Chương 1103: Day One Thousand One Hundred And One

Dear Diary, I don't know if I'm growing up, healing, or most likely both, but I'm definitely doing something. I can tell, because as of yet I have not spoken with Skuld or any of the other Deities of Fate. And by 'speak', I actually mean speak, as in two way conversation, not some kind of fucked up guessing game where I ask question and they blink for yes or no using the one remaining eyeball that's sticking out of their left nostril. Wait, nostrils can't blink. They'd just, y'know, stare.

Which makes me wonder if Morrigan is actually blinking or trying to breathe or some shit like that. At any rate yeah, I'm definitely in a better place than I was when The Morrigan ashed Ria, because Lucas and Aisling both nearly dying on my eleventh hundredth day here and now did not leave me any less pissed off. I'm furious, but I recognize both my own part in the near tragedy that accompanied the existing tragedy of Bonnie losing her baby.

I also realize that there is no clear and present danger, not from that direction, not for another ninety-nine days, which means the priority right now is taking care of my friend. Weird. I remember some of the old heads reacting like this, and I remember thinking that they must be jaded, or uncaring, or some other variation on too old and tired and beat up to give a fuck. I think I'm just now getting that they weren't any of those things. Okay, maybe some of them were. Maybe all of them were.

But I choose to believe that at least some of them had their heads on straight, trauma or no trauma. So when fucked up shit went down, they weren't letting their rage drive their actions. Oh, it was fuel in the tank for sure, high octane righteous fury, but while Vengeance is a thing that I am known for, sometimes there's more important things to do. Speaking of, the moment Aisling lost consciousness, I turned to the two Maenads facing down Menace.

"She's safe now. How's Lucas?" That got them both to simultaneously glance away from Isnomi. I hid any amusement at how they'd both taken the opportunity to look away, since they'd been acting way too coordinated for them to make that kind of bodyguarding mistake. The third Maenad uncurled from where she'd wrapped herself around Lucas, looked down at him, then back up to me.

"Alive. Healing?" I stepped over, realizing that if the Maenad sisters had looked away, they no longer considered Aisling or I a threat. I'm pretty sure they realized that Menace was a threat, but that they had zero chance of doing shit about it if she put her mind to it. I reached toward Lucas, but halfway there met the Maenad's gaze and said, "may I?" She just nodded and held him out. I winced at the blood leaking from his eyes, his nose, and his lips, but I tagged him with a Stabilize, then thought, Siobhan?

Then she was there, next to me.

"Allow me, please." She handed me Aoibh and got to work Shaping. I carried the sleeping infant and our tiny teen Aisling over to where Bonnie laid on the bed, groans interspersed with her sobs.

"Hey, Bonnie." Larry sat down on her far side with a thump.

"I... Why?" I realized that he was looking at me. Asking me. Looking for an explanation why both of us were standing there coated in a spray of what had been a growing kid not long ago. I shook my head, no explanation coming to me. Then Saffron was there.

"I have an answer, if that would help." Larry bristled, then slumped, pulling Bonnie's head into his lap to stroke her hair while she wept. After a moment, she stiffened, something interrupting her sorrow. Then again, that's kind of been who Bonnie has been; life dumps tragedy on her, and she gets back up and moves forward.

"Tell me." Saffron nodded, then asked, "did the two of you utilize any form of fertility Blessing during the conception?" Bonnie shook her head.

"We'd not needed one the first time." After a single choked off sob, she added, "nor this time."

"That ought to be the solution then." When Bonnie looked some combination of confused and mulish, Saffron sighed and said, "I've been doing some research on Hybrid genetics." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"Hybrid what?" Larry blurted out.

"Genetics. It is the study of... Well, husbandry, for lack of a better term. Breeding."

"I think we have that part down," snarked Bonnie, before another sob snuck its way out. Saffron jerked her head from side to side in negation.

"Not conception. Genes are the fundamental building blocks of life, those that determine which traits a Child inherits from each parent. They're contained in man's seed and a woman's womb." Not gonna tell them about eggs? Please. I have some class. Also, Bonnie's Bag. I'd planned on dangling that over Karen if she got too full of herself. I heard that, you realize? Karen interjected. At any rate...

"In my research I have discovered that there are combinations of genes that... Do not work."

"They seemed to be working." Bonnie's snark was gone, and I realized she was very carefully not looking over to where Siobhan was Shaping Heals into Lucas. Saffron nodded.

"Yes, but that's because without a Blessing, it takes a woman's womb some time to determine whether the quickened seed is viable. Which," here Saffron paused, sighing.

"your most recent pregnancy was not." Larry, a bit of grief simmering into anger, said, "but we got the Commander's Blessing!" Saffron shook her head.

"That was long after the conception, Laurence. I've spoken with Tallulah Crow about this; she's... Very familiar with Bonnie's current condition." Bonnie looked up, "really? When was her last loss?"

"A few months ago."

"Wait... But she..." The adrenaline crash chose that moment to hit me. I slumped, hugging both little ones to me.

"Yeah..." Okay, maybe it wasn't just the adrenaline. My eyes stung, and then Bonnie had her arms around me, both of us weeping. Not sobbing, barely crying, but too overwhelmed to speak. Saffron and Larry both leaned in to the group hug, and a few moments later Siobhan delivered a not entirely uncranky Lucas to us. Something about that broke the spell, and the four of us started in on some barely not weepy cooing over the three little ones.

Even if I'd recently become aware Aisling wasn't anywhere near as young as she seemed. Then again, it's possible it was the miles, not the years. Eventually I looked at Bonnie, then Larry, and said, "I'm sorry there wasn't anything I could do." After a few moments Saffron quietly said, "but going forward, there is." When the two of them looked at her, she said, "conception Blessings proactively select for viable genetic combinations."

Larry and Bonnie shared a look, and when she nodded, he turned to Saffron and said, "how much?" She just chuckled.

"For our Goddess' Champion and his Wife? Not to mention two of our dearest friends? Free of charge, of course." That's when Larry shook his head and asked, "what does the Temple normally charge?" Karen? A moment later Karen arrived and said, "normally the Temple bases any such services on donations. That lets us tailor the price to the person's ability to pay." Larry's smile might have looked grim, but I sensed something behind it that made me prouder than I had been since he stood up to his dad.

"No longer."

"Excuse me?"

"If someone is so desperate to conceive that they come to the Temple for such things? They ought save whatever resources they have to see to the mother's health and the Child's upbringing. Lancaster House will cover any such costs going forward." I half expected Bonnie to do her accountant thing, but she just squeezed his hand and nodded. Karen looked at me, and I nodded.

"Well then. I certainly can't argue with such generosity. Thank you, Champion." That's when Larry winced, looked at me and said, "Strange. For most of my life I sought out such a Title, and yet now that I have it I see why you eschew it whenever possible."

"Thanks, Larry."

"Think nothing of it, Commander." At that point one of the Maenads cleared her throat. When I looked over at her, she glanced down at Aisling, who'd woken up, but stayed so quiet and still that I hadn't realized.

"Yeah. She's normally really quiet. She just doesn't handle stress or surprises well." The Gorgon Maenad, because I can't think of anyone else who would be in Bonnie and Larry's bedroom but one of those three sisters, shot me and Aisling both all the side eye. That's when Menace clambered up onto the bed, put her arms around Aisling, and said, sans lisp, "she is my baby sister and I love her very much." While growling at a fuckin' Gorgon. Who, very sensibly, backed down. We took everybody home with us.

Lucas, Larry, Bonnie, and all three Gorgon sisters. We hit the showers before anything else and got ourselves scrubbed up, then soaked in the Bath until everybody fell asleep. Kinda melancholy, but Sarah, Alexandra, D, and Venus joined us, the former two attending to the latter two like a nanny and a caregiver. Dreamt of my ladies surrounding Bonnie and Larry, who waltzed across my Maw, weeping and smiling in equal measure. Today everybody came along to the Temple as well.

I got my teach on; Aisling has her digits down, and she's picking up basic operations pretty well. She's got the concepts for addition, subtraction, and multiplication down, at least, even if she hasn't gotten all the single digit permutations memorized yet. Division she's still iffy on, but she'll get there.

Meanwhile Karen spent the day with Bonnie and Larry, first showing them how they made that henna stuff for the fertility Blessings, then showing both of them how to feed it Mana to empower it, as well as the sigil currently in use. Which I only just now realized has a whole assed tentacle penetration theme to it. Live and learn. Grieve, and move on. Because until and unless life is over, that's what you do.