As Norumi, Haolong, and Satsuki walked up to the dais, Mordecai rose from his throne and stepped down to greet his daughter with a warm embrace. "Hello, Norumi. I should have realized that it would be easier for you to meet us on this side and that you would be a princess of the court too."
She hugged him back tightly and replied, "I'm glad I can see you like this now, even if it came with a complicated price."
When Mordecai stepped back, Kazue and Moriko briefly but tightly embraced Norumi as well. He then spoke to Satsuki and Haolong. "To complete the formal introductions, I am Lord Mordecai, King of the realm," he ignored Satsuki rolling her eyes upward briefly, "this is my wife Lady Kazue, Queen of the realm, my wife Lady Moriko, Queen of the realm, Lady Carmilla, Princess of the realm, and Lady Fuyuko, Princess of the realm." Mordecai saw Satsuki's brow quirk up at Carmilla's name, but he ignored that too.
"Lord Haolong," he said, "We would like to formally recognize you as husband and consort of Our daughter, Lady Norumi, and as such We recognize you as a prince of Our realm." He felt that connection snap into place with satisfaction. Haolong's connection was still thinner than Norumi's, but it was there.
Haolong bowed as a small smile cracked his wooden face. "Thank you, Lord Mordecai. I suppose 'Father' would technically be appropriate, but then I would need to call these two beautiful young women 'Mother', and I do not think that would do."
With those formalities taken care of, Norumi and Haolong were no longer simple guests; they were part of this realm too even if it was not their home. Now for Satsuki.
Mordecai inclined his head toward her and said, "Lady Satsuki, you are a welcome and honored guest. I am happy to see that you are well." As much of a headache as he anticipated having over her visit, Mordecai had to admit that he was still glad to see her again.
She pursed her lips thoughtfully before replying, "Darling, that's sweet. I honestly wasn't quite sure what reception I would get now that you have two young wives to yourself." She smirked at him before looking at the queens.
"Lady Kazue, Lady Moriko, it is a delight to meet you. When there is time, I think we should enjoy a cup of tea together, with just the three of us, yes? Mm, Lady 'Carmilla', is it? Well, you must have taken on the name thoroughly for it to be such a part of you, so I will abide by that. I await dear Sylphine's reaction with anticipation. Lady Fuyuko, well, you're a tall one, but cute too."
Satsuki walked along to greet each of them, and she smiled up at the slightly flustered Fuyuko. "Oni bloodlines mixed with lycan bloodlines old enough for the curse to fade, yes? An adorable combination I admit. Oh, and it seems Mordi has been helping get your potential to quicken, excellent! A mix like yours is slower to awaken than others. But so much more can be done with it, if you can maintain control. Now," she turned back around and walked toward Mordecai, "Luv, I think I need you to explain something to me."
Gesturing toward the three thrones, Satsuki asked, "Why is your throne not the one in the center? I admit it's cute to see Lady Kazue flanked by her two taller spouses, but Darling, even with your restraint I can tell you are clearly the strongest, and you are certainly the, mm, most senior. It seems off for you to be at the end like that."
He shook his head as he smiled and replied, "Tsuki, life is not just about power, you know that. The start of this realm is our dungeon, and our dungeon started first as simply Kazue's. This is her home first and foremost, and I will not do anything to change that. I am trying to be much more mindful in this second chance at life."
"More mindful?" Satsuki asked incredulously. "My dear Mordecai, there is such a thing as going too far you know. Oh, but that is the issue, isn't it? You did go too far, just the other way. Tsk. Well, not the time and place I suppose. We can talk more about that later. Oh! Yes, we should be exchanging tokens and everything, shouldn't we? Let me begin. I have something perfect for the occasion. I've been doing some traveling and have come across the most interesting things. For now, I've brought you necklaces."
She pulled the necklaces out one by one from her sleeve to put the jewelry on each of them.
Mordecai's necklace consisted of 'beads' of dark-colored metal alloys in different odd polygonal shapes. Kazue's had several metal beads that were loosely strung and floated away from each other without a hint of magic. Moriko's necklace was made of strands of a few different white metals woven into a braided 'rope' and studded with different 'crystals' of metal, some of which had a multicolored sheen. Carmilla's necklace was a string of perfectly round and brightly colored pearls. Fuyuko's necklace was a chain of different steel alloys and a small pendant with a fractal pattern of tiny crystals.
They looked odd and there was no decent excuse to not wear them for the rest of the day. Fuyuko's was pretty at least while Moriko and Kazue merely had slightly odd-looking necklaces, but Mordecai had to suffer with an ugly, clunky piece while Carmilla was burdened with gaudy colors that did not fit her aesthetic to an almost comical degree.
At the same time, Mordecai and Kazue had to work hard to not react to the flood of information that came with receiving these gifts. Metals that they'd never identified before were now present in large enough quantities to be analyzed properly. Other metals they had only known as components of various gems. Several new alloys, some with the new metals. The floating beads were, for their size, incredibly powerful lodestones.
The pearls were mostly real, but they were also obviously artificially induced with irritants and dyes in controlled circumstances to produce these perfectly round and colored pearls. Nor were all of them generated by oysters, based on the variations in the base material. The ones that were not real were the small ones near the clasp, and these were made of some very interesting organic compounds. The slight flaws in all of these reinforced their impression that there was no magic involved.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Even Fuyuko's necklace was filled with unknowns. Every single crystal was new to Mordecai, and he was pretty certain there was no natural geological process that would create any of them. This gave rise to the question of how they were possibly made without the aid of magic.
The mischievous smile on Satsuki's face made it clear that she knew what she'd done, both good and bad. The price of having to wear these gaudy necklaces for the rest of the day was worth it, but there was no way for their other guests to understand how valuable these necklaces really were.
Once Mordecai could pull his attention back from the flood of new information, he returned Satsuki's smile.
"I'm afraid We only have this single small gem to gift in return," Mordecai said in a very sweet tone. Satsuki watched him warily as he brought out a small wooden box with an interior lining of black velvet. Nestled in that black velvet lining was a blazingly bright opal of fiery red.
She examined the gem curiously as she asked, "A fire opal? It's very pretty... wait." Her eyes widened in surprise and she said, "No, it's Dwarven Opalfire. Oh, Mordecai, you've outdone yourself. When did you get it?" She sighed and closed the box. "No, never mind, we can talk about it later. Thank you, I wasn't expecting you to have something so magnificent. Now my fun little presents look so cheap, even if you know the real value. A point for you."
"A point?" Kazue asked.
"Yes, Dear. Now's not the time to get into all the tawdry details, but suffice it to say that Mordecai and I have always been good at poking at each other. Your husband is a good man, but, well, that's why I feel compelled to mess with him. " Satsuki curtsied lightly and said, "I think that it is time I let my daughter and son-in-law present their gifts, and I shall retire to the feast."
As Satsuki left the dais, Norumi glanced at Haolong. "As I told you, they just can not exist in the same space for long. The two of them are always tearing at each other in subtle or not-so-subtle ways." Haolong just looked bemused at the situation.
"Now," Norumi said as she focused on Kazue, "I believe the crystal tree is your work, Lady Kazue?"
Kazue nodded at the question. "Yes, mostly. Why?"
"Well, we have a gift for you, but it's not so tangible as my mother's gifts. I assume that they are more valuable to you than they look to others?"
"Rather," Kazue muttered.
Moriko sighed and said, "I'm only getting a little bit of the information you two are working on, and it's already overwhelming. I knew I wasn't made to be an alchemist, no matter how much my parents had hoped otherwise."
Norumi continued with, "Our gift is a sort of blessing, but it seemed best to ask for your permission first, as we would be giving our blessing to your crystal tree, though I have to admit for all that I can tell it is alive, it is very strange. So I am not certain if the blessing will take."
"Oh," Kazue replied, "well, if you want to try, you may. I am willing to help if I can, or perhaps my mother can assist if you need it? You might need to come back to the mortal side with us if you want to do that though."
"No, not even a druid is going to help much with the blessing of a dryad and a guardian spirit," Norumi said with a smile. "But thank you. It should work out well enough, even with your tree being made of living crystal."
There was something about the way she was asking that bothered Mordecai. When she and Haolong turned together and started walking toward the crystal lattice of the roots, it finally came together for him. "Norumi," he called softly, "wait."
All of them turned to look at him curiously at his interruption.
"I think I know what you have in mind. If you and your husband want to bless us that way, that's not something I can turn down. Not from you. But, I think you should wait until spring."
Norumi tilted her head quizzically, the purple flowers that made up her hair shifting with the movement. "Why is that? My understanding of your living crystal is that it does not follow that particular cycle, it shouldn't make a difference."
"No," he replied, "but we have also received a different gift. A Yggdrasil leaf. Kazue is currently having it tended to much like a cutting, which should work."
"Oh," Norumi said and then fell silent for a long moment. "I see. Yes, by spring it might be strong enough to support our gift healthily."
"Wait," Carmilla said, "a dryad's blessing, for a tree. With her husband along." She glanced up at the crystal tree and then back to Norumi. "I've not heard of any other dryads in your forest. Why now?"
"That is both simple and complex," Norumi replied, "Because of the way I transformed, I am not bound to a tree, I am bound to my forest. So there is no way for another dryad to develop inside of the forest. Until now, any other tree I could reach seemed far too vulnerable. But here, with my father, I just can not imagine a better place. Your tree may be made of living crystal, but it is tree-like enough in concept and function that it should support a dryad's spirit, but a world tree sapling might be a better choice."
"But," Moriko said, "I have no idea how one takes care of a baby dryad. Do we feed her? Or just water her? What are we supposed to do? You can't stay here and take care of her. Or can you?"
Kazue simply slumped on her throne with a stunned expression.
Even Fuyuko panicked a little at the thought. "A baby dryad. Your baby. Wait, if you're my sister now, would that make her my niece? I'd be an aunt? I don't know how to be an aunt."
Norumi looked a little amused and she waited for them to calm down before she replied, "There is little need to worry. If it works, then her spirit will slowly form inside the tree for years if not decades. She'll wake up when the time is right, and she'll know all the things her tree experienced while she was asleep. But it seems we have time to explain everything before spring arrives. Oh, but what are your plans for the world tree sapling when it is ready to be moved? It will need a lot of space and I think it would compete with your crystal tree."
This brought Kazue out of her daze and she replied, "We hadn't decided for sure, but I was thinking of maybe trying to get it to grow into and with the crystal tree like those 'mated' trees people sometimes grow together. I rather like the idea of having a tree that is crystal and wood and connected to Sarcomaag, but I don't think any tree shy of a world tree could cope with the living crystal."
It was quite the image to contemplate. And the idea of a dryad being born of a tree that was part Yggdrysil and part living crystal, well, she would be unique, that is for certain.
Mordecai shook off that speculation and focused back on his daughter and son-in-law. "Are you two certain this is what you want to give us as your gift?" The gift wasn't really the dryad, who would be his spiritual grandchild. The gift was the trust involved in entrusting the dryad's future to them. Creating the potential for a new dryad was an investment of the older dryad's personal power. It technically did not require a mate to help, though a willing mate could certainly invest a portion of their spiritual energy as well which could make it easier, as well as additionally shape the dryad and give her two parents. Dryads were very careful and selective with what trees they blessed.
"Yes Father, we discussed it at length already and are very certain. I can't imagine a better home for our first dryad child." Norumi replied.
He nodded and said, "Very well then. The Azeria court will accept your gift as a pledge to be fulfilled." Mordecai smiled and added, "Which means it is now time for us to give you our gifts."