The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 100 - Facing The Burdens Discussed Beneath The Firmament

Chapter 100: Chapter 100 - Facing The Burdens Discussed Beneath The Firmament

Elua loosened and shifted her grip with her arms on the spouse that she clung to - just enough to create the distance to look up at the sky with ’melancholy’... under the view of the precious pigeon blues. There was really only one good answer she could decide upon over the course of all those thousands of years.

"Perhaps... I feared being reminded of that time. Back when things were bleak and without hope for the power to protect myself. Even the light of nice memories can sometimes lengthen the shadows of others."

Fingers started to trace ’soothing’ circles on the girl’s back, her spirit radiating the conflict of ’appreciation’ and ’warning’ underneath the wrapping of Qat’s sense. She knew it was ultimately her own fault for having jumped onto the tall girl like this, but it was still tough!

"El... thank you for sharing that. Those shadows... they’re a part of you. I want to know them as well. Even if I can’t imagine what it’s like for you to have lived with them."

The brunette’s features grew listless and her spirit gained a ’bittersweet’ layer.

"My ’fortress’, I truly would never wish for you to imagine or know."

"And yet you will tell me anyway, in time - because you ’can’t stand it’. Now, I think I’m going to place you back on the ground before you bite me."

A grip tightened momentarily on the silver suit before the heiress let go and slid to the floor herself. Her mint eyes meet Qat’s with a bit of her usual mischief returning along with their luster.

"You fed me plenty in the Feast earlier, husband-wife, so I think I can refrain from that. Well then, there are other things we need to discuss. Remember that box I was so insistent on locking away?"

The blonde nodded at her. She hadn’t looked inside but remembered the look on Yatrel’s face and the way she ordered El’s attendant.

"What about it?"

"It contains tools - surgical ones. For use on cultivators. They’re made of Negavigor alloy."

The widened pigeon blues proved how ubiquitous the term was.

"Negavigor? But that’s-"

"Highly regulated and potentially very dangerous in the wrong hands? Yes, exactly. Someone gifted us - or more specifically me - a set of tools that could set me up for a spectacular public fall if they are not handled appropriately."

"That’s why the locked chest."

Before Elua could respond she felt her personal servant burst into her relatively evenly spread spiritual sense. Turning her gaze the way she was coming from, she saw that her arms were laden with many canvas sheets - and looking out of breath as if she’d hastened the entire way up the steps.

’I wish she would learn the difference between tasks that need done quickly and those that I wanted her to take time on.’

The illusionist took a few steps while adjusting what the outside world could see and dispersing her Vacuum Layer cocoon. The servant stumbled to a halt before the newlyweds while heaving with audible exertion. The canvas sheets rustled in her arms, almost falling out and onto the ground.

"Y-young miss, I’ve brought what you requested. Where would you like-"

Elua raised a hand in front of the servant’s face to cut off her out of breath questioning.

"Just set them down on the table for now, please. We’ll deal with wrapping the rest of the gifts later."

The woman hastened to comply... and the heiress was beginning to regret using the word vacation to motivate her. With a sigh, she threw the woman into one of her ’daydreams’ while sealing the area off again.

"Now, where were we?"

"El, we need to figure out who sent that gift... and why."

For certain reasons, Qat was much more interested in this problem than the Starbloom sabotage. Her cute wife’s lips spread into a ’humorless’ smile.

"I know, but we can’t do anything too overt like question all the attendees. If word got out that we have Negavigor in our possession..."

When alloyed properly into tools as they were, the normally brittle metal could serve a specific medical use. After all, it strongly repels physical energy... which is pretty necessary when trying to actually cut into a cultivator who might be subconsciously *against* having that done to them. Hence the first big issue in the cultivation backwater with their techniques mostly focused towards one energy...

’Daggers tipped with it could be used for much easier assassinations against physical cultivators. Though that was less of an issue in my time, it was really...’

The second big - and similar - problem with the substance was that, in its raw form, it could essentially act as cultivator poison. Lacing their food would eventually corrupt their ability to draw in physical energy at all - stagnating them in the rare best cases and declining them in the usual worst.

"There is a process to contact the Opal Scale Guild and find out who approved their release. If it was on purpose, someone there will be expecting it. If not... then it would still be better to tell them I have it now, with a certification stamped in my name."

Qatrand’s jaw clenched tight, with ’anger’ sparking and firing across the tendrils of her spirit. The reaction intrigued the small bride. She’d never seen the tall girl upset in this way!

"They’re trying to control you. To hold this over your head. Let me deal with this."

The primal part of the ancient cultivator wanted to swoon at her ’protection’ being handled by her husband-wife - but the logical, scheming overlay could calculate that there was something off about just how gung-ho Qat was being.

The brunette’s voice dropped to a whisper... and in the coastal breeze her words became almost part of the rustle of metallic fabric from their formal wear.

"Control, is it? If so, it’s a clever move, I’ll give them that. But they underestimate me... ’us’."

The heiress reached out, using her small fingers to brush against the swordswoman’s cheek. Alongside the tender physical gesture, she sent spiritual pulses of ’safe’ and ’content’ into the irritated and constricting energy around her. The swordswoman leaned into the touch in both forms - her spirit perfectly willing to be coaxed by her El.

"It’s alright. We’ll figure this out together, Qat. But for now, keep up appearances while mulling it all over. It’s the way of a proper scheming cultivator, love."

"I’m not one of those, El."

"I know, darling. But sometimes, behind perfected smiles and what others see as our ’normal’ behavior are where one needs to operate. At least until we can bring the truth to light... or set up enough traps to not fear the darkness."

The blonde nodded. Her pigeon blue eyes opened more and locked with the mint that meant so much. ’Resolve’ stiffened her spirit as she brought a hand over the one on her face.

"Alright. But El..."

"Hm?"

"Promise me you won’t go solve this alone. I want to stand by your side, no matter what."

Elua finally couldn’t take it anymore and the weight of her spirit surged. The force of it nearly stole all of her beloved’s breath. She leaned forward, resting her forehead against Qatrand’s chest.

"I promise. For eternity, I promise to stand with you."

The monotone words hung in the night air as a vow fully as binding as the ones they had exchanged hours ago. Muscle-clad arms tightened around the Goltbred as the Yecine recovered from the spiritual shock. The soft glow of the nearby Starbloom flowers cast an ethereal sheen around the pair of lovers.

Feeling a little mischievous despite her state, the illusionist freed the servant. The woman hovered nearby awkwardly, realizing that she had been thinking about going to visit her family on her break... and that her charge decided to embrace her new husband in front of her anyway!

The heiress pulled away and the swordswoman let her shift out of her arms - though kept her palm braced against the girl’s back as she turned. Her ’innocence’ slipped back into place as she addressed the woman trying to watch them out of the corner of her eye.

"Thank you for your hard work. Why don’t you retire for the night? It’s been a long day for all of us."

The servant bowed with ’relief’ tangible in her spirit. She was exhausted after running down, up, down, and up again! It was also growing cold. The venue was very beautiful, but it was not entirely friendly to mortals.

"Thank you, young miss - and... congratulations, again. To both of you."

As the woman took her leave, the smaller teenager turned back to the older one. She smiled at her, enjoying the last felicitations they would receive for the day. Then she walked over for the last truly important task.

Over a few minutes - and under the protective watch of her ’fortress’ - she carved sigils into the gift holding chest. With a dramatic flick of her wrist, she also sealed the box containing the Negavigor tools.

"There. That should keep everything safe. Help me move everything on the table, that way we won’t worry about them either."

Qatrand nodded at her and approached the pile of canvas. Her gaze lingered a moment on the chest before the newlyweds started to drag the items from the pile of other gifts. Their hands moved steadily until everything was bundled, the four corners tied up to make three giant bags.

’I guess I shouldn’t carry all of those down on my own...’

While lamenting her ’weak’ persona and the inability to act as an experienced physical Primalist, a hand stretched around and covered her eyes.

"Now that all the work is taken care of... I believe I promised to watch the stars with my cunning fairy."

’No, that’s not right either.’

While Qat mulled over her second attempt at a unique way of calling her El, the promise of a sharing the night meditating under the watch of so many distant suns warmed the reincarnator’s chest. She was also catching on to what her precious gem might be doing... and ’giggled’ before grabbing onto the fingers in her face and peeling them softly away.

"Lead the way, gallant warrior. Find us a worthy spot to soothe your fairy’s tired heart."

Fingers twining together, they ventured into the night toward the edge that overlooked the coastline. The night sky glittered like scattered gems. The weight of the Negavigor gift, the sabotage, and almost the entirety of their future was temporarily set aside.

’I hope she’ll like my wedding gift, even if it was decided on a whim~’