Chapter 37 – Change of Seasons.
“Do you think that this realm is changing us in other ways as well?”
“Hmm?” Julia murmured, shifting her head a little, her hair tickling Callie’s bare breasts as she gently ran a finger down her chest. “I guess so? I doubt we’d be like this if we were back in our realm.”
“I mean more than just us, and that we’re currently snuggled up on the grass.” Callie ran a hand through Julia’s hair, which had gotten a lot longer, as she looked up at the stars, the multitude of lights that twinkled in every colour, idly wondering how many distinct hues there were. Her neck was still tingling a bit, the euphoric high from Julia’s feeding very much present and intermingled with the other sensations that still flowed through her, her legs entangled with the vampires. Okay, they might have been doing more than just the feeding, but they were more than allowed to. It was rather nice, and affirming in a strange way too.
Julia giggled. “Such deep and philosophical musings. I’m not sure if they’re appropriate right now.”
“Says the one using all of the big words,” Callie giggled back, her hands moving to Julia’s bare skin.
“I am a learned lady,” Julia scoffed, before giggling again.
“What are we going to be like, when we return? What is our world going to feel like to us?”
“You get all contemplative at the weirdest of times, Callie,” Julia responded, her voice going softer as she snuggled closer into her. “But that’s one of the many things that I love about you.”
Callie just blushed at that. But perhaps she did. It wasn’t the first time after all.
“This place, this journey, is shaping us, and changing us, Julia. How much of that is going to stick when we get back? Do you think that you could just go back to being a member of the enchanters after all of this?”
“Hell no.” The certainty was very clear. “Ignoring that I’d barely started with them, and that I no longer trust the Guardians, that’s not our life any more. Not us. I don’t think... I don’t think that I’d even want to spend that long away from you, Uriah, or Felicia.” Julia sighed. “I guess that’s what you meant, huh?”
“Yeah.” Callie’s hands explored a little more, before she just held Julia against her, just enjoying her warmth and presence. “What are we going to do, after we return, and everything settles down?”
“Realm walking?”
Callie sighed. “Ever since Arianna mentioned it, I will admit that it has held some appeal. To find the other realm... realms, but we have Stella now. Is that a life for a young girl? For our daughter?”
“It would be a better life than what our parents would offer her. What the Guardians would offer.”
“My parents are going to have nothing to do with Stella. Nothing at all.” She snapped a bit as she said that, but there was no way that she was going to let them anywhere near her daughter.
“I don’t think we could stay settled long enough for Stella to attend a normal school either, ignoring that she’s a Vulphir. I can’t imagine you holding down a mundane job any more. Even though you’ve tried before.”
“Yeah...” Julia wasn’t wrong there. It had just been an attempt at escaping from their control back then, but she could never go back. They weren’t the same people as the ones that Riddling had sent through the rift. “Even with all of this, of what we’re going through, we really know nothing about anywhere else. It would be suicide to just go somewhere random.”
“Amber.” Julia as much said her name as thought it. “She’s a realmwalker. She has to be. Even here, I can feel her a little, and that sense just keeps getting clearer.”
She sometimes forgot that there was that connection between Julia and her sire, or whatever term Amber used. She had no clue what it was like, except that she was certain it was nothing like the bonds that they had between them all. Those were powerful and something very special.
“I guess that we’re going to have to see her.” Not that they weren’t already, it had always been part of their plan. But really, they were going to need some of her knowledge and guidance, and that worried her. Amber was still very much an unknown.
“First though,” Julia said, as she shifted herself up Callie’s body, lips reaching her own, “we need to get to Arianna. All of these other worries can wait till after.”
‘True,’ Callie sent back as she accepted the kiss, pushing the thoughts away. For now, she would just enjoy the moment. And their time here.
It felt strange, in a number of ways. Not just the sadness of having left the city and their home there, which Callie still didn’t know the name of, not that it held any significance in the end, or the different feel of the season. They had arrived in the middle of summer after all, not just the nature of spring here was completely foreign to them, but the experience of it, too. That they were now travelling with a young child. Now they had limits as to how hard they could push themselves, what type of weather and conditions they were willing to tolerate, even where they’d make camp each night. And some activities too. Stella always needed someone to be watching over her, to be with her, and they all took turns, Stella revelling in the attention. She was growing fast, and learning, even if it wasn’t all obvious at the moment.
They were still roughing it, though, compared to what people would normally have considered camping. But they’d done it for so long here before winter had hit that they were used to it. Though Callie would readily admit that she was missing the shelter that the city had provided, and all of the little extras that they had accumulated and then had to leave behind. But they could only carry so much with them, and some items were just more important than others. Food, and more roots and seed from plants that they had found for example. At least it seemed that they wouldn’t have to worry about starving, though foraging was still a thing. Utilizing what they found along the way was still more practical, even if they were leaving a trail of small apple trees behind them, placed approximately every week.
There was a wider variety of animals starting to appear as well, and they’d spent some time studying the unfamiliar ones before deciding which ones they were going to hunt. That of course slowed them down, but the sense of urgency, while still present, wasn’t as strong any more. There was no rush for winter at the moment, and they knew that the world wasn’t going to just collapse on them. They had time, and there would be warnings, and Callie was making progress on the array. She could visualise it all now, it was just a matter of trying to understand all of what was there, what she would need to memorise into a useable form, and what parts she could just disregard. Though, all of it would be a useful learning experience in the first place. That the array had stuck in her mind was more than a little surprising, but she wasn’t begrudging that.
They hadn’t left straight away either, even when it had become obvious that it was now spring, waiting most of three weeks before they were certain that things were settled enough, and that they would be able to find suitable camping spots. The only thing worse than sleeping in snow was sleeping in melted snow. Never going to happen, and it wasn’t like they had maps or anything to guide them. Arianna hadn’t said anything else after that either. Her contact was always an unknown, the totem doing as she pleased, as she had likely always done.
It had given them some time to better prepare though. More training, studying, and re-examining the gear that they had. A portion of the gear that Riddling had provided they had not used, nor would they need to, it either being essentially useless, or their magic able to do a better job, so it was just discarded. An indication that they had once been there, not that anyone would find it. That gave them more space, which was far short of what they would have liked, but of what they had had to leave behind, much could be refashioned. They were picking up other skills too, mostly by experimenting and trial and error, their magic perhaps being used in ways that no one had ever considered, but it was making their lives a little easier, and no one had said that magic could only be used in certain ways. Especially not the magic itself. It was always more than happy to be used.
Over the winter they’d also managed to work out what some of Soryen’s item did, in particular the compass, which pointed towards sources of fresh water. That had always been a concern, and at some level, still was, but with the compass it meant that, as long as there was something around, they’d be able to find it. Of course, they still planned to, and were, locating rivers and following them as much as possible. Doing so was just too useful to not do so, Callie liked to bathe and swim daily after all, and had managed to coax the others to do as well. It was just a matter of keeping Stella away from the water. She had started crawling, though she wasn’t that skilled at it yet. It was so adorable watching her move around, often following Felicia in her fox form, trying to grab her tail, and largely failing until Felicia took pity and let her grab it. And watching Felicia smile as she held their daughter meant so much. The emotions, the instincts, were just so strong.
But still, Stella’s progress was stunning. She’d be walking before they knew it. And talking too. And probably wondering why she couldn’t turn into a fox like one of her parents did. She was just so cute, Callie brimming with pride as she watched her play and develop. Weaning her off milk and Uriah’s blood was still a work in progress. She had more teeth now and was starting to eat some of the foods that they offered her – berries, cooked fish, and tender meat – and reject others that she didn’t seem to like, namely vegetables, no surprises there, but she had been more than a little stubborn in giving up what she’d been consuming for all her life thus far. All things in time, Callie guessed, and it wasn’t like they were going to deny her. They wanted her to grow up healthy and strong after all.
They had been travelling again for only a month, but the weather had really warmed up, spring entering its final third. It was pleasant and nice, the bite of winter completely gone. Leaving the city had been easy, they’d just followed the river that had flowed through it to its source, rather happy that it did lead them in the direction that they wanted, through a forest that lay at the base of some mountains that they had no desire to get any closer to and had only taken three days to clear, and into a grassland that seemed to stretch between mountain ranges, rivers criss-crossing its expanse. It was familiar, like what they had been walking through when they’d first arrived, but with more life present.
The big issue, of course, was the mountain range ahead of them, which Arianna’s direction was pointing straight through. Compared to the previous one, it was massive. But that really didn’t affect their options much. If they could easily locate a pass through it, and it wasn’t winter, then they’d take that. Otherwise, just like they had last time, they’d go around it. There was no way that they would try and climb over it. Even if they didn’t have Stella.
Callie smiled as she watched, proud as much as smitten with how adorable it looked. A giggling fox-girl riding on the back of a fox. Well, Vulphir actually, Stella riding on the back of her wife.
‘She’s fine,’ Felicia said as she made a little leap, Stella letting out a happy squeal. ‘She’s not going to fall off. She’s gripping rather painfully, and I’m using magic to keep her secure as well.’
“This was something that I never imagined that I’d see,” Uriah said with a laugh, lovingly looking at their daughter as he sat beside Callie, on one of the numerous boulders that littered the landscape. From an eruption at one point perhaps? The earthquakes were another option, but they looked a lot older than that.
“She’s going to get attached, and what happens when she outgrows you? At her current rate...”
‘Oh, that’s not an issue. I’ll just change size.’
“You can do that?” Callie looked at Felicia in surprise.
‘Of course. Not while she’s on me though. That’d freak her out. You do have the blessing of Nine-tails after all.’
“You do realise that she’s slowly been adjusting her size as it is, for Stella’s comfort,” Julia added as she stretched.
No she hadn’t, and not because she was momentarily distracted looking at Julia’s very toned body. She wasn’t wearing the cloak any more, as it was too warm for it, and all she had on her top half was the sports bra. She had abs, dammit. Uriah did too, and Callie kinda wished that he was topless at that moment as well, but alas he was a little more modest than her other wife. Some of the time anyway. They were rather comfortable around each other, Callie usually the first to fluster, to Julia’s amusement. Callie was somewhat toned herself as well, all this walking and training would do that, but in a feminine way, and not to the same level as the others. Uriah was Uriah, and Julia had her vampiric advantage, which was still getting stronger. Not that she was complaining. She liked her body, and Felicia was probably closer to her shape than the other two, but that was down to her own ideal.
“Whatever,” Callie huffed, tearing her eyes away. And then feeling a little guilty. Not at what she’d been looking at and thinking about, she’d happily go back to staring, but at what she hadn’t noticed. She was so good at picking up on some things, and other things just seemed to slip by. The rings, Felicia’s ability to change her size.
‘I think that you’re more perceptive than you give yourself credit for. You had a lot on your mind back then, and I’m surprised that Julia noticed to be honest, even with what she seems to pick up on. The changes have been very subtle.’
‘Thanks,’ Callie sent back quietly, Julia chuckling in the background.
“You’re too damn hot for your own good, Julia,” Callie retorted, sending her some rather intense feelings, before she let her magic flow around her. She had been meant to be trying something else, before everything else had distracted her.
Her magic flared, light purple lightning arcing around her in mesmerising patterns as the array formed. She hoped that she’d got it right. She’d only seen the charred remains of it after all.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit, Callie the Witch.”
“Felicia just said that,” Callie muttered as she looked around. She was back in her mindscape, a slightly reddish haze at the edges. The array had worked.
“The array is the easy part. It just allows for the connection. Establishing said connection is the harder part, and you just reached out and found me.”
“Oh.” She really didn’t have much to say to that. She’d just cast the array, with Arianna in mind, and it had worked.
“As I said, you don’t give yourself enough credit.” Arianna’s amusement was very clear. “Your child is growing fast too. She is certainly something.”
“Her name is Stella.” The totem deserved to know that, even if she hadn’t asked. She’d had some involvement after all. “Is her rapid growth an effect of this realm?” Callie added. She was curious about that. They all were.
“That... I do not know. Perhaps? She is a special child, irrespective.”
That was probably an understatement, but something that also didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Stella was their daughter, and they all loved her very much. Her nature could well make things interesting as she got older though, but they would always do their best for her.
Callie took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as she composed herself. She was a bit nervous. Arianna had been kind to them, and aided them a lot, but she’d never directly tried asking her for something. “Is there a safe way through the mountains, Arianna? Like a pass or something? Otherwise, it’s going to be a long walk around them.”
Images flashed around her. Of a stone city nestled in between the mountains, filled with life, towers reaching high as a river flowed by beneath. As much on them as in them, part of the surroundings while also separate, its architecture almost mesmerising. A city wracked by war, crumbling away as other things took hold, making it their home. Things indicative of what was to come. A scar that never healed.
“It was birthed for its potential, and that is what caused its fall. Our children... were not immune to conflicts, and in the end, the city belonged to no one, too poisoned by what they did. While time has passed, the pass remains easy to travel. The city, though, has just festered.” Arianna paused, more images flashing past, of the pass, and the land that lay outside of the mountains. “Perhaps it is the best route for you. Another haven lies in that direction, reachable before winter arrives again.”
The mindscape went silent, sadness flowing through it, pulling at Callie’s heart. Of things lost, never to be gained. Of mistakes made, and regrets. Of an age long past, and the scars that remain.
“Callie the Witch...”
“Hmm?” Callie wiped the tears from her eyes, focusing on the totem’s voice.
“Please, lay them to rest.”
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Oh...zombies or something might be coming up
Something that shouldn't be, that's for certain ^^