Amdirlain’s PoV - Culerzic

After years with Sarah’s constant company, the months of near isolation since her departure gnawed at Amdirlain. While Sarah and Gail's various puzzles and updates helped, the gateways opened with the Lómë weren’t sufficient to push the feeling aside. The gates were teasing windows into a place she couldn’t reach and, in some ways, hurt more than helped. Ironically, the sparring and training with Ilya did the most to distract her. With Ilya’s issues being underground still clear, Amdirlain felt bad continually requesting her presence at the dome. She already spent so much time there helping Amdirlain with Femme Fatale before Sarah’s departure.

The impossible lingering tension along her spine since the last session had Amdirlain hissing in discontent. With the sensation being neither her Precognition nor the absorbed Danger Sense, Amdirlain fell back on her habitual distraction—more work. Teleporting the spire from the last session to the storeroom, Amdirlain moved to her workbench. Stacks of paper covered in her workings sat in neat lines beyond the memory crystal Gail had provided only days ago.

Amdirlain spun it across her fingers with a sigh and watched the prismatic refractions of the chamber’s lights. It wasn’t even a problem that she could refer to Roher, as it was an energy issue that fell within the Anar range. The energies of Vehtë had been slowly sterilising the Andúnë for half a million years.

Their ancestors had lived within the Anar and Lómë households as domestic servants to their creators. Given the abilities of both to create whatever was needed, it was a pampered existence. The elven races, planet after planet, had their lifeforms tweaked to accommodate the new locations’ Mana fields. With their outdoor duties, the other species might have received more extensive modifications to their physical song. With spending most of their time behind the True Song Crystal shielding barriers, it potentially hadn’t been a change considered necessary for the Andúnë.

However, Amdirlain wasn’t sure if that had been the cause or if the composer had made the slightest of errors to have taken this long to show. While each species could have fertile children with each other, they weren’t identical, so the required tweaks had been different. If the Anar had been around, they’d have caught the problem. Instead, with their arrival on the planet barely a hundred years before the scourge, there hadn’t been a settling-in period to detect the issue.

If the Andúnë had children with the other elves frequently enough, they’d have negated it. However, from the songs Gail had gathered, that was ‌not the case.

“No wonder their society doesn’t like anyone avoiding marriage. I wonder how many childless marriages they already have?” murmured Amdirlain. “What can I do?”

The question caused Amdirlain to pause, and she slowly stretched her attention solely on the impossible tension she felt within her muscles.

“I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop with Gail. There is no help I can give her from here, trapped inside this planar lock. If something more comes for her….”

Amdirlain strode away from the workbench and through the nest of rooms that had been her living space for Gail’s visits. Ignoring the beauty of the carvings she’d set in place on the far wall, a flurry of notes obliterated them and cut a long passageway some four metres square. The transformed stone caused a burst of air to rush across her, and Amdirlain renewed the chamber’s atmosphere, not waiting for the mechanisms that had been put in place by Sarah to do the job.

She quickly constructed a domed rectangular chamber, six metres high, a hundred metres long, and nine metres across. Radiant light sources ran down the middle, illuminating the stone path she left beneath them, but Amdirlain turned the stone along the sides to loam.

Ideas mingled with intent, and though ready to sing, Amdirlain forced herself to stop. “I need to be sure.”

Taking out crystal needles, she added a purification song to push back the corruption and walked down the line, driving them into the soil on either side of the path. With those in place, she left them to work and returned to the central dome.

“Yngvarr, do you have time to talk about some things? I’ll need you to open a Gate focused on me, obviously somewhere shielded. I have some personal questions, so I didn’t want to include Gail.”

While she waited, Amdirlain set to work reducing the lingering corruption in the chamber’s midpoint. She was a couple of hours into that when words buzzed in her ear.

“It has been a while since we have spoken. Do you need anyone else included?” asked Yngvarr.

“You could include Alfarr. I’m not sure if Gail’s told anyone what she asked me about, and it's certainly an Andúnë matter.”

“I just woke from my reverie. Give me, say, half an hour?”

“Take two. I plan to be ensconced safely in my chambers for a while,” Amdirlain replied, and included an image of herself sitting at her workbench.

After adjusting the wards to allow for Yngvarr’s Gate, Amdirlain created several large stacks of paper in one of the workbench’s few open spots and she set to work. The first point she spent in True Song Architecture hit like an express train. Hundreds of previously isolated concepts in her mind spun about in the storm of fresh additions and settled into patterns that made their relevance obvious.

By the time she’d worked through a thousand sheets of paper, she’d barely scratched the surface of her observations. Amidst the pain of acclimatising herself to the information, she’d already spotted more options but no problems in her approach.

Yngvarr's Skill showed when the Gate opened, perfectly aligned with the image she’d sent him. Instead of standing outside the circle, he was within its protection and, seeing Amdirlain, immediately stepped across the threshold.

“And if you’d screwed up landing it?” asked Amdirlain, as she turned to face Yngvarr keeping every motion to a minimum. As best she could, Amdirlain tried to project the monastery’s calmness through Dominion.

He appeared different from when Amdirlain first met or last saw him. The mane of hair he’d possessed was cut short enough that it did nothing to conceal his ears and made it harder to spot the lighter sunset tones blending into the darker red hue. Dressed in grey loose pants and a shirt of Persian cut belted at the waist, he appeared as if someone had stamped Farhad over him. Tall and lean, even standing still he carried himself with the lethal grace of a well-honed knife that would have intimidated Amdirlain if she’d first met him as he was now.

Yngvarr cleared his throat almost bashfully and fought to retain his composure. “Between the image and your name, that would be highly unlikely. You’re quite different now; there is an allure about your motions. I’m not interested in the female body, but you still draw my eyes with the grace of simple gestures.”

A compressed series of notes and a focused intent set a chair near her, and she motioned Yngvarr to sit.

“Perhaps sit, and then you can close them,” suggested Amdirlain, and Yngvarr hurriedly did so. “Is that better?”

“Yes, but your voice feels like warm silk pressing against me. Gail mentioned she visits you?” asked Yngvarr, sounding more distracted in proximity to her.

Amdirlain touched his public mind and didn’t intrude; simply gently projected words into his awareness. “Then I’ll speak in your mind. I was trying to share the monastery’s calm with you.”

“Perhaps another emotion, or less. I feel like I’m floating, free of worry, making your beauty and the carvings on your walls more alluring. Sitting this close to you, your presence presses against my skin,” murmured Yngvarr. “Moke omitted this in his account to me. Him not exaggerating that this seems strange.”

“This is a recent change, since Moke visited, along with many levels added,” admitted Amdirlain. “Might I touch your mind more fully so I can gauge the impact?”

“Could I keep you out if you wanted in?” asked Yngvarr, trembling with strain.

“I still consider you a friend, Yngvarr. Your simple preference would keep me out.”

“Sorry, that wasn’t what I meant. I feel like I want to throw aside all my allegiances and just kneel at your feet. Do anything, be anything, to earn a smile from you.”

Cursing mentally, Amdirlain slipped a wisp of awareness within his mind. Sensations and pressure roiled within it, and Amdirlain recognised the impacts. She stopped Dominion, which had been hammering him with a calm that drowned his self-interest. Even her Charisma was trying to drag him under gently, and Amdirlain mentally sought a way to adjust it.

The relaxation of a good book had Yngvarr moan in pleasure and shift uncertainly on his seat. Remembering he possessed the Sage Class, Amdirlain wanted to facepalm. Considering more generic options, she drew up a memory of childlike happiness of a warm day playing in the park with friends. Barely eight in the memory, Amdirlain was sure she wouldn’t have remembered it if her Soul had been normal for a Human. Instead, it had recorded the events, and she could draw on them flawlessly now, having remained in tune with them.

Yngvarr shuddered from the ease of pressure and, with his elbows braced on his knees, curled in to bury his face in his trembling hands. “That was intense. Do I want to know what your Charisma is rated at now?”

“Closing in on five thousand,” Amdirlain said, risking speaking aloud.

“That oddly brings some comfort, knowing what your attributes are, if I can be overwhelmed in such a fashion,” breathed Yngvarr, and Amdirlain took in the calmer reactions in his mind.

“How did Gail withstand her visit to you?”

“Two things: Erwarth’s Aura cancelled them out somewhat, and Gail’s been listening to the music of a heavenly plane since before her birth,” commented Amdirlain. “Sarah said it wasn’t there initially, but by the time I first met her, she had an evolved Mental Resistance ‌in her song.”

“Amdirlain, I had to come and apologise in person for my accusations last we saw each other.”

“That was long ago forgiven, Yngvarr. Part of my behaviour was driven by running ahead of the pain I was in, which didn’t make it a healthy situation for anyone,” reassured Amdirlain.

Yngvarr nodded his appreciation and sat before he replied. “Yet I knew your situation and should have spoken with more consideration.”

“Hindsight is wonderful, and I can’t claim perfect judgement either, but it's all water under the bridge now. Your words and choice brought no actual harm to anyone. Let’s consider Ebusuku’s protective scolding to be the end. I hear she was stern enough for both of us,” commented Amdirlain.

“It was very intimidating being told off by a Solar in full armour looming over you,” admitted Yngvarr, pretending to look up at a figure looming over Amdirlain’s Anar form. “You instil such a fierce loyalty within those close to you.”

Amdirlain flinched from his words as if slapped. “I wish some had been less inclined to risk themselves.”

“Not to speak ill of his choices, but Torm should have trusted your Precognition and chewed up the cell leader, not accepted his judgement. Verdandi says the Vargr Drangijaz can get caught up in the perceived hierarchy, and it seems he hadn’t shaken himself from those practices.”

When she let out a slow, pained breath, Yngvarr stopped with a wince.

“Sarah says you’ve been working on options to help him recover himself?”

“I’m not sure what remains of him. Can we speak of something else?” asked Amdirlain. “How is Alfarr?”

“Asleep when I left, which is why I didn’t drag him along. He’s doing well as Guild Master, even if Gail makes Sanctuary’s Cove a handful to deal with some days.”

“Sanctuary’s Cove?”

“That’s what the Grand Master started calling the village in correspondence, and Alfarr had one of his notes at a village meeting. There was some noise, but then the priestess from Hestia’s Temple started using it during the morning services,” Yngvarr said with a shrug.

“Those prepared to argue over it folded?” enquired Amdirlain, and at Yngvarr’s nod, she laughed. “At least they didn’t name it after me.”

“It was almost Amdirlain’s Beacon,” interjected Yngvarr, stilling her laughter. “Since the seawall’s lighthouse looks like your candle with a base carved in the likeness of a mass of broken chains.”

Amdirlain gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Remind me to get the Grand Master something nice for not going with that name.”

“Because passing along a gift from you would be easy to explain? What did Gail ask you about?” asks Yngvarr.

“The falling Andúnë birth rate,” Amdirlain said bluntly.

“It's hardly falling. We’ve never had a lot of children,” objected Yngvarr.

“But the Andúnë used to have a lot more, four or five spread out over centuries, so each child had a healthy amount of time and attention from their parents and relatives,” Amdirlain countered, with the confidence instilled by scenes from Orhêthurin’s memories.

“The records say the number of households was unchanging before the scourge,” objected Yngvarr. “We’ve lost too much knowledge to keep our communities safe, so we’ve suffered a population erosion.”

“Yngvarr, the number of households was unchanging because the Anar and Lómë numbers rarely changed and never rose above eight million each. Put that together with some not employing servants, and you can figure out the rest.”

“Gail…” started Yngvarr reluctantly.

“Some individuals finding certain facts about the past hard to swallow?”

“Gail can administer quite a verbal thrashing when she sets her mind to it,” said Yngvarr warily. “I could practically hear her channelling Farhad’s punches in her tone.”

His tone earned a lifted eyebrow from Amdirlain. “There are ways to use True Song while speaking by putting pressure on the pitch within words. Don’t be mysterious. What happened?”

“Some lords wanted to argue with her. Gail clarified that the emotional stability of the villagers was more important to her than pandering to nobles' demands,” explained Yngvarr. “When they talked about short-lived peasants being unimportant, her tongue got sharp.”

“She’d told me some lords had been frisky, but she’d gotten them heading in the right direction.”

“One lord learnt the value of logical arguments and how painful mathematics can be to one’s ego,” laughed Yngvarr.

“I’m sure there is much more to that story.”

“I’ll let Gail do the honours. I missed part of it, so I’ve only got hearsay,” demurred Yngvarr.

“Gail told me the King and Queen have been trying to have another child and haven’t managed it in the years since they took the throne. She sent me a memory of their songs, plus thousands of other elves; Andúnë, Isil, and Taurë alike.”

“When did she meet so many?” asked Yngvarr, sitting up in surprise. “Or the royal couple?”

Amdirlain started to reply, and Yngvarr rubbed his face and groaned.

“Nevermind, she’s a sneaky girl. I guess the better question is, did she even look elven when they saw her,” laughed Yngvarr and motioned at her pages. “Is that what all this is about?”

“A lot of it, some of it is just me pushing my True Song Architecture,” admitted Amdirlain. “When an elven female wants to conceive, they use a particular type of reverie before the attempt, correct?”

Yngvarr gave Amdirlain a sheepish look that reminded her of guys being asked to pick up tampons at the shop. “Well, not being female, that is my understanding. I don’t know exactly the-”

“Yeah, I get it, caveats of personal understanding aside,” interjected Amdirlain.

“Yes, I believe that is the case,” allowed Yngvarr.

Bitter memories twisted Amdirlain’s mouth, and at Yngvarr’s gasp, she returned her focus to the innocent joy of the park’s playground. “They give you grief because you’re not going off and happily continuing your family bloodline?”

The flinch her question got had Amdirlain nod in sympathy.

“I only ask because Gail commented on the evidence of the extreme social pressures about having children and the impact of diminishing numbers in many areas.”

“You sound like you knew it well.”

“I was rendered sterile from a childhood illness. At social gatherings, people would invariably talk about who had settled down and started their own family. You wouldn’t believe the number of times someone said ‘you best settle down and have children’. I got that even from people who knew I couldn’t have them,” Amdirlain absently explained, though she had her focus fixed on the flat notes within parts of Yngvarr’s song.

“You asked about female preparations. Is the issue only for certain ladies?” asked Yngvarr.

“No, it's also a male issue, so couples have to beat the odds on both sides.”

Yngvarr sighed. “Am I being selfish?”

“You want the bad news or the good news?”

“Bad,” groaned Yngvarr. “So you think I’m being selfish in not trying?”

“Not what I was talking about. At present, you could bang an excessively fertile Human woman, and you couldn’t get her pregnant, let alone an Elf.”

“Bang?” blurted Yngvarr, and he quickly smiled in amusement. “Nevermind, I’m sure I understand from the context, but your choice of words is as strange as ever.”

“I’m trying to keep away from the other expletive. I made Isa whimper and drag Ilya away the other day.”

“Fuck?” enquired Yngvarr.

“Sorry, I’m not the type to let people cheat,” Amdirlain replied primly, sitting up as if affronted.

Yngvarr groaned and put a hand on his forehead. “You dose bad news with humour to ease a sting I don’t feel.”

“I wasn’t sure how you’d take it. Some might see it impacting their masculinity even if they had no intent to take advantage,” explained Amdirlain, and she shrugged broadly, pleased when the movement didn’t grab at Yngvarr’s attention.

“What’s the good news?”

“It's fixable, both yours and the growing sterility of the Andúnë people,” offered Amdirlain.

“What’s involved?”

Amdirlain tilted her head and gave a mischievous smile. “When a mommy and daddy get in the mood-”

“Amdirlain,” huffed Yngvarr. “Please, if you’re going to talk about sex, I’ll go back to bed and get Alfarr to demonstrate. Sarah told me a joke about a lion tamer the other day. I’m happy to be the lion for him.”

Amdirlain snickered loudly and stretched her arms above her head. “You don’t have to be on your hands and knees for that one. When I first met you, my Succubus form’s heat beat me up some days around the pair of you.”

“You aren’t stirring a reaction,” Yngvarr stated, and Amdirlain fixed him with a pleased smile at the change of subject.

“I’m going to push my song design up a lot further before I do this, so I had questions,” stated Amdirlain.

“About sex? Aren’t you a little old for that talk among humans? Sarah told some stories about sex education in your school system. Did you skip class those days?”

Amdirlain reached out both hands as if she was going to strangle him, and Yngvarr clasped her hands with a smile.

“Smart alec,” grumbled Amdirlain.

Pressing his forehead to the back of her right hand, Yngvarr released them both. “What were your questions?”

“Some you’ve already answered. I was going to make it a general fix. But I thought it best to provide a way that gave control to each couple. Is there any fruit that the Andúnë associate with fertility already? I’m going to create some plants whose fruit will reverse sterility. If they want the fruit faster, they’ll need Gail to speed the plants' growth; Blessings or spells might distort the outcome like they do in healing wounds.”

“Nothing I can think of, if you’re talking about as a whole, culturally,” conceded Yngvarr. “Some communities might have particular marriage practices.”

“Fruit elves loathe?” asked Amdirlain. “I’d hate for it to be something that could ruin the mood.”

“There are some berries that leave too strong an aftertaste. Dried they’re fine, but I take it you’re talking about eating them while fresh.”

“Wouldn’t hold the same effect otherwise,” confirmed Amdirlain.

Yngvarr shrugged. “What’s your preference?”

“Do you have apples?” Amdirlain asked and mentally projected various images and tastes through to him.

“Some of those green and reddish ones are familiar,” allowed Yngvarr. “Not the same, but familiar.”

“Golden apples it will be then,” decided Amdirlain.

“Why apples?”

“Personal joke. I guess I better tell all the Andúnë not to eat them.”

Even as Amdirlain held back the snicker, Yngvarr frowned in confusion. “Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?”

“You’re right, they would need to eat them, but it’s part of the joke. The best way ‌to get some people to do something is to tell them not to. Tell Sarah I’m going to make the tree of life and see how hard she laughs,” informed Amdirlain.

“What effect will they have?”

Amdirlain almost explained their songs’ changes but cut to the chase. “They’ll fix the sterility issue in both genders, but females consuming one soon before using their special reverie will ensure its success. Since they’ll boost an individual's vitality, they’ll certainly feel frisky after consuming one. It might take me a bit before I’m ready to test them. Care to help with the first part? I mean, I had thought about offering you Protean but-”

“What?!” exclaimed Yngvarr. “How do you give someone Protean?”

“What powers would you like? I can inject them into you if I can figure out their song. I didn’t know if your mindset was-”

“I could have a child with Alfarr?”

The logic jump caused Amdirlain to blink in confusion. “What? You jumped straight to that option?”

“You and Gail have said it lets the flesh take on the truth of the form,” noted Yngvarr.

“Well, with enough practice, you could eventually take on a proper female form to have a child. So yes, why?”

“I don’t find females attractive, but Alfarr finds both genders attractive,” stated Yngvarr, giving a dreamy smile that would have many women squirming. “Him being a father would be grand. You should see him with his extended family and the care he gives his nieces and nephews. I don’t know if I’d want to stay female forever, but to have a child together... well, I’d stay that way for centuries if need be—after all, we’ve both gained the Immortal Spirit.”

“A half-Elf child,” cautioned Amdirlain. “They don’t always receive the best reception from either species.”

“We’d raise them knowing we loved them,” persisted Yngvarr.

“If you’re so interested, I thought there’d be various shapeshifting spells that would have let you do this?”

“No, they let you take on the appearance, not the actuality, nor are they necessarily fertile. Even when they are, the child can end up deformed, and there is also the risk of them being dispelled mid-pregnancy,” advised Yngvarr with a shudder.

Amdirlain's brows lifted in surprise. “Sounds like you looked into this previously.”

“Extensively. For years I thought I’d lose him to old age and wanted a piece of him to stay in my life,” said Yngvarr, and he added a sharp nod. "I learnt two Spell lists through to mastery hoping I'd find what I needed. Nothing I found overcame the risks I mentioned.”

“From what I know of the Power, you’ll have to get it into at least the Journeyman rank,” warned Amdirlain. “Gail can take you through what she did to get Senior Master rank.”

Yngvarr blinked. “She’s what?”

“Yeah, please don’t start on me. She won't use imprints, but I can hear it in her song,” huffed Amdirlain. “I’ve barely got it into that rank. I feel like a grandparent being taught my old world’s technology by a three-year-old.”

“She lived with the Power since birth,” reminded Yngvarr.

Amdirlain rolled her eyes. “Hold still; this won’t hurt. My advice is just to start with simple things. Change of hair colour and skin tone, ‌but talk to Gail. It works by having an image of what you want. Later, when you touch someone or something, you can read the object and learn the finer details, not just appearance.”

Amdirlain performed two songs together, one to set Protean within Yngvar’s form and the other to add the size-shifting enchantment to his clothing.

When Amdirlain stopped, Yngvarr looked down at his hands nervously, and the skin of his fingers began to darken to near black.

“Thank you, Amdirlain.”

“That set of clothing will change to cater to whatever body size you take on; I’ll make you some more later. Now you have some new opportunities in your life,” quipped Amdirlain. “I’ve given you the Power, but you don’t have to use it for what we discussed. It would be a big change in your relationship, so talk to Alfarr first.”

“I will.”

“Nothing is ready to test for fixing the sterility issue. Would you come back at other times?” asked Amdirlain. “At least until you get pregnant if you go that route. It seems I could use practice in not overwhelming people again.”

“I can come back as often as you need. Though, with Farhad’s training, I would have expected better from myself,” murmured Yngvarr. “Even given your attribute’s strength.”

“Well, you can help me train, and I can help you train your Mental Resilience,” offered Amdirlain, and she gave a lopsided shrug. “Might even get Mental Hardening like Ilya and Isa, which greatly helps them. Ilya also has a Skill called Focused Observation, which lets her hold mental distractions aside. They sometimes resort to using blessings and spells that help protect their minds.”

“How did she come by that Skill, and what does it do?” asked Yngvarr.

“Focused Observation?” asked Amdirlain, and she continued at Yngvarr’s nod. “Ilya said she knew many of Hell’s scouts had it, but it's likely something a higher-level Scout gains, not just those serving Hell. It lets her catalogue information around her and avoid getting suckered by various charm effects or environmental distractions. Useful for still gathering information when someone is hacking you apart.”

“Catalogue information, I hadn’t thought to try that,” muttered Yngvarr. “Can you turn your Dominion on again in a moment? I have a Sage Power that might help.”

“Alright,” agreed Amdirlain warily.

Yngvar sat upright, his expression relaxed and his eyes became unfocused. “Please begin.”

When she restored Dominion and Charisma to their previous projections, Yngvarr didn’t even blink, though he nodded calmly. “This will make an interesting memory to review. The Power is called Sage’s Retention; it lets me take in details I wouldn’t have noticed. Though it's tiring to keep up, it's good for studying or examining objects for details without being impacted by any emotions while it's active.”

A smile twitched on Amdirlain’s lips at the challenge offered, and she flowed to her feet and glided across the open floor before the bench using dance-like steps. When Yngvarr failed to blink, she tried the dances that Ilya had taught her until Yngvarr finally groaned and closed his eyes.

When he started to flag, she dropped Dominion and concentrated on holding the emotions from the innocent memory again.

“Maybe I should get you to teach me to dance when I can take on a female form,” Yngvarr said, his tone heavy with fatigue. “Your sexuality isn’t enticing to me, but the beauty of your movements is sublime and alluring.”

“I can do that. Though I was thinking about learning the standard Dance instead of the Erotic Dance that I absorbed into Femme Fatale,” explained Amdirlain. The memories of Orhêthurin’s use of dance, which had later evolved into finger twitches to generate True Song, had been prickling at her since Gideon’s Failed Songbird offering.

Yngvarr nodded. “I know all the court dances and some festival ones.”

“You sound exhausted. Why don’t you snuggle up with Alfarr and allow yourself some more reverie time?” suggested Amdirlain.

“That’s a good idea, for more reasons than just my mental fatigue,” smiled Yngvarr.

Amdirlain held herself motionless until Yngvarr was safely on the Material Plane and had closed the Gate. Returning to her writing, Amdirlain persisted until the pain from the new Skill increase had faded completely. When she spent the next point, the wave that hit felt like it was trying to rip the top of her skull apart and pour lava through her synapses. Then the feedback from her Soul hit, ripping and tearing at Pain Eater’s control.

[Pain Eater [M] (82->85)

True Song Architecture [S] (88->90)

Note: Having Orhêthurin’s Soul, you’ll be enjoying double taps from a Skill on its 5th evolution. As you can now see, Skill levels within a rank aren’t ticking off a steady progression.

Skill Lore [Ap] (15->16)]

Turning over the stacks of paper, Amdirlain scrawled in desperation, trying to absorb the information and get the pain to ease. She was still writing four hours later when the Gate for the next session with the Lómë opened.

Barely able to see the figure, she waved them away. “Please give me a week.”

The Gate closed after an acknowledgement and their commitment to passing the word along. When Amdirlain had finished, the stacks of paper had multiplied and overflowed the table. The melody within the thousands of sheets clarified their source, even though she couldn’t remember using Protean to create them.

Moving to the far side of the chamber, True Song created a longer workbench and pallets of paper. The pain that hit the third time dropped into her unconsciousness despite Pain Eater’s buffer. When Amdirlain awoke, her head blazing with agony, she wrote as she bled and wept. Only after the pain had eased to migraine levels did Amdirlain notice Isa’s presence, carefully taking finished sheets from her hands and setting them aside.

“How long have you been here?” asked Amdirlain.

“A day. You’ve been at this constantly since you told Dúhel that you’d need a week.”

Ilya tidied a stack of paper and slipped it into a box. “Isa didn’t want to crowd you, but worry got the best of her. Especially given your arrays have detected two Fallen near Moloch’s palace.”

The pain in her head dragged Amdirlain’s focus back to the blank pages nearby. “Need to write more to calm it down.”

“Your handwriting leaves a bit to be desired; some of these notations aren’t in anyone's range.”

Amdirlain made the mistake of shrugging and felt like her head would fall off. “It's tapping into Gideon’s knowledge to gain the Skill progression with points; maybe it's Songbird stuff.”

“What’s got you in a tizz to do this without a bodyguard? You were not coherent to talk to, and I doubt you could have protected yourself properly,” critiqued Isa.

Amdirlain winced and gave a reluctant nod. “Just let me finish getting this stuff organised in my brain.”

“What’s the empty horticultural area for?” asked Isa.

“To test out some seeds once I get their song composed.”

Isa gave her a cautious look. “Write and then explain. You have me feeling like there are bets to place, and I don’t even know the game or stakes.”

“High stakes and I’m trying to stack the deck, as always,” laughed Amdirlain and returned to her work.

Isa’s mouth thinned in concern, and she stroked a hand down Amdirlain’s back. “Are you going to do more of this?”

“I’m not a kitten, buster. I was going to use the Skill points once I got to Grand Master rank. Now I’m not sure my brain would handle it. Might be best to save them for a different Skill or wait until my Intelligence is higher; too much information hits at once.”

“What’s this all about?”

“To fix sterility in the Andúnë; I’m fairly sure I have what I need now. I got some minor options towards improving it from the first increase I forced, so I wanted to ensure there wasn’t something else within easy reach.”

Amdirlain continued writing until the pain eased away. Only then did she lead the way through to her agriculture chamber and sprouted the first pair of trees. Their rapid growth and subsequent pollination spread golden apples through their branches.

Giggling, Amdirlain transformed into a serpent and slithered up into the branches of the closest tree. “Care for a bite.”

When Isa started cackling with laughter, Ilya regarded them as if they were both mad.