A precious time together, meant for bonding and security. 

Authors note: <<Brackets>> are implied to be universal/world announcements. “Quotes” are character speech. “Italicized text” are thoughts. <single bracket> are displayed to characters.

Edited by: Dragodonv2 on discord

The mother and daughter got familiar with each other over the time of about a month before Syvis was brought into the inner chambers to her mothers home in the temple. The colors of white, green and silver lined everything much like the other rooms in the temple, albeit more elaborate and somehow even more elegantly designed. Everything appeared to be fashioned by skilled artisans and well designed to the brim of the goddess at heart.  This was seemingly the reason why only one person had ever occupied these chambers before I began to live with my mother, though it had plenty of space for another person or two, despite the rooms' explicit purpose to hold only one occupant. 

Syvis awoke in a large bed, pushing the white and green blankets away. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her mother had already awoken and proceeded to her office to process requests made by various kingdoms. She did her best to complete her work before breakfast so she could spend time with her new found child. Changes had happened over the last month, Syvis was unable to see herself as a male anymore, the feelings she had and the way she thought about things had twisted to the point she had to accept her new gender. Though she could still think like her old self, she viewed her new body as what it was, a woman.

I crawled out of the sheets and had to prepare myself to hop down. The bed’s height is taller than I am, so it is a bit tricky for me to get both in and out of the bed. I manage to get down by swinging my legs forward and stretching out to make the landing softer. My body feels significantly lighter than my old one. I feel like I can do so much more compared to my old life. I begin to wonder if this body is going to be stronger compared to my old human body. 

My mother is called Nimue, something I was told by her the first day. We have been spending so much time together doing everything possible as one. Her love for me is infectious… constantly doting and caring for me and my well being, even with the plethora of important work she has to do for the kingdom.  At first I thought it would be awkward for me to live as her daughter, but as I settled into my new reality as Syvis, I have begun to reciprocate her love.  The way she cares for me makes me want to do everything possible to make her happy in exchange for the happiness she makes me feel. It stopped being awkward in my mind, and settled into being as natural as the love between mother and child… enough to feel comfortable calling her my mom.

I walk over to a small dresser setup next to a massive wardrobe that mother uses, this one was put in for me. There are various dresses in it that appear to be smaller versions of all the outfits I have observed the other women in the temple wear, as well as a few clothes I assume are popular outside of the temple.

Syvis: “Today I think I’m going to wear a dress from outside the temple, I wonder if mom is almost done…” 

I slip on a simple lemon yellow one piece dress and matching cloth slippers before heading out of the bedroom I share with mom. The hallway just outside had various displays lining down it. Artifacts and art with plaques telling stories of their connection to the gods. I have never touched them out of fear of damaging them, but I was curious about them. Something to ask mom about later. I proceeded to walk down the passage towards the grand hall, which in turn led to stairs and doors that connected to other hallways. This building was like a private manor inside of the grand temple, a private wing for the first priestesses of the past and present, with me now among its residents. I passed through this room and entered the dining room. A large green and gold embossed table sits in the center of the dining room. More chairs than seemed necessary given the First Priestess’s solitude lined the table, as if it was simply waiting for a family gathering. At the head of the table I could see mom sitting in her chair, wearing her favorite garb of the goddess. Her food was uneaten, though a small smile was on her face as she stared towards me with loving admiration. Despite my acceptance of our roles, it makes me embarrassed to feel this much love from someone like her, but I knew at least that it was genuine and pure.

 I made my way towards the table and took a seat to her right looking up to her with a little smile myself before grabbing my spoon to dig into the meal presented to me. What appeared to be a thinly sliced bacon or prosciutto and eggs. Not normal chicken eggs either, they are about two times larger than the ones I remembered from my old life, which made eating them a minor struggle in itself. Mom waited for me to start before taking bites of the food herself. Halfway through our meal I decided to ask my mom a few questions that I had been stewing on for some time, and only just now did I work up the courage to ask.

Syvis: “Mom? I was told by Lady Arilemna that I should ask you, am I to live in this temple with you as you have, for so long?”

My mother tilted her head towards my question seemingly puzzled by it for a moment before smiling gently back towards me. She shook her head gently, and put her fork down.

Nimue: “Just for a few more years, when you are ten you will be sent to school here in the capital, of course you will have to meet your grandfather first. In about a year you will be taught etiquette classes by the others.”

I contemplated that for a moment before nodding and taking another bite of my food. I watched mother do the same, spending a moment to think before speaking once more.

 Syvis: “What about all the artifacts? Is it okay to touch them?”

Mother nodded once more while chewing her food with a soft motion of her finger to show to wait on the response.

Nimue: “For most of them, they are all safe with the blessings of the various gods. Just don’t touch ones that bear the seal of the Goddess, one placed on artifacts associated with Dark Gods, and you will be fine.”

I smile and resume my meal to finish it up, once done I grab my plate and hop out of the chair. Mother does the same and we walk into the kitchen to clean up our plates and prepare lunch together. According to my mother, she used to have all of her meals prepped by the kitchen staff, though with me here she decided to study cooking with the staff prior to me arriving. She learned a lot about being a mother while I was with lady Arilemna in the primary living area. It is encouraging to know that even with a few hundred years under her belt, she can still adapt and learn. An age that was one of the many intriguing and wondrous aspects of our species.

Among the things I have learned about our species, there has never been a recorded natural death of aging of an elf. The trade off of such a wondrous gift, however, is a massively low sex drive and fertility rate. We can also have children with other species, and many elves chose to do so,  though how I was born she was insistent that I came from the gods. At this point I have decided to trust her word that the gods would have such power. With the existence of magic In this world, and the miracles of the gods, nearly anything is possible. 

I asked about “status”, but apparently for sapient species such as us, we can’t see our status until we hit the age of ten. According to legends it's meant to preserve the child’s name in case of enslavement or otherwise. The slavers can’t claim ignorance due to this if a child is kidnapped and sold to them, they would be punished often with death and their slaves freed, so long as they aren't criminal slaves, but even then their histories will be checked for crimes. I was surprised to learn during THAT conversation that the trade of slaves

I didn’t stop there. According to my mother, every species can extend their natural life span through training and effort. Most can survive decades longer depending on the amount of Mana they have. Mana is a driving force of life here on this planet, so many people often strive to hunt monsters and become stronger to strengthen their life force. According to the legends, the world was blessed with status, to allow the weak people to live longer and grow stronger, by hunting and taking the life force of monsters and their enemies. Status is merely the representation and system which helps a humanoid to grow. Mom has said many times she is excited to see what my status is, to learn who the father is.

I am excited to see my status as well. According to mom there have been cases of people being summoned from other worlds, often, these people are stronger than most if they train and raise their status. They are blessed with unique skills that often only monsters are gifted with by the gods, the gods speak with the people who are summoned before arriving at the summoning circle, giving them their blessings based on their wishes.. I have a vague memory of that voice and white light, was that voice a god? If so, why was I born instead of appearing in a summoning circle as a human? These are answers I won’t learn for a while yet I guess.

Have a happy new year ^~^