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”What a beautiful flower.” Selendil praised and ran a finger along the petal of the plant in question. She was using her senses to study the plant as well, trying to detect the presence of magic. It felt a little bit like the presence of void energy, but without the pervasive corruption.

“Isn’t it? Despite the fact that plants are not my forte, I have to admit that some of the magical plants are quite pleasing to the eye.” Dee replied. Both of them kept their eyes glued to the plant, which wasn’t really beautiful enough to really warrant such attention.

“And you’re saying that you can make a healing poultice from this, and the effects are…well, magical?” Selendil questioned, very studiously ignoring everything going on behind her.

“Indeed. A really skilled alchemist can brew this into a potion of healing. Such potions can cure most low-level injuries and even mend bones. They won't get rid of magical diseases or restore lost limbs though. You’ll need more powerful ingredients for those.” Dee explained patiently, just as blatantly keeping her eyes away from what was happening not that far from the two.

“Uh, master.” Nox tried to get their attention while looking at what the two were ignoring on purpose. “This is…”

“Nope. Nothing is happening in that direction. In fact, that direction doesn’t exist.” Selendil shut down that attempt really quickly.

“I think that if we combine our powers, we could actually make it so that that direction literally won't exist anymore," Dee commented. "I mean, it's just one direction. How badly could it mess things up if we got rid of one direction?"

“That’s not how space works.” Nox retorted, though her voice lacked heat. She could understand why the two were reacting like that.

“We could make space work that way if we tried hard enough.” Dee pointed out. “I’m sorely tempted to try at the moment.”

“Master, this is serious.” Nox said firmly. “Well, I mean it’s not serious in a certain sense, but it could have dangerous implications.”

Nox was quite tempted to follow the example of Selendil and Dee. Not far from her was something that boggled the mind in a way that made her feel a certain kind of existential tiredness that she hadn’t felt before. They were currently in the hydroponics of the Arkship, and they had brought out the mountain to take some of the magical plants to use in recruiting the Guardians. Dee had known there were risks involved in pulling the mountain out again, but she had not accounted for the presence of the Shinzen.

“Master, I’m quite sure that this means the mountain can communicate with the Shinzen.” Nox stated. The mountain didn’t speak. The only way it communicated was with images, concepts, and emotions. Coincidentally, that same method seemed to cross all language barriers and appeared to work really well with the Shinzen.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I can’t see any mountain or any Shinzen.” Selendil was quite satisfied with her state of denial.

“The crazy AI that is seeing things does have a point though. In theory, the mountain and the Shinzen would be able to communicate. And that could lead to unexpected results.” Dee was more used to the shenanigans of the mountain so while she too had given up entirely, she still managed to not be in complete denial.

“Look, master, the mountain has already introduced one new concept to Shinzen. What’s to stop it from introducing more? Something dangerous.” Nox finally got to the risks involved.

In front of her was the absurd sight of the mountain using the enormous apron it was wearing to throw the Shinzen into the air repeatedly, as if the Shinzen Queens were bouncing on a giant trampoline. It was quite clear the mountain had introduced the Shinzen to the concept of fun. Fun that didn’t involve murder or lessons that is. Exactly why Shinzen that were capable of flying through space were enjoying such innocent fun was another question absolutely no one was entertaining at the moment. “Who knows what else the mountain is going to teach them next?”

“Are you implying that my mountain is a bad influence on your murderpuppies?” Dee asked incredulously. She might have given up on the mountain, but that was a little absurd. It was still her mountain and she felt a little defensive about it.

Selendil’s shoulders slumped and she finally turned around to look at the fiasco being played out. “Why am I not surprised to see that Lilly has joined in on the fun?” She asked rhetorically. The Mrrroww female was grinning ear-to-ear as it experienced one of the most epic and absurd thrill rides of the universe.

“Isn’t that a little dangerous for someone as fragile as her?” Nox questioned after a moment.

“Nah. The mountain is actually using its own magic to make it safe.” Dee dismissed the concern.

“I suppose it’s a silly question to ask at this point, but the mountain is magical, yes?” Selendil asked in a defeated tone.

“Obviously. It’s a living mountain.” Dee replied in a voice that almost screamed the word ‘duh!’

“So how powerful is it and what can it do? Aside from making a magical attraction for kids and the childish.” Selendil questioned. On a certain level she wanted to try it out as well, purely to find out why it seemed to be such fun.

“I haven’t got a clue. I’ve never understood what the mountain can do. It’s really powerful though. I wouldn’t fight against it.” Dee shrugged.

“Wait. You’re not implying the mountain is as strong as you, are you?” Selendil got a lot more serious. Could a mountain be counted as a Nakshatra as well?

“Not exactly. However, as I said, I do not understand what it can do and some of its abilities defy all logic and common sense as you've no doubt noticed by now. I don't want to fight anything like that. Just because I'm stronger than something or someone, that doesn't mean I'll necessarily win." Dee explained. She was reminded of a particular Fairy Dragon that also defied all logic and rules.

“We’re straying from the original issue.” Nox pointed out.

“Yes, I was trying to ignore it on purpose. You know what? I think the mountain is good for the Shinzen. It might be the perfect person…being…thing, to teach them new concepts. I’m not sure if I should be the one to say this, but I’m not exactly what most would call a benevolent being.” Selendil stated with a dismissive gesture.

"Yeah, that goes for both of us," Dee muttered.

"Yes, well, I've gotten the impression that the mountain is…innocent in many ways. The same applies to the Shinzen. They also have this sort of genuine innocence at the heart of their race. I don't want to ruin that. It might be better if they learn from someone or something closer to them in nature. I just hope that some of the…well, the illogical features don’t transfer as well.” Selendil finished her thought.

“You know what? I think you might have a point.” Dee found herself agreeing. Mostly because it meant she didn’t have to deal with it. “And what’s the worst that could happen?”

“An entire race of rapidly breeding murderpuppies that defy all logic and reason?” Nox suggested helpfully.

“That was a rhetorical question. Why did you have to ruin things like that?” Dee asked with a sad voice.

“Incidentally, the Shinzen just informed me that we’ll be getting some more Queens joining us on our journey to other universes. So there’s that too.” Selendil decided to add on to the pile of absurdity.

“How’s the war with the Shaer going by the way?” Dee asked in an attempt to change the subject.

“Mediocre. It’s reached a sort of stalemate, though that alone means the Shinzen are winning. The longer the fight goes on, the better for them. It doesn’t matter. I have a plan to deal with the Shaer. Maybe it’s time to remind them of how powerful the Dhar used to be, and what kind of consequences there might be if they decide to get on my wrong side. If we can nudge them all into the camp that believes me and doesn’t want to piss me off, then the problem will largely solve itself. We don’t want the Shaer destroyed. We just want them not conquering this galaxy." Selendil revealed some of her machinations.

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Amaterasu watched with some pride as thousands of the best and brightest the Illum could offer were brought on board the Arkship. The Illum had already figured out that investing in Selendil was a good idea, as their previous empress had managed to bring many benefits back as rewards. All that was in addition to the personal benefits Amaterasu had accrued. She was now a much more powerful and skilled individual with a much better idea of how the universe worked. Personal growth was a large attractor to the Illum. In addition, they had quite a bit of reverence for the Dhar, and that had only increased since Selendil showed up. The reverence had turned more realistic instead of being something that relied on old myths and archived information, but that also made it more genuine. They would help Selendil just because Amaterasu asked them to, but the benefits certainly made it easier to get the best possible recruits.

It also helped that Amaterasu was the previous empress. She might have given up her position, but everyone knew that if she wanted something to happen, then the current empress would go to lengths to make it so. The Illum had not forgotten the part Amaterasu and Selendil played in helping to end the war with the Tetrarchy either. Amaterasu was considered a hero of her people even before she met Selendil, and that impression had only grown since. She had been the one to help the creation of the Illum in the first place, and she had led them to victory against their old masters. As far as reasons for creating personality cults went, it didn’t get much better than that. The only reason the number of Illum joining was in the thousands and not much higher was because Amaterasu had decided to bet on quality over quantity.

“You managed to round up quite a few people in a rather short time.” Nox said with an approving nod of her head.

"We would've needed even less time if Selendil would've warped us back instead of sending one of the other ships to pick us up," Amaterasu replied with a questioning tone. Since the Enduring Symphony was escorting Xiaoli, one of the other ships that were still controlled by Nox had been sent to fetch the Illum. “You never did explain why she did that by the way.”

“Well, believe it or not, even she has limits on how many things she can do at the same time. Much of her focus is on trying to adapt the jump drive for use on the Arkship, but the majority is tied with her plan to deal with the Shaer. It takes a lot to be in several places at once, even from her.” Nox explained.

“Wait. She’s in several places at the same time? As in literally and physically, not just metaphorically? She can do that?” Amaterasu asked with shock.

“She’s an energy being with almost endless power and the gathered knowledge of the most advanced race in the universe. She can do pretty much anything she sets her mind to. That said, she isn’t fond of splitting herself so to speak. It takes a lot of focus to deal with the deluge of information. She also said that it somehow makes her senses grow duller while she’s doing it. To give an example that she uses often, if she splits in three, if one of those three eats something, then it doesn’t taste as good as she’s only using a third of her sense of taste. So it’s not a long term solution to anything.” Nox had to rely on what Selendil told her since she didn’t have that problem.

“So do all these copies have all her power or are they weaker?” Amaterasu struggled with the implications while internally laughing at the example used. Of course it would be about food.

“Yes and no. All the copies are her, so they all have access to her power, but any power used by one copy is naturally unavailable to the other copies. Even though she’s drawing from an almost bottomless well, there are certain limitations.” Nox replied carefully. The whole thing was more complicated than that, but the others didn’t need to know the exact details.

“So what is her plan?” Amaterasu asked.

Nox tapped her chin a bit. “Hmm, it should be fine to tell you at this point. She’s borrowing some of the ships from the Dhar home galaxy in order to make a statement. The reason the Shaer are acting as they please is because they do not quite understand what they are up against. They don’t have the level of fear and respect they should have. Knowing a being has a huge amount of psionic power is impressive, but it's sort of abstract in the minds of many. If the Shaer psions tell their leaders that Selendil can single-handedly crush a fleet, the leaders will be impressed and all, but they will try to think of ways around her. In their minds, she can't be everywhere at once, right? Well, she had decided on another approach to make her point."

"Leaders might not understand the power of psions exactly, but they will understand the significance of enough ships," Amaterasu said in understanding.

“Exactly. So if the presence of a single psion is not enough to make the point, then what would happen if in every solar system the Shaer have ships in suddenly got visited by a number of ships ten times their own and much more advanced. All their systems at the same time mind you, so that there’ s no room to think it’s just a single fleet moving around rapidly.” Nox confirmed. “That’s also why she needs to be in several places at the same time. She’s synchronizing the arrival of all the ships and making sure all the fleets are protected from enemy psions. The Dhar ships have strong defenses against psionics, but with no Dhar psions on board, those defenses will eventually fail against strong enough enemy psions. Even though Haven and Clolarion can control the ships should a battle occur, they can’t provide anything on that front. The Dhar ships would still win, but there might be losses.”

“So every fleet has a tiny piece of Selendil along for a ride?” Amaterasu asked.

“Not all of them. That would be too many for her. However, all of the ships have warp beacons on board so she can arrive as soon as one of the ships is attacked. The Shaer don’t have so many powerful psions that it would warrant her presence on every fleet. She’s only needed against the most powerful enemies and that’s only if it turns into a battle in the first place. However, she needs to be prepared to move to however many places she’s needed on a moment’s notice.” Nox corrected Amaterasu. “The whole thing is meant to be a show of force, not an all-out war. She’ll also make it clear that Haven can just bring the fleet back as many times as it’s needed if the Shaer can’t take the hint.”

“Well, that explains why she’s busy. How did the others do with their recruitment?” Amaterasu changed the subject.

“Xiaoli is still on it, though it seems to be going quite well for her. Not as well as for you, but she can’t just move an entire race with a single command.” Nox had a teasing grin on her face. “Lilly actually did even better than you with the Guardians. We actually had to convince the leaders of their people to not bring their entire species on board. Apparently the magical plants were a bit too effective as a recruitment tool. It seems those plants hit on some sort of sacred tenet of their faith. Some sort of creation myth or something. I’m not entirely sure of the details; partly because neither are they and the Guardians aren’t exactly known for being a species that shares their secrets easily. Oral tradition and all that. Dee speculated it's more about some old legends. It would seem the other universes have magical species similar to the Guardians, but…." Nox simply shrugged at that.

“So the Guardians aren’t magical?” Amaterasu confirmed.

“As far as we can tell, no. The universe has done an effective job of removing any traces of mana. That said, it’s not impossible for some sort of accident to have happened at some point that resulted in the birth of their species. Or it could just be myth and legend. It’s hard to say for certain.” Nox speculated. She had her own theory and guesses but she kept them to herself.

“What about Khaem and Nochehuatl? I heard they went out as well.” Amaterasu directed her people towards their quarters while she spoke. One of the benefits of arriving early was that you got first pick on where you wanted to live.

“No word of Khaem so far. Unsurprising. Nochehuatl sent a message that their people are still debating the merits. They aren't so much interested in what they can gain, but they desire peaceful surroundings. They are scientists and creators at heart. They just want to be left alone to do their thing. On one hand, they would get to see and experience many new things to study and inspire them if they came along. On the other hand, the whole trip might be far from peaceful. It might not be peaceful if they stayed either, but…" Nox gave another shrug. It was such a useful gesture.

“Fair enough. I hope some of them do decide to join. I like Nochehuatl. More of his kind would be nice.” Amaterasu said thoughtfully. “So how long until we actually leave?”

“Unofficially once the Shaer get the message and everyone returns. Officially in a month. That one can of course change, but it’s what we’re aiming for.” Nox relayed Selendil’s decision.