"Lith chose to stay when walking away would have been much easier. That made think. Yes, he is an asshole. Yes, he is a flawed man."
"But if he’s willing to go that far for a baby who’s going to hate him even if they survive, if he fights with such determination for soone who’s been part of his life for less than one year, imagine how much Epphy must an to him.
"Look at this fight, and picture Epphy instead of Valeron. Imagine they’ve known and loved each other for seventeen years instead of just one."
nadion took a long pause to let her words sink in.
"What I see here is a man I can trust. Soone who can be for Epphy everything Threin was for , and even everything he couldn’t be for due to the massive difference in our love and talent for magic.
"Whether things will work out for them or not, he will stay with her. Fight for her. Protect her. Moreover, since I’m bound to him, Lith can’t get rid of even if he wants, and I get to be the nosiest mother-in-law of Mogar. It’s a win-win situation for ."
"I’m still unconvinced." Silverwing replied, folding her arms.
"Good for you, Lochra. You’re wrong, though." Baba Yaga poured another round for everyone.
"Since when are you on Verhen’s side?" Silverwing hadn’t missed how her friend spoke with a matter-of-fact certainty.
"I’ll be honest, I shared only so of your doubts after Lith allowed to study his life force and none at all after I witnessed his fusion with Solus." Baba Yaga replied. "Ever since that mont, he had my absolute trust."
"What does that have to do with your trust, and why didn’t you say anything until now?" Much to Baba Yaga’s surprise, the questions ca from nadion.
"Because I know how headstrong Lochra is and that trying to change her mind once she forms her opinion on sothing is a waste of breath." Baba Yaga replied, hiding her embarrassnt to perfection.
"Also, I didn’t want to sway Ripha’s judgnt until she had the ti to know Lith better. Now she does, and I can say my piece freely."
"Tell another." Lochra scoffed. "You love telling people what to do and think, or you wouldn’t be called the ’Red Mother’, Yaga. There’s no way you would miss the opportunity to guide soone as young as Ripha on what you believe to be the best path for her, mommy."
The First Magus pointed at Baba Yaga’s current appearance, the Mother, making her clear her throat awkwardly.
"I agree with everything Lochra said except the part about being young." nadion clicked her tongue in annoyance. "I’m a few centuries younger than you, Lochra, but at this point our age gap is negligible."
"It would be, if you had spent the last seven hundred years like , doing what you wanted and travelling Mogar to expand your knowledge, Ripha." Silverwing replied. "Instead, you were stuck with Solus, living the sa day for centuries.
"You are not a thousand years old, my friend. Your ti stopped when you died, just like it happened to Solus. You are three hundred thirty-two years and a few months old.
The clock restarted when you returned as a Demon, and your ignorance about modern magic proves it."
"I hate it when soone else is right." nadion nodded. "Still, don’t think we forgot about you, Yaga. What does Lith fusing with Epphy have to do with gaining your trust, and why are you telling us only now?"
"Fine." The Mother shapeshifted into the Crone to express the full extent of her grumpiness. "I kept my mouth shut until now because Ripha and Epphy wounded my professional pride, and I was too ashad to admit it."
"Run it by once again, please." Lochra nodded. "This ti in a form I can understand and don’t skip any juicy detail."
"Seconded." nadion leaned back against her chair and steepled her fingers.
Humbling the most ancient white core on Mogar was an almost unique feat and demanded proper celebration. Silverwing filled everyone’s glass with her best liquor and prepared a toast for nadion.
"I hate you girls." The Crone grumbled.
"No, you don’t." nadion replied. "Now spill it."
Baba Yaga slumped against her chair, sipping a bit of alcohol before starting to speak.
"Back when I shared my Horseman technology with Ripha, I thought that due to her poor skills as a Healer, she would just co up with a makeshift, stopgap lesser version of my job."
"Is it , or is she insulting ?" nadion hadn’t missed the many unflattering adjectives the Crone had used to describe nadion’s opus.
"It’s not you." Silverwing replied. "Please, continue, grumpy."
"I’m not insulting her!" The Crone snarled. "Put yourself in my shoes, Lochra. I had spent millennia researching the Horseman technology and managed to apply it only on the purest Spirit Crystals I could create after imbuing them with part of my life essence.
"My three Horsen are my children no less than my Firstborns, yet the spell that gives them life ca with many limitations and few enchantnts. Imagine my shock when I realized that Ripha had achieved the exact sa result using her tower as a base!"
Rage flushed the Crone’s pale skin and tensed the age lines around her eyes, making her look younger.
"Wow, that’s harsh." Silverwing nodded at Baba Yaga with compassion. "I don’t know if I could ever recover from such a humiliation."
"I’m sorry for being so much better than you at Forgemastering, Yaga." nadion gently patted the Crone’s hand.
"Stop mocking , you two! I can taste your smugness!" The Crone slapped nadion’s hand away and glared at Silverwing. "And that isn’t even the worst part. Being outshone by the great Ripha nadion was humbling, but acceptable.
"I learned a lot from her success, and it drove to new heights to reach and surpass her-"
"Dream on." nadion cut her friend short.
"Yeah. You had seven hundred years to catch up to Ripha, yet your tower still sucks compared to hers." Silverwing nodded.
"I’m going to kill you two if you don’t knock it off!" The Crone snarled. "As I was saying, you learn more from defeat than victory, so I was fine with that. What I couldn’t co to terms with was that Epphy has achieved in twelve years what my Horsen failed to do in millennia."
Her voice trailed off, and her posture slouched. Baba Yaga finished her drink in big gulps and asked for a refill.
"Do you realize how embarrassing that is? I gave my children hints, I taught them everything they needed, yet they are still at square one. Epphy received no guidance. I didn’t explain the Horseman technology to Ripha because I never thought she would improve on that.
"Even if I did, Epphy had amnesia and she couldn’t rember her own na. Despite all of this, she reached the ultimate goal I have set for my Horsen in a ridiculously short ti.
"Mother and daughter had not only kicked my ass and wiped the floor with it, but also the assess of my children. That’s why I’ve been silent until now. It was a bitter potion to swallow, and only recently I made peace with it."
User Comments
0 comments from readers