Sequel

This took SO long to write. I like Mn, and her little bit about the child was highly amusing. I could see a god setting that up just to see the look on Rel's face when she said it.

At the end. Yeah. I don't think Una did anything he said he did. I think he did something very bad. And I tried to come up with it. But. Well. The last time he claimed he didn't really do anything to warrent such a reaction... he had seduced the heir of the throne into bed with him and like three others.

His exit might have been cool if he had done it by himself.

What is shadow walking? Not certain if it was covered in Namesakes, but it is basically what the sidhe do, with climbing the sides of buildings. Most Deaths know how to shadow walk.

She'll be back.

And Rel's bots came in handy.

Read, Review and Enjoy.




“Alright, she can talk,” Mari said, pushing Una out of the way, “let’s all sit down and have tea.”

The female looked at Mari questioningly. Mari made a motion and the two females moved towards the kitchen. Rel followed after, more out of curiosity than because the action felt safe. Muan followed Rel and Una followed behind with the look of a man who had experienced this sort of thing before. The males sat at the table. Mari made tea and put out a quick selection of whole vegetables.

Tea poured, Mari turned to the female, “My name is Mari, what is your name?”

“You people called me Mn,” which to Rel’s ears sounded like the first syllable of ‘minimize,’ “This is my brother, Mm.”

“I call him Muan, actually,” Rel said, receiving a glare from Mn, “he kind of calls himself ’m’wn’ and my name is Lel.”

“Lahl.”

“Lel.”

“Lahl.”

Rel sighed, “you’re just doing that to annoy me.”

“His name is Mm.”

“M’wn,” Muan muttered, rapping the middle of his chest. The big male looked down quickly as his sister glared at him.

Mari sipped her tea and drew Mn’s attention with a clearing of her throat, “how did you escape the farm?”

“I was not there when masters began their slaughter. One or two of us can slip off at a time and so I had. When I returned your people were taking my brother.”

“If one of you could escape, why not. Run away?”

“And forfeit our children?”

“What children? The ones we found were teenagers and dead. They were able to run just as you are.”

“You found no babies there? Where did the masters take our children?” Mn looked at Muan. The male shrugged, unable to answer, “the green barn was a nursery. We were bred every year. And. Well our year of death was coming up. Muan and I drew the long straws, we would be the ones to survive and pass on the knowledge on to the younger ones. Instead they were all killed.”

“The green barn was where they did the slaughter, Mihn,” Mari murmured, “there were no nests or cribs or beds. Just slaughter equipment. They must have moved the children. How old were the ages?”

“Newborn, the mothers were about to drop when I left, up to ages ten and fourteen. Depending on when a Sidhe hit puberty, was depending on when they would ender the barn with the rest of us. Twenty or so were slaughtered every year for our bones.”

“Well we found no children. So. No bodies of children that I recall. Which would mean that the children are likely still alive. But most of the ones with connections to the farm were killed. There’s no way for us to track them down.”

“What could you do for them?” Mn responded evenly, picking up her teacup and sniffing the air over it. The female considered the tea for a long moment before she sipped it. “If you tried to move on these people, they would kill the children immediately. And if you did get your hands on one of my children, what then?”

“They would be put into your care and the care of anyone you deemed worthy of raising your children,” Una responded, “From what Muan has told me, I understand that your old time tree is in the pass between two mountains with a little cabin by a lake?”

“You showed him?” Rel snapped at Muan. Feeling hurt, because that was his area. Their area. Their little place that they had gone.

Muan looked at Una panicked.

“He did not show me,” Una murmured, considering Rel for a moment before he continued, “he told me where I could find old time trees. Then he told me about the one his tribe had claim to. What do you mean, that he showed you?”

Muan shook his head and looked at his sister. Who blinked at Muan, then peered at Rel, teacup still in her long fingered hands. Mn sipped her tea once more and set the cup back on the table.

“According to people laws, that land does not belong to my tribe, so how will we be allowed to move there, when we have no rights according to your laws?”

“Our laws can be changed,” Mari responded, “they will be changed. All you need do is be nice to. Lel. He is the ambassador to the Sidhe. What he says, at this point, the people will be more than happy to do.”

“Ambassador is not a word I understand,” Mn murmured, “is. He supposed to be the voice of the Sidhe?”

“Yes.”

“Should he not be Sidhe?”

“Well. The ambassador is usually someone of the people who speaks for the Sidhe.”

“But he is a representative of my species.”

“As your species has no legal rights,” Rel said, “it has to be a people. A Sidhe, to take the position, would have to obey all the laws of the people, would have to give up what it is that makes a Sidhe, Sidhe. I do the business of the Sidhe amongst the people.”

“And what have you done. For my people?”

“I have been more concerned with just surviving, at this moment,” Rel responded in a mutter. His control unit beeped at him. Rel retrieved it and tapped the screen to activate it. The screen told him that the nanobots had found a hidden cache of bots in a security room. They were requesting Rel’s permission to lay in a secondary command in the programming of the security nanobots. Rel okayed it and scanned through the codes of the security bots, coding the ones in that the bots were to alert him about.

“What is that?” Mn asked.

“A…” how to explain to her what the toys could mean? “thing.”

“What kind of thing.”

“A thing whose purpose is beyond your capabilities.” Rel responded with a growl.

Mn looked at Muan, Muan shrugged and mumbled something in Sidhe. Muan sipped his tea and cleared his throat before finding the ceiling very interested.

“He says you are a Whisper.” Except Mn said it ’wees-shper’ and made a flutter of her hand, “of power and of the people.”

“In two words?” Rel muttered, “how odd is that.”

“Are you a Whisper of power and of the people?”

“I am.”

“Then I should tell you that I am a guardian, a high spirit, sent to this world to guard that which is more precious than the gods themselves.”

“More precious than the gods themselves?” Rel, confused, looked at Una for an explanation. The immortal had gone a funny purple colour, “what is more precious than the gods themselves?”

“A child of the gods is.” Mari responded, “just as any society considers its children more precious than its adults.”

“Well. The only one who is pregnant is Tahl-ra and she’s not far enough along to show,” Rel said without thinking.

“Tahl-ra is pregnant?” Mari snapped as Una’s face turned a bit more purple as Mari turned to him, “you never told me Tahl-ra is pregnant.”

“I. Didn’t. Know,” Una said through clenched teeth.

“Well. I mean,” Rel shifted in his seat, realising how highly uncomfortable he was, “Ill-rin and Ringe-ill are mated now too and Illuva and De have been talking about children forever.”

“I know about Illuva and De talking about children. I know that she’s had a miscarriage already,” Una sat forward in his seat, his face turning to a normal colour, “However, without the blessing of Rahl-ta over the conception bed, a child cannot survive. Only Tahl-ra can birth a godling without one arising.”

“But godlings are not given the protection of the children of the gods,” Mn murmured, picking up her cup again, “although I know not when the child will appear, I am here to protect it from those that would do it harm.”

“So why bring it up,” Rel asked Mn, “to rub it in my face? So you’re special.”

“I was told to tell you this. That through the guidance of Whisper, the one would be revealed to me.”

“Well. I wasn’t the only Whisper. Paw was a Whisper as well. Whisper of the Sidhe and now he’s gone.”

“Gone?”

“Dead,” Rel said, “committed suicide when his lover was killed.”

Mari got a little red around the eyes. Mn looked at Una and opened her mouth but the immortal made a small shake of his head.

Obviously Rel was missing someone.

“Let’s talk about. The farm or Muan instead.” Rel said, directing attention away from Paw and hopefully distracting Mari.

“Like what?”

“Like how you hid your powers from the farmers.”

“Powers?”

“Muan can heal himself and others.”

Mn looked at Muan, panic crossing her features before she said very carefully, “my brother is powerless.”

“He’s healed me, and we will not condemn him for-”

“My brother is powerless.”

“Well if your brother is powerless, how are you related to Muan?”

“He is my brother. The one you call Muan has no power. None of us did.”

Muan set his hand on the table, palm upward and let out his breath slowly. The air in the palm of his hand lit up, as if an invisible light bulb had suddenly been turned on. The light swelled and then turned to a shade of blue before going out entirely.

Mn swallowed at the sight of the light and looked away, then back at the table, “we knew the theories of power, we knew the general ideas and how to implement them, but none of us have used that which has not arisen. To gain power would involve selling one’s soul to a god. We would sell our soul to none but Mother or our great lady.”

“Illuva.” Mari said.

“Harella-shay. Who did you get into bed with, Mm?”

Muan shook his head and stood from the table, walking off towards the plants in a huff. Mn watched her brother go to the plants before she sighed out.

“He got into bed with Rel,” Una muttered, “but from what I am told, Muan was killed and his body dumped into the waters of the great river. He awoke, as I have too many times, on the bank of the river, confused and slowly healing. If Muan sold his soul or agreed to serve a god, he does not recall it and the only mark on his soul is Rahl-ta’s. Which is alight claim as it is. More of. Entertainment than use.”

“Rahl-ta places no claim on his soul, but asks that he be entertaining. Why?”

Una motioned to Rel, “Illuva sold him to gain something. Except he needed a partner. I do not understand all the details, but somehow Muan ended up surviving and as he survived, Rahl-ta put a mild claim on him. For entertainment purposes only.”

“Entertainment purposes only.”

“Yes.”

“That would be more acceptable if Illuva had sold a female. Why are most of the pieces male?” Mn huffed out, “we’ve been trying to get him to breed for years.”

Rel’s little nanobots went off. He looked down at the screen, “Shit.”

“What?”

“Galt is here with an extraction team.” Rel sent out orders for his little bots to convert Galt’s bots and undermine the man’s orders. Half his bots went about the job of confounding Galt and his team while the other half hacked into Galt’s bots, “he’s. Here for Una.”

Una sighed and stood from my table, “time for me to make an exit, then. Mari, do remember to pack my cane, please. Mn, could you assist me in reaching the outskirts of the city?”

“What did you do to Galt?” Rel asked.

Una shrugged, “I might have suggested that his control of the military was only so expansive because he was making up for a lack of something else.”

“You what?”

“Oh, and I also, heh, cut him off of his powers,” Una adjusted his hat and made his way towards the window, “via a little trick I learned from a certain god. Mn?”

Mn stood and rushed to the window, taking Una’s hand, “can you-”

“Oh, I have never learned to shadow walk, but I can survive any landing. I just need you to keep me in one piece so I can run. Mari, meet me where planned.”

“Yes, but Una-”

And they were gone. Leaped out the window and it looked to Rel’s eyes as if the wind had caught them and pulled them off and away.

The elevator dinged and Galt stepped off just as Rel began wondering when his world had gone from strange to insane. And if insane would ever go back to being normal.

.