CW:

Rahdian POV!!! AHHH more talk of worry about curses being transphobic bitches. Talk of Rot and Ruin and missing family and murples that need to become mupples!!!

Her words jolt me into silence and in the quiet I’m just… feeling this. Feel the ocean that I didn’t realize was absolutely thrumming in furious protective tides around me settle. Just a bit. Might never quiet completely but…

That’s okay. Just hearing, for the first time ever, so many people easily accept me and… and promise to… to help me and… and to see and feel just how horrified they are at the idea of me being sent back to the temple is… it’s a lot.

More than I can handle.

And they let me go quiet as Ina tells them things. Sharing some details of our shared Dream and explaining the Storms’ parts from her perspective is… honestly enthralling. Makes me blush multiple times as she… she explains how they stayed so close and were so quick to protect me.

“And… What we talked about when you first merged?” Tasii asks, and the room goes a bit… well not stiff. But more tense.

Ina nods and looks away. “Like… yeah. It’s… Not great. Honestly.”

Yrelia slides from her chair as Ina doesn’t continue. Sits to kneeling in front of her lover. “Take your time. It’s alright, we don’t blame you or Her.”

Ina takes a deep breath. “We… we were focused on Rahdian and her shards, and the song we needed for it all really took a ton of focus and… and we didn’t look into it much deeper but… but… it could be really really bad.”

“Worse than you both mentioned to Tasii and Yrelia?” Kque interjects.

Ina nods, “Maybe. We’re… it’s not just the merging. It… it could be the foundations of my songs. The name that is sewn into my, like… everything. Not quickly doing anything but… slowly. Overtime. I’m… She… the more I sing and adjust it the more it seems to pull us closer.”

“And She still thinks that will be a bad thing too?” Tasii asks.

“Y– yeah. Same fear of what that could mean as before.” Ina whispers, face paling a bit as a shiver runs through her.

Jevita shakes her head, “I still don’t follow that logic. I get the… the worry. But… Inspiration still seems to be the best way to explain how Sun Spoken magic works. But a huge part about Inspiration is Perception. How you both see, and choose to see things.”

Ina sort of snaps up to look across the room at her. “R– really? You… you mean that?”

Jevita shrugs performatively, but… even that seems to calm Ina a ton. “Sure. If one of Rahdian’s shards saw you as anyone but who you are I think it might change the way this would work but… if we’re going off the logic of curses… Have you felt even a single prick when you refer to Rahdian? At all?”

Ina bites her lip and shakes her head, tears of hope beginning to rise up.

“Then… Her other curses will operate under the same logic. So long as Aceso sees you as who you are, you’ll be okay.”

The room's worry seems to pop like an ice bubble at that. Suddenly no more than little shards of relief strewn about at Jevita’s words. I look between them all, really confused and worried but… also relieved at this fear that I have no idea what it’s about.

Ina looks over to me, smiles in apology “Sorry, They… it’s an entire thing. But Jevita just kinda explained it all in a way we think kinda dissolved it. Just worried about what might happen if a girl like me got stuck in a Dream with Aceso. What with how She um… first saw me.”

I nod slowly, “Yeah that… From Her and the melty one’s reactions I… I can see how that could be really bad. But… the Fury once told me their mother is like you and me. Born in flesh she changed.”

That makes her eyes go wide. “Really? Wh– which one? The one with the Wiggly head thingies?”

I think about that for a second. “I… I’m not sure. It wasn’t a memory gifted just… words. She couldn’t talk about it for long.”

“Fuck.” Ina titters in excitement. “Can you imagine though! Wiggly head thingies instead of hair? Gosh! Fuck. I… I wonder where the Weaver's are from. Before She came here, I mean. That mother isn’t the first I’ve seen with neat body changes.”

“Like Cultivation?” Jevita asks with a quirk of her head.

I shake mine. “I don’t think so. I… She didn’t have the normal markings.”

Stolen story; please report.

“She also had a sister with them.” Ina muses, then sighs as her expression goes sad. “I just… What happened? Where did her family go?”

“I… I’m not sure. The Fury seems to remember the most about the before but… still struggles.”

Ina nods. “I want to heal them. Get more information. And… and maybe find other shards and ask them what they remember. Share more memories and… and help them heal too!”

“Ina…” Kque murmurs softly.

She turns back to give her normally soft spoken lover such a hungry grin. “Why not? Worse case, if they’re just… a bunch of mean bitches I’ll leave. With Aceso helping and more Amwella I… I can do that! Deal with an entire gaggle of Dreamers!”

Tasii shakes her head. “We… need to take this slow. And starting with Emarial is a horrible Idea Ina.”

She huffs. “It’s the only option. Rahdian found a shard that had been lost, and Emarial gobbled the rest up! And with her Wellspring we… We could do so much!”

“You said she had three dozen shards.” Tasii pushes back. “That… Ina what can you do if they all decide to try and hurt you? Use that Wellspring?”

“It’s not about Amwella, not really, not in the Dream.” Ina explains, “It can help with the edges or touching the Waking World, but the rest of it all is about focus. Will. And we’ve already laid a… a song over them all. We can separate them. Meet each one at a time or… or make sure that if we can’t there’s a separation! We did it in our Dream with Rahdian.”

“I… I can also help!” My mouth sputters out before my mind realizes, then ads more carefully “If… um… If that won’t make things harder?”

Everyone looks to me, and Ina smirks as she nods. “It would, actually. What with how these Shards were trapped and probably hurting from what happened to their Sun Spoken. Having two Sun Spoken and Three shards there to… to calm and help will really do a ton to help them settle. And with what you shared about a mother of theirs being transgender… I think even if things slip we’ll be okay.”

“You should still dream with the gemstone creature first.” Kque presses.

Ina pauses, then nods. “Yeah. So we can understand what they need first.”

“And… you probably need more Amwella.” Yrelia murmurs while smirking up at Ina. “You spent quite a bit, I’m guessing?”

Ina, blushing even more than I am as the implications of that snap into focus for me, giggles and leans down to bump foreheads with Yrelia. “Dreamer’s Tits, I… yeah. Probably.”

“I… um…” I mumble. “What? Dreamer’s what?”

Ina tilts over to glance at me. “Huh?”

“You… you’ve said that a few times now. Is… I’m trying to understand why and… don’t get it? Why use our Dreamer’s tits as… as like a curse or… something?”

Ina sighs and leans back into the couch, thinking…

“I… I’m not sure. Aceso uses it and it kinda rubbed off on me?” Ina tilts her head back and forth. “It’s not about her, But… I’m not sure who else it could be about? I should ask her next time I Dream. See if the memory is a peaceful one.”

After that we head back upstairs, and… well the day goes on. They share more amazing and warm food with me. Talk of small things, and silly stories and… and as I start to drift and feel off to the side one of them is always there to pull me out of the shell I’d otherwise fall into.

Not rudely, and there are a few times that they can tell I need to just sit and listen. Even… even…

The Fury and Melty one hold me close. Literally on the verge of weeping in delight at the memories that pour off me.

I’m not alone. They’re not alone. We… we’re going to be okay.

Maybe… maybe like we never thought possible.

Healing will be hard, but when the alternative is the wounds and scars being allowed to fester? Yeah. Clearing the muck to wash the wounds clean beneath them brings such relief.

“Do… do you know why she says that? Dreamer’s Tits?” I think to ask eventually.

Oh! That’s… um… The Melty one speaks up first. There was a Godthing. And She… Dreamed up everything. Then… um… Sheeee died.

She clams up at that. Seems to wince as I and the Fury nuzzle her close.

The Dream Rots, but… The Hearthfires burn to keep the Ruin at bay. A mother of ours b– bore two such flames. The Fury adds.

The Melty one nods. Shivering. I miss her, all of them. Wish… wish…

We have to pull her close. Murmur soft comforts.

“Ina and I will talk to this Emarial person’s Shards. See if they can… can help us figure out what happened or… or where they are! A ton of your memories don’t make sense and seem to be from a really far away place. Maybe we can figure out how to get there or…”

They both consider me for a moment. Then the Fury speaks carefully. That… closure would be appreciated. But it’s been a very long time, Rahdian. Even godlings fade and change after so many years have passed. And… and if they yet lived why have they not come for us? Searched for a daughter or sibling?

I don’t have an answer to that, and soon the Dream ends as such wonderfully sweet smells draw me up and away.

“Hi.” Ina whispers from the comfy chair next to the one I’d fallen asleep in. “Good Dreams?”

I purse my lips, but nod. “Always. But…” Then I notice the little moisture that's gathered in my eyes. Take a second to wipe it all away. Look up to see the source of the smell are two mugs of steaming sweet drinks Ina holds.

Before I can ask she’s offering me one, and I share with her what my Dream held while enjoying so much this warm drink with her. And… Of course I have to hide such a blush as I notice a few little love marks and how her hair is mussed up and disheveled in ways that scream of an afternoon of affections from some of her lovers.

“A Dead Dreamer… but everything goes on?” She murmurs. “Aceso’s used some of those words too. Rot. Ruin. Blight. Never took them as literal things…”

I nod. “And… Hearthfire to keep it all back?”

Ina considers that. “Emarial has one of those. Aceso thinks it was an accident but… If the Weaver’s mom was a Goddess then… could she have inherited something like it?”

I shake my head. “No idea. Do you think Emarial knows all this?”

Ina sighs and shrugs. “Honestly? Probably not. She’s kinda stupid and doesn’t talk to her shards. Not sure she ever did, even before killing and gathering up the three dozen others she holds. But… I don't really plan on dreaming with the cunt to talk with her. I want to help her shards. Even…” She nibbles at her lip.

“What?” I press.

She shakes her head. “Nothing. Just a flitter of Inspiration I really don’t need to let bubble up right now. Need to focus on how we can help our little cutie before turning over the big stupid rock that is that Sun Spoken.”

I nod. “Right. Yeah. So… When would you like me to Dream with you?”

“After dinner.” She replies. “The Ladies of this Manor will be joining us to let me know just how fucked the Arudian Politics have gotten since I stopped participating.”