Morning came and as had more or less become the routine, Billy woke first. Waking up in a bed shared with two others. Sometimes occasionally it’d be shared with three.

He didn’t get why no one liked their own bed, especially considering all the effort he went to to make things nice and comfortable for them, but he’d long since ceased to question it.

Simply making both his bedroom and the bed itself, as  big as was necessary for the sake of everyone’s comfort. Elena would be curled over on her side of the bed, while Edna more less slept on top of him.

He’d lie in bed and he’d go into his head thinking of what needed to be done for that day and what would need to be done for the week. He’d mentally operate a few of the fabricators, using magic and aether-sense to check on their status and progress.

He’d mentally prototype some new items, playing around with different product ideas. Then afterwards if he was still just lying there and there was nothing pressing, he’d meditate while he waited for Edna to either wake up or roll off of him.

*****

Billy’s entrance into the seventh layer of the fifth realm was a relatively easy one. The revelation that came to him in that moment where Angelo had nearly had pushed him into the hoary mouth of oblivion had served him well.

There was such a thing as missing the forest for the trees, and naturally even Billy wasn’t immune to it. He could’ve sworn he’d been reminded of the issue already way back when the Dragon Emperor nearly killed him, or even when he took the beating from the Rust Maiden.

Perhap he did learn it and then he forgot it again. In which case that was just more proof that possessing the mental machinery of a quantum machine, didn’t mean that one couldn’t still be stupid.

It was all quite simple, the solution to Billy’s cultivation problems began and ended with him. If he truly needed to destroy a world to grow then all he needed to destroy himself. Exploiting the near infinite power that was freed and created at the moment of his own annihilation.

He was the Asphodel, the one who straddled the line between everything and nothingness. That was what he did, that was what he ‘was’. This wasn’t just a line he said. It was a literal fact and a key trait of his being.

How he could overlook such a thing was beyond him. Perhaps it was because using such a method was so risky and painful. Requiring that he bet on his ability to pull himself back from the brink non-existence at the very last moment.

The only issue was that the reaction required an energy rich triggering agent for what he called his ‘nihil-state’. A state of being that was similar to holding one's breath so long that breathing  or not breathing eventually became meaningless and inconsequential.

A type of meditation that allowed one to casually ignore the laws of conservation.

While using an absurd amount of aether to create his trigger would work, his experience with the old woman’s divine spark had him thinking of other prey.

The hardest part of all this was figuring out which path his cultivation would need to take and he’d already done that now. He wasn’t sweating the prospect of gathering the power required to trigger his nihil-state.

While it wouldn’t be easy, it wouldn’t be something he had to sit and think about it either.

The biggest benefit was that it expedited the re-processing and refinement of both his inner-world and his physical body. Steadily allowing his flesh to reach the state it had been in during his peak, growing more and more anomalous in nature.

Growing more capable of supporting the substance and weight of the world that lay within his shadow. At this point he was steadily becoming more shade-like in nature, amorphous and just ‘slightly’ intangible at his core.

Just slightly ‘unreal’. Slightly impossible as an existence. He considered that a good thing.

*****

The sun rose a little higher in the sky and was eventually able to make its way through their windows. The light in their was enough to either  wake Billy’s bedmates, or at least make them roll off of him and pull the covers of their heads. Freeing Billy to get up and do his morning routine.

A few hours passed, he showered, he made some product batches and product prototypes and around the time his roommates had finally made their way downstairs he had breakfast on the table.

*****

“Pancakes…?” said Edna.

She came downstairs, a sleepy grin on her face, her hair still wet from the shower. Somehow she felt that she’d been sleeping much better lately. She got less of it, but it was much more restful.

Elena came down soon after. Surprisingly wide awake for someone who’d looked like they’d been actually trying burrow into the mattress just a few minutes go.

“Any meat on that grill of yours, love?”

Billy just pointed to the honeyed ham. An action that was rewarded by a rakish smile you, and a peck on the lips that left him feeling puzzled as usual, but happy that she was happy.

She took the whole ham, which kind of annoyed Edna, because she’d kind of wanted some ham too.

Edna checked her phone, she’d upgraded from a phone band to a phone construct similar to Billy’s months ago. It made things easier but it also meant that she could no longer escape from her obligations and the worries of being in charge of an organization the size of the current Bone Tree Company. .

With reminder of these things butting its way into her consciousness every few minutes or so. There was always a message to answer or respond ot. There were always fires that needed putting out. Fortunately most of them would  wait till she was at the office.

The office that they’d set up in Nereida, a massive tower that stood As for the ones that couldn’t wait, they’d just have to wait anyway, or more likely they were already being handled by her associates Jermaine and Enzo. For whose existence she thanked all twenty-one main gods of the pantheon.  

In the meantime she’d enjoy her morning, she looked at Billy who stood by the counter, dusting his french toast with brown sugar. Quietly wondering what he’d do if she got up and kissed him too.

Probably nothing. He’d probably just stand there and go back to eating his breakfast. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or bad thing.

*****

The time came for everyone to head out. Edna had to go to the office. Elena had a grand-mummerbug colony to eradicate and Billy had Billy things to do, which were always just inscrutable enough that she really didn’t bother to ask, the whats and why.

Simply trusting that whatever it was, it would be in their interest or end up coming to their use. Three years of consistency backing up her supposition.

She, Ell, Billy and the other one who rarely spoke, yet followed them like a damn ghost, all step out from the front door and the first thing they saw was a group congregating at the gate.

Billy was making that complex, put-upon face he sometimes made when ran into something that he couldn’t handle. Which generally tended to be people, or socially oriented.

Elena just raised a brow, appearently having spied something amusing about the whole situation.As usual it was left to Edna to pretend to be the socially adjusted one.

“Uh...how may we help you?”

The entire town, likely seemed to startle not expecting Billy to have come out with an entourage in tow.

A few of the older folk who were almost certainly the ringleaders of ‘whatever’ this was, seeming to confer with each other before resuming their smiling half-bowed positions.

There was the old woman, the woman in the green shawl, her name was Alma and she stood to the side. Her expression unreadable. Her gaze decidedly calculating.

There was an old man who looked like he either been donkey-kicked or was asking to be donkey-kicked. His eyebrows wispy and eccentric. His mustache thick and long like the whiskers of a catfish.

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Edna was pretty sure his name was Rodell and he reminded her a slave dealer that she’d once had the displeasure of meeting. A friend of her Uncle’s who’d been blatantly ‘handy’.  

There were others present, head warriors and elders of the tribe. All of them watching with interest and bated breath.

“Oh nothing, kind lady. We just wished to bid our lord good Morning and congratulate him on his many successes.”

Edna frowned, a bit of intuition and a snicker from Elena, putting her her instincts on red alert.

“Er...thank...you?” said Billy.

Sounding like either one or both parties had suddenly inexplicably stopped speaking imperial-common.

“Yes, yes. From what the traders who’ve come to the village have said, our lord is great man in both the hinterland and the wastes. Thus as a gift we thought we’d send over a few of our best and brightest.” said Rodell.

Everyone on Billy’s side of glen, with the exception of Elena, froze. Edna wasn’t sure she’d heard right. Who the hell gave away their children as congratulations gifts?! Were they underestimating the worth of human lives?

Or were they underestimating, ‘their’, Billy, Edna and Elena’s intelligence.

Obviously this was some kind of ploy. Thus for more reasons than she could count she was pretty sure she was offended.

In truth she understood exactly what they were doing because she’d seen similar down to and by the heads of the Maddoc family. While in polite society folk were generally more circumspect about such things, it was still the same idea.

Marriage, or a trusted position such as chamberlain or secretary was best, but any position that brought one into the other party’s confidence and further tied one’s fortunes to theirs would do.

People were always pawning their children off to powerful folk for the sake of making powerful connections.

Edna could distinctly remember being brought out to play with or around the children of nobles just in case they took a liking to her, and theirs parent decided to hire her on as a hand-maiden or lady-in-waiting.  

She’d seen townsfolk do the same to her older sisters and parents. Usually it was done with subtlety and small asides about how responsible or talented the candidate was, and hoping the future employer picked up on the hint,  but apparently barbarians played things differently.

Or at least that’s what they seemed to want Billy to believe. Edna suspected that wasn’t so. From what she’d seen from the time they’d lived amongst them, the folk of the hinterland and the folk of the wastes weren’t ‘that’ different.   More likely this was just them take a very bold shot across the bow.

Probably a scheme by the mustache man, from the way the old woman in the shawl was scowling at him.

No matter was the case was, this wasn’t the most ideal ways to start a day. And it had been ‘such’ a wonderful morning too.

Edna found herself getting irritated just thinking about it, yet somehow she couldn’t stop smiling. That damned curve in her lips remaining in place, regardless of her current feelings.

“Um…”

“I know, I know...It’s too much, but honestly our beautiful daughters and sons are all we have, and considering how long we’ve been under your protection. Let’s just say we’d feel ill at ease if we didn’t show you a little of our sentiments...Surely you can understand that.” said Rodell.

A surprisingly smooth-talker for a man who looked like he was needed back on set to play the role of the villain in a children’s cartoon.  Tying damsels to train tracks.

The answer was of course a resounding no and if she were a much more severe person she’d have said so immediately and taken her William with her. Perhaps even leaving the village once and for all, though it probably wouldn’t have gone to that extent.

Unfortunately she wasn’t that kind of severe person. At least not usually, she tended to need time to process things before she’d decide how to react.

While Billy or Elena might have been more suited for the task at hand, one seemed fine with just watching from the sideline, intermittent snickers escaping her, and the other seemed to have...gone away, for a moment. His chin tucked in his hand, in a sort of standing thinker position.

“I...well...yes, and while I-, we both understand and appreciate your sentiments I’m afraid that…”

“Ah, if you’re concerned about our lordship already being married or his future marriages, please don’t be concerned. We would never presume, to pursue full-wife status. Whether our daughters end up as concubines or maids, or our sons your servants, or footman, we’ll take it as an honor.”

There were three thoughts warring for space inside of Edna’s head, the first wondered why they didn’t see the inherent inappropriateness of asking a man’s wives, if he could have another wife.

The second thought realized that she’d just declared herself, one of Billy’s wives. Which was a much clearer declaration of her feelings for the man than those she’d made before. She wasn’t quite sure she was ready to say it aloud but she was fine with taking her time.

The third thought was just the crunchy pleasantness of radio static, threatening to pull her into a contemplative, tongue-tied fugue.

Elena elbowed her and a nodded in the direction of the girl at the corner of the crowd. Standing at the edge of the fidgety crowd of nervous young women was one that slightly taller than all the rest.

The usual golden brown of the Aria tribe, made pale, and covered in cold sweat. Her eyes seeming on the verge of rolling into the back of her head.

Though it helped absolutely nothing, Edna was faintly pleased to find that there was someone else as taken aback by the current situation as she was. She ran through some odds and made a quick decision.

“Yes...ah, well, while unfortunately we cannot take on all of your youth, we will be willing to take on one.”

“We will!?” said Billy seeming to snap out from whatever fugue he’d been under at the most inopportune moment.

“Yes...I think this should work fine, yes?” said Edna.

*****

Billy looked at Edna and then he looked at Alessa whose eyes had now completely rolled up into the back of her head.

A small froth coming from the corners of her mouth as she magnificently managed to remaining standing as she passed out.

“Yes...Yes. This might not be completely awful idea at all…. Who knows, we might all walk away from this quite happily..” said Billy.

Worryingly enough he seemed to grow increasingly serious about the idea, as if he’d decided something significant, in the time he’d been standing on the periphery being mainly useless.

Edna couldn’t help noticing that there’d seemed to be something slightly sinister about the way he’d said that last bit, but she figured she’d ask about that later.

Several more thoughts had popped up in Edna’s head and they were all either white noise or expletives.

Elena laughed aloud and Edna nearly spat blood, feeling like she’d taken some damage, but not entirely sure how or when. The ghostly one that always trailed behind them, Tamra, seeming to become an even more faded presence. Her pale face painted with a vague displeasure.

“Yes well...thank you again. Now we really must be going.” said Edna.

Stepping into a N-Door and tugging, a cackling Elena along with her.