SelkieMyth
patreon
Chapter 624 - Home Again
🕑 Added 2025-01-24 15:00:08 +0000 UTCArachne was on my side, but probably more than a little irritated with my extra-curricular activities in Ithil. I was a strong proponent of after action reports, analyzing what I did and why, along with trying to figure out weaknesses… but I was going to wait until later to analyze my actions. Sara needed me, and I was going to focus on her and the rest of my family right now. I’d get around to chatting with Arachne later, and analyzing my actions then. Also, my chewing out would probably be shorter.
The easy part of a war was winning it. The difficult part was after. Rebuilding, regrouping, and ruling.
I didn’t quite leave immediately. I took a detour… or five… on the way back.
I was looting, plain and simple. There was no use prettying it up in fancy words. There was no use in justifying it. ‘The library is burning down’. ‘The place is going to be ruined’. ‘I can do good things with these books’. ‘I’m going to add them to the library’.
No.
It was far better to look my actions in the eyes and own them.
I swooped through the burning library-museum, entirely ignoring the blazing inferno. I split my mind into dozens of parts, each one rapidly [Teleporting] books as quickly as I could into my hands, where one last thought process was stashing them into my [Manor].
It was strangely heady. I didn’t want to promise I’d never do it again - forever was such a long time - but after I left the last library, I mentally put a 64-year ban on doing something like this again.
A large part of me was tempted to yell ‘so long, suckers!’ as I flew off into the sunset, but I refrained from shouting. That difficult, tricky work was all somebody else’s problem. I was going back to Orthus and my home, and seeing my friends and loved ones again. I’d earned the break.
Speeches all morning, two hours of attacking Ithil, an hour on cleanup and talking with Sara, and it looked like I was going to be in Orthus for dinner.
I flew back at my absolute top ‘in case of emergencies’ speed. I was going home! Back to my own bed! Back to my orchard! Back to my friends and family! I was going to eat mangos and hug Artemis! I was going to read a book and hike familiar trails! I was going to get my hands in the dirt and drink hot chocolate by the fireplace.
I hadn’t gotten too many levels from my spying over the last few years, although my map making and world travels had gotten me a few. The annual meetups just hadn’t happened at all, which sucked. Auri, however, had been a busy, busy little phoenix, and I’d gotten a steady stream of practically unearned levels from her. All of those levels had helped improve my speed, and I squeezed out every drop of speed to make it home sooner.
The sun was setting as I circled around our cottage in the woods, a cheery smokestack letting me know someone was home. I landed, smiling as the home came into range of [The World Around Me]. I almost teared up at a sweet gesture of theirs. They had a bowl in the kitchen, stocked with fresh mangos. I had no idea how much time and effort they’d spent over the time I was gone making sure it was always fully stocked with fresh fruit just in case I came over, but I was deeply touched.
I landed and knocked.
It was my home, sure, but barging in unexpectedly would be rude. Plus, I wanted the place to still be standing, and jump-scaring Artemis wasn’t how I kept the place intact. Titania got the door.
“Titania! I’ve missed you so much!” I bounced excitedly on my feet. Titania wasn’t a hugger, and it’d be rude for me to impose on her like that.
“Elaine!? Is that my healy-bug!?” Artemis shouted from deeper in the house.
Artemis forewarned, I [Teleported] right next to her, wrapping my arms around the woman. They were just about to sit down for dinner, and Amber was grinning. The rascal, I bet she showed up three minutes ago. There was a suspicious amount of food being made. I opened one of my arms.
“Come on Amber, get in here, group hug!” I demanded. I was a little sad that it was just the three of them for now, but delighted they were all here. Amber limped in, and I was suddenly conscientious of the fact that I was the strongest one here by a huge margin, and I couldn’t squeeze them as hard as I wanted.
“Eee!” Amber joined the pile, and I spent a blissful moment.
Home.
We broke the hug.
“But wait!” I said. “There’s more.”
My serious tone wiped the smiles off Amber and Artemis’s face.
“First things first. The New Remus Empire is no more. I just came from Ithil. Long story short, everyone got mad at the New Remus Empire and went to beat them up. Night personally executed their high command.”
Artemis grinned viciously at the comment, and I remembered that she’d also been personally trained by Night, once upon a time.
“Go tell Skye, she’ll be delighted to hear it.” Artemis said. I poked her in the ticklish part of her side.
“You go tell Skye, oh mighty Ranger Commander. I am nothing more than a humble farmer.”
Identical twin snorts of disbelief met my statement.
“There’s going to be fallout, of course. Let’s skip all that. While in Ithil I met a recently orphaned girl, Sara. She had nowhere else to go, and wanted to stick with me.” I shrugged. “I said yes. Any last second questions before I introduce her to everyone?”
Artemis shrugged.
“I can always ask when she’s asleep.”
“Hey Titania! I think we’re going to need a kid’s room set up!” Amber shouted over to the woman. She didn’t acknowledge, but she did start to move over to a less-used storeroom.
“Quick, not really funny story.” Amber said. “My coin suggested that I stock up on a few children’s toys, but I tend to also use my best personal judgment. A sanity check. I’d judged that it was a poor idea, so… sorry, I don’t have anything for you.”
I shrugged. I hadn’t expected Amber to bring me anything. “That’s fine.” I said, then opened up [Portcullis] and stepped inside.
“Coming?” I asked. The two followed me in.
I could immediately see Sara through [The World Around Me], and I internally winced. She’d cried herself out and crashed, her head lolling at an awkward angle as she drooled on the blanket. I put a finger over my lips, Artemis nodded her acknowledgement, and the three of us quietly sneaked through my [Manor] to Sara’s room. I quietly opened the door, and knelt down next to Sara.
“Hey Sara? We’re here.” I quietly whispered to the girl as I gently shook her shoulder. I made sure the first thing Sara saw was my smiling face, touched with some concern. Which was how I felt, I just had the ability to properly and knowingly show the emotions in a way that would be correctly interpreted.
A gentle shake didn’t wake her up, and Artemis shook her head.
“She’s all tuckered out. Let’s get her into a real bed, and handle her when she wakes up.”
I nodded and took a hold of Sara, the little elf instinctively curling up next to me. We silently moved back into the cottage, Titania already having fixed up Sara’s room. Seriously, how did she do it!? We hadn’t even had a child sized bed in the house three minutes ago! I closed the curtains with [Teleportation] - just a quick ‘flicker’ resetting their position - stopping the evening sun from streaming in. I tucked her into bed with Toothy, her doll, as Titania brought in a rocking chair, and Amber appeared a few minutes later with a plate.
“We’ll catch up later?” She whispered. I shook my head, settling down on the chair. No idea when Sara would wake up, but it shouldn’t be all alone, not again.
“Just whisper downstairs, I’ll hear it from here. I’ll teleport over notes to my contributions.”
Amber shuddered.
“I usually forget just how much you see and know.” She said. “It’s spooky.”
I shooed her away with my hand, a twinkle in my eyes.
I’d wanted to introduce Sara to everyone over dinner… but maybe it’d be a midnight snack. I took two books out of my storage. One of the books I’d, ahem, saved from Ithil, and a notebook. Getting a quill was another brief thought. Everyone else went downstairs, and all started on dinner.
“How was your trip back?” Artemis asked to the empty air, clearly directed at me. She looked around, a hair uncomfortable, like she wasn’t sure how to direct her question.
My mind stumbled upon an idea, and I pulled out a third book. A half-filled spellbook. I spent a moment with most of my [Luminary Minds] going, working out the math involved, before I got scribbling with [Reality, Writ As You Will]. I put my hand on the mandala as it finished, casting the spell.
I was a little off. I hadn’t bothered to go more precise with my casting, but a direct copy of me shimmered into existence at the table, a combination of Mirror to copy my image and Mirage to project it. I ‘looked’ Artemis in the eyes and smiled. Amber rolled her eyes and scooted ‘outside’ of my projection.
Technically, I could mimic ventriloquy with wizardry, but sound was hard. Sounding like myself was even harder without prepared ‘capture and cast’ spells, but that would involve talking loudly next to Sara, which defeated the purpose of it. Letters, however, were completely valid.
Trip was fine! Only took me a few hours. My flying speed is great these days! It’s a little sad though, the world feels like a smaller and smaller place every time. I’m pretty sure I could go around the world in a single day if I wanted to. Powerful Classer Problems, I know. How about you? Anything fun recently? I wrote down on a piece of paper, tore it out, and [Teleported] it down to Artemis.
My once-mentor read it out loud for everyone.
“I’m turning green with jealousy.” Amber declared. “If I could move that fast…” She trailed off, but I could see the arcs dancing behind her eyes, jingling more beautifully than a tower filled with gold. I wondered if she was ever going to let her eyes literally turn into arcs? That’d be hilarious.
Artemis briefly tensed up, then relaxed.
“Well, let me tell you about some absolute idiots, and why there’s nobody from the New Remus Empire around right now. Oh, and the new Rangers got some lessons. It all started with a note…”
Speaking of notes, I started to write my next contribution to the conversation. I’d add in what I thought of Artemis’s story into it, I just didn’t want to forget. Thank goddess for [Luminary Mind] letting me do several things at once. I could still actively listen to Artemis, while thinking and planning.
Hey Amber, think you could take a stroll around the neighborhood after dinner and pick up a few kid’s things for Sara?
=============
I stayed in my chair when Sara started to stir in the middle of the night. She’d crashed early, it was no surprise. I grabbed a spellbook of mine and quickly cast a few dim lights around the room, slowly brightening colorful balls. She sat up and looked around, her face falling when she saw me. Sara promptly burst into tears.
Not exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for. She was vaguely reaching out to me, and I swooped over, wrapping her up in my arms.
“S-s-sorry.” She stuttered out. “I thought it was a bad nightmare, then I saw you, and it’s not… they’re gone.”
“Shhhh.” I rubbed her back in a circle. “I’m here. Do you want a bite to eat? You’ll feel better.”
Sara shook her head, and I was suddenly lurched into an internal debate.
She needed to eat. Did I put my foot down, and insist she eat something because it was good for her? She was just a kid. Or did I show kindness, understanding, and compassion, and leave her be? At the same time, that could be just as bad of an idea.
Hmmm.
“Alright, you don’t have to eat if you don’t want to. Let’s go downstairs, to the living room. I’ll get some snacks out if you change your mind, and maybe we can…” What did parents do with their kids? Play? Chores? Sara was in no state for either one right now. “... see what happens.”
As easy as it would be to simply [Teleport] Sara around, I guided her downstairs step by step, Toothy locked in a death-grip. I did blatantly use my magic to fix up some easy snacks. We hadn’t exactly been quiet, and a bleary-eyed Artemis joined us a little later. We settled down, and Artemis opened up the conversation.
“Hi Sara, I’m Artemis! It’s nice to meet you. What’s your favorite color?”
Sara locked onto Artemis, clearly mulling over the question.
“Green.” The elf finally declared.
“Green! That’s a great color. Grass and leaves, so many things are green!” Artemis said.
With that small crack, we slowly pried Sara out of her shell. It took days for her to become halfway functional, and we didn’t force it. Once she was up and moving around a bit more, we slowly added in more. Light chores, perfect for a kid. Books and stories. I created ‘the invisible book’, which I pretended to turn the pages of while I recited stories from memory. Stories from Earth, stories from Pallos. Stories from Exterreri, and stories from Urwa. Games and playing with the other kids in Orthus - Sara was an instant hit, the cool new kid. And an elf. The prejudices against the New Remus Empire hadn’t become hatred against elves, and hadn’t had time to extend to children. They hadn’t been taught to hate yet. I could see a golden glimmer of Arachne’s plan, the consequences and benefits to striking immediately. Hatred against vampires had been cited, yes, but how easy would it have been for the hatred to extend to elves as well? How many decades would it have taken to expunge it?
The last part was education. A broad basis to start Sara’s life off. She was only two years away from her System unlocking, and I wanted to give her the best start to life possible.
“Do you know what you want to try first when your System unlocks?” I asked Sara. If she’d been on a path already, I wasn’t going to disrupt her. Plus, Immortal elf. They tended to cycle through a dozen different things, but the common thought was the first path, the first time going through the levels, shaped and defined a person more than anything else. It made sense. Being a [Warrior] during a person’s formative years would carry with them for the rest of their life.
“What do you do?” Sara asked one bright morning. We were outside, up in a tree, looking down on the plain Orthus was in. I smiled.
“Well, I’m a healer. I help fix people when they get hurt! If they scrape their knee or get a splinter, I make it all better.”
I wasn’t going to mention the horrors of Ithil, not when the wound was so fresh, not without her bringing it up first.
“Were you helping people back at my home?” Sara asked. It was the first time she’d brought it up.
I nodded.
“Yup! It looked like you’d gotten fairly hurt. I don’t know for a fact that it was my healing that helped you, but I think it was. I’m pretty strong.”
“Oh.” Sara said, kicking her feet freely. Part of me worried, the other part knew I had at least a dozen different ways to catch or heal her before she hit the ground if she fell off the branch. “Can you heal everyone in a city?”
“At the same time.” I said. Sara bit her lip and looked down at the forest floor, mulling over her next question, opening her mouth a few times before looking away and closing it.
“It’s okay, you can ask me anything, I won’t get mad. I promise.” I said.
“Okay… Why didn’t you heal my parents?”
Comments
Random Guy
They were excluded.
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
Harry Hirsch
I was wondering, if her parents just got so abruptly splattered that Elaine could not heal them or if they were just excluded.
TroubleFait
@Kaylakaze - We don't need to hear hard-core political opinions here.
Nicola
What a funny ending, healing kids was not a worthless endeavor after all, time to explain sara how many orphans she made
Hodge Wasson
I thought the chapter finding her was a big oof... and it was, but holy shit, OOOOF.
Blayne Allsen
That last line hurt
Kaylakaze -
Violet is best because of its rarity.
Kaylakaze -
The problem with Elaine's oath is that sometimes certaain people just need to be killed for the greater good. The US is a clear demonstration of that right now but the cowards or traitors in a position to carry out what they need to do won't.
Roombot
Elaine isn’t the type to whitewash it. She’ll do her best to answer honestly, but idk how well it will go..
Roombot
OOF.
enderman
She technically does have a skill that excludes people from any type of healing but she needs to consciously mark them and she did put a ban on that skill when she got it. I think she should re-think her ban on that healing preventer because if she did go around mentally banning a few types of the target elfs e.g. the known pregnant ones she could have included all pregnant elfs in her healing and saved thousnads.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Jeremy Silver
Elvenoids can become guardians
Tiffany Miller
They did make efforts to avoid civilian casualties and the legata did execute the worst of the Civil War generals so goodish
Ronny Cook
Sarah survived the same attack that killed them, she'll eventually figure out that was Elaine's doing. And she was healed instantly, so that excuse won't wash. Probably best to keep it simple. She was there with the invaders, trying to mitigate the harm they did, but if she helped the elves too much would become a target herself. Even with the assistance she did provide she would probably be attacked in future. That's basically the truth. Even if Sarah resents it, she can depend on the others in the household, and will eventually come to understand and forgive.
Jazehiah
My favorite color is a deep shade of red. I don't see greens too well, and I like things with high saturation. Blue is fine. I just wish people would stop giving me things things that only come in navy.
Syrahl
I didn't grow to dislike yellow - colours I actively dislike kinda have to be hyper-specific, like puce green, or the barely not-black brown that is my natural hair colour. It was definitely a case of finding a new colour preference. Although, I'm kinda the opposite of you - I wear a lot of blue because it *is* my favourite colour, not necessarily because it looks good on me.
Aura
6 year olds… understand nuance? Hah! I can’t make my mind up though whether it would be wise to give any other platitude or answer. Even if she doesn’t understand or accept it, I can’t come up with anything but the honest truth being the right answer here.
Aura
Blue is a fine color! But yellow? Not my favorite—I just can’t wear it! But it’s the color of the life-bringer, the sun. It’s the color around the edges of leaves and grass during the daytime, as they bask in rays of golden warmth. Yellow sundresses are delightful. The color of baby chicks! Yellow has prep and cheer, mix a little in and it brings vibrancy to all things green. I hope you didn’t grow to dislike it, rather than simply finding a new color preference! Blue… ‘eh. I wear a lot of it because it looks good on me, but it’s not my favorite. Crystal blue water and gems are wonderful though ^.^
Tango
A simple question with a terribly difficult answer. Though it's good that she feels comfortable enough to ask now. And it's better to have clarity now, rather than years or decades of building, lingering resentment.
Anna Rapp
thanks again for the free patreon month :3 and now a long wait to see that question answered 😅
Anonymous
That sounds like a Guardian type skill. Unsure if elvenoids can become guardians or not.
DireGoat
I think she will be more choice in the conflicts she gets involved in. There was a very good reason she was meant to only ever be employed in defensive battles during Exterri.
Andrew
Thank you!
Tiffany Miller
Oh right to the heart with that question
Salvirith
Elaine needs a skill or something to exclude people in her healing that are causing harm. Or at least identify non combatants and keep the healing up for them
TroubleFait
> And then the involvement in the civil war was messy but they were still kind of the good guys. Were they? The army was there just for the levels, everything else was secondary. They weren't the bad guys, but were they the good guys?
TroubleFait
We often forget that the sky is one for the most beautiful things around.
Sengachi
Damn this is a hard question. I wonder if it will make Elaine reconsider her participation in militaries. After all, she got to this point as kind of a slippery slope. Like, Remus' military started out fighting a literal faceless horde and random monsters, ethical quandaries were limited to the justness of helping stabilize the government. Then there were the body snatchers who were the absolute most justified and perfect target for a healer. It devastated Elaine, but it was also *the* perfect event to push her over the threshold into accepting participcation in military violence against people. Then after that, well, she joined the Exterri Empire as a Sentinel totally adrift, and in peacetime while monsters were the main target. And then the involvement in the civil war was messy but they were still kind of the good guys. So Elaine has been frog in boiling watered into becoming a military healer without ever having to truly experience the realities of war on a civilian population. And now ... she has. I wonder if it will change how she sees her oath, which she's been doing a lot of thinking about recently
SwitchBlaze
Good Chappie. Thank you.
Tilen Praprotnik
TFTC
Adurna
Let's hope for honesty, right?
Sengachi
That'd be a lie though. Sera was hit by the exact same attack as her parents, and she lived because Elaine healed her through it.
Ant1h3ld
And all of them lies that will bite their relationship in the ass down the line.
CataFlan
TFTC
Simon Andriessen
Oof there goes the gutpunch.
Syrahl
Barely related - when I was little, someone in my family made the argument that their favourite colour, green, was *better* than mine (at the time, yellow), using the "lots of things are green" reasoning. So after some thought on the topic, my favourite colour became sky blue, and it has stayed that way ever since.
Tatiana Saturno
Tfct Damn, the kid went straight for that one.
Drendude
It's nice to see Elaine home again; and now we have the child-raising arc, lol. I think Sara is old enough to understand some nuance here. Just explain it how it is. "My healing can't distinguish friend from foe, so I could only safely heal the children, not the adults."
jac l
Tftc
Syrahl
Oof, that's a brutal question for poor Elaine, Sara going right for the metaphorical throat. Will be interested to see how Elaine answers her, whether she'll rip the bandage off and go with the honest truth about the war and her part in it, or whether she'll whitewash it and let it be a problem for Future Elaine.
Hauke Sattler
Easy answer: "They were already dead when I came there." More involved answer: "Healing sometimes takes some time. The worse someone is hurt , the longer it takes. And sometimes someone dies faster than I can heal them. Even if you can heal someone in milliseconds, you can't heal them back from the dead." (There was that soldier when Elaine was on the mission with the sixth, who got his head smashed by a rock which was dropped by a harpy)
Stephanie Washburn
That's a good and devastating end to a chapter. Also, fair question.
Marcus Cassin
Brutally well done conclusion to the chapter. Ouch.
M van Dongen
Yep I knew that one was coming...
tr13ze
Thanks for the chapter 😁
Khal Lee
Thanks. Artemis!!! Mmm ouchie to the ending... now there's a trick question! Good luck!
DerWipe
Thanks for the chapter. Oof and here is the tough question we all dreaded
Ant1h3ld
Saw the question at the end coming, but still a big oof moment there.
Jazehiah
That ending hurt.
Spencer
Oof thats a rough question. Once again wonderful chapter Selkie!
Dan
Oop
TheHornedOne
😭😭😭That’s not an easy question to answer for a kid
Theodor Fisher
That last sentence has my jaw dropping. I love this chapter.
nicoraven
reminder to spend time with your family <3
joey
TFTC
CringeWorthyStudios
Ouch. I literally winced at that one. That’s gotta hurt. Thanks for the chapter!
TheHornedOne
Tftc
Mad Dessert
Thanks! That is brutal question.
