***The World***

***Celes***

“I want the mountain range in the north-east of Midhold,” Angrod requests out of the blue at the large, round dining table. It took a week, but finally, his parents had returned from their trip.

Odlef and his group stayed strangely silent in response to the prince’s threat.

Ireth puts down her fork, ignoring the delicious steak on her plate. “Why would you need a mountain?”

“And a workforce, sworn to secrecy. Preferably people with military experience. In fact, it might be prudent to commandeer a fourth of the city’s northern casern's personnel to get things going,” he adds quickly. “I don’t want to waste any time with establishing a command structure.”

Nicol clears his throat. “You are a child. Why would you need control over a few hundred government employees?”

“I want to set up my own research institute. I’ve done some research and found out that the mountain is an old volcano. The geological data says that there are many metals like iron inside the volcanic rock,” he explains. “The facility I’ve in mind will make use of the fact that there are already many of the necessary raw materials locally available.”

“Haven’t we already ensured that your miraculous knowledge is spread through the Cygnus family?” Arthur joins in. “A second way of spreading technology feels unnecessary.”

“That's true, but there is knowledge which I don't want to distribute to the public. I trust Cygnus, but I would feel much better if I could keep some of the things which I want to create in my own hands. The latest design for a new power plant belongs to that category.” Angrod waves his hand. “Apart from that, the Meltheims’ open hostility makes me wish that I have some weapons up my sleeve to stop any insurrections.”

“I guess we could organize it. But what about the money?” Nicol massages his chin, studying his son.

Angrod reveals a sheet of paper and hands it to his father. “I have calculated everything. We will shut down the old royal power stations which support the city and replace them with my new ones. The old ones burn coal and are outdated. My new power plant will produce energy much cheaper once it starts running. We can just keep the old price- and finance-structure, then redistribute the gains to my project.”

“Hmm.” Katrine studies the paper, clearly not convinced.

“I think it’s a good idea,” I join in, having talked about it with Angrod beforehand.

Actually, I was the one who did the financial planning for him. When he first proposed the plan, he intended to just order some people to do what must be done, essentially enslaving them. “Having some surprises for the guys from Meltheim and Tulhelm wouldn’t be so bad. They've been too silent since Odlef ran off. It bugs me.”

I raise my spoon from my mushroom soup to get everyone’s attention. “The war-faction is obviously planning something. After Odlef ran off, all they did was raise the prices for their materials. The other disturbing point is that Sarda and Senda are gone from the school.”

It has been two weeks since the new school year started, and they never showed up.

“I know that they were studying abroad because their family has their base of operations in the northern regions. Calling them back so suddenly right after the fallout with Angrod is suspicious. The school got only a notification that they went back home.” I look at everyone in turn.

“Strangely enough, Iris is still here. Though, she seems to be pretty isolated during fighting lessons,” Angrod adds his own observation.

Our parents don’t answer immediately, and Nicol takes his time with his steak before he replies. “The north is one big black hole. The war-faction has tight control over that region. It’s not enough to have me worried since I am confident that the army is loyal to us, but I see your point.”

Arthur nods, wearing a sour expression on his face. “There is the official stuff, civilian news agencies, financial movements, but the buggers somehow managed to cut off our unofficial intelligence network. I am actually not sure whether they are just trying to force us into doing something stupid, or if they are actually preparing a rebellion.”

Finally, Nicol shrugs. “It’s not like our soldiers are doing something useful at the moment. They are just waiting for a case of emergency. We have given in to Celes's technological development plan too. Compared to that, giving Angrod a single facility to play around with can't cause that much trouble.”

The rest of the parents nod and Angrod puts up a devilish grin.

I just shake my head and don't say anything. They have no idea what someone like Angrod is capable of if he is given time and resources. A few centuries and he might challenge the gods despite being mortal.

A memory of a blue crystal spear plunging through my guts shoots through my mind, but I banish the thought.

When everyone is done eating, Rose and her maids appear to carry the leftovers away. Our parents, busybodies as they are, also take their leave. Once everyone is gone, I turn my chair to face Angrod.

“What?” he asks, sounding wary of me.

“I just want to warn you not to go overboard.” I rearrange a strand of hair, unsure of how to say this without sounding menacing. “I’ve helped you this time, and I don’t want to find out later on that giving my support was a mistake. Unfortunately, I know what you are capable of.” Despite being primarily a God of Chaos, he wasn’t known as a deity of knowledge and magic for nothing.

He nods, looking serious. “I am really only planning to do exactly what I said. A facility with state of the art technology to counter everything the Meltheim and Tulhelm may throw at us.”

“You are aware of the fact that it's bad for a world like this one if there is too much innovation? It's one of the reasons why we fought our own battle, and now the new technologies are splintering this world. I hope you won't give the people too much knowledge and power.”

He crosses his arms in front of his chest. “Make a better observation. They were fighting over territory because they lacked the technology to use the available resources effectively. Now that they have the technology, those who benefited from the war want to return the old status quo. No matter what we do, we can’t please everyone. If you ask me, a civil war against some noble asses is ten times better than a full-out war between two nations.”

I nod. “I can’t see a solution either. That’s why I didn’t try to stop you.” I shrug. “I just wanted you to know that I don’t want to have another world on my conscience.”

He raises an inquisitive eyebrow. “That’s surprising. I thought you would blame the whole mess on me.”

I clench my teeth together. “I don’t want to talk about it. The past is the past, and fighting over old wounds won’t get us anywhere. It should suffice to say that I acknowledge that you are not the only person to blame. I kept pushing you and my own subordinates set things in motion that I was unable to see in time.”

Clearly feeling uncomfortable about this topic, he shrugs and looks away. “It's just a playground of my own, so don't freak out. I’ll make sure that nothing dangerous leaks outside. The facility will have every security- and secrecy-measure possible.”

“I hope so.” For a moment, I am unsure of how to proceed, but I have said my piece, so I get up and leave to take care of my own project.

There are things to research, pills to make and chocolate to perfect.

I pull out my short list of things which I want to accomplish before I am too old to experience them. Childhood is much too short, and a girl has to make use of every second before it’s too late.

***The World***

***Angrod***

Sleep, the best thing in the whole, wide multiverse. Having a warm and comfortable bed, ah, it's so nice. Especially the dreams of good old times – as long as Seria doesn’t make an appearance.

My encyclopedia slips suddenly out of my embrace, and I try to grip it tighter to my chest without opening my eyes.

Strangely enough, and to my growing discomfort, it keeps slipping away.

Then something large shifts my bedsheets around and I realize who the culprit must be. Grumbling, I wave my hand around, trying to shoo him away. “Go away, Ghost! How did you get in again? I thought Rose locked you outside in the garden.”

It hit something soft and squeeze.

“Ahn~”

The sound definitely didn’t belong to a razorclaw and I shoot straight up, wide awake. My adrenaline levels go to one hundred within a second as a dark humanoid figure envelops me in a tight embrace, making me think of an assassin.

I want to scream, but the offender covers my mouth with a delicate hand.

“Mmhhhmmn!”

“Shhh! Or they will hear us!” Celes whispers right next to my ear.

“Wmat mare mou moing min my medmooom!?” I squirm, but she slides beneath the bedsheets and embraces me like some anaconda. Thanks to her knowledge about joints and armlocks, I am utterly immobilized within seconds.

She pulls at my encyclopedia, but I hold onto it.

“I wanted to work on our relationship, and see those plans for your facility while I am at it,” she whispers.

“No.” I press the encyclopedia tighter to my chest. Apparently, Celes mistook it for the blueprints – which I obviously hid much better.

She already searched my room once, so I decided to hide important documents and personal stuff. Unlike other people I am learning from my mistakes.

Unfortunately, my efforts to hold onto the book are in vain because Celes is physically much stronger than me.

Having taken her prize, she opens it with one hand while holding onto me with legs and tail. “That’s just a normal book. Why are you sleeping with it?”

Yeah, yeah, just laugh at me. Others have a favourite plush toy, a favourite pillow, or someone of the other gender they can hug. I have a favourite book! And I hate pillows! I just can't sleep with something soft under my head.

“No matter.” She drops the book and hugs me. Rolling around, we are suddenly wrapped up in my bedsheets.

“What… what are you up to?” I ask while she makes herself comfortable and toys with my collarbone.

Her tail wriggles around me, holding us against each other. “If you don’t share details with me, then we go on to step two and have a little sleepover.”

“I think you got things backwards!” I complain. “First the date, then a kiss, and then maybe the bed!”

“You are such a prude!” Then she gives me a wet one on the cheek, sending a cold shiver down my spine. Her aggressive attitude towards forging a relationship reminds me of a certain succubus lady I was married to a long time ago.

I try to push her away with an arm when the door opens and a tired looking Nicol peeks into my room.

Deadly aware of our position, which could be misinterpreted very easily, Celes and I freeze up.

Nicol looks at us for two seconds with a deadpan expression before he smirks dirtily and raises a finger to his lips, signalling us to be quiet.

Then he slowly closes the door.

Some… somehow… I feel like I was just thrown to the wolves…

“Finally!” Celes celebrates, squeezing me tightly. “At least one of our parents knows that a lasting relationship has to go through certain stages.”

“What stages are you talking about?” I wriggle, but her hold on me is unbreakable – at least by physical means. I am afraid to use magic. If a fight were to draw Ireth’s or Katrine’s attention, we would be in for real punishment.

Celes snuggles against me, using me as a body pillow. “Well, first there has to be the first innocent kiss – I already got that over with by the way.”

“When!?” I ask.

“While you slept, obviously. So, going on. The next step is an innocent sleepover.” She ticks off her points with the fingers of one hand.

“Then, there has to be a confession, which is obviously your job. Afterwards, we are going on dates and eventually…” She draws a circle on my chest. “…we get to the naughty stuff.”

“Naughty stuff? That sounds a lot like what one of my past spouses said,” I quickly clear my throat, remembering that I am currently in the embrace of a body practitioner who could squish me to mush.

Thankfully, Celes doesn’t overreact. “Spouse? Huh, I guess you must have had a few of those over the various lifetimes. What was her name?”

“Isabella,” I reply, unsure whether this is a safe topic. Some women can be prickly if their significant other isn't exclusive with them.

Celes stops drawing circles and shudders.

“What’s wrong!?” I ask, fearing that I just activated the landmine I was afraid of.

“I keep having dreams about being a succubus named Isabella.” She sighs. “They are… disturbing. And sometimes it feels like I am actually more this Isabella than Myrm.”

Isabella!? That’s impossible. It must be a coincidence. Celes can’t be my Isabella… unless… I narrow my eyes and grunt, considering Myrm’s death. How much time actually passed between our battle and now? Myrm jumped right into the epicentre of my chaos spell, so her soul should be too heavily damaged to regenerate within a reasonable amount of time. That said, I also didn’t get away unscathed, but Myrm should be-

My thoughts are interrupted by Celes. “Is something wrong?”

I take her hand and squeeze it, not wanting her to remember that past. It might happen at some point anyway, but without proof, I certainly won’t agitate Celes. Not now. “No. Nothing is wrong.”

Unless Seria did something. What if she used Isabella’s soul to repair Myrm’s. A temporary soul-merge might accomplish that. It would be a crude method, but possible. If that’s the case, the Celes who I am now with is neither truly Myrm, nor Isabella, nor Sandra.

The idea keeps haunting me for the rest of the night, but in my current state, I am unable to confirm the truth. If my ridiculous idea turns out to be correct, Celes not remembering some things might be for the best.

The last thing I want is to end up with a schizophrenic wife!

In the end, I didn’t get any sleep and Celes got to check off another item on her list.