Zerloth Clan Hold
Hall of Celebrations

Ocima couldn’t understand the change going through her sister - she looked happy and smiled almost all the time now. The young elven lady turned her eyes towards the one eliciting those changes in her twin; she had forgone her armor and was in an outfit combining her circlet, the corset of a gown and fighter pants and skirts in white, while her boots and forearms were protected by pieces of light-weight armor.

She envied her new sister-in-law’s sense of fashion. Shaera Snow or more commonly known as Elissa Dragonfang as she introduced herself to Ocima was the epitome of what good looks, backed up by power and honor could be. However, Ocima could also see the darkness in her sister-in-law; she was ruthless, violent and terribly cunning. Ocima watched as Elissa glared at the sycophant trying to curry favor with her and her wife; she also noticed how she wasn’t eating anything and had told her not to either.

Her stomach grumbled, and she took one of the pastries made by her sister-in-law from her spatial ring and ate it. She didn’t understand why Elissa was doing this, but she chose to trust her for now.

Pretty much every important person in Cynlenor was invited. The guild masters gravitated around Elissa and Dicinna, while Kiomdra, her mother, was trying to appear relevant. Lerrina was nowhere to be seen and it worried her. Elissa’s people where at different places throughout the Hall. The Handmaidens were patrolling through the crowds and Astagith was cornered by two female dwarves.

“I am so bored…” Ocima lamented.

Nodicea must have listened to her because Elissa came to fetch her from the isolated pillar she hid herself behind.

“Hey.” Elissa greeted.

They faced each other awkwardly, Ocima didn’t know what to say so she started safely with a, “Sister.”

The sun-elf’s eyes softened and she reached out to take Ocima’s right arm in her hand. “Well, yes, I guess I am your sister-in-law now. I wanted to talk to you.”

Elissa led her new family member to a secluded alcove, then drew a spell in the air to hide them from prying eyes and to prevent others from overhearing. Ocima was ambivalent, staying alone with her could be badly construed after all.

“What did you want to talk about?” Ocima asked, putting a certain distance between them.

Tilting her head, the taller young woman asked, “Do you want to awaken?”

“What do you mean by awaken?” Ocima looked lost.

Elissa used words and lore she learned from Dicinna, “Do you want to become a Nodicea’s blessed? That’s what you call Super Physiology on this planet, right?”

A myriad of feelings passed over Ocima’s face, doubt, sadness, hope; this was the only thing separating her from being Dicinna’s equal. The elven girl stared at Elissa with scepticism and asked, “Is that possible?”

Elissa nodded and leaned against the wall of the alcove. “Yes, I can make you become one, you are still in the age range.”

The platinum blonde smiled at Ocima. Ocima fell back on the thinking of an elven lady, and began to think in equivalent exchange. This service would certainly not be free and there was a catch. In this society there was always an angle or something to manipulate.

“Why would you do that for me?” Ocima’s stance became neutral, her eyes narrowed in mistrust.

The beautifulest smile spread on Elissa’s face as she looked at Ocima. “You are family.”

Elissa completely disarmed Ocima’s warriness. Her body language showing that she instantly lowered her guard, Elissa reached for her arm again and patted her head. Ocima wasn’t used to being treated this way, she felt silly but it did feel nice.

The dark elf girl looked in Elissa’s eyes and said, “You know Dicinna hates me, right?”

Elissa embraced her and whispered in her ear, “She doesn’t hate you, she hates how your sense of loyalty is skewed toward those who want to take her freedom.”

Ocima pushed her away, embarrassed. “But…”

Elissa interrupted her by placing a finger on her lips. “I’m going to take you with us when we leave.”

Ocima really wanted to leave with them, but the image of her mother categorically refusing came in mind. The dark elf shook her head, her mother would never allow it. “Mother won’t let that happen.”

This elicited a derisive laugh from Elissa who hid her mouth behind her hand. The air grew cold around the sun-elf as she said, “I don’t care about your mother, I care about your sanity and honor. The more you stay and adopt this society’s values, the more you’ll turn away from Dicinna and me. Suddenly, I see that I gained a new sister and I saw how you defended her in the end. Ocima you are a good person and I won’t let you rot here, take this.” Elissa took a ring from her personal storage space and a brooch, putting them into Ocima’s waiting hand.

“What are those?” The dark elf examined each of the magical items.

Elissa had an idea for the new residents of her Kingdom, an interactive tattoo imbued with the magic of Aryther would mark them and show them to be true citizens. It would be linked to the enchantment in the realm linking access to the media and governmental institutions. Something akin to an ID card. But unknown to them it would be a way to track them everywhere they went or listen in on their conversations or whatever they do.

*I really need to create an intelligence department, sworn to serve me and only me.* Elissa thought.

With a smile Elissa answered, “Those are the items needed to join my guild and my Queendom.”

“Queen? Are you a Queen?” Her eyes wide, Ocima stepped back to take in Elissa.

Yes, she could see it; Elissa always looked like she was royalty, someone who commanded respect. It was instinctive to surrender or seek her council.

Elissa nodded eagerly. “Yes, Dicinna is now my consort. I rule Aryther on the surface and my territory expands. I have conquered Thafnoris without killing too much of the population and now I plan to bring them into the sun where they won’t need to fear being attacked by monsters. I plan to change this society built on deceit even if I have to drag it kicking and screaming all the way.”

Ocima asked herself if Elissa wasn’t a villain, since she certainly felt like one; but she doubted that her twin would like someone like that. The dark elf chuckled nervously and  played with her braid.

“You are… quite intense, sister.” Ocima said to her sister-in-law.

Elissa flipped her wedding braid back.

“I know.” Elissa laughed.

“Ah, here you two are. What are you talking about?” Dicinna’s voice rang behind them, she came from the Hall.

Elissa’s spouse had changed into her original crystarium armor. Dicinna glued herself to Elissa, their hands linking together subconsciously. Ocima smiled at this, her twin noticed what she had in hand and looked at Elissa.

Through their bond they discussed about taking Ocima with them at the speed of thought. “You are taking her with us, you really like her huh.”

They continued to speak aloud for Ocima’s sake, she looked rather embarrassed again.

Elissa nodded. “Yes, Ocima has the potential to become as strong as you. Once I awaken her, I will train her.”

“What about me?” Dicinna pouted.

She didn’t want her time with Elissa to be curtailed. Elissa perceived her feelings through their bond and kissed her quickly on the lips. “I intend to teach you Inshek, my family’s martial art, as you are my wife I can even teach you my brand of magic.”

Dicinna didn’t like to use magic but after seeing Elissa use hers she felt that she would be able to master it. “Is it difficult?”

Elissa stroked Dicinna’s cheek, her eyes filled with determination. “No, give me five years and I will get you up to speed, love.”

Ocima saw a smile lights up on her sister’s face.

“Do you intend to accept Cima as an apprentice?” Dicinna asked.

After having taught Tabitha to use Inshek, Elissa was confident in her teaching methods, so training Ocima shouldn’t be hard.

Ocima hesitated in expressing her opinion. “I, yes, I want to come with you. I want to be part of something grand.”

Dicinna turned to her and put a hand on her armored shoulder. “Welcome aboard, sister. You’ll realize everything is different on the surface: there’s no dark elven politics.”

Ocima nodded. “Elissa told me.”

The dark elf felt happy that Dicinna was smiling at her, thanks to Elissa she felt included. Her respect for her sister-in-law rose up a notch.

“Good.” Dicinna said as Elissa gave her daggers back.

They had noticed the unnatural movement of the guards and sentries and knew that trouble was brewing and were ready for it. Ocima didn’t understand why her sister felt the need to be armed in the clan hold. Just in case, she did the same with her short sword that she sheathed and unsheathed; Elissa stared at her new family member and nodded at her.

Elissa asked the twins, “Now let’s wait for this train wreck of a party to end. I hope neither of you ate any of the food.”

“Why?” Ocima found it strange.

Elissa snorted prettily and flicked the girl’s forehead. “Well your other sister, the Harlot poisoned it.”

““WHAT?!”” The twins shouted in unison.

 

---

 

Lerrina felt in control of her destiny, even after her main plan was utterly destroyed by Dicinna’s soulmate; she should’ve known that nothing would go well after meeting that woman for the first time. The sheer level of power she possessed made any scheme simply mean nothing to her as she could employ brute force to overcome them.

She looked over the Hall filled with dignitaries and other important people from Cynlenor and saw some of them seemed happy, others were networking and others were plotting. Lerrina had posted guards at strategic points and she had even tainted the food and drinks to pacify the guests.

In her wine glass, Lerrina saw the reflection of a familiar elven woman behind her.

“Matriarch Traynore, what a wonderful surprise.” The heiress turned toward the three women behind her, wine glass in hand.

With Matriarch Traynore, Matriarchs Panan and Venfina followed behind her as they surrounded the young elven woman.

“Heiress Lerrina.” The matriarch slightly nodded to the heiress, barely showing respect to her.

Lerrina invited each of them to sit on the sofa facing hers. “What can I help you with?”

While sitting, Matriarch Traynore asked “We heard that you were… against this union?”

To Lerrina it was clear that matriarch Traynore disapproved of the sun-elf, the two behind her nodded following suit; it seemed the elven woman had her yes-elves to agree with her. If they knew that that woman was Dicinna’s intended they would change their tune. Lerrina sipped her wine and snorted derisively at the women.

“Yes I was, before learning who my new sister-in-law is…” Lerrina said.

Matriarch Traynore was really interested in obtaining information about Shaera Snow, because there was after all no way that she was from a simple clan from Alfheim. But the glare and posture of the young heiress told Matriarch Traynore that she wasn’t excited at the occasion.

Leaning forward, Matriarch Traynore asked, “Do you have… anything planned?”

With a wicked smile, Lerrina said, “Of course not, though I will say in confidence that I plan to take the clan seat for myself.”

*A coup? Now?* Matriarch Traynore couldn’t believe that the young elf would chose this venue to pry away the power from her old mother.

To her, that kind of move seemed unwise; not a lot of dark elves could pull off this kind of stunt unless they had complete control over the family holding and the events.

Raising an eyebrow, matriarch Traynore asked, “When?”

Lerrina placed her wine glass on the platter on the low table before her. “Tonight.”

The heiress’ magical aura slowly appeared, shining white, almost blinding; she focused it in her hand until a magical construct appeared in her hand hovering, changing form and rebuilding itself by collapsing. Matriarch Traynore recognized the magic and countered it with her own to not get tethered to the Hall; protecting her two allies at her side.

Lerrina noticed what she was doing and gave her an appreciative smile. The matriarch was aware that the guests had no idea of what was going to go down, unless they were more than a dabbler in ritual magic.

Matriarch Traynore smiled. “What do you plan to do against your sister-in-law, Shaera Snow?”

With a venomous glare, Lerrina answered, “She’s no sister of mine.” She spat.

Matriarch Traynore nodded and stood up. Her allies followed suite. “Very well, we await the show.”

Lerrina watched as the old women walked away from the lounge, she didn’t like that she wouldn't be able to make them have an accident; she had hoped that they would agree to pin the entire affair on Shaera Snow, since everyone knew she was a killer.

“I will endeavor to entertain you.” Lerrina mumbled as her eyes turned to the rest of the Hall where everyone was dancing and eating.

“Everything will be mine.”

 

---

 

“We must go find mother!” Ocima panicked and was about to run to where her mother was discussing with a member of the merchant guild.

Elissa caught her by the arm and threw Ocima in the arms of her sister glaring for the rookie mistake her sister-in-law was about to commit. “No, you must let it happen.”

Dicinna held on to a struggling Ocima. “Yes, the only way for mother to learn of Lerrina’s treachery is to let everything unfold and then break her scheme.”

Ocima turned her head to her sister and saw her determined expression, she attempted to change her mind a last time. “But!”

“No buts, obey.” Dicinna commanded tightening her hold on her shoulders.

Ocima lowered her eyes, looking subdued. “Yes… sister.”

Dicinna let go of her sister, then her eyes turned on her wife. “So, Elissa what are you going to do when everyone is poisoned?”

Elissa tilted her head and said, “Eh, those who want to live will have to pay me to be cured of course.”

The two dark elves looked at her as if she had sprouted horns and a forked tail, they couldn’t believe what they were hearing. 

Ocima stared at her new sister with eyes wide like saucers. “You are… evil.”

Elissa chuckled at that, “Yes, I know.”

The three of them walked toward the center of the Hall and no one stopped them; the rest of the Sisterhood fell in behind them, weapons visible. Reinatiel and Elissa noticed that everyone around them was being artificially bound to the Hall of Celebrations as the guards at the doors closed them. Reinatiel proceeded to begin to undo the binding ritual on everyone who were unfortunately the unwitting participants.

“She has begun, it kind of reminds me of the red wedding from Game of Swords.” Elissa said simply.

“Mistress what should we do?” Aeruirn asked her Lady, curious what game Elissa was talking about.

“Go look for Lerrina Zerloth and capture her.”

“We take on tha traitorous guards?” Astagith was eager to break something.

“Asta you have leave to neutralize the guards.” Elissa said in a commanding voice.

“Aye!” Astagith jumped, and disappeared before them.

People around them were surprised by this phenomenon and stepped back from the group further. Fenirael smiled and decided to do the same and used her inherent demonic ability to trump the senses of everyone around her and disappeared too.

“And what about us, love?” Dicinna asked.

The dark elven twins looked at Elissa, they wanted to feel useful in this tense situation. Elissa smiled and flipped her hair back. “We look pretty and play bait.”

Dicinna closed her eyes and groaned. “I hate being bait!”

As for Ocima, she was also not enthused about playing bait to attract the attention of her sister’s treacherous forces. It was no wonder that she tried to convince Elissa yet again. “Why not just try to find mother?” Ocima whined.

Elissa’s Gungnir appeared in her hand, she closed her eyes and tried to not get annoyed with her new sister. 

Dicinna put a hand on her armored bracer. Elissa opened her eyes and said to Ocima, “She wouldn’t believe us, Lerrina is the Heir and she will think that we are trying to undermine the Zerloth clan’s inheritance. Dicinna married into my Snow Phantasia family, so she is not a candidate anymore, but now you are.”

“Oh.” Ocima realized that they were right, she was the only one eligible to replace Lerrina now; and acting now would be seen as trying to seize power.

“Sisters, what do we do?” Ocima looked in worry at them.

“We let Lerrina try her coup.” Elissa said as she took Dicinna’s hand in hers. “Then we crush her and her partisans.”

The dark elf smirked at her new bride and, “This is a nice start, but what are we going to do about the armed bodyguards who are not eating or drinking?”

“Reinatiel will do something about it.” Elissa shrugged.

The light darkened suddenly in the Hall, Elissa then turned her attention to Kiomdra and her posse who were being surrounded by guards. She could see everything going down thanks to her night vision, and the matriarch didn’t know it was happening. Elissa threw her spear towards the one guard who was about to stab Kiomdra in the heart.

The spear struck the sword’s blade with pinpoint accuracy and shattered it, after which Elissa summoned her spear back to her hand and incanted an overpowered light spell. A ball of light of two meters in diameter appeared hovering on the ceiling, Dicinna sped toward her mother and stabbed one of the guards who attempted to take her mother hostage in the temple, Ocima fired magic missiles at the rest of them who tried to avoid them but suddenly found themselves frozen solid. Kiomdra fainted from the shock of the attack.

“All down.” Elissa ordered with her siren song to the guests who all obeyed. Only the guards were left standing.

The cries of the guards at the doors of the Hall of Celebration rang as a female dwarf appeared and stabbed them with her spear, disappeared and did the same again repeatedly. Fenirael took care of those posted at the other exit to the far right side of the Hall, bludgeoning them with a mace made of dark steel which was shining red with demonic energy.

Everything was going well. They put down the subverted guards, allowing Aeruirn to walk up the stairs to the lounge, where she found Lerrina about to fire a spell from the balcony. Aeruirn’s magical aura flared and she used the quick spell Reinatiel taught her while they travelled, “Fire Arrow.” 

An arrow made of white fire flew toward the heiress who must have felt the danger and sauntered back out of the way with an “Eep!”

“You! You are-”

“Fire Flash!” A tiny flame appeared in Aeruirn’s right hand and leaped toward Lerrina who conjured a magical shield and fired her own magical missile at the handmaiden.

Aeruirn lunged to the right, hiding behind the sofa to avoid the magical beam of energy, she chanted the Fire Shuriken spell, ten of them hovering at her side, then threw them one by one at Lerrina followed by another Fire Arrow that broke the magical shield her target had conjured. The handmaiden had had enough of the heiress and sent all her shuriken toward her, Lerrina did everything she could to avoid being set on fire or stabbed by the fire constructs; however, Aeruirn conjured a sphere of flame that exploded producing a bright flash of light blinding Lerrina.

The heiress tried to shield her eyes with her hands, taking advantage of this opening; Aeruirn charged her and punched Lerrina in the face. Lerrina fell and Aeruirn kicked her in the stomach, crouched and punched her till the face of the heiress bled and she lost consciousness.

“That’s that.” Aeruirn said.

After taking a one minute rest, the handmaiden loaded the unconscious elf on her shoulder in a fireman carry and climbed down the stairs. She wasn’t surprised to see that the rest of the Sisterhood was already done with their task.

“Ruirn, what took you so long?!” Her mistress said while smiling.

Everyone of the guests were on their knees or sat down on the polished dance floor, Elissa was sat on her chair while holding Kiomdra up at her side.

“She was tougher than I expected, mistress.” Aeruirn said as she slapped Lerrina’s bottom.

Elissa nodded at her handmaiden. “I see, it means you need more training.”

Aeruirn’s eyes opened wide, she then looked at Fenirael and Reinatiel who where at her mistress’ side and smiling at her.  She almost let Lerrina fall when she screamed, “No!”

“Sorry, Ruirn but you shouldn’t have taken so much time to take her down.” Elissa chuckled. “Now put this harlot down, the poison she put in the food is kicking in, the guests will show signs of intoxication soon.”

Shoulders sagging, Aeruirn nodded. “Very well.”

She rudely let Lerrina fall on the ground, the noise waking up Elissa’s mother-in-law. Her chest raising high and low messing up her gown.

“What, who?” The older elf said as she looked from Dicinna to her twin.

Dicinna and Ocima kept silent, not knowing how to broach the subject. Elissa rolled her eyes at them and decided to bite the bullet. “Ah, Mother-in-law! Finally awake? Good we need you conscious to give orders and settle everything.”

Kiomdra tried to get up, but Ocima kept her seated. “Shaera? What happened, I remember being attack- Yes! I was attacked! By my own guards even!”

There was a distinct undercurrent of anger in her voice, Kiomdra seemed to be made of stern stuff to Elissa suddenly, not the bendy and amoral person she has been shown to be in their earlier interactions. The platinum blonde smiled at that, she leaned on her godly spear and began to say, “Well, mommy dearest, we just averted a hostile take over from your eldest.”

Dicinna chuckled at the quip, Ocima couldn’t believe her sister-in-law found the situation funny. Aeruirn and the rest laughed, they were already used to Elissa; for them it was just another day with their guildmaster.

“What?” Kiomdra couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Certainly, Lerrina was ambitious and unethical at times but trying to kill her own mother? She had thought that those kind of plots would never happen as she had treated all her daughters well and with love.

“She’s telling the truth mother! Lerrina attempted to have you killed.” Ocima cried as she noticed the gleam of unbelief in her mother’s eyes.

Dicinna laughed at that. “I told you she was bad, you didn’t listen to me and now that’s how she repays your protection.”

The bride stepped on Lerrina’s body, making the matriarch get up and crouch at her side trying to awaken her. Elissa sighed, Kiomdra still didn’t want to believe them. Her motherly instincts blinding her to the truth. The young woman snapped her fingers and said, “Reinatiel break out a truth potion, we are going to dose Lerrina with it.”

The demoness in her white mage robe appeared at her side. “One moment, please.”

Seconds later, a vial of clear and odorless liquid was in her hand and the demoness handed it to Elissa, head bowed. Astagith and Aeruirn looked at the vial with trepidation, Fenirael didn’t care and was on overwatch and guarded them. The people around them had begun feeling rather ill, Elissa scanned them with her healing vision and a predatory smile appeared on her face.

“What are you going to do?” Kiomdra asked, she wanted to muster her magic and protect her daughter.

But she felt that if she even showed a hint of her aura shining around her, Elissa or Fenirael would put her down immediately.

“You’ll hear the truth from your heiress.” Elissa said as she uncorked the vial, kneeled at Lerrina’s side and made her swallow the contents.

*Drink it, Harlot. Take it all.* Elissa thought in her heart.

Kiomdra tried to intervene when her Daughter-in-law forcefully made the unconscious Lerrina drink the clear liquid; Ocima stopped her by batting her hands away. Kiomdra looked at her youngest with a betrayed expression, Ocima didn’t seem to care at the moment.

“This, where did you get truth potions? This is a highly regulated substance!” Kiomdra argued, not at all at ease with her daughter being dosed with such a dangerous substance. Elissa didn’t look happy at all when she heard that.

She narrowed her eyes and flipped her hair as she finished dosing Lerrina. Reinatiel shook her head, giving a knowing glance at her sister; Kiomdra wasn’t making any friends here.

“I am an alchemist, of course I make my own! My own master, who is the best alchemist, praised me on their efficacy.” Elissa bragged.

Harrumphing, Elissa stood up and stared at Aeruirn, “Wake her up, I might do some damage if I do it myself.”

“Yes, mistress.” Aeruirn took her wand from her spatial ring and pointed it at the unconscious heiress and cast a reviving spell.

With a brilliant red beam of light striking Lerrina’s body, the heiress woke up suddenly; eyes open she saw her mother’s and her sisters’ faces. Lerrina thought that maybe she could salvage this; but when Reinatiel and Elissa’s face appeared in her field of view she despaired.

“Wakey, wakey.” The sun-elf said with a predatory grin.

Lerrina’s vision went red and she shouted, “You ruined everything!”

Elissa shook her head, she couldn’t believe the potion was already having an effect. “Hey, you ruined your own place in this family, harlot.”

“Don’t call me that!” Lerrina tried to stand up but Ocima stepped on her, keeping her pinned to the ground.

Lerrina glared at her sister who didn’t shy away from her at all; Ocima’s blue eyes looked in disgust at her sister who she thought had loved her. But now she knew better. Lerrina didn’t love anyone but herself and she was too self-entitled.

Elissa laughed. “I will stop when you desist from dressing like one.” She commented. With a serious expression Elissa continued and she asked, “Now, harlot. Why did you try to kill your mother?”

Lerrina panicked and looked at her mother who still had affection in her eyes as she looked upon her. The heiress opened her mouth, “I didn-Grrrk agh.”

However, it seemed that the truth potion did take effect, now she was unable to not tell the truth or the potion would make her choke and kill her. Lerrina held onto her throat trying to breath. Kiomdra looked shocked as she realized her beloved daughter lied. Elissa looked at Kiomdra who woodenly looked at Lerrina.

Her gaze turned back to the dark elf at her feet. “Don’t try to resist, you will just hurt yourself.” Elissa told the heiress derisively.

Elissa leaned forward, peering at Lerrina, black lightning coming out of the side of her eyes and showing her displeasure. “Again, why did you try to kill mommy dearest?”

“I-I…” Lerrina became really scared and almost soiled herself. She looked at her mother and said, “I wanted power, I wanted to be the matriarch and control the clan!”

Elissa righted herself, rolled her eyes at the sad excuse of a daughter at her feet. “Ah, the usual power trip scenario, I see. Why did you try to get Dicinna married to one of those idiots that came to the tournament? I still want to kill you for it by the way.”

Lerrina bristled at that, put her arms around herself as she felt the temperature in the Hall fall dramatically. She knew it was because of her sister-in-law who had too much power and control over the elements; the dark elven heiress loathed Elissa even more, she was powerful, ruthless and smarter than her.

All of a sudden, she felt vindicated in her choices and looked hatefully at everyone assembled. Tightening herself in her own embrace she said, “She’s mother’s favorite! Of course I had to get her away from the clan hold! I always knew mother wanted to make her the matriarch!” Lerrina glared at Dicinna who cocked her head.

“That’s why I didn't like staying in the clan hold, they always find a way to bring me into their plots.” Dicinna mumbled.

The elven bride felt Elissa pass an arm around her shoulders, she looked at her gratefully. As for Kiomdra, she was seeing the depth of darkness her eldest daughter had thrown herself into. “Lerrina, I intended to give you the matriarch position after this wedding, just… how could you?!”

Lerrina looked completely shocked at that, and a lot of different emotions passed on her face until she broke down into sobs and cried like a little girl. Kiomdra resisted her impulse to go hug her and reassure her. The betrayal still stung. Ocima stopped stepping on her, looked at her mother and sister; she felt sad that her family was thus broken.

Elissa cackled. “Oh Hekate, that’s hilarious!”

“I agree with you, my love.” Dicinna followed suite and everyone around her was tittering.

“Dat harlot is so dumb.” Astagith slapped her thighs in laughter.

Elissa then proceeded to heal Kiomdra from the poison and explained what Lerrina did to her, the matriarch glared at her daughter even more making Lerrina cry. Then she went to heal the guild masters, Arno and Corcomo were grateful as they had begun to puke everywhere. Calimawen sulked in silence, realizing that she owed a debt to Lady Dragonfang.

Along these lines, Elissa began to extract boons and riches from each of the guests who had been poisoned by a rare poisonous seed that absorbed their life forces and any other healing implement worsened their poisoning. They were forced to accept her blackmail. Elissa collected a lot of money and spatial rings full of goodies. Reinatiel finally broke the binding that imprisoned everyone in the Celebration Hall and slumped on a chair held in place by Fenirael; it had been a draining experience.

Elissa didn’t care that she was making enemies at all, to her they were weak and she was strong and could oppress them all. Kiomdra dispatched servants to clean the Hall, everyone of the guests left the clan hold; only the guild masters and other matriarchs staying as Kiomdra Zerloth had asked them. Everyone assembled in the lounge sat at different tables and sofas.

Elissa summoned Rilo and Aghri from the familiar dimension tethered to her ring, they lunged to her and nuzzled her affectionately. Seeing the pseudodragon familiars, some people began to realize who Elissa was thanks to the rumors floating around about her and what they saw in the tournament. Arno grinned at everyone assembled as if he was the one who tricked them.

The Matriarchs who still wanted revenge decided that it wasn’t worth it when they guessed that Shaera Snow wasn’t the true name of the Zerloth family’s new bride.

“Thank you everyone for accepting to stay, I am sorry for what happened and involving you in the… coup of my daughter that almost succeeded.” Kiomdra said apologetically, as everyone looked at Lerrina who was busy looking at her hand on her thigh.

The elven heiress sat on a stiff chair behind Kiomdra who looked lost and angry. “Fortunately my daughter-in-law was wise to her scheme and broke it.”

“How are you going to punish her?” A matriarch clothed in blue asked, she looked angry.

“Yes, you cannot let go of this. I would have killed her if she was my daughter.” Another said with her arms crossed under her breast, her gown was purple.

Kiomdra stood before all of them, shut her eyes tightly as if in pain. “I will… I am not killing my daughter.”

Lerrina raised her head with hope in her eyes, thinking that maybe her mother will protect her even after what she did. Ocima shook her head, but Dicinna knew that their mother wasn’t done with them. 

“But I will banish her, what she did tonight showed me that my decisions of wanting her as an heiress were colored by my feelings for her. Tomorrow, I will let the guards most loyal to me accompany her to the Upper Dark, as of now Lerrina Zerloth is just Lerrina. A no name.” Kiomdra said sadly.

Dicinna raised her chin in pleasure.

“Mother, please no!” Lerrina sobbed and held onto Kiomdra’s arm.

Kiomdra slapped her away, making Lerrina sit in the chair again. “I am no longer your mother, you made your choices Lerrina now you get to live with them.”

“Mother, no!” Lerrina cried.

“I really like this show, it’s better than a soap opera.” Elissa whispered to Dicinna at her side.

The elf nodded absently as she watched the drama as well, scratching Rilo’s scale; the female pseudodragon purred in pleasure while Aghri was being fed meat by Elissa. Kiomdra clapped and two guards came and took Lerrina away. The matriarchs present thought that Kiomdra was weak to even allow such treachery to be rewarded by a mere banishment, but they kind of understood her position and her feelings.

Children are precious on Svartalfheim and for dark elves, the birth rate of their race was low because of their living conditions in the Underdark.

Elissa stood up with Aghri in her arms and put him on the sofa with a plate full of raw calamari meat before him and went to stand at Kiomdra’s side, putting an arm around her waist. “It seems mother isn’t feeling well, come here Kiomdra take a seat behind me. Without resisting, the Zerloth matriarch listened, she was saddened by what she had to do to her eldest.

“As you must all have guessed, I am Shaera Snow; but others also know me as Lady Dragonfang.”

“I knew it! It’s her!” The purple dressed matriarch said in victory as she stood up and clapped.

Elissa gave the elven woman an annoyed glare. “Yeah, yeah you won, now sit down.”

The matriarch sat sheepishly, embarrassed.

Elissa nodded and continued, “My full name is Elissa Shaera Snow Phantasia Dragonfang, First of her name, The Storm Queen of Aryther, Dragon Slayer.” now she looked at Dicinna. “Dicinna is now the Princess Consort of the Queendom of Aryther.”

Elissa looked at everyone, some were shocked, others not surprised at all; Calimawen gave a bag of coin to Corcomo who accepted it graciously, all smiles.

To add insult to injury, Elissa continued with, “She’s my intended.”

Every matriarch stood up and shouted in surprise. “What?!”

“No it can’t be!”

“Is this a joke?”

“Why did we have all our sons participate in this tournament then?!”

Someone having already found their intended and begun to bond wasn’t to be tempered with in anyway; the wedding would have failed if someone else had won in the tournament.

Elissa grinned at them, not repentant at all and said, “I know, to me it was a farce too. I intended to kill everyone and take my soulmate back if I had lost; fortunately it didn’t happen.”

At this everyone in the room gulped. Ocima believed her; she saw firsthand how ruthless her new sister was and it scared her. But as she looked at the Sisterhood, they acted as if they were used to their guild master’s behavior and sat stoically. Dicinna smiled at her spouse as if she just said the most beautiful thing to her. Elissa began to explain everything that happened to them and put the responsibility solely on Lerrina who schemed against them and everyone.

Elissa also advised them to interrogate and investigate who would profit the most for their deaths as they were also poisoned. The matriarchs and guild masters acquiesced at that. The theory was sound, and they regretted that Lerrina wasn’t here to be interrogated again. The meeting broke after that, and everyone went to sleep with their heads heavy with thought.

Ocima stayed in the clan hold and wished good night to the couple; Kiomdra followed Ocima like a duckling. The sisterhood was finally out of the Zerloth clan hold, they all went directly to the Windy Dragoon to catch some well deserved sleep.

 

---

 

Day 73, Morning
Windy Dragoon, Room 13

Dicinna woke up, and immediately felt the strange cool and familiar temperature of Elissa; she sighed in contentment as she used one of Elissa’s boobs as a pillow. They slept naked, not caring for propriety, but they still didn’t go beyond kissing and petting last night; they waited for their other half to bond with them and complete them.

Elissa snored slightly, her chest rising and falling slowly; her heartbeat strong, Dicinna listened to it and was almost lulled back to sleep. She was saved from this delectable fate by a black pseudodragon who climbed onto their bed and pawed Elissa’s left cheek. Opening her eyes, the young woman looked around her and saw her dark elf glued to her side; she smiled contentedly.

“Good morning, Cinna.” Elissa gave her a slight peck on the forehead with her lips.

“Morning my love.” Dicinna answered, feeling butterflies in her lower abdomen when Elissa kissed her.

Elissa kept Dicinna in her arms and stayed immobile for a while, counting the number of striations in the wooden ceiling. She clearly didn't want to move.

Dicinna couldn't have that, they had important business to conduct. “So, what’s the plan for today?”

Elissa sighed heavily, held tightly onto Dicinna for five seconds and then loosened her hold; she stared into the dark blue eyes of her bride. “First I am going to heal Intevar the swordsman, and make him indebted to me. Then, we are going back to the Zerloth clan hold, where we will have a chat with your mom and then take Ocima with us. I will try to negotiate with Kiomdra for her training.”

If it was before last night Dicinna would have said that taking Ocima away from the clan would have been easy, but after banishing Lerrina there was no way that Kiomdra, her mother was going to let her twin sister out of her sight.

“I don’t think she’s going to let go…” Dicinna said slowly.

Elissa grinned, *We will see about that.*

She didn’t notice that Dicinna shuddered at her openly creepy smile. Elissa put a hand on Dicinna’s cheek that wasn’t glued to her boobs and stroked it. “I will make her an offer she can't refuse, Cinna.”

Sigh. “You’re doing it again, that evil smile of yours.” Dicinna averted her eyes from Elissa’s.

With an eyebrow raised, Elissa asked as she stopped smiling, “What? You love my smile!”

Dicinna shook her head. “Errr, yes. But sometimes you show this creepy evil smile when you are about to do something evil.”

Elissa harrumphed and rose from the bed, Dicinna gave a victorious smile and did the same, then they went to the bathroom where they had a long shower and make out session. The young couple almost succumbed to temptation but held back on going further, Elissa sighed in frustration and exited the shower cabin.

Dicinna had the same frustrated expression as Elissa as she watched her shapely rear leave, she bit her lip. The dark elf wanted, no, she needed to make love to her bride. But she was trying to control herself, her instincts were telling her to lunge at Elissa and pin her to the ground and have her way with the delicious ice maiden. The dark elf stared at Elissa as she put some sort of cream on her skin; under the light, Dicinna noticed how Elissa’s skin shimmered.

“You have beautiful skin.” Dicinna said, her voice raw with frustration.

“Yes, it changed when I was under the ruler’s sleep. I think I am bulletproof and slash proof as my skin is made of micro draconic scales.” Elissa held her arm out to Dicinna who walked up to her and took her arm in her hands.

She slowly passed her finger on Elissa’s forearm and looked at it really closely. Elissa’s skin texture was really different, it was smooth but also reminded her of the skin of the wyverns she had slain before. But her skin wasn’t rough, on the contrary it was silky to the touch and it was beautiful as the light hit it. “Gorgeous.”

With a smoldering gaze, Elissa ogled Dicinna’s perky breast, licking her lips slowly. “Not as much as you, Cinna.”

The dark elf lifted her head to look at Elissa’s face, her eyes were filled with lust; Dicinna let go of her arm and stepped back. “No, don’t or I won’t be able to stop.”

“Fine.” Elissa said and turned her gaze away from Dicinna.

“We really need to go look for our love back on Midgard. I don’t think we can stop being tempted into falling into bed.” Dicinna mumbled as she passed Elissa to access the bathroom’s door.

“I totes understand.” Elissa said as she caught the dark elf in her embrace and groped her butt cheeks.

Dicinna let her do it knowing Elissa just wanted to show her appreciation. With a regretful sigh, Elissa let go of Dicinna’s bottom, smacked it, loving the way it jiggled and stepped back.

“One day I will pin you to a bed and ravage you, you have my promise.” Elissa whispered.

With a whimper, Dicinna turned to Elissa; hiding her body from her warm gaze and said, “Please, stop? You are testing my resolve.”

The young woman clicked her tongue, pouted and crossed her arms under her impressive bust. “Fine.” She said forcefully, leaving the room and brushing her body against Dicinna’s, whose face became darker than normal due to her embarrassment.

Afterward, the two of them got dressed in the bedroom, putting distance between themselves; they didn’t trust each other to control themselves. The soulmate bond between them was pushing them to consummate their relationship and it was distracting. Elissa looked a last time at the picturesque inn room, she had a good time here, and the blue and white rugs, the wooden panelings and partitions and the crystal chandelier were all to her taste.

“I want an inn.” Elissa suddenly said.

“Why?” Dicinna asked.

Dicinna watched as Elissa looked wistfully at the room, the young woman then stared at her with a big smile. “I want a big house made like that with tasteful decorations.”

Elissa kept nodding to herself, her decision taken. The dark elf loved her bride’s little quirks but sometimes she noticed how dragon-like she was.

“Hum, love you know that you are super rich right?” Dicinna asked her.

Elissa possessed a fortune able to rival the Elven Chamber of Commerce, a net worth of three or four kingdoms, and she possessed a philosopher’s stone. *She can make wealth for Nodicea’s sake!*

Elissa finished equipping her dark blue armor and put her magical sword at her hip. The moonblade was becoming a normal part of her outfit.

“Yes, but I want to find someone who can build something as beautiful as the Windy Dragoon.” Elissa argued.

Dicinna rolled her eyes. “You’ll have so many dwarves in your kingdom soon, you’ll find someone. Are you done putting on your Nightscale armor?”

The dark elf was there when Elissa negotiated with the High Queen of the Dwarves; the gold coins exchanged for the service of the most talented artisans of their realm was going to help her in building Queen’s Rise, her subterranean city and  in outfitting Dragon Fang Tower.

Elissa chuckled. “Yes, dear.”

“Then come on, let’s go.” Dicinna said as she too finished putting on her armor.

Dicinna took Elissa’s hand and pulled her toward the door. They exited their room and when they left the first floor, they weren’t surprised to see the place already bustling with activity. Adventurers were already loitering about, getting breakfast or looking at the Job board with all the mission posters pinned to it. Elissa searched the tables with her eyes and finally found the rest of the Sisterhood waiting for them.

Astagith noticed them climbing down the stairs, she raised her mug full or grape juice and hollered, “M’Lady! Good Morn’!”

“Good Morn’ Asta.”

“This is a beautiful day, we are finally done with the tournament and have saved my wife.”

Astagith snorted at that, Elissa couldn’t tolerate Dicinna before their bond eroded her resistance, little by little, now she couldn’t live without her. The dwarf felt a gaze on her and saw Dicinna’s stormy gaze; Astagith smiled tauntingly at her. The dark elf harrumphed and then looked at Aeruirn.

“You are new.” Dicinna cocked her head slightly as she looked at the beautiful dark elf.

She found her strange, as if she was lost, a displaced sheep amongst wolves. Dicinna imagined her to be the perfect elven lady because of her posture and her manners; her speech was also formal. Aeruirn was happy that she had finally been noticed by her mistress’ bride. She didn’t believe that she had a self effacing presence like her brother.

Aeruirn smiled genuinely at Dicinna. “Yes, Milady. I am Aeruirn Bhelveth; previously a matriarch and now in service to the Storm Queen as her servant.”

Dicinna raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she looked intently at Aeruirn. “Bhelveth, Bhelveth? Where did I hear this one before?”

“She’s from that family that first attacked me on this planet.” Elissa said helpfully as she put an arm around her wife’s waist.

“Oh.” Dicinna didn’t know what to say.

Elissa forced her enemy into servitude, knowing her, it was all about work for me or die. She stared at her bride and shook her head, not surprised anymore.

The platinum blonde looked proud as she said, “She’s my new handmaiden, Aeruirn is still in training but has tremendous potential. Like Ocima she has the potential to become a Nodicea’s blessed.”

Elissa looked at Aeruirn as if she was a shiny treasure she was particularly proud to have obtained, the black-haired dark elf squirmed under her gaze. Reinatiel and Fenirael grinned at she was feeling ill at ease; Astagith rolled her eyes and focused on her pile of pancakes with honey syrup.

“You plan to awaken her soon?” Dicinna noticed that Elissa had further hidden agendas brewing in her mind thanks to their bond.

She could see images, ideas and feelings through it, Elissa looked at her knowingly. “Yes, at the same time as your sister.”

Elissa nodded while still looking at Aeruirn who braved her fear and asked, “I wasn’t aware of this… mistress?”

Chuckling, Elissa said, “I’m not surprised Ruirn, you never went onto the surface to bathe under the sun’s rays. Your body has never absorbed it’s radiation. Sun crystals unfortunately don’t count.”

“Ah.”

After this, breakfast was served for Elissa and Dicinna who disgusted everyone by feeding each other; there was much cooings and kisses exchanged. Reinatiel and Fenirael were definitely jealous and hated that interloper. Dicinna was aware of their animosity, but didn’t care either way. When they finished, it was time to start the activities of the day, later tonight they will teleport to Dragonfall.

They went to the Healing Guild, a neutral place where politics and feuds weren’t allowed. The healing guild possessed a lot of clout and were also bound by a lot of oaths. It was akin to the Hippocratic Oath on Earth, including the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficence. Because the Biomancy that Healers wield had close ties to genetic manipulation and necromancy.

Incidentally, Elissa wasn’t bound by any such oaths. She had fallen through the cracks of society never revealing her capabilities on her planet of adoption. It was only once she was in Daphne Snow that she had been using her biomancy extensively.

The first thing in Elissa’s mind when her eyes rested on the Healing Guild was that the building resembled a hospital on Earth. It was a series of rectangular buildings with high-rises made of stone and glass. There were guards at the entrances, but they didn’t wear the same armor and weapons as the dedicated defense force of the city. Their armor was copper colored and they seemed to have staves instead of spears.

“They take their policies about non-violence and no-killing really seriously.” Elissa said aloud.

Dicinna held on her spouse’s arm and said, “Yes, hum… Elissa when we enter this place try not to get too angry?”

“Why?” Elissa tilted her head.

Dicinna gave her a meaningful smile. “Like you said, they take themselves very seriously.”

Frowning Elissa asked. “How seriously?”

“What yer bride is tryin’ tae say is dat they all have a stick up their bum, M’Lady.” Astagith said bluntly.

Elissa whipped her head to the dwarf with confusion. “Why do you people always think that I will react violently?”

Everyone around Elissa stared at her, shocked that she wasn’t self-aware about her temper problems. Fenirael put her hand over her mouth so as to not laugh. Elissa rolled her eyes at them and walked to the entrance of the healing guild leaving the rest of her party to follow her hurriedly. The guards let them pass and inside there was some kind of waiting room with benches, which was decorated with potted flowers. A counter with two elven women dressed like sexy nurses received people.

“It’s like I’m in a sexier version of Gray’s anatomy.” Elissa mumbled.

“What’s Gray’s Anatomy?” Dicinna asked.

“A really good TV show about life in hospitals and the political shenanigans the doctors and nurses get embroiled into.” Elissa informed Dicinna.

Dicinna stared at her, cocked her head and said, “What’s a ‘TV show’?”

Elissa’s eyes went wide with astonishment. She hugged Dicinna briefly before saying. “Oh, Hekate. You poor dear need to be educated. I will show you later.”

“Fine, I will hold you to that.”

It was thirty minutes later that Elissa was at the head of the queue and facing the sexy redheaded elven nurse. Her uniform was white with pink colored band at the hem, sleeves and collar. Elissa guessed that this uniform showed her rank in the healing guild.

“Good Morn’! What can I help you with?” The redhead greeted her cheerfully.

With a smile on her face, Elissa said, “Good Morn’, I want to speak to someone in charge, I have a patient to operate on and I want to do it in the best place possible and the healing guild has all the facilities I need.”

The nurse stared at Elissa from head to toe and thought that this sun-elf looked rather like a mercenary. Her cheerful expression was replaced by a sceptical one and with a judgmental sniff she asked, “Are you a healer? Do you have any certifications?”

Elissa counted to ten, not wanting to let her temper rise. She’s lucky Dicinna told her this would happen or else she would have blown up that elven woman. The platinum blonde plastered on a crazy smile and said as she leaned forward threateningly, “Oh, you use those? In my Queendom we don’t have to distribute them.”

The nurse stepped back and realized that maybe this person wasn’t the kind she should show disrespect. “I see. Hum, I will call my superior.”

“Good, do that.” Elissa nodded.

The nurse quickly walked away from the sun-elf, disappearing into the corridor leading out of the waiting room. Elissa turned to Dicinna who quickly walked up to her, followed by the rest of her group. The rest of the people in the queue behind her noticed how well-armed this party was and decided not to raise a fuss about it.

Dicinna took Elissa’s arm, and said, “Elissa, are you sure they are going to let you operate without certifications?”

Certifications were important permit handed out by guilds showing that an individual is able to exercise an occupation. Dicinna remember Elissa showing her an Alchemist journeyman pin that was stored in her spatial ring, but no healer ones.

“Not for healing, no. You can say that I am illegally using my powers. Fortunately, I am not under their jurisdiction. I have two plans to get past any hurdle!”

“And what might they be?” Dicinna had a very good idea of what Elissa’s plan was.

Elissa gave them a proud smile, slapped her breastplate and said, “Plan A was about asking permission, plan B is all about taking what I need.”

The sisterhood kept silent, Dicinna rolled her eyes. It was just like she feared; Aeruirn told herself that her mistress should know that force isn’t always the solution.

“Ah! Just like ah guessed! Dis is how M’Lady is.” Astagith shook her head with a mirthful smile.

Dicinna sighed heavily, put a gloved hand on her spouse’s cheek affectionately and began the process of calming down Elissa. She was beautiful and fearless but she could be a difficult charge. “Elissa this heavy handed manners of yours won’t always work you know?” Dicinna reprimanded her.

Just like that, Elissa felt as if Dicinna ruined her fun, lowered her eyes and mumbled, “I know, but for now I am milking my superiority till I can’t.”

“Good, at least you know it. Those things that you did here wouldn’t work on Asgard, Vanir or Alfheim. I mean literal gods walk the street there!” Dicinna warned her.

Alfheim and the planets under the dominion of Asgard were ruled by the Aesir and other complements of races that if they wanted to could conquer Svartalfheim, but fortunately they didn’t want to bother with dark elf politics and washed their hands of them. The level of power between those worlds was staggering; Dicinna felt that Elissa was just lucky so far.

Her dread and warning seeped into their matrimonial bond and Elissa understood; with a subdued expression she said, “Welp, I will be careful…”

 

---

 

Negotiating with the Healing Guild had been difficult, when the nurse came back with an old male elf who looked as if he was used to getting his way Elissa really wanted to use plan B. But when she looked into the trusting eyes of Dicinna, she didn’t find the heart to disappoint her. Elissa fell back on what Malicia taught her about politics, ‘there’s always a paw to grease’; so Elissa took out a bag of gold and any resistance the elf had to let Elissa use their facilities melted like snow in the sun. With another bag of gold Elissa obtained a certification to avoid those kind of problems in the future.

“See, I told you that there is always another way.” Dicinna said all smile.

“Right.”

When they made it to an operating room, Elissa had to agree to wear a healer robe and it was too tight in certain places which nearly made Dicinna’s heart stop and made most of the male personnel assisting her leer at her. Ignoring the slutty outfit, Elissa took the stasis sphere out of her spatial ring, Reinatiel lent it to her earlier expecting it to be returned; after all, it was her share of the treasure from the battle with the Kraken they met some weeks ago.

With a flash of green light, the body of Intevar Ilihorn appeared on the operating table; but thanks to the power of the stasis sphere he was still in a field where time was frozen. Once more, Elissa used her power to see everything wrong with him, and the verdict was: pretty much everything. Mirion did a thorough job of destroying the elf before her while still keeping him alive.

Elissa conjured ice constructs in the form of medical operating tools, needles, scalpels, pliers and saws; the healers at her side observed her technique and came to appreciate this stasis sphere that she possessed they saw the merit of such a magical item. The blonde healer sized up the damage and decided to begin with the bones and then she will rebuild the muscles and flesh that were destroyed.

Spreading her awareness to cover Intevars entire body, Elissa began to work. She liquified the bones, not forgetting even one bone particle. The healers behind her were surprised to see that this sun-elf could do the work of five of them; they didn’t understand how she wasn’t already falling unconscious on the ground. Healers normally had to form circles of three or more to pool their magic to even do this kind of operation.

The map of Intevar’s DNA in the 3D representation in Elissa’s mind gave her a model of how everything should fit, what was normal and what wasn’t. Elven physiology wasn’t that different from that of humans, but there was a part of them that was spiritual that her biomancy gave her access to. This was the first time that she operated on one, Elissa saw in depth both his physical and spiritual components.

The two were interlinked. It also gave her some insight into her own body and how interlinked her mana core and spiritual meridians were with her physiology. It also told her how to artificially make people like ancient humans.

*No wonder Healers are bound by oaths, this kind of power makes me even more dangerous. I can create an army.* Elissa thought, she felt horrified and under that emotion elated.

After this discovery, she decided to focus on healing Intevar; she completely rebuilt his bone structure as well as his muscles, tendons and ligaments and bonded them to his bones. The process was slow as she had to rebuild his flesh that had been turned into ground paste. There were instances where the flesh was too damaged to be regenerated and Elissa had to cut away some of it and regrow it. In total it took her around three hours to regenerate the elf’s internal organs.

One of the healers, a male elf who looked in his twenties interrupted her and asked her a question. “How are you still standing?”

And then he proceeded to tell her about why they form a magical circle and share the load to heal people who are this damaged.

“That’s because I don’t rely solely on Mana to supply energy to my Biomancy.” Elissa replied while still operating, she could easily divide her awareness to be able to do a number of tasks at the same time.

“What do you use? Electricity?” The healer asked derisively.

Elissa decided to show him by siphoning the energy around them, a haze of white energy surrounded her, blurring her form. The healer and his colleagues stood there fascinated.

“Oh no, this is cosmic energy. I had the same problem as you before - my mana often got so depleted that I could barely move after healing someone.” Elissa answered while she began suturing Intevar with mana threads, her ice needles dancing around the body and linking the parted skin. “You call it nature energy in your folklore.”

The healer nodded, one of them was taking note of everything that was happening here. To study the technique employed by this strange sun-elf.

When the skin bonded itself together at the molecular level, Elissa was finally done. It had taken her four hours to completely heal the man. She banished her medical tools, they disappeared with a pop, and one the healers placed a chair behind Elissa who looked at her with thanks and sat down in a heap. 

*It was tiring, this level of damage was severe. I hope Intevar is worth it.* She thought.

Another healer came and gave her a glass of water, she accepted it; invisible diagnostic spells checking if it was poisoned. Fortunately, there wasn’t any poison on the glass or in the water; Elissa drank the reviving liquid down and said, “Another.”

She was given another glass of water. Elissa felt refreshed and her regenerative power proceeded to make her well again.

“Lady, if we didn’t know better we would think you have done this all your life and that you were older than you look…”

“Is there any way that you could teach us how to be as efficient as you?”

“That was a good job you did there, congratulations!”

Elissa listened as the healers heaped praise upon her, it felt good. She smiled at them and said, “I plan to open my Queendom to the healing guild, I hope that you send some of your rookies there and I would take their training in hand.”

This announcement set their imaginations on fire and they were filled with questions.

“Excuse us, but who are you really?” One of the female healers asked.

“You may know me as Lady Dragonfang.” Elissa said with a tired sigh.

They had heard of her, she was a dragon-slayer and able to fight armies by herself; the healers would have never imagined that Elissa Dragonfang was a mage blade and a healer. Gazes focused on the supervisor who had been giving her a bad time earlier to use their facilities. They all saw him begin to sweat.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to you, dear supervisor, or I would have already; thank my bride for that.” Elissa said as she looked toward the window encased in the wall where people could see the healers at work.

With a dazzling smile, Dicinna waved at them; to the supervisor she looked like an angel of Nodicea herself. Everything went fine after that and Intevar was placed in a room and under guard. The supervisor told Elissa that she would be notified when he wakes thanks to the handheld communication mirror that the healing guild provided her to always stay in contact with them.

After this, Elissa was dared by Astagith to stay in her sexy healer uniform for the rest of the day, Dicinna accepted it on her behalf of course but still permitted her spouse to cover herself with her cloak. The Sisterhood was now going to the Zerloth clan hold; their eclectic group attracting the eyes of everyone on the streets they walked through. It was principally because everyone recognized Dicinna and the sun-elf at her side, people gave them a wide berth as they now knew how dangerous and volatile she was.

After they arrived safely before the gates of the clan hold, the guards let them pass. Elissa and Dicinna noticed that there was a crowd before the palace, with servants and guards bringing in wooden chests; in the crowd they recognized Lerrina being spoken to by Kiomdra, Ocima was behind her looking stoic. Dicinna pulled Elissa’s arm as she walked quickly toward her family.

Kiomdra’s eyes lit up when she saw Dicinna, Lerrina turned toward her sister and glared loathingly at her.

“I see that you are still giving her ways to survive the Upper Dark, mother.” Dicinna said as she looked at all the trunks piled at Lerrina’s feet.

“I would do the same for you Dicinna.” Kiomdra said, not ashamed at all of what she was doing.

Even if her daughter had tried to kill her, she still loved her.

“Yes.” Dicinna nodded, walking up to her mother and hugging her.

Kiomdra hugged her back. Meanwhile Lerrina with hatred etched upon her face was still being despondent about her fate. “You won, Ocima! You’ll be Matriarch.”

Ocima didn’t understand this sudden bout of hatred, she had done nothing but love her. “I never wanted to be Matriarch, I always thought it would be your job, Lerrina; and now because of your idiocy I’m going to be saddled with it. I hate you, and hope to never see you ever again.” Dicinna’s twin said bluntly.

Lerrina wasn’t prepared to receive such vitriol, she stepped back from her sister.

“I can arrange that.” Said Elissa frostily as her magical aura crackled around her.

“Elissa…” Dicinna wasn’t surprised that after making her refrain from attacking the healers that her spouse was now wanting to pick a fight with someone who wronged her.

Though Lerrina was a betrayer, and almost a kinslayer; Dicinna didn’t want to have her blood on her hand. Now that the situation had cooled off, Dicinna just wanted her out of her life. Kiomdra put herself between Lerrina and Elissa.

“Shaera please, promise me that you won’t kill Lerrina.” Kiomdra didn’t beg, but she was almost there.

Elissa frowned at Kiomdra. She didn’t understand her, Malicia would have killed Lerrina long ago. After all, who would want to suffer a traitor to live? “Why should I promise anything to you? You are leaving yourself wide open for her return and inevitable new scheme if you let her live. Didn’t you notice what a scheming snake she is?”

Lerrina began to shake as she felt the weight of Elissa gaze on her, inadvertently the platinum blonde had released her dragon fear and focused it solely on the no-name dark elf. Lerrina had seen firsthand how powerful Elissa was as she erased the strongest male dark elf on the planet with a scream. She was nothing before the might of her Sister’s wife.

Dicinna came to Elissa’s side and put a hand on her shoulder and looked meaningfully into her eyes. Elissa’s stance abruptly changed as it relaxed, her aura disappearing from around her. “Elissa, my love. I am loath to say that you are wrong. In fact, you have been right all the time when you assessed an enemy. But even though mother blanked Lerrina’s name from the family books, it doesn’t stop the same blood as mine from flowing through her veins. Could you promise me to not kill Lerrina, directly or indirectly?”

Elissa couldn’t believe it! Dicinna was taking the party of the woman who had tried to enslave her and turn her into a sex slave! “Cinna! She’s…”

Dicinna’s serious eyes bored into Elissa’s; in her stance and body language the platinum blonde read that she wouldn’t be able to be moved from her decision. “Please, Elissa we are all family now.”

Her instincts warred with her love and duty to her new wife. She really wanted to rip Lerrina’s throat out and look at her broken body at her feet and make her disappear by scattering her body to the winds with her Death Scream. But her instincts were defeated by the soulful gaze of the woman she loved, making her give in.

“Fine, I won’t kill her; but if she comes back as an enemy…” Elissa looked at Lerrina and said, “I will, Understood?”

Lerrina understand perfectly that her family just saved her life, even if they did blank her name on the family rolls, they still considered her family. “Crystal.”

“Thank you! Thank you!” Kiomdra came to hug Dicinna who had let her have her way. She didn’t expect her to do the same with Elissa.

“Hey.” Elissa tried to pry Kiomdra away from her.

Dicinna looked at her with a smile on her face. “Just endure it, Elissa…. She’s like that when she’s under pressure.”

 

---

 

Zerloth Clan Hold
Kiomdra’s Study

After seeing Lerrina out to the teleporter leading to the City of the Exiled in the Upper Dark, Elissa, Dicinna, Kiomdra and Ocima went to speak privately. Servants provided them with snacks, tea and wine. The rest of the Sisterhood was guided to the kitchen to have lunch so they weren’t available for this meeting.

“Dicinna told me you wanted to see me, Shaera?” Kiomdra said.

She looked less sad, Elissa promising to not hunt down and kill her eldest banished daughter must have been a relief. After all, she learned that her middle daughter married into royalty and that she surely must have ways to do whatever she wanted. The rumors about Lady Dragonfang had been proven when she took out the most promising youth of the dark elven race.

Frowning, Elissa told her, “Please call me Elissa, Shaera is just my middle name.”

Kiomdra shook her head. She didn’t find the name ‘Elissa’ attractive at all, she preferred the name her daughter-in-law introduced herself with the first time. It was exotic and beautiful. “I like Shaera better.”

Dicinna put a hand on Elissa’s, her annoyance fled and her spouse’s love filled her, calming her nerves.

“Fine, do what you want.” Elissa said as she took Dicinna’s hand and placed it on her lap.

Kiomdra saw that little interplay going on, Dicinna was acting like a pacifier on the more haughty and dangerous Shaera. The sun-elf was dangerous, and Kiomdra knew that she was more than she claimed to be, there was no way that her daughter’s spouse was a simple elf. Her power showed that she was part divine. The Matriarch shelved that away and decided to focus on the here and now as something began to intrigue her.

“I see that you are wearing a healer’s robe… why?” Kiomdra asked.

Elissa looked at her sexy nurse-like healing robe, it had blue bands on the hem, sleeves and collar showing that she was a high level healer from the healing guild.

“I am a certified high healer?” Elissa said as if it was obvious.

Dicinna nodded at her mother. “She speaks the truth, mother. She saved Intevar Ilihorn earlier this morning, he will now enjoy a complete recovery.”

Elissa heard pride in Dicinna’s voice, she seemed happy to have a talented wife. Kiomdra stared at Elissa and found her really interesting, a warrior, a mage, an alchemist and now a healer? Was there anything that her daughter-in-law couldn’t do? Then, she remembered what the Ilihorn brat looked like after he lost to Mirion.

“He could be saved from that… pummelling?” Kiomdra asked, she was being diplomatic with what happened to Intevar.

Elissa took a bottle of wine and began to fill her glass with the ruby red liquid. “He was almost turned to paste, yes.” She said nonchalantly. “I had to rebuild his bone structure and regrow his flesh and muscles, reestablish his blood circulation, and regenerate his internal organs. It was the biggest healing session that I have done so far, but it was worth it as I learned a lot from it.”

Now she knew how to make the awakening to super physiology safe, and as she wasn’t bound by any oath from the Phantasian Healing Council or the Healing Guild here, Elissa could make her own army here. It would be needed, to free her mother and retake what’s hers by right; then and only then would she begin to do what needs to be done about the Phantasian nobles who had betrayed her family and had opened their world up to demonic invasion.

“You certainly seem to speak like a healer.” Kiomdra chuckled.

Her daughter-in-law was certainly graceful, Kiomdra looked at all her movements and noticed how she carried herself. Shaera had a commanding presence that she seemed to ooze and everyone couldn’t do anything but listen to her. This was how Kings or Queens commanded; Kiomdra noticed that as she was in contact with the Queen of Cynlenor all the time; however, Elissa seemed to be a notch above her own ruler.

“I am one, but I don’t practice intensively. This is going to change though, and we come to why we came here, Kiomdra.” Elissa answered and decided to cut to the chase.

Kiomdra frowned and crossed her arms, looking annoyed. “Please, call me mother.”

The Matriarch had lost a daughter, and had gained another through marriage, but Shaera didn’t seem to want to think of her as a parental figure.

“Certainly… mother.” Elissa nodded with reluctance.

Kiomdra smiled, every little victory counted. “Good.”

“We have come to build an alliance with the Zerloth clan.” Elissa took Dicinna’s hand to place it on the desk and cover it with hers, instinctively they linked their fingers.

Kiomdra smiled at the public display of affection. But she didn’t understand where Elissa was going with this, their family was now bonded through matrimony, even more so as the two girls were soulmates.

To have more information, Kiomdra asked, “I don’t understand? We are family now, we are already allied.”

Elissa primly used her power to slightly chill her wine like she liked and sipped on it, it was divine and strong. This was the first time she tasted wine from Alfheim. She wanted to steal the bottle, and keep it to study how it was made and duplicate the result through alchemy. Dicinna looked at her expression and chuckled.

She liked how Elissa’s greed usually made her react immaturely. Elissa then began to focus on Kiomdra’s question who should have been able to understand each other’s position.

Staring in Kiomdra’s stormy blue eyes, she explained, “Yes, mutual protection and things that every family does. But our businesses and economy is kept separate; I want to change that as I plan to make the surface safe for living. I already have Aryther, but I plan to make my pocket realm grow to include the Rislt Plains, Dragonfall, the forest previously known as the forbidden forest and another forest called the Evergreen Isle located on a big island in another giant lake.”

Kiomdra’s mouth was agape by the depth of her daughter-in-law’s aspirations. Dicinna and Ocima made signs to her to close her mouth, Kiomdra reddened at that and recompose herself and said to Elissa, “You… are ambitious.”

Shrugging, Elissa continued her discourse, “This planet’s surface has been neglected, your people had three thousands years to get it back and you didn’t.” The platinum blonde, smiled greedily. “I am now taking over, it is just a question of time till everything under the sun belongs to me.”

She drank a bit of wine before, waiting for the once again shocked Kiomdra to react. To say that she was shocked was self evident, she was already thinking about the numerous cities and clans that would not want to let that happen. They all wanted the glory days of the last Empire, to return to the surface and under the sun, monster free. But they couldn’t decide on who should lead the charge, and then suddenly a stranger came and began the process of claiming parts of the planet.

Kiomdra showed her worried expression, her voice full of hesitation. “They will fight you Shaera, this is… dangerous.”

 “Fight me?” Elissa burst out laughing. “They’d already lost when I claimed my second territory and slew the unofficial ruler of the surface, Siodhanth.”

Elissa knew how to destroy armies, she already had ideas on how to create massive Mythal to destroy any resistance to her plan. And if war wasn't going to work, she could begin to nibble at the surface territories, no one could stop her. Economically, they could try to ostracize her, but even with that she would just raid them and take what she wanted. Just like Siodhanth had done before her, with the difference being that she was smarter and more ruthless.

“I can’t say you are wrong.” Kiomdra couldn’t deny that Elissa was powerful enough to threaten the status quo.

Elissa laughed at that, she knew she wasn’t wrong. “No, because I am not. I intend to take everything, but I lack the resources to accommodate the population of dark elves, dwarfs and other races I plan to bring here. That’s where you come in, mother. We are going to profit from my hardwork in retaking this planet from the monsters. In two years, two years I think we can do it. What say you, mother?”

Elissa had in mind to go back to Earth and bring some colonists from other magical races, like the merpeople to inhabit the great lake and the Ocean south of the planet. Kiomdra was torn, her greed and caution warred; this was more than a decent proposal. This was the opportunity of a lifetime to link her fate to the future ruler of Svartalfheim.

But, she was still wary; what if Shaera failed? She would lose everything. Kiomdra still reminded herself about the power of her daughter-in-law, how she was possibly a demigoddess. After intense internal deliberation the Matriarch’s eyes found Elissa’s and she asked, “Before I make a decision, please tell me what you have done so far, Shaera? I don’t want to attach my future to some… fools gold, I hope you can understand that?”

Elissa was relieved, Kiomdra seemed to be a better negotiator than a mother. “As you should, I would have been disappointed if you had accepted right away. Let me tell you what I have accomplished since I arrived on Svartalfheim.”

It took three hours, but Elissa told Kiomdra everything she had done since coming to Svartalfheim via portal; how her Matriarch Sparta’ed her, how she came to live near Aryther after decimating the colonies of Fishfolks, killing a Dragon Turtle and Kraken, freeing her first people, the Lutrinians, from slavery, establishing a temple dedicated to her mother goddess and claiming the entirety of the lake and its surroundings on the first try. It went on and on, they ran out of snacks and servants had to bring them another serving.

It was afternoon by the time Elissa was finished with her tale after she explained how she entered into an Alliance with the dwarves.

“This is so… unbelievable, Shaera. Are you some sort of Heroine trying to save this world?” There was enough content in Elissa’s story to fill three books.

She had gained allies, destroyed her enemies and conquered lands, obtained riches beyond Kiomdra’s imagination.

Elissa shook her head and said, “I’m not a heroine, I am a ruler.”

Becoming a Heroine didn’t sound ok to her anymore, she wanted to knock some sense into her previous self for thinking like that. But it wasn’t her fault, she had been immersed in human culture and indoctrinated into this way of thinking. She didn’t want to be like she was before. Elissa wrinkled her nose at how naive she had been when she didn’t know the truth about herself.

It was Kiomdra’s turn to laugh at her. “Yes, you are. But your tale sounds like you are a Hero-Queen.”

“Urgh, please stop mother!” Elissa whined.

Kiomdra nodded, content to have embarrassed the sun-elf. “Very well, but now I can say that I will accept your proposition Shaera. I will sponsor the Aryther Queendom and Dragonfall, on the condition that some lands could be spared for the Zerloth clan and for a title of nobility.”

Elissa grinned victoriously, she knew that one of the conditions would be land, but an actual title of nobility? It was easy, she would need vassals to control her territory. After all, she wanted to kick back and relax or go adventuring.

Elissa abruptly stood up from her seat, held her hand to Kiomdra and said, “Deal! You are now Duchess Zerloth of the Aryther Queendom.”

Kiomdra raised from her seat and shook Elissa’s hand. “Excellent.”

Looking at a hopeful Ocima behind Dicinna, Elissa smiled at her and began to say, “Oh, I almost forgot, mother... there’s something else we must speak about.”

After seeing this exchange, Kiomdra who had been around long enough to know something was going on said, “Is it about Ocima?”

Elissa stared at her, she was surprised that for once she was seen through. “How did you know?”

Kiomdra lifted her chin proudly. “She had been pawing her new guild brooch and fondling that new ring on her finger all night yesterday. I guess that you have invited her into your guild and you want to take her away.”

Elissa didn’t think that Kiomdra was that observant, she had greatly underestimated the Matriarch and this wasn’t good. Her actions and break down had blinded Elissa to the fact that Kiomdra was someone politically savvy and with great powers of her own. She changed her attitude and decided to take the Matriarch seriously.

“Yes. I want to train Ocima and awaken her as a Nodicea’s chosen.” Elissa put her cards on the table.

This surprised Kiomdra, having more blessed of the goddess in her household was a gain in status. The Matriarch also thought about the possibilities, *Can she make as many blessed ones as she wants?*

Kiomdra thought about such an army and why Elissa didn’t fear anyone coming after her and her Queendom.

Kiomdra’s penciled brow rose as her piercing stormy blue eyes focused on the new Queen. “How?”

Elissa looked around her conspiratorially. Dicinna rolled her eyes at her wife’s antics. “This isn’t something I can reveal, there’s a reason Healers make restrictive oaths. I don’t want them to know that I know. They still think that I am under oath.”

“That’s… I hope you don’t get caught.” Kiomdra said, sitting.

“Oh, I am sure I will be. But it will be too late to do anything about it.” Elissa shrugged and sat.

They then began to negotiate how much time Ocima could stay in the services of the crown. They settled for twenty years until Ocima would have to take the mantle of the Matriarch, looking at the youngest Zerloth she didn’t seem enthused at being the heir now. Kiomdra then changed gear and began speaking about the wedding presents and dowry paid for Dicinna and Elissa.

Kiomdra changed the venue of their get together to an underground warehouse in the Zerloth clan hold and presented a mountain of wooden boxes and chests to the couple. In those there were weapons, gold coins, magical items, bolts of cloth and rare alchemical ingredients; there was also the odd magical tome too, but what made Elissa even more excited was something she had seen in Xara’s memories.

It was a model skyship on an enchanted plate, she knew what it was! It was a Weatherlight skyship from the Elven Wars when Phantasia had repelled their invasion, laid waste to their Empire and broke them as a society, scattering the survivors into the cosmos. Phantasia never let up against an enemy. The enchantment on the plate kept it shrunk but with a special chant it could regain it’s normal size; it happened that Elissa, thanks to her bloodline and memories was in possession of such a key.

Elissa took the model in her hands and examined it. Now that she found it unharmed she began to chant in a whisper, “Hekate μας καθοδηγεί. Hekate μας διδάσκει. Hekate μας προστατεύει. Στο φως σας ευδοκιμούμε. Στο έλεός σας είμαστε προστατευμένοι. Με τη σοφία σας είμαστε ταπεινοί. Ζούμε μόνο για να υπηρετήσουμε. Η ζωή μας είναι δική σας. Δόξα στη Θεά. (Hekate guide us. Hekate teach us. Hekate protects us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours. Glory to the Goddess.)”

The plate and the skyship glowed gold briefly, a sign that the Weatherlight acknowledged the password.

Just like in her memories the ship linked with her psychic senses, Elissa was even more elated when the ship began to respond to her and detected that it was finally in the hands of a daughter of Phantasia. This ship was big, in her mind’s eye it was ninety-one meters and was built out of Mithril and Magical wood from a World Tree, making it really tough. Its main power source came from a Powerstone that had been infused with an Air mana node.

Weatherlights were great ships capable of moving from planet to planet through the Yggdrasil network of worlds, propelling through the pathways at great speed. The Skyship could navigate the sky easily, with a "storm shield" created by the ship's engine and generated by the ship's magically powered lights offering some protection from the elements on the ship. The weaponry was offline, but Elissa hoped that she would be able to see what this ship had. Already, she was in love with it.

Kiomdra saw that Elissa was really interested in the relic in her hands, “This is a relic that my family has safeguarded for thousands of years, we never knew how to use it though. I’m giving this to you, it’s your turn to protect it.”

Nodding Elissa began to systematically put everything in her spatial toe ring. She then turned to Kiomdra and said, “Oh, believe me we will. Thank you, mother.”

“Cinna we are going to make so many outfits with the stock bolts of cloth your mom gave us!” Elissa lunged at Dicinna and hugged her.

Dicinna shook her head, knowing exactly what Elissa wanted. “No dresses, I don’t like them.”

Elissa feigned being hurt and said, “But… you are so beautiful in them!”

Seeing her wife make puppy eyes at her, Dicinna crumbled under the cute assault rather quickly. “Fine, I will allow for ten of them, no more!”

Elissa chuckled at that, she was getting away with seeing her wife in another dress. She remembered how Dicinna had looked and her cheeks flushed, yes, she wanted to see her in a dress again. Dicinna pinched her wife’s arm to stop her from getting her mind into the gutter. “Now, come help me we have so much to load into our rings.”

“Okay.” Elissa followed Dicinna, Ocima did the same.

They took two hours to empty the entire warehouse full of gifts and the bride’s dowry; Elissa juggled with chests and crates with her superstrength, having fun all around. Finally done with that chore everyone was finally gathered in the garden.

“Aye, everyone is here.” Astagith said, nodding at the gathering.

Kiomdra asked, “Ocima do you have everything in your pack and travel chests with you?”

“Yes, Mother.” Ocima mentally counted all the chests that were into her spatial rings.

Kiomdra looked at Ocima and Dicinna with warm eyes, but there was a hint of tears. “Great, so I guess this is goodbye for now. We will see each other in four days, girls.”

Elissa pushed Ocima into Kiomdra’s arms and they hugged, before Ocima smiled and said, “Yes, Mother.”

But she wasn’t done with her gifts. “Mother Kiomdra, I plan to give you land bordering the lake; when you are ready to come to Aryther, put this ring on your finger.” Elissa gave a mithril control ring to Kiomdra. “There’s a function to let you communicate with me or any of the Sisterhood members. You can speak to Dicinna and Ocima whenever you want.”

Kiomdra seemed to be touched by this, delicately took the ring and put it on a free finger, as she looked back into Elissa’s eyes she said, “I… thank you for this Shaera. I was sceptical when you took Dicinna’s hand but now I realize that you are the best thing that happened to her. Please take good care of my children for me.”

“Don’t worry, I will take care of them, they will be stronger than before.”

“Good.”

They all waved goodbye and were out of the clan hold’s garden, passing the gates; Elissa wasn’t surprised to find the three guild masters waiting for her. Arno had a cheshire cat’s smile splattered on his face, the assassin’s guild master looked stoic and Calimawen was all business-like. The guards at the entrance closed the gates and ignored them.

Elissa was happy to see them, they have begun to develop a good rapport with her and she found them funny. “Master Arno, Mistress Calimawen and Master Corcomo, good evening.”

She approached them, leaving her group to go speak to the guild masters. Arno bowed slightly and the others followed suit.

“Good evening, Storm-Queen Elissa.” Arno began.

This made the platinum blonde scowl at him, she tightened her cloak around her. “Oh, are we playing political games right now?”

“Unfortunately, my Queen.”

“Oh stop it, Master Arno. I give you leave to speak to me familiarly. I owe you, and this city owes you; without you I would have razed it.” Elissa said.

She didn’t like how they had treated her differently just now, she had thought that they were at least shallow friends.

“We… are aware of that fact.” Corcomo interjected.

Calimawen’s armor shone as she slightly advanced toward Elissa and then bowed again. “We have come to do business with you, your Highness.”

Crossing her arms, Elissa’s mood changed from friendly to cold and aloof. “Speak, I am open to it.”

She wanted to know what they wanted, if it was something she couldn’t do or produce Elissa decided she would refuse them. It was no skin of her nose. The guild masters looked at each other and Arno advanced while the others retreated behind him.

“We would like to open a branch of our guilds in one of your cities.” The old elf announced.

Elissa tilted her head, then thought fast at the pros and cons of having such guilds in her sphere of influence. The adventurer’s guild would bring in money and all the support systems like the blacksmith’s guild, alchemy guild and healing guild would follow. The Mercenary guild would depend upon the same support as the adventurers; but what could the Assassin guild bring to her?

Operative and intelligence gathering. Elissa looked at Arno and said with serious eyes, “Interesting. How fast would you be able to build guild buildings?”

The guild master’s initial enthusiasm when Elissa said she was interested dimmed and he said ruefully, “Months unfortunately.”

Elissa allowed a smile to blossom on her face. “Hmm, you know I’m going to see an influx of Dwarves from Nirnyahr in four days, send a representative to the Zerloth Clan. Speak with the Matriarch about sending a representative, and we will open discussions. But for now, we have a long journey before us to go back to Thafnoris. I would like to take my time to hammer out contracts and deeds with you at my leisure, you see.” Elissa excused herself from further politicking.

She lied, of course, she intended to make Dicinna open a portal to Dragonfall and not go to Thafnoris yet.

Arno nodded reasonably. But a gleam of mischief could be seen into his eyes. “We understand, maybe we could accompany you?”

He knew the Storm-Queen would be travelling, Arno did want to obtain some concession from Elissa. She was the one providing the most fun ever since he met Dicinna Zerloth.

“Huh, would you go all the way to Thafnoris with us?” Elissa almost clicked her tongue.

He was tenacious. But Elissa recognized that she owed him; she fumed in annoyance. The others behind Elissa looked at the interplay and waited for Elissa to blow up or resolve any differences she might have with the guild masters.

Arno chuckled, noticing her mood. “Of course we would for the simple gift of your company, my Queen; but can I suggest something that will cut short you travel time?”

Elissa had enough of his theatrics. “You can, Arno.” She said huffily.

With a smirk the old guild master said, “Let’s use the teleporter in the adventurer's guild to your city.”

With eyes wide, Elissa turned to Dicinna behind her, and raised an eyebrow at her; the elven bride nodded then shrugged her shoulders. Then Elissa looked at Reinatiel and Fenirael who didn’t seem to have an opinion, Aeruirn was eager to go back to Thafnoris. 

Elissa turned to the guild masters and and said, “Very well, lead the way Master Arno.”

 

---

 

Thafnoris
Adventurer Guild, Teleporter Room
Evening

The Sisterhood and their hangers-on arrived one hour later in the teleporter room; the clerk responsible quaking in his boots when he recognized the city’s ruler before him. Everyone knew who Lady Dragonfang was in Thafnoris, having seen her conquer their city easily and when she left for Cynlenor to take back her intended.

The male elf knelt before her. “Y-your Highness.”

“Who is your immediate superior?” Elissa asked briskly.

Ocima was startled by the take charge behavior of her new sister, it was different from the pleasant yet quirky sun-elf she had begun to know. She treated the elf at her feet like a servant.

Not daring to look at her in the eyes, the elf kept them down looking at her booted feet. “Hum, that would be the Vice-Guild master, Soara Windrunner.”

“Go fetch her, now.” Elissa said imperiously.

The elf rose on his feet with the body bent in a bow, until he turned his back to her and ran for the door. Dicinna laughed, Astagith shook her head at the pair’s antics.

“Master Arno, what can you tell me about how Guild masters are chosen?”

“Absolutely, your Highness.” Arno coughed and then smiled amiably at Elissa and began to say, “They are chosen for their strength and must be a Mithril ranked adventurer at the minimum, but a Oricalchum is more desired; those kind of adventurers can’t be found everywhere. Most of them are old elves like me and who want to settle down and avoid the field, but they are often needed to direct culling missions and coordinate search and rescue for other lesser ranked adventurers.”

“Intriguing. Master Corcomo, at which level of power would you say I am compared to the current higher ranked adventurers?”

“Etherium, your Highness.” Corcomo said smoothly as he walked up to her, his cloak swishing elegantly. He bowed slightly to Elissa who smiled at him.

Calimawen rolled her eyes at her fellow guild master, but she couldn’t deny that Elissa was that strong. Arno was having the time of his life, like he thought, Elissa Dragonfang was a trouble magnet and being near her would permit him to stave off his boredom.

Elissa frowned. “That high? I am steel ranked for now, though.”

She didn’t want to fly through the ranks, but work hard to become a good adventurer and be recognized as strong. 

“We will just have to do more missions Elissa!” Dicinna interjected, feeling Elissa’s emotion.

The platinum blonde looked at her with appreciation and love. They lost themselves in each other's eyes but Dicinna’s twin interrupted them.

“I can’t wait to see you in action sister, when is the Sisterhood going to be dungeon diving?” Ocima asked, her eyes gleaming in anticipation.

Elissa grinned at her sister-in-law. “Soon, Ocima. Soon.” She turned to Dicinna. “And my love, you are going to be with me when we sortie, don't worry.”

“Aeruirn, when we get back to the Tower, you'll stay with Reinatiel to continue your magical education.”

“No, Mistress please! She’s a sadist!” The handmaiden groaned as if in pain.

To reinforce the assertions of the poor Aeruirn, Reinatiel showed sadistic glee on her face, the others laughed at her, Ocima placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort. Those two have struck up a friendship as of late and were often found discussing things when others weren't watching them.

Guild master Calimawen gave them a wistful smile, she remembered having such good ribbing with her friends when she first joined their party; she gazed at Arno and Corcomo who had similar expressions. They then looked at each other and nodded.

Ten minutes later, Vice-Guild master Windrunner and Regent Alais Sharan in her tight golden gown came to the teleporter room. Elissa noticed how short of breath Alais was, and guessed that she must have run to the guild when she heard that she was back.

“Your Highness.” Alais bowed.

Elissa primly strode up to her and straightened her and lightly embraced her, “Alais, I’m glad to see you well.” The elven Matriarch appreciated being greeted so familiarly.

Elissa’s eyes fell on a blue robed woman half the age of Arno, looking middle-aged, she had purple hair, penciled eyebrow and pink eyes, a beauty. She had a lot of magical jewelry on her person. “And you must be Vice-Guild master Windrunner.”

“She is I.” Soara said slightly bowing her head.

Elissa used her enhanced mage sight and compared her to the late guild master of the Thafnoris branch; she was clearly the stronger of the two comparable to Arno and his fellow masters. It bothered Elissa that such a person couldn’t be in a position of power.

Elissa made her displeasure known. “You are powerful, why were you not made Guild master?”

A derisive smirk formed on Soara’s lips. “Bribes, your majesty. The previous guild master obtained his position through nepotism.”

Scowling, Elissa let go of Alais who stepped away as Elissa stared at Soara gravely. “Oh, corruption. I hate it. I’m not letting that practice take root in my kingdom.” The budding Queen said with decisiveness. 

Her gaze turned to Alais. “Is there an organization that performs audits and to test the competence of clerks and administrators in this city?”

The Matriarch was put on the spot by this question, such an organization would be seen as detrimental if the normal order of things was still standing. Alais looked contrite as she said, “This… we never had to, your Highness.”

Alais noticed Elissa’s verdant gaze turning cold. “I’m so disappointed. Alais, you’ll have to work on this.”

Bowing her head, Alais answered quickly. “As you command your Highness.”

Elissa nodded to her, her eyes recovering their warmth. “Very well, let us retire to the Bhelveth clan Hold. I have things to discuss with the guild masters, Alais you and your daughters are invited, guild master Windrunner is to join us too.”

Soara gasped. “Guild master? Me?”

Elissa wanted Soara Windrunner to lead the guild branch in Thafnoris, she had a good feeling about her, her synesthesia was never wrong in those brief instances when she met people for the first time. Soara was a competent administrator and magically as powerful as her younger sister, though her money would be on Cassandra winning the fight.

“This is an order, I appoint you to the position.” Elissa said seriously. Turning her head to the adventurer’s guild’s big boss she asked, “I hope it won’t be a problem, Master Arno?”

“Not at all, I planned to give her the position.” Arno informed her in his rich and smooth smooth voice.

Soara looked really dumbstruck by this, she gradually became elated that her hard work had finally paid off and that her patience was rewarded. As the group exited the teleporter room, they strode through the middle of the Guild Hall, not surprised that there was a crowd to welcome them. Fortunately the royal guards accompanied by General Grejeon were there to practice crowd control.

“The Queen is back.”

“Which of the two elves accompanying her are her intended?”

“The one in black armor?”

“Why don’t you think the two are her intended?”

Rumors were already being spun, Dicinna and Ocima bristled at their scrutiny. Seeing their unease the guards ushered them quickly through the crowd and they were en route toward the hill where the Bhelveth clan hold was located. It got old really fast when the same thing happened on the way, it was as if the civilians had nothing to do but discuss who was Elissa’s spouse and it seemed that information on what Elissa had accomplished in Cynlenor had been reported. With the existence of teleport stations, it was a given that news of her winning the handfasting tournament and destroying the other participants would disseminate through all the cities in the Underdark.

“Ye are even more famous, M’Lady.” Astagith quipped.

Elissa answered her with a cold glare, but all it did was make the dwarven woman laugh even more. At the hill’s foot three silhouettes appeared in view; they were familiar to Elissa. She ran at super speed, quickly bounding over the lawn of purple grass, and lunged at the first friend she made on this planet.

“Hilda!” Elissa hugged the dwarf tightly.

Too tightly.

“Argh, let go ye brute!” The dwarven princess complained as she beat on Elissa to get free.

Elissa giggled. “No, I missed you.” She let up a bit when she noticed Hilda becoming blue. “It was such a tiring trip.”

The platinum blonde let go of Brunhilda delicately, the dwarf thanked Holaf when her feet touched the ground. Syndanelyn and her twin Nabideth approached them.

Brunhilda continued to engage Elissa in conversation. “Huh, but ah heard ye won hands down in Cynlenor. It wasn’t even dat long a stay.”

The other group of the Sisterhood approached them, surrounded by the royal guards.

Sighing heavily, Elissa began her tale. “Yeah, but it got old really fast. I battled a demon dragon, dumb men who wanted to put a ring on my intended and some bimbo harlot with delusions of grandeur.”

Elissa continued her tale and systematically as she arrived at the attempt of turning her wedding party into a red one by her scheming sister-in-law, Brunhilda was full of regret.

“What?! Why do ye have all tha fun!?” She complained anew.

Elissa felt that everyone was gathered and had been listening to her recount the tale of how she married Dicinna.

“You should have come then.” Elissa quipped, patting her friend on her blonde head.

They finally resumed their march to the clan hold and were surprised to see that servants were taking care of the grounds. Aeruirn was surprised to find familiar faces in the garden waiting for them. They were the servants and clan members that she had cast away for their safety.

“Hilda did you hire help?”

“Nay, ah found them before the clan hold two days ago. They told me that they wished to work for our latest recruit, Aeruirn again.”

“Eh, Aeruirn. Deal with them, you can keep them on retainer.” Elissa addressed the beautiful dark elf, waving her hand at the servants and caretakers.

Aeruirn gave her a radiant smile, bowed and then went to address the crowd of servants. They opened the doors of the hold and treated the group to their hospitality.

Elissa was treated to the baths; they weren’t as palatial as the ones in the Royal Palace of Nirnyahr but they were adequate. She refrained from turning the baths into a freezer and had to tolerate the warm water as Dicinna and Ocima followed her. They frolicked and discussed the training regiment that they were going to be put under, with Dicinna warning her twin that Elissa’s way of training was rather brutal and that she should better wait to awaken before throwing herself into it.

Dicinna began to tell her sister about the type of training that Elissa practiced; running at super speed on water with tons of weight on her or using her pseudodragons in their giant form, or exhausting her own mana while staying immobile for a day being part of nature.

“Surely, you jest?” Ocima rose an eyebrow with a smile on her face. “Sister Elissa doesn’t seem to be that extreme.”

Dicinna tilted her head and looked seriously at her sister, “Sister, I thought that after seeing Aeruirn’s reactions you’d be more… wary.”

Ocima suddenly got very worried for a moment, she slowly turned her head toward Elissa who had her signature evil smile plastered on her face. The elven girl shuddered as she gazed at the demon-like sun-elf wearing the face of an angel.

Turning her face to her sister with a harried expression Ocima asked, “Is it too late to change my mind, sister?”

Dicinna smirked, Elissa had become even stronger than the last time she saw her; it meant that she would need a new acclimatization period where she would need to get used to her strength. It was the first time that she went all out in her fight with Mirion and she had used the deadly power she had told her about, her Siren Song ability.

The dark elf understood that they might help Elissa in her endeavor for control in exchange for her help for their own training.

Dicinna looked sad as she swam to her sister, and as she held her she said, “I’m sorry Ocima, but she promised mom to make you stronger.”

“W-will I survive?” Ocima stuttered.

“If I could, you will.” Dicinna answered.

Elissa frowned.

“Hey!” The platinum blonde splashed some cold water on the twins who jumped at the sensation. “Cinna why are you acting as if I am a monster being given a virgin in sacrifice?”

Dicinna and Ocima stared at her in shock; how can someone so smart not be self-aware of her own defects and qualities?

After their baths, the girls were reunited with the rest of the sisterhood who had done the same as them but used the servant dedicated facilities because of propriety. Elissa wore a green gown that looked basically painted on her, with mithril accessories. However, she kept her Valkyrie helmet that turned into a circlet set with a red jewel.

They entered the dining room where the guild masters and the royal family of Thafnoris were seated. The disposition of the seats were shown by social ranks with Elissa seating at the head of the table with Dicinna and Ocima at her left and right, Princess Brunhilda at Dicinna’s side, Alais Sharan with her daughters on the left, the guild masters on the right and then the rest of the sisterhood and handmaiden of Elissa.

The servants started to bring out the food and drinks, once the entrées were served Elissa subtly cast the most powerful detect poison she knew.

*No poison in the food or plates and cutlery. Great.* She thought.

The dinner was agreeable and people engaged in conversations; the Alfheim wine untied tongues and everyone began to introduce themselves. After some time everyone was full and the assembly broke down in multiple groups. Elissa talked with Alais and the guild masters while Dicinna stayed with the rest of the Sisterhood and Reinatiel with Ocima and Aeruirn.

Alais’ daughters’ efforts to learn about the Sisterhood forced Brunhilda to invite them to join; the guild masters and the Matriarch began shallow negotiations for expanding in Thafnoris for quick contact with the Queendom of Aryther.

Alais didn’t expect that her unassuming city would become so important, she just lamented that there was the loss of life of a lot of her subjects for it to happen.

Elissa began to ask questions about the blacksmiths and armorers in town and how they could help in ramping up the creation of arms and armor with a new design that she intended to commission for the armies and militia. She intended to enact a reshuffle of patrols around the tunnels leading to the city and that every entry point should be manned and defended, and that the troops should be moved from time to time between each gate, fort and barracks.

Arno had noticed that there was no alchemy guild building in Thafnoris and that was bad; Alais explained that they relied on individual alchemists who had their own businesses in the city. Alais tried to defend her past decision, but everyone began to poke at the weaknesses in the infrastructure and services available in the city.

“The adventurer guild will need full fledged facilities to function at full efficiency in the future.” Arno asserted.

The state of this city appalled him, he understood now how they were conquered in one night by Lady Dragonfang.

Calimawen interjected, “Are the entrances to the Lower Dark even adequately guarded?”

Elissa had spoken about the disuse of the tunnels leading to the city and how there were still monsters roaming between the guard posts and the gates.

Alais nodded. “Yes, three garrisons for the entrances that we know about.”

There were three entrances to the Lower Dark five kilometers away from Thafnoris, they were heavily guarded by the bulk of the army. Alais and most of the nobility in the city knew that to not get overrun there was a constant need to cull the Lower Dark’s entrances. Her two daughters had just come back from a tour of duty there before Thafnoris was annexed.

Elissa didn’t like that, she would need to find a way to further gain control of the Lower Dark. Looking at her regent, Elissa commanded, “Alais, we need to scout for any entrance that would be newly created or unknown to us, this is something you can’t let rest; the safety of our people depends on it. Monsters and Dark entities are always in movement and scheming.”

Sipping her wine, Elissa thought about creating a reinforced and enchanted gate post at the entrance of the Lower Dark. It should be quite inexpensive to do. Through the familiar bond she had with Reinatiel she ordered the Demoness to come up with powerful enough enchantments to keep the filth from the bowels of the planet away.

Elissa caught the eyes of her handmaiden, she nodded and resumed her conversation with Ocima and Aeruirn. The noise of conversation didn’t penetrate the privacy bubble that Elissa had summoned, the first half of the table was isolated from the rest of the sisterhood and other guests.

Pouring another bit of wine into her glass after downing it all, Elissa said. “Now that the noble clans were brought to heel, you should have more control over matters of the city to succeed. I trust you, Alais to do your job.”

Alais put her wine glass on the table before her and bowed her head. “Thank you, your Highness. However, I’d like to add that we just don’t have enough Mithril ranked or higher level adventurers to help in this endeavor.”

Elissa scowled at that, *People thought Thafnoris was a little town, huh? So Alais had a reason for failing, and the other clans stopped her from expanding and making the city self-sufficient. I feel that the other cities around Thafnoris had their hand in that, we should check for meddling and sabotage in the future because of that.*

Her eyes fell on Master Arno who showed an excited smile when she did. “Master Arno,” Then she looked at guild master Soara. “Mistress Windrunner; I hope you’ll be able to change that.”

Soara nodded at Elissa, Arno voiced what needed to be done. “With enough time and resources, like I said, for now Thafnoris isn’t attractive enough and too provincial for others to want to settle here and do business.”

A cunning glint shimmered in the platinum blonde’s eyes. “We will see about that.”

 

---

 

Day 74, Midday
Dragonfall

Elissa and Reinatiel built a permanent teleportation circle in the Bhelveth clan hold linking to the Aetheric Network of Dragonfall. The teleportation circle and the geometric runes inside it shone a pale blue, a short pillar of light appeared in the middle of it for a second and then ten silhouettes manifested. It was the Sisterhood finally returning home.

The sun was hidden under a cloudy cover, but after so much time underground with artificial sunlight the women took their time to re-acclimatize. Rilo and Aghri exited the familiar pocket dimension, they extended their wings and tails, stretched their bodies and a second later took flight.

Despite herself, Elissa’s instincts took over and her own wings manifested before she jumped into the air with a powerful thrust of her legs; she joined her draconic familiars in a race over the tops of the forest’s trees. Ocima and Dicinna looked at Elissa flying in the sky; to Ocima it was the first time that she found herself on the surface and she found the experience daunting.

The sky seemed infinite, she had the impression that she would fall and tumble through it, her hands shook. Dicinna and Aeruirn noticed and held onto her arms.

Holding tightly onto her sister, Dicinna said, “It’s ok Sister, we are here.”

“Your feet are firmly on the ground, gravity is your friend. The sky is just there, don’t be afraid.” Aeruirn whispered into her pointy ear.

Gradually, Ocima’s nerves settled, and the group began to walk toward the giant spire. It’s height impressed Aeruirn and Ocima who looked at it going on and on into the sky.

“Welcome tae Dragon Fang Tower.” Brunhilda announced.

Gobsmacked, Ocima couldn’t help but say, “Wow.”

Aeruirn’s expression was one of awe and anticipation. “Yes, that’s the word to describe it.”

The silver spire was bathed in the sun’s rays that often pierced the persistent clouds. As they walked toward it, Ocima asked questions about the spire’s creation. “How… many people did it take to create it?”

Dicinna was happy to give her answers. “Three and it was raised in a day thanks to Elissa’s power and mastery of Node magic.”

Dicinna’s twin looked at her with disbelief etched into her eyes. “It sounds so preposterous, Sister. I mean, even in the heyday of the Empire there was no mention of such a structure!”

Dicinna shrugged, she was used to Elissa doing things deemed impossible and didn’t even raise her eyebrows at her deeds anymore.

Ocima turned to Syndanelyn and asked her, “Syn, do you know what it would take for your people to build such a spire?”

“Three-hundred Earth bender dwarves, and it would take a month to do it.” The dwarven weaponsmith answered without even looking at her or trying to calculate too intensively.

“See!”

“Ah was there when she did it, Ocima. Rei, Narse and M’Lady Dragonfang raised it in a day.”

They arrived in front of Dragon Fang Tower, the bridge wasn't raised yet, and the new members gazed into the abyss that was the moat. Ocima and Aeruirn looked at each other and gulped. All of a sudden, a rumbling was heard and from the depths of the moat stone blocks levitated and formed a bridge. The runic symbols on the gates of the silver spire glowed red, then blue, before the gates opened silently.

“Hum, is it safe?” Ocima asked awed by the magical engineering put into the tower.

“Yes, completely.” Dicinna said.

Two familiar people could be seen at the gates, they were two dwarf women; one clothed with black overalls, work gloves, and boots with a pickaxe in her hands; the second dwarf had beautiful yellow robes on with a belt full of pouches and a book in her hands that she was reading.

“Ah Sizalda and Narse are here tae welcome us.” Brunhilda said as she waved.

She ran to them, quickly crossing the magical bridge, the rest of the dwarves following behind her. Hugs and slaps on the back were exchanged. The forest became less silent once everyone crossed the bridge, the birds sang and some animals like squirrels, hares and rock deer could be seen.

“Me friends! It pleases me tae see ye!” Brunhilda gushed.

She didn’t like not having Sizalda with them when they assaulted Thafnoris, but Reinatiel did as good a job as the crafter/artificer would have done. The Princess understood why they didn’t take Narsenelyn though, she wasn’t a fighter, but terribly good at raising fortifications and mining and wouldn’t have been useful in taking the city.

Speaking of the devil, Narsenelyn boisterously said, “Hilda, thank Holaf yer here! Stayin’ alone with Sizalda was so boring! She even tried tae make me read scientific treaties!”

The miner looked at Sizalda like she was a particularly venomous snake and hid behind the dwarven princess when the crafter scowled at her behind her glasses.

Brunhilda chuckled and said, “Sizalda, ah didn’t know ye were into torture! Yer sadistic side is finally showin’!”

Rolling her eyes and waving away at them, Sizalda didn’t like being the butt of the joke. “Seriously girls it’s not that bad, but at hearin’ ye, people would think ye have an atavistic fear of science!”

Narsenelyn whined, “See! She keep usin’ big words, ah had to busy meself with creating furniture out of the trees.”

The ribbing and exchange of quips continued for another five minutes before Narsenelyn and Sizalda began to take an interest in the rest of the group.

“There’s a lot of new faces.” Sizalda noticed. Then she spotted Dicinna’s clone. “And not so new, ah didn’t know Dicinna had a twin.”

Astagith nodded, she was still weirded out by the elven twins; to her it was like meeting Nabideth and Syndanelyn for the first time, you could barely know who was who. “Yes, she joined recently. M’Lady decided that she would train her.”

Narsenelyn stepped back as she stared at Dicinna’s red armored clone. “Holaf, forfend. Does she know what she’s going tae go through?”

“Ah doubt it, she came of her own volition.” Astagith laughed, leaning on her spear.

Then they focused their attention on Aeruirn who wasn’t that interesting, she introduced herself as Elissa’s new handmaiden and that she was a mage. As they finished the introductions, the Sisterhood strolled through the gardens inside the ground floor of the spire. The light and mithril walls created a silvery chrome effect illuminating the stairs leading to the next floor and the Aetheryte crystal in the transport room.

The purple grass in the garden was somewhat high, signs that it needed to be taken care of. There were trees with silvery leaves and crystal flowers that were added recently dotting the garden that were part of the protective wards against evil and black magic.

Ocima was having second thoughts about accepting Elissa’s training and confided in Aeruirn who was awestruck by the riches around her. “Aeruirn, I am thinking that I am really unlucky when I listen to these dwarves.”

Aeruirn put her arm around Ocima’s shoulders. “Courage, my friend.”

Someone asked a question that everyone wanted to know the answer to, “Where’s M’Lady Dragonfang?”

Then thunder rumbled and a pillar of golden light shone on the horizon, spearing down from far above the tallest trees of the Dragonfall forest, clearly visible through the open gates of the silver spire; it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. Everyone looked at each other, but it was Dicinna who spoke their mind, “I think we really should go check on what Elissa has been up to.”

 

---

 

15 minutes earlier

Elissa was flying in the sky in formation with her familiars, chasing away the other predatory birds like the Wind Falcon that attacked them earlier and that Rilo dispatched with her lightning breath. Elissa had harvested the corpse that was four meters long but had a wingspan of around nine meters. Since then the other birds avoided them.

On the ground she could see different trails through the forest, bushes and groves; there were fruit trees and wild orchards, and just after the orchards, the flora changed to something more primal that you would see from the deep jungles in Africa or a cretaceous forest.

Dragonfall forest was under a vast greenhouse enchantment generated by the walls and an atmospheric shield producing a more temperate climate. The forest was composed mainly of deciduous conifers, ferns, angiosperms that were mainly vascular plants and gymnosperms that revealed themselves to be seed-bearing vascular plants, such as cycads, ginkgo, yews and conifers, in which the ovules or seeds are not enclosed in an ovary.

It was simply a multifarious ecosystem thriving thanks to the power of the Nexus mastered by Elissa. This forest was Elissa’s and she could mold it as she wanted. However, there was something sorely lacking in it; something really obvious was eluding her, in this Tundra this forest that was like a beautiful Oasis...

*Oasis? Water!* She realized.

Yes there was no river, maybe a little one fed by underground wells; after all, there was an underground river separating the districts of Queen’s Rise. Elissa resolved herself to ask the dwarves about how to alter the landscape enough to make some changes to Dragonfall.

*A Mythal will surely be involved. Or maybe some divine intervention?* Elissa thought as she looked on at the Tundra, she felt that she could divert some of the rivers and lakes to form a reservoir and build an aqueduct system.

“There’s a lot of work to do…” She said aloud.

<Building a nest is always a lot of work.> Aghri said as he hovered at her side.

Rilo swooped in toward Elissa and her mate to stop before her mistress’ face and hover furiously beating her wings. <Let the males work for you Elissa! They will make it good and all you have to do is inspect it to judge if it’s good.>

“You see life rather simply Rilo.” and the platinum blonde realized that maybe she should do this as well.

Fifty kilometers from the tower, Elissa found a hole in the ground and as she lowered her altitude noticed that she could see an underground lake. Blue running water ran underground through a waterfall in the grotto.

*Hmm, looks like a good place to summon the Iron Snake that I promised to help.* Elissa decided.

Elissa heard the sound of rocks being disturbed coming from behind her, she was surprised to find herself almost struck by a black stone spear that she stopped by grabbing it by the blade and shattered by crushing it in her hand. Gram appeared instantly in her sword hand, and Elissa lunged at super speed toward the enemy. It was humanoid and looked reptilian, its skin was covered in dark green scales. Taller than humans and powerfully built.

Elissa plunged Gram’s blade where its heart should be located but just to be sure sent a discharge of lightning through its body by channeling it through her sword to the monster’s body.

“Raaaarzzzgh.” The beast fell on its knees and reptilian eyes went cold and dead.

Just to be sure that it wouldn’t stand back up again Elissa bisected it by starting from its ribcage to its head. Green blood splattered everywhere.

“How filthy.” Elissa put on a disgusted expression.

Rilo and Aghri landed at Elissa’s feet, looked at the body their mistress had just felled and sniffed at the air. Through their keen senses they heard more of those coming.

<Mistress? More are coming.>

“I hear them, Rilo help me channel a spell.”

<Yes!> Rilo slowly changed into a giant dragon form.

Elissa stepped back to give her enough room. The black dragon once she finished her transformation began to inhale and Elissa began to cast an overpowered Lightning Bolt spell, creating golden and purple arcs of lightning that condensed into a ball in Rilo’s mouth.

Raaaaarhh!

<Kill Intruderrrrrrssssss.>

<Meeeeeaaaaat!>

Elissa noticed the number of Lizardfolk was greater than she anticipated, she didn’t like the fact that those squatters were eating for free in her territory. She poured even more mana into the spell, when the Lizard warriors appeared in view charging them, until they saw Rilo who was the size of a miniature truck.

“Fire.” Elissa ordered.

The thirty or so Lizardfolk warriors turned tail and were about to flee, but Rilo’s searing lightning breath traveled in a straight line to them, striking them. The powerful blast burned their scally skins and turned them into ash. The bolt was too powerful and began to splinter the stone and dug into the bedrock creating a giant trench in the ground.

Aghri who had hid behind Elissa poked his head from behind her greaves. <Isn’t this overkill?>

“There’s no such thing as overkill, my dear Aghri.” Elissa crouched and scratched his neck.

A faint rumbling sound could be heard, even though the water still continued to circulate in its bed; the noise became more prevalent to her sense of hearing. “Huh, did you hear that?”

Rilo tilted her head to hear more clearly. <Some kind of stomping?>

<It’s getting closer, let’s take flight.> Beating his wings, Aghri was already far into the sky.

Elissa followed them into the air, and soon they were twenty meters above the rocky ground and water. From the collapsed tunnel, the rocks began to shift and grumble; abruptly, powerful black scaled arms exploded out of the rock barrier created by the cave in and a tall horned lizardfolk appeared while roaring in wrath.

<Lizard King.> Aghri said as he hissed in hatred.

Rilo oozed bloodthirst and killing intent. <Kill him mistress! Kill him! Those are evil and worship a demonic deity!>

Elissa could indeed feel waves of demonic energy coming from the monster, her Storm Domain was called subconsciously. Storm clouds gathered in the sky while the creature raged and threw rocks at Elissa and her familiars. The young woman batted some away with force spells while Aghri and Rilo harried it with low powered breath attacks.

Hekate seemed to not like that demonic lizard as Elissa didn’t have to call on the Divine Lightning at all as her patron decided to Smite it herself. The colossal golden lightning bolt speared from the cloud and struck the demonic lizard, it’s cries of agony almost deafening Elissa and her familiars. As the Lightning disintegrated it thunder rumbled and a pillar of golden light spread out from the monster to the surroundings.

When it dissipated, the landscape was changed; Only a crater was left where the Lizardfolk dwelled. Though, she had accidentally created a water reservoir, animals would be able to come drink safely here and the tree roots would easily reach it, give or take a few years. Elissa shrugged her shoulders.

“Elissa!” A familiar voice shouted for her attention.

The platinum blonde turned in time to see most of her guildmates entering the clearing, *they must have used the Aethernet network.*

“Uh-ho.” Elissa said softly as she saw Dicinna’s angry expression.

 

---

 

Evening
Dragon Fang Tower
The Storm Queen Apartments

Dicinna couldn’t believe it. She laid on the stone bench with soft white Direwolf fur as cushion, internally she was fuming and angry at Elissa. She had left her alone for fifteen minutes and she found a way to end up in trouble! Dicinna had expected that with her there, she and Elissa would now fight together, but her inattention could have brought doom to their couple.

*Elissa is powerful, but what happens when she ends up finding something that she cannot brute force her way out of?* It was why she was angry at Elissa.

This was a wake-up call for Dicinna, her hard earned happiness could be snatched away at a moment's notice. She remembered the gigantic trench Elissa had created earlier with her magic; how could she protect her wife when she was not her equal?

*I want to become stronger, enough that Elissa and this intended that I haven't met yet won't worry about anything, please Nodicea help me find a way.* Elissa's wife closed her eyes and began to pray to her patron goddess.

Soft footfalls on the granite flooring, Ocima stared at her sister and waited for her to finish, knowing her habit of not wanting to be interrupted while praying. Ocima knew her sister, and that she wasn't really mad at Elissa; no, she was mad at herself. She had recognized the expression on Dicinna's face, it was the same when she decided to run away and become an adventurer to become stronger.

*I will be with her this time, she's about to train like a demon again.* Ocima thought.

She straightened her red tunic and black skirt and waited for her sister to finish, they had things to talk about. When Dicinna opened her eyes, she felt the familiar presence of her sister; it was one of the things they were able to do as twins, they always knew where the other was or if they were in immediate danger.

“Sister, you are better at stealth now.” Dicinna said with an eyebrow raised.

Ocima nodded. “Of course, you taught me.”

There was a palpable silence between them as they stared at each other. Dicinna guessed that her twin wanted something but she was waiting for her to ask. The elven bride sighed heavily, Ocima smiled slightly; her sister knew her well too.

“You want in on my training this time?” Dicinna guessed what her sister wanted.

Ocima nodded eagerly and went to sit at her sister’s side, Dicinna made room for her on the stone bench. Her twin looked at her guiltily, “Yes, I regret not going with you the last time.”

It was thirty years ago when Dicinna ran away from home to become an adventurer and dived into the nearest entrance to the Lower Dark. She spent six months there getting stronger and finally awakening to become one of Nodicea’s chosen.

Dicinna shuddered as she remembered the Dark creature that had almost got her, an Arch Lich. She shook her head strongly.

With the benefit of insight, Dicinna knew that if Ocima had come… “You might have died.”

There were tears in Ocima’s eyes, they were slowly pearling down her cheeks. “But we were never ever the same since then. Was this… why you said I betrayed you?”

Ocima was adult enough to recognize that she had been less than supportive of her sister since she had returned from her escapade thirty years ago.

Dicinna put a hand on her sister’s face. She wiped her tears delicately with her fingers. “You have been the yes-elf of mother and Lerrina for a while, Ocima. Always taking their side, you remember when we promised to always be there for each other?” She said with a tinge of sadness in her voice.

Ocima remembered each occasion where she didn’t even try to defend her sister, she was always praised by her mother about how good at the family business she was as an administrator. She had an eye for the import/export business and the auction houses that the Zerloth clan specialized in. Ocima and Lerrina were also considered the face of the clan and were the arms and eyes of Kiomdra Zerloth.

No wonder Lerrina had wanted more, she considered herself the Matriarch already. Ocima realized this, she got used to the politicking and the power plays inherent to her people; She also knew that her twin loathed to stay more than a week in the clan hold as people wanted to bring her to their level of depravity and loose morals.

Ocima threw herself at her sister and hugged her tightly, sobbing. “I’m sorry sister! I- I just didn’t think any better, it won’t happen again.”

Hugging her back, Dicinna whispered into her ear, “I forgive you, Cima, as far as I am concerned you have begun your path to redemption since you helped me when Lerrina went bad.”

“I will make it up to you, I swear it.” Ocima whispered back, touched by the compassion she was shown.

Dicinna kissed her cheek affectionately. “Good.”

They let go of each other, silence stretched for a while before Ocima tried to give her sister advice. What was happening between them was adding tension in the guild as Elissa was moody.

“Hum, sister.” Ocima began. “You should go see Elissa; she’s really upset that you are ignoring her.”

Ocima was preaching to the choir, Dicinna could feel her bonded’s annoyance, frustration and guilt. “I can feel it, but I want her to think about what she does first or else she will be bound to repeat it.”

“Yes…” Ocima said.

She was sad that the couple was having its first spat, but growing pains were necessary to test the boundaries that Elissa and Dicinna had between them.

A couple of hours later, Dicinna was still in the family room, and Elissa arrived. She wore her Nightscale armor and Gram at her hip, and once she saw Dicinna at ease on the bench sleeping on her twin’s laps.

There was an irrational surge of jealousy welling up in Elissa’s heart; she decided to ignore it and go sleep on her bed. Ocima had seen what was happening and had wanted to go to stop her, but Dicinna caught her and told her to stay where she was.

Elissa took her armor off, slowly putting on the mannequin at the side of her bed that she stole from the Windy Dragoon Inn; she had left thirty three gold coins in the room as reparation as she had in fact stolen all the beds from the rooms. Elissa thought nothing of the sudden bouts of kleptomania she developed since she awakened her draconic side.

She sat on the bed and began to take off her greaves and sabatons placing them at the feet of the mannequin; Elissa then proceeded to slide her white colored under armor off. It was enchanted to keep itself clean so she hooked it to the special holder in the stone cabinet built-into the mithril wall, the doors were also made of the same metal.

Elissa took her time choosing what kind of sleepwear she wanted to put on after her bath, she finally decided that she liked nothing of what was offered and would sleep in the nude.

As she exited her bedroom clothed in a silver colored bathrobe, Elissa began to think about the demonic lizard king she battled earlier. It was clear to her that the grotto was connected to the Under Dark and that this tribe of Lizardfolk had come from much deeper than she was used to.

Hekate had felt so angry when she took control of the Storm Domain, Elissa had felt as if she was just a conduit for the power of her patron Goddess. The power wasn’t hers at all, and she realized that she was far from the same level of power as Malicia or her mother; she was just a little chick compared to them.

She shook her head. *Back to the demon subject.* 

Elissa found herself walking toward the baths, the one she had modeled after those she saw in the Royal Palace of Nirnyahr. She remembered having good times there and those were her private ones where she could let loose and turn it into a freezer if she wanted. The arched corridor gave way to a white stone door and as the platinum blonde approached it, the wards on the door recognized her, glowed from red to blue and the door opened silently.

There were three pools of different depths, there was one where Elissa could swim, a kiddy shallow pool for children where it was impossible to drown and the last one was the depth of one of those Onsen she took inspiration from in those anime Dawn had shown her.

She chose the last one, took off her bathrobe and entered the pool that suddenly became really cold but the water stayed liquid. From the pool a film of ice spread to the entire room and covered the marbled floor, the walls and pillars, the statues of Hekate and diverse dragons and marble unicorns around the room.

Elissa sighed heavily, let the cold spread into her body and relaxed; letting go of her stress and problems.

“When Mother Hekate had felt this dark presence and putrefying demonic energy, she automatically chose to smite the demonic lizard. Are there many more of those confined in the Under Dark? If so… We are going to need to do something about it.” She said out loud as she began to slowly cast a spell to make the water wash off any impurities on her body; there was no need for soap when you had magic.

Amusing herself by creating figurines made of ice that orbited around her, Elissa began to think about what she was doing here. *It was for training, but what I ended up doing is finding out who I truly am. I also found power, I found my real mom, but I still love Malicia like she is my real one. Then I found my second great love, set up by my patron goddess.*

She chuckled as she recalled how she fell back into the habit of getting cocky as she had taken on an army and almost dying from being stabbed by a cursed dagger. It wasn’t her own strength that had won the day but letting Damian take care of it. Now that she remembered it, it was the first signs of his insidious plan in wanting to take over her body.

She was still weak. *It keeps going back to that one issue.* Elissa bit her lip, frowned and waved her hand to dismiss the ice figurines floating in the air; they turned into fine particle of ice creating a rainbow as the light hit them.

Raising her hand in the air, Elissa was still weirded out by the change that the Ruler’s sleep made, her skin kept shining like gold. It reminded her of Gadhiss in her true form. *I ended up getting married and starting the foundation of an Empire.*

She closed her raised hand tightly into a fist. *I can’t go back to Earth on Malicia’s terms. I am not that little waif of a girl that trusted her implicitly anymore.*

The water around her began to glow blue and River, her elemental arose from it. She looked just like Elissa did, the elemental liked this form and really thought of keeping it even when Elissa expired.

“Hi.” Elissa waved at River.

The elemental splashed Elissa playfully. <It’s been a while.>

Chuckling, Elissa crooked her finger at her; when the elemental was face to face with her, the platinum blonde asked, “River, can I ask you a question?”

River nodded, creating ripples on the surface of her skin. <Of course, if its too personal I reserve the right to not answer of course.>

Smiling, Elissa answered. “That’s your right, River; you aren’t a slave or anything.”

Elissa wasn’t one of those micromanaging summoners who wanted to know everything their elemental partners knew.

River’s water body shook as she laughed and hugged herself. <That’s what I like about being contracted to you, you are honorable.>

“Thank you, but I treat people who deserve it well.” Elissa accepted the compliment and nodded.

River got back to the subject and said, <You have a question.>

Without preamble, Elissa asked her while looking into her eyes, “What would you do if your mother had deceived you all your life, and you just discovered it?”

Malicia never lied, but she had her doubts on how a Fae and Demon hybrid could circumvent such a limitation.

<This is not easy to answer, my mother would never try to lie to me since we are born this way, unable to say untruths.>

Elissa knew that, she wanted answers to know how Malicia has been lying to her. Like River, Malicia was a creature bound and created to not say untruths. Maybe her interpretation of this little detail was important.

“But you can lie by omission, right?” Elissa asked.

A long silence stretched.

<Yes.> River confessed.

The temperature lowered drastically when the elemental validated Elissa’s hunch. Thanks to her tremendous control, the water in the pool didn’t solidify and River didn’t become an ice statue. Elissa nodded to her elemental and said, “Thank you, River you were of tremendous help.”

 

---

 

Dicinna was ready to speak intensively with Elissa, waiting on their bed for her when she felt her cold anger through her bond. She had never felt such a feeling before and under it all there was so much sadness and self-loathing that it nearly choked her. She bolted upright, naked and in fear.

*Was it my fault?* Dicinna asked herself as she covered her ample chest with the white sheets.

The elven bride felt Elissa coming back from wherever she had been and thirty seconds later the door to their bedroom opened and she entered. There were faint signs of her aura leaking through in part, showing how upset she truly was.

“Elissa?” Dicinna called out to her.

Elissa looked at the naked form of her wife, desire and companionship warred in her but then she realized that they were having a silly argument. “Hey, you are speaking to me now?”

Dicinna looked as if Elissa had slapped her, she wanted to say something back but decided to not escalate things; they needed a real talk after all.

Dicinna closed her eyes and counted to ten. “Ok, I guess I deserve that…”

Elissa flipped her hair and put her hands on her hips. “Yes, you do. Sometimes things happen to me and I have no power over them... I’ve come to terms with it, Cinna.”

Dicinna looked hotly at her. “I know this! I am not mad at you…”

The platinum blonde walked up to her and sat on the other side of the bed and gave her a sign to continue speaking.

Dicinna stopped trying to cover her breasts with the sheets, Elissa briefly looked at them before quickly looking at her wife’s dark blue eyes.

Dicinna gave a frustrated sigh and said, “I am mad at myself, I am weaker than you and I want to protect you.”

“Aww, my love! C'mere.” Elissa said as she attempted to hug Dicinna.

The dark elf was tempted, but just put her hand before her to stop her, Elissa looked saddened by that. Not wanting to hurt her wife, Dicinna said, “No, wait I must continue, we will hug afterward.”

A beautiful smile blossomed on Elissa’s face, “Okay.”

The platinum blonde’s bathrobe was half opened and showed her toned abdomen, breast and pink nipple. Dicinna wanted to take Elissa but even that she couldn’t do yet, not wanting to steal a march on her fellow intended. Elissa was making not succumbing to temptation difficult…

But she understood that she caused the same effects on her beautiful wife, Dicinna straightened on the bed and covered herself with the sheets; Elissa suddenly looked as if someone had burned her christmas presents.

Sighing, Dicinna began to say “Seeing the landscape destroyed around you really drove it home for me: if I can’t protect you when you need it, and I know you will, then what use am I?”

Elissa took offense at this, she didn’t need any protection! “But you saw me fight a dragon.”

Dicinna’s head whipped in Elissa’s direction, she looked wrathfully at her and said, “Elissa let’s be honest, you almost died in that fight.”

Not being able to look into those beautiful yet terribly angered eyes, Elissa lowered her gaze. “Yes…”

Dicinna continued to speak. “If you didn’t have a bloodline ability we wouldn’t be married right now, you would have died and I would have succumbed to the madness of not having bonded with you and killed myself.”

She looked anguished as if this particular ‘what if’ had been weighing on her since she had found Elissa standing in a crater.

“Cinna…” Elissa wanted to hug her, but she controlled herself.

It finally got into her head that she had to be even more responsible for her actions, she had people depending on her.

“But hey, you are content by always making it through by the skin of your teeth.” Dicinna shrugged and rolled her eyes at Elissa.

Elissa closed her eyes, then made a decision. “Ok, I understand the message Cinna.”

“What do you mean?” Dicinna asked as she saw the expression of determination on her wife’s face, it was somewhat scary.

“No more kid gloves, we are going to train till we drop! You, me, everyone in our guild. I want to be as strong as my godmother Gadhiss, even my mom has to tread lightly with her.” There was a crazed light in Elissa’s eyes.

Dicinna began to regret poking the dragon, the others weren’t going to appreciate the news.

To change the subject Dicinna let the sheets drop from her bust. Nonchalantly she asked, “The Dragon one?”

Elissa’s eyes were automatically on Dicinna’s boobs. The blonde shook her head, and looked at Dicinna’s smiling face; she squinted her eyes at the dark elf becoming wise to her methods.

“I have only one Godmother, to my knowledge…” Elissa lost the thread of her thoughts as Dicinna prowled on all four toward her on the bed.

A completely naked Dicinna put her arms around Elissa’s neck. Conversationally she asked, “And training ‘til we drop you said? Elissa you will kill yourself, I don’t want to be a widow.”

It was said sultrily and she rubbed herself against her wife who suddenly lost her bathrobe. Elissa gulped. Dicinna nuzzled her nose to Elissa’s, her fresh fruit like breath on her.

“N-no pain, no g-gain.” Elissa said, stuttering. Dicinna kissed the blonde’s neck.

Deciding to take back the initiative, Elissa said, “By the way, did I ever tell you how much I love you and find you to be the most beautiful woman on Svartalfheim?”

Dicinna frowned . “By this logic, Ocima is…”

Elissa took Dicinna’s braid in her hand, the emerald in the accessory showing that they were bonded shone under the light. Elissa breathed the scent of her wife’s hair, it smelled of orchids. “Ah ah, no. She’s not my type, you are the sexier of the two.” Elissa reassured her wife, she had no designs on her twin.

“You have a way of moving that just screams Rawr!” Elissa whispered.

Dicinna giggled. “You are so silly.”

Then the two kissed, chastely at first, then looked into each other’s eyes and then a second later they were hungrily kissing each other slowly laying on the bed.

 

---

 

Day 75, Morning
Dragonfall
Highest floor of the Dragon Fang Tower

They had almost done it last night, but Dicinna had been strong enough to stop herself. Elissa though? She was frustrated and had to touch herself before her wife to unknot the desire and frustration boiling inside her. As for Dicinna, she was giving the other members of the Sisterhood the new royal decree about the reinforced training they would have to undergo. It went without saying that the news was taken like Dicinna had expected. The Dwarves protested, Aeruirn attempted to run away and the other handmaiden were happy.

Walking onto the veranda, Elissa was in a short black arachne silk dress, with a jewel encrusted belt with a silver dragon head buckle; lightweight mithril gauntlets and greaves. It was an outfit that was a present from Kiomdra.

Elissa’s wings manifested and she took flight to reach the most powerful air node in her territory, she took the Weatherlight skyship model and connected to the plate. The enchanted construct responded instantly and Elissa gave it instructions to recharge the ship’s powerstone, restore it for human usage and for the magitek computer to enter into maintenance. The plate with the model skyship levitated and connected to the air node.

While it was doing that, Elissa looked at the ground, it was really far away, the gleaming silver tower hit by the sun’s rays almost blinded her. Elissa searched for her sunglasses in her spatial toe ring and after finding them put them on.

“Ahhh, that’s better.” She said out loud.

Elissa looked at the self-diagnostic spell on the floating plate and saw that it would take at least half a day to recharge. She stopped beating her wings and started freefalling. A wind spell kept her hair in place and clothes crinkle free. She was soon joined by Rilo and Aghri who had seen her power diving toward the ground at great speed.

The platinum blonde opened her wings, slowed her descent and turned toward the Lesay mountains and thanks to her powerful eyesight she saw a column composed of caravans led by ponies and dwarves coming toward Dragonfall.

“Ah, finally they are coming.”

Elissa turned to her two familiars and said, “Rilo, Aghri. Giant dragon form, please.”

The two familiars nodded their serpentine heads and became semi-truck sized. Elissa chose to sit on Aghri’s back for once, eliciting a cute rumbling from his chest; Rilo pouted and flew toward the caravan by herself.

When Rilo reached the caravan she roared, and began to circle them in the sky, the column stopped and the dwarven warbands hired to defend it placed themselves into defensive position. But at the sight of the second white Dragon swooping in and diving to land before the caravan they stopped caring for propriety and panicked.

KAOONK. At the noise of a horn being blown, everyone stopped moving.

Elissa slowly got down from Aghri’s back, straightened her short dress and walked toward the caravan, her sword belt with a sheathed Gram appearing at her waist. Rilo landed loudly at Aghri’s side and they walked slowly behind their mistress.

The dwarves watched her advance toward them, some would never confess it but they had browned their pants.

Abruptly she stopped walking and Rilo came to her side, allowing the platinum blonde to lean against her body. Elissa waited for the caravan master to come to her. The dwarves stood still as if paralyzed by the great menacing beasts before them. Elissa waited for over five minutes before someone brave enough to come up to her decided to approach her.

It was an old dwarf, surrounded by two armored guards who had the color of the Iron fang settlements coming slowly toward her and her familiars.

“Finally.” Elissa coldly looked upon them, channeling her inner Malicia.

The old dwarf wearing a leather riding outfit bowed slightly, opened his mouth and said,  “Greetings, might you be Storm Queen Elissa Dragonfang?”

*Was it the dragons or the sword that were the giveaway?* Elissa mocked in her thoughts.

The silence stretched for ten second before Elissa smiled and nodded to him. “It is I.”

The three dwarves knelt before her and Elissa stopped leaning against Rilo and stood tall. “Are you the promised help, that High Queen Vanhylde promised me?”

Elissa’s eyes fell on the rest of the caravan, her cold verdant eyes spearing through each of them; she asked herself what promises and futures Vanhylde sold them for there to be so many people ready to uproot themselves to the birth of a new Queendom. *Was it greed? Or because they have nothing to aspire to with the most juicy professional enterprises being taken by the old clans in Nirnyahr?*

The old dwarf briefly stared at the cold beauty before him, she was just like the rumors had professed her to be, majestic, as beautiful as the moons and stars, but also a dangerous woman.

“Yes, your highness.” The old dwarf answered, lowering his gaze to her armored feet. The purple grass grazing them, the wind blew and Elissa’s hair was not even disturbed by it.

She nodded. “Excellent, I see that you have a lot of people. Is that everyone?”

There were thousands of people gathered in this caravan, women, children and men; there were also a majority of old people. *Vanhylde must be cleaning house in the slums.*

The old dwarf shook his head. “No, your highness. There was a second caravan being prepared when we left, after all you have asked for all the cripples to be turned to Dragonfall for Healing.”

Elissa’s eyes widened in surprise, she didn’t expect so many people to come. “Indeed, are they aware of the terms for which they will be made whole?”

Still kneeling the old dwarf bowed his head further toward the ground. “Yes everyone is ready to swear fealty to you and the crown of Aryther.”

Elissa chuckled at that and made it known. “This pleases me. So much that I’ve decided to accompany you in the procession to Dragonfall; no monsters or beasts shall attack you.”

Raising his head, the old dwarf had a beaming expression on his face mirrored by the guards at his side, he said, “Thank you for your generosity, my Queen.”

Elissa put her hand against the black pseudodragon’s body, stroking her scales. “Come with me on Rilo’s back, we need to talk.” Elissa said as she looked at the caravan master, daring him to say no.

The old dwarf lost his smile and looked at the menacing black dragon being affectionate with the Queen. He gulped loudly, a gleam of amusement came into Elissa’s eyes as she spotted another toy- person she could have fun with.

Elissa realized that she couldn’t keep calling him old dwarf. “What is your name?”

The dwarf looked at her, surprised by this question, normally royalty dismissed those lower than them. He was pleasantly awed that she would ask him who he was. He smiled. “Fekrud of the Seknem clan. Your highness.”

Rilo lowered a wing onto the ground to permit them to climb on her, the dwarf was aware of the honor he was being given but still tried to not show any discomfort. Dragons were signs of ominous events in the mining town he came from, but some could be seen as benevolent on other continents of the planet or Alfheim.

Elissa nodded and smiled back. “I will call you Ruddy then, climb on now.”

Fekrud stumbled on Rilo’s wing and fell onto the ground. The female black Dragon emitted a rumbling laugh as she watched Elissa toy with the dwarf.

“Yes… your highness.” He said as he stood up, wiping himself.

The guard behind him snickered at this, he glared at them but they still didn’t stop. Elissa was already on Rilo’s back and stroked the scales at the base of her neck.

“So Ruddy, tell me what you’ve brought with you.”

Fekrud noticed a spell settling on them to keep them in place on the dragon’s back, he didn’t even feel her cast magic on them.

*As expected of the Dragon Slayer.* He told himself.

Rilo took flight, causing Fekrud to scream like a little girl, the two dragons overflew the caravan and circled them from the air. The long journey started yet again, and there was no trace of monsters daring to attack with the two powerful Dragons and Elissa’s magical aura threatening them.

While Elissa and her familiars guarded the caravan, Fekrud gave an inventory of the contents of the carts he brought with him. It was mainly materials to build houses and shelters. Also, there were spatial rings full of decorations for the tower, farming implements for the underground farms and tools for the royal smithy to start building everything necessary for the new city being built.

“The second caravan should have the complete inventory of what you ordered your highness.” Fekrud assured her. 

His long bushy brows flew everywhere because of the wind, it amused Elissa. Rilo flew in advance of the column, some pack of Direwolves showed themselves but quickly ran away when they felt the draconic mana.

“Good. Can I ask you a question, Ruddy?” Elissa had a really important question on her mind that had been bothering her since meeting Fekrud.

The dwarf nodded, eager to please. “Of course your highness.”

Fekrud had bitterly accepted the nickname conferred by the Queen, he didn’t want to disappoint her. Tales of what she had done in Cynlenor showed how ruthless she could turn at the drop of a hat. The Traynore family, one of the most important families on the planet refrained from looking for revenge as it would be foolhardy to become her enemy.

“I noticed that you don’t have any accent, why is that?” Elissa asked, as she boosted Rilo’s flight speed with a buff.

Dragonfall was finally in view on the horizon. *The caravan should reach it by the end of the afternoon.*

“Oh, it’s simple. I am a merchant and I am used to traveling to other planets like Alfheim or Vanir, customer surveys showed that some clients didn’t understand or like the dwarven accent. The Merchant Guild decided that all merchants with offworld holdings should get lessons in elocution.”

“Interesting, so they have those too.” Elissa said out loud and asked herself how they did those surveys. *Door to door or at the establishment selling goods and services?*

Fekrud then asked questions about Dragonfall and the city they would build. “Well, I have already built the important facilities such as the smithy, guild halls, underground farms, water treatment plant and the sewers. Now I’m leaving the rest to you.”

Fekrud blinked at her. “Already?”

Astonished, the old dwarf had thought that he would be building from scratch; that this young Queen had already accomplished this much, showed that she had smarts as well as power and beauty.

Elissa liked the expression of surprise on the old dwarf’s face. “Yes, I presumed that it would speed up everyone settling in and being at ease while doing their jobs. Oh! I almost forgot, I have a memory crystal to give to your crafters and builders. I want a royal Inn to be built as soon as possible in Queen’s Rise. That’s the name of the city by the way.”

*If there was an Inn then there will be drinks! Wine, beer, mead!* The old dwarf was enthused at this prospect.

He remembered in the manifest of the caravan that the Queen ordered twenty tonnes of alcohol in casks and barrels.

Fekrud absently rubbed his hands. “My Queen, can I be forward?”

“Certainly, Ruddy dear.” Elissa smiled as she laughed at his eagerness.

“I really want to work with you, it’s almost like you think of everything beforehand.” Fekrud knew what he was talking about.

He had never met a sun-elf like the young Queen before, they were normally so fickle, had a stick up their bum or were trying to force impossible tasks on dwarves working for them. That was why he had been dreading meeting Lady Dragonfang. But after spending an afternoon with her, he found her agreeable and weirdly friendly; completely different from the information circulating about her.

Eissa blushed, patting Fekrud’s shoulder, she said, “Aww, Ruddy it pleases me that you want to. But you know, I didn’t intend to let you go back to wherever you are from, you are going to be my merchant guild master.”

The old dwarf choked at this news, Elissa watched as he had a bad time trying to speak.“Huh?! No, this is too hard a job!”

Fekrud loved travelling, seeing new skies and meeting new people and rolling in a bed made of gold coins! Being a guild master would automatically make him desk bound and sentenced to doing paperwork all day!

“Too late, Ruddy you cannot escape. I took a liking to you.”

While Fekrud was lamenting his luck for attracting royal attention, the gate fort’s lights were visible; it was a sure sign that the defenses were active. The gate that was in sight was now opening. It was almost night, the sun declined on the horizon. Rilo and Aghri landed before the gates, Elissa slid off the black Dragon’s back, followed by Fekrud who pouted.

It was a strange sight for Elissa, seeing such an old man being this childish. But that’s what she liked with the Dwarves, they wore their feelings on their faces and were genuine.

“Argh that was tough on my old bones.” Fekrud put a hand behind his back, looking in pain.

Elissa tilted her head, not liking seeing the old dwarf this way. “Oh? Do you want me to fix that?”

“What do you mean?” Fekrud asked.

Elissa grinned at him. “I am a certified Master Healer.”

Fekrud had thought that she employed a battalion of healers to be able to promise to treat everyone who had come. But suddenly discovering she was the highest level of healer was surprising; in fact the young Queen has been nothing but full of surprises. Master Healers were often guild masters, or directors of isolated healing guilds for cities in the Underdark; they had a stance of being neutral and weren’t concerned by politics or war.

The treatments the healers offered were paid depending on the rank they had, it started from acolyte, journeymen and master. Three ranks but so much knowledge and power differentiated by the color of their robes.

“You’d do it for free?” Fekrud asked, he was a simple merchant and couldn’t afford this level of medical care. It was basically like buying a new manor, when he could only afford a simple house.

Elissa laughed at him. “Don’t be silly, I want you to be in top health Ruddy.”

She put a white and gold glowing hand on his cheek and scanned his body with her eyes. Elissa quickly saw what was the problem, Fekrud had too much cholesterol, didn’t drink enough water and was bound to have clogged arteries.

The young woman began to systematically undo the damage that an unbalanced diet and too much walking without rest did to him. Fekrud felt lighter than he had been in years after just ten minutes of treatment, now he could see with sharp definition before him. Elissa took her hands off the old dwarf’s cheek and smiled at him.

“I have good and bad news.” Elissa began to say tactfully.

Fekrud crossed his arms and looked at her seriously. “Yes, you really are a healer, they always start their reports like this.”

His wife and daughter had been on his case a lot for going to see a Healer, he made this trip to escape. But he seemed that the fates conspired against him.

Elissa giggled at him, taking his comment as a compliment. “I learned from the best! So, no more greasy meals, and wine for you Ruddy, you are at risk of dying from clogged arteries. You must drink more water, you will get kidney stones if you don’t. The best way to prevent kidney stones is to make sure you drink plenty of water every day to avoid becoming dehydrated.”

Almost word for word what his wife and daughter had been telling him, maybe he should have listened. But he liked to eat… Fekrud nodded at the Queen to continue.

“Beside that, I just fixed the wear on your patella and lumbar vertebrae. And as a bonus I fixed your eyes too.” Elissa added.

The old dwarf blinked at her. “Oh, so that’s why everything’s so clear now?”

She was even more beautiful with sharp focus.

“How do you feel?” Elissa asked, she knew how he felt but it was a part of the Healer’s job to let their patient to speak out.

Fekrud jumped up and down, his long beard making waves like a flag, he walked for five meters and noticed how his back didn’t make him suffer anymore and his knees didn’t send lances of pains anymore.

Fekrud looked at the young Queen with wonder. “Better than the last ten years, my Queen. So it is true, you can truly heal everyone who has come for treatment?”

Elissa was sure that there were numerous rumors about her now, she hoped that they were not going to become too bad. She needed a clean reputation to attract competent people for her Queendom.

“I never lied in my life, it’s not good for business if your words cannot be trusted.” She said, looking serious and royal, less like the giggling beauty that she had devolved into.

Fekrud smiled as he saw the change. “A good policy to have.”

It was at this moment that the caravan arrived in view and that Fekrud’s guards came to fetch him; they were all jealous of him having been given a ride on a dragon. But it was now time to get to work. Dicinna, Ocima and Aeruirn waited for Elissa at the aethernet station of the gate fort. Everyone was ready to work hard to triage the people and goods coming in. Fenirael and Reinatiel were not present as they took it upon themselves to go create a safe path for the dwarves, the presence of Lizardfolk yesterday had proven to them that the forest wasn’t at all safe.

Elissa knew how she was going to make it safer, she had a pet snake to go collect in Thafnoris’ surroundings. The young Queen cracked her knuckles and decided to help everyone settle in.

 

---

 

It took all night, but everyone was settled at the foot of Dragon Fang Tower. When the caravaners had come upon it from afar they had looked upon it with awe and marvel; they were all dwarves and all crafters after a fashion. They would have never believed that this tower was raised in a day, but the witnesses from Iron Fang settlement were insistent.

Aeruirn taught everyone how to use the Aethernet station to teleport to Queen’s Rise. Elissa was in charge of teleporting all the carts to the plaza in the underground city, precisely in the industrial district to permit the builders and crafters to do their jobs faster the next day.

Princess Brunhilda came to help rather late in the night when the dwarves were finally all in Queen’s Rise and took charge of telling everyone where to build shelters and pitch tents.

The dwarven settlers were also surprised to see that Queen’s Rise had similar enchantments to Nirnyahr, it was as if they hadn’t moved at all. They had thought that they would have to rough it but most of everything was here, they liked it. They were all excited, it was like they were back to the founding of their city; where they could make a difference and that this time what they wanted would matter. Most of those settlers came from the slums of Nirnyahr, hopelessness and despondency ruled.

As everyone in the Sisterhood had everything in hand, Elissa teleported back to the surface and went to collect her skyship that had surely began to be operational. All her familiars were busy helping with the settlers, so they couldn’t accompany her into the sky. Dragon Fang Tower answered Elissa’s desires and illuminated the top floor and roof with a blinding white light. It was like a mini sun was lighting her way.

Wings manifesting, Elissa flew into the air and at great speed, rising until she reached the lit sky. The plate with the model was shining silver as she arrived level with it. Elissa kept hovering, held her hands to it and the enchanted plate came to her slowly. Once it was in her hands, she smiled and saw how powerful this ship was compared to what she knew from Earth’s military.

In a sense, this was a spaceship, able to bring her from world to world through the wormhole passages that are described as the branches of Yggdrasil. Elissa couldn’t wait to captain the ship, it was hers by right and by blood and she didn’t understand how a skyship of her people could find itself on a backwater planet such as Svartalfheim.

*Careful there Elissa, this is your home now.* She told herself.

But she couldn’t deny that it needed some work to be fully safe, she planned to go on a massive extermination spree to route out the monsters and dark entities which had taken their place as the dominant species on her planet. Elissa willed the ship to regain its normal size.

She was surprised to find herself teleported inside as it grew, she was seated on a chair with a wooden dashboard before her, everything around her reminded her of the bridge of a ship. It looked like it was out of Space Trek made out of wood and silvery metal, around her were consoles that without a doubt controlled the skyship.

The bridge was ovoid in shape, at the bridge’s rear was a large bank of consoles, and magical hologram screens. In the center of that area was the master systems display where Elissa was seated. Control consoles flanked either side of it, one for navigation, another for tactical. Directly forward of the central command area and sunken down by two steps was the Helm.

From here, the flight control officer served as helmsman and navigator for the vessel. It reminded Elissa of those pirate ships she saw on TV, it was a round driving wheel but the helmsman didn’t have to stay standing up. There was a seat. So she gathered that the ship was piloted more like a jet fighter.

Elissa was being shown windows describing the ship and most of its functions and systems. The bridge where she found herself was located on deck 1, it seemed that it was the center of the skyship. It wasn’t the only part that the computer had shown her, Elissa was given a brief overview of her vessel; The ship was 91 meters and could carry a crew of 40, with most of the crewmembers assigned to tending to the ship’s massive and complex engines.

Staterooms and officer’s quarters were conjoined around the mast room on the main deck level, near the stern. Two decks in the forecastle split the complement of able-bodied sailors between them, and doubled as additional storage space for the ship’s goods. Those without seniority among the crew slept in the cargo hold, in a series of secured hammocks.

“This looks great.” Elissa put her hands on the dashboard and accidentally pushed a button.

A smug voice said, [I see that your highness is satisfied with the layout of the ship.]

Jumping out of surprise Elissa stood up and looked around in the bridge. “Who said that?!”

A three dimensional eye with reptile like iris looked back at her from a projector in the dashboard. [I am ZHAER, the intelligence of this vessel. I am gladdened to finally be able to communicate with you, your Grace.]

Elissa gaped at the hologram, then slowly sat at her command chair. *I knew it, it was too good to be true, I got saddled with an AI. I hope it won’t get Spacenet on me.*

[Your Grace?] The intelligence called her.

Turning her head to the hologram, Elissa said, “Yes?”

[Permission to dock with the Spire of Power?]

“The what?”

*What was this AI speaking about this time?*

[Apologies, your Grace. You must know it under another designation. The tower invited me to dock with it, but I need your permission to do so.]

Elissa waved at the hologram. “Oh, yes you have it, connect with my Veranda, turn it into a docking station.”

[Order received. Construction in progress, while we are at it, your Grace should I help you get full control of this vessel?]

“You mean I don’t have it already?” Elissa’s tone was panicked.

[Incorrect, your Grace. At the moment you have superficial control of the functions of this Weatherlight skyship.]

“What must I do then?” Elissa frowned, not liking the butler like persona this AI was trying to emulate.

An aperture at the center of the dashboard opened, inside she could see light. [Place a hand inside to obtain the Master Key.]

Elissa shrugged. “Sure.”

Without hesitation Elissa placed her hand in the glowing hole and wasn’t surprised to feel the warmth from it. She felt as if something was being etched onto her skin. It continued for another minute before the aperture ceased to glow.

[Master Key given to the Snow Heir. You now have complete control, congratulations your Grace.] The intelligence said deadpan.

Elissa took her hand out of the hole and looked at it, under the snowflake tattoo where Gram had anchored her dimensional sheath, there was now a blue-white glowing one depicting the likeness of a Lotus like flower blooming.

[Construction of the dock completed. Do you wish to exit the vessel?] ZHAER once again sounded smug.

“Are you already docked?” Elissa nodded, happy that she didn’t have to wait long.

[I strive for efficiency, your Grace.] The AI scoffed at her.

*Smartass AI…* Elissa didn’t even feel the ship move when it docked. It surprised her how there was no movement she could feel, on planes and boats she had used she felt when it was moving.

Elissa stood and left the bridge, she realized that she knew the layout of the ship perfectly well. That every compartment and system and how to use them were in her memory. She hadn’t even felt how the ship had broken her mental shield. This worried her. Arriving at the main deck, she saw the stairs leading to the forward cabins and the upper deck.

*Tomorrow, I will take everyone with me to explore the ship.* She thought.

Taking flight without her wings Elissa saw from the air that the Veranda of her apartments extended into a ten meter long platform made of mithril. She landed on it, now she could see thanks to the deck lamps how the ship was berthed to the tower.

“Interesting setup.” Elissa admired the handiwork of the tower in conjunction with her new ship.

[Your praises are accepted, your Grace.] A smug voice sounded in Elissa’s head.

Elissa jumped again at the sound of ZHAER’s voice. She accidentally slipped into a combat stance. This damned AI kept startling her and Elissa didn’t like it at all.

“How are you doing this?!” This has been a string of new experiences for Elissa, and she didn’t like how easy it was for this intelligent construct to pierce her defences as if they were cardboard.

[I strive for efficienc-]

“Answer the damned question!” Elissa commanded.

Was it her, or did she hear ZHAER sigh in her head? [Thanks to the Master Key, you are in complete control of the skyship, it also means that you are the administrator of the neural communication suite onboard. It’s a nifty system that was installed on the ship before the end of the Elven Wars. Thus, use of this system on the Weatherlight permits me to speak to you through great distances, your Grace.]

Elissa couldn’t stop thinking that ZHAER maneuvered her into taking complete control to be able to have eyes outside the ship.

[I detect high stress level in your physiology, your Grace. Maybe you should call it a night?] The AI said in a worried voice.

ZHAER wasn’t used to such a type of captain, in fact it was a first for him to have such a young one. He had no frame of reference in his memory banks of having ever experienced her type of personality.

“What are you? My nanny?” Elissa said sarcastically. It worried her that this AI was invasive to such a degree.

In a conciliatory tone, ZHAER tried to say, [If it pleases you, I coul-]

But was interrupted.

“This was sarcasm!” Elissa shouted.

ZHAER sounded miffed when he said, [I never understood this nuance of the language of the organics.]

Elissa rolled her eyes and left in the direction of the door to the veranda. “Yeah, I feel it… You are tiring, ZHAER. I am going to go to sleep. Don’t bother me for anything that isn’t important.”

[Acknowledged.] The poor AI didn’t know what to think about such a young captain.

So, he did what he knew best, he stayed on overwatch to guard her and her territory.

 

---

 

Day 80, Morning
Queen’s Rise
Healing Hall, Culture floor

It wasn’t easy for Elissa to get used to her new hanger-on, he always criticized what she was doing or was showing her up by actually doing better than her. Elissa didn’t know it but it was unconsciously the same kind of thing that she was doing to other people; sometimes karma struck at the most inopportune times.

Everyone had thought that she was crazy when she began to speak to herself, but two days ago after visiting the ship and putting their luggage inside the cargo bay for the return trip on Earth, Elissa decided to share the misery and ordered each member to stick their hand in the etching machine to register into the neural communication system of the ship.

Introducing himself to the rest of the guild had been a rather different experience for ZHAER as he received a different type of welcome from each members. Syndanelyn and Sizalda acted like females in heat with him and always asking him questions he considered inane.

It was Elissa’s vengeance upon him.

Dicinna and Ocima thought that it was strange that such a ship was in the hands of their family but never used. Elissa had to tell them about herself for them to understand, Ocima was surprised to discover that her sister-in-law wasn’t an elf but a member of a powerful race of humans. The poor girl worried about Dicinna knowing that humans had a lower lifespan than elves. Elissa reassured her that as a demigoddess it was the reverse, Elissa was going to outlive Dicinna.

Brunhilda and the rest of the Sisterhood wanted permission from Elissa to study the ship and invite some engineers and crafters aboard. Elissa decided that she wanted no one aboard her ship that could damage it and did something better for Brunhilda by going into the Dreamscape and taking the memories of one of her ancestors who was a specialized skyship builder, then drawing the schematics of a basic skyship and rune work for the antigravity engine and enchantments protecting it from the elements, G-forces and Inertial Dampers.

After that, things moved in stride. The Dwarves were happy to receive such a gift and in return gave her more materials to build and additional Crafters to help furnish Queen's Rise. Yet it wasn't enough for having given them the gift of flight.

High Queen Vanhylde came herself to negotiate a treaty with the young Queen, it was all negotiated by ZHAER who butted in and the result was a mutual defense, commercial exchange and freedom of religions accord and other politicking things that would need a more detailed treaty later on.

Elissa needed laws as public safety had become a necessity after robberies, sabotage of equipment and three attempted rapes; this was where her AI in her skyship helped again as he was bored. He came up with a charter guaranteeing that people had limited individual rights of freedom, were able to defend themselves, worship whatever god they wanted if he or she was benevolent, at this point Hekate intervened from the dreamscape to interject in the discussion and insisted that Elissa and ZHAER add that demon gods, dark gods and entities inimical to life where proscribed and any worshipers of those in her territory (the entire planet) would be found and put to death.

After tiring days cooped up in the stateroom near the throne room being served sumptuous food, the basic laws of Aryther were written.

The basic laws of Aryther could be considered harsh; betraying the crown automatically led to death.

Use of truth potion was highly controlled by the crown and only to be used by it’s agents. Unsanctioned personnel and civilians in possession of this substance were automatically put in jail and depending on the use they had for the potion five to ten years of forced labor would be the worst they could get as the maximum sentence.

Stealing depending on the severity of it and the circumstances led to forced labor, indenture or death. 

Rape, mental or physical, the sentence was death. Subcategories of what was considered rape were added and unfortunately numerous.

White collar crimes committed and scammers found or proven guilty were also put to death. Respect was paramount in Aryther, duels in a specially dedicated arena were allowed to resolve differences were permitted.

Everyone had a right to be armed but not in the presence of the Storm Queen and other nobles. Unless they were given permission to do so.

This was one of the laws that led to a problem with the arrival of Kiomdra and the representatives of the main guilds from Cynlenor.

Kiomdra had been surprised by Dragonfall, in a good way. She had been to the surface on and off under heavy guard. But being in the open and not attacked by waves of monsters every five minutes was surprising and made her elicit feelings of relief in herself. The atavistic fear of the sky after so much time passed underground that had taken her kind disappeared once she got used to the sky.

But something had to go wrong. When Elissa had received the delegates from Cynlenor. The mercenary representative had refused to let go of her sword and knives and attempted to attack the Queen, after unleashing her aura, the mercenary stood paralyzed from fear. With a snap of her fingers, her handmaiden took charge of the attacker. Thanks to Elissa’s truth potion the elven woman was revealed to have a grudge toward the Storm Queen as she wiped her party that had taken on the contract to kill her before she arrived at the second day of the tournament.

“So you had enough common sense to refuse to take this suicidal request from Lerrina. But not sufficient sense to not try to get revenge?” Elissa asked the dark elven woman clothed like a rogue with her skin-tight armor and array of weapons still on her.

She was unmoving, paralyzed by the dragon fear Elissa generated. Elissa had looked at her and with an analytical eye guessed her level of skills to be of consequence.

“Hmm, waste not, want not. I will not kill you Tiana, consider yourself in service of the crown.” Elissa said.

Fenirael flanked by Nabideth positioned themselves at the woman’s side and the demoness placed heavy Adamantite manacles around her wrists.

“However, you’ll have to spend a week in my dungeon. I hope you’ll like the scenery.” Elissa told her.

With a nod to her friends, she said, “Feni, Nabi get her out of my sight.”

They left and Elissa retracted her aura, everyone inside breathed better as a result. Reinatiel looked worriedly at her mistress, she was sure that she had forgotten something super important she was aware of. But she let her speak with Kiomdra and the representatives, they introduced themselves and Elissa who had now a fully furnished tower could receive and offer them hospitality.

Reinatiel in her white mage robe leaned toward Elissa and whispered, “Mistress.”

Elissa looked at her beautiful handmaiden and smiled at her. “Yes, Rei?”

The serious mien of the demoness caused the smile on Elissa’s face to disappear. “I would suggest that you look at your smartphone screen.”

“Huh, ok.” She found her phone quickly in her spatial ring and turned it on.

“September the 3rd. And it’s 06:00 AM on the screen, look.”

Reinatiel nodded and looked meaningfully at her mistress. Elissa took ten seconds to remember. Abruptly she stood from her silver throne and ran at superspeed out of the throne room and suddenly found herself in the aethernet station in the corridor and teleported to her apartments.

Thinking fast Elissa made a mental list of who to bring with her back to Earth. *Syndanelyn, Ocima and Dicinna, Reinatiel and my pseudodragons.*

Elissa looked out imposing transparent Mithril window and could see her skyship from the family room. “ZHAER ready the ship for take off.”

[Acknowledged. May I inquire as to the destination?] Asked the AI, curious.

Elissa almost lost her patience. “Look into my memories, I know you can do it. Look for Midgard’s position in the stars.”

Shamelessly ZHAER said in a smooth voice, [Coordinates found, Weatherlight is ready for take off, your Grace.]

Elissa noticed the smile in his voice. One day she will have a chat with that entity about boundaries, but it was not now.

“Excellent, call the people I want with me on this trip. Please.” Elissa said grudgingly.

[Summon sent.]

Elissa went directly to the Veranda, and ran on the platform leading to her vessel, and jumped on her ship’s main deck. Quickly she found herself running in the corridor and ended up in her seat on the bridge at super speed. Sighing, Elissa looked at the ceiling’s skylight and waited. It took ten minutes for each of the members of the Sisterhood to come for duty on the bridge.

“What’s the hurry?” Dicinna asked.

Elissa’s heavy armor was almost in the way but the command chair suddenly adapted to it.

Leaning back in her seat Elissa said, “We are going to Midgard, there are things I need to do there. We should be back for dinner.”

Dicinna became worried that they would not come back to Svartalfheim if she went to her adoptive home planet. But through her bond she felt the warmth of Elissa and the unsettled feelings brewing inside her. Dicinna came to the resolution that her wife needed to do this and confront her mother.

Dicinna shrugged. “Sure, where do I put myself?”

Elissa smiled at her. “You are my XO, so seat yourself on the console near the master system.”

“What about me?” Syndanelyn was confused on the suddenness of this trip to Midgard.

“Engineering. Go there and strap in, ok?” Elissa said affectionately.

Syndanelyn was her second best dwarf friend and she didn’t want to see anything happen to her. She had a tendency to forget safety protocols sometimes.

“Aye!” She sped out of the bridge, the crossbow at her back clinking with her armor.

Dicinna’s twin looked eagerly at Elissa. “And me sister?”

The young Queen smiled at her sister-in-law. “You are my pilot Ocima. You have excellent hand-eye coordination I noticed.”

“Very well.” The dark elf nodded and went to sit at the helm.

The brown leather seat conformed to her red armor, Elissa noticed that ZHAER was loading the information on how to use the ship into Ocima’s brain when she saw the relevant holographic window facing herself. It was the same for her wife and Syndanelyn.

“Reinatiel, Navigation.” Elissa commanded.

“As you wish.” The demoness nodded and went to seat herself near Ocima.

Strangely ZHAER didn’t feel the necessity to load her handmaiden’s brain with instructions on how to use the navigation console.

Elissa looked around her, looking for her dragons familiars. “Where are my babies?”

With a frustrated tone, ZHAER informed Elissa. [Your familiars are in your cabin, your Grace. They are now making your bed their nest.] The AI said in a disapproving tone.

“Typical of them…” Elissa rolled her eyes, her dragons were worse than cats sometimes. Sighing, Elissa pushed her hand with the Master Key into the aperture in the master system. The wooden dashboard came alive, with lights and holographic windows opening all around her.

“Deploy the masts.” Elissa ordered.

[Masts Deployed, Mana sails coming online in flight position.]

On the holographic representation of the Weatherlight before her, Elissa saw the masts deploy and the wings of energy appear as they were in position at the side of the ship.

“Power level?” Elissa inquired on the state of the Powerstone.

[At 100%]

Elissa nodded, trepidation in her heart. “Release docking clamps.”

[Docking clamps released.]

The clamps disengaged on the hologram. Then the screen before her extended horizontally to show her around the ship. The tower and the sky. The hologram now showed her how they were already drifting away from Dragon Fang Tower.

“Take us into the air, ZHAER.” The air intakes of the Weatherlight thrummed and the ship flew forward.

 “Ocima bring us to 10,000 meters in elevations.” Elissa ordered.

Ocima pulled the driving wheel toward her and they felt it when they climbed into the sky, quickly passing a layer of clouds.

“Activate Planar Drive.” Elissa said with finality.

[Planar Window opening.]

A blue-white whirlpool of light opened in front of the ship, and Ocima pushed the driving wheel away from her and the Weatherlight plunged into the planar window. The armor of the Bridge section covered the transparent skylights and forward bulkhead. Around the ship, a tunnel of lights and maelstrom of colors showed that the ship was now journeying into the branches of Yggdrasil.

“Wait for me Mom, I am coming for you.” Elissa whispered.

---

A/N: Heya guys! Chapter 44 will be available on Patreon as it's in the hands of the editors at the moment. It will be the last chapter of the Year.