A few hours later I felt my wings and back grow stiff. I really want to know how to retract them. Is that how Stella always feels? I’ll have to come up with something for her too.

Let’s go test them out now, not like we have much to do anyway.

I stood up, though there was a bit of resistance from mother, who hugged me in her sleep.

When I came out of the ruined hut I focused on the wings and flapped them. The air pressure they created was so strong I was thrown back and crashed into a tree, breaking it in the process.

A few failed tries later I was able to take off and fly a bit, though landing was a bit problematic and the control was really tough. The wings now feel like a proper part of me, I can manipulate them as if they are an additional pair of arms, their structure does remind me of arms a bit too, though I can move and turn them at all kinds of unnatural angles. It’s actually quite convenient, I’ll probably use them a lot after I return.

After getting used to flying I went down and found out that mother was watching.

“You are pretty good at using those, I usually fly with the help of wind magic.”

“Thank you. Are you alright now, mom?”

“Yes, though I’ll say that I was very surprised when you dealt with that deity on your own and so easily too.”

“I will explain it all if you want.”

“For some reason, I don’t really want to know but it’s no use running from the truth right? Lavenna, is this not your first life?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

She shook her head and said

“Sometimes you act not befitting your age, there’re times when your eyes look like those of someone who’s seen and experienced far too much, you have never shown the curiosity children your age should possess and in your infancy you’ve always shown too much attention when someone near you was speaking. It could be seen as strange but the way you dealt with that deity was too precise so I can’t help but put the pieces together. I’m afraid to ask it, but Lavenna, do you see me as your mother? What do you think of our relationship? I… I want to hear your true thoughts on this.”

I never considered that she would react that way… Or maybe I chose not to? I thought that she would either accept me or despise me, to think that she would have the same worries…

“Of course I do! You are the only person I’ve ever seen as my mother. In my previous life, I was an orphan and didn’t have any relatives to speak of. In this life, it was the first time I have experienced the warmth of being loved by my family and I was afraid that you would reject me if you found out-“

“Reject you? Why? I will always love you no matter what you do and who you think you are! You are the most important person in my life and it will not change, ever!”

“S-silly mother… *Hic* How can you say something so embarrassing *Hic*”

Something warm and wet is running down my cheeks. Is it raining? But the sky was clear a moment ago.

“You don’t have to worry about anything. I’m so glad that everything is okay now”

******

I take Lavenna back to the hut and we prepare to eat. I’m still a little happy that she’s said it. She’s so cute! But I’m a little disappointed that I don’t know about what kind of life she used to live before… I want to know but when I asked she tried to say but she couldn’t because of her tears. She must’ve been afraid that I would reject her… my mood turns a bit sour after I think about it.

I wonder what her previous life was like. Maybe she misses the things she left behind? Did she have any friends? Lovers? Again, my mood darkens after I think about someone laying their filthy hands on my cute little angel. No, she defeated a god, so she’s obviously better than some lowly angel.

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I do need to fix the hut, the oldies will get mad if they see it left like this. It’s nice to know that there’s not much to fix, most important facilities are hidden underground, so I’ll just have to restore the hut.

But first is the food! With Lavenna’s cooking abilities what has she eaten before? She doesn’t seem to find the food at our mansion anything special though I’ve hired the best chef on the continent to work for us, so I guess she was rich? Or maybe she just doesn’t put much importance on the quality of food? If it’s so then I’ll have to fix it.

My storage ring has a few special ingredients with magical properties that are very hard to obtain. I think this will do, it’s fine to splurge a little, right?

The kitchen is ruined though…

I think there was something like a kitchen underground, right? I hope they put in there, we don’t need to eat but it doesn’t mean we don’t like eating. I’m sure there was someone with that kind of mindset.

I mean they put an actual fireplace here, so why not a kitchen or two?

I tap on the floor at the right places and insert a magic stone where I need and get the map of all the facilities underground… They do have one! I pick it.

After half an hour I have prepared all the dishes and we sat at the table. It may look like a normal wooden table and normal wooden chairs but they will not break even if you drop a mountain on them, so they survived my onslaught splendidly.

Lavenna seems to be enjoying the food that I made, good.

“Hey, mom? I wanted to ask you, if you had to leave everything we have here behind and go with me somewhere far, would you agree?”

It seems that she does have some attachments to her previous life. Does she want to go back to her previous home?

“If you want to go back to your previous home, I will gladly go with you. Also, our kin can be found just about anywhere in this world so you don’t have to worry about losing anything. If there’s anything we’re good at it’s caring about our brethren, especially the young ones, like yourself. You will be treated warmly when I tell them you have passed the awakening.”

“You didn’t seem to get me, mom. They may be everywhere in this world, but I came from a different one.”

What does she mean? Lavenna seemed to understand my confusion as she elaborated

“I was hoping that you would know but there’re many different worlds with people living in them and I came from another one. In fact, I came from a different plane. Um, a plane is a… how do I put it… It’s like a collection of worlds where you can move between them freely I guess.”

“Is that so? Well, I don’t mind leaving this world for you. But can you tell me about your previous life and world and what I need to prepare and when we leave”

“There’s a misunderstanding again. I will not try to travel places outside this world for the next hundred years or so, I need to get my powers back first, stabilize them all over again and only then will I move. And we’ll not move from here, it’s just that I need to fetch a few things and a certain someone and we’ll come back. It’s just knowing her, I’m sure she will be very hard to find as she likes to move between different worlds and realms and planes even, so it will take some time to find her. We could wait at my castle for her to swing by but I want to announce my presence to a few people too and I also wanted to show you around for a bit and introduce you to some people I wanted to show you. It will definitely take some time, and I'm talking about it as a fellow immortal, so you know that it will be long”

“Her? Who’s that? Could it be you were a man in your previous life and you had a wife?”

If she did… Why do I feel so angry all of a sudden?

“No, I was a woman in my previous life too, but you’re right, I’m talking about my wife. I was immortal before too, it’s just I was stupid and failed at something silly and died. But you’re saying it as if it’s weird for immortals to have same-sex romantic relationships?”

I feel strange. Somehow I’m both angry and excited? It’s strange.

“Yes. Here it’s really weird for people of the same gender to get together… Even among immortals”

My face is heating up a bit. Why?

Lavenna prettily cocks her head with the fork close to her mouth and says

“I guess it’s the difference in culture. Back there a girl being in love with a girl and a guy being together with another guy was nothing strange among immortals. With how many races of spirits there were you could have a human married to an intelligent tree stump. I’ve seen it myself. In fact, my wife is a fairy.”

A fairy? What is that?

“Um, fairies are a kind of high-level spirit with tiny elf-like bodies that could fit into the palm of your hand and wings like those of butterflies of dragonflies”

“I see.”

How confusing. But can you really be in love with something so bizarre? Thinking of it that way calms a bit.

“What exactly is that previous world of yours? Anyway, can you tell me about yourself?”

“Myself?”

“Yes, tell me everything, please”

“Everything…”

Lavenna’s mood turned gloomy somehow. Maybe she doesn’t want to talk about it?

“You don’t have to push yourself. If you don’t want to, it’s fine!”

“No, I would have to tell you someday, now is as good a time as ever…”

“You can tell me later! Tell me what you think you are ready to tell now and when you think it’s alright, tell me the rest, how about that?”

As much as I want to know, I think it’s better not to push it, so Lavenna won’t get hurt.

“Alright. Let's start with…”