Small Miracles V

"That look on your face tells volumes. What are you thinking?" Bryn remarked, raising an eyebrow as she sipped from a chilled cup.

"There might be a way to speed up the whole process. We don't need to read through all of the books available, just bring them back. Selene won't be annoyed if we… if we… dump all of them right into –"

"For the record, I have no idea what those gems do and where they connect to. Adding in whatever we find may destroy what we provide, making everything we have worked for on this trip be for nothing. Still… if we can get affirmation that it won't damage the texts… worth a shot" Skuld waggled her finger at her raven-haired sister. Each Valkyrja looked at each other, acknowledging the plan. Hrist slowly got up and walked to the auto turret stationed at the end of the hallway and checked for the same gem. At the base of the mount sat the large glowing connector, feeding ammunition into the barrels ready to fire at attackers.

"If we remove that, we'll have no way to put it back," Brynhildr commented, worried that her sister might try and take the machine apart. Given how well built it was, that seemed highly doubtful without trying to actively destroy it; that would most certainly cause the thing to either defend itself or detonate due to damage, to keep the technology from falling into the wrong hands. As Selene had once informed them, a chain reaction of stored ammunition is not something to be near when it goes off.

"I wasn't going to remove it… what if we try and push the books into it?" Hrist replied, annoyed a little by her sister jumping to conclusions. It wasn't as if they were meatheads, she was trying to use her brain after all. Skuld deftly picked up a scroll and lightly touched against the gem on the back, worried that it wouldn't work, and just bend the edges. Nothing happened, with all three sighing. "Too good to be true; might only allow ammunition to leave, with nothing going in as a protective measure." Just as they were going to give up, the scroll edge disappeared, with the gem changing color to green.

"It… wait wait wait, maybe it somehow detects us being nearby?... the earpieces we wear! It… uh… might tell the empress where we are right now…" Skuld exclaimed, pointing to her left ear with a little excitement before concern fell upon her face. Selene knew where they were at all times if that was true, probably even knew how healthy they were. The empress knew where all of her tools were, all of her people.

Like Odin.

"Or, maybe Selene knows we're trying to send something and unlocked the entrance point. It's probably a missive she thinks we're sending," Bryn said, giving another explanation as she tapped her lower lip and looked at the damaged ceiling.

"Whatever, it works. Let's get everything we can inside."

Meanwhile

"Huh, wonder what they're trying to send. Oh well…" the empress muttered out to herself and yawned while Eve poked at a small toy while wearing pajamas. Her mother had a printer craft all sorts of trinkets and playthings for the girl, wondering which ones she seemed most interested in. Unfortunately, it was going to take quite a few days, weeks, or months even before a pattern would start to appear on what she preferred. Predictive analysis wasn't going to work, with Dahlia even observing the princess's behavior and relaying anything she noticed to the dev.

The initial report was that Princess Eve Jadzia Cordell was slowly becoming a regular child, with her first responses being more akin to a robot. Nikola, Robert, Turnie, and Orlo all agreed to coin the symptom name "Soul Shock," a form of losing one's sense of self after being in a long period of limbo, then coming back to the land of the living. Over the past hours, the child was now asking questions about everything, rattling them off in any room she was brought to. There were at least a dozen times already that Dahlia had to pause and look at her creator, wondering if it was right to answer some of the queries. A few were considered acceptable, two involved anatomy which the empress didn't quite feel she should learn just yet.

As Selene stood in the doorway watching the girl sit and draw, her tutor right next to her to help with anything else that came to mind, Will came up next to the red-haired woman and watched as well. "You have experience with children, you're a natural."

"I looked through so many e-reads that I could tell you exactly what to do and what not to do depending on their age," she replied quietly while her eyes were pinned to the princess. The chief of staff glanced at her.

"I… take it you don't like talking about why you have so much knowledge in this regard." The empress was silent for a few seconds and closed her eyes the entire time. While being curt before was a normal defensive measure she tended to do each time she was asked, it shouldn't hurt to talk with those who were technically very close to her.

"I… don't really like talking about it, but because of medical reasons back on Earth, I… couldn't have children. Regardless of advances in medical science, new diseases and syndromes still crop up from time to time. Cormillion's syndrome was one of them." Will wasn't going to press any further, though she continued with a voice almost a whisper. "The event was… a blow for me. Apparently very rare, makes it impossible to carry, surgery had no effect. Also, the fact that the relationship I was in became very strained didn't help matters, ended any chances after; I never wanted to try again, never tried adopting. Now… this… I wasn't exactly expecting this…"

"You were expecting a teenager."

"Or a grown woman, someone I could slowly ease into a brand new life, help her on her way as a… as a… I honestly don't know what, whatever she wanted to be. My plan wasn't exactly well thought out, I'll admit. That was a bit stupid of me, but now…"

"She is your flesh and blood, and technically a player. You didn't even have to go through the pains of labor, potty training, diaper changes –"

" – And yet, I would have embraced all of that in a heartbeat." Selene exhaled and shook her head. "She's a surprise, a welcome one I'll admit, but a definite wake up call. It's making me think about what I'm doing these days beyond just… living or building an empire." There was silence between them as the automaton kept his hands behind his back as he nodded. A small smirk played onto her lips as she saw Eve smile, then yawn. "I'm going to have to childproof the castle…"

"Cameron and Briane are already hard at work doing just that, Jeeves and Adesha are currently planning a birthday party if it is alright with you, ma'am."

Of course! She's technically born today!

"That sounds perfect. Hmm… well, I guess I'll skip the tournament, and we can have it happen then."

"Perhaps you can bring her to the event? Let her enjoy the –" Will shut up as she raised her eyebrow.

"It's mostly adventurer's fighting, with some team combat. I'd… like her to not see that just yet, especially within such a short time. Better to spend time enjoying her education and giving me a chance to look after her, as a mother should." Eve picked up the picture she drew of Luna, who had stayed near her ever since playing outside. The dev lightly clapped her hands in applause at the drawing, little more than a square body with some stick legs and some triangle ears; large blobs of white which were supposed to be snow falling down were blotched along the top, along with multiple figures, one of which was wearing pink clothes that was more than likely the princess. "Good job, sweetheart." The grandfather clock nearby chimed just as a yawn escaped the white-haired six-year old's mouth again. "Time for bed."

"Okay." With that said, Eve was helped into bed by her mother, not yet customized for the girl. While the bedroom was still somewhat sparse in terms of what a child would like, with no real color or amenities beyond the pile of toys quickly created and given to her, it was going to soon be improved with a high priority remodel being headed by Juliet herself.

(Recommended Song: Gåte - Gjendines Bånsull)

Dahlia softly sang a lullaby, which made the empress do a double-take with keen interest. The maid was reading everything and anything in the library, learning whatever she could about the world to become a good instructor if new recruits somehow were vetted in the future by Selene. The blue-haired woman didn't glance over anything that could be committed to memory, easily reading through two folk song tomes that had been picked up. "Good night, Eve."

"Good night, mommy."

The lullaby did the trick, with Eve falling asleep. As the "adults" left the room, slowly closing the door behind them, Will stood looking at his creator as if to ask a question.

"What's up?"

"Ma'am, may I remind you of something now?" he asked softly. She glanced over at the maid who simply stood there bowed with her hands clasped together.

"Alright."

"Turnie gave you a clean bill of health during your check-up. That means what you suffered from is gone." Selene averted her gaze for a moment and nodded slowly, mulling over how to respond as she licked her lips and rubbed them together.

"I know this; however, the chances of me ever getting into a relationship again, at least one that I feel would provide that opportunity are slim to none. This is not to mention the fact that I have… I have…" she stopped for a small pause, almost as if letting it sink it for herself, "A daughter already. I have a daughter. I can't believe it just yet." She broke into a smile, her eyes watering a little.

"I will do my utmost to educate her, your majesty. You can trust her with me," Dahlia said, already creating an adaptive schedule for the princess.

The three of them walked down the hallway towards the empress's quarters as the dev gestured and spoke, a little hop in her step. "I want her to have an interactive education, not just behind a desk. Hell, for the next few months, I'm going to be directly involved anyways, so we might as well get field trips added in often. Oof… going to need playdates too… and somehow figure out how to get her the chance to make friends… maybe a day once in a while to visit the academy? Meet other students? Visit Tal Salunbal and meet Tariq?"

"That sounds like an excellent addition, empress. I'll implement those requirements immediately." The blue-haired maid bowed carefully and took her leave as Will just watched her go.

"I'll let you get some sleep, ma'am. Tomorrow I believe it was to have a meeting held with the guilds if I'm not mistaken; you'll want to be well-rested and prepared for that. Then there is the dinner with Mayor Liyana."

"Thank you. Oh, Will… I'm fine. It does strike a nerve to explain it, but it's not as if I get flashbacks or anything; I didn't go through what other women did. Besides… I don't have it anymore, it seems. I guess… I guess I just didn't like telling anyone there was something wrong with me."

Will's eyebrows raised high for a moment in astonishment. "Ma'am… nothing is wrong with you. Not one single thing. We are all in agreement on that." The dev smirked at hearing that.

"If I was perfect, I wouldn't be on the physical plane. As I used to hear from a friend of mine as I will not take credit for this, 'everyone has bugs. The question shouldn't always be can you fix them, but can you turn some of them into features?'" She switched her view down to the ground and smirked. "While that doesn't exactly work with the syndrome I had, you learn to make it not define you."

"Who said that?" the metal man asked. "It's a good line."

"Suchi Kazegawa, after three kids and… I think his second wife? Well, whatever, I didn't say he was a saint or anything. The point is, no one is perfect."

"And yet we strive to become it. Maybe one day. Sleep well, ma'am."

"Good night Will. See you in the morning." With that, the doors were slowly closed as the chief of staff waved as he retreated down the hallway and towards the CIC nestled deep inside the palace.