--- Dov ---

Dov was nervous. They were about to exit the feywild, meet her parents, and hopefully put a stop to the war.

It should be straightforward, but so many things could go wrong. It was possible that Cilia Ulein had come back to life already and laid a trap. And even if she hadn't, she might have left contingencies behind. Team Nundru had been practicing what to do if things went wrong, and were as well prepared as the limited preparation time would allow.

It honestly seemed kind of ridiculous to her to expect a trap, given that she was literally just going to meet her parents, but it was better to be safe than sorry. As Balron kept telling her, preparation was the key to success.

Luckily she no longer had any important gaps in her memory. The Xeltek device they found when they defeated Cilia Ulein seemed to have improved many of her telepathic abilities as well as her biomancy. She had no idea what the connection was, but her innate Davlash ability to restructure her genes was now noticeably faster than it used to be. This had sped up her ability to restructure her brain.

As a consequence, all of her childhood memories were now back.

That was quite a relief. The meeting with her parents could have been really awkward otherwise.

Rania had been sure that Dov's faulty memories were going to come up and cause drama and had actually sounded a little disappointed that that wasn't going to happen. After thinking about it for a bit, the elf had told her that she was happy this wasn't the case, because reading about family drama in a book was fun, but she would prefer it if her friends didn't actually experience it in real life. It was sweet, in a weird way.

Having a perfect memory was awesome. Remembering your childhood was awesome too, but most people would take that as a given so it wasn't worth highlighting. Her newly formed memories were perfect, but her older ones were still as sluggish and unreliable as normal people's memories. It would sometimes take a minute or more to recall details. To fix this, she had spent some time mentally reviewing her old memories and then restructuring what she remembered in her new memory format. She was now able to remember things much more quickly in all the areas where she went to that effort.

Doing this felt amazing. She loved learning and she loved getting better at everything. But on the flip side, realizing that you forgot something from lack of use felt absolutely terrible to her. With the genes she copied from Galanys, this would never happen to her again. Being a Davlash was awesome.

"*Oh look, I think we are there!*" Rania suddenly pointed out.

Faintly visible in the distance was a wall of translucent fog. The same kind of wall that had marked the border back to the material plane the last few times.

As they drew closer, Dov noticed something odd.

Her telepathic powers had grown significantly since her interaction with the Xeltek device. She was now able to pick up faint traces of humanoid mental signatures even at a distance of hundreds of meters. And as she just found out, the ability appeared to work across dimensional borders as well.

"*I am detecting people on the other side. Over there, and over there.*" She told the others as she pointed out the locations behind the wall of fog.

Rania stared intently for a while. "*Oh, I can see them now! There are two archers on the trees. They are super stealthy! I can't see anyone over there though. Did you point at the right place? It's right out in the open!*"

"*Probably someone invisible, then.*" Atrog commented.

They all knew what that meant. Invisibility was not easy to achieve. These weren't common soldiers.

"*Three people. Elite. Two of them are archers, one a mage. No war beasts. Working directly for the main army. Hm. That's probably team Shevon.*" Dov said.

As the crown princess, Dov knew the Shan military and its command structure. There simply weren't many elite groups of adventurers who fit this description, and only one that worked directly under her parents.

They discussed their approach briefly, then exited the feywild.

Boomwagon the First arrived in the material plane in plain view of the scouts, some distance away from them, and flying a flag of truce. Dov was seated in front. She was shapeshifted to look very similar to her original form, to be more easily recognized, and protected by Balron's protective spells just in case something went wrong.

"*This is Princess Dov Shan.*" She telepathically transmitted into their heads as they drew closer. "*I have returned to end the war. My siblings and I were never abducted. That claim was fabricated in order to spark this war. Take us to my parents so that we can put a stop to it.*"

She pointed at all three members of team Shevon, making it clear that she knew their location, as Boomwagon the First slowly came to a stop at a respectful distance from them. Through her newly strengthened psionics, she was able to get a basic idea of their emotional state. They were surprised, but not scared. These were experienced adventurers, and they probably thought that they were stronger than team Nundru, simply because they were stronger than most things around. Team Nundru was quite new and there was no way for team Shevon to know of their accomplishments.

Their mage turned himself visible and responded: "I greet you, your Highness, if you are who you claim to be. Can you prove your identity? We have dealt with too many spies before. Faking your looks is simple. Faking your telepathy would be harder, but easily within the capabilities of Oruk."

They had planned for this, and had several different ways to prove their identity. But Dov decided to go off script, because she knew a trick that would definitely work to convince him.

"*You are the leader of team Shevon. You have worked directly for my parents, so I expect you know some secrets that they wouldn't tell anyone outside the palace. I'm going to tell you something privately now that nobody else needs to know.*"

She told him the real reason for the strangely specific entry requirements to the East Wing of the palace.

He turned bright red. "Ok. Wow. That explains so much. I was not expecting that at all, but it makes so much sense."

"Boss, what's the matter?" Asked one of the other members of team Shevon.

"I'm not telling you that, Rose. No way in hell. I'm taking this knowledge to my grave. Morgan would have my hide otherwise. But yeah, that's definitely Princess Dov. Nobody would make up something crazy like that. James, I need you to run ahead to the camp and tell them to expect the princess and her escort."

"Sure thing. And greetings to you, princess!" The other man said. Then he jumped from the tree and took off in the direction of the camp at the unnatural speed that only a master biomancer could achieve.

She felt elation from Rania through the telepathic link. "*Your backstory is so elaborate, Dov! Your side-characters have names, and you even have inside jokes of your own. It's so much more detailed than my own backstory. I'm jealous!*"

With that out of the way, they continued on towards the main camp.

"*I'm so nervous about meeting your parents.*" Galanys told her on the way.

"*I know what you mean. I am also nervous about whether they will listen and stop the war.*" Atrog asked.

"*Yes. That too.*" Galanys responded.

They arrived at the camp shortly afterwards, and Dov was positively surprised that two of her parents, Xilly and Elona, were both waiting for them at the gate. They all left Boomwagon the First to greet them, except for Aranea, who was shy and afraid of meeting more arachnophobes, so she stayed behind.

"*Hi momma Xilly. Hi momma Elona.*" She greeted them both, making sure to include all of their attendants in the telepathic connection as well. They were all used to that from Queen Damiah Shan, who unfortunately was not present.

Before they could even return their greeting, she went on: "*Quick update, because time is of the essence and we can't wait to stand on ceremony right now. Morgan and Alexis are alright. Oruk is not the enemy. Our real enemy is Cilia Ulein. She is playing both of our kingdoms against each other for reasons we don't know, yet. She used the Cassandra Project to trick the Orukian forces as well as ours. But I joined this awesome team of people behind me and together we killed her, so the threat from her is gone until she comes back to life.

"*Our immediate goals should be to make peace with Oruk and work together to root out the traitors among their House Ulein. You can trust your divination spells again because the Cassandra Project was recently taken out, so contacting their government directly will work. Once we have put a stop to the war, we can work together to find out what Cilia Ulein's goals are. It is possible that they violate the agreements between Old Powers and that could lead to a political shitstorm, to use a technical term.

"*Did you get all that?*"

Some of the attendants looked shocked, but her parents just nodded along like this was normal. Damnit. She was really hoping to get a reaction from Elona, but the priestess of Duna proved unflappable as always.

"*Soldiers, you heard the princess. Get in contact with the Orukian government again, it looks like their most recent messages for peace were genuine and not traps like the ones before. Mobilize all of our fastest messengers and get the word out to our other forces.*"

As the soldiers started moving to follow their orders, Dov noticed Xilly not so subtly pulling a pouch of money from her pockets.

"*She killed an Old Power before we did. Unbelievable.*" Xilly said to Elona as she handed her the money. "*Although to be fair, Cilia Ulein is a lot easier to kill than the others.*"

"*Aw, you are just bitter that you lost the bet.*"

Dov did not know what they were talking about, but making weird bets about dangerous things was basically customary among powerful adventurers, so she didn't care enough to ask about it. She ran forward and wrapped her parents in a hug instead.

"*I'm so glad you are safe.*" Xilly said as she returned the hug.

"*We were really worried about you.*" Elona added, joining in.

"*I missed you, too. I'm so glad this war can finally be over.*" Dov told them.

"*Look at you, taking charge and dictating international politics.*" Elona remarked.

"*They grow up so quickly.*" Xilly added. "*Why, it feels like only yesterday that we went looking for you in the Whispering Mountains and had to rescue you from the...ow!*"

Dov interrupted her with a minor telepathic attack in sheer panic, to prevent her from finishing that sentence.

"*Not one more word! Don't bring that up again!*" Dov responded in embarrassment. Parents. Honestly, you underestimated a cow once and they would bring it up again and again for the rest of your life.

Xilly rubbed at her head in pain and shot her a betrayed look. Oops. Maybe she overdid it with the telepathic attack just now?

"*Still touchy about that topic, I see. But it's impressive that your telepathy can hurt this much, now.*" Xilly responded.

"*Sorry about that. I recently touched an ancient Xeltek artifact and got a huge power boost. I'm still figuring out where my new limits are. It's awesome!*"

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Xilly raised a single eyebrow at that, but Elona just shrugged and said "*She found an ancient artifact. As one does.*"

Dov wasn't quite sure if that was sarcasm or not. Her parents had in fact found numerous ancient artifacts over the course of their career, so they might have become somewhat blaise about the topic.

"*Was that a second inside joke?*" Rania asked. "*Your backstory really is so cool. It feels like a totally different story from the rest of us. Oh! Do you think maybe we could also have a crossover in the other direction? I want to visit the Cursed Lands with you and have fun there, too!*"

Great. What a wonderful first impression Rania just made, before Dov had an opportunity to introduce them all properly.

"*Visit the Cursed Lands for fun? Is she ok?*" Elona asked.

"*She is a shaman.*" Atrog said while giving the mental equivalent of an exasperated sigh.

"*Oh.*" Elona responded.

"*She is to shamans what Xilly is to wizards.*" Dov added.

"*OH.*" Elona responded, now visibly impressed.

She might actually be underselling Rania there, but saying that might hurt Xilly's ego.

"*It's important to make sure we are on the same page after all of the havoc caused by the Cassandra Project, so let's compare notes. What is going on on your side? Where is everyone else?*" Dov asked.

"*Ok, first of all, when did you grow up and become responsible, to ask sensible questions like that? Aren't we the ones who are supposed to be the adults here? I am starting to suspect that maybe you are a spy after all.*" Elona joked.

"*No, no. This checks out. She takes after Damiah. Damiah is the sensible one who understands politics, remember?*" Xilly corrected her. "*I'm the one who commits crimes against nature and snarks at people. You are the one who assuages my conscience by saying that it's ok, because we all know and accept that priestesses of Duna are renowned for their great understanding of ethics.*"

Dov found it impressive how Xilly had a distinctive mental signature for when she was sarcastic during telepathic communication. Must be all the practice.

"*But let me answer your question, Dov*" Xilly continued. "*Tanya is also with us and is scouting ahead with some new warbeasts. You can meet her later. Damiah was on a diplomatic mission to hell when the news of your abduction arrived and we weren't able to contact her.*"

"*A diplomatic mission to hell?*" Atrog interjected with concern.

Xilly just shrugged. "*Devils never break their contracts. Damiah is strong enough to deal with the local wildlife in hell on her own, and has contracts that keep the bigger fish away from her. She has done it before, it's not a big deal.*"

Before Atrog could respond to that, the leader of team Shevon interrupted him: "*Ma'am, we have just noticed something important. We were talking to team Delta on the way here, and we are pretty sure that Pymion over there matches the description of the stranger in that prophecy we told you about.*"

"*Which prophecy? The one with the chimeras, or the one with the three fish?*" Xilly asked.

"*Neither. It matches the one with the dragon. You know, the one we got told by a fey after we saved that orchard?*"

"*Oh, one of those types of prophecies. I think you have to be more specific in that case. Was it the fey in the apple orchard or the one in the orange orchard?*”

“*The apple one.*”

”*Ah, that makes sense. Man, we have way too many prophecies to keep track of. Can you believe that we haven't encountered a single new prophecy since we left the Cursed Lands? It's kind of refreshing to be honest. But anyway, if you are sure he is the guy from the prophecy, you have my permission to go take care of that. Wouldn't want to procrastinate and make that fey and his orchard mad, or whatever.*"

"*Do you want us to assist team Shevon with this mission, Rania?*" Pymion asked.

"*Of course!*" Rania responded, and her feeling of elation and pride was felt by everyone in the telepathic link. "*I'm so happy for you! You get a crossover of your own, and you establish yourself as characters in your own right, with your own questline. It's so great! I think at this point you really don't even need your name tags anymore.*"

She smiled brightly at them.

"*Um. I'm not sure how to respond to that, but thank you for the compliments.*" Pymion responded.

And with that, team Delta and team Shevon went on their way.

"*Wait a minute. I just realized something important.*" Rania said after they left, addressing Xilly and Elona: "*Everything here is going way too smoothly. You didn't doubt Dov, and just did what she asked of you. There was no trial, and no side quest, and no drama at all. The main villain is dead and it looks like her plans are thwarted, and everything is going smoothly. That's really bad!*"

"*...I don't understand the problem?*" Elona said.

"*It feels like we are being set up for a terrible twist. I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop.*"

Dov felt some concerning emotions from her parents and many of their attendants after that proclamation, so she decided to elaborate: "*We have been subject to manipulations by Tonos multiple times already. We are not delusional, we had it tested.*" Ouch, that sounded better in her head before she thought it out loud.

"*The Interim Council agrees that Tonos is taking an active interest in us and there have been several cases of confirmed divine intervention. On top of that, Rania has shown that her own shamanic abilities are somehow related to narrative logic. Don't ask me how that works or what the difference to Tonos is. The Coros put the details under a non-disclosure agreement. But I can vouch for her competence: She managed to navigate us safely through the feywild on multiple occasions, and is on good terms with at least one archfey.*"

"*That all sounds fascinating. It looks like you have made some interesting friends and had a lot of fun adventures in the time you were gone. Why don't we take this conversation somewhere more comfortable and you tell us all about it?*" Elona said.

"*Maybe starting with where Morgan and Alexis are.*" Xilly added.

With that, they dissolved the impromptu meeting and most of their attendants left to attend to their other duties. Team Nundru followed Xilly and Elona to their command tent for a longer debriefing.

Aranea did not want to be left alone in Boomwagon the First, so she decided to tag along. Nobody reacted negatively to her, because everyone in the Shan army was well-used to war beasts, and Aranea was delighted to find such an inclusive group with no traces of arachnophobia. She seemed disappointed when Rania asked her not to surprise hug anyone, but understood her big sister's reasoning that there were cultural differences here and many people considered surprise-hugs to be rude.

Dov did not have the heart to tell Aranea that they found surprise hugs rude only if they came specifically from giant spiders. Most people did not mind surprise hugs from other people, at least not if they were attractive.

Dov spent the next half hour relating her and her siblings' initial experiences in Oruk to her parents.

"*...We had awesome adventures at first, but then we got in over our heads...*"

"*...We had to run away from the mage, and escaped into the Realms Below...*"

"*...Morgan and Alexis died, but they got better later so don't worry about it...*"

"*...and that's when Team Nundru here found me in the Realms Below and rescued me.*" She indicated her team as she started to introduce them to her parents.

"*This is Atrog. He is our leader. He is really nice, and I have got to say he is way more professional than any of you.*" She began.

"*I resemble that remark.*" Elona quipped.

"*He has us practicing every day, and it's awesome.*" Dov continued.

"*This is Rania. She is the best shaman I have ever heard of. She is also a huge fan of adventures, books about adventures, and anything else related to adventures."

"*This is Balron. He is a professor for abjuration and a very experienced adventurer. I'm learning a lot about magic and security from him.*"

"*This is Aranea. She is the best spider.*"

Nothing more needed to be said about Aranea. Xilly and Elona nodded. It was self-evident that she was the best spider.

"*This is Pebble. He is a spirit inside a rock. Rania says he is really smart and funny, but he only talks to her so I wouldn't know.*"

Her parents greeted everyone in turn as she introduced them, then commented "*I notice that you skipped over the woman next to you, in favor of a rock.*"

"*That's because I thought I should introduce my girlfriend last, because it will distract you. Her name is Galanys and we have been dating for several weeks now.*"

All eyes shifted to Galanys, who simply stood relaxed and smiled. Not for the first time Dov was amazed how good her girlfriend was at presenting herself. She could feel her nervousness through the telepathic link, but to anyone who walked into this room at that moment it might well seem like Galanys was the person in charge.

Xilly smiled and enthusiastically greeted Galanys.

But Elona's expression became grim as she looked her girlfriend straight in the eyes and asked: "*What are your intentions with my daughter?*"

The temperature in the room dropped noticeably. Rime started forming on the table. All was quiet.

As a high-ranking priestess of Duna, Elona was one of the most powerful and ruthless people on the continent. Duna taught that nothing was sacred and all actions were permissible, just that it was your own problem if you ran afoul of secular laws. But secular laws were not a concern when you were part of the government and could just change these at will.

Dov sensed a feeling of dread from Galanys.

Then Galanys burst out laughing.

Elona joined in.

"*You really had me going there. But the magical ice was just too much.*" Galanys said.

"*You have good instincts. So long as Dov is happy, I am happy. But it's always fun to see how people react when I put on my scary face.*" Elona responded.

Dov was annoyed. "*Mom, please stop doing that. I think you underestimate how terrifying that is to normal people.*"

"*But that's the point! Do you really want to date someone who craps their pants just because I ask them an innocent question, Dov?*"

"*You have made warlords crap their pants by talking to them, mom. I feel like that isn't a fair standard to hold people to.*"

"*Oh, those rumors are exaggerated. That wasn't me. That was actually Damiah, using telepathy to make him void his bowels. It made most of his supporters just give up on the spot when they noticed what happened. Fun times.*"

Dov had to concede the point. Elona was a bit of an overprotective mama bear, but her heart was in the right place.

"*So, are you two serious?*" Xilly asked, with her usual lack of tact.

"*I think I love her.*" Dov said.

"*You think?*" Xilly asked.

"*We have been through a lot of high pressure situations. I know that I can trust her and rely on her. But if you've known someone for less than a month you just shouldn't talk about love, only infatuation. I can only hope it turns into a strong connection and real love over time.*"

Xilly nodded at that. "*And you, Galanys?*"

"*I feel the same way. I really like her, but the past month has really been something. The most relaxing parts of that month were the days were Atrog worked us all to the bone with constant drills. I look forward to spending a more relaxing couple of months with Dov and actually getting to know her when something isn't trying to kill us.*" Galanys said.

"*It sounds like you are both on the same page then. That's great!*" Xilly said.

"*Say, Galanys, I notice that you are wearing a holy symbol of Unir around your neck. What is up with that?*" She continued.

Oh. This was probably a test. Xilly was a follower of Unir as well, and after creating the Davlash she was one of his most favored people in the world right now.

"*Galanys is really smart and creative!*" Dov said. "*She killed a basilisk with baking supplies, and some of our most successful tactics were her idea.*"

"*I actually met her because a priest of Unir asked me to save her from angry villagers.*" Atrog added.

"*Oh, that sounds amazing. You managed to piss off a village. That's a classic rite of passage for followers of Unir. Why, I still remember the first village I got kicked out of. It's how I met Damiah!

“*Are you planning to return one day and show them, show them all? Maybe make them regret ever spurning you?*”

“*Uh. No? Not really?*” Galanys replied hesitantly.

“*Good. I’m glad to hear it. It’s a common pitfall and doesn’t feel nearly as cathartic as it’s often made out to be. I look forward to interesting discussions with you. I'd appreciate another pair of eyes to look over my work.*" Xilly said.

Dov felt shock from Galanys. "*I don't know what to say. I would be honored.*"

Galanys' reaction was understandable. Xilly was one of the most accomplished wizards in the world and an offer to research or study with her was worth a lot. But Dov still found it a little weird because Xilly was her mom. It was not the first time that one of her lovers had been weirdly intimidated by her parents though, so she was used to it.

Her parents then subjected Galanys and herself to their Mandatory Basic Questions, which she had heard far too often by now. In the end they approved of her girlfriend, although she had not been particularly worried about this in the first place.

After that Dov resumed her recap of her experiences in Oruk.

"*...Perfect memory copied from Galanys..."

"*...Waiting for investigations to finish in Northpass...*"

"*...Met Lilian Weaver...*"

"*...Ambushed by assassins...*"

"*...Somebody used the Cassandra Project to provoke a war...*"

"*...Cilia Ulein was behind it...*"

"*...We traveled through the feywild...*"

"*...Cilia Ulein mopped the floor with us, but then Aranea here killed him with bullshit poison that was probably divine intervention by Tonos...*"

"*...I found a Xeltek artifact and now all my abilities are better. Xilly, you should probably have a look at that...*"

"*...Adam took over the facility while we went ahead...*"

"*...We traveled through the feywild again, because Rania is seriously the best shaman I have ever even heard of...*"

"*...We met a freaking Genesis Dragon and I got his contact details...*"

"*...and that's how we got here.*"

It was a lot to process, but fortunately they all had time. The army had their orders, and her parents' subordinates could handle the messages well enough on their own. With the exception of Damiah, her parents had no interest in politics and just trusted their subordinates to do their jobs while they caught up with her.

She was pretty sure that someone like Atrog would be personally overseeing the army in this crucial time instead. It made sense on a rational level, because getting things right was of the utmost importance right now, but she found it difficult to hold it against her parents that they preferred to spend time with her instead.

"*I have spent so much time talking about my adventures here, I completely forgot to ask about yours.*" She said after a while. "*Is there anything interesting going on? Is everyone alright?*"

She suddenly felt a feeling of nervousness and concern from Xilly. Oh no. That didn't bode well.

She noticed no such feeling from Elona, but the woman was stoic to a fault so that was no surprise. With her characteristic disregard for tact, she simply said: "*Most of us are alright, but Thomas died. He was killed by a spike trap while exploring a ruin. Revival was not possible in time.*"

Dov's heart stopped.

Thomas was dead?

She felt part of her world collapse, and started crying.

The people around her noticed her despair through the telepathic link, and she in turn felt flashes of concern and sympathy from them. Strongest of all from Galanys, who immediately hugged her.

Xilly and Elona joined them. Elona might be stoic, but she was not without the ability to empathize. Even Aranea emitted feelings of sympathy, and joined the impromptu group hug. She had to admit it took some getting used to, but Aranea was actually surprisingly good at giving hugs because of her eight legs.

Only Rania was the odd one out. Dov felt sympathy from her as well, but it was overshadowed by feelings of intense confusion.

"*Who is Thomas?*" Rania asked.

Nobody answered her.

"*I have never heard of him before. Why hasn't he been mentioned before if he is important?*" She continued when she got no response.

"*Thomas is one of her boyfriends, Rania. She just hasn't talked about him to the rest of you.*" Galanys explained.

“*Wait, so he was never introduced at all?*” Rania wondered.

As much as Dov had grown to like the elf, it still hurt how even a spider could have better social skills than her. She was long used to a lack of tact from Elona, but at times like this she fully understood why shamans had such a bad reputation.