Chapter 546: Chapter 543: A Justicar’s Strength

It took some time, but eventually the teasing ceased and Severina settled down. Not before the Seraphim had wrung an oath out of every woman present that they would not mention a word of what had been revealed about her history and her primary class with Noll, of course. No one bickered over the promise, not even Kerr, since the teasing was all in good fun and no maliciousness was intended. Privately, though, Jadis made a mental note to get an autograph from Noll to give to Sev on her birthday.

With her primary class reviewed, Severina moved on to explaining the skills and spells she had for her secondary class, Paladin of Valtar. It turned out that the class was in that odd category of being both rare and standard at the same time. Paladins were in and of themselves a scarcely seen class; hardly anyone achieved such a vaunted status, even among those who actively worked towards the goal. On the other hand, Paladin of Valtar was about as basic a Paladin a person could be. There were rarer, more unique versions that existed, even among those dedicated to Valtar. Severina had not been offered one of those.

Regardless, the Seraphim was justly proud to be a Paladin of Valtar and had no complaints. She even pointed out that several of the skills that she received from her Paladin class were higher quality than most, which Severina believed was a result of her hard work and dedication.

There were a lot of questions asked about the nature of Sev’s skills and spells, though for Jadis, the biggest focus was what she considered the keystone skills.

“Those mandates,” Jay said with her chin on her fist. “I’ve never seen a passive that causes a detrimental effect like that before. Not that strong, anyway. Is that common?”

“For paladins, yes,” Severina nodded. “To be a paladin is both a privilege and a duty. We are representatives of our gods, even more so than an Avatar in some ways. Others look to us as an example of how they should act in order to walk in Valtar’s faith. A paladin who disregards the tenets of their god are not worthy of the blessing.”

“Alex doesn’t have anything like those mandates,” Dys pointed out. “Nothing she does negatively impacts her, at least from a system perspective.”

“She is also a Paladin of Jadis,” the blonde frowned in thought. “Something that has never been recorded in the scholarly annals before. A paladin dedicated to the service of a fellow mortal, rather than a god.”

“Maybe it’s b—because you don’t have any, ah, mandates,” Thea spoke up, though her voice was as soft as ever. “You don’t, do you?”

That was a thought. Jadis understood what Valtar represented on a conceptual level. Honor, order, mercy, valor, and all those sorts of chivalrous ideals. It made sense that his paladins would have to follow in his metaphorical footsteps. By the same token, that meant a paladin of Lyssandria would have different ideals to aspire to, which was something she would have to ask about next time she was in the capital. But as for Alex and her unique status as a paladin, Thea had a point. Certainly, Jadis had likes and dislikes, personality traits that defined her, and a strong moral compass. But was there anything about her way of life that could be considered a mandate?

“I will… Follow your mandates…” Alex said with complete sincerity as her hand gently stroked Dys’ cheek. “My love…”

“That is very, very sweet,” Dys told her demonic lover between kisses, “but I’m entirely certain I don’t want to make you follow any mandates.”

“Wear clothes…” Alex said while holding up one finger after another. “Swallow food… If chewed… Wash tentacles… No sex… In public…”

“Okay, well, those aren’t mandates, just rules for good behavior. That’s not the same—”

“No killing princes…”

“Hold on, when did we ever have a conversation about that?”

“Don’t fold page corners… Of books…”

“No, hold on, the prince thing—”

“Alright, we can discuss Jadis’ life philosophies later,” Aila clapped her hands together while holding back a smirk. “Severina? I have a question about your second smite spell, if you don’t mind answering.”

“Yes, of course,” Sev replied while giving the laughing Demon in Dys’ lap a concerned look. “You mean Valtar’s Righteous Smite.”

“That one, yes,” the redhead nodded. “It doesn’t appear to have an upper limit. I’ve never seen a skill or spell that relies on a resource outside of magic reserves that has no maximum range. Are you sure you read that description out to us correctly?”

“The description is accurate. There is no stated upper limit. I could potentially pray for a thousand consecutive days and the smite will strike for that amount of damage.”

“That sounds… almost like cheating, I guess?” Jay commented as she considered the spell. “I mean, I know it would take a tremendous amount of time and dedication to get there, but you could pray once a day for ten years, then smite someone for over three and a half thousand points of damage. That would kill just about anyone.”

“That is true,” Severina nodded while showing little concern. “It is a rare smite spell, one not often given out by the gods. But yes, it is possible to build it up over a great deal of time to land one decisive blow against a truly deserving adversary. My grandmother had Righteous Smite. She held onto the charged spell for decades and used it against a Demon Prince in the last demonic invasion. I believe she said she had prayed every day for more than twenty-seven years before she used the smite on Demon Prince Kelda.”

“That would have been thousands of points of damage,” Bridget marveled at the possibility.

“More than ten thousand,” the Seraphim nodded. “A tremendous amount of effort expended against an enemy that had to be destroyed, or else thousands of soldiers would have died in the Battle of Three Bridges. She had no regrets.”

“That was your grandmother at Three Bridges?” Eir said with wide eyes. “I had no idea. Thank you for your family’s service.”

“No thanks are needed,” Sev waved Eir’s gratitude away. “Grandmother Aemilia always said it was her duty and never wanted others to praise her for doing what she saw as the only right thing to do.”

“Did you use that smite in the battle against Vinea?” Dia asked from where she sat opposite the angelic paladin. “That would have been poetic, in a way. Sort of a family tradition.”

“I did not, no,” she admitted. “I was almost out of magic, so I was considering using it right before you performed the killing blow, but I doubt it would have been enough. I have only had the spell since last year and thus have only built up two hundred and forty-one points of damage. Ideally, I will never have to use Righteous Smite. However, should the day come, I hope it will be when it will bring a decisive victory.”

While there were a few more questions about the nature and properties of Severina’s skills, the conversation moved on to the Seraphim’s tertiary class not long after. Justicar of Light was, Severina admitted with humble pride, an extraordinarily rare class that was generally valued at the very top of the imperial ranking system. Jadis had almost forgotten that there even was a ranking system for combat classes, since it had so rarely come up. However, with a quick reminder from Thea, she recalled that basic soldier classes were generally rated as tier one due to their low level of power and potential, while more unique classes like paladins and wizards would be put in a higher tier, like four or five.

“Justicar are usually ranked at tier eight. Most consider them to be an advanced version of a paladin, as they are similar in many ways, yet Justicar classes have far more powerful passive abilities.”

“Isn’t tier nine the max in the imperial ranking system?” Jay asked, just to make sure she wasn’t misremembering.

“That’s correct,” Aila nodded. “Though I believe tier nine is where they tend to put classes that are simply beyond typical frameworks of power. The Hero’s class would be in tier nine, as would most companion classes to the Hero.”

“Mirror Knight should be there, too,” Thea said with a shy smile. “It is very, ah, powerful.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Jay shrugged. “But what I want to hear about are the skills of this amazing Justicar class. Don’t hold us in suspense, Sev. What have you got?”

“I was only level ten in my tertiary class before the start of the battle,” Severina cautioned before reading out her skills. “Don’t expect too much.”

Going over Severina’s Justicar skills, Jadis felt something finally click for her. Ever since she had first met Aila and learned about classes and how such systems worked on Oros, she had recognized that she was lucky to get a class like Mirror Knight. It was very powerful, with amazing skills and spells that made her a terror on the battlefield for her enemies, never mind the excellent utility it offered by giving her multiple bodies. However, she had failed to truly recognize the significance of having Mirror Knight as her primary class.

Severina had been given Paladin of Valtar as her secondary class and felt lucky for the privilege. As strong as being a paladin was, the class had thus far given Sev only one attribute boosting skill that was comparable to the powerhouse of attribute boosts that Mirror Knight provided, namely Paladin of Valtar’s Divine Glory. And even that skill was considered a rarity, according to Severina. Her tertiary class seemed to be the one giving her the biggest boosts to her attributes, with Justicar’s Shining Example for Focus and Justicar’s Divine Ordinance for Strength, and those abilities were nothing to laugh at. They were incredibly strong, no doubt. And yet…

Jadis had better attribute boosting from her secondary class than Severina did from her tertiary. It was like she had skipped over all the low-level struggles that most everyone else on Oros had to deal with to achieve a powerful class. Jadis had started near the top and had thus had far shorter a distance to walk to get to the truly insane classes.

Was that what D had meant by giving her a boost?

“Justicar of Light, huh,” Syd said as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Kind of reminds of Bridget’s secondary class.”

“What? No way,” the orc woman vigorously shook her head. “What Severina has is a lot stronger than what I’ve got. They aren’t comparable.”

“I don’t know about that,” Ida tapped a finger against her lips. “They have some overlap. I think yours is more like an Arcane version while Sev’s is solidly Divine. Both are about light and modify attacks, though. Shining Edge of Light is stronger since it’s always on, but it’s not all that dissimilar to Light the Lantern from your primary class.”

“Severina’s skills are stronger from a direct damage perspective,” Aila commented as she took notes in her journal. “While Bridget has more utility for supporting others. However, I do see what you mean. There are similarities.”

“Well, Justicar is definitely more advanced than anything I’ve got,” Bridget insisted. “No pretending otherwise.”

“For now,” Severina shrugged in a far more casual way than she typically held herself. “You have yet to unlock your tertiary class. I imagine that by the time I return from the capital, you will have gained a class of inordinate power that will put my Justicar class to shame.”

“Not a chance,” the warrior laughed as she grinned at the Seraphim. “But I’ll try to give you a run for your hens. Maybe we should find a time to spar after the trip, too? I’d like to see how I hold up against you.”

The talk of the impending trip for Eir and the others reminded Jadis that time was limited. There were only so many hours left in the day, even with Sleep of the D giving them more breathing room. There were still preparations to be made, rituals to perform, and the gods knew what surprises hiding around unexpected corners. They needed to keep Severina’s leveling discussion going.

With that in mind, Jadis brought the conversation back around to the new skills that Severina had just unlocked with her recent influx of experience. As the Seraphim had previously mentioned, she had taken the time to review her options earlier in the day, after the Lewd Lover’s Bond had been performed the previous night. She still wasn’t sure if the boost to Divine attribute after she had gained levels had made a difference or not, since she hadn’t reviewed the options beforehand, but the skills and spells Severina had been presented with were all desirable. Whether Lewd Lover’s Bond had enhanced them or not was impossible to know, but either way, Sev wasn’t complaining.

Sword Disciple had increased by seven levels, which translated to three open skill slots. Among the six options, two were stat-boosting skills that the paladin had dismissed out of hand, while a third was an armor skill that she felt she didn’t need thanks to other, better options available to her from her secondary class. That left three new sword centric active skills that the Seraphim intended to take.

“Can you use two sword stances at the same time?” Jay asked as Aila wrote down Sev’s details. “Because I feel like Falling Star would pair really well with Blue Eagle.”

“Unfortunately, no,” Severina sighed with visible disappointment on her face. “While I can certainly use some aspects of one school or sword art while engaging the system-given skill, I cannot activate both stances at once. I also have to maintain the fundamentals of the selected stance at a minimum, otherwise the system-given stance benefit will end.”

That was a shame, but not a surprise. Even if they couldn’t be combined, Jadis agreed with the choice, since the stance sounded like a great addition to Severina’s arsenal. The other two skills did as well, though she had some trouble envisioning how exactly a single sword slash was going to hit twice. Then again, Jadis was somehow able to lift incredible weights without falling over to one side due to balance issues, so clearly, she was thinking too hard about it. She’d simply have to wait and see how it worked in person. She just hoped the skill wouldn’t be directed at her.

Beyond the typical clarifying questions, there were no further comments or objections to the skills that Sev had selected for her primary class. Accepting the choices, she moved on to review what her secondary class had to offer.

Paladin of Valtar had gained eight levels and thus four skill slots open for filling. Among the eight skills available to Severina were two more attribute boosting skills, a slow regenerative self-healing spell, and a spell that would increase the amount of weight she could fly with. Those were all put on the chopping block, though Eir argued that the regenerative spell had benefits that deserved further consideration. Severina didn’t wholly disagree, though she felt that the four skills she had picked out took precedence.

“It is a shame that your purification spell is for self-casting only,” Eir commented with one hand on her cheek as she slowly shook her head. “Such a powerful spell. All three ailment vectors at once. I would love to have a spell with such an effect to use on others.”

“I agree,” Severina said as she settled back more comfortably on her pile of pillows. “That would certainly be more convenient. You can see why I would prefer this spell to the passive regeneration of health, then.”

“Perhaps you can replace the Corporeal Smite?” Eir tried with no small amount of determination. “A constant regeneration would certainly benefit you on the battlefield more than another method of attack, wouldn’t it?”

“I’m sorry, but no,” the Seraphim shook her head again at the elf. “Thanks to my Shining Edge of Light skill, the damage I deal is always Divine. Having a spell that allows me to deal purely physical damage is a tactical advantage I cannot overlook. Most enemies have a lower Resilience compared to their Fortitude, but not all.”

While Jadis understood where Eir was coming from, she had to agree with Severina. Having more than one damage type was definitely better than having only one. In fact, she hoped she would be able to replicate Severina’s prudent choice in the future, either by a skill, a spell, or an enchantment.

In any case, she couldn’t think of any arguments against what Severina had chosen. Once Eir had finished making her case, no one else had any further arguments either, so Severina finalized her skill selections and moved on to her vaunted tertiary class.

“I have six open slots for Justicar of Light,” Severina stated as she began to outline her available choices. “Honestly, these are the ones I am having some trouble with deciding which are best. The level twenty-one options… well. At least one of the choices requires some serious discussion before I can finalize my decision.”

There were, indeed, some difficult choices to be made. As Severina listed her options and the discussion began in earnest, Jadis noted that Justicar of Light’s skills trended towards self-empowerment and single target active spells. There weren’t as many active skills or spells like with Sword Disciple or Paladin of Valtar, but the ones that were available were strong. As Sev’s choices were narrowed down and selections were finalized, Jadis could see how a CLR one hundred combatant like the noble Seraphim would easily dominate the battlefield, even without the boost from Jadis’ bond ritual.

The final selections for the first five skill slots took over half an hour to debate. By the end, Severina had been convinced to switch out one passive skill that would have given her a boost to her Fortitude and Resilience under special circumstances for a shield spell that could be cast at any time. Otherwise, her selections withstood the scrutiny of the group at large.

It wasn’t until after all other options were discussed that Severina finally revealed the level twenty-one passive skill that she had been the most uncertain about. The magnitude of what the skill would potentially do for her and her Justicar class was so great that the other skill she had been offered at that level barely even mattered. What she had to decide was whether or not she wanted to take a skill that could not only fundamentally change how her class would progress in the future, but who she was as a person.

“Have you ever heard of a skill that does something like that before?” Sorcha glared into the distance, racking her memory. “That’s so bizarre. Making a prosthetic an actual part of you? How would that even work?”

“No, I’ve never heard of any skill like this one,” Severina shook her head, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. “I have spoken to the few justicar who yet live and I have read scholarship on the ones of the past. So far as I am aware, none ever took a skill that could do something like this, either for a wing or an arm or any other limb. Whether the option was offered to them, I cannot say, but I would think if it had come up, they would have documented the potential ability. I feel as though this skill may be unique to me and my situation.”

“I can’t think of any other classes or people who have described a similar skill, passive or active,” Aila added, her pen still for the moment. “I am far from an expert, but I have been spending what time I have on reading up on rare classes. A permanent incorporation of a foreign object into the body is… unique.”

“Well, you’ve met at least two other people who have a similar skill.”

The others turned their attention to Dys, who was gently stroking the swell of Alex’s round belly, which had the Demon in an almost cat-like stupor of relaxed pleasure. After a few seconds, when she realized no one had put what she meant together, she gave said demonic belly an affectionate pat.

“Alex. Her Body of Bonded Alex let her choose a vessel to incorporate herself into. She happened to pick the body of an insane woman who she was forced to kill because she was trying to murder everyone, but she could have picked anything. She could have used a rock, if she wanted to. Thank you for not being a rock, Alex.”

“You are… Welcome…” the recumbent Demon purred.

“Think about what we just saw earlier today in the temple,” Jadis’ Dia self pointed out since her Dys self was busy giving little kisses. “Cobbler picked a class, and it gave her a body, which involved incorporating a piece of furniture into herself. That’s basically the same kind of skill. Same category, anyway.”

“If you think about it, that’s what most Demons seem to do as a part of their class selection,” Ida mused. “Mire hounds pick sticks and mud, which get incorporated into themselves in a very particular, rigidly uniform way. Bone thieves also all get bones incorporated into their bodies, but they have a lot more variety in shape and style. Grundwyrms, bramble fiends, heck, even those weird skin monstrosities that spewed toxic gas. Incorporating foreign objects into their bodies is definitely a Demon thing.”

There was a long silence in the room as everyone considered Jadis’ words. While she herself wasn’t at all bothered by the implications, it seemed that her lovers were far more affected. Before that point, she supposed they had all thought of Demon classes being fundamentally different from what other avatars and the mortals of Oros could have offered to them by the system. Severina’s latest skill turned that supposition on its ear.

“Then… why was Severina offered this skill?”

Thea’s slow and carefully worded question broke the silence. A murmur of discussion rippled through the room as they all considered the potential meaning behind Sev’s offering. As Aila theorized, it was entirely possible that the requirements for such a skill were so unlikely to be achieved that Severina just happened to be the first individual to ever meet all of them at once. After all, a person with an incredibly high Divine skill who also wore a near-perfectly crafted enchanted prosthetic made of exceedingly rare and expensive materials and who also reached keystone levels in a powerful, high-tier class had to be infrequent at best. Or the skill could be a special reward from Valtar, as Eir suggested. A rare ability for a favored servant who had recently accomplished amazing feats. It wasn’t unheard of for the gods to step in and give a reward to those they felt were worthy.

“Or maybe it’s Valtar’s way of pointing out that Samleos doesn’t have a monopoly on classes and abilities that merge objects and bodies together,” Jay guessed. “A lot of crazy shit has been happening recently, so I imagine this is one of those things that he maybe decided to hint at, since the opportunity came along.”

Jadis very purposefully did not suggest that D could be the true power responsible for the skill’s appearance. That honestly felt more likely to her than Valtar doing so, but she didn’t want to accuse the mad god of interfering in Severina’s skill choices when she had no proof. That could bias her against the skill when there might be good reason to take it.

“You know, when you think about it, you’re kind of the same as a Demon.”

Jadis turned multiple sets of confused expressions towards Sabina. The enchanter wasn’t fiddling with a new schematic for once but had instead given her hands the task of rubbing Sorcha’s shoulders. Jadis wondered for a brief moment how Sabina was going to react the next time she enlarged the goblin with her magnification spell but didn’t devote more than a fifth of her thought process to the idle musing. Interpreting what the half-elf had meant by the comment came first.

“Are you talking about me…?”

“Yes!” Sabina chirped. Then, through some miracle of connecting neurons, she realized that her statement needed an explanation. “Oh! By that I mean, you incorporated something into yourself, too, and you got a new body! Two bodies! And then three, and right now five, but that’s just until you change things later back to three, but still! Seems very similar to me.”

“What did I incorporate into myself?” Jay asked with an amused tone as she gave her cheery lover a laughing smile. “I didn’t have anything when I received my class options.”

“Your reflection, of course,” Sabina pointed out like it was childishly simple. “That’s all you had, so that’s what you made a part of you. A mirror image that walks and talks and is you!”

“That… huh. I’m honestly not sure if that makes sense or not,” Jay said as she tossed the idea around in her head. “I incorporated a metaphysical concept into myself? Does that count?”

Whether it counted or not, Jadis wasn’t sure, and neither was anyone else. However, as they all talked about Jadis’ mirrored bodies and Severina’s potential Soul Wing, Jadis noticed a determined look solidify on the Seraphim’s beautiful face. She was staring at Alex, who had noticed the other woman’s gaze and was staring back at her with a question in her three eyes. As Jadis watched, she saw the moment when Sev’s resolve turned fully into action.

“Aila, Jadis, please watch carefully, as this may never happen again.”

Severina already had her metal prosthetic wing on since she had been wearing it all day and had not yet taken it off when they returned to their shared bedroom. She didn’t have her armor equipped, but she did have on a thick padded shirt, which she rapidly stripped off to reveal her silk underwear and the soft leather harness that kept her false limb in place. Aila barely got out a confused noise before a sudden glow of brilliant light engulfed the dark metal of Severina’s crafted wing.

A gasp was let out by the occupants of the room as they realized what Severina had done. Jadis watched with a mix of worry and anticipation as her lover sat still, eyes squeezed shut, while a brilliant golden light roved across her shoulder and metal wing. The dark, polished material of the limb shone with a reflected radiance that seemed to extend from each of the tiny runes carved into every individual feather that the wing possessed. The runes had always shined with a golden light, indicating the Divine magic that powered them. As the transformation progressed, those small, glowing lights turned into miniature suns.

Just as the light was growing so great that Jadis could see it through her closed eyelids, the effect suddenly winked out of existence. Blinking, Jadis’ selves stared at the Seraphim, who looked completely unchanged from how she had a moment before.

“Are you okay?” Jay asked while putting a hand on Sev’s bare left shoulder.

“Yes, I am—oh!” Severina gasped, cutting herself off as she flexed her wings. “Oh… I… Gods…”

“What? Are you alright?” Jay leaned closer, her worry spiking. “Did it work? Are you hurt? Sev, talk to me!”

“I am well,” Severina responded after a few seconds, her voice tight with emotion. “I simply… I haven’t felt whole in such a long time…”

As the Seraphim spoke, Jadis realized that Severina had put a shaky hand on her metal wing. To Jadis’ eyes, the metallic appendage didn’t look much different from before. It was still a dark metal, it still had tiny glowing runes in each one of the feathers, and it still moved like a real wing. Only… the harness that had been on Severina to hold the prosthetic in place was gone. Where the metal wing attached to the Seraphim’s shoulder was a seamless transition without even the thinnest of gaps. And, as Jadis watched Sev pet her dark wing, she noticed something occur that had never happened before. The false feathers were reacting like real ones, moving under the blonde’s touch.

Reaching out, Jay ran a pale finger across one of the metallic feathers, marveling at what she felt. It was made of metal, yet it had a strangely organic feel to it. What had once been a solid plate of whatever alloy Sabina had used when crafting the enchanted item now had individual barbs attached to the shaft of each feather, which moved and shifted and parted from each other under Jay’s touch.

“I can feel that,” Severina sighed with her eyes closed. “That is… please keep touching me.”

Jay happily complied, petting the strange metal wing as Severina luxuriated under the months-lost sensation. As the others quietly spoke to each other about what had just happened, Aila tapped her fingers against the page of her journal with a bemused expression on her freckled face.

“Well. I suppose that ends the discussion on which skills Severina is selecting,” the redhead said dryly. “Shall we review where your thirty-five free attribute points are going? Or should I just start writing the paper for the imperial university on whatever just happened.”

“Yes, most certainly,” Severina answered absently, her eyes still closed. “Just a moment…”

They gave Severina as long as she needed to settle into her new condition. Jadis was just glad that the Soul Wing had worked out so well. If Severina had disliked the change, there would not have been any going back. Fortunately, the wing seemed to act exactly like her natural one, though it still retained many of the metallic properties that it had possessed before the incorporation. Sabina wondered if the feathers could be plucked and then restored by Eir’s restoration magic, thus granting them an infinite supply of the adamantine alloy they were made from. Such conjectures were put aside for the time being and focus was given to finishing off Severina’s attribute distribution.

A single free attribute point was immediately reserved for Sev’s Dexterity. Not because any skills she possessed needed that attribute, but because doing so made her Will her lowest stat and thus the only option for Jadis’ ritual to boost. Considering the Seraphim’s massively increased Focus, she definitely needed more Will to help her refill the tank.

Speaking of tanks, thirty of the remaining points were placed into Severina’s Endurance attribute. Since she had so many active skills, some of which required hefty amounts of stamina to use, she needed as much Endurance as she could get. Bringing the stat up to an even one hundred felt like it would suffice for the time being.

The last four points were a toss up between Strength and Agility, both of which were equally useful to Sev in different ways. Under other circumstances, she might have put the points into Divine, but since Lewd Lover’s Bond had made such a huge impact, spreading her free points around made more sense to the Seraphim. Ultimately, the points went to Agility. Since Severina had Justicar’s Divine Ordinance boosting her Strength for every level in Justicar she gained while Agility had a far slower method of increase from the ablution ritual, they all agreed that the stat needed some attention. In the end, her status sheet looked even more impressive than it had at the start of the discussion.

“I can’t wait to see how fast you can fly now,” Jay said with a grin, one hand still stroking Severina’s new wing. “With your Agility so high, and your new Soul Wing, I wonder if you can break the sound barrier. Probably not yet, but maybe soon!”

“I don’t know what that is,” Severina smiled as she leaned into Jay’s touch, “but I will be happy to soar through the skies tomorrow. In fact, it would be good to practice a little in the early morning, before we leave. I include you in that practice, Jadis. You have some new wings of your own you have yet to unfurl.”

“I do, don’t I,” Jay laughed. “With how busy it’s been, it almost slipped my mind.”

That was true. As excited as Jadis was at the prospect of taking flight under her own power, she had put her many responsibilities before the idea of having some fun with magic wings. The reminder was a good one, since Jadis had been far too busy juggling far too many plates as of late. It seemed it was finally time to put one of those plates to rest, though.

“Sev, can I tell you something?” Jay asked while giving Aila a significant glance of warning.

“Of course,” the blonde said, her giddy smile unchanged as she looked up towards Jay. “Anything.”

“Okay, so… Here goes. How familiar are you with the concept of reincarnation?”

“I cannot say that I have ever given it much thought. Why?”

“Would it bother you to learn that someone very close to you happened to be a reincarnated soul?”

“…I have no idea how I would feel about that. Why are you asking? Jadis?”

There was a pause as the room fell silent with anticipation once again.

“Jadis?”

“So… D’s a real tricky kind of guy, you know?”

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