***Tirnanog, The Old Camp***
***Magnus***
I awoke, feeling utterly content for the first time in... forever.
Then my sleep-addled brain finally remembered where I was, who I was, and what I had done!
I was with clan Aerie, embracing a naked Astra after I had literally jumped over a cliff when it seemed like the situation called for it. Never would I have thought that I would come to this world and end up... end up with a wife!
Whether Astra would think of it that way remained to be seen, but wasn't that the point of this whole partnership business? The clans called it finding a partner, but it was essentially a marriage with no way out.
Should I get Astra a ring?
The decision to join her had been made in the spur of the moment. I couldn't just deny a woman like her when she even offered to cut ties so that I would have better chances with the other clans. Astra seemed genuine in her simple desire to find an equal.
It also had played a large role in my quick decision that I didn't dislike her and found her to be an interesting conversation partner during the few dates we had.
I tried to comfort myself with the thought that I had no real leads as to where my next steps should take me. Yes, the Thich presented a slightly better chance at finding my lost siblings, but that was all there was to it, a chance. Seen in that light, joining up with Astra was the best option available to me at the moment.
It would probably make it harder to find my sisters if they were with the Thich, but it wasn't like I hadn't been already a few years too late to come to the rescue like some heroic older brother. Whatever had happened to them, it was likely already over.
The woman who had practically jumped me last night moved in my arms and murmured sleepily.
I didn't believe I quite loved Astra yet, but I thought it possible to come to love someone like her in time. She was strong, intelligent, and had integrity. What was there not to love about such a woman?
And she was quite the depraved nymph if I was allowed to say so. The way she had danced for me in the dark with only the bioluminescent markings visible on her body was burned into my mind. The sway of her body and scintillating hair had been mesmerizing.
I just had to get her to do that again for me at some point.
But right now I felt kind of thirsty, so I tried to move until I realized that I was entangled within the ribbons that she called filaments. Astra had wrapped us up tightly in several layers until it was practically impossible for me to escape without waking her up.
“Astra?”
She reached up and placed a finger on my lips. “A few more minutes...”
Was she the type who liked to sleep in? How did that fit together with her Wakefulness trait?
I reached further down, slipping my hand beneath the filaments as far as I could. Then I pinched her ass.
That woke her up real quick. “Hey!”
She pinched me back, which made me chuckle.
“I really need a shower and some water, Astra,” I said.
She blinked and got up on top of me, untangling the two of us to a degree. I basked in her nakedness until I realized she looked different. She was still attractive, but there was a hint of musculature on her belly, legs and arms which I didn't remember from yesterday. And her eyes glowed minutely, just like mine.
Suddenly, the white in her eyes slipped to the side and the new, little flecks on her cheekbones opened.
“Wow!” She looked around, seeming disoriented. “That's something I have to get used to, but it should complement Echolocation just fine.”
Astra looked down at herself, touched the new definition on her belly and then squeezed her chest as if to make sure that those weren't muscles too. Thankfully, they clearly were not.
Admittedly, that would have freaked me out a little.
Then she studied her lower arm and winced when it twitched and cramped up.
I quickly sat up and hugged her, remembering what had happened the first time I had become aware of my new physique. “Shhh... don't think of them as singular muscles. Just relax and let them do what they do.”
She finally calmed down. “That wasn't pleasant at all! How do you control these?”
“With training and conscious effort,” I replied. “I am still working on it, but I am getting there. The biggest hurdle seems to be that my brain still thinks I have a normal human musculature.”
The thought struck me that I might have the same problem again, only in a different form. “Speaking of things to get used to...” I straightened and reached behind my back. There were no filaments, but it felt like something soft was there.
Astra giggled and hugged me. She stroked along my spine, which caused me to shudder involuntarily. “The filaments won't grow quickly. They are like hair. It will take some time until they are long enough to be useful. Until then, you can take your time with learning to control them.”
“How do they even work?” I caught one of Astra's filaments and gave it a closer inspection, but all I could discern was that it seemed like a ribbon of the finest silk, light enough to float in the air. Although, when I looked very closely, I could see a hint of something like arteries running through them. “I must say, these things defy my understanding of physics.”
I tried to rip it. Not seriously, but I was surprised nonetheless when it withstood my uncharged muscles without effort. A materials engineer would likely kill to get his hands on something like this. Only then did I realize that this filament was a part of Astra and guiltily let go.
She laughed, thankfully unconcerned by my inspection. “My best guess is they work like artificial muscles made out of carbon nanotubes. Something creates pressure, and the individual strands contract or loosen up. I can apply some lateral force with my filaments, but it's comparatively weak. They are very good when it comes to expanding and contracting. They aren't so useful when it comes to lifting heavy things unless I try to pull or push.”
Astra demonstrated it by reaching across the room with a single filament and trying to lift my fully packed rucksack straight up. The filament just buckled and bent beneath the weight, curving upwards without lifting the rucksack, but then Astra contracted the filament and the rucksack slid effortlessly to the edge of the bed.
“I would assume this means that my muscle mutation didn't do anything for your filaments,” I pointed out.
“That's true, but I know from several unpleasant experiences with zippers that my filaments are conductive,” Astra pointed out with a wicked grin. “How do I create electricity?”
I thought about it and sighed, wondering how to go about teaching someone. “That's going to be difficult. When I activated the ability the first time, I blasted a starfish with it and it was like throwing lightning. I actually had to learn restraint so that I wouldn't exhaust myself after a few blasts.”
“You never said it was even better than just electrocuting someone!” she replied in mild outrage, but her tone was more mocking than anything else.
“Forgive me, mistress, but until yesterday I didn't know we would end up in bed together.” I placed a hand on my heart and feigned surprise.
Astra smiled wickedly, showing me she was indeed just fooling around. “You shall be forgiven if you repeat last night every night from now on. We can take turns regarding who gets to be on top.”
“Hahaha...” I laughed, slightly afraid she was actually serious. The fact that a naked woman was spooning me and I couldn't even get it up was a testament that repeating last night regularly was out of the question. “You are insatiable.”
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“I have to make up for a few years of searching for the right one! Though, I admit this shotgun hookup came a little out of the blue. It was either this or giving up on the best chance I would likely ever get,” Astra proclaimed unashamedly. “Now, tell me how the muscles work.”
I gave Astra a quick introduction to charging up her muscles and explained my theory on how they worked. She picked up the charged movement skill in no time and we finished with her doing the taser exercise I had learned from the zippers back at the lake.
It seemed prudent to hold the magnet exercise back for another time. At least until she mastered charging her muscles.
“It will take some time getting used to, but controlling all the little muscles isn't so different from moving my filaments,” Astra explained the speed at which she learned to gain control of the new mutation. “I figure once your filaments are grown, you will be able to apply the same multi-tasking skill you need for your muscles in reverse.”
“I am just wondering why they didn't grow to full size immediately,” I asked while I felt the fluff on my spine once more, hoping it wouldn't spread. Call me vain, but some men had a real problem with hairy bodies and I definitely didn't want to become one of them.
Of course, I didn't mention any of that to Astra.
She shrugged. “Maybe it needs time to organically grow something as light and strong as the filaments.”
“Do they burn?” I asked what I had wondered since our first date.
She waved her hand in a so-so motion. “You won't go up in flames, but they do get damaged if exposed to fire for an extended amount of time, resulting in you having to trim them because they no longer work properly. Losing my filaments is always a pain because it takes so long to grow them back. I am always trying not to damage too many because it would hamper my ability to fly. Though, it's unavoidable in a fight.”
I nodded and pointed out another thing on Astra which had changed. “What about the bioluminescence?”
The glowing lines on her skin had retreated to a certain degree, but they were still there. It now looked like a tribal tattoo which was running down her neck and collarbone, then further down the side of her body to the hips and legs.
She looked at herself and smiled. “Not to worry. Sometimes mutations are affected by a pairing and are either strengthened or weakened. It will take time until we get used to the changes. Besides, I didn't take the caveglider evolution because of the Bioluminescence. It was always about the Precognition trait.”
Her eyes drank up my body and she trailed a finger over my chest, following a glowing line that had developed there and was mirroring hers in design. “Though, I don't mind yours. Do you want to take a shower?”
“We could both use one,” I admitted.
Half an hour later, we were back to comparing evolutions and teaching each other about our various new abilities.
Filaments and Flight were still out of reach for me for the time being, but it already felt like I could access the Echolocation trait partly, which manifested itself in the ability to hear things I shouldn't be able to notice otherwise. Like people walking past Astra's room.
I didn't have enough water available to test out Astra's ability to breathe underwater, but I figured it would come naturally once the need arose.
Improved Endurance, Improved Resistance and Lesser Regeneration were also things only time would tell.
Precognition was a little harder to figure out. Astra explained the principle, but I often couldn't discern the difference between a genuine premonition, caused by Astra trying to poke me, and my clothes tickling me.
“That's why I just use my filaments as clothes,” she replied to my problem unapologetically. “They are the finest silk.”
I felt a slight flush of embarrassment upon remembering her straddling me, seemingly partly clothed, then impaling herself. Only then had I realized Astra was going commando and only created the illusion of clothes with her filaments.
She also tutored me on controlling the brightness of the bioluminescence mutation, pointing out that ramping it up all the way would end up in me turning into a flash grenade.
I was certain I would have to try it out at some point, just to see its effectiveness, but I didn't want to run around with an open wound all over my body quite yet.
Lastly was Wakefulness, to which Astra simply explained it was a bit of a misnomer. It was the ability to go on without sleep for several days. I wouldn't be happy about it afterwards, but I would have it easier than normal humans who would suffer ill effects far earlier than people who possessed the trait.
It explained how Astra could still be the type to sleep in despite having such an ability.
We eventually ran out of exercises to teach and Astra decided it was time for me to meet her clan. “I have to introduce you to the others.”
I got into a fresh set of my linen clothes and Astra 'dressed herself' with a smirk. She chose wavy trousers and a split skirt, then added a poncho-like top over a blouse.
Her tendency to overdress hadn't gone by unnoticed, but I figured it could be attributed to an attempt at hiding her filaments instead of having them floating around all over the place, thereby unnerving anyone nearby.
Having your clothes made out of filaments also seemed useful because of their tensile strength. If Astra wasn't wrong, then her filaments were actually better than the light armour I wore during hunting trips – but they couldn't hold a candle to a set of heavy plate armour.
We left her room and headed for the mess hall Astra had shown me the day before.
When we arrived, there was actually a motley group of people present, including the older man who Astra had dismissed the day before with a wave of her hand.
“Astra!” A woman with large, leathery wings jumped up from her seat at a table. “You did it! I am so proud of you!”
The woman tried to tackle-hug Astra, but my partner reached out and grabbed the newcomer's face, holding her at an arm's length distance.
“Mh!” The woman stepped back. “So cruel! Now she abandons me after everything we have done together.”
“This is Thalia, my closest friend.” Astra gestured at the woman and smirked. “My parents sent her with me to keep me out of trouble.”
I smiled and nodded politely, unsure of what to think of the oversized bat in human form.
“Now that's just cruel!” Thalia poked me in jest.
“What is cruel?” I asked, confused. Was she a mind reader?
“The way you looked at me just now.” Thalia huffed. “I bet you just thought about some nasty nickname for me. Or maybe a naughty one?” She searched my face with narrowed eyes.
Astra sighed and pushed the two of us away from each other. “Don't mess with my mate, Thalia. He is off-limits.”
I nonetheless offered the strange woman a hand. “I am Tulkas.”
“Thalia.” We shook and Thalia immediately turned her attention back to Astra. “How was he?”
“I am not discussing this in public,” Astra replied and shook her head. “But suffice it to say, we are going to stay together.”
She possessively linked arms with me, then pointed out a few more clansmembers whose names went in one of my ears and out the other.
I just wasn't good with remembering names when a few of them were thrown at me without context.
“And this is Liam.” Lastly, Astra pointed out the only person in the room who actually looked... old. Not old-old, but old. Like a healthy fifty or sixty-year-old gentleman compared to the others in the room who were in the prime of their years.
“He is something like an unofficial leader around here,” Astra explained. “When it comes to talking to the other clans, Thalia or I will do actual negotiations, but Liam is something like an unofficial leader and organiser in this enclave. Also, he is the best doctor we have around, so if there is anything a Lesser Regeneration mutation can't fix, you go to him.”
Liam chuckled. “Don't listen to her. It's mostly about first aid, setting bones and identifying parasites for me. A doctor has little to do when almost everyone eats starfish at one point or the other.”
My eyes fell on the two red-haired girls who were playing demurely in a corner of the room.
Liam noticed my expression had turned sombre and guessed what it was about. “Those are Ava and Ivy. The bastards from Earth sent them with the newest wave of female exiles. I will never understand why they would send us kids.” He shook his head. “Suffice it to say, they are traumatized and missing their parents.”
“Probably the children of someone who pissed off the people in charge,” I suggested while doing my best to control my voice in an attempt to sound indifferent when I was not.
The sisters had reminded me of my lost family. They must have been at a similar age when the government took them. Which meant they were teenagers by now.
I could only hope they had received a similarly secure welcome as Ava and Ivy. “What are you going to do with them?”
Astra shrugged. “We will take them to the clangrounds and find a pair of acceptable adoptive parents for them. There are plenty of people who would like to, but can't have children. Not much else we can do.”
I nodded, also seeing no point in leaving them at the Old Camp. There just wasn't enough space in this bunker to house wave after wave of exiles. From my excursion around the market, I had gotten the impression that the people who were living in this place hadn't joined a clan for a good reason.
“Something else,” Liam inserted himself back into the conversation. “There are some new developments.”
Astra looked at him, interested in what he had to say. “Out with it.”
“For one, a new wave of male exiles was sent and twenty-one arrived at the Old Camp,” Liam proclaimed.
“That's a lot,” Astra replied in a surprised tone. “I made sure someone other than Roderick receives them in the future, but I didn't expect them to have such a sudden windfall. I stopped paying attention when I set my eyes on Tulkas.”
My eyes swayed to Astra.
Liam nodded. “It's indeed peculiar, but not unheard of. Maybe Roderick was a major factor in the large number of losses. But the other thing I wanted to report is even more interesting. This morning most of the Thich contingent stationed at the bunker departed. Only the usual skeleton staff of ten remains behind.”
I looked around and found a lot of frowning faces among the Aerie.
“That's early,” Thalia commented. “They have a long way to go, but it's early nonetheless. It should have been fine if they waited one or two more weeks.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“The Old Camp is pretty much at the centre of the human-controlled territory, while clan-controlled areas are further away. If you don't want to get snowed-in during the winter, you have to depart in time,” Astra explained. “The Thich are living quite a way south-east from here. It takes a clanner about four weeks to make the trip. But even with that, the winter will begin in five weeks at the earliest.”
“So it's not just a security measure on their part,” I clarified. “Maybe to make sure they don't have to travel through bad weather?”
Thalia shook her head. “It can't be. The seasons are fairly predictable in this world. They cut at least a week from their time at the Old Camp. And from what we know, they have no reason to believe they would travel slow.” She looked towards the kids. “If anything, I would suggest for us to depart a week earlier than planned.”
Astra nodded at her friend's judgement.
“Maybe they just think they won't find any more candidates and left the selection of any late exiles to the skeleton crew?” one of the Aerie suggested. “They could just house them in their part of the bunker and send them off after the winter.”
Liam's expression said he didn't truly believe that.
“How much time do we need to get to clan Aerie?” I asked when it didn't look like anyone else had suggestions.
“Two weeks with just those who can fly. Three weeks if it's just us,” Astra replied confidently, then looked towards Ava and Ivy. “Four to five weeks with the kids.”
I nodded, figuring Astra knew what she was talking about.
“So, we depart in a week at the latest?” I asked, interested to see what the Aerie clan grounds would look like.
I would have to say goodbye to Mark and Gurney and wish them the best. It was sad Mark couldn't join us, but we weren't that kind of close pals.