“Nothing you do is good enough. Nothing the others do for you is good enough. Even when good things happen, you don’t appreciate them because they don’t measure to that accursed day.” Marth said.
“Good gods!” Lith said as he finally understood the problem.
“It’s like constantly wearing balls and chains that weigh you down the whole time, no matter where you are or with who you are. It’s a nightmare.” Marth closed his eyes and pinched his nose.
“Also, this is how it worked for me. There is no guarantee that Kamila will experience the same. She might need more time, less time, or some kind of trigger. Only the gods know.”
“Any suggestion?” Several plans came up to Lith’s mind but he discarded them all because his wife wasn’t a problem to solve but a person who needed his help.
“None. On the plus side, I’ve heard that Kamila is learning magic, correct?” Duke asked, receiving a nod in reply. “Keep teaching her. The more she gains power, the less the shadow of her pregnancy will darken her.”
‘That’s true.’ Lith pondered. ‘Like Tyris said, the issue is that post-partum a regular Awakened loses half their prowess whereas Kamila got weaker by dozens of times. She just needs to get close to the cyan to feel like that again.’
“Another good thing is that, unlike the academy, Elisya didn’t boost her magical talent like the shadows of my colleagues did with me hence she should be faring better than I did.”
“About that…” Lith went to the crib and lifted a sleeping Elysia, bringing her in front of the amulet.
“Great Mother almighty!” Marth yelled in shock at the sight of the six elemental streaks in her hair yet his fatherly instincts also lowered the volume to not wake up the baby.
“Yeah. Turns out that a baby with streaks also passes her affinities and Kamila got a kicker from understanding the most complex things about magic by sheer instinct like a Divine Beast.” Lith said.
“Who knows about the hair?” Marth set that particular problem aside for the moment.
“Just those who witnessed the childbirth. My family, my closest friends, and now you.” Lith replied.
“Damn, the Royals are going to increase the security for the Gala to eleven.” Marth passed his right hand on his face, massaging his stubble.
“Why? Do you think there is someone so crazy that they want another Day of the Black Sun?” Lith scoffed while picturing in his mind the summoning of Elisya’s three god cards.
Leegaain the Omniscient, Tyris the Sky Griffon, and Salaark, the Winged Warrior of Destruction.
“No for the baby but the mother!” Marth scoffed in kind.
“What do you mean?” Lith was surprised by the Headmaster knowing about the bounty on Kamila’s head, but he decided to play dumb and fish for information.
“Well, you have many eyes but no streaks. Kamila has no streaks either but since no one in your family has so many, what do you think people will come to believe? That they are on the mother’s side or at least by your specific combination.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Lith blurted out. “My older brother had no streaks like me and my sisters got respectively a black and a red one. Those things aren’t inherited.”
“I know, but this is huge!” Math put his hands in his hair, not understanding how Lith could be so blind. “No one has ever been born with six streaks! That’s something that happens only in legends.”
“Farm me sideways.” Lith suddenly realized that indeed never before someone had Awakened in the womb and gotten six affinities.
“Exactly! Even our beloved Queen got hers after the marriage, after gaining enlightenment while visiting one of the old temples of the gods of magic.” Marth had no idea that it had been just Tyris Awakening Sylpha.
“Now, put yourself in the nobles’ shoes. Would you be willing to wait for Supreme Magus Verhen’s second-born child to make sure it’s just a lucky break? Heck no! If another one with six streaks were to be born, it would be too late.
“It wouldn’t be just a hypothesis but a certainty. Something that they cannot let happen.” Marth emitted a low whine, thanking the gods for Dhiral not being that talented in magic. “I need a break. I’ll let you speak with Ryssa.”
“Don’t listen to him.” The Dryad said the moment Marth walked out of the room.
“About what?”
“About everything.” Then she noticed the sleeping Elysia. “Oh, gods! She’s so cute. I wish I was there to drown her with hugs and kisses.”
Hearing a baby voice, Elysia opened her eyes and looked around, giggling at the Dryad’s silly appearance as she made toys and moving figurines sprouting out of her fingers.
“Can we go back to the topic, please? The fate of my wife depends on it.” Lith said.
“Sorry. Well, wait my…” Ryssa stared at Elysia and changed the wording. “Perfect bottom. Duke was a wreck all the time. He couldn’t work, he couldn’t enjoy his family, nothing. He almost drove several Professors to quit with his constant nagging and whining.”
“Why is this the first time I hear about this?” Lith asked.
“Because Zogar and I worked hard from behind the scenes to not let it blow out. Zogar would mediate with the Professors and talk with them behind closed doors while I helped Duke at home.” Ryssa replied.
“Helped how?”
“Basically, Duke was green with envy of himself and Kami is probably the same now. And since you can’t beat yourself, he ended up hating himself, with obvious consequences.” Ryssa sighed.
“What I did was to keep him busy, especially with Dhiral. I helped him to remind to himself through daily life that the worth of Duke Marth isn’t measured just in his magical talents but also as a person. As a father and a husband.
“As a good boss and a beloved teacher. All things that he was before fusing with the White Griffon and still is. Don’t you dare just sit there and wait for Kami to get better. Stay with her.
“Remind her of all the good things you did together without the need of her powers. Like your baby. Don’t let herself reduce her existence to power and affinities. Kami is more than that. You two are more than that.”
“Thanks, Ryssa.” Lith nodded.
“Anytime.” She replied. “If she ever needs company, don’t hesitate to call me. You have two personal Warp Gates, don’t be afraid of using them. Ryssa out.”
***
To fight her depression, Kamila was already following Marth’s prescription on her own. All the time she didn’t dedicate to Elysia she devoted it to using Accumulation to strengthen her core and practicing magic to temper her body.
She would perform house chores either by the use of pure magic or the old-fashioned way but by using fusion magic to boost her physical prowess. Solus was always there, helping Kamila with tutorials whenever she ran into a hitch or messing with her to increase the difficulty of a task once she had gotten used to it.
[“Wow! You cleaned half the Mansion with magic and the other half by hand.”] Solus said in English, admiring the sparkling results of Kamila’s training.
