The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 79 - Feasting On Limited Conceptions

Chapter 79: Chapter 79 - Feasting On Limited Conceptions

The baby reached out fascinated by the leaves of the young tree. However, having had her own hair pulled... Yatrel made sure that her child could not damage her family’s work. Ondua beamed at the sight of his youngest... *willfully* oblivious to the complexities behind the teenager’s reactions.

Elua and Qatrand remained to bask in the tranquil moment even after the reddish-blonde haired woman took her youngest back inside. The brunette man chose not to linger more than another minute after that, but reminded his daughter that dinner would be served soon.

They stood in the comfortable silence of an embrace and watched rays of sunlight filtering through the rustling canopies of larger trees. The blonde’s mind wandered to her eventual mother-in-law’s comment. An uncertain mix of emotions began to swirl in her spirit and she hesitated to ask a question.

"El, about what your mother said... about children..."

Mint eyes looked up and they became listless - yet with a hint of ancient knowledge. Her spirit shimmered with ’understanding’ and ’assurance’.

"There are possibilities you might not yet know of and we have time, my love. There are still years ahead until I am in my prime."

Qat nodded at her - not fully understanding... but trusting in El’s words. It shot some kind of ’relief’ through her that she hadn’t known she needed. As well as an unexpected energy!

She reached and lifted the cute girl into her arms and spun twice before another gentle kiss was left on her fiancee’s temple. Rigid tendrils that had been enveloping the smaller girl danced a little more freely as the swordswoman pondered aloud.

"I see. Perhaps we could plant an entire grove someday. A tree here for each member of this family - present and future."

The facade shattered the rest of the way despite how her heart swelled at the thought. A manifestation of their growing family... and the casual ease with which the tall girl practically admitted to wanting her children! She breathed out while leaning her forehead into her husband-wife’s muscle-taut shoulder before speaking in her monotone.

"I’d like that."

Twilight was settling over the garden as she was held close. Knowing their spirits were more connected than ever, the brunette *clawed* for something else to talk about.

"The one they planted for me still stands. I used to spend hours reading beneath it on days I wasn’t at the Youth Guild."

She didn’t know what caused her to become so ’jubilant’ and ’shy’ - or how that was even possible as a combination - but the Yecine accepted her emotionless voice and its words with a curious tone.

"What kind of books caught your interest back then?"

A soft sigh brushed her neck as the girl repositioned a bit.

"Anything I could get my hands on. I had a particular fondness for old legends and cultivation theory. Trying to learn everything that has changed."

"That makes sense. Hey, El. I could probably stand here holding you all night, but they’ll-"

’HNNG!’

"-probably, uh... what was that?"

The best way that Qatrand could describe the sensation that just ran through her, courtesy of the fragment in her chest, would be that the cute girl’s spirit had ’folded over’ on itself. Like something had struck it, before ’noise’ squealed as it burst out into a thinner than usual spiritual field. The weakened intensity felt of ’fullness’ and ’fawning’... before that too collapsed down and everything returned to her more intense ’normal’.

"I haven’t the slightest clue what you are talking about."

Listless mint eyes would not meet the searching pigeon blues. However, the other teenager had not needed such a cue to know that she was lying... or that she was ’embarrassed’.

"O-okay. I was going... to say that they’ll probably come looking for you to go eat dinner if I don’t get you back-"

"I won’t eat a bite if you don’t join us."

The Yecine’s face blanked. She couldn’t say this time that that was a lie!

"Very well. I’d love to join your family for dinner again at your estate. It has been a while."

Without even bothering to try and set her back to the ground - knowing that in this mood she would more likely ’refuse to walk on her own’... Qat walked away while holding her betrothed to her chest. The reincarnator stared past the tall girl’s shoulder toward the sapling that was getting further away.

’One day, we’ll bring our own children here. To plant their trees alongside Onya’s.’

---

The clinking of utensils against plates filled the Goltbred dining room along with occasional chatter. An heiress’s gaze swept over the assembled guests as she took a bite of her own food, her mint eyes gleaming with quiet observation and a little unhappiness.

’Just because some outsiders are here... we’ve already fed each other in public!’

The Yecine whose spirit was being needled by the cutely annoyed girl sat beside her, pigeon blue eyes darting curiously between the Talcres couple. She’d only been introduced quickly before they sat to eat and she hadn’t known that other people would be here!

Today, Meyran leaned forward while regaling Ondua with a tale from his latest Guild expedition. His animated gestures didn’t let on to something deeper - a pain at the younger generation’s presence carefully masked... but impossible to hide from Elua’s perceptive spirit. The man let out a hearty laugh.

"And then, if you can believe it, the sigil just... wiped away when she touched it!"

Ondua chuckled back while shaking his head in amazement.

"Remarkable! You know, that reminds me of a story someone once told me about-"

"Oh, speaking of remarkable cultivators..."

Yatrel interjected almost too obviously. She’d heard him and the man’s wife talk for an hour about Corde hez Iralev yesterday! Now it was the men blabbering. It would be nice to talk about her own family at her dinner table. Her gaze settled on her eldest... since their baby couldn’t exactly answer.

"How are those orphan friends of yours progressing, dear? The competition is drawing near, after all. They did plan to compete, yes?"

Their master displayed a ’confident’ smile.

"They are doing quite well, actually. Nohre’s focus on her spirit has yielded some tangible results and Fusand’s essence accumulation is improving daily. I think they can both reach Enchanter in all their Aspects at this rate."

While she spoke, the reincarnated cultivator noticed the posture of Zyris stiffen. The woman’s spirit striated with a blend of emotions - interest, longing, and... hesitation? The brunette started to muse at the answer to the riddle.

’Curious. She reacts to talk of cultivation progress much like she did to the mention of Onya’s ceremony. As I thought... the last time she was here, she looked pained in a certain way too - but not like him exactly.’

The Talcres husband in question had shifted attention to Onya. The baby sat in a high chair nearby... happily mashing her food under the eyes of a servant. The smile on his face was gentle, but Elua sensed the phantom distress that remained in his spirit - an undesirable echo of past losses that time had failed to fully heal.

She hated seeing it because it reminded her of her own failures. The Goltbred girl turned her focus back to the woman as she took another bite.

’Instead, hers is much more like I am feeling at seeing his spirit stunted this way. I’d figure a wife would be more interested and less hesitant, though. I suppose I’d need more information.’

"It’s wonderful to see young cultivators so dedicated. In my experience, balancing different aspects of cultivation can be quite challenging. It is hard to learn and keep motivation steady."

Zyris offered the statements warmly but they carried an undertone of... something. Regret? Qat couldn’t figure out what she was sensing through her connection with El.

"Indeed. Each path has its own unique obstacles. I’ve made sure to stress this to them... and that they can rely on me for advice whenever they needed it."

The ’sweet’ voice and face must have done too much to hide the sharp point in her own utterance... as the woman didn’t seem to react. Conversation continued to flow around her and mint eyes continued their careful observation. The Talcres couple presented a strong picture of marital harmony to outsiders.

But beneath the surface - well, that was where things got interesting. After all, both of them had been widowed in the past and both had two children each. Zyris’s children had moved to live with their father’s family across the continent at a young age. They hadn’t come back to her when the man died.

Meanwhile, Meyran’s children both died with his first wife during the Descent before last. He remained alone for many years after that, before eventually marrying the woman he met and worked well with at his Guild. With their combined professionalism, they grew ever more affluent.

’On the surface, it doesn’t sound so terrible.’

The only flaw in this was that they could have no more children, as it was. Because of their cultivation ranks, Meyran did have one more chance before he was stuck waiting to become a Primalist in all fields. Yet Zyris had remained at the Initial levels in essence since she was a young girl.

She would never be able to have the third baby with her second husband without becoming an essence Enchanter. Yet since the reincarnated cultivator last saw her... the woman seemed to have not advanced in the slightest.

’That seems highly unlikely. Is she holding it back intentionally? Why?’

Qatrand observed her fiancee’s pensive expression. While she didn’t fully grasp the underlying tensions the brunette seemed to be detecting, she could sense the ripples of her future wife and the way her spirit seemed to be reaching out to probe the people around them.

’She seems stuck and unhappy about something.’

Deciding she wanted to offer some form of comfort, the blonde leaned in closer to her El. She placed her hand briefly on the smaller girl’s thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"Hey, El... that dish you have there looks good. Could I maybe have a bite?"

The Goltbred glanced up in surprise at the unexpected request. She had already been turned down! Her mint eyes glittered as she nodded and speared her fork into the pasta, twisting and offering it to Qat. Elua watched the play of expressions on her face as she chewed - the subtle crease in her forehead at enduring the public display melting into a look of delight at the flavor.

The intimacy did not go unnoticed by the Talcres couple. Zyris’s gaze softened as she observed the young couple before her hand on the table was held. Beside her, Meyran’s eyes crinkled with a similar fondness, his spirit emanating a sense of peace and contentment.

The illusionist’s perceptive nature immediately picked up on the emotional shift. Where earlier there had been that shadow of ’unease and regret’, there was only ’affection and acceptance’ between the couple. For a few moments, at least.

’Strange. Their spirits seemed to align so perfectly, before that discord I felt slithered back to the surface...’

She made a mental note to continue observing the Talcres family. The mystery of their relationship and how it *hadn’t* collapsed needed to be unraveled! It could serve as a good reference. But for now, she allowed herself to be distracted into the simple pleasure of literally sharing her meal.

To the exasperation of her beloved.

’This was a mistake. I was already full...’