***Tirnanog, Hochberg***

***Thalia***

“He is so cute!” I pulled at Isaac's cheeks, basking in the sadistic joy of an adult pampering a child against its will. “You like aunty Thalia, don't you? Oh, I know you hate me doing this but I am doing it anyway because I want to. Astra, he might be the best thing you ever accomplished. You just have to make more of them as soon as you can.”

“I already have,” Astra replied tiredly while sinking into her couch. “There are two more of them waiting to 'hatch'. And are you trying to say my reproductive abilities outweigh my other accomplishments?”

I blinked at her. “Weeell... except for hooking up with Magnus there isn’t much you-”

She pointed a warning finger at me. “Don't say it!”

But it was the truth. Who would have thought Magnus would turn out to be a fucking goldmine of political power. As a bonus, he had already saved the clan from an existential threat. Who could say what would have happened if he hadn't made us aware of Thich's cooperation with Earth?

We would still be sitting on our asses. Complacent with our way of life while the clan’s power was slowly subverted from within. Meanwhile, Thich would have slowly outstripped our relevance on Tirnanog’s political stage.

If I had known beforehand, I would have taken Magnus for myself – callous as that may be.

I touched my chest in fake hurt. “Oh, I am so sorry if I scratched your ego! In truth, I was just complimenting our cute Isaac. I can already tell he will have a very big heart once he is grown up.”

The emotions and mental impressions I got from children were so pure compared to any adults I knew. Nothing against Astra, but just having Isaac in the same room felt soothing.

Sadly, the boy would have no more of my teasing and wiggled out of my grasp to flee to his mother. He spread his arms expectantly and Astra sighed, picking him up for a hug. Now that he had his parents around, Isaac wanted all the hugs in the world.

Until I read his emotions nobody was aware of the child knowing exactly who his parents were from the moment he was born. Not having them around when he hatched had left him worrying about them all the time.

“I love you too, Isaac. But any more than three of you sounds like a very big mistake,” Astra mumbled, already tired after just one day of keeping him out of trouble. “In hindsight, I can now understand why Magnus blacked out when he heard of the triplets. Let's just be glad that the zipper mutation messed with my cycle. If I am right, I just have to be careful during winter and I should be fine.”

Should I tell her that such drastic mutations to the reproductive mechanism likely came with other downsides? Like, heightened libido during the most opportune time? Then again, Astra and Magnus were comparable to rabbits in their libido, so was there a difference?

I tapped my chin in thought and decided against mentioning it. Astra would have to find out on her own. It wasn't like I could be certain.

“Where is Magnus anyway?” I asked, looking around. When I came to visit, only Astra had been looking after the boy. The elders had already returned through the wormgate to meet with the Hochberg leadership.

I would have to join them at the latest when all the formalities were taken care of. Juliana and Skye Rumen had been very clear that they wanted me present when the discussions between Aerie and Hochberg turned serious.

Not to mention, the functioning wormhole was treated like a state secret. Having me, Magnus and Astra simply disappear and no longer attend the negotiations at all would look strange.

Who would have thought that Magnus’s breakthrough with the cores would have allowed elder Gilbert to tear the guts out of a worm and get them to work? Then again, he was a skilled craftsman with several hundred years of experience.

So, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised at the Frankenstein horror he managed to rig together?

Astra rolled her eyes. “Visiting the Mora estate, I bet. Searching for his sister. Magnus wasn't pleased when he heard from uncle Sullivan that Iv spends most of her free time with her crush.”

“Is Sullivan tutoring the girl?” I asked, surprised.

The Frost's master at arms? Was he looking out for Iv? Having someone so skilled invest time in a youngster was highly uncommon. Even if Iv was an adoptee of the Frosts. Teresa must have cashed in a few favours for that one.

“Yes.” Astra sighed. “She was already well trained in all things concerning survival and combat from her stay with clan Thich. Sullivan is just making sure she doesn’t slack off and how did Sullivan call it? Ah, yes, rounding out the edges.”

“So she went all in with Hector already? At least that’s how I understand her spending so much time with him.” I winced. “Magnus will blow like a pressure pot.”

On the other hand, it was to be expected. Iv had very few social contacts within the clan. Her adoption by the Frosts hadn’t made the other families forget her ties with the Thich, so they kept their distance. Hector also being a social pariah had allowed them to find solace with each other.

“One more reason for me not to be there when Magnus catches them fucking in some hidden corner,” Astra grumbled. “I was there the last time when he blew up and I want no part of it.”

“Yeah...” That hadn't been pleasant and was partly my fault. It would have been better for Magnus to find out about them in a more controlled manner. Thankfully, Astra had intervened before irreparable damage occurred. Magnus was quite distressed about catching his sister with a guy who he didn't approve of.

He was very old-school when it came to how he thought about family relationships, but that was also what endeared him to Astra who was an archaic romantic in her own right.

Seriously, until she found him I fully expected her to die as an old virgin. And despite the seemingly perfect match, it had still taken some encouragement from me to have her make a move on him.

It was annoying.

Now that she had someone I couldn’t even tease her without looking silly. Being the older one, I should have partnered up with someone long before her.

Though, I believed Astra's misgivings about Hector were misplaced. He was a new man and wouldn't do it just anywhere with Iv or treat her improperly.

I wouldn't have assisted my mother's idea of letting Hector and Iv meet each other if I hadn't confirmed beforehand that Hector's treatments were working. And I had been nearby when we organized the absolutely accidental encounter between the two loners.

As if summoned, the door flew open and Magnus stalked into the living room. He was visibly fuming with anger.

“Did you find her?” Astra asked with a raised eyebrow.

Isaac squirmed and slipped off his mother's lap. Then he went to his father to claim his due with expectant, outstretched arms.

“No,” Magnus replied and picked up his son. “The Moras said that Ivona and Hector went out 'hunting' together and aren’t expected to return any time soon. They should be somewhere in the Belly by now.”

“Oh my,” I gasped and covered my mouth to hide a grin. “They eloped together. How romantic.”

The cave system called the Beast’s Belly was traditionally the Frost’s hunting ground, meaning neither Iv nor Hector had any experience with the area. But both of them had grown up on Tirnanog, so it should be safe enough as long as they didn’t journey any deeper.

“If they return and he touched her I am going to strangle him.”

Astra cleared her throat. “Magnus, Iv is an admittedly young, but grown woman who can make her own decisions. If you cause Hector undue trouble after you already made up with him you are just going to widen the rift between yourself and your sister. Don't be the stupid big brother who drives his younger sibling to make stupid decisions just to spite you.”

“Isn't running off with someone like Hector already stupid enough? Who knows what might happen to them? You and I had a few close encounters when we went there and we were already paired up!” he complained, ignoring Isaac who was pulling at his father's cheeks with delight, marveling at the faces he could make.

Astra made a dismissive gesture. “You are forgetting that both of them grew up on Tirnanog. They received all the survival training possible from an early age. They are surely doing far better than we ever could at their power level.”

“Why?” Magnus narrowed his eyes – which looked hilarious in combination with Isaac pulling at his father’s temples.

Astra rolled her eyes. “Excuse me if I am too blunt, dear, but you are simply no hunter. I can tell you had a little bit of outdoor survival training back on Earth and you improved a lot since I met you at the Old Camp. If it’s just about a straight fight, I have no concern about throwing you in the thick of it. As long as the threat is obvious you can punch it, but during our outing, I was constantly amazed at how loud you were and how many things I had to explicitly point out because you would have stepped right onto them otherwise.

“Most of those were threats any hunter trainee would have recognized at a glance and stayed well away from. The only reason why I allowed us to take on things like the changelings was because I knew we could power through it with brute force. Unlike us, with me having to look out for you every step of the way, I am certain both Ivonne and Hector are more than capable of simply avoiding anything they can’t handle. And have a little more trust in your sister. Even unpaired Iv is one tough bitch and I can promise Hector is no different as long as he gets the time to prepare for a fight.”

Magnus decided to look at a wall with a conflicted expression. It was clear he wanted to object but knew better than to deny the truth. He simply wasn’t some great hunter who had spent years surviving in Tirnanog’s wilderness, learning to know every monster and plant like their own body.

I smiled proudly at Isaac’s continued antics, knowing pulling faces was something I had taught him.

The boy had no concern for the serious topic being discussed over his head.

“They are a good match, no matter what you say,” Astra continued once it was clear Magnus had accepted the truth of her words. “And believe me, I am the last person who would ever say such a thing. This new Hector deserves a chance, and if hooking up with your sister is what it takes...”

Magnus huffed, clearly not agreeing on that front.

“You know what I would do as a professional psychic?” I asked to prevent the conflict I already saw looming on the horizon. I waited before I continued until I had Magnus's attention. “I would wait for them to come back and say nothing about their actions.”

“Not even if they return paired?” Magnus asked, clearly understanding what 'going on a hunt together' meant in Clan Aerie.

Astra coughed.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Not acknowledging their joining without them explicitly pointing it out to you will have them on the back foot like nothing else you could do to show your disapproval. You know yourself that if they decide to pair up, there is no going back. So why would you choose a path that meant creating even more conflict?

“And what would happen if they came back from their outing unpaired? By following them you would have only made an overprotective fool of yourself.”

Magnus closed his eyes for a moment before he nodded reluctantly. “I guess you are right – intellectually. Doesn't mean I can't teach Hector what it means to be married to an Elrod. There are certain family traditions among men which have to be honoured.”

Astra grinned at her partner. “But you are a Frost now, you know?”

Magnus shrugged. “On paper. I will still do my best to preserve our family traditions.”

He patted Isaac’s head. “Do not worry little one. You will learn in time.”

There was a hint of some dark undertone in there, making me wonder just what kind of people the Elrod’s had been. Magnus had described his parents as upstanding if a little bit too law-abiding bureaucrats. Which gained them the attention of the wrong people in the end.

His comment made me wonder what would have happened if Earth’s authorities hadn’t assassinated them. Come to think of it, was the organisation contacting and recruiting Magnus as simple of a story as he made it look like in his retelling of the events?

Why would the members of a secret cabal walk up to some unknown person and tell him to dig into the affairs of his deceased family? Such a thing had the potential to backfire catastrophically.

Unless they had good reason to believe he would take their side in the end. Like his parents being secret members of the said cabal.

I wondered, deciding to look into the matter if I ever got the chance to do so inconspicuously.

I got up and ensured my clothes sat correctly. “Just don’t be too hard on Hector. I will have to excuse myself in the meantime. I have to get back through the wormgate to Hochberg and attend the discussions between our political big shots. Don’t forget you will have to join in tomorrow. Find yourselves a babysitter for our lovely Isaac till then.”

Magnus groaned. “Please don’t call it a wormgate!”

“I am afraid the nickname is already stuck. It’s a wormhole gateway torn out of the guts of a worm. Hence, wormgate,” I replied with a small hint of sadistic joy at Magnus's distaste for the term.

I bade them goodbye and left the young family to figure out their affairs. Normally, a young pair like them would be encouraged to have as many kids as possible. But Isaac’s peculiarities introduced just enough complications to make it impossible to simply hand the child to a foster family as it would be normally done.

A molerat carriage took me back to elder Kline’s estate on the fourth strata where the wormgate was set up for the moment. There were plans to get it to a more easily accessible location for the other stratas, but first, the security aspect had to be handled. For the moment, there was no place more secure.

The Klines had tripled down on their security and hired several hunting teams from the twelfth as soon as the wormgate had proved to be functional. Phenomenally so, allowing a permanent connection between Mount Aerie and the fleet’s flagship.

Powering the gate was easy enough thanks to the small fusion reactor. The clan had its fair share of worm incursions throughout the centuries and Gilbert’s strata had never thrown away the gathered resources. According to the artificer, the clan had at least two decades of fission material stocked up.

This was thanks to the gate being relatively small compared to adult worms.

I reached the Kline’s estate without problems and took the wormgate to the flagship.

Walking through the wavering ring of light felt strange, as it reminded me of being thrown through one of Earth’s wormholes as a teenager about forty years ago. I had been older than Astra at the time, about to enter university.

I had never learned the reason why I had been exiled and I wasn’t aware of my biological parents even possessing the power to piss off Earth’s authorities. The revelations with the Thich had at least brought me closer to an answer than ever. Maybe I was just one of the unfortunate few who had been chosen for some genetic quirk their scientists were interested in.

Cadence took me from the flagship down to Hochberg, where I spent the rest of the day attending boring discussions between the elders and the matriarch’s staff.

***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Mary Frost***

I was warm, relaxed, and at peace with the world. Right until a young, very shrill voice woke me from my slumber, combined with small fingers twisting my cheek.

“Mary! Mary! Grandma!”

Blinking, I tried rubbing the drowsiness out of my eyes. “Wha? Isaac? How would you get in here?”

After entirely too much time, I finally realized the child wasn’t the only one who had invaded my bedroom. “What the fuck are you doing in my quarters!?”

Astra fell to her hands and knees, kowtowing with her forehead touching the floor. “Grandma Mary! Please! I need... really, really need your help!”

Isaac raised his arms to me, clearly expecting to be picked up.

The corner of my right eye started twitching involuntarily as I finally woke up enough to understand what Astra wanted from me.

Things surely weren't dire enough to invade an old woman's bedroom!