Ro turned to her, deep, beady eyes filled with thought.

“Are you sure you want to know who did this?”

“Yes.”

She stood, shoulders squared and anger boiling within. They would have succeeded in their stealth mission if it hadn’t been for the intervention of whichever Ascendant had revealed them.

“It is the Monarch of the Astar. The Monarch is not Ascendant but is so close to being so that the rules of Ascendancy apply to them. They tread a thin line in their interventions, creating objects of power and giving information to their lessers that one who has properly ascended could not do. At the same time, I am allowed to tell you of them because of their not-quite-transgressions, yet they gain much. They balance these transgressions in… ways that I cannot speak of, yet still end up stronger for doing so.”

“The Monarch of the Astar? Does that mean that they were there that day?”

Ro shook his head.

“No, they were not. They are the first in a long, long time to approach ascendency, at least from what the others tell me. When a being does this, it begins to form an aspect. For me, it was nature itself. Others you have seen, the stars for the Starlight Wolf for instance. This being has somehow managed to gain the Astar as their aspect. It gives them leeway that others do not get.”

Zalia stared in annoyance. It was kind of hard to get revenge on a near-ascendant being.

“Great, so the Astar are led by, well, a god basically. Wonderful.”

“It is not great, no.”

“But you will be able to fight them, right?”

Ro paused.

“Perhaps. It depends on the events leading up to what will be the final fight. The Monarch’s powers are still limited in their form, whereas an Ascended’s is unlimited within the realm of their aspect.”

“Great,” Zalia muttered.

“Do not fear, this is a problem for a later time. For now, you have things to do.”\

She sighed.

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

Ro’s form dried and shrivelled until disintegrating into a dust that drifted into the fire which burnt brighter for just a moment. Used to the way that Ro abandoned his physical form when leaving, she wasn’t concerned about the process.

She left the living room and went back upstairs to where her family was still relaxing, comfortable together.

“Hey,” she greeted sullenly.

Ember immediately caught on to her foul mood.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

She sighed again.

“Oh, just discovered that an Ascendant was the one that gave us away to the Astar, leading to your capture. Thankfully, that allowed Ro to send Lumen to us which led to your being saved but it still feels… unfair, as stupid as that sounds.”

Ember came over and gave her a hug.

“Well, at least we know it wasn’t anything we did wrong, per se. Just got unlucky.”

She hugged Ember back.

“That’s a good way of thinking about it.”

The anger had left her, vanishing along with her sour mood at Ember’s hug, a powerful soothing calm flowing over her. They pulled apart as Aylie spoke up

“Alright, so what do we do?”

Zalia tapped her leg, thinking. Inside the town bounds of Nature’s Reclaim were safe, excluding the case of a high-rank Astar attacking. There wouldn’t be anything they could do in that case anyway so it wasn’t worth taking into account.

“Inside the town is as safe as it gets. We stay here when possible. Outside of the town boundary, we go in groups of two or more at all times. Also, wear the anti-teleportation bands at all times. We’re going to be joining the council for a conversation about what happens now, then we’ll decide what we’re going to do. For now, think about whether you all actually want to join in on this war or not. We all remember what last time was like.”

That brought a stillness to everyone except for Boreal’s children. They weren’t entirely unaware of the possible impacts of such a thing anymore though, having experienced true conflict for the first time just recently.

Ember’s calming aura spread over everyone and they all relaxed once more.

Boreal looked at her children, concern flashing through the bond Zalia shared with her. She knew exactly what was passing through her friend's mind, as she’d had the same thoughts when bringing Aylie into the war with the demons. Well, the war had come to them but it had been her choice to keep them all in the kingdom rather than staying in the north or fleeing to the south.

The young ones though, would have a choice whether they stayed here in safety, even living through the portal in the desert where the distance from the Astar might keep them safer, or came with them to the Astar lands to wage war… if that’s what the council ended up deciding in the end.

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Her personal preference would be to get involved, it wouldn’t be fair if she didn’t after possibly starting the damn thing, but not to be a part of the large fights. She would better serve their side of the war by doing other things like infiltration and targeted attacks.

“Well, I’m getting involved,” Aylie said, “They decided they had the right to separate my soul from my body, to separate Ember’s soul from her body, to separate thousands of people’s souls from their bodies for hundreds of years! I can’t let that go. This isn’t about taking their land or stealing their riches. This is about survival, pure and simple.”

Zalia nodded slowly, in agreement with her. She would prefer to keep Aylie, to keep all of them out of it. Realistically, that wouldn’t happen.

Lumen stood by her, obviously in agreement with the one who was blessed with the power of the stars. Lumen’s power.

“Alright, I won’t stop you. We have to be careful about this though, there are many powers beyond us in this conflict.”

They all gave their agreement to that.

“Alright, family meeting adjourned! We’ll be setting off to the capital in an hour or two so everyone get ready to go. All of us should be there for this meeting.”

Aylie immediately left the room and Ember gave Zalia a look a gesture. She nodded and went after Aylie, catching her in the entrance to the house.

“Hey, are you doing alright? We haven’t really had a chance to talk since getting back.”

Aylie searched her eyes for a moment, then looked down at the floor.

“Yeah, I’m alright. I won’t say it’s been easy. I felt so helpless, so… violated when they separated my soul. It’s unnatural, cruel and downright evil.”

Zalia nodded aa few times, standing with an open body posture.

“I imagine it was. I was pretty scared for you two for a good while there. Hey, you seem different since then. Did something happen to you while you were separated? Why is it that you could talk to me while Ember couldn’t?”

Aylie was still looking at the ground, chewing on her lower lip.

“I think it was because of my astral ability. Since part of my soul already lives there, maybe it was more used to the experience? Or… more capable of existing there, perhaps. I don’t think souls are usually meant to be on the astral. They exist somewhere else, the Astar just somehow managed to pull the soul from wherever it usually lives within the body and expel it into the astral.”

“That makes sense I suppose. Was there anything else you noticed while you were there? I can see something about you that lingers, something that Ember or the other freed people don’t have.”

Aylie shrugged.

“Not that I know of.”

Zalia kept the frown from her face. Aylie was lying to her, she just didn’t know why or what about.

“Alright, if you need to talk about it though, I’m always here, okay?”

Aylie nodded and Zalia just gave her a single reassuring hug before letting her walk off. She was allowed to have her own secrets, of course, Zalia just wished it didn’t worry her so damn much.

Ember found her still standing in the door and grabbed onto her arm, leaning into her.

“She’s alright, I think. Hiding something from us, but alright.”

“I’m sure she’ll tell us if it’s important,” Ember reassured.

Zalia nodded faintly, still worried.

“I know, I just wish that none of this had to happen. I wish the Astar would leave us be, that we could live in peace with them.”

She felt Ember’s agreement through the bond, louder than words spoken.

“Parenting is hard.”

Ember snorted.

“Said no one ever,” she said sarcastically.

Zalia poked her in the nose for the sarcasm and stood up straight.

“Need anything for the trip?”

Ember shook her head.

“Alright, I’m sure Boreal will get the young ones ready which means we have an hour or two on our hands.”

Ember smiled.

“That we do.”

An hour and a half later, they left Nature’s Reclaim with the entire family in tow. Zalia knew the trip would take much longer than it usually did for her, with the slower young ones with them, but still helped speed up the journey using her flight ability.

Flight - passive

Tin - Your manoeuvrability is increased and your air resistance is reduced while in flight. This scales based on the rank and level of this passive.

Iron - Your ability to perceive your surroundings while flying becomes exceptional. You can spot distant details and potential threats with remarkable clarity, allowing you to anticipate and counteract aerial assaults effectively as well as see threats on the ground.

Bronze - All flight-based abilities are easier and cheaper to maintain. This effect increases based on how many allies you also give flight to.

Silver - You are an expert in flight and may maintain flight abilities on yourself indefinitely. This is the maximum level of this passive.

With the Bronze rank effect and Silver rank Wisdom, she was able to maintain the flight on the larger number of people for a much longer time than previous. She still remembered when they had made that journey up to Glemp’s home with just herself, Ember, Aylie and Boreal. It had been a long trip and made all the longer by her inability to maintain flight on them all. Now, however, she was able to maintain it on all nine of them for a few hours at a time. They had to walk for ten to fifteen minute stretches while her mana replenished but it wasn’t so bad.

The young ones loved flight. Normally super energetic and chaotic as one might expect, the five small cats zipped around and about the more stable group of adults. They zoomed out and about, flying in closer to land on top of Boreal or Ember, though never Zalia, for a moment before jumping off and dashing away again. They managed to keep this up for hours at a time, their movement powered by Zalia’s magic rather than their own bodies.

Despite that, they quickly ran out of energy as the day passed and stopped to rest. Zalia had seen the small forms of Faian and their group below only a few hours into their trip but didn’t mind getting there earlier than them. She wanted to go see Larel, hoping that the woman would be in the capital. She hadn’t ever properly thanked her for freeing them from the jail years ago, when the kingdom-scale ritual to summon the demons had gone off.

Zalia still had the piece of paper describing Juniper’s part of that ritual and was starting to understand it the more she delved into teleportation magic. She had hopes that if she got the chance to study more Astar spatial magic, she might even be able to figure out a way to get to and from Cormaine. It was important to Ro that they get back that world someday, perhaps even reuniting the two sister worlds and giving the Bathar their real home back.

These thoughts made the day-and-a-half journey zip by as they flew and occasionally walked all the way there, with only a single stop to sleep on the way.

Arriving in the capital, she greeted the two Morning’s Shade members who came up to identify them before flying to the castle at the top, intent on finding Larel.