Chương 1159: Day One Thousand One Hundred And Fifty-Seven

Dear Diary, Yeah, definitely understanding that whole 'never rains but it pours' thing the old heads used to spout. Also, the 'it's a small world' one. Because I really did not expect that the Fae daughter I rescued on New Year's Day and later adopted to wind up being the daughter of the nemesis of the mother of the Fae daughter I rescued from her own mother and later adopted.

That's some wild ass coincidental shit right there, the kind of thing that lets me know that the Moirai have, without a doubt, fully returned to their old crack habit, and are smoking wet and dropping acid and mollies along with it. Okay, honestly it's not pouring, not compared to some of the days, weeks, even months I've had here and now. If anything, it's pretty chill.

Which makes me nervous, for reasons I shall not expand upon, because Murphy is like John Wick, you do not want to give him a shit eating grin while fornicating with his dog, and some phrases are just irresistible aphrodisiacs for that horny little pooch. Yes, that is something I don't think is really appropriate as a thing in the Doctrine, but now that I think about it, I definitely need to pass that information on to my Cadets.

Specifically, Murphy is the Ultimate Primordial, and screwing his pooch is a surefire way to piss him off. So do not screw the pooch, and do not taunt Murphy. Of course, even the 'it's a small world' bits aren't as wacky as they seem on the surface; the only bit of it that seems weird is that Aisling wound up where she did. Which, again, makes me more than a little suspicious, but fuck if I'm gonna blame a kid for that kind of shit. But looked at in individual pieces it makes a little more sense.

I saved Ria, adopted her, and wound up partnered with Tallulah because of that. This Leanan bitch apparently has it out for Tallulah, although I'm not sure if that's, like, her whole reason for being, if it's a hobby between her professional child abuse work, or it's incidental and accidental, like she and Tallulah just happen to have the same taste in men or some shit like that. No, seriously, Tallulah seems kinda picky.

Yeah, I know, she picked me, but when my shitty self image isn't screwing with my head, I'm a literal Elder Primordial, Love Goddess, and the most powerful military force in Atlantis. If all she's looking for is baby batter, I'm not a horrible choice, I guess. I also tend to respond to threats to my Children with new and exciting War Crimes, so any kid we have is going to have that protecting them as well. From Tallulah's story about her nemesis, Leanan came up through the same Court as Tallulah herself.

Shit, she was the 'so much better than you' older cousin Tallulah got compared to as a kid. Which means they know a lot of the same guys. I'm pretty sure at least half of the rich and powerful scions in Phileo wind up at the Academy at some point; stands to reason that the creme de la creme of eligible Fae bachelors wound up cycling through The Morrigan's court. At any rate, as far as I know Leanan got left behind by The Morrigan when she came over looking for trouble.

That might mean she's not a big enough gun to bring along, but being Tallulah's childhood rival makes me think that's not the case. Which means she's a big gun The Morrigan either trusted to leave behind, or was too loose to bring along on a voyage where there was at least one fuckin' Bane Sidhe on each ship. Loose cannon. Really. That's what I meant. I'm not being catty about my long tall Sidhe Lady's nemesis or anything.

The final thought is one that does not leave me copacetic, which is that The Morrigan did in fact bring Leanan along, and she's been fucking with us ever since. Yeah, definitely need to figure that shit out as soon as possible. No, I am not saying 'sooner than possible' ever again after what happened to Jackville. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Okay, maybe if I'm a position where I need a completely uncontrollable WMD.

Other than myself. So yesterday I spent the day in class, researching Global Spells. Aisling came with me, kinda clinging to me like she hasn't done for a bit now. I asked her what was wrong, but she just shook her head and burrowed, so I let her stay. Fed her some of the tempura veggies Marie brought me at lunch. Okay, Marie brought me a whole assed sushi boat and tempura platter, but Aisling wrinkled her nose at everything except the tempura veggies and the vegetarian roll.

Got home, spent dinner making sure everybody got enough to eat, because Marie had gone full steakhouse. Like, Japanese-American steakhouse, really, what with the steaks having fried rice on the side, and sushi with tempura as appetizer. She didn't do miso soup, but the eggy onion broth she paired it with wasn't a bad substitute. As we headed up the Bore to the Bath, Aisling tugged on my sleeve.

"... Mama..." I stepped into the hallway to the bedrooms, letting everyone else go past while I squatted down to talk to her.

"What's up Aisling?"

"... Shaping?..." I blinked.

"Yeah, I study Shaping on Mondays. Did... Did you want some lessons?" She shook her head, then shrugged.

"... Maybe?..." I stepped us both up to my office, because sometimes it seemed almost like the privacy let her speak up a bit. I sat her on the edge of my desk, then sat on my chair, which put our eyes just about level. Okay, she had a couple inches on me, but it's not like I was gonna wind up intimidated by a kid outmassed by my thigh, no matter how epic her tantrums could be. Okay, that wasn't fair. Panic attacks aren't tantrums. But I'm sure she could throw a serious one if she tried.

"Okay, kiddo. What's up? Did you recognize what I was looking at today?" She nodded.

"Huh." I'd been specifically looking at a kind of standing Divination, the part of a Global Spell that more or less watches for someone to call for it. In some ways it's the most important part of making a Global Spell, and while I'm pretty sure Saffron's System Spell had a whole assed suite of Shapes available, I kinda wanted to do my own before using hers.

Not like I was gonna screw up her System by forcing my own shit on it, but I figured I'd learn how to do it, then check hers out, and if hers didn't do what I wanted it to, I'd talk to her about adding mine.

"Where'd you see that?" She winced. Winced and maybe even keened a little. Nothing damaging, but definitely unsettling. Which gave me all I needed to guess.

"Your, uh, old 'mama'?" Her keening changed pitch, and she shook her head. Then she stuck out her lip in what would have been an adorable pout if she wasn't liquefying the wax in my ears. Then she nodded, and the keening went away a little.

"Okay then. I'm not mad at you." Far from it, but it did maybe tell me something.

"Y'know, we've got three Archmagi here at the Homestead. Any of them could teach you Shaping. Or I could try. Or heck, even Maze or Ria could give you pointers." She paused, the keening going away as she pondered. Then she shook her head and held out her arms.

"Okay," I said, scooping her up.

"Let me know if you change your mind. Or let one of the other mamas know." I paused for a second, then decided to play it safe.

"I'd really like if you'd let us know if you decide to ask Ria or Maze though. They're still learning themselves. Okay?" She nodded.

"Ready to hit the Bath?"

"... Yes..." She sounded almost excited. Then again, the moment we arrived, the quartet of musical kits swooped in and absconded with her the moment I'd finished scrubbing her down in the shower.

"What was that about, love?" Saffron asked when I slipped in next to the rest of the moms. I shook my head, then silently thought, I think we may have an issue where Tallulah's nemesis is involved. Why's that? asked the woman herself. I was looking specifically at Shapes that trigger when a name is mentioned. Aisling recognized them. Her mother used them. While Tallulah absolutely got a booger look at that, Saffron just smiled, nodded, and said, "good to know."

After soaking away the aches of the day, we all trundled down to the bedroom, where I dreamt of my ladies watching reruns of their Maw dives on the wide screen. I hadn't really seen them from the outside, but I gotta say, Furtim Cauda definitely has some scary good diving form. Also, while Siobhan loves her some tentacle play and plummeting, she doesn't so much dive as flail helplessly. Today I started teaching the Camden Yards Cadets about Murphy.

Okay, not so much 'teaching' as 'reminding' They are from Camden Yards, after all. They absolutely know that shit goes sideways at the worst possible time. Near the end of the day, Orla showed up again.

"Champion?" I nodded.

"Something new come up?" She shrugged.

"The prisoners are awake and want to speak with you."