The hair on Cove’s arms rose as blue lightning lanced the cliff, arcing through the granite above and below the road, blinding and jolting his body as it passed into him. Cove writhed and screamed as wild Elystria flooded his droui system and gathered in his chest. His heart thundered. His mind raced to find something, a toenail or strand of hair, that wasn’t sending a confused mess of signals as every sensory nerve lit up like an Amelia Week Festival. A sharp, agonizing crack echoed from his sternum. It radiated through his chest as his core Azure crystal liquified and expanded. Every curse and exclamation of surprise in Cove’s vocabulary blurted through his thoughts. He howled in pain. His body pulsed and flowed, reminding him of the tiny crystals he’d used to blow up the highway. He mustered every scrap of will and drove the energy into the mountain. Let those damned cinderweavers have it.

The world fell into silence as thunder cracked the air meters away.

Choruses of girlish giggles filled his mind.

Shock and glee filled Bree’s thought: Daddy!

Essie: We’re going to need a new swear jar…

Penny: And I thought Master Vertim could cuss!

Lyra: Did you hear how he said it all at once?

Cove groaned, blinked, rubbed his eyes, tapped his ears, and sighed. Shite. Ten tons of hadrosaur dung on a dinner plate!

Eww! Thought the twins. That’s disgusting!

I think Master Vertim gave that to us for dinner once.

Curiosity tinted with disgust filled Essie’s thoughts as she sent: Really?

Girls! I apologize. That lightning blinded and deafened me. How far away are you?

Penny: We’re coming around the last turn… by Eidilorn! Daddy, is that you?

Cove’s breath caught as he thought: What is wrong?

Lyra: Did someone build a lighthouse after we passed?

Essie: Uncle Cove? Did you overcharge your Azure? Are you going to explode?

Penny’s voice shifted, deepening and filled with eons of knowledge and wisdom, as Eidilorn possessed her. She used the young woman as her voice: Stoneshaper Nocht, you have created something forbidden. Destroy it before the world suffers for your folly.

What? I did not make anything. Hells! I was struck by lightning.

It carries your imprint; you must reforge the Azure before moving it.

Essie gasped and thought: Is that all Azure?

Cove shook his head and groaned: No, just my armor and the top of the floating platform—

Bree: Daddy, a whole piece of the road and cliff are glowing. I can’t tell how big…

Cove froze. How much energy was in that lightning bolt? Gods of land and sea… I sent it all into the cliff. What was I thinking? Was I thinking at all, or was it instinct? He sent his mind a meter into the stone and found Azure, pure and saturated to putty with Elystria. He didn’t understand what kind of alchemy transformed granite to azure; maybe the rock heads over in the geology department could puzzle it out; for now, it was magic. Memories of the millimeter spheres of Azure he’d used to blow up the bridge rose through the exhaustion plaguing his mind. Just how massive is this bomb? He shook, fighting to contain his terror as his mind delivered the answer: the first meter of this hemisphere was five hundred million times larger than each of the tiny spheres he’d used to blow up the bridge a few months ago. With a great deal of trepidation, Cove delved further into the mountain. The first impurities appeared slightly over two meters into the cliff, and he didn’t find the natural stone for another six meters. He was sitting beside over three thousand cubic meters of overcharged Azure—enough to buy a country and charged with sufficient Elystria to vaporize half of Heim.

Raw terror filled Lyra’s words as she sent: Daddy? Should we run?

No. Give me a moment. Cove sent a thread of Elystria through the cliff and into the floating sled, retracted the cover, and thought: Bree, filter the Blissfire from Dax and Sera.

Fear, avarice, and curiosity streamed from Essie. Can we keep the Azure?

Cove sighed, his mind relaxing as he recalled his plans for the crystal covering Sera and Dax. He'd dismissed the idea as an intellectual exercise. After all, the odds of having enough material and energy were a fantasy, or it had been. Yet, he had to do something with several tons of Azure and more Elystria than he could measure. He motioned to Essie and thought: Sure.

Uncle Cove, is it Veneday?

No, I'm serious. It is only halfway through the month.

How much can I keep?

You can keep as much as you can carry.

Cove jumped as a fist rapped on his scalp.

Essie sent: knock, knock! I'm here. How do I get my Azure? Can I pull it off the wall? Do I hit it with something?

His hands shot up, searching for her wrists, yet his weary muscles stuttered, and he found her jaw instead.

Ouch!

Sorry! Do not hit the Azure, and step gently. This crystal is unstable.

Um... Okay... Hey Lyra, Bree, and Penny stay back. Uncle Cove made another bomb.

Lyra: Another bomb? Daddy? What did you do?

A giggle filled Penny's thoughts: You should have seen it; he blew up the eastern causeway.

Daddy, please don't blow up our cousin before she makes a new swear jar, sent Bree.

Essie: It’s not my fault! I don't know why Aunt Wendy tied the damned pot of bratty pellets to my handlebars.

Cove wanted to snicker. He tried to smile, but his exhausted body only managed a nod. This needed to be done. Yes, he could tip-toe away, but that would leave wealth and power beyond measure and a world-cracking bomb in the hands of a madman. He loved the people of his country but not its god-king. This thing he had created had to be defused, disassembled, removed, repurposed, or all of the above.

"Lyra, Bree, and Penny," said Cove, "Stand next to Essie. I cannot see or hear. Sera will fix me if my droui glands do not do it first. Either way, that will take time we do not have. I will talk out loud for now, but I need you to think your words to me. Do you understand?"

An overlapping chorus of "Yes, Daddy" and "Sure, Uncle Cove" whispered in his mind.

Cove closed his blind eyes and drew power from the crystal. An enormous yawn roared from his mouth, momentarily shaking his attention. Oh, Gods! I cannot do that; anything less than absolute concentration… I don’t want to consider the consequences. His lower body hummed as his Stoneshaper glands synchronized and focused the wild Elystria into streams and patterns. He delved into the cliff and became part of the hemisphere. He gaped in awe as Elystria sparked and flowed through the crystalline matrix. Yet, the random patterns and paths resembled a block of shattered glass. It was awe-inspiring, like a hurricane, landslide, or nuclear explosion. It needed to be dealt with and reforged before anyone died.

"I am about to begin," Cove said as he released Essie's hands. "Remove anything that is not made from stone or metal. Set it outside the sphere—”

UNCLE COVE! I am not undressing on the side of a cliff! You might be blind, but there's a whole city and half of the navy over there... Essie's mental shouting faded only to be replaced with a sense of embarrassed astonishment. Gods of the nine hells... Don't look, Uncle Cove! Oh, I guess you can't see, but your daughters are... well, they did what you said. But why do I have to take off my clothes?

Cove rubbed his forehead and scrubbed his fingers through his drenched hair. His empty stomach twisted and groaned as he closed his outgoing mental communication and thought: The world is falling apart, my friends and family are in danger, I am deaf and blind, we are all soaked to the bone, yet Essie is worried about people over three kilometers away seeing her through a driving storm. By all the gods of land and sea, one more thing, and I'm going to snap. He covered his mouth as his diaphragm spasmed, ready to turn his head and vomit bile, and instead found himself choking back a laugh. I've lost it... My mind has snapped, and I'm going crazy. A chuckle escaped his pursed lips. Well, if I'm going off the deep end, I may as well have fun along the way.

Professor Coveland Nocht reorganized the simple answer to Essie's question, replaced his impish grin with the face he saved for pompous faculty, lowered his hand, and in his best lecturer's voice, said, "I intend to fabricate biomechanical crystalline matrices enveloping each of my six subjects. It is imperative for the inner surfaces of these plates to establish direct physical contact, as this facilitates the unhindered conduction of Elystria, a critical component in maintaining the integrity and positional accuracy within the overarching matrix structure—"

Uncle Cove...

"—However, the integration of inorganic entities within this framework presents a significant methodological challenge—"

Essie began a dramatic moan as his daughters sent gales of giggles across the mental link.

Cove forced the corners of his lips back into a straight line and kept his dancing eyes closed as he continued. "The specific interactions and potential repercussions of embedding non-living tissue within the crystalline matrices remain inadequately understood. Given the prevailing uncertainty and the high stakes involved, I deem it ethically and scientifically prudent to refrain from experimenting with clothed subjects until a thorough understanding of these interactions is achieved, thereby avoiding unnecessary risks to subject well-being."

Bree giggled as she thought: Oh my gods! Daddy, that was amazing. I only understood about half of what you said, but wow!

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Penny thought: I'm going to ask Eidilorn to record that one into the history of our age.

Ah... Uncle Cove, please use Middle-Grade School words. Her thoughts were colored with annoyance.

"I am sorry, Essie. I did not intend to hurt you."

I've been listening to your professor's voice since I could talk. Aunt Keeva has been teaching me new vocabulary words for several months. Let me see if I got this right. You'll make me Azure battle armor like Aunt Keekee's Luminageous Armor. Her bodysuit worked like a battery when it touched my skin; my armor would do the same. How am I doing so far?

"Very good. Keep going."

Aunt Keeva's bodysuit is incredible in a weird way. Anywhere it touched my skin, it molded itself to me and moved like it was part of me, but the bits over my bra and panties didn't move and rubbed my skin raw. I think it might have worked better if I had gone naked underneath, but I’m glad Aunt Sera made me wear my underwear. Gods! Uncle Cove, did you know it would turn clear as glass when Johnathan hit me? I wasn't scared of Johnathan, but strangers and boys were in that hallway! A bunch of BOYS saw me in my underwear! Mom would kill me… I don't know what your rock powers will do to the pretty clothes Aunt Kee made for me, but I want to put my blouse and shorts over the armor when you're done. Nobody is going to see me naked.

Stop laughing, Lyra! You too, Bree! You three are girls and family. I don't care if you see my pretty parts, but boys, not even my cousins get to see all of me! Uncle Cove, tell Lyra and Bree to stop making rude faces!

A round of mental giggles came from his daughters before Lyra sent: Hey, don't throw your clothes at me! Just toss it outside the circle… hey!

Essie: Oh, gods… Aunt Keekee is going to kill me… Elystria damned Demon Squalls!

There was no question in Cove’s mind; whatever article of clothing Essie had tossed at Lyra had been stolen by the ever-shifting winds of the storm. Still, he had to ask. “What happened?”

My top blew away. I wasn’t even finished with the embroidery! Aunt Wendy was teaching me to make tulips.

Cove asked, “A tulip?”

It’s a flower, Uncle Cove.

“I know it’s a flower. I’m sorry you lost your… what did you lose?”

Essie sighed as she thought: My crop top—

Lyra: What's your problem? Your teats and glory are beautiful.

Don't make fun of me. I'm flat...

Cove withdrew from the conversation; he didn’t have another speck of brain power to spare. Focusing all his attention on preparing the Azure, he lowered its density into a thick paste. He left a sturdy platform under the girls. He aligned the crystal molecules from top to bottom, shifting the orientation by several degrees with each new layer, creating a robust and flexible mesh.

“Clever,” said Greta, “Did you get that from Dóiteáin’s repair manual?”

“No,” whispered Cove, his voice hesitant and gruff. “I adapted it from the Takamot book. This is the structure for its protective outer shell.”

"Lad," said Grettaluna, "I don't want to question your judgment, but didn't Dóiteáin’s shell try and take your hand off when it closed?"

"Yes."

"And you're wrapping your friends and family in that same shell? It's going to snap their heads off!"

"No."

"Lad!"

"I know what I am doing. Dóiteáin's shell was her skin. It protected and connected her to the world, provided sensory information, etc. This should do the same with our bodies but use our brains instead of AI.”

Bree sent: Daddy? What's happening? Why are you talking to yourself?

"I need one more minute," said Cove. Several moments later, Cove said, "Okay, girls, I have liquified the Azure under your feet and prepared it to become your new armor. In a moment, I am going to lower you into the stone. Stand with your feet apart, arms extended to your sides, fingers spread, and hold still. The Azure is hot, but it will not burn you. Do you have any questions before I begin?”

Lyra: You’re going to dip us like candles?

“Yes.”

Lyra: Into molten Azure?

“Correct.”

Lyra: And it’s not going to burn or hurt us?

“It should be like sitting in a hot spring.”

Lyra: Will it slosh or splash?

"Only if you move."

Lyra: Then, why do you want us to close our eyes?

“Because I’m getting in with you, and while I cannot see you, it would be inappropriate for you to see me.”

Lyra: Dad, relax. We’ve seen all of you. Remember the cavern?

Cove trembled. Yes, he remembered the Temple of Gisaluna. He recalled the cavern's good and evil, yet those weren't the memories troubling him. He had a lifetime of good memories with friends and family sans clothing: sailing, surfing, swimming, church services with his father and mother. No, he was desperate to hide from the chambers under the Temple of Amekia. Even now, with the Demon Squalls tugging and shoving, desperate to toss him from his perch, and the intoxicating pull of an immeasurable volume of Elystria swirling around him, the memories invaded his mind; the cloying scents of blissfire mists and pheromones, visions of writhing bodies, and hedonistic, bestial compulsions masked as worship, women desperate to become mothers and the few men desperate to fill the terms of their breeding licenses. He shuddered. There wasn't enough soap to scour the filth clinging to his soul after a day serving in the Temple of Amekia. Yes, he yearned for clothing. He didn't want to hide behind ten layers of cloth like a prostitute. The youthful, innocent glee of nudity had been driven from him by the harsh realities of adulthood and living around other people. He'd grown up. The twins had been abducted by the Riddere during the crucial moment, the time when the frivolous, innocent freedom of youth transitioned into the harsh reality of adulthood. They were in a hurry, but his daughter deserved an answer. He didn't have the luxury of time; the Elystria had to be used before the mass of Azure detonated, so he kept it short.

"Lyra, that was a special place, a Temple of Gisaluna, Goddess of the Sea. Like the sea, it is one of a few extraordinary places where clothes are proscribed for your safety. Personal privacy is respected everywhere, and you are expected to wear appropriate garments. There is nothing wrong with your bodies, nor is there any sin in location-appropriate nudity. Yet, what they did to you in prison, forcing you to expose yourself and training you like pet raptors to despise clothes and delight in nakedness, was a form of abuse and was very wrong.”

The silence radiating from Lyra filled Cove’s chest with another weight he did not want.

“I can not hold this matrix forever. We will continue this conversation later,” Cove said as he set the armor he’d crafted on the road outside the Azure sphere.

Penny took his hand and led him back as she thought: Daddy, my sisters are taller than Essie and me. If you lower us at the same time, you’ll have to choose between missing parts or drowning two of us.

“Good point,” said Cove as he divided the platform into parts and almost lost control of the entire mass. “I have to begin now.”

The process turned out to be similar to dipping candles. Cove lowered everyone into the prepared Azure until it covered their neck, drew the matrix tight to their bodies with a single pulse of energy, lifted everyone out, and fused the layer with more Elystria. He repeated the process nineteen times, leaving them coated in a radiant, deep-blue, two-millimeter-thick, elastic Azure bodysuit.

Cove ran his mind through his creations, tying each layer to the next, making minor adjustments, and linking the inner layer to the nearest droui gland. His muscles ached, and his droui glands threatened to go on an eternal strike, yet his mind reveled and raced; it was working! "One more time, girls. This layer will form the storage and part of the armor. If I am right, you can mold and shape the outer layer with practice. For now, I will make them all the same—"

Essie: Uncle Cove... um... can you make me more grown up?

Cove stammered, "What?"

Bree: She wants you to give her bigger breasts and matching hips.

Lyra: Like Peyton and Kendra?

Essie: Amekia, no! I get a backache looking at them; I want to be like Aunt Keekee.

Penny: Good choice.

Cove sighed, closed his mind, and thought: You have got to be kidding.

Essie: Please, Uncle Cove...

"Essie," Cove said kindly, or as much kindness as his exhausted mind could muster, "You are an earth mage. I will be stunned if it takes you more than a few moments to learn to shape and mold your armor. Plus, it would be wrong for me to have anything to do with the shape of your body; just thinking about it makes me feel dirty. What I will do is give you extra material around the middle. It will make you look plump, but you will have something to work with as you learn."

Penny: Daddy, can I have some extra too? I like my body, but having extra will allow me to talk to Eidilorn more often.

Cove snickered and said, "Sure, and before you ask, Lyra and Bree, I'll give you an extra kilo or two." Before anyone could speak, he lowered everyone. He formed Azure plate mail for each young woman and himself, linked the solid plates to the insulating layers, lifted the platforms, and waited several heartbeats for the wind to cool the stone. He made one final check and began transferring Elystria. The mountain dimmed as the five newly forged suits of plate mail became pillars of light. With one final feat of will, Cove charged the sled and molded the mountain and road to hide the remaining dark Azure crystal.

The world spun. A gust of wind tipped Cove. He fell as his mind darkened. Not again...