2369 Tough Choices (Part 1)

"That damn moniker of yours turned out to be catchy and now everyone in the family calls me that." Quylla said.

"How is single life treating you, Friya?" Lith asked while extending his hand that she refused and hugged him instead.

"Great. Nalrond is courting me like crazy and he's pestering everyone to know if I'm already seeing someone else." She replied with a snort.

"That's cruel, Friya." Kamila giggled, agreeing with the punishment in full despite her words. "When are you going to let that poor soul off the hook?"

"As soon as he learns his lesson." Friya replied. "Being a Morok is fine. Being a self-centered jerk is not. On top of that, because of him, now I'm dead last again. Quylla beat me to marriage as well."

"It's no competition, dear." Jirni had no problem saying such words, but only because her daughter already had a suitor she was willing to marry. It wasn't a matter of if anymore, only of when.

"You are saying that now only because I already have a suitor who I'm willing to marry." Friya called on Jirni's bluff, making her choke on her tea. "Back when I had no one, your opinion was wildly different."

"What were you saying, Little One?" Jirni had long since learned that as long as she changed the battlefield on time, where there could not be victory there could also be no defeat.

"I've heard the house staff discussing my new apartments out of the house. Are you really planning to send me away?" Quylla felt hurt and afraid to have somehow disappointed her mother.

"Yes, I'm having one of our best country houses prepared for you and no, I'm not sending you away." Jirni stood up and took Quylla's hands in her own. "I know I can be difficult and the first times living together with Morok are bound to be rough.

"You two need to find your new balance and I don't want to make things harder for you with my presence. If you stay here, everything you see will remind you of Phloria.

"Your husband would clash with your father and I whenever he does or says something stupid. I just want you to be happy and not worry about anyone but yourself. You will always be welcome here.

"This is your home and you can hide here from Morok anytime you want, but you need your own place. A house where you are the only Lady Ernas and not Lady Ernas' daughter."

"Thank you, Mom." Quylla sniffled, moved by Jirni's care.

"Don't mention it." Jirni caressed Quylla's face. "Since we are all here and in the company of our friends, I have a question to ask you. Would you like to have another sibling?"

Lith spat out his tea, knowing all too well that such a question was merely rhetorical.

"I would love to have one, but are you sure? Have you thought this through?" Quylla bit her lower lip in stress, wondering if it was an act of love or of desperation, like the one she had almost made a few days ago.

"Of course I did. We did. Your father agrees with me and I want to reassure you that we aren't going to replace Phloria. Boy or girl, it doesn't matter. I just want to be the parent I never was for my Little Flower or any of you." Jirni clenched the hems of her day dress.

"Do you need a healer?" Lith asked.

"Yes, but don't worry. I know how busy you are going to be so I've already asked Vastor and he accepted. He's an expert in late pregnancies and will follow us step by step."

This way, Vastor and his Eldritches disguised as his assistants would have an excellent excuse to visit often and the alleged medical procedures would explain the time Jirni would spend with them learning magic.

"You could have asked us, Mom." Friya was slightly offended for not having been even consulted about the matter.

"It's time for you to move on with your life, dear. I want you to focus on that." Jirni took her hands, caressing them gently. "Now, why don't you sit down and keep us company for a while? It's nice having everyone around for once."

With a sleight of hand, Jirni pressed one of the runes on her dress, signaling her husband that Quylla's room was empty and their daughter busy.

Orion knew about Quylla's research to reach Awakening from back when she was a violet-cored fake mage. A condition similar to his own that Orion needed to overcome without dying or resorting to Forbidden Magic.

In the past, he had often seen her diaries open on her desk without understanding what those unknown runes were about.

Quylla was a brilliant mage living inside one of the most secure households of the Kingdom so she felt no need to write things down in code, especially since to most people Awakening was just a myth and without solid basis, true magic made no sense.

She had jotted down her entire research about the runes needed to cast true magic and conjure fusion magic. The procedure that she had used to become a true mage was described step-by-step along with her thoughts and suggestions that she had added in hindsight after succeeding.

Orion felt like a thief while searching through his daughter's room and like the scum of Mogar for abusing Quylla's trust and stealing her research.

'I'm sorry, Little One. I really am.' He thought. 'But if I told you the truth, you'd never accept to help me and I'm not going to leave your mother alone. Also, if anything were to happen to you, I don't want to feel helpless ever again!'

To make matters worse, Orion had to find and copy everything before Quylla moved to her own house.

He swallowed his pride and used one of his Knight Guard's devices to take scans of the room before searching it so as to be capable of putting everything back into place before leaving.

Once he found one of Quylla's grimoires, Orion would just scan it with another device, obtaining a 3D digital copy in a matter of seconds. Every search required making sure that no one would barge in, keeping both the house staff and Morok busy.

"What about me?" Friya asked in the tea room. "Are you going to send me away as well if I get married?"

"It depends. Do you want to keep living with your parents your whole life?" Jirni replied.

"Gods, no."

"Do you want to live with your sister?" Jirni pointed at Quylla.

"Gods, no!" The idea of meeting Morok first thing in the morning and having another contest about who had spent the wildest night in bed made her stomach churn.

"Hey, I resent that!" Quylla had noticed her sister's tone going from displeased to terrified.

"Then you have your answer." Jirni chuckled. "Of course I'm having another country house prepared for you. It's no less big or magnificent than Quylla's but I'm just arranging it with the bare minimum.

"They are going to be your respective homes and you have to make them a reflection of your own family, not mine."