Xiang meditated fitfully in the guest room this strange sentient rock had provided. Normally she’d just go ahead and sleep, but she never felt right doing so without her husband next to her. Technically neither of them had to, but it was nice to have that relaxation time with their constantly busy lives, and it was hard to work properly at night anyway.
Besides, she thought, rubbing that quiet fullness that was just starting to show over her pelvis, it’s not like we spend much of that time actually sleeping anyway.
Guiying was getting better, and had asked when she’d be going back. Xiang had mentioned she was going to stay for about six months, and that was when her daughter had noticed and groaned.
“Can’t you and dad keep your hands off each other for ten minutes?!”
She chuckled at the memory of the exasperation. And thought quietly about Zuk the kobold.
Strapping young male of his species, stong and fairly well-focused on his duties. Too focused, by his chief’s estimation. Fifteen summers old and has never so much as mated for fun, the only male in the tribe completely unattached. And isn’t it amusing that he’s only a year older than my sweet little goofgirl?
She smiled, and didn’t try to question kobold mating practices. Hunter-gatherers rarely lived long, and kobolds came to full maturity around twelve years of age from what she’d seen. Still, if Zuk did manage to break through enough… well, she’d enjoy the surprise.
Some of the nearer tribes of kobolds had recently arrived, meanwhile. Their gathering had begun, and soon there would be a solid population of their kind in the dungeon’s domain. Hopefully the tribes that formed from rejecting the offer would make for a good backup population. Part of the reason she was staying so long was to make sure this group wasn’t wiped out by the inevitable plagues that would follow a gathering so large. Disease was just a part of life, but one particularly deadly strain could easily wipe out a civilization in its cradle if not addressed quickly.
And, as a non-kobold presence pinged on the edges of her senses, there were other things to watch for.
Human… no, not quite. Feels more feline than ape, though there’s no fur or tail to speak of. I suppose these are the “elves” spoken of by the memory-keeper. Well, middle of the night and Guiying’s still too low on energy to play diplomat. Guess I’ll have to.
She teleported to a point behind the small scouting party, and watched one of them start to draw a bead on a kobold sentry.
“Nice night, isn’t it?”
The scout startled, his shot thankfully going wild and missing anything that could’ve otherwise been hurt. The others turned to look at her, drawing their own weapons.
“Hm. Jadeite arrowheads. Nicely carved, but I think the knapped flint these kobolds are using is far sharper. Not that it would matter, even the best weapons in this world are far too crude to harm me.”
And just to make things clear, she let them see a mockup of a character sheet she’d built when their apparent leader scanned her.
Xiang Tuzi, Agent of the Stillborn God
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Ascendant Monk
Stats: Over Mortal Limits
Skills: Unfathomable
Species: Carbuncle (L. Nobilis Evanes)
Can Teleport at Will
“So,” she began, after all parties looked appropriately voided of waste, “Here’s how this goes. We talk things out peacefully and you leave the kobolds alone, or you run and warn your people that this valley is protected by the God of Annihilation. Understood?”
They nodded, and scarpered. Xiang teleported back to her guest room, and let Rhys know that the tribes were being tailed.
“So we’ll be expecting company?”
“I scared off that group, but I’m sure their leaders won’t listen to sense. Haven’t met a single politician that ever has.”
“Aren’t you married to an emperor?”
Xiang smiled. “I should tell you that story. It’s quite entertaining.”
And for the rest of the night, she did just that.
--
Guiying woke up around the part where the Tiger King turned out to be nothing more than a particularly mean house cat.
“Mom was annoyed for months because that fight was so lame. I think she only fully snapped out of it when Dad managed to ascend and beat her.”
Xiang smiled. “I was so proud of him, finally reaching his potential. The mating afterwards was-”
“No! Ew! No thoughts of parent sex!”
Xiang just smiled again. “Well, I’ll just say I was annoyed when his next appointment limited the duration to a few days. Your father bragged to me later that he would’ve kept going for a year and a half, bare minimum. I believe him, and look forward to when we can dump this whole empire mess on your older brother and disappear back to the old village to live as rabbits.”
“Not listening, can’t hear you! LALALALALALA!”
Rhys laughed, surprised at this turn of events. It was hard to imagine Guiying being embarrassed about much of anything, yet here they were.
“Oh, that reminds me.” Xiang rose to her feet and stretched out, popping her back and showing the slightest hint of what lay under her belly. “How are those furnaces doing?”
“Quite well. I set them up like you said, running those catalytic converters over the chimneys and a pipeline through the upper edges of the hot zone to boil water for the generators. Highly efficient, plus the potters are thrilled with the even and consistent heat. The people learning to work with metal love it too, saying the forging process is almost too easy with the setup provided.”
Guiying’s ears perked. “Pottery? There’s clay around here?”
“Oh, that’s right. You did pick up your father’s hobby, didn’t you? Actually, I think you’ve got more of a knack for it than he did. Yes, this area’s saturated with the right blends of aluminum and silicon to produce kaolin, and the river bed is being dug out and expanded for irrigation anyway. So we’ve got lots of clay to work with, and a high demand for storage urns and eating dishes.”
Guiying nodded. “Do they have wheels, or are they just hand-building?”
“You’d have to teach them, I think. I never got into it enough to learn the finer details the way you or your father did.”
Guiying nearly dashed for the elevator… only to be stopped when it didn’t go anywhere.
“Sorry, your mother still hasn’t authorized your departure from the core chamber. But you’ll be amazed when you can wander out and see all that’s gone on, I promise.”
Guiying huffed, then pouted at her kotatsu.
“Gimme biscuits and gravy, then. And some manga to read. The Cosmica lets you pirate a few, right?”
Rhys inwardly rolled his eyes, but filled the food part of the breakfast order along with a thing called “orange juice.” Telling her that the Encyclopedia Cosmica did indeed abide by copyright law wouldn’t help her mood at all.