The rest of the reception was a blur for Tess. There was a lot of talking to people and accepting congratulations, but not many in-depth conversations, as people tried to keep their talking limited so everyone had a chance to speak with the brides. There was an hour or two of that, then the group took some pictures, and then…it was over, and the only people that were left were those who had helped put the reception together, there to take down all the decorations.
“You three go enjoy your wedding night.” Fortune instructed sternly, handing them a small bag. “This has all the wedding presents in it, make sure they’re opened tomorrow at the latest, there are some time-sensitive things in there.”
Tess accepted the bag, frowning. “Time-sensitive things?” She asked. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see.” Fortune replied mysteriously. “Just be sure that they all get opened by then. And don’t worry about the bag, it’s a failed prototype Kane had laying around from when he was trying to make magic bags that could be put in other bags.
“It technically works, but it degrades quickly if it has stuff in it while it’s in another bag and has small capacity, so it’s not practical to use. Do whatever you want with it when it’s empty. Now, get out of here and go enjoy yourselves, okay? We’ve arranged transportation, so just change out of your outfits when you get home, no need to bother figuring it out here.”
Fortune practically pushed the trio out of the room, and, with not much else to do, they made their way out of the cathedral, where, to their surprise, Rachel was sitting in the driver’s seat of a carriage, clearly using some sort of magic to make herself humanoid. “Hop on in, lovebirds.” She said, smiling fondly at them as one of the carriage doors opened on its own. “Alice already gave me a pass to get into your neighborhood, so we’ll get you there lickety-split.”
“Thanks, Rachel.” Maven said, walking forward and smoothly hopping in the carriage. Tess was able to get on without much issue, but Ellie was a different story, her ornate wedding dress making the task difficult.
Tess and Maven helped her up, and the three sat as the carriage began to move. “You know,” Ellie began, “it’s kind of funny, I’ve ridden a horse before, but I’ve never actually been in a carriage.”
“Really?” Maven asked curiously. “But…now that you mention it, I haven’t seen any on Mael. They do have them there, right?”
“Yeah, but they’re more a novelty than anything.” Tess explained. “Cars pretty much invalidate any utility they have. It looks like you’ve been on one before, though, was that a normal thing for you as a princess?”
“Yes.” Maven replied. “Much like with the City, we disallow most use of hoverers in many parts of our capital so as to avoid disturbing any delicate spellwork, and we don’t really have cars in the same way Mael does. If people need to get around the capital, they walk, use public transit, or ride carriages.”
“Is that actually a thing?” Ellie asked. “Like, I’ve never had any trouble casting magic around a hoverer.”
“Only for ritual magic.” Maven replied. “You likely haven’t had much contact with it, since it holds little application in freelancing, but for large-scale spells you often need Mana from multiple people or Mana added to the spell over the course of a few days if you want the spell to work, and hoverers can mess with that.
“Hoverers do expel Mana into the air as they burn the cores used as fuel, and if it was just one hoverer it probably wouldn’t cause problems, but if everyone was using one…well, there have been some very destructive incidents before and no one is keen on repeating them. So, it’s safer just to blanket ban hoverers inside cities that may have those sorts of spells going on.”
Ellie raised an eyebrow. “Destructive? How destructive are we talking?”
“Depends on the spell, but usually, if a spell is big enough to need rituals, it’ll cause a massive explosion if it gets messed up. Sometimes the explosion will have side-effects relating to the spell that was originally being cast, but not always. Regardless, it’s better not to find out.”
“Yeah, I think that’s probably the right call.” Tess agreed. “So, uh, slight change of subject, but what are we doing when we get home? Presents now, or…?”
Ellie grinned. “It’s our wedding night, I think presents can wait until we’ve had our fun.”
“I think…yeah.” Maven said, blushing furiously. “I agree, let’s do that.”
----------------------------------------
One excitement-filled night later, the three newlyweds sat in their living room and began to take the presents out of the bag. They decided to start by opening the presents from the people from Mael, and they were mostly semi-fancy dinnerware. That was what had been expected, though; the people from Mael didn’t have much money, and all the guests had been instructed not to give appliances because the house was already stocked with everything the trio could possibly need, and they would feel bad if they received a gift that they would likely never use.
Next came the presents from The Rumors. They had opted to give a gift as a party, a three-part gift containing something for each member of Maelstrom individually. Alice had reiterated that this was something they had specifically worked to save up money for, no dipping into pre-existing funds or money from the Reshi Conglomerate; it was the result of weeks of pure effort on the part of The Rumors.
According to Maven, this was pretty common amongst wealthy people. After you had enough money, just buying a gift didn’t seem…genuine enough, and whoever you were buying it for could likely just afford it anyway. Instead, they tended to opt for something that required them to go out and do something, often handmade goods and the like, as a way to show more sincerity.
In this case, The Rumors had gotten them equipment upgrades. Better armor for Ellie, a new staff and bow for Maven, and a pair of high-leveled cores for Tess. Though Tess was curious to see what the cores held, she put them aside for the time being, just as Maven and Ellie put aside examining their new gear. Sorting through cores took time, and new equipment was best tested in actual combat, so saving it for later just seemed like the best option.
Alice’s parents, though they already had supposedly given a gift with a discount on the house, gave them a set of high-quality but clearly handmade dishes, Maven’s mother gave them a knit quilt, and Pastor Faust and Marie pooled their funds and got the trio a set of traditional decorated earthenware pots made by an artisan on Mael.
Next were gifts from the various gods and Appointed who had attended the wedding. They were, by and large, practical in nature, but were also the kind of things that only they could give. To Tess’s surprise, they all seemed to center around one theme; the hoverer, and specifically, an addon Kane and Artifice had worked to make. The addon in question would take any hoverer and essentially turn it into a magic bag that people could go inside, allowing the space inside to be expanded far beyond what was normal.
Altogether, the gifts allowed for any hoverer to be made into a series of rooms that rivaled even the penthouse suites in dungeons. What was even more impressive, though, was that some of the other gods had worked out a way to allow the occupants to cast spells and use ranged abilities from inside, meaning there would be no need to leave to defend from most monster attacks. And, to put the cherry on top, Amara and Subterfuge had provided a stealth module that was nothing short of miraculous. On top of providing invisibility and making it phase through living beings, it also canceled out the emissions the hoverer made, allowing it to be used in any area without trouble.
The gifts did incur a minor decrease in fuel efficiency for the hoverer, but the decrease was shockingly small for the effect they gave, and fuel was never going to be an issue as long as Tess was around, so it was a complete nonissue.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
On top of that, though, Fortune, Life, Death, Dungeons, Gramps, and his party, had provided one additional gift for the newlyweds. The small, unassuming box contained only a stack of papers and a note, which Tess began to read aloud.
Congratulations on your wedding! It read. We’re so incredibly happy to see you take this next step in your life, there’s just…one issue; we couldn’t help but notice that you had no solid plans for a honeymoon! After some careful consideration (and some furtive mind-reading and subconscious questioning while you slept to be sure you’d be okay with this), we’ve put together a trip that you’ll be sure to never forget!
We have reservations for some of the top resorts in both Mael and the rest of the world, as well as some tickets to some top-of-the-line experiences to be had! This trip will last you two weeks, and we will make sure everything is taken care of with regards to your duties during this time, so just relax and let yourself enjoy it!
P.S: Sorry about the deeper-than-normal mind reading thing, we just didn’t want to give you something you wouldn’t really like and wanted it to be a surprise.
“Remind me what a honeymoon is again?” Maven asked. “I’ve heard the term, but no one I’m familiar with has actually had one, and I tried to avoid wedding-related stuff so as to avoid getting any ideas that would never be feasible for someone of my standing, so it’s a bit of a foreign concept to me.”
“Basically, newlyweds go and have a vacation to celebrate their wedding, often to other countries or far-away places.” Ellie explained. “I was waiting to see how our finances and work schedule would look after the wedding before bringing it up, but I guess we don’t need to worry about that.”
“That sounds lovely.” Maven replied. “What are the dates?”
“Give me a second here…” Tess said, rifling through the papers, “looks like our first hotel has us booked for a week starting two days from now, and another in Mael a week after that. Though…the resort is a little far from here, so we’ll need to…ah, they’ve thought of that, they have a place they’ll be teleporting us to that’s decently close.”
“In that case, let’s go pack!” Ellie said cheerfully. “Tess, I know you have everything you need in your bag, so give us the documents and Maven and I will prepare. In the meantime, you absorb those cores and get that all taken care of, okay?”
“Will do.” Tess said, nodding and holding out the papers.
Maven took them, and she and Ellie began to walk away. “I’ve never actually packed for myself, so would you mind helping?” She asked.
“I would love to.” Ellie replied. “So, this is all going to depend on where we’re going…”
As they left, Tess made her way to the bathroom, where she began the process of ejecting a couple of junk cores to make room for the new ones. To her surprise, the process was…different; she just sort of…breathed out a rainbow haze, and then the core was gone. No muss, no fuss, nothing. Frowning, she opened up her chat window, and sent a message out to her mother and Amy, marking it as urgent.
Urgent Private Message (Tess, Fortune, Amy)
Tess: Hey, um, I just ejected a couple of cores and it’s working completely differently now. Do either of you two know what’s happening?
Amy: I don’t, and that’s more than a little concerning. What happened?
Fortune: How are you feeling?! Does anything hurt or feel strange?!
Tess: I feel perfectly fine, and basically nothing happened. I just breathed out a haze that was kind of like the one you see when dungeon monsters die, and then the cores were gone.
Amy: Is this the first time you’ve ejected cores since becoming a Higher Being?
Tess: Yeah.
Amy: Then that’s likely the underlying cause, but this still doesn’t make sense, that shouldn’t do that.
Fortune: Should we check her out?
Amy: Yeah, we should. If there’s even the slightest chance that there are negative side-effects, then we need to deal with it. I’m clearing my schedule, Tess, let everyone know I’m going to spend the rest of the day examining you, and that I’ll have you back before it’s time for your honeymoon.
Tess: Will do, thanks, Amy.
She closed the window, then opened the “standard” chat group.
Tess: Hey, uh, so, I just ejected some cores and the process is working differently now. I just talked to Amy about it, and she wants to spend a while checking me out to make sure this isn’t a problem. She said she’ll have me back before the honeymoon
Ellie: Are you okay?!
Tess: I feel fine.
Maven: You’re not just saying that, right?
Tess: No, seriously, I feel 100% normal. I just breathed out a bit of haze like the kind you see when monsters die, and that’s all it took to eject the cores. It’s the first time I’ve done this since becoming a Higher Being, so Amy thinks that has something to do with it, even though she says it shouldn’t have affected it.
Life: Strange, but if she thinks that is the cause, then it probably is.
Death: Didn’t she spend a lot of time examining Monster Breeder recently, and that’s part of the reason she was able to get Descents to work when both parties are Higher Beings?
Dungeons: Yes, so this is definitely strange.
Fortune: I’ve been looking over it a lot too, there was absolutely nothing in there that should interact with being a Higher Being. Well, theoretically, anyway, it’s entirely possible I made some mistakes and got some wires crossed when I was helping put together the Class. It’s incredibly hard to read.
Dungeons: Regardless, don’t stress about it too much. Amy is the best there is, and if there’s a problem, she will find it and fix it.
Death: Yeah. Even if she didn’t see it before, now that she knows to look for it and can have you replicate the process it shouldn’t be an issue.
Life: Even if it cannot be fixed immediately, remember that you are a Higher Being now; there is no threat of permanent damage to you, the very worst that can happen is that you die until the Class is fixed, and then you come back completely normal.
Fortune: That’s probably not the most comforting way to put it, but he’s right. You’re much more insulated from this sort of thing than you were before.
Maven: But…isn’t this caused by her becoming a Higher Being? Won’t that…you know, complicate things?
Life: It does not work like that. In order to do any sort of irreversible harm to a Higher Being, you have to jump through many highly specific hoops, and there is no chance of any of those hoops being accidentally jumped through by a Class, no matter how poorly constructed. Outside forces would have to act to make such a thing possible, and they cannot do that without having access to these planes, which they cannot gain without Amy being aware. She is safe.
Maven: Oh…good to know. Keep us updated on the situation, okay?
Tess: Will do. Um…Mom, are you two just going to teleport me up or…?
Fortune: On it.
Tess hurriedly got off the toilet and pulled her pants up, just in time for the teleportation to take effect. As it finished, she found herself in the same room Amy had used to make her a Higher Being, Amy and Fortune already there.
“Sit down for a second.” Amy instructed. “I’m manufacturing some completely blank cores so I can watch the process without any extraneous data getting in the way.”
Tess obediently sat, and Fortune grabbed her hand, squeezing it comfortingly. “This is strange, but we’ll get it figured out.” She said. “Sorry you’re going through this.”
“It’s fine, Mom.” Tess replied. “As long as this isn’t a problem, then I’m glad; it’s certainly a lot more comfortable than how it used to be.”
“That’s the spirit.” Fortune said weakly. “Just relax, we’ll have this figured out in no time.”
Amy nodded, walking over and holding out a small core in her slimy hand. “Take this and eject it.” She said. “I want to see the process.”
Tess obliged, absorbing the core and then ejecting it, breathing out another puff of that rainbow haze.
“Everything seems normal…” Amy muttered. “Give me a bit to look at the Class again…in the meantime, feel free to use your phone or whatever; this is going to take a bit, and I really only need you here to monitor you and occasionally have you eject cores. So long as you’re not using magic or interacting with the system, and you don’t leave this room, you’ll be fine. I’ll be casting a silencing spell on my ears so I can focus, so feel free to talk with your mom. Just wave at me or send me a message if you need me, okay?”
“Thanks, Amy.” Tess said.
“Don’t mention it, it’s my job.” Amy said, waving a hand. “And it’s partially my fault that the Class is this way in the first place, so really I’m just helping fix a problem I caused.”
Fortune squeezed Tess’s hand again. “I can go get some game consoles, if you like.” She offered. “And I’ll stay with you as long as you want.”
“That would be nice.” Tess said. “Thanks, Mom.”
Fortune gave Tess a kiss on the forehead, then let go of Tess’s hand, stepping back. “Be back in a moment, okay?”