Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 221: Wish Upon a Star

I might have found a more circumspect way to inform her, I was supposed to be part of an embassy staff after all. But I was of the rip the bandage off fast approach to delivering news. Better to get it over with, so my delivery of her probably pregnancy was delivered in the same manner a grenade being tossed within a room was, and it had about the same effects.

Both women reacted instantly to my words, one with anger, one in fear. The screaming and wailing that erupted at my pronouncement was proof why news like this was better delivered by someone of the same sex. I think it was true that some men were empathetic enough to have this kind of frank discussion calmly; I was obviously not one of those kinds of men.

I wondered if Belisama was disappointed in me. Strange that this was the first time I considered what She might have thought about my actions. I hadn't worried about what She felt when I was lost to both anger and vengeance.

Manju was so angry she began hitting me. Both women's raised voices woke the children, all the children including those that had just been born. As they joined the dichotomy of sound and confusion by adding their voices of anger and fear to the mix, panic set in. No man likes to be confronted with women and children crying, no matter the cause. Fear spread on the wind of their tears, and I admit I almost took the coward's way out and retreated at that point.

But there were dozens of children, more than Saanvi's children who had already discovered their ability to shift, and their inability to control those shifts. As they changed from one form to another, their cries morphed. The wailing of children, the bleating of a horse, the hiss of a snake began to pierce the despair that Saanvi was experiencing. Normally, she and Manju would have moved to comfort the children, but they were too entrenched in their own emotions.

They wouldn't have known how to stabilize the shift anyway, Saanvi had not grown up Kelpie, and Manju had become a Brownie changeling. But I remembered, I had watched and learned as the Herd dealt with these issues. That was another benefit of being Kelpie. The young had an entire Herd of parents to support them, people willing to step in and help raise every child born because each new child was considered a gift.

It meant that the technique the Kelpie used for locking a child into a specific form was shared among everyone, something that we just came to understand and experience as we grew. The process was simple enough; I activated my own skill to shift into the form I wanted to lock the children into, then extended that choice to the children.

It was like forming a bridge, one constructed with using my soul as a building material. Until I withdrew or opened that newly created bridge, their shifting skill would be under my control. Training them in control would be easier since they were still toddlers, they hadn't created a firm grasp of identity. All anyone involved in their training would need would be the same practices and patience that all of young required.

I didn't even wonder why Fairy hadn't given them the same control as Saanvi had been gifted, Fairy demanded balance, and it would have been unfair to give them better control than anyone else their age. These young boys had as much control as comparable Kelpie of the same age. If Fairy had given them control from the beginning, they would miss out on much of what it meant to be Kelpie.

Manju was lost to anger and fear. So lost to anger, that she was beginning to give in to the more frightful nature of her species.

"Enough," I shouted loud enough to be heard above the crying.

"Manju! Stop! You are about to go Bogart!

"If you don't gain control, you will change. And as a Bogart you will lose all reason, you won't be able to control yourself and you will slaughter every child in this room.

"You will force our hand; we will have to kill you to save these children.

"Will you waste the sacrifice you made to protect your mistress and her children because you can't control your emotions?" I demanded.

A brownie Bogart was to be feared by all Sidhe. Those lost to that madness had destroyed an entire community before they were killed or released from the madness. It was a last-ditch effort used by some of the higher Ranked. A nuclear option when all was lost. A strategy by the highly Ranked, to use the madness and power of a Bogart to destroy everything.

"Put aside your anger and fears long enough to look after the children. They are scared enough as it is, and probably hungry after last night's events."

My words shocked her enough that she was able to gain control, I watched as sanity returned and she realized that the creche had dissolved into a room full of crying children. I had both of Saanvi's children locked in Seelie's form, but they were still screaming in fear. Their cries reverberating around the room as the other babies continued to join in the confusion and fear.

Manju, restored to sanity was quick to respond, she had been angrier on behalf of another, so was able to respond and remember her duties quickly. As she rushed to Saanvi's children, clutching them tightly in hugs, she began interjecting soothing words with a flurry of calming kisses.

It gave me time to move among the nursery, extending glamour and aura to soothe the rest of the creche. The newly born began settling down, their tears and cries having exhausted them until I was able to restore peace and calm them back into sleep. They should have slept for a few hours more, a function of Fairy until their parents woke naturally. I wasn't certain, but I had a feeling that parents that had been lost in exhausted sleep had just been jolted awake, notified by System and Fairy that they were now parents and their children were in need.

The creche was about to be swamped by concerned parents, here to claim their children, to look upon this gift of Fairy. I took a second before they arrived to give my blessing. As a Peace-maker of Belisama, even one that had failed so badly, I was still able to give a God-father's blessing, magic awarded to those people that paid some part in a child's birth or conception.

I was one of the lynchpins of the ritual that sent out the call to Fairy and gave life to the Sithern, and for these first children, created by the mingling of energies during orgy and revel, I was within my right to give a blessing.

Extending my Aura, I included each of these new sparks of possibility, these gifts from Fairy, and made my wish. A blessing of virtue. All the greatest virtues. I sent my prayers to Danu, Cyronax, Belisama, Beleros, Lugh, Brighid, and Dagda asking for the virtues of faithfulness, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.

I invested as much of myself, of my life experiences as I could into that prayer, sacrificing my pain and despair to make sure those emotions would not taint or contaminate my wish.

I felt the magic of Fairy stir; the Divine give credence to my wish and the magic that was mine to hold for this one rare occurrence spread and take root. Everyone in the room, including Saanvi, Manju, Ishaan, and Hiran was included as my wish was granted.

It was not long before Manju had Ishaan and Hiran laughing at her antics. Children are reliant, the changes to form and shape that Manju and Saanvi observed in the children had not affected the children as they observed those same changes in the people that cared for them, that loved them. There was a disconnect between what they expected and knew and what was real.

Manju and Saanvi had undergone changes of their own, even more drastic, when it came to a height in Manju's case, but speech and gestures remained constant. Their voices had not changed, the way they acted and responded to the children still comforting. Even Saanvi, who had taken a moment longer to compose herself, wiping her tears and snot from her face, was at heart the same woman. The person they recognized as a mother. And once she had managed to brace herself long enough to fall back on the comfort of the morning routine, all was right in the children's limited worldview.

I admitted to relief and wonder. Men had been dealing with upset wives and children from the beginning of time, and I was beginning to believe that ability required them to level System skills that increased patience.

For me, I was simply happy that the children had managed to divert the attention of the two women from dealing with Saanvi's pregnancy. Their demands giving me a reprieve from the harsh interrogation that I was certain to be subjected to. I sent a swift word of thanks to Fairy that Manju hadn't donated energy to create a child of her own.

I was further saved from the women's anger and vitriol when my M-AI activated demanding my attention. The incoming call was from Lord Clive, and I was able to use his Rank as I excused myself to another room to take the call. I had barely connected, the hologram still forming when he began his own brand of anger and indignation.

"Would you care to explain why the Sidhe embassy bears no resemblance to a pyramid?" He demanded.

"Vagaries of Fairy," I responded half joking half serious, not surprised that the Sithern had refused to adopt Egyptian architecture.

"Explain," he ordered ignoring my attempt at levity.

"It was a mistake on our part to design a consulate that resembled a pyramid, in the first place," I began. "Derva is a world claimed by the Hindu Pantheon. Modeling our embassy on Egyptian architecture would have been an insult to those Gods.

"Fairy tasted this world's energy and adapted what we had intended to what would be appropriate. It created a building based on the Pancharatha style of architecture. The embassy itself contains all the elements of that kind of temple, including an ardh-mandapa, Mandapa, Maha-Mandapa, Antarala, and Garbhagriha."

"The actual form of the building isn't my concern," Lord Clive said interrupting me from detailing what Fairy had created. "It's the sculptures!"

I hadn't had a chance to examine them extensively, but even my brief walk to Saanvi's quarters had given me enough perspective to understand what he meant. Instead of the depictions of Vishnu or any of the other Hindu Pantheon, the walls, columns, and shrine had been decorated with figures and events that pertained to the Tuatha de Danaan.

Nature Gods and Goddesses were rife with life and death, and those events were highlighted in some of the most prominent sculptures. If the events of last night orgy could have been enshrined by an artist capable of resisting the call to feast and fuck, then the art that was now placed for all to see might have been what was depicted.

"I admit the building may not be the neutral edifice we were aiming for, but then if politics hadn't forced us to get innovate in order to satisfy treaties demand, Fairy might not have responded to the insult that had been offered our people in such an artful manner," I suggested.

"Speak with the Sithern," I added, "explain your grievances and see if it will change to reflect something more auspicious to the host planet."

"That's another problem," Lord Clive said his voice verging on frigid. I knew whatever it was he was about to say was the real crux of his anger.

"Why does the Sithern claim that it has bonded with you? It refuses to respond to my directives, except to say that your claim to this dimension has been System approved."