***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Astra***

“I will have his ass tonight for running off like that!” I complained once Thalia finally declared our preparatory work to be satisfactory. Magnus hadn't even listened to the start of the meeting before taking his leave and our two remaining men fled after the first hour.

We hadn't even been done with planning the route and it had taken us yet another hour to organize the mode of travel and equipment.

The mission would start in a week from now, which gave Magnus and me enough time to at least attempt the hunt for a thunder eel.

Using drakes and light equipment was determined to be our best option. As long as we travelled large enough distances, Magnus and I would be able to set up jaunt points along the way, ensuring regular resupplies.

Neither Magnus nor I were confident in transporting a whole person through a jaunt, but small packages with food and equipment were no problem. After all, we had no trouble bringing our armour with us. Sadly, the physics behind jaunting limited the amount of mass and space we could displace with us.

Given our current power, it was just enough to transport ourselves. Maybe I could take someone else with me if I abandoned all my equipment before the jaunt, but it would still be a risky endeavour. If given the choice, I would avoid trying it.

“Don't look so gloomily at the map,” Thalia chided. “You can use that unfair teleportation skill of yours to visit your little one every evening. And being able to send you two for supplies makes me feel much better about this mission.”

“It isn't teleportation,” I replied absent-mindedly. I truly hadn't thought about Isaac, since I could meet him every night in Gaia's dream space so we could spend more than enough time with each other. “What we are doing is an application of a stinted version of the wormhole technology. The wormhole’s gateway forms around us, interconnecting two points in spacetime before it disperses and leaves us at the target location.”

Thalia frowned. “It sure looks like teleportation to me. Like the moving ultra-quickly thing you two do.”

“That's flash step. It works like an Alcubierre drive by forming a bubble of altered spacetime around us. It’s faster but limited by the mass we have to displace. Gas doesn’t cause too much interference, but put a solid object in our way and we have a problem.”

Ginevra nodded. “So, if you fell into a lake, you wouldn't be able to use it.”

I hesitated, surprised the woman had figured out a weakness of ours so quickly. Ginevra was dangerously sharp now that her mind wasn't distracted by pain. Magnus had only realized the problem after he fell into starfish lake and had to resort to poisoning his opponent. He informed me of the issue in private, but there wasn’t anything we could do besides avoiding the water.

“Yes. Though we are by no means helpless in water,” I admitted and continued my explanation.

Ginevra had been very forthcoming with explaining her capabilities. Given the nature of this mission and the small size of our party, it was a matter of survival to know what everyone could handle. While I wanted to keep the circle of people who knew about our abilities small, it was just a question of time until the knowledge came out. Including Ginevra and her partner in this small circle was an acceptable risk, given the importance of our mission.

“The two methods use the same principle of applying electromagnetism to cause ripple effects to the spacetime surrounding us. While flash stepping relies on the Alcubierre effect, jaunting opens an actual wormhole. The gateway just isn't open for long enough to be observed. It forms around us and disperses, so jaunting only looks like teleportation,” I explained.

Thalia's frown deepened. “Is Magnus teaching you all that? Don't take this the wrong way, but I never knew you to be interested in physics all too much.”

I blushed slightly, only now realizing what I had shared so casually. “Yes, Magnus is giving his best to figure out what our ability can do. Besides, I don’t consider it physics at this point. I need this knowledge to use my ability to its fullest.” I smiled, deciding to lean into Thalia's misconception. “Though I have to admit: If it weren’t for Magnus I would have been satisfied with the speed and calling down lightning bolts. Thankfully, Magnus realized it can be used for so much more.”

“I am still envious,” Ginevra commented. “Being able to set up a gateway network is just cheating no matter how you look at it.”

I decided not to mention that personalized wormhole portals were the next step if things went according to Gaia's plan. The shenanigans we could pull off with that kind of ability would propel us straight to the power level of the ancients.

“You mentioned you are forming the portal around you,” Thalia pointed out. “How does that work? The wormgate and Earth's wormhole are all normal portals as far as I have seen. There is a ring of light and something else on the other side.”

“Oh, no no no...” I replied. “A wormhole connecting two points in spacetime would be naturally perceived as a sphere. But the wormgate and the Earth portal are going out of their way to reshape the sphere into an ovoid form. The distortions make it look like a ring of light once it is flat enough. The ring is a direct consequence of flattening the wormhole. A visual effect. In some ways like the reflection of a mirror because it concentrates light.”

“Why would they do that?” Ginevra asked. “Is there a benefit to flattening the wormhole?”

I shrugged. “I guess it makes it easier to determine the velocity vectors and have material going through a wormhole come out in a certain direction? Spherical wormholes aren't necessarily oriented as you want them to be. It would be highly inconvenient to throw something through and have it come right back at you because gravity on the other side sends it back. To a point, it's certainly an aesthetic decision. Theoretically, you could go through the wormgate from the other side of the gate on the flagship and still come out at Mount Aerie. The only problem is that the machinery would be in the way if you do it like that.”

Thalia rubbed her temple. “I get what you mean, but you have to work on your explanation. If the wormgate is originally a sphere which was just flattened to a disc shape, what happens if you try going through the flattened side?”

I raised an eyebrow. “That would be like trying to squeeze yourself through a crevice. If it is wide enough for you – fine. If it's not, you could get stuck or worse. Personally, I wouldn't try it. You must stop imagining a wormhole as a hole because it is not. It's a warped space without defined edges. I am much more comfortable with the sphere approach. Imagine a miniature wormhole the size of your fingernail. What happens if you wave your palm through it.”

“I will have a hole in my palm?” Ginevra asked, slightly horrified at the thought.

“No.” I shook my head. “Whatever mass enters the wormhole will the warped to the other side, but in reality, there is no defined edge which could cut you. At some point, you will encounter resistance because the part of your palm inside the wormhole will try to go one way on the other side, while the rest of your hand goes another as you pass through. To cause actual injury, you would have to apply enough force to rip yourself apart. I suppose you would stop and pull back before that happens.”

“What happens if the miniature wormhole closes while I have my palm inside it?” Thalia asked.

“Wormholes don't 'close' they 'warp back',” I explained. “Your palm would be fine. Are you two trying to weaponize wormholes?”

“Just wondering what our personal fairies might be up to in the future,” Thalia teased. “I imagined you creating miniature wormholes to slice and dice your enemies with the forces of spacetime.”

“Well, let's just say that the ultimate cutting tool you were likely imagining won't work,” I explained with a smile. Which wasn't to say other methods of weaponizing wouldn't work. “If it helps, I can imagine using small ones as a shield to displace attacks.”

“Aw…” Thalia looked dejected. “I suppose you will have to resort to finding an unpleasant place and warping our enemies there. We have to find a way for you to set up a jaunt point in the middle of the ocean.”

I smiled at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be a healer? What happened to the woman who dislikes hurting people?”

“Hurting people and fantasizing about the applications of a fantastical ability are two entirely different things!”

Our meeting ended soon after and I departed to meet up with Gilbert while I left Isaac in Kiera’s care.

The gynaecologist wasn’t a regular to be abused as a babysitter, but she paid us frequent visits to have a look at the eggs and Isaac. Thankfully, my son’s rather rambunctious behaviour had cooled down somewhat after Magnus traumatized him – which I still was not cool with. I was sure there must have been a better way, but to my great annoyance, it had worked rather well. Which I would never openly admit to my partner.

Aside from the average little mishaps that happened to any child, Isaac hadn’t gotten himself into a life-threatening situation since that day.

At least it made me feel better about leaving Isaac with people like Kiera, who wouldn’t be able to catch him if push came to shove, but at least they would be able to provide a guiding hand if he got himself into trouble.

Since Kiera was pedantically documenting the medical state of my children, I had at least two hours to organize what I would need for the trip.

It would be easy enough to have Uncle Sullivan prepare all the standard equipment which we would need. Like rations, garments, and tools.

Our armour was something only Gilbert and his crew could fix. Except for a few scratches, mine was still fine and I didn’t expect it would take too long to do the necessary maintenance work.

Magnus’s chest plate was another matter. Zacharias had cracked it, requiring a total replacement. I didn’t want to imagine what would have happened to Magnus without the protection.

I doubted Gilbert could make a new one on short notice, but he might at least be able to adapt another one for our hunting trip.

The next day, we had everything we needed for our outing and headed for the drake stalls on our flagship which was still stationed at Clan Jeng. Our drakes had originally stayed at the Old Camp, but someone had the foresight to transfer them to a more central location.

We nonetheless ran into a small problem when we entered the area where Loopsfast, Elegance and Cadence were housed.

‘Riders are back!’

Loopsfast let out what felt like the mental scream of an oversized, eager puppy when we entered the stalls – a puppy the size of a fighter jet.

The drake surged towards us and gave Magnus a sloppy lick which had my partner cursing. Then the drake stomped back and forth between a corner of his stall and us with more agility than a creature its size should have.

It would have been frightening if I hadn’t known for sure that the drake wouldn’t hurt us. For as long as the clan had used the drakes as mounts, incidents with injuries happened only rarely. And if they happened, they were almost always very tragic accidents.

‘Show! Show! Brood!’

Ultimately, Loops proudly settled down between two piles of twigs and plants which barely deserved to be labelled nests. One sheltered four eggs and the other five. The drake spread his wings and covered them protectively.

‘Mates made many!’

Magnus covered his temples with his palms and drew in a long breath before letting out a mournful sigh. “Dude, I tried to help you with getting one mate. Who said knocking up both was a good idea? And why are you the one who is mother-henning the nests?”

‘Strong male has to protect!’ Loop answered without allowing Magnus to pull him down in the slightest. ‘The more females, the better! Make more brood!’

“Aw, congratulations, Loops!” I cooed supportively and elbowed Magnus in the side. “Make sure to show them to us once they hatch.”

Magnus sighed once again. “Nonetheless, I also have to give my congratulations. Overshooting the goal is better than scoring none I guess.”

Having Loop temporarily locked down guarding the nests was thankfully a manageable problem. While male drakes were very protective of their offspring, female drakes belonged to the faction ‘lay the eggs and forget’. So, commandeering Elegance for our ride to the lake with the thunder eels was no problem.

The female drake was large enough to carry us and our supplies with ease.

Our departure was only a little delayed when Magnus received his ‘special delivery’, a steel barrel which was covered with danger and poison signs.

“What’s that?” I asked, pointing at the barrel which had been wheeled in by someone whose uniform suggested he belonged to the ninth strata.

Magnus was in the middle of signing off a paper when he replied cheerfully, “Deathnut oil!”

Of course!

“We are going on a hunting trip!” I complained. “We don’t intend to cause an ecological catastrophe! How did you even get a whole barrel of the stuff!?”

“I talked to your parents and explained what we were up to,” he answered. “At first they were suspicious, but after explaining what we would be hunting and why, I got the go-ahead from your father.”

He shook his head. “I know you are a little old-school and traditional when it comes to these hunting trips to rank up our mutations, but how exactly did you imagine this excursion would go?”

I pursed my lips. Admittedly, I was more concerned with everything surrounding the trip than the hunt itself.

“I love you, Astra. I followed you into that accursed cave system to celebrate our partnership,” Magnus continued. “But by Gaia herself, I am not going to rely on my ability to breathe underwater and dive down into a lake large enough to be an inland sea just to hunt down some critter! Who knows what’s down there? As a kid, I had my neck hair standing up just from watching what is swimming around in Earth’s oceans. And while we might be able to breathe underwater, we are otherwise very poorly equipped regarding underwater combat. I won't fight whatever is down there in its natural habitat. Fuck nature. Nature wants to kill us. We are going to poison that lake and pick up whatever floats to the surface.”

I wanted to protest, but thunder eels could rival drakes in size. And electrifying a thunder eel would likely do nothing but tickle it. Had I really considered diving down who knows how deep to spear one of the things while it tried to chew on me?

Or was my immediate refusal to use deathnut oil a result of how dangerous the stuff was? So far, I had managed to avoid puking out my guts. Maybe it was simply time to endure something unpleasant to avoid danger.

“Fine! We will go with your plan.” I pointed at the barrel. “But we will do our best to keep Elegance away from it!”