Though the Brandle clan didn’t control most of Pualani, in general the island could be considered more secure than the Tenebach clan. At least with regards to the Society of Midnight, it was more difficult to arrive in secret as there was no unpopulated land to sneak through.

While there were rival clans in the Shimmering Islands that might like to see harm come to the Brandles, they also had sufficient local alliances that it would be too risky to engage in an attack, even with the help of the Society of Midnight. And if they had sent more assassins, they would have had to do so before John and Matayal left the Tenebach clan- which as far as they knew had been kept secret.

The last month of Matayal’s pregnancy involved a tense period of waiting, not because they expected danger but simply because they had no idea if something might go wrong with the pregnancy. So far their children seemed vibrant and healthy, but it was hard to not worry. But ultimately, all they could do was wait.

When the time came, Matayal’s room was crowded with people. There was herself along with Kusuma and a trusted local midwife, Netanel, and John. Plus some assistants for the midwife who would run to fetch anything that was needed.

“More hot water!” she called out. Instead of anyone leaving to get it, Netanel easily condensed a bucket of water with his energy- and John was able to heat it. Using the fire element for an attack was quite difficult without a totem, but he had enough practice to at least warm a bucket of water- if not terribly efficiently.

Instead of having to guess what was happening, spiritual energy allowed everyone to clearly sense how the three children were moving about. Somehow they seemed to know it was time, as the motions of Matayal’s body only provided part of the movement required.

One of the girls- the one attuned to the earth element- rapidly wiggled forward, seeming to push off of the others in her eagerness. She wormed out headfirst, exiting smoothly with only minor encouragement from Matayal’s energy to ease the path. Her arms wiggled as if reaching for something before she was handed to Matayal. She was small, but not any smaller than expected for a triplet.

The second girl was next, but she seemed quite a bit more contrary than the first. Though Matayal continuously coaxed her to go headfirst, she kept rotating to have her feet facing outwards.

“Stubborn…” Matayal complained. Her face focused on John, “If you would… just help push her out. Darkness energy should be best for the task, I think.”

The second birth was nowhere as smooth as the first, but John carefully injected his energy into Matayal. He had enough power to kill strong warriors, so it wasn’t a problem of not having sufficient power to force his daughter out- but avoiding hurting her was the issue. She was subconsciously absorbing a small amount of the energy he wrapped her with, but he kept a steady amount around her, slowly pushing her along. Terrible complications might have arisen if they had to rely on basic medical practices, but cultivation made it easy- if still somewhat exhausting.

All that remained was the boy. He didn’t eagerly rush out, nor did he stubbornly rotate himself in the wrong direction. However, he also was resistant to being moved. He seemed to find his position comfortable. But while it might have been comfortable for him, Matayal was quite ready to be done with her pregnancy. She cut off all traces of her water energy from his access, so that he would only find it outside. Muscular action finally pushed him out, in more or less the process of a normal birth with much clenching of muscles and gritted teeth.

John was pretty sure Matayal broke one of the bones in hand with her tight grip on his own, but that was easily dealt with later.

“Their names?” Netanel and Kusuma both looked on eagerly.

“Ursel,” Matayal declared for the girl attuned to earth. They had discussed another name for her, but John thought it fit. “The next is Melanthina. And the boy is Tirto.”

The whole room seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief, as everything seemed to have gone well. The only issue was Tirto constantly absorbing a stream of water elemental spiritual energy, which was no longer so easy to control as he was now out on his own.

Though in terms of births it was on the easier end- especially considering there were triplets- Matayal still needed some rest. John took the responsibility of making sure Tirto wasn’t too greedy while she dozed off.

-----

Though John and Matayal were reasonably certain that their children would not harm themselves by absorbing spiritual energy, it was still sensible to have them under constant watch as they were still newborns. That wasn’t so difficult as they weren’t restricted to just the two of them- any trusted member of the Brandle clan could watch after them, and Kusuma was interested as well despite her not being related. Neither John nor Matayal would object to having the powerful woman keep the children safe, of course. Adopted family was always a good thing to have.

After a short period of recovery, Matayal was able to cultivate once more, including dual cultivation with John. Though she’d had some small measure of improvement in her cultivation during pregnancy, she had avoided devoted cultivation in case it would negatively affect the children. The break in cultivation had allowed John to catch up, and now both of them were at the twenty-sixth rank. One more step to reach the peak of Soul Expansion Phase, and then they would be able to start breaking into the Consolidated Soul Phase.

Having experienced a long period of cultivation and several conflicts without Matayal being present, John continued to realize how much he had missed it. He hoped it was the same for her as well, as their energies mingled and supported each other.

-----

Matayal was speaking with John about the future of their children. “Things haven’t gotten any simpler now that they’re actually born,” she lamented. “Now we have to actually do something instead of just thinking about it. And none of the options seem quite right.”

“I don’t think there’s ever a perfect path for anyone. With the politics of clans involved…” John shook his head. “We just have to do the best we can. And that might involve some personal sacrifices.”

“Ursel’s the biggest problem,” Matayal said. “For the sake of their cultivation and future positions, Melanthina and Tirto will be spending the majority of time with your clan and mine, respectively. But we do want them to be familiar with their siblings and the other clan as well.”

“When they get older we might allow them to decide some of that, but we have the basic premise. Ursel would be better suited to staying in the Stone Conglomerate, but we don’t want to distance the sisters from their brother.”

“Or either of us,” Matayal said. “Since it seems likely we will be spending much of our time with our respective clans.”

John sighed. That was the worst part. John had to take over management of the Tenebach clan at some point, and though his father and grandfather were managing the affairs just fine, for the sake of image he had to be involved, and thus present in Marble County most of the time. Even if there was some freedom, it affected potential travel. Meanwhile, Netanel needed to focus on his cultivation for the sake of the Brandle clan, and Matayal was the only one who could directly take over.

They wouldn’t be simply bound to their clans, but they wouldn’t be able to roam freely. That also meant they would be spending more time with certain of their children than others.

“We should have had another,” John grinned. “One aligned with air, maybe.”

“Ugh,” Matayal grimaced. “That would have been awful. More than awful.” The triplets were all the elements aligned with darkness, and thus her own cultivation hadn’t conflicted. But an air element child would have meant absorbing something she was weak to. She could likely have handled it, but it would have made the whole experience much worse. “I think I’ll pass. On any more children at all, really.”

John nodded. “It would have been nice to get just two…” That had been their plan- one to take over each clan and continue the lines, minimizing potential conflict. Now they had to hope not only that their children were suited for leadership roles, but also that Ursel was not upset at having no position for her. Or the opposite, the others jealous of her freedoms.

“Too bad the Order of the Amber Heart is a sect instead of a clan. We could marry her off there.”

“What about the Milanovic clan? It might be good to secure a formal alliance there,” John was half joking, but also half serious. To him it felt like far too early to be arranging marriages, but he had been engaged to Matayal from the time Forktran was born, more or less. “It would be pretty hard on Ursel though.”

“Yes, a boundary crossing marriage like that would be difficult. She would be more comfortable at the Mulyani clan, but her husband would have to be content with empowering her cultivation, more or less.”

“The chances that any of the children will go down my path is… pretty negligible I imagine,” John pondered. “They seem pretty firmly tied to their single elements.”

“A straightforward path laid out before them, but lacking somewhat in choice. There are worse things,” Matayal shrugged.

John thought it felt a bit problematic to try to plan their children’s lives ahead of them, but it was also difficult to avoid it. Both of them wanted the best for their clans and their children’s lives, and though John was born in a place where individual freedoms were paramount, he understood the responsibility people had towards a clan, especially with Fortkran’s memories. Even if the previous inhabitant of his body had been rather bad at managing any responsibilities, he at least knew about them.

“Since there’s not much we can do about them right now, except keep them safe… what about us? Our cultivations, I mean,” John clarified. “It would solidify our clan’s positions if we managed to reach Consolidated Soul Phase.”

“We still have quite some time before we have to worry about that,” Matayal pointed out. “I would prioritize the children and troubles with the Society of Midnight. But half a year or a year from now… we should be ready.”

“I still want to attune to a fire totem to support your cultivation,” John explained, “But I’ve come to understand the practical issues there. It would depend on us being together at all times too significantly, and especially now it will be difficult. The thought of surpassing the Consolidated Soul Phase…” John shook his head. “It’s very far off, even with the resources of our clans. Even reaching the latter half… might not be something we can accomplish.”

Matayal nodded. “It’s something we can only think about if our clans are strongly established, and our children take over… our countries simply don’t have the resources of density of energy required.”

With the Consolidated Soul Phase being exceptional in the local regions- only the darklands being somewhat higher ranking but more hostile- surpassing it was unheard of. It required more than just resources and grit, but also talent. John certainly thought that he and Matayal had the talent, but he could have been overestimating them. He might ask Renato, if the man had reincarnated from another region. It seemed a sensible question to ask, but it was a bit risky to do so by letter. Even if most people wouldn’t cause trouble for reincarnated people, it was better to not risk issues. And his own status was somewhat more difficult.

John almost wished he were back running a burger place, but while that job hadn’t been awful… there was something attractive about the power he had now. The increased responsibilities and dangers were just something that came with it.