“I know Lith is your dad, but why can’t I hold you for a while? Am I not your mommy?”
“Ma… ma.” Elysia nodded.
Kamila, Lith, and Solus froze into place, ignoring the Royal Guards of Valeron’s Palace demanding to see their IDs.
“What did you say?”
“I said: papers, please.” The voice of the man inside the armor was cold and professional.
“Shut up, tin man, or I’ll make you!” There was so much fury and killing intent in Kamila’s bright yellow eyes that the Royal Guard took a step back while gripping his weapon. “What did you say, dear? Can you repeat that for Mommy?”
She ignored the guard turning toward the baby girl with the sweetest expression and voice on Mogar.
“Ma… ma.” Elysia stuttered, the word impossible for a human baby so young but just hard on the throat of a Wyrmling.
“Yes, that’s right! I’m your mom!” Kamila took the baby from the carrier and held her to her chest. “I’m your mom.”
She started to cry so hard that she fell onto her knees.
“Ma… ma?” Elysia tried to console her, but Kamila just cried harder.
After suffering for months, feeling like a second-rate parent compared to her husband, that word meant the world to her. It cleared every one of Kamila’s internal struggles and boomed over the voices in her head like thunder.
The Royal Guard had no idea what was happening but while the woman sobbed, the Supreme Magus gave his papers and allowed them to scan his white and golden robe. Solus followed suit, giving them her ID and letting them scan her for blood cores.
Once Lith’s identity was confirmed, the Guards could set duty aside and give Kamila the time she needed. It took her a few minutes to compose herself and get back up to her feet.
“I’m sorry for my outburst.” She said amid sniffles while giving her ID and letting the Royal Guards scan her as well. “It was my baby’s first human word and the surprise overwhelmed me.”
“It’s understandable, ma’am.” The Guard nodded. “I too have c- wait, human word?”
“My daughter learned Dragontongue first. It’s a long story.” Lith gave them the salute and moved forward, unwilling to waste time explaining how intricate his bloodline was.
The internal Warp system of the Royal Palace led them to one of the lowest levels of the city where the Wayfinder had been assembled away from prying eyes.
“Great Mother almighty.” Kamila blurted out in surprise, looking left and right in the attempt to size the train from top to bottom.
Each car of the Wayfinder was as tall and wide as a studio apartment but thrice as long. They were comprised of steel coated in Orichalcum to give it high mana conductivity without suffering losses in durability.
Only the wheels supporting it while on the ground were made of pure metal, having no other purpose than saving energy while at rest. There were no windows, each car a silvery bullet with violet crystals placed at every external corner.
“Remarkable.” Kamila could see with Life Vision that the crystals overlapped with the focus points of the arrays that ran along the entire surface of the Wayfinder.
They fueled the arrays, acting both as relay points and amplifiers so that the energy layers formed a seamless sheath around the metal without weak points.
“Did you and Solus come up with this solution?”
“No. That’s a Royal Forgemaster thing.” Solus sighed. “With our current techniques, we wouldn’t be able to enchant something that big let alone set so many permanent arrays.”
“Permanent? Are you telling me that this thing is made to last?” Kamila was flabbergasted. “Isn’t it too big for civilian use? I doubt anyone is going to use it a second time to go from Garlen to Jiera.”
She counted at least twenty wagons for a total length of over 150 meters (500′).
“Indeed.” Orion approached them, shaking the hands of everyone, babies included. “The plan is to leave half of them on Jiera for the exploration team and bring the other half back.
“Regular trains will be smaller, but the single wagons of the Wayfinder can be repurposed for transporting valuable goods or first-class passengers. We are still on the fence about that.
“I’m sorry to rush you, but the final checks are quite long and we don’t want to delay the departure any further.”
Before boarding, everyone had their ID checked again and their body scanned for a blood core in order to avoid thralls. Dimensional amulets were also confiscated and each passenger thoroughly searched for anything that could be used as a means of sabotage.
Even Orion had to undergo the security checks again and so did anyone who got off the Wayfinder before the departure for any reason.
“I hope you don’t mind if I made sure that we are neighbors.” He said after opening the door connecting his personal wagon to the next, revealing an oblong small apartment.
Lith counted two bedrooms, one bathroom, one living room with a table where to eat, and one smaller empty room meant to hold the belongings of the passengers. The ceiling was high enough that even in his hybrid form Lith would be able to stand up straight.
“Oh, gods. One bathroom?” Lith said in horror.
“Lith!” Solus and Kamila scolded him.
“I know. Even though the country is entitled to ask for sacrifices from us this trip is going to be a long, cruel, and unusual punishment.” Orion looked like someone who had just sucked a lemon.
“Dad!” Quylla and Friya yelled at him.
“How are these things supposed to be used after the mission? There’s too much furniture.” Lith ignored the background noise.
“Like this.” Orion paid no heed to the claims about him being an insensitive father and pushed a button on the ceiling.
The walls slid so to form three compartments of the same size on one side and two more on the other. The bathroom also shrunk to just enough to contain the shower, sink, and toilet with no extra space.
Where present, the beds split into two halves that slid against opposing walls rearranging themselves into comfortable sofas and leaving a wide corridor between them.
“Just add a few more beds, put some baggage racks and you are good to go.” A second push of the same button reverted things as they were supposed to be.
“Isn’t it a bit claustrophobic with no windows?” Kamila was tired of being ignored so she dropped the argument.
“Not at all.” Orion tapped on one of the internal walls which seemed to turn transparent, letting them see what was happening on the outside. “Before you ask, no, we don’t have Light Masters so this is all it can do.
“It’s a simple application of the communication amulet technology. In the same way two people can look at each other while they talk, the spells collect the information from the outside and project it inside.
“The projection is one-way only so no one can see what’s happening inside unless you push this button.” Orion opened a small compartment that had been installed at a height easy to reach but closed so that the system couldn’t be activated by mistake.
