*That night*

Xixi couldn’t believe her eyes, or her ears. She poked Joram in the side, but pulled her finger back when it felt like she’d jabbed a wall instead of her best friend.

“It’s really me,” he said with a voice that was too deep to be Joram’s; from a face that still looked like Joram’s… if he was a lot older.

“How?” Was the only thing she could think to ask as her brain tried to understand the changes she was seeing in him.

“Well, it’s a bit of a side effect of my cultivation method and body refining technique,” he said with the same grin she recognized from before… everything happened.

“Even that?” She asked, poking at the stubble on his face, getting a pricked finger for her trouble. She was about to suck on her finger when she felt a slight tingling in her finger that erased the pain and stopped the drop of blood that was slowly forming.

“Yeah, even that,” he said as he took her hand in his massive ones and wiped the dot of blood away.

“Why haven’t you visited more?” She asked, her voice breaking as tears welled up in her eyes again.

Xixi saw Joram’s blurry form reach out and pick her up from her chair, then brought her in for a hug.

She was scared at the thought of trying to hug a metal wall and how it might hurt, or at the least feel very uncomfortable. But then she felt his warmth as his arms held her close, her ear pressed up against his chest. She could even hear the beating of his heart. Which felt… normal. So, she reached her arms as far around him as she could and squeezed for all she was worth.

He wasn’t soft by any stretch of the imagination, but she did feel his skin dimple around her arms. And he was warm. It almost felt like it did when they were little kids, her cuddling up to him to keep warm in the winter. Even the presence in the back of her mind that let her know that she was still a part of his Network added to the nostalgic feeling. Which also brought forth more tears.

“I… I’m bad at dealing with feelings,” he eventually said, his voice rumbling in the ear that was pressed against his chest.

She wanted to turn her face and bite him, but knew that she’d break some teeth in the attempt.

“We’re kids, of course we’re bad with feelings,” she said grumpily, not wanting to look at him. “You still should have visited more.”

“Yes,” he said, agreeing with her, causing her ear to vibrate. “I was wrong.”

“Good,” she said, happy that he admitted his wrongdoings. “Now, since Zanth is with his parents, you need to stay with me,” she said, still holding him as tightly as she could.

“Even if I’m worn out from helping Zanth, I’ll stay right here with you,” he said kindly.

Even though his voice was different, the way he said it reminded her of the smaller Joram, allowing her to relax further.

* * * * *

Soon enough, her death grip on him relaxed, her head slowly drooping down until he heard her breathing even out. Then she was asleep, gone before she could talk to him more about all the things.

Joram smiled as he held his best childhood friend, and probably his biggest fan.

He got up and went to the comfortable couch in Xixi’s living room and sat down again, careful not to disturb her sleep as he shifted her into a more comfortable sleeping position. Her head rested in the crook of his arm; her face turned slightly towards him.

She still had that green lock of hair in her bangs. Well, her hair was now long enough to be tied back into a ponytail, bringing a leaf green streak up from her forehead all the way to her ponytail. The rest of her hair had darkened from the light indigo and violet to a darker hue of those same colours.

By rights, he should have been her size. Just one of the kids running around playing with each other. But he’d wanted to grow up too fast. Sure, his first growth spurt hadn’t exactly been intentional, but the fact remained that he hadn’t exactly avoided doing the things that led to that initial growth spurt afterwards.

He thought about just how bad a friend he’d really been to her over the last year and wondered if there was any way to make up for that. He didn’t consider the act of bringing her parents back as any sort of atonement, as he would have done that for her either way.

She’s an incredibly intelligent girl with overflowing talent. I can’t believe that she’d already both a 2nd Tier Mage and Mentalist- and least in strength. To have such resolve at such a young age, well, I couldn’t have done it when he was a child back on Earth, that’s for sure.

Then a thought struck him, one that landed close to home.

Is she also a Reincarnator?

The thought bounced around his brain causing much chaos before he caught it again and shoved it in a box for later. Short of a profound invasion of Xixi’s privacy, there was no way to know one way or another right now. He would only drive himself to distraction worrying about it until something new popped up.

He looked down at her. Her sleeping face was adorable, even with her mouth slightly open with a bit of drool leaking out. Had he ever been that cute? Would he have looked like that if he’d stayed “young”?

Bah, silly questions that don’t really matter, he thought as he stared at the night sky through the balcony window.

Well, maybe there is a way that we can spend more time together… and to watch for any signs that she might also be a Reincarnator….

* * * * *

*1346.04.22*

This time, Joram had brought the people out of their resting places and to where they’d likely feel more comfortable… waking up.

That said, he wasn’t alone this time either.

His parents had insisted on being present when he brough Aloralla and Ailmar back to life. Once Gran and Gramps had heard that, they’d also invited themselves along. And how could Grammy be left out? Then Zanth had been accompanied by his parents, Selussa and Vulen, making it a bit of a full house.

Now, the “adults” in the room had insisted that Xixi, Zanth, Zaleria, Seldanna, and Elodea all wait in Xixi’s room until things were finished. Their reasoning had been sound, as Joram had also been unwilling to allow Xixi to see her dead parents again. No, he didn’t want that for her. It was bad enough that he had to see them like that.

The atmosphere in the room was… awkward. His parents had insisted on changing Aloralla and Ailmar out of their burial clothes and into something less morbid. That had taken a bit more time to accomplish, as the men and women had split to take care of business, leaving him alone with Grammy in the living room until they finished.

Now, Xixi’s parents were dressed “normally”. It was still weird.

“So, ah, I’ll start then,” he said, getting up from the chair he’d been sitting in as he waited.

Everyone turned to look at him expectantly, their eyes saying more than their expressions.

He took a deep breath, then shifted to his planar self. It still got reactions ranging from a twitch of an eyelid to a startled twitch of the head.

Joram was regretting his decision to bring his beloved aunt and uncle here to bring them back to life. The crowd was stifling. Specifically, their expectations. He might just be reading way too much into their expressions. That was entirely possible, given his social anxiety.

But it was also hard seeing his aunt and uncle dead, even though he was about to bring them back to life.

He blinked as he felt a hand on his shoulder, not even perceiving their approach because he’d been too caught up in his own thoughts and fears.

“It’s OK,” Grammy said softly, her voice still a bit husky from disuse. “Take your time.”

He almost cried then, but held it together. He reached up and placed his hand on hers, giving it a light squeeze before kneeling down at aunt Aloralla’s head and gently placing his hand on it, his fingers resting just above her brow.

He then reached inside and pulled his psijic energy to where [True Resurrection] waited for him, then activated the innate spell.

Joram slid over to where Ailmar lay as he watched, not bothering to [Delve] this time, the colour return to her face, the faint line on her neck vanishing just before her chest rose as she took a huge gasp of air. Her eyes shot open, then frantically darted around looking from face to face.

Joram called upon his innate spell again, fueling it with psijic energy as his aunt still glanced around in confusion.

By the time she turned her head to look over at him he’d already shifted back to his Aneath form, and Ailmar was taking his first deep breath.

He scooted back as Aloralla flung herself over to embrace her husband, letting out a cry that more than tugged at Joram’s heart.

Exhausted, Joram looked up at Grammy and saw the tears in her eyes, then looked around and found that there wasn’t a dry eye to be seen. Each person was holding the hand of their beloved as they too remembered what had happened to them.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He stood up slowly, then reached over and pulled Grammy into his (patent-pending) half-hug, his arm going around her back to other so that he could grip her shoulder and pull her close, into his side. As her own arm came up to wrap around his middle, he sent a message to Xixi, letting her know that it was OK to come out now.

Every head turned as Xixi’s bedroom door was flung open, banging on the wall. Out came Xixi, carrying a sister in each arm as she raced across the living room to where her parents were still embracing on the floor.

They quickly broke apart, each one reaching out to catch their daughters in their arms. More tears flowed as they babbled incoherently trying to share everything at once.

It was too much for him to take in, so he prepared to shift away, but stopped when Grammy squeezed him tighter.

‘You’re staying,’ was all she sent, eyes still on the reunited family bawling on the floor.

Ow, my feels, was all he could think of.

* * * * *

Avi listened to the family reunion in the back of her head, silently applauding Tatia for keeping Joram there to deal with his issues.

At the fore of her mind was the slightly awkward meeting she was having with Sung Jae-Eun and Matsui Aya at the front door of her manor. They’d shown up not long after breakfast time, Jae-Eun offering a few breakfast pastries as a visitor’s gift, a slightly forced smile on her face.

Aya, on the other hand, kept prodding Jae-Eun. Alicia smiled at them and invited them in. It would have been next to impossible to not realize that that was exactly what they’d been hoping for.

“So, what brings you by this fine morning?” Alicia asked cheerily, a bright smile on her face as she served the breakfast pastries to them on little plates with small forks.

“Ah, well, I just wanted to go over yesterday’s mission with my team captain,” Jae-Eun said after receiving another subtle poke from Aya.

“Oh? I thought it went quite well, don’t you?” She asked, feigning slight puzzlement.

“Well, I know that it was a mission above our ranking and all, but I thought we could brainstorm about what we might have been able to contribute to the… encounter,” she blurted out quickly, shifting again in her padded chair.

Alicia looked over to Aya who was happily consuming the pastry before looing back at Jae-Eun.

“It was weird, right?” She asked, leaning forward as though she was gossiping.

Jae-Eun’s eyes went wide as she leaned forward, placing her plate on the table between them, then slapping her hands down beside it, finger splayed.

“Yes! That was on a level of ridiculous that I’ve never heard of before!” She nearly shouted, but managed to keep it to just “loud”.

Alicia was nodding like a bobblehead.

“Like, if I can figure out how he did that, I’m sure that I’d be invincible one day!” She said, raising her volume and excitement level to match the princess’s.

“It was all like: Bam! Smash! Crash! Kaboom!” She said, her arms going up and miming the sounds out as she expressed them.

“He was so awesome!” Alicia practically squealed as she brough her arms in front of her with her hands closed tightly into fists just below her chin.

“But how did he do it,” Aya butted in from where she now stood beside Jae-Eun, nearly scaring the pee out of them.

Alicia exchanged looks with Jae-Eun before they both turned to stare at Aya, who in turn regarded them for a few seconds before continuing.

“How well do you know Mr Aneath?” She asked, eyes practically boring in her head.

“He’s a nice neighbour?” She said hesitantly.

Given Aya’s strength, Alicia was reasonably sure that she was 6th Tier. Which meant that she’d been around and seen more than a few things in her time even though she looked to be barely twenty years old.

Aya gave her a searching look, trying to find a flaw in her acting.

“Then, I advise you to be careful around him,” she said at length, then turned to her ward. “And you’ll not be joining him or his team for any more quests.”

Jae-Eun’s mouth opened to argue, but was stopped by Aya’s glare.

“There is no way that he’d an ordinary young man that’s come to the Academy just to study,” she said, confirming for Alicia that she’d at least partially seen through Joram.

Jae-Eun’s mouth closed, but took on a stubborn set as she reluctantly nodded. Alicia silently cursed Joram’s impulsiveness for ruining their budding relationship. It might have been a relationship of convenience at first, but she’d still put in a lot of effort into it and realized that she actually liked the naïve princess.

“Then we’ll just have to go on our own quests,” Alicia confidently stated, a huge smile on her face that made both women blink at her. “We don’t need any men with us to prove that we’re capable. We’ll build up our team, showing everyone what ‘Goddesses’ are capable of!” She proclaimed grandly, throwing her arms wide, with a fierce gleam in her eye.

Jae-Eun’s eyes grew wide, her pupils dilating as her mouth slowly opened. The she threw up her right arm and yelled.

“Untouchables!!”

“Untouchables!!” Alicia took up the call as she looked at Aya expectantly.

Aya coughed into her hand before responding.

“Please, don’t get carried away.”

* * * * *

“… and that’s why I think it would be good to purchase a property in Stormhaven,” Joram said, concluding his argument to move some of the family back to the prime.

Tatia regarded him for a while before she spoke.

“I would agree that getting some of the Clan back to the larger world outside is important. But there are a few things that you need to know, not the least of them regarding the Academy,” Tatia said, boosting Joram’s excitement.

“Is there something… wrong with the Academy?” He asked, keeping himself on topic.

“This is information that is normally only handed down to the Matriarch of the Clan,” she began, sighing. “The Grand Waeryn Academy was founded by our Clan. It is also, secretly, run by us.”

Joram’s jaw dropped as his mind spun, questions flying about and knocking into each other, sending other thoughts spinning and spiraling about chaotically.

“That said,” Tatia continued, “they’re likely aware of the fate of our Clan and have enacted emergency procedures to keep their ties to us buried so deeply that it would be next to impossible for others to discover that connection.

“We also already own property in Stormhaven that we’ve used to house our Clan when we sent them off to obtain official degrees. As you know, our Clan sends agents out into the wider world to gather knowledge, so those official degrees, certificates, and diplomas are vital to their missions to infiltrate various organizations.

“So, there’s no need to purchase any real estate in Stormhaven for the time being,” she finished, broadening Joram’s understanding of just how far-reaching their network had been.

“Speaking of our spy network,” he said, getting a slight frown from Grammy at his use of “spy”. “The teleportation network that the clan used is currently down. Do you know of any way to easily repair it?”

“Easily, no. But I am familiar with every connection in the teleportation network…” she trailed off as a frown formed on her face. “But I’ll not be able to work on them as I am now,” she finished, staring down at her hands.

Joram paused there for a bit, sorting his thoughts before speaking.

“Have you spoken with mom about… her change, yet?”

Grammy gave him a sharp look before speaking.

“Yes, she shared what she spoke with Avi about, and her decision to… change,” she said, still frowning slightly.

“Her option is also open to you, and any others in our family,” he said quietly. “There’re also other options you could explore. I’m already a 5th Tier Alchemist, so there are options there to help rebuild your cultivation that way, but it would be a very long and arduous process,” he said as she nodded along to what he said, likely already knowing of that route.

“The other option involving restoring your original body would be to grow you a new one, a clone if you will. It would be identical to the one you were born with. That said, to avoid any possible complications, that body will be the equivalent of a two-year-old,” Joram said, finishing that series of options for her, getting a dissatisfied grimace.

“As mentioned before, there’s the option of becoming a High Elan as well. That route would also require restarting your cultivation from the beginning, but has the advantages that come with being a High Elan. Chief amongst those is a very strong natural talent for psionics,” he said, getting a slow nod from her.

“The last option has a few flaws, not the least of them being more trauma,” he said, not liking this option, let alone having to share it out loud. “You would have to die. I would then use [True Resurrection] on you to bring you back,” he said, then paused when Grammy held up her hand.

“Why didn’t you do that first?” She asked, not angrily, but with genuine curiosity in her expression and tone.

“The ‘more trauma’ part,” he said, not able to look her in the eye. “I’ve seen enough family die that it would have been more than difficult to go that way. That said, we weren’t even sure if it would work at first. We needed to test it on… someone first,” he said, now looking up at the purple and saffron blossoms in the tree they were sitting under.

“Someone?” Grammy asked, now in full-blown Matriarch Mode.

“Someones?” He hedged, then caved as Grammy stared at him in that way she had that pulled out what he wanted to hide. “The first… trial, was done on one of the invaders. Let me finish.

“[True Resurrection] worked, but came with a flaw I hadn’t foreseen. The practitioner revived without issue to her body, but came back one Realm lower than she’d been in life. It took me a while to get to the next stage of trials. I waited until I had broken through to the 5th Tier, wanting to see if Tier 3 Mana would make any difference in my ability to revive someone.

“It did not,” he said, giving her a serious look. “The first practitioner also came back one Realm lower. It confirmed that I was limited when reviving someone who’s cultivation matched or exceeded mine. On my next attempt, I used Psijic Energy to supplement [True Resurrection], thinking that perhaps I was missing something that my innate ability was lacking. That seemed to fix the issue.

“The practitioner had been in the 5th Tier in life and was successfully revived, keeping her original cultivation. But I feel that I am still limited to my own Tier when reviving someone,” he finished, finally looking back down to meet Grammy’s eyes.

“You’re saying that, even if you were to bring me back to life, my cultivation would fall an entire Tier?”

Joram nodded, getting a sigh in return.

“That would certainly complicate things,” she said, frowning. But then her expression softened as she studied Joram’s face. “I wouldn’t have wanted you to… experience any more trauma. So, thank you for waiting to speak with me before making the choice for me,” she finished with a warm smile as she reached out over the small table and took his hand.

He nodded, not trusting his voice just then. He took a breath, then spoke.

“So? What do you think of the options?”

This time Grammy looked up to study the vibrant blossoms overhead.

“I’m not very keen on dying, even though I’d be brought back,” she said, a slight grin forming on one side. “The other options will all take a long time for me to get back to my former cultivation, but that doesn’t matter as much.

“It’s time that I pass on the leadership of the Clan, to let the next generation decide our course. That said, I’ll be more than happy to assist in any way I can, as well as answer any questions I can. But I’m… done.

“Even though I have regrets with how everything turned out and especially with my battle with that practitioner, I know that I’ll… not be the right person to rebuild the Clan,” she said, waving Joram’s protests away before continuing.

“When you mentioned that you’d revived some of our attackers, my first thoughts were for revenge. I wanted you to hand them over so that I could kill them all over again. I may appear calm, and I can keep my thoughts from my face well enough that someone wouldn’t ever know the knife was coming before it pierced their heart.

“Even with your ability to bring our family back, I find myself fixated on revenge. The only reason I want to get stronger is so that I can one day go and wipe those Sects from the face of Dovaynia, then wipe out any other warmongering forces out there until any thoughts of war or vengeance the survivors might have would have them so terrified of the consequences that even their descendants three generations down would feel the same fear in their very souls,” Grammy said with a look of such malevolence and hatred that Joram stopped breathing as she spoke.

Then that terrifying expression melted away, leaving behind her usual pleasant expression.

“That’s why I need to let go,” she finished simply.

Joram bowed his head then, remembering how he’d felt those very same things. Remembered the rage and grief. Then he remembered how good it felt, how freeing it was when he decided to let it go. Sure, he still felt those things from time to time for he hadn’t been able to let it go all at once. He was no Saint. It was a process. Healing took time.

Joram raised his head and looked his great grandmother in the eyes as he gathered his thoughts and memories.

‘Can I share something with you?’ He asked, her surprise showing as only a slight flicker of her eyelid.

She nodded.

So, he took his gathered thoughts, memories, feelings, and insights he’d gained over the years as he had come across a myriad of teachings, and even a few things he’d learned from Altaea. He took those things with him as he stepped into Grammy’s Knowledge Sea and looked around.

It was much more sparse than he imagined it had been. Desolate might have been a better word to describe it. But it still held the things Grammy held dear, which was the important part.

He turned to regard Grammy’s manifestation, a near perfect replica of herself in her favoured robes. Almost perfect, except for her looking like a ghost; wispy and a bit translucent.

“It’s a lot,” he said, bringing the bundle forward. “Are you ready?”

“No, but if you feel that it’s important, then please share,” she said, standing up a bit straighter.

Joram reached his hand out for Grammy to take. She only hesitated for a moment before she raised her own for him to take. He enveloped her hand in his, then began to share.