Chapter 793 – Parenting

Ten thousand men per individual communion, tiered, into seven distinct hierarchies. The rituals themselves are too large for an island, however they are runic diagrams with conglomerations of complexity in certain points. The goal is not to bring landmasses the sizes of small nations into space, the goal is to weave those landmasses and connect them through the principles of ritual magic.

The incomplete plane tests prove that the power comes through the connections themselves, the material is redundant to such a degree that if we could draw a weave on the air itself, it would still function. Theoretically, if the islands were linked up via rope or cable, and those ropes or cables had a flat edge with which the circle could be completed, they would function.

Ultimately, I have to disagree with Goddess Elassa’s initial estimate regarding the amount of mass that we send into orbit. The islands do not need to hold up a single flat sheet, they do not even need massive constructions holding them together. A skyscraper skeleton, rigid enough to not bend, and the integration of a single computer simultaneously keeping uniformity amongst the islands, should be enough.

Whereas the material costs would still be huge, we can estimate an elimination of three quarters of “ground” in the original plans. The empty space shall indeed live up to its name and become nothing but empty space.

- Excerpt from the “M.M.M. Discussions”. Internal Imperial Administrative Documentation. This part was credited to Baron Isaac Milnouth, representative of the Bureau of Infrastructure.

Arascus tapped his fingers along the table. His eyes went over the finished diagram that Elassa had sent over. There it was, the plans for the Million Man Miracle. The only description he could give to it was that it was a brutal piece of work. Elassa by herself would have been bad enough, but he could see Anassa’s influence over the whole diagram. The scale of it would have made Elassa feel dirty, the inefficiencies would still be getting worked on. The solution to the problem would not have been to just apply more force and split the ritual up into a hundred different parts.

And it would have come a decade too late if Elassa was actually forced to sit down and conceptualize a spell that would incinerate something the size of the Second Arc. It had been the right call to stick Anassa in as a partner on this project. At least they had something feasible to work with now.

And those plans were insane. Once, he had conceptualized the idea of the space ring to cast a spell over the entirety of ashen skies, but they were going to be building a web in space. A chain of webs rather. If they were drawn on paper, they would be a master’s work. Well, they were drawn on paper and they were a master’s work. Drawing them in ink would have been hard enough.

Arascus leaned back, at the very least, all of the rings were uniform. If they could build one, they could build more and start making them more efficient too. The actual application of the magic was something that he knew nothing about. Did rituals not require enchanted ink? He was certain that they did.

The design would have to be what had been originally proposed then. The floating islands themselves would be the hotspots of magical conflagration where the actual communions took place. The lattice network would then be what connected the communions together and made them into a hierarchy.

Arascus stared at the diagram with a cold glare. Now that he was actually working through it, it was not an impossibility. They would need massive amounts of everything, but the problem could be broken down into smaller parts. He took his phone and made the first note, to the Bureau of Infrastructure: By the end of tomorrow summon bridge architects comfortable in industrial applications. He stared at the message, then thought for a moment. In steel skeleton structure rather than in aesthetic design.Have them conglomerate…

Arascus thought for a moment. This was always the issue, wasn’t it. He could not believe that Helenna had actually been correct for once, and that the Imperial Palace was required, nay, mandatory, construction. They would need more rooms, they would need an entire city besides it, and a rail station and an airport too. And Helenna of all people had been correct. Arascus finished off the note: Assemble in Aris. He could get there by tomorrow morning. By evening, he would have written plans prepared for everyone.

Then the second note. To the Bureau of Magic, Elassa was too busy at this moment and it would have to be tested: You are permitted to work in assistance with the Bureau of Science and the Bureau of Manufacturing, design a system that will allow for deployment of massed magicians in space. Ideas have already been thought up of, do not make the mistake of trying to give everyone a spacesuit.

There. Arascus sent the note off, that was the right thing to say. He just had to guide them in the right direction and they would think up of something smarter than he ever could. A million spacesuits was too impractical a goal, ten thousand would be a stretch, a hundred thousand would be a logistical miracle already. These things lasted for a long time, and they were not too difficult to make, but they simply did not have the infrastructure for such things.

Arascus leaned back in his chair and thought of the next issue. Helenna was out there with her proclamations of Arda worship. She had not asked or said anything, but Arascus could see exactly that the Goddess of Love was trying to incarnate a new Divine, and one more powerful than all of them. She was getting more bold with her speeches.

The plan was atrocious, it was a gamble beyond anything else they had seen in the world, but it was a chance to seize. There would never be a more unified idea of Arda than what existed now. If they were to ever give this planet its own deity, then now was a time better than ever. It would happen eventually, Imperial propaganda on its own relied far too much on talking about Arda as an entity. Better now, when people worshipped for Arda to save them, then later, when they would be talking of Arda as the creation of all humanity.

He would not stop her.

At this point, they did need a miracle. Arascus sent no note to Helenna, she could do as she pleased. He did not get to the next note, which would have been to the ministry of culture. Instead, there was a knock on the door. Three rapid beats and then silence, only one person in the entire family gave that military knock to him. It was going to be Kassandora. “Come in!”

The Goddess of War entered in the same manner she always did. The door was practically thrust open, two short steps were taken, she turned, closed it behind her, then made a military march directly to Arascus’ table. “Are you busy?”

“No.” Arascus said. “I will be tomorrow but not today.”

“Then we have to talk.” Kassandora said it like a declaration. She looked as if she was about to shake ablaze with pride.

“Oh?” Arascus asked. “With Kavaa not here?” That was either tremendous news or terrible. Allasaria had been a risk. He knew that Kassandora and Alla had history, but he had not expected Kassandora to be there at the battle and for them to meet without supervision. Iri was there, thankfully, and Kassandora was an adult, but… But it still was not something that should have happened.

“We had a talk.” Kassandora began and sat in the chair. Arascus thought of giving her some whiskey but he decided against it. After, maybe, but even a blind man would be able to see something was going on. “And I decided I should come to you.”

“Go on.” Arascus pushed every possibility out of his mind. There were too many to choose from: either Kassandora wanted help to push Kavaa away without hurting her friend. Or maybe Allasaria had said something. Or Kassandora had gotten an idea that needed to be shot down and was catching herself. Or something else equally as perturbing. But he was here, and one thing he had learned having daughters was that whatever presumption he had, he would be wrong.

“Kavaa told me to come to talk to you.” Kassandora said suddenly with a sigh. “I don’t want to steal the credit from her, this was her idea.” Well already Kavaa was living up to the expectations Arascus had of her. It had to be serious then, and it have to be personal. A military matter, Kassandora would have not bothered to ask Kavaa for an opinion in the first place.

And whereas Arascus did not want his daughters to have issues, and most of them did not, he could say that there was a silent hope that they would come to him. Kassandora only came when she reached the end of her wits, and whenever that happened, everyone knew what was going on. Now though? He stared at the Goddess of War. That was not a woman at the end of the wits, that was for certain. “Then sit.” Arascus cleared the desk immediately. “Sit and talk and tell me about it.”

Kassandora took a deep breath of relief, she looked around the room and eventually settled in the armchair. “Can we sit here?” And who was he to deny such a better idea? Of course they would sit there! Arascus immediately moved to the chair opposite her. Inside him, he felt his stomach practically clench with an excitement he had not felt in years. He could not show it off though. Kavaa would get a reward, whatever the issue was. The fact that Kassandora had taken a pre-emptive step before one of her breakdowns and come to him meant they must have talked.

“Go at your own pace.” Arascus said, keeping his voice gentle. He saw Kassandora close her eyes and mumble some words. Well, she was still Kassandora. “Start somewhere else.” Arascus said. “When you got home after the battle, what did you do?”

She would have taken a shower first, if Arascus knew Kassandora. “I took a shower.” Kassandora said lightly. “I always do, I use Kavaa’s shampoo…” She blushed to herself. “Yeah, and then after me, she usually washes. Sometimes we switch, but usually, I go first.” This was always the hardest part that people failed at. The goal was to keep the talk rolling, but not to direct her in anyway.

“Clean off after a hard day.” Arascus said and Kassandora nodded.

“Then… me and her got to talking. We talk every day. It’s not really…” She blushed and looked down at her knees. “I mean, it is lazy, but it’s not. My soldiers have to sleep too and they work worse if they know I’m always standing above them. So that’s why we talk. I can’t… don’t say it’s lazy please.”

“It’s the worst part of this job.” Arascus turned and pointed to the desk with the stack of papers. “You fire and then you have to forget even though you can always reach for your shot. The more you fiddle with it, the worse it gets.” He thought for a moment. “It’s like drawing a smooth line, you just go once.”

Kassandora smiled to herself and nodded. “It’s like drawing a smooth line.” She repeated. “Exactly, so me and her talk. Today…” She sighed and laughed and Arascus smiled, leaning back into his chair. He had known that Kavaa and Kassandora would get along. The two were good for each other, there was no one else on this world who had a similar relationship with death as they did. Not even Neneria. To think his daughter was laughing about it. Kavaa needed to have her own palace as a reward. “Well, it was really about Allasaria.”

Kassandora stopped, Arascus said nothing and let her think. No reason to push right now. “I don’t know whether I like her or not.” Of War spoke in a stop-start fashion. “I mean, I’m in debt to her.” Kassandora stopped, looked to Arascus and he just rolled his hand to give her permission to speak. “She did protect me when I formed, that’s undeniable. So there’s that. I think everyone back then would have killed me. But…”

Kassandora shook her head. “It’s not really about Allasaria. I’m just annoyed. You know what she’s like, with all the talk of goodness and everything like that. The first century of my life was all like that and it makes an impact on you.” Kassandora paused, her eyes on Arascus. “Say something?”

“My opinion on Allasaria or on you?”

“Either? Both?”

“She is a proto-Ciria, they are cut from the same cloth. It’s an extremely annoying personality, Irinika knows how to deal with it though.” Arascus leaned back. “When you look at it like that, there’s something comforting about the fact we have Allasaria, and then almost a two thousand year gap, and then Ciria. These people are rare and they’re not getting more common.”

Kassandora stared at him for a few moments, then laughed. “I have no clue what I expected you to say but it was not that.”

“Well I’m not going to say that she’s annoying and argumentative in the same way I won’t bother stating that grass is green. It comes with the territory.” Kassandora burst out in laughter.

“Why does everyone say that?” She asked.

Arascus raised an eyebrow for comedic effect and gave her a flat look. It was about Allasaria, but it wasn’t though. “Are you serious?” He leaned forward. “If I had to say one thing about Allasaria that I would not about another Divine is that she is honestly stupid.” He let the moment hold for a moment and Kassandora smiled in the satisfaction. “It’s not about intelligence on a calculatory level. She does things and she does not think them through whatsoever. When she called in Tartarus, it was on a whim. When she called in Paradeisius, it was on a whim. Now, she has joined the Empire and I can certainly tell you that’s it on a whim but that’s my problem Kass.” He said. “It’s not really…”

He looked at her. “Well, it’s why I’ve assigned her to Irinika because Irinika is a dominating character. The woman does not let up and Allasaria needs to be cracked. A serious actor would engage with her.”

Kassandora was pure calculation. “We both know Irinika is a serious actor.”

“And that’s exactly why the farce she plays is so grating.” Arascus said. “And Allasaria is incapable of seeing through it, so it will be even worse on her.” He paused, realising they were getting off topic. If Kassie wanted to just talk, then that was fine but Arascus preferred not to gossip. “So I assume with Kavaa, you talked about this?”

“No…” Kassandora said lightly. “I honestly don’t even know what I want to talk about.” She smiled to herself. “You’ve answered the problem, Kavaa told me the same thing, that I was a child raised by a child.” She chuckled. “It’s…” She looked to Arascus. “I mean, you know what it’s like, I don’t really… When I’m commanding, it’s just blank. There’s nothing here.” She pointed to her head and Arascus nodded.

“Kavaa has the same thing when she’s healing. It’s just…” Kassandora shrugged. “I mean, what am I supposed to do with it? People die and that’s it. I’m the Goddess of War, that’s my environment, I mean, you could probably tell me it’s wrong to just be empty like that. Allasaria did all the time but it’s different with her. It’s just… How else are you supposed to go through a life like that?”

Arascus leaned back and thought for a moment. Frankly, he understood the feeling. Governorship was much the same, when there was a famine, some people did not eat. Or during a plague, when the tinctures started to run out, that was similar too. Ultimately, there came a point where if you were still looking at a map with people, you would do nothing with it. Maps were paper, and cities were markers, and it was easier to cross out a mark on a map than to go and hang everyone there personally, even though the end result was the same. “If you laughed during it, then I would a problem.” Arascus said.

Kassandora stared at him with wide eyes. They glittered red, her mouth slightly open. “Really?”

“When you deal with these things, what else are you supposed to do?” Arascus asked. “And it’s an honest question, because how are you supposed to deal with that? You look, you see them, and you move on. It’s not callousness, it’s just reality. You cannot bring people back from the dead and you end wars quickly.” He thought for a moment. “It’s like this question, when you are in the rain, do you get more wet if you walk or if you run?”

Kassandora stared at him for a moment. “That’s a trick question, if you run, you run into more rain, if you walk, it only falls on your head. The only thing that matters is how long you spend in the rain.”

Arascus nodded. “It is a trick question precisely because of that problem. War is much the same. I’m not going to pretend you don’t end wars brutally and quickly. But the alternative is what? Let everything drag on for twice or thrice or more? It’s easy to critique and it’s easy to praise, it’s harder to present a solution.” He shrugged. “And on this part, you have studied war more than anyone on this planet, so I only you stop you when your job starts interfering with my job.”

Kassandora’s eyebrows darted downwards and she actually bristled. “Alright, when does that happen exactly? I already follow the rule not to cause massacres or anything like that.”

“The nuclear arsenal.” Arascus said and Kassandora fell back into her seat with a heavy sigh.

“I hate the nuclear arsenal.” She said. “Why even build it if you don’t let me use it?” And that was exactly the problem, but it was a problem that wasn’t for a military mind to answer.

“We’re not having this argument right now.” Arascus said. “You have to submit one call to me! One!” He held up his finger as if to drive the point. “And that is it, to explain the situation.”

Kassandora sighed and shook her head. “Whatever. I don’t need them anyway.” Of course she didn’t. She burst out in laughter to herself. “Fucking Allasaria.” She said. “And to think it’s just this. I don’t know what I’d do without you and Kavaa, honestly. Thank you dad.” Arascus didn’t bother to kill the smile at this point. It was over anyway. Honestly, he could not see the change, and he doubted there would be a sudden change anytime soon, but he felt as if he had just guided a ship away from an iceberg and onto clear waters once again. “Why are you so happy?” Kassandora said suspiciously.

“Because you came to me.” Arascus said. “And what? It’s cute.”

Kassandora closed her eyes, let out a deep breath and shook her head. “Anyone else but you and Fer and Irinika, I would smack them, you know that?”

“Even Kavaa.”

“No, not Kavaa, obviously.” Kassandora said with even more annoyance. “There is something else actually, speaking of Kavaa. She told me a story, and now, I want to hear it from your side.” Arascus thought for a moment.

“Is it with just me and her?”

“It is.”

“And it’s recent?”

“Mmh.”

“It’s the UNN, isn’t it?” Arascus said and Kassandora sighed.

“I like that you’re smart but you don’t have to prove it like that.” She said. “Or do, whatever. No, yeah. It is the UNN scenario.” Kassandora stared at him. “Now I know what happened from her angle, and I trust her obviously, so don’t... you know, she doesn’t have to know that I double-checked with you.”

“Certainty is the highest form of trust.” Arascus said. “You still check a rifle when someone passes it to you.” Kassandora nodded. “It’s not that long a story. Kavaa came back to where we were staying, she had to deal with Ciria recently and that was on her mind, and the UNN didn’t have Clerics so they heal…” He caught himself. “Well, they doctor and prescribe and treat, they don’t heal. We heal. So you send Kavaa into a hospital and it’s a shock.”

Kassandora nodded and Arascus continued. “I suppose it’s Epan etiquette, here, you get healed and you say thank you and you go to pay the fee.” It wasn’t a large fee. Clerics billed by time and they were paid just over minimum wage. “There, I mean you can imagine it, mothers crying after Kavaa touches a child and heals even the allergy. People falling to their knees. People bringing ashes in kilns and asking for them to be resurrected. It drained on her and eventually, she snapped.”

“I know.” Kassandora said. “But after, what happened?”

“She came to the hotel room.” Arascus chuckled. “Ciria put us there, at first, I asked for two but they had one only. The others were apparently booked.”

Kassandora blinked and took a deep breath. “That’s so fucking petty.”

“It worked out though.” Arascus said. “Kavaa got drunk, she wept to me.” He stopped talking. “But what that weeping was about is for her, it’s not for me to tell you. Don’t ask her about.” Kassandora nodded.

“I won’t.”

“And she got so drunk she couldn’t walk for a moment, so I sent her to bed.” Arascus said with satisfaction.

“If she couldn’t walk, then how did you send her to bed?” Kassandora asked.

“I carried her.” Arascus said and Kassandora took a deep, disapproving breath.

“I don’t even know why I’m getting jealous.” She said. “But I am dad. I’m jealous right now.” She shook her head. “What bullshit, I do have feelings.”

“I know you do.” Arascus said. “Why?”

“Kavaa said she got very mad at you because you stripped her like a child and then tucked her in and gave her a good night kiss.” Kassandora said dryly. “And that she pushed into you before that, and after that, you just sent her to bed. I was just… I was confirming. I believe it now.”

“Don’t think less of her for it though.”

“She told me, why would I think less of her for it?” Kassandora asked. “Frankly, I’m on her side. I remember when you did that to me before the Empire and how infuriating it is.” Kassandora laughed to herself. “But then you brushed her hair in the morning.”

“She was surprised I knew how to brush hair.” Arascus said. “As if I don’t brush Fer’s hair.”

“I know, she told me the same thing. That it was annoying that brushed better than she does herself.”

“Well she’s a doctor.” Arascus said. “Not a stylist.”

“Are you?”

“No.” Arascus replied. “I just know how to brush hair.” Kassandora sighed, opened her mouth and closed it. And he sensed the question from his stomach, or his heart, but certainly not his mind. The feeling was there immediately, and he could do nothing about it but wait. The worst part was that it was plain to see how much it took out of the girl. For once, her eyes couldn’t meet his, her form and posture were low and sullen. Her voice was practically a whisper, as if she was a squeaking mouse trying not to wake the cat as it got the cheese.

 A question he had hoped for but thought would never come; “Will you brush my hair?”