“No, it’s worse. Here’s the plans for Lith’s marriage with Phloria.” Tista projected a hologram depicting a small, intimate ceremony in an old version of the Verhen House, making Lith’s stomach churn.
“This instead is about the marriage with Faluel.” The images now showed a tacky, grandiose celebration taking place inside the Hydra’s lair, surrounded by piles of gold and precious gems. “Then there was Peonia-”
“Enough. We got the gist of it.” Tista had just started to project a wedding ceremony in the Throne Room when Lith stopped her. “Good gods, it’s even worse than I thought.”
“You mean you didn’t know?” Kamila was surprised and offended at the same time.
Surprised because Lith seemed to have been as oblivious as her and offended because there was no trace of a plan for their marriage.
“No, and I was happier that way.” Lith sighed. “The only time my parents tried to involve me in their madness was when they planned for our marriage that was supposed to take place after our third anniversary.”
“They were planning our marriage?” Kamila’s face lit up with joy for almost one second before her smile got turned upside down. “Wait. How dare you call it madness?”
“Because they didn’t give a farm about my consent.” Lith replied. “I wasn’t planning anything because neither you nor them knew about Solus and it wasn’t fair to you popping out the question without telling you the truth first.
“We all know how it ended up when I did.”
“Right.” Kamila nodded, her face back to a neutral expression as she turned toward Tista. “Can I see those plans, please?”
“You need to be more specific.” Tista replied. “What version?”
“There’s more than one?”
“You bet. Our parents upgraded it the more lil bro here gained fame and money. Same when he brought Zinya to our home, you two took the kids to the magic training camp, and Lith opened up to you and you stayed with him.”
Tista showed Kamila so many versions of her marriage that soon she was on cloud nine. She now loved Raaz and Elina more than ever and was also happy that none of those hypothetical ceremonies surpassed the real deal.
“Okay, great.” Lith was eager to change the subject. “So, Bodya first, and then we go check on our allies. I’m curious to see how undead, monsters, and elves are faring and if they need a hand.
“After that, we can comfortably wait for the Gate to be finished and get back home as soon as it’s done.”
Lith hadn’t forgotten about Sylpha’s request to take out a lost city and the members of the first colonization party had been in Jiera for months. If there was a cursed object nearby, they were bound to know about it.
‘I’m not going to waste time or risk my life for a secondary mission. If I can scan the power core from a distance with the Eyes of Menadion, I’ll think about it. Otherwise I’ll wash my hands and let the Guardians of Jiera dealing with this mess.’
While they discussed their plans for the immediate future, Solus used a combination of spells, arrays, and Sentries to check on their surroundings. The Sentries shared her mana sense and analysed everything that reflected on their glassy surface.
From there, returning to the Wayfinder required but a single Warp Steps thanks to the Home Stone Lith had entrusted to Friya before going to Yhen.
“Done already?” Bodya welcomed them all with a warm smile that became radiant as soon as his eyes met Tista’s. “I was expecting you guys to be away for a day or two.”
Solus was back at full strength but not even the members of the Council could notice the difference. She had avoided exerting herself on purpose so that the rise and fall of her condition according to the presence or not of a mana geyser had gone unnoticed.
“Yes, everything is fine now. It was just a family discussion. I missed you, though.” Tista embraced him to lose herself in his warmth and brace herself from what was about to happen.
“I missed you too. Can we go now or do you need some time to prepare?” Bodya smelled on her several scents alien to Jiera and typical of the Desert.
Yet he knew that Salaark was there as well and between the powers of the Guardian and the great relationship Tista had with the Overlord, there were countless plausible explanations for the oddities he noticed.
“Do I need to prepare?” She froze on the spot pulling away enough to look him in the eyes.
“How should I know?” Bodya shrugged. “I have no idea if there is some last-minute call you have to make to your family or how you planned this.”
“Planned?” Tista went pale at that simple word.
It was her first time going to meet someone and be the one hoping to make a good impression. In the three Great Countries, between her beauty and Lith’s status, she was used to men throwing themselves at her feet.
She only had to answer yes or no to their invitations and they would do the rest.
In the Awakened community, her beauty wasn’t that special but her Demon bloodline was. Old and new Awakened households coveted her power and spared no effort in the attempt to add Divine Beasts to their ranks.
Tista was but one Demon, sure, but all of her children would share her powers and if they chose the Hekate form when they came to age, their numbers would multiply with time.
At that point, any Awakened bloodline who had garnered Tista’s loyalty would use that power to either climb the ranks of the Council or even become completely independent from its authority.
On Jiera, however, none of that mattered, especially for beasts. Tista was indeed a gorgeous woman, but only according to human standards. Beasts shapeshifted and took any appearance of their choosing making looks irrelevant.
To make matters worse, away from Garlen and the advantages that befriending her alleged grandparents implied, Tista was just a Divine Beast. A new kind, sure, but not necessarily better than a Garuda.
All things she had completely overlooked until that single world had shattered the illusion of her comfortable routine.
“Do you think I should introduce myself in my human or Hekate form? Should I bring a gift? Some homemade food?” Tista gripped Bodya’s arms in a panic.
“Respectively: it’s indifferent, depends, and definitely not.” He chuckled. “Gods, I don’t know whether to get angry about how little thought you put into this or be moved by how flustered you are.”
“Please, be moved. I can’t deal with anything right now.” Bursts of flames of different colors started to erupt from her body while her eyes became watery in frustration with herself.
“I feel so dumb that I can barely understand what you are saying.”
“Long story short, your appearance is irrelevant since your smell will reveal your nature as a Divine Beast anyway.” Bodya caressed her back to calm her down after making sure that the flames were harmless.
“As for bringing a gift, it depends on your intentions.”
