The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 78 - Family Trees: Everyone Has One

Chapter 78: Chapter 78 - Family Trees: Everyone Has One

Yatrel er Goltbred sat at the desk in her study... turning a small, intricately carved sphere in her hands. The anti-pest ritual prototype which Elua had created fascinated her. She marveled at the seeming simplicity of the sigils etched into its surface that served as a testament to her daughter’s growing skills.

She also took note that this time, its mechanisms weren’t as *hidden* as those healing jewels.

Her thoughts drifted to the changes she’d observed in the girl over the past weeks. Their eldest seemed more... settled, somehow. Less prone to restlessness. It felt like it began even before the bridal traditions she had to undergo at the Yecine estate.

Mint eyes turned half-lidded with a soft smile after attributing the change to the two orphans Elua had taken under her wing.

’It’s good she’s found friends her age. Even if she feels the need to pay for their company.’

Her line of sight cut to the side at her next thought and she chuckled. She couldn’t help but remember her own awkward attempts at friendship in her youth. If she’d had the money to make the people she liked to talk to stick around more, she might have used it the same!

Her mind then turned to Qatrand. The Yecine boy had been spending more time at the estate for a while now. First to visit Onya like she suggested and now to seek more of the attention of the young heiress. Yatrel couldn’t help but notice the positive effect both had on Elua.

The gifts to her baby sister were welcome, even if the doll was a particularly odd choice. There was also an increasing softness in her daughter’s eyes when she looked at her betrothed. Knowing about her claimed ’facade’, the gentleness that seemed ever more genuine warmed Yatrel’s heart.

’That boy is good for her - and she’s good for him. I never thought I’d be so fond of a Yecine.’

Affection washed over her. Agreeing to the arrangement because of her husband’s wishes didn’t turn out to be a mistake. The sound of footsteps tapping rapidly down the hallway interrupted her reverie. Elua burst into the ’private’ room with her familiar eyes bright with excitement.

"Mother! I need a favor. Could you invite Qat over? They probably won’t give permission because of what I did. But... but I heard from a servant that something arrived for Father, and I think I know what it is."

Amused by her daughter’s enthusiasm - but mildly concerned about her having *done something* that prevented the Yecine boy from venturing out - she held her cheek in her palm.

"Something arrived? What might that be?"

The girl’s eyes sparkled with obvious mischief. This was another recent change. She’d stopped hiding everything behind her sweet behavior and made it more obvious when she was provoking a reaction from the residents of the estate.

’You’d think it would make me feel better knowing it is coming...’

"If you don’t know yet, then it’s a surprise. But I promise, it’s something special. An experience for all of us... including Onya."

Her mother nodded.

"Alright, I’ll send for Qatrand to arrive for an official purpose. But you’ll have to satisfy my curiosity soon over why you can’t send a request yourself, young lady."

The brunette beamed before rushing off again... presumably to find Ondua and avoid a lecture. Yatrel shook her head fondly. Whatever her daughter was planning, it was clear it meant a great deal to her.

And if it involved both Qatrand and Onya, well... perhaps it was another step towards truly uniting their families. The boy certainly needed to feel more connected with them! Though she was wondering what her husband had been getting up to behind her back...

She poke at the ritual sphere on her desk and stood. As she made ready to dispatch a messenger to the Yecine estate, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of actual anticipation. Whatever surprise they had in store, the duelist was certain it would be memorable.

---

The sun dappled through the leaves of the trees at the edge of the Goltbred estate gardens. Elua led her ’fortress’ to a quiet corner - a secluded spot where a small patch of earth had been freshly tilled. Ondua was waiting for them, cradling a small sapling while his wife stood nearby holding a gurgling Onya.

"Father brought this from his homeland. It’s the same type of tree they planted after I was born."

The brunette man nodded with an expression unsubtly wistful. His fingers brushed the vibrant green leaves. He imagined his own may have been cut down after he disappeared.

"It’s a tradition where I came from. The tree grows up alongside the child, symbolizing the place of their roots and their reaching potential that entwines with their surroundings."

He carefully handed the sapling to Elua and Qatrand. The teenager’s fingertips brushed as they accepted it together. She turned to Qatrand, her mint eyes shimmering with love and anticipation.

"This is a ’growing tree’ from dad’s homeland. It’s a special variety that they say grows in time with the child it’s planted for, a living symbol of their progress and potential."

"I’ve never heard of such a thing. Is it... is it really possible?"

An awkward smile with eyes moved toward her father nearby instantly made Qat understand. Chuckles sounded from in front of them as Ondua stepped forward. His hand rested lightly on the shoulder of his eventual son-in-law.

"It merely grows quite fast. Yatrel and I planted one for Elua when she was born. It’s that grand specimen on the north side of the estate now."

Pigeon blue eyes widened. She’d seen the big tree and never would have imagined it was only thirteen years old. Fingers moved again to touch the skin of her arm and she tilted her head back towards the brunette girl.

"This is a tree that will grow with her, a reminder of the love and support that surrounds her. I thought you might like to be part of planting one for Onya with us. You’ll be her official family soon and one of those supports."

Her gaze met the blonde. Knowing that she’d caused a little trouble recently, She’d been trying to think of a way to make up for whatever punishments the swordswoman might have endured in the illusionist’s place.

’What could be a better gift than helping give one?’

She knew that not everyone felt the same way. The Silversky merchant certainly never did, but she paid him well for locating materials for her to craft things with. Like Qat’s sword or the mobile for the little ’river bend’.

"Indeed you will, my dear. The wedding is drawing closer... and your fiancee has been incessantly asking after the dress fitting."

Yatrel stepped closer to join them with a teasing twinkle in her eye as she held a squirming Onya. Qat chuckled at her revelation that wasn’t that surprising.

"I haven’t asked that much! It’s only been around a sixth of the times I’d thought about asking."

No one spoke for a number of quiet moments.

"W-well. If the two of you don’t mind..."

They knelt together by the prepared earth at the father’s urging. Small hands so often occupied lately with sigils and leather now held firm at the base of the young tree. Stronger looking ones more accustomed to the grip of a sword than a plow scooped the prepared rich soil around the roots of the sapling.

As they worked, Ondua babbled stories of his homeland. He painted vivid pictures of lush forests and their towering trees. His daughter listened politely for the umpteenth time while gauging her husband-wife’s first-time reaction. She had seemed enthralled with the two locales she’d shown in her illusion.

’Perhaps one day it will be easier to convince her to travel than I thought?’

The sun began to set while they stood back to admire their handiwork. The sapling stood upright and proud as a promise of growth and resilience. Onya giggled and reached out at the plant, though her tiny hands grasped only at the air.

Elua twined her fingers with Qatrand’s while watching her sibling. A sense of ’peace’ and ’contentment’ settled over the intensity of her spirit. With the love of her entire life by her side and the symbol of their family’s future before them, the usual weight of her past and the uncertainties of the future seemed to fade away.

The tall girl reached an arm that spun and tightened around the shorter’s back. The fragment resting inside her seemed to be caressed by a silent promise as they hugged. The couple shared a moment that felt almost as if the roots of their love sank deeper and stronger.

"You know... we might want to plant a few more of these nearby someday. For children that might come sooner than you think."

"Are you pregnant again?"

Yatrel stared at the tall blonde haired boy that softly asked the sincere question in return to her attempt to tease them... then she raised an eyebrow and shifted the stare to her eldest daughter. She remembered having to explain her daughter’s ’condition’ to him the other day, but the woman didn’t really understand that her son-in-law was always slow in these matters!

"I believe she was referring to us. She’s saying that they want a forest planted to represent the many children we will conceive together."

The brunette man covered his ears with his hands and began to grumble repeatedly about how they were all ruining his ceremony. He understood that - just like the small plant before them all - the two’s love was a living, growing thing. That did not mean the ideas of pollination needed to be planted quite so firmly in his mind!

Qatrand’s spirit wavered with a slew of emotions. There was surprise, warmth, and a clear amount of *uncertainty*. Elua’s lips curved into a ’knowing’ smile. She would have to explain to her husband-wife someday about the greater realities of same-sex childbirth available to cultivators.

’But not too soon. It’s already hard to control myself. What would I do if she said she wanted a baby?’

She made the mistake of picturing it!

"El? Are you okay?"

"F-fine! I was just thinking... that I wanted to thank you. For being here - for being part of this with us."

The swordswoman squatted and pressed a gentle kiss to the heiress’s temple. She exhaled audibly while the tendrils of her spirit tightened their ’protection’ over that... ’hunger’. Ever since the fragment was pulled deep inside... she’d begun to wonder if that wasn’t what the energy - that seemed to have a mind of its own - was always doing.

Trying to attach and pull the entire girl to hide her whole being safely inside herself.

"It was an honor, El. It’s a beautiful idea."