast, losing their grip and crashing back into the sea of their kind.

“Aim for the walls” he bellowed his throat starting to hurt even with his soul-elevating his voice “Don’t worry about the damage we cause, it can always be fixed.” Following his words, boulders of ice smashed into the beasts, walls cracking, and stone falling away carrying screeching Nightmares down with them.

During their little bout of annoying the swarm, Ascendance hovered over them waiting for the moment to reveal themselves and deal with the Ancients once they decided to act. Xhar hoped those horrors wouldn’t, at least not in his direction. He wished, and if he was dumb enough to do so, would have asked the Giver for the beasts to attack the other Hosts starting their assault in adjoining tunnels. At least he hadn’t been cursed enough to be sent into the lower depths of the mining network to push Nightmares out. His Mothers must have seen him worth enough not to merely throw him to his death, least not blatantly so.

He smiled when he heard the crackle of the Givers wrath being loosed below him. The Ancients were thankfully going after closer targets. Hopefully, it would stay that way, so his Host could somehow hold back and kill the largest swarm any of them have ever seen or heard about. Even with a literal lake worth of water at their disposal, it’s going poorly. They killed beasts by the score, smashed them and impaled numerous amounts with javelins of ice, but still, the swarm steadily clawed their way towards them.

Then his Fear came to surface. The air humming as an Ancient appeared through the mob of Nightmares. A gaping mouth was pointed upwards towards them, everyone around the rim rushed back, and chorused together to quickly form barriers around the chasm. A futile act as the thin shielding was easily brushed aside and the twisted chanted carved large chunks out of the crater. Xhar had been lucky the chant wasn’t aimed at his section, instead, a decent distance away the flooring crumbled, and the Ancient chant broke through, killing Chanters caught off guard, or falling through the floor down to their doom. Some screamed on their way down before it was cut short by the telltale signs of a Nightmares smashing a person’s head open.

When the attack ebbed, those on Ascendance took action, hovering over the chasm and firing down. Xhar turned his head and closed his eyes quick enough before the realm went bright. He put his hands on his eyes as he heard more Chanters add their souls to the Chorus. The warmth of Giver stayed with them near a Sequence, which at the time was wonderful, till it left and worrisome thoughts surged up to the surface. He looked to those who’d performed the Chant, and as he feared the fools had practically spent themselves. The Ascendance guided them weakly back to the edge where they slumped to the floor and brothers began replacing them manning the devices.

“Fools” he screamed at them “The Task has just begun, why have used yourselves so recklessly?” Only a few bothered looking in his direction as they sat on the floor. One pointing to the edge “Another Ancient, a fortress of shell, it blocked our attack against the one that struck at us.” He breathed deeply a few times before continuing. “It took all we had to kill the defender.”

Xhar scowled, let the face of Anger cover the look of Concern that wished to show itself. He hurried over to the edge and looked. He saw the Ancient described, what remained of it, what did was layers of shining shell. The Nightmares stopped and began fighting over the remains, or tried to, but a growl made the cavern shudder. Nightmares scurried away from the corpse, which was quickly grabbed by another Ancient and disappeared back under the lake of beasts. He moved back from the edge ‘Offer to you Giver, for the reprieve from the beasts that lay in wait down there.’ Turning to the section of Host he commanded, “Back to your Tasks, shower them in ice, and for Giver's sake don’t spend yourselves.”

They had nowhere to run after all, either they completed this Task or they died. ‘You’d think they’d give us Hearts to aid in this, but no.’ Xhar found his hands shaking, he balled them into fists to stop the worst of it as he entered a thin trance. He stayed there, focusing on his mantra long enough that he could move his fingers properly to chant.

The Host rained down boulders and spears, as the Nightmares grew nearer to them they froze the walls of the chasm with slick sheets of ice. It helped at first when the rushing mob tried to find purchase but instead fell to their deaths. That didn’t last, as the pests slowed and hammered their daggered claws into the ice.

Sighing in frustration Xhar raised a light stone, flashing it towards others of his title. They answered in kind, all in agreement. “Retreat from the rim, ten paces, we're going to break away the edge.” People hurried to action, moving into position, Xhar held his light up again in signal his group was ready. Others followed in short succession, and when the final light stone went up he ordered “Now!”

Soul streamed into the stone ahead of them, it began to shiver, then shatter, which they pushed away and boulders of stone slide away into the abyss. They continued till the strain and cost of moving stone became a detriment. “Continue breaking the side of the walls with ice, don’t let these pests regain the initiative.

Xhar smiled when he looked over the edge once more, the sight bringing him much needed hope. Hundreds of the vermin fell back to the depth they came, giant chunks of the stone following close behind crashing down through the layers of Nightmares that made up the floor. The pests began to scatter as his Host broke away more of the chasm sides, the hail of stone finally doing enough damage that the Nightmares deemed it necessary to avoid their deaths. His ears twitched as the Givers wrath shuck the realm below. ‘The Nightmares must be streaming towards the other Hosts to get away from us.’

A suitable trade as long as the Hosts below weren’t consumed or spent themselves too soon, like his bunch of clueless newborn were doing. “Return to using Water, the chasm as suffered enough damage this Rotation.” He could see their assault against the sides had revealed other mining shafts. The tunnels were lined with discarded equipment, which those above weren’t going to be pleased they damaged. ‘Better than losing the place altogether, but they’ll still complain, they always complain.’ Xhar almost asked a boon from the giver that he wouldn’t be blamed. Or punished in some manner for the destruction they were going to cause while trying to secure their hold on this realm.

Xhar features once hard in a fake mask of anger slipped and revealed the fear he was trying to suppress. The depths below began to refill as Nightmares poured through tunnels on all sides, even to his unease from mining shafts that they just broke open.

The clap of Choruses increased below his paws, enough that pebbles moved about. He gave the order water coating the sides of the rim as they reapplied layers of ice to thwart the swarm. The rest of his surrounding Hosts maintained their barrage striking at the vermin clawing upward. A massive section of wall down near the bottom blow apart as an Ancient rolled up in a ball of armor hammer through. It didn’t slow, and Nightmares ran to remove themselves from its course as it plowed into the other section of wall moving through the tons of stone effortlessly.

From the new breach, a wave of Nightmares came streaming out, most continued following the path their champion was making, but a fair portion decided to join the swarm already present in climbing their way upward. He didn’t have time to worry about that as another side of wall shattered, the air rippled to life as the morphed song of an Ancient aimed its mouth towards them. He didn’t even have time to call for a defense before a wave of chanted wind collided with stone, many were flung back, wind and rock cutting them apart. Xhar threw himself back, running then crawling on all fours when he lost his balance.

Xhar only found the resolve to look behind himself after he was pressed against a wall. Even as he turned, the morphed chants continued, it had dipped for a Breath, before starting again, likely there was another Ancient down there. The second blast caught some of those on ascendance who’d been moving forward to strike back at the beast. What remained of those individuals was an extra swear added to the already red dyed floor.

Stone fell from the ceiling, plus the ever-widening rim of the chasm. The Hosts around him and those he could see where mimicking his action backs pressed against the furthest wall they could find. He could see people on the other side of the gap pushing their way into the tunnel exits.

‘You won’t get far’ he thought, there was an army down passages waiting to assist any host that needed it. Part of him held hope that those fleeing individuals were running to call for aid, rather than trying to hide somewhere.

Xhar flinched, as the chant increased in ferocity, thick cracks bursting open, slowly working its way to his location. Stone broke and fell, the rim growing ever closer, Xhar had enough “Retreat into the Passages!” he scream at the top of his lungs, even amplified it was hard to hear under the raging winds.

But he didn’t care, the smart ones would follow him, so he pushed off the wall, his legs slow to act as they were frozen stiff by the grips of fear. A Tempo could have past for all he knew, it felt like it as he moved sluggishly to the exit pushing people out of his way or pushing those along also heading for the exit. The Winds continued even after he slipped through the opening, and began running down the passage. The thought of getting away from this mess eased his body, but that relief withered, as he felt the whole area around him quake. Enough that he lost his footing and sprawled out on the floor.

The winds behind him stopped, then replaced by the breaking of stone and screams. So many screams, He turned to look, and saw passed others doing the same as him, A Carver shaped Ancient causing havoc. Its beak glowed, as did its shell armor, where it turned corpses followed. Ascendance acted blazing light striking the beast, it screamed as bits of it burnt off, but otherwise, the thing kept up its assault. Now focusing on the flying Chanters that dared to attack it. Even large, the thing was lightning fast, its beak went flying out to either puncture people into mush or open to quickly snap shut around a victim.

Among the chorus of screams, he heard pleadings from others of his title “Attack you mindless Newborn, Attack!”

Xhar shielded his eyes as Taskmasters, then others joined in a Chorus. The Ancient howled in protest, the realm shivering once more. When he blinked the brightness from his eyes Xhar found the Ancient gone. He’d at first thought it reduces to ash, but the ground began to shake, and from another corner, the beast returned. The wall it came bursting from either outright killed people or sent them tumbling over the edge. The Ancient retreated again before Chanters had a chance to retaliate.

Xhar pushed himself to his feet, his heart ready to pop as his eyes focused on the lip of the chasm. Numerous hooks and claws grabbed the edge, he turned and ran before the screams started. He blocked out the calls of alarm, of people releasing their death cries, all he focused on was the passage ahead and reaching the army that lay in wait.

He ran, and ran, tripping over himself on occasion, before finally stumbling into the chamber that housed the army of reserves meant to shore up any part of the force that began to buckle. There was, however, a problem, the long stretching chamber that should be brimming with anxious Chanters, was empty.

He stared numb, his legs following suit and he fell to rest on his knees. The ground rumbled under him, pebbles shifting about, and he flexed his ears and focused. He could hear distant chants echoing from other passages connected to the chamber. Plus the more oppressing sounds of Nightmare calls echoing behind him from the hall he exited from. He couldn’t help but look back, expecting a Nightmare to appear in his vision readying to impale him, instead, he found a group of Chanters scared witless.

Xhar hummed forcing his soul to course through his numb legs bringing them back to life. He didn’t give an order, instead, he began to run, heading for the exits where echoed Chants seeped from. The army had to be somewhere below him, already called upon to aid another host. Xhar had to get to them, at least warn all that they were about to be assault from above and below. The calls of Nightmare grew more apparent as he raced down the chamber, and by the time he dashed into an exit, he was sure the beasts had or were entering the chamber. That spurred his vessel to action, helping him run down passages in a mad haze as his ears moved about desperate to pinpoint which tunnels to take to reach the host he could hide within.

As he expected and feared the tunnels he traveled led him down into the depths, the Chants growing louder and vibrations in the stone becoming more abundant. He didn’t have to really rely on his hearing as he realized he could follow the tracks the Host left behind. The foliage even if they had been careful was crushed, both a blessing and curse. The Nightmares, if they were the clever sort, will be able to track their location just as easily. The realm shuck, the air rippling with pulses of a Chorus. ‘Then again the Nightmares only have to follow the many vibrations they're giving off.’

In his haste to reach safety, he rounded a bend without slowing or checking and smashed face first into barriers. He and those on the other side of the shielding gave a yelp, while he crashed on his back grabbing his nose. Breathing became hard, and his blood was spilling down his face. It took him a few tries before he was able to reach the note for the hymn of renewal to take effect. His structure underneath popped back into place, and blessed air rushed into his lungs. He glared at the Chanters that stared down at him, while he hummed and removed the blood that stained him and his clothing.

Getting up he placed a hand against the barriers, began the process of slowly peeling them away so he could enter. His action was stopped however by those within the shield undoing his work.

“Let me in,” he said in a commanding voice, they ignored him, and the group of people that Xhar only now noticed were behind him. The Chanters in safety turned and called up the line for a Taskmaster. Xhar Hammered his fists into the barriers “Let me in.” he said again his voice tense “I’m a Taskmaster from above, The Nightmares have overrun us, now” striking the barrier “Let. Me. In!”

Normally he would regret his words, it wasn’t for newborn to hear, not with how delicate they could be. But he had more pressing matters, such as an encroaching horde of Nightmares he could hear racing towards him from the passages to his back. A Taskmaster pushed his way through the newborn, who’d gone rigid with concern. His fellow of title scowled at him the anger promised of a mark on his Worth. But Xhar could live with that, since it would mean he was alive, rather than gnawed to death as a stream of Nightmares killed him in front of fools that failed to render aid.

“Clear the barriers you worthless newborn,” said his savior, the Chanters were slow to act, they could hear the Nightmares approaching to, the beasts weren’t being sublet about it. They never were when they’ve had a large meal, and expected more to follow.

He pressed himself against the shields as the sounds of death grow ever closer, and when a gap that began to widen into an opening formed he didn’t wait and began pushing himself through. Not the Worthiest sight for a Taskmaster to display to those under him, but the alternative was death, or possibly being eaten alive. Xhar didn’t even get a few steps from the breach before a hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him roughly away from the newborn that eyed them with concern.

“Explain everything,” said his fellow Taskmaster, one that had many Cycles over him by the channels he displayed. “With a soft voice, I don’t need more of my brothers shaking in fear before they’ve even faced the threat.”

“Of course Title brother,” Xhar said, keeping his voice respectful and kind. A tone easy for him to manifest after Cycles of practice against brothers and sisters that talked down to him. “The Hosts above were dispersed then broke after a number of Ancients attacked us at once. The beasts both distracted and kept us in a formation of defense long enough for their children to move in range.” He gave a helpless shrug, displaying his palms in submission. “After that everything fell apart, I retreated to get word to our reserves, but when I arrived at the chamber they were supposed to be housed in, I found it bare.”

His senior looked troubled, not fearful, the man was better at posing than him, or perhaps he wasn’t as easily scared. “You’re sure? We only took one Host to help fill our ranks, there should have been an army waiting above us.”

“There was none, the whole chamber empty.” Xhar attention slipped from the conversation and moved towards the barriers and tunnels he arrived from, the Nightmares had finally shown themselves and followed in his example of slamming into the shielding caught off guard by the abrupt obstruction baring their path. The newborn screamed again, this time longer and with more terror ringing in the air.

“Though,” said Xhar “I didn’t get time to check any adjoining tunnels.” Pointing towards the pests “not with those close behind me.”

The senior grunted, no longer focusing on him, but the swarm of Nightmares filling the tunnel. “Fortify the shields” his voice boomed, everyone's ears going rigid by the sudden sound. The veterans acted, while the newborn moved their souls into constructs formed by their betters. When it looked like all were following his command the senior turned his attention back to Xhar. “As for you, you are to report this situation down the line to every brother of our title till you’re at the front.”

“But” before he could get anything else out, one of the senior hands grabbed hold of his lower jaw squeezing hard. “I gave an order, and you will follow.” He said his face growing near a snarl forming. “It’s plain to see that you ran from your charge, left your assigned Task, left your Host to –“ his words tapered off as his concentration was disrupted by the realm beginning to quake around them.

Xhar pulled himself away from the pompous senior and pushed himself deeper down the line of Chanters, he didn’t get far before the Ancient that ruined his Rotation smashed through stone and collided with barriers behind him. He turned, saw the shielding buckle, cracks streamed out from where the peak struck. A beak that began to glow brighter, the barriers around it protested before breaking, and the Nightmares nearby charged into the disoriented newborn.

The Ancient snaked back into the hole it came, the realm shaking with its every movement. Xhar took that as the signal to keep pushing his way through the mob. He was forced to stop in his tracks once the realm began to quiver so violently that he had to place his hands on others to stay upright. He headed an explosion of noise ahead of him, and it took his vessel time to cope with the sight displayed.

A new cavern had been made, cutting through the tunnel filled with Chanters. From it, Nightmares came rushing in, and he recalled the rolling Ancient he’d seen from above. ‘Giver I beg for mercy.’ That was all he could think when the Ancient came rolling back, forming another cavern through the tunnel they were housed in. The Barriers provided no resistance against the fortress of bulk that went smashing through it. Nor did people even have time to scream before they were crushed.

Xhar found himself yelling “Pour everything into the barriers now!” his voice sounding out in a shriek. He emptied himself sending his soul to build and enforce the shielding around him. The Giver be praised as others listened to his words, and the barriers began to glow bright. ‘Giver please I’ll repent, I’ll offer to you every Rotation, please –‘ he didn’t get to finish his thought as the realm trembled and the last image he saw was a mass of shell smashing through barriers.

-------------------------

Lying in his bed Dailin stared up into the ceiling of his room, not really paying much attention to the detailed art that encompassed it. No, he was focused on the feeling of dread his instinct was sending him. It had, after his indulgence in Hearts, lessened in its intensity, but no more. He felt it growing in weight again, back to the point it once been before his change.

‘The truth will come to me eventually, life won’t let this threat stay away forever.’ He knew of the Nightmares that dwelled outside, all of them slowly growing in size with every meal they claimed. But that didn’t mean he knew how bad it was, the shards helped but that was a small glimpse of the whole that was daunting him and his instincts.

All he could do now was improve himself, use up more Hearts that, as he looked to his table, were easy to come by now. Especially after he began to lay with women from eager Houses, which had been quite the scene. They’d stared at him in disbelief when his whole nude form was presented to them, some blinked or rubbed their eyes, only for them to open wide again when he remained his glowing self.

It was to his knowledge the first time he was literally tackled by a group of women and forced upon. It was also a first to watch women fight with each other to stay on top of him. He was glad he’d reworked his skin so it held off all forms of damage from getting through it. Otherwise, by the end of that ‘lovemaking’, he would have been a bruised corpse. They haven’t been gentle in the slightest, especially after the fighting started.

After that mess he was in agreement with his Maidens that he would only take one women at a time, while rest waited in another chamber. It slowed things a great deal, but at least he wasn’t man-handled anymore, and able to enjoy the moment. Even though the women began to cry when he forced them to leave so the next in line could have their turn.

For the hundredth time, he wished he could go back in time. Stop himself from rushing off to the vault and changing himself so openly. At the time it seemed the only option, the feeling that he was about to be attacked was absolute, but now as weeks have passed and nothing has changed he could only look back and see it as a blunder on his part. The scenes of the shards got the better of him, made him panic and jump at ghosts. Now he paid the price of that misjudgment.

Things had become tense, not in the way of anger or annoyance, but of fear. Before those around him acted in the manner one would towards a king or royalty.

Now though, now it felt like he was being worshipped, as if he was something divine, or was the child of one. It was stifling, his every action was watched, even the slightest utterances of something he wanted would have people rushing off to get it. Hence the stack of Hearts laying on top of his new table made of pure gold, silver, and encrusted jewels. The rest of his furniture was the same, even his bed frame was made of varied precious metals.

It was nice to look at, but at this point it was overbearing. Not to mention the Worth wasted on such things that could have gone to the rest of his family to make their lives easier, more carefree like his.

Well maybe but not like his, it wasn’t actually carefree, but at least he wasn’t running around barely making a living when he first started. He did miss it some, the ability to go where he wished if he wanted, unlike now. He could leave, but the uproar that would cause wasn’t worth it, even if he wanted to go see a play or a chorus song on a colossal stage. No that would be too much of a bother, bring to much attention to him and waste everyone’s day preparing transportation to take him.

So what he once thought would never happen, nor allow, came to pass. He was in a gilded cage of his own making, the irony.

Alone in his room was the only time he could relax and find peace. He occasionally walked around, but most of the time it was to set locations, either the council chamber or the training room, where his children would rush towards just to be around him for a few seconds. At least they still treated him warmly, weren’t afraid that he would become offended for some reason and lash out. Not unlike his Maidens who become very distant, they still cared for him, that he knew, but they’ve become very careful about how they acted. It was no longer carefree or loosely formal, now they acted as the servant Maidens, eyes lowered comments straight to the point, and not an ounce of intimacy in their words.

Save for Unthee, but that was when she had him alone, and even then it wasn’t near how loose she once been at the beginning of their joining. ‘It’s only going to get worse.’ He couldn’t ignore the feeling of dread, not forever, soon he would be forced to improve himself sorely to remove that oppressive sense. Already he’d looked deep into his memories, tried to force older ones to surface, anything that neared what he was dealing with now. He found very vague images and thoughts down in the depths of his mind. He'd been something above royalty before, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to follow the advice that came from it. He hadn’t been a nice individual, at least that’s what it appeared like from looking at the memories from an outside view.

He treated people as objects, items rather than fellows such as him. He did dreadful things to his subjects, minions? He wasn’t sure, the memories were so very distorted. But from it, he got the board understanding that since he was above everyone he should act accordingly. He was important everyone else wasn’t, they didn’t matter only he did. His wants came first, his subjects didn’t have any, they were tools, and tools didn’t dream or have desires. They were there solely for him to do what he wanted nothing more, if they couldn’t do such, they had no need to exist.

Dailin pulled away from the memories, and couldn’t help but shake his mind in disbelief. Had that once been him? Had he really been that blind, that arrogant?

He must of, he finally concluded, the memories were there, after all, his thoughts once upon a time. Oh, how that thinking had cost him in the end. He couldn’t remember what clearly, but he got the impression it wasn’t pleasant, and that it was deserved, at least from his new point of view.

He pulled himself back to the present, back to his room that was becoming just as luxuries as the one in his dream, the only difference was the size and the missing wives. ‘Those memories didn’t help, I suppose I’ll keep doing what I’ve always done.’ Being polite got him far, or left alone for the most part, it kept him out of trouble more than any other method of treating people.

Sighing he rose from his bed, his body protesting the act as it left the confines of the ludicrously soft fabric. But he’d rested enough and his instincts wouldn’t let him simply lie in bed all day. No, it only gave him peace when he worked on an endeavor that made him stronger in some fashion.

So he walked over to the table and plopped himself on the large cushion chair that faced the Hearts. As he grabbed one there was a knock on his door, a series of them in a timed and orderly manner that let him know it was one of his daughters.

“Come in,” he said placing the Heart down as the door quickly opened and shut. A lone person had entered, and as she turned he recognized her. Tealhun, his most openly affectionate child, and now apparently new appointed caretaker. Least it seemed so, she was always among groups of people attending him, be it, other daughters or servants, she was always there watching.

She hurried over to him, eyes downcast but still searching their surroundings. She carried a sack with her, clinking with her every step. When she got close, she fell to her knees and prostrated herself to him. His eyes rolled at the display, something he told his children a hundred times they didn’t need to do. But for all his supposed greatness they still ignored his words when it came to them not praising him.

Stifling a sigh he moved Mana into his throat infusing his words with the warmth his children so deeply loved “Raise yourself, my child, there’s no need for you to lower yourself, I know how much I mean to you, I know you’d never mean disrespect.”

She obeyed though slowly, her face looking up at him, and only then did he display a smile. She showed her own, one true and bridled with joy. “It’s only right that we lower ourselves to you, Papa.”

“Perhaps, but not those of my blood, now up child, it would make me happy if you did so.” He said his voice echoing in the room, an added effect for flare and his own amusement.

Tealhun literally jumped to her feet, everyone was always so eager to do something when he said it would please him. He smiled “So what is it I can do for you this Rotation my sweet child.”

“Nothing,” she said in an almost panicked voice “I would never Papa, I’ve come to offer new shards for you to view, we made sure the sights are ones you favor, they show the pests champions at work.”

“Oh,” his Mana acting on his excitement causing his body to glow brightly and his voice to become soothing even to his ears. Tealhun visibly reacted to it, her tense posture relaxed and bent down. He stretched a hand towards the bag, which woke his child out of the daze his chant had submerged her in. She hastily handed it over, it weighed more than the last batch they’d given him, which only show more how much his Main Maidens had been keeping things hidden out of concern for his safety.

“Thank you dear” he placed the sack on the table as he rose, opening his arms out for a hug. She only acted reluctance for an instant before wrapping her arms around him. He did the same and began to hum to her while rubbing her back. She melted into his embrace, any semblance of anxiety leaving her. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment, not long, as he was sure she's busy. So reluctantly he pulled away from his child that treated him the most as a father, rather than some great imposing figurehead.

It made him happy to see she was just as hesitant, but as always she returned to a stance of composure and authority. Her eyes once more cast down “Is there anything you need Papa, food, entertainment?”

“No Tealhun I’m quite content with the shards you’ve already brought me, but thank you none the less.” He said returning to his chair and grabbing a shard.

She bowed “don’t hesitate to call Papa, your favored are outside if you need anything.”

“Of course sweetheart,” he said mirth and warmth mixing together in his voice “May you have a blessed Rotation for all your hard work.”

“Thank you, Papa” her voice low, a tone of reverence ringing in it. He turned away from her and connected to a shard as she hurried off, mind already elsewhere and unfazed by the accent of the child's voice, it was his new norm now, something he’d already heard many times before.

---------------------

Tealhun shut the door gently, an act that was torturous at the moment as her vessel was ready to dance with joy. Her Ascended father had blest her work, and more importantly this Rotation, no clearer sign from the Giver herself that Tealhun actions were sanctioned. The affection her Papa displayed to her was only more proof, her heart still fluttered, and she offered more to the Giver, offered every Rotation for being allowed the privilege to be his child. His special child.

‘He knows my name!’ that alone had her ecstatic, that he would remember her, to be so chosen of the volume of children at his call, to be remembered.

“Tealhun? Is he well?” The voice startled her, and she found herself still staring at the door. Straightening and for now, placing the thrill to the side she turned and address her sisters. “Yes, he is content and approving of the offerings we provided.” She switched to signing “Still sisters I wish you to remain here, just in case, our Papa can’t be allowed to wander the halls.”

“All is ready then?” signed another of her cohort.

Tealhun smile, enough that her teeth showed, the joy working its way back to the surface “Yes, and we’ve been given a boon, our Papa himself just blessed this Rotation, you all know what that means.” They did, their smiles growing wide and eyes glowing brightly at the news. “Farewell my sisters I’m off to give the signal, it’s finally time we clean house.”