Amy shifted nervously, letting in Administrator after Administrator as they requested access to her planes. It was finally time for the faction wide meeting she had called to discuss the impending war, and she couldn’t help but worry about how it would go.

After much discussion with Jerry and the rest of their “inner circle”, a group which would soon be expanded to include the adults that had been touched by the eldritch, they had decided that it would be too risky to divulge the full extent of what was happening to the faction at large. Amy would like to believe that it was an unnecessary precaution, but…just hoping for something wasn’t enough, not when the consequence for being wrong was the total eradication of their faction.

Yes, almost every single Administrator in the faction had been handpicked for their integrity, but as some of Amy’s gods could attest to, time had a way of changing people. And, if even one Administrator leaked this information, they would lose their head start, and their chances of winning the war would decrease dramatically.

So, they had instead chosen to go with something close enough to the truth that the faction could make preparations, but far enough from it that no important information would leak in the event there was a traitor in their midst. And, since it didn’t really matter to the average Administrator that the eldritch was involved, they had chosen to leave that aspect of the story out of it altogether.

Their cover was that they had received information from one of the newer neutral Administrators that had prompted them to go on an investigation. From this investigation, they had drawn the conclusion that there was a high chance that the other factions were gearing up for something big.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence in the grand scheme of things, with a scare popping up once every millennium or so, so it wouldn’t set off alarms for any of the other factions. They might become warier themselves if they catch wind of it, but Amy doubted it would be to a significant enough level that it would matter in the grand scheme of things.

It rubbed her the wrong way, lying to her faction members like this, but that was the unfortunate nature of their situation. Until she could be absolutely and completely sure that no info would leak to the other factions, she couldn’t afford to put out information that could potentially compromise their position.

As the last of the Administrators filed in, Amy took a deep breath and walked over to a microphone. She launched into her prepared speech for the event, carefully surveying the assembled Administrators as she did. None of their reactions seemed to be out of the ordinary, there was the usual concern and even a couple looks of boredom, but nothing that would worry Amy.

As usual, once she finished talking, she opened up the floor to questions and answered those she could, and the whole thing wrapped up within an hour or so. After it ended, she waited for almost everyone to leave, then met up with Jerry and Kali. “So, did you two see anything?" She asked.

“All’s quiet.” Jerry said. “As far as I can tell, everyone seems to think it’s just a regular alert.”

“Same.” Kali said. “But…do you really think we might have a traitor in our midst?”

“We can’t discount the possibility.” Jerry said gravely. “Not when so much is at stake. I know it seems harsh, but that’s the reality of war.”

“I understand, I was just…surprised.” Kali said. “I’ll still need time to get used to this way of thinking.”

“It’s perfectly fine.” Amy said. “It’s distasteful, and I hate it too. You don’t need to get used to it, just…tolerate it. Hopefully we’ll be through this war in a couple thousand years, but…until then we’ll have to put up with it. So, hang in there, all right?”

Kali nodded. “Yeah. I’ll try.”

“Good.” Jerry said. “Now, we’ve kept you from your wives for too long, go get some rest, okay?”

“And I’ve kept you from your research.” Amy said. “Let’s call it a day here and we’ll meet again soon, okay?”

“Sounds good to me.” Kali said. “See you later.”

And so, a few months passed. Lilith learned about common pitfalls Administrators experienced, accumulated knowledge on the basics of plane manipulation, and, most importantly, got hands on experience with small-scale versions of the plane manipulation techniques she was taught.

Over that period of training, things went both better and worse than Lilith had hoped. On the one hand, Levia had integrated with her new life better than Lilith had expected, and everyone else quickly grew to love her. Furthermore, they had figured out how to make it so people only needed a one-time sum of Worship for free travel to their planes, and had successfully gotten those from the other planes to come and hang out more.

But, on the other hand, her relationship with Amelia had sort of stalled. Amelia hadn’t gotten more hostile, but she also hadn’t gotten any friendlier either.

Lilith tried using the techniques that Lia and Rose had told her, but that didn’t really lead anywhere. She could get some good conversations going, but outside of those conversations Amelia was the same as she always was. Still, Lilith wasn’t discouraged; after further discussion with Lia, Rose, and Connie, Lilith had come to the conclusion that it currently wasn’t a great time for bonding with Amelia. Amelia wasn’t very happy with being brought over every day for lessons on stuff she either already knew or wasn’t interested in, and that resulted in her being rather grouchy and not in the mood to make friends.

By the estimation of Amelia’s wives, though, her mood would probably take a turn for the better once they started actually applying the stuff they had learnt. She was apparently significantly easier to talk to when she was in a good mood, and Amelia had told them she was looking forward to getting near-total freedom during the system creation process, so Lilith was cautiously optimistic.

But that would have to wait; a few days ago they had finished up the book learning and small-scale experiments that Jerry had assigned them, and Jerry had called for a short break while she worked on something with Pandora. Lilith and the other Parallels were burning with curiosity, but Pandora had elected to detach herself from the near-constant sensory link the others were in for the duration of those few days, and didn’t share her memories, either.

Lilith had been surprised at how fast Jerry and Pandora had bonded; nowadays it seemed like, outside of lesson time, the two were together for at least half of the day, working on some problem or another. What they were working on varied from day to day, but broadly fit into one of three categories: Pandora attempting to chart out eldritch constructs in a way that was sort of almost understandable to people who couldn’t see them, further exploring some of the discoveries Amelia had made, or working on long-unsolved problems and equations that Jerry knew of.

Whatever they were doing, though, they seemed to find the work fulfilling, and having a partner seemed to help speed up the process. According to Pandora, they were simply making the most of the fact that the two of them were in the same location anyway to do some work together, and once Jerry wasn’t coming over every day, she would return to working alone.

The whole experience was disorienting in a way that none of the other Parallels had been; while Lilith received the knowledge that Pandora had, and even received the feeling of having made those strides, she also felt like the more she saw of the process, the more she was sure she couldn’t do it. It was just strange, feeling like she had no way of doing something while simultaneously doing that thing.

And it wasn’t because Pandora was inherently smarter than her or anything, Lilith and the Parallels shared all their knowledge so each of them was theoretically just as smart as any of the others, but that Lilith simply didn’t think in the ways that were required for that sort of work. Setting the enjoyment of the work aside, Pandora made logical leaps and guesses that would take Lilith significantly longer to stumble across.

Lilith supposed that, in a way, that could be called being more intelligent, but it was only limited to this one specific topic; if the subject was, say, computing, then Mae or Nuwa would be significantly more adept, while Lilith and Eve beat all three of them in social situations. Regardless, Lilith was exceedingly glad that they had chosen to make Pandora, because she was sure they would be significantly farther behind in their understanding of the universe had they not.

And, apparently, she and Jerry had made some big breakthrough or something, and it had turned into something of a production. From the bits she had managed to pry from Pandora, it seemed that Jerry had invited all of the Administrators from their faction to attend a presentation she was holding on Amy’s planes.

Not hosting it on Jerry’s own planes had sounded weird to Lilith, but apparently it was simply a matter of convenience; Amy had infrastructure to handle so many Administrators coming and going, and had become the de-facto meeting place for any sizable gathering of Administrators from their faction.

This presentation was to be held in a couple of hours, so Lilith was currently on her way to talk with Kali about etiquette and other things she might need to know about travel to other universes. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to find Kali, who was currently relaxing in one of the living rooms.

“Oh, Lilith, good to see you.” Kali said, looking up from the book she was reading. “Are you ready to go?”

“Sort of, but I had a few questions.” Lilith said. “Like…is there anything I should know about going to other universes?”

Kali shrugged. “It should mostly be pretty straightforward, I think?” She said. “If you’re worried about being rude, we treat it the same as we would going to someone else’s house. I plan to be with you and Eve most of the time, so don’t worry about making a faux pas, just be yourself and it’ll work out.”

“And…about the process itself, how does that go?”

“Think of it like teleporting.” Kali suggested. “I mean, it is teleportation, but in terms of how you actually do it the process is really similar. If you make a mistake the spell will just fizzle, so that won’t be a problem, either.

“The only thing I might want to warn you about is that most people experience moderate discomfort their first few times in other universes, but it should go away after a you’ve traveled for long enough. It won’t be debilitating or anything, though, so just keep a stiff upper lip and you’ll be fine. It’s kind of like…like you’re suddenly put into an environment with much greater pressure than you’re used to, like you went to the bottom of the sea”

“Would you mind teaching me a bit now? I’d like to practice before we do the real thing.”

“Sure.” Kali said, conjuring a bookmark and sliding it into her book before placing it down. “So, first you start with a basic teleportation circle…”

Lilith braced herself as the teleportation went off, preparing for the uncomfortable feeling Kali had described earlier. Yet, to her surprise, it didn’t come, at least not in the severity she had been expecting. It was little more than a minor annoyance, and even that went away after only a few seconds.

“How are you feeling?” Kali asked worriedly, looking Lilith up and down. “It’s not too overwhelming, right?”

Lilith shook her head. “I felt funny for a couple of moments, but I feel perfectly normal now.” She said, reaching out a hand and experimentally casting a small spell. “Yup, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“I thought that might be the case.” Jerry said, walking over to the two of them. “Pandora reported similar feelings, and we believe it to be due to the nature of Perfect Chimeras. They’re significantly more adaptable than either of us had expected, and we’ve got a couple of suspicions we’re looking into in the moment, but we’re not going to say anything until we’re sure we’re not just seeing things that aren’t there.”

“Aunt Kali, Aunt Lilith!” Amara, Maven’s distant grandmother and one of Kali’s less distant nieces, exclaimed, rushing over to them. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Ah, Amara, perfect timing.” Jerry said. “Do you mind if I give Lilith some of your Mana?”

“Huh? Why?”

“For a little test. Don’t worry, Pandora and I have made sure it’s safe.”

“If you say so.” Amara said, turning to Lilith. “Are you okay with this?”

“If Pandora and Jerry say it’s safe, then I have no issues with it.” Lilith replied.

Jerry gave a nod, then laid a hand on Amara’s arm. She held it there for a moment, then brought the hand over to Lilith and placed it on one of her arms. A strange, unfamiliar warmth flowed from Jerry’s fingertips, spreading throughout Lilith’s body before dying down after only a second or so.”

“It’s as we thought.” Jerry said, eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Fascinating.”

“What is?” Lilith asked.”

“Do me a favor and check your status.” Jerry said enigmatically.

Lilith tried, but she felt an odd resistance, and the status refused to pop up. “It’s not appearing.” She said.

“Use a tiny bit of Worship.” Kali suggested “We’re in another universe, remember? Our system doesn’t reach this far so we have to use Worship to access it.”

“Right.” Lilith said. She reached into her reserves of Worship, but before she could do anything she felt a sort of…snapping, and a window appeared in front of her.

“What in the world…” Lilith breathed. “What is this?”

“Jerry, what are you doing?!” Amy asked, appearing out of nowhere. “My system started setting off alarms, and…” she trailed off, looking at the window in front of Lilith. “Why? How?”

“I gave Lilith some of Amara’s Mana and asked her to open her status.” Jerry said calmly. “It would appear she has gained the ability to access your system. Don’t worry about the alarms, Pandora and I did it with my systems and it’s perfectly safe.”

“What?” Amara said. “That’s not…huh?”

Amy sighed, reaching a hand up and pinching the bridge of her nose. Her slime visibly distorted, then snapped back to its original shape the moment she stopped pinching. “Lilith, if you’re wondering, this is the screen people in my universe see when they look at their status, and it’s very broken. It’s trying to read the data from your soul, and it’s not directly compatible; it’s a miracle it’s as legible as it is.”

Amy rounded on Jerry, grabbing one of her pointy ears and beginning to tug her away. “You’re coming with me, missy.” She said. “Stop messing with things and let these folks have their family reunion.”

“Uh, right, as I was saying, it’s really good to see you two!” Amara said. “How have you been?”

“It’s been hectic.” Kali said. “You know how it is, what with…everything. I’ve had to start making preparations to change my system again as well as work on integrating a new plane, so I’ve been busier than usual.”

Amara nodded. “Yeah, we’ve been busy too. It’s been a long time since any of us have had to deal with anything on this scale, so we’ve been working hard getting everything back up to snuff.”

“Tell me about it.” Kali said. “How are things with Paumen?”

“Going great.” Amara said. “Taru’s continued to do a fine job as king, and the people are happier than ever. Recently, he’s been working on easing democratic systems into the government, much to the horror of his father.”

“High time someone did it.” Kali snorted.

“He decided to strike while the iron was still hot, so to speak. He figured that if the matriarchal system was changing, then it would be a good time to sneak some other progressive stuff in. Though, I won’t lie, Maven, Tess, and Ellie have not been insignificant elements in these changes; Tess and Ellie in particular have brought an outside perspective to him and helped him realize that democracy can work, even in a society with unaging people.”

“Come to think of it, where are they?” Lilith asked. “I figured Maven would be around too if you were, but I haven’t seen her or her wives.”

“Some stuff came up on Mael and they had to go deal with it, but they should be getting here any moment now.”

“Anything concerning?” Kali asked. “We can help if you need.”

“Just monsters bunching up near some unprepared cities.” Maven said, walking up from behind Amara. “Mael is still lagging behind militarily and every so often we’ll catch wind of some potentially catastrophic monster spawns and have to go deal with it. Fortunately, there are three of us and the monsters that spawn on Mael are nowhere near strong enough to challenge even one of us, so we can split up.”

“Good work out there.” Kali said. “How are things?”

“Overall going well, though the gods and Appointed have been much busier since we’re preparing to shift the gears into subtly preparing people ready for war.”

“If I can help with anything, let me know.” Kali said. “I’m more than happy to help.”

“Aunt Kali, I’m sure you’re even busier than we are.” Maven said, smiling slightly. “We can handle things, don’t worry. Anyway, do you two know what we’re here for?”

“No idea.” Lilith said. “Pandora’s been pretty secretive about it, so we just know it’s something big.”

“Well, the wives want me to save some seats for us, would you like to come?” Maven asked. “I’m sure they’d love to sit next to you instead of some strangers.”

“Of course!” Kali said. “Lead the way!”

Fighterman481

So, interestingly enough, the second half of this chapter was actually the very first part of Administrator's Assistant I wrote, months and months ago, before I even wrote the wedding scene in The New Chimera. Since it was so old, it had to be reworked significantly. If you're curious, here are some of the highlights:

-Amara and Lilith had not yet met. This, of course, would probably have been a plot hole either way, since there's no world in which Amara did not attend Kali's wedding.

-Lilith was unaware that Kali was a member of a royal family on Amy's planes. Admittedly, the fact that she is isn't explicitly stated in the current version, and is likely new to anyone who has only read The New Chimera (since I don't think it's come up), but this felt like something Lilith should know by now.

-Pandora did not exist. Back then, Administrator's Assistant was going to be even more laid-back than it is now, with no real driving force or backing plot other than curiosity. That just didn't work (and was part of the reason I was blocked on this for so long until I decided where I wanted to go with this), and I'm significantly happier with the current pacing.

-Jerry was still a guy. Since there was no impetus for Jerry to go into survival mode, there was no reason for him to officially switch sexes, not until the swarm had truly taken over everything.

-Maven was not married to Tess and Ellie. I wasn't quite sure where I was taking her in the future, and I like her arc I currently have planned much more than her just sort of...third wheeling Tess and Ellie.

Anyway, that's all I really have to say about this chapter, next time we're going to see what Jerry and Pandora have been cooking, so look forward to it!

And, as always, thanks for reading!