Soleil’s eldest mother is a venerable entity of shadow that could be relied upon to share a historical perspective. As an entity whose form could shift on a whim however, xe could sometimes be hard to read. The fact that Soleil could easily detect a sluggishness in her mother’s movements suggested something was obviously amiss.

“Is something the matter? Did absorbing the mana earlier have an effect on you?” Soleil could not remember seeing Nadir get sick. The lowest she had ever seen her mother came as a result from a deep and profound sadness that caused xem to hide in xer room for days.

Soleil now had a number of questions concerning the source of that sadness.

Nadir’s six red irises flicked in the direction of her daughter in the doorway. A shadowy appendage extended into the shape of an arm and fingers before beckoning Soleil into the room. “I will be fine given time. But yes, I can indeed develop magical equivalents to the physical afflictions you are familiar with.” It took only a moment of scanning xer daughter’s expression before Nadir decided to offer Soleil something more tangible. “You might better understand the term as mana corruption.”

Mana corruption. That was a scary thought. She had read a little about it, but her examples were merely that, examples: Corrupted fire mana might burn cold. Rotted air would actively attempt to strangle all who breathed it in. The worst example she could think of was a death that did not stick, instead making a mockery of recently extinguished life.

“Wait, does that mean your body is mostly magical in nature?” Soleil almost wished she could use [analyze] on her mother. But who knew what kind of feedback that would give her? Nadir was the lowest level of her mothers. But as a natural born Demon, she spent the most time cultivating skills that Soleil would struggle to find any frame of reference for in a book. Which made some amount of sense, demons were comparatively very new to the world.

People reshaped by mana were not exactly uncommon. Demons just took things a whole lot further than those humans referred to as demi-humans.

Just knowing what kind of pain that mana itself was constantly experiencing was one thing. Did she want to add knowing the sum total of each and every uniquely complicated combination of skills that warped them into the demons that she now knew them as?

Nadir seemed to understand her hesitation. “Yes child. It is hard to explain, but this body is the result of decades of experimenting with skills. You need not worry about me. The agitated mana I absorbed near you only inflicted about a twenty level drain on me. I will be fine in a few days.”

That still sounded scary to Soleil. But it gave Soleil an idea of just how much mana it would take to block out the cries of pain. In about twenty levels or so she could attempt to analyze mana once more.

“Enough about me. How are you feeling?”

“I’m… okay.” She looked into the solid red eyes of her mother. “I wanted to ask you a question. Did you mean it? When you promised to consider me an equal in all things after I began to channel mana?”

Solemn promises. She was wary of them now.

The light in Nadir’s six eyes practically radiated. “We are all just as eager to see you grow into your own. We will of course make sure you have a firm grasp of how to use your skills. But you live in this little haven of human and demon kind just like the rest of us. You deserve to form your own perspective and voice it. We intend to respect that.”

“Just like that? But I’m level 1. Er, well, level 2 technically. I haven’t assigned that skill point yet.”

Nadir shook xer shadow self in negation. “You will find that one’s Soul Level is rarely the deciding factor in much of anything in this world. Do not let small minded fools convince you otherwise.”

Soleil reached for a familiar line of Nadir’s that suddenly felt strange to say. “Power is not ours to wield.” If channeling mana meant welcoming the pain of a dying world into herself, maybe there really was a difference between Skill Masteries and Affinities.

She took a moment to allow herself to become lost in thought. Nadir recognized the look and was happy to let her follow wherever it led. “Are the same small minded fools who teach skill masteries also the ones that make no time for developing an affinity for the mana they use and study every day?”

Nadir laughed. Xers was always a rich and resonant thing that echoed throughout a room. Coming from Nadir, laughter was always the sort of expression that projected from more than one place in xer body. “Not an hour since channeling for the first time and already you are diving into this world’s high concepts. Oh Soleil, not all are going to be as well versed on our history. You must take care that scholars you level such questions to be of a thick skin. That is a humbling line of inquiry for many.”

Soleil pouted, sensing she was not likely to get a verbal answer. That meant of course that this might be something worth exploring herself. She had an affinity for fire, but [Analyze] had described her as an Ashen Demon, not a Fire Demon. If her mother was a Flame Champion, what did that make Soleil?

“Speak your mind, Soleil. I promise I will give you a straight answer this time.”

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Tempting. “Mother, when I used [analyze] at Brigid’s prompting, I was expecting to be classified as a Fire Demon. I know my physical traits and affinities are supposed to just be descriptive, and I should not read overly much into them. But I developed a desire to wield fire mana on my own. If the soul’s presentation is how we would describe ourselves to mana, or how mana sees us, the books I read were a little circumspect about which comes first. What does it mean that my soul registers as a Ash Demon’s? I’ve never heard of that type of demon.”

Soleil sensed her mother’s approval the moment she began to piece together her question. How she asked was just as important as what she asked. She knew this, but it was sometimes hard to remember to put it into practice. Knowing her mother intended to give her an honest answer was no excuse to be rude.

Nadir’s voiced reply sang with scholarly delight. “I genuinely do not know what to tell you, and that fascinates me. Demon typings are rarely subtle, often evolving to reflect our growth in power. Brigid and I were certain that your description would update to an Ember or Candle Demon. The latter especially if you picked up a Shadow Affinity, but your presentation has never wavered in all the times we have [analyzed] you.”

Soleil wasn’t sure what to make of that, but her mother’s fascination was hard to resist. Xe had more to say, however.

“I can circle back to referencing your earlier question. There is a relation here in Human ‘Classes’ and Demonic ‘Presentations’ that overlap neatly with the whole [Mastery] versus [Affinity] classification of skills. The way that we raised you might suggest that mana sees you in a way emblematic of a lost or diminished flame. Who knows? You might have a dormant affinity for Necromancy or some other subtype of mana twisted and corrupted beyond its original purpose. I encourage you to keep an open mind.”

Soleil was even less sure of how to respond to that. Instead of satisfying her curiosity, Nadir had succeeded in baiting out and appetizing it further. She decided to thank her mother with a hug.

As a shifting shadow, Nadir was typically hard to pin down in such things. Today it only took Soleil three attempts to wrap arms around her mother’s form. Shadow mana had the curious quality of feeling like a halfway point between being solid and liquid to the touch. Needless to say, Soleil would tell anyone willing to listen that all three of her mothers gave astounding hugs.

“That aside, are you clear about our expectations for you?”

Soleil cocked her head to the side. “Other than Veilura and you coaxing me into promising to write, the frequency of expected letters you remained vague about, no. Not at all.”

Nadir’s one visible smile grew, showing off xer gruesome fangs in all their glory. “Good. We have no expectations, child. The three of us have tried to give you as strong a foundation as we could. But from this moment onward, your life is yours to live. Anything and everything we have taught you is open to be ignored or questioned as your understanding of the world changes.”

Soleil was starting to feel something build up in her throat and eyes. “Just like that?”

Nadir’s eyes seemed to grow distant as xer voice fell to a gentle whisper. “The young and weak should not be shackled by the mistakes of the old and powerful.”

Oh. Today was just going to be a day of unpacking heavy statements and concepts, wasn’t it? Soleil hugged her mother tighter. “Okay, but what if I wanted the advice of three old crones in charting my own growth?”

Nadir's shadow body manifested a pair of extra mouths for the purposes of expressing a murderously gleeful cackle. It was almost unsettling. Soleil always chose to find Nadir’s ability to express xemself endearing. “Then we would be happy to unleash you upon the world, free from our influence.”

Soleil shared a giggle with her mother before following a spreading darkness through the halls toward the kitchen.

***

The two wordlessly agreed to stop short upon hearing voices discussing something sensitive.

“-did she hurt you?” Brigid spoke as if hearing the words would cause herself to break.

“No. She [detonated] my defenses and just stepped in close. She brushed my defenses aside like I was some plaything and not her most determined adversary for the past thirty years.”

“You are here. You are home. You are in one piece. That is good enough for me.”

“She kissed me on the forehead.”

Soleil and Nadir took the moment of stunned silence that followed to creep closer, bringing the kitchen into view.

Veilura sat slumped over in a chair pulled up next to the magitech engines powering the stove and its accompanying counter tops now being used to heat up three different dishes.

Brigid tore herself away from the pans she had been tending to in order to wrap her arms around a now visibly shaking Veilura. “Calamity did what?”

“She… congratulated me on Soleil’s coming of age.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She had me at her mercy. She could have done anything she wanted. Instead she… thanked me.” Veilura’s gaze fell to the floor.

Brigid could do little to stop the shaking of her wife’s hands, but she tried to gather up and squeeze them within her own the best she could.

Veilura continued speaking a moment later, but it was clear she was no longer in the room, withdrawing instead within herself. “Has this all been some sick game to her? Did I do something wrong? Am I becoming the monster and traitor everyone says I am?”

Brigid pulled Veilura close. There was no embrace warmer than Brigid’s, as far as Soleil was concerned. Her mother was in good hands. Nadir seemed to agree by not immediately flying to her wife’s side.

Brigid’s voice fell to a whisper that Soleil could barely make out. “Veilura, love of my life, I must gently ask you to never again think of you or our child as a mistake. You are spiraling. Right now, I need you to remind yourself that it is you who convinced Nadir and I to raise a child with love and kindness. That is nothing to be ashamed of. Do you understand me?”

Veilura sobbed.

“There there. It’s okay. You are not responsible for the words and actions of someone whose stated intent is to murder what is left of humanity.”