5.3

***

It was not easy for Farenia to get used to life on Lantas's ship. She began to regret that she had agreed to such a long flight. Seven years in a confined space is a difficult task even for immortals. The first months were interesting, but then she couldn't find a place for herself.

She had to watch views of space for a long time from the wide windows of the officer's penthouse. The ship had a spacious greenhouse with flowering trees, but this was a weak substitute for real nature with fresh air and singing birds.

Farenia realized that she didn't appreciate what she had on Zaria at all, and how tired she was of life on a starship.

Sometimes she visited the Palien twins on the cruiser and talked with the friendly women who looked after them, and all this caused endless boredom.

She was always wary of the attention of naval officers who, when they met, tried to speak to her, but the princess stubbornly ignored them, pretending not to notice. She didn't want to give them any hope of paternity.

"Don't worry," Lantas reassured her, "I'll put protection against spells and block magic on you. They won't be able to take them off."

"Then why have they already started flirting with me?" She was indignant. "If they know about your magic, what do they hope for?"

"You're a princess, they react to you this way out of habit, be lenient. All officers are womanizers, you cannot change them, they will always strive for a relationship with you. Your feminine energy haunts them."

"They told me before leaving how poor Selestra was deceived. I was horrified, I didn't want them to do the same to me.

Lantas thought for a moment and told what he saw:

"She had an initiation. The Source has increased her spiritual rank, so that she is not a poor thing, but an updated magical being with new abilities. And her child will be born very gifted. Ramies tried his best, he liked her very much." 

"What did she do that caused her rank to rise so much?" Farenia was amazed.

"The Source knows best who to reward. Most likely, she somehow turned to him, said the right words, and the Source sent Ramies to her as a fulfillment of her request. That's how I see it."

"Do you all also turn to Him with some desires?"

"Yes, but it doesn't always work. Special qualities must be earned. How? Nobody really knows. That's why princesses are needed to enter the world of fire, in order to be sure to get what you want to possess. I shouldn't tell you this, but since you already know about it without me, I'll explain it to you. In fact, on Xantari it is accepted that women should not be involved in acquiring superpowers, they are only guides to the world of magic and mothers of our children. Men need to somehow realize themselves, defend their sphere of living to the maximum, and superpowers help a lot. This makes it easier for us to win battles with our worst enemies and losses will be minimal."

"But it's a shame that you use princesses without explaining why, drag them into the world of fire and secretly gain strength for yourself, while we women are left with nothing."

"There's no point in Selestra telling you everything, now you'll want superpowers for yourself. But they are useless to you. You are already an immortal sorceress, with inexhaustible energy. And we need super magic. You can't imagine the scale of our military operations. The last five hundred years have been a nightmare! Millions of Syrinxes and Sirkoi died fighting the Zirux. And there is no end to this war. It was they who defeated Zaria, and you, princesses, perished then without the opportunity to be reborn. You had to become a human."

"Why don't you take me to the world of fire?" asked Farenia.

"I don't need it yet. You and I will always be on time. You intend to stay with me, right?"

"I'll stay, everything depends on your protection. As I understand it, the officers are powerful magicians who gathered their strength from all sorts of princesses. How many did you have?"

Lantas laughed:

"I didn't count them, and I don't know how many children I left behind. Let none of this matter to you. I am a thousand years old, I don't want to remember everything that happened to me."

He added quietly:

"I never worried about relationships, my heart was indifferent until I ended up on Zaria..."

Farenia looked at Lantas with longing:

"What kind of activity can you come up with?"

"Take a ride on the shuttle, cuddle the twins!" He suggested.

"I'm afraid of them, their eyes are so expressive. It's as if they are saying "don't touch us, put us back in the crib." These are not babies, but some adults who do not yet know how to speak."

"It seems so to you, although, of course, they are unusual. They do not need to learn magic; they will master it without training when they get on their feet. The servants will suffer with them: they will run around the ship and set everything on fire. Uncontrolled and poorly managed. I don't understand why Palien begged such children for himself. They are quite difficult to raise, very disobedient and wayward."

"I hope our son will be easier; I wouldn't want to run after someone and put out someone's burning wings."

Lantas laughed.

"No, he will be like me, calm and capable."

***

The birth went like clockwork. Farenia did not expect such a quick ending. She had seen a lot women in labor suffered in the settlements, so she did not expect anything pleasant from childbirth. To her surprise, the healer invited by Lantas eased the pain and accelerated the process of giving birth to the baby.

The princess delightedly took the winged newborn, wrapped in a soft-touch blanket, from husband's hands and began to laugh nervously.

Lantas stared at her in surprise and whispered:

"I've never seen such a reaction!"

Farenia calmed down and explained:

"It's funny to me that I was so afraid of childbirth, but everything passed so quickly! Why do mortal women suffer so much?"

"Don't compare the bottom of life and the top of civilization. We can control forces hidden from those who do not know who they are or why they exist. Now you can appreciate the choice you made when you agreed to live with me."

Lantas stood in front of her and began to do some manipulations.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm putting protection against love spells."

"Already?"

"Certainly! Everyone knows you just gave birth."

He stopped moving his hands and smiled.

"Well, now you don't have to be afraid of their charms. Get up, everything is healed for you."

Farynia was surprised to find that she was cheerful and full of energy, her stomach had shrunk to almost a flat state, and she could walk normally, as if nothing special had happened.