The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 168 - Straight Faced Sentiment, Dream State Mastery, And The Patient Ogre

Chapter 168: Chapter 168 - Straight Faced Sentiment, Dream State Mastery, And The Patient Ogre

The hero of the last Descent sighed. Ondua felt a little put upon for being subjected to hearing even a single sentence about his once pure and *innocent* daughter’s private intimacies. It didn’t matter if what they did was the definition of chaste, it just forcefully reminded him that some day it would not be!

’And someday even my newest little one-’

His voice broke a little with genuine, if misplaced, bitter emotions.

"You could have told us first you were having trouble sleeping."

"Could I? I didn’t want to worry anyone. I was also going through some other things... that I thought I was handling and was causing it. I expected that it would be fine."

The ’real’ adult form of the heiress spoke it like it was just fact. The mirror version, meanwhile, had tilted her head with a slightly ’self-mocking’ smile. For some reason - likely the more mature face - the man noticed how much the heiress reminded him of Yatrel when she was down on herself.

’Minus the choking me part. Should I be grateful for that difference? It feels wrong to have to be grateful not to be physically assaulted by your own progeny.’

Despite his wandering thoughts, his voice became gentler as he stressed two points.

"Except it’s not fine now, is it? Your husband is concerned."

At the mention of Qatrand, the mirror’s expression softened into something less ’planned’. The full form’s fingers tightened on an object she suddenly held.

"Qat... makes it hard not to be very honest."

"But you don’t feel that way with us?"

There was hurt in his soft question, though he tried to hide it. The mirror version’s eyes shut and when they opened wouldn’t meet his gaze. However, the other one didn’t shift at all. Her dull eyes met him without the same signs of reservation.

"It’s not that I don’t trust you and mother. You both are very understanding of how I’ve acted. Honesty is simply... a risk."

"We’re your parents. We only want to help."

Ondua protested immediately. He really couldn’t understand.

"I know. That makes it harder sometimes, but not enough."

"Why?"

He wondered if they had done something while raising her that made her like this. For the life of him he couldn’t imagine what it was, but placing the blame on himself felt more appropriate than judging his daughter. Even if she was the one being so guarded.

"I told you that I want to be what you see."

The emotionless Elua gestured to her reflection smiling weakly at him.

"But wanting that does mean I am... different from it. I can admit that I’m afraid now that Qat pointed it out. I still think that if you witnessed who I am, you might love me less. Isn’t that fear a good reason to keep quiet?"

Ondua stepped forward wanting to reach for both versions but unable to touch either. Because the distance didn’t seem to close as he tried. He lowered his hand into a fist in frustration that this was a Dream and subject to the girl’s subconsciousness. Of course if she is feeling ’distant’ something like this would happen!

"Nothing could make us love you less. You’re our daughter."

"Am I really? I have an appreciation for both of you as well, but there are times I feel like a stranger who snuck into your warm home."

The monotone carried a distinct weight of meaning behind it. Since before the wedding she had been growing more comfortable exposing more of her original personality. However, she had always been careful with the guise that her knowledge was prodigious.

The reincarnator understood that she went a little far in the branch construction scheme and that Yatrel must be getting suspicious. Planting another seed through her husband seemed to be a good idea. Though she had no plans to tell them any details of her past life any time soon.

"You’re not a stranger. I held you in my arms just after you were born. I watched you take your first steps and heard your first words. You were there... and we were there. If you felt you were so apart from us, why would you include trees for your parents?"

He gestured at more of the dreamscape around them.

"All of this? These sigils and shadows. The person you put on that throne. The knowledge you’ve gained. The person you want to become... it is all a part of our daughter."

He started trying to walk closer again, even knowing it would probably fail. Because the moment it started working he would have finally gotten through to her!

"You’re the same little girl who asked me to reach for the books from the high part of our shelves. Who found herself a favorite spot to study them. The child I caught reading by candlelight past her bedtime."

The brunette woman decided not to interrupt his spiel right now. She could always tell him at a later date, if she ever had to divulge her actual Astralism... that the girl he gently put to bed so often when she was younger was an illusion.

’If I got tired I would lay down on my own! I may have been a child, but my mind was still that of an adult.’

The facade representation frowned wildly at his persistent walking in place. It wasn’t *that* tiring to make it his ’reality’, but it required concentration. While they technically were in a dream, she had put herself in a state that her subconscious wasn’t actually controlling any of it that he could see.

"The sweet child who charmed our servants. The exceptional thinker who surprises her mentors. Even this... this duality you struggle with. It’s all part of who you are."

He motioned to the two sides before stopping in place and leveling a firm look

"Whoever you need to be... whoever you feel you are or who you want to be. We’ll love every version of you, daughter."

A flicker of something seemed to cross the ’emotionless’ Elua’s face. The corners of her eyes twitched along with a deep purse of her lips. It was so brief he thought he might have imagined it.

"Like I said, someone’s trying to manipulate my dreams. I don’t know if they’re searching for something or trying to weaken me. But I won’t let them succeed."

"Let us help. Let *me* help. My Dream Astralism-"

Ondua pleaded, but she cut him off again. This time with an action. He found the arms of the young woman embracing around his shoulder tightly as she floated a little off the ground.

"Would you believe me if I said I know more about what I’m doing than you think?"

The tone remained flat while her hand patted his back in a comforting gesture.

"I can solve this problem on my own. You’re kind to worry. Frustratingly so."

Ondua looked between his grown up daughter giving him a hug - and the odd mirror above her head. The only one with a readable expression was pouting. A little understanding dawned.

He wasn’t being asked to solve the problem... but he was being asked to trust that she could. It wasn’t easy to give up the desire to fix an issue for his independent little one. But showing that he believed in her didn’t even require a leap of thought.

"Will you at least tell us immediately if it gets worse? Let us know if you need anything... even if it’s just someone to watch over your sleep."

He asked her softly. Both versions of his daughter regarded him silently for a long moment... almost growing to look the same. Then, surprisingly, the emotionless one’s lips curved into the barest suggestion of the same kind of smile as the one in the mirror.

"I’ll consider it. Thank you, father."

The mirror version beamed at him, but the person actually holding onto him felt more genuine. Ondua couldn’t help but chuckle at the contrast. He felt a familiar shift in the atmosphere of the dreamscape... the signs of a mind on the edge of waking up.

"I should go, dear. Thank you for speaking with me about this, even if I had to force the issue."

As his sense of the dreamscape began to fade, Ondua caught one last glimpse of what his daughter thought she would grow into. He planned to give the details to his wife. His form began to fade like the mist from dew dispersing in the morning sun.

The crystalline throne - and the occupant she refused to make visible to herself - dissolved with him. The shadowy figures at the edges of the grand hall surged and ate away the walls.

The moment he was fully gone, her hands shot out and seized the mirror above her head. The luminous sigils that had been dancing through the air in the distance sped toward her. They arranged themselves in precise geometric patterns around the object to contain it.

Her grip, fueled by the anger she had kept in check all these ’dreaming’ minutes tightened on it until a spider web of cracks spread across the shiny surface that showed her snarling facade.

It shattered and the pleasant silver edged frame started glinting with gold as the shards darkened to obsidian. The fragments didn’t fall but hung suspended within the sigil cage as it rebuilt itself on its own.

"Well now... I can’t just tell that silly dad that he helped me out by making me put myself in this state, now can I? That would just embolden him to meddle more."