Chapter 4526: Constant Improvement (Part 2)
Chapter 4526: Constant Improvement (Part 2)
"Wah?" Elysia asked in shock. "Wadda abod me?"
"Good question, Ely. Any ideas about what you want to do when you grow up?" Lith asked with a straight face, and the baby girl pondered the question for a while before forgetting it.
"Are you excited to meet Auntie Zor again, Ral?" Kamila asked.
"Mama!" He replied.
"That’s the spirit." She chuckled. "Say that a few times, please."
"Yeah, we have a bet to settle." Solus said.
A few seconds later, what looked like a large black cloud appeared on the horizon and approached the Mansion at breakneck speed. Lith received Zoreth’s identification signal and lowered the arrays to let her in.
The Shadow Dragon landed with the grace of a sparrow and the lightness of a fluffy cloud. Her feet made no sound when they touched the ground, and her body rose in a pillar of black smoke that quickly compressed itself into the figures of two human women.
Or rather, one human woman and a humanoid woman.
"How are my cuties?" Zoreth was in her Arke form, with her four arms extended for a hug. "You have no idea how much your auntie missed you."
"I could have used a bit less smoke, Zor." Bytra, the Raiju and Fourth Ruler of the Flames, coughed up the foggy bits of her wife that had remained stuck in her throat.
"And I could use a bit less nagging, Byt!" The Arke’s four eyes frowned in annoyance. Her dull blue skin emphasized the expression lines on her face. "Progress, not perfection."
"Auie Soeed! Auie Soeed!" Elysia jumped off Solus’ arms and landed into Zoreth’s.
"You’ve learned another letter of my name!" The Arke peppered the baby girl’s head with kisses. "You’re such a smart girl, Ely."
"Yah!" Elysia giggled with pride.
"And who is this annoying hag, instead?" Zoreth pointed at Bytra.
"Zor!" The Raiju blushed in embarrassment.
"No, Auie Bida!" Elysia waved her index finger.
"Sorry, Byt, Elysia agrees with me." The Arke chuckled.
"That’s not what she- never mind." Bytra crossed her arms and pouted.
"Hi, Auntie Zor." Valeron leaned toward her, and Zoreth hugged him with her second set of arms.
"Gods, you’ve gotten big, Val. You’re almost as handsome as your dad now." She kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair.
"Since Zor is hogging Val and Ely, I’ll take Ral if that’s okay with you." Bytra grunted.
"Sure, just handle him with caution." Kamila handed the baby boy over. "You know how dangerous he is."
"Dangerous? But if he’s a cutie! Isn’t that right, Ral?" Bytra took the boy in her arms and held him tight to her chest.
"Mama!" Raldarak took her hand and nuzzled against it.
"Gods!" Bytra’s heart tightened as if a vise were squeezing it, and her knees turned into jelly. "I need to sit down."
"Mama?" Ral asked with a worried look in his big, round eyes.
"No, I’m not your mom, but I’d kill to be her." Bytra’s legs went out, and she fell to the ground, sobbing.
Raldarak tried to console her by kissing her tears away, but the Raiju just cried harder.
’Told you. Twice is more than enough.’ Solus said via a mind link. ’Pay up, Kami.’
’Not a chance. We still have Zoreth to even the score.’ Kamila replied.
"Byt!" Zoreth handed the babies back and helped her wife to stand up. "Stop embarrassing us. You know that Ral calls everybody mama, and that’s what makes him dangerous."
"I know, but I can’t help myself." She gave the baby boy to Zoreth.
"Mama!" Raldarak gave the Arke a bright smile that could have lightened up the entire Lustria County.
"Gods!" Zoreth bawled her eyes out, holding the baby as if he were her long-lost son.
’Dammit!’ Solus inwardly cursed. ’So much for a millennia-old Eldritch. She was supposed to last at least three mamas!’
’We’ll call this even.’ Kamila replied as she offered several handkerchiefs to her guests.
"I told you to handle him with care." She actually said. "Do you want me to take Ral away?"
"NO!" The two women screamed in unison, shielding the boy with their bodies and conjuring their best spells.
"Do you remember I’m his mother and not a kidnapper, right?" Kamila would have found the situation hilarious if not for the constant struggle to keep her own son.
"Oh." The hybrids exchanged a glance that proved they had actually forgotten about it.
"I’m sorry, Kami. I don’t know what’s gotten into me." Zoreth said, taking a step back for good measure.
"I do." Kamila grunted. "It’s the same thing that gets into every woman who holds Ral and gets called mama."
"That’s not true!" Bytra said, eyeing the best escape route for her wife and the baby.
"Stop looking for the best escape route, and I’ll believe you." Kamila snarled. "Give me my baby back, please."
Zoreth reluctantly returned Raldarak, looking at Kamila as if she were a heartless monster.
"Congratulations, Big Sis." Lith stepped forward, eclipsing the baby boy and snapping the Arke out of her maternal fever. "I see you’ve learned how to shapeshift into your humanoid form on your own."
"Lith?" Zoreth suddenly remembered where she was and why. "I mean, thanks, Lil Bro. It took me a lot of work, but the more my troll side stabilized, the more my affinity to the light element grew.
"With a bit of study, I’ve become an excellent healer and learned how to hear the melody of a life force. At that point, turning into an Arke was child’s play. It’s one of the many reasons I came to visit you aside from the pleasure of your company, Lil Bro."
"Bytra." Solus gave the Raiju a polite nod and offered her to hold Ely and Val.
"Solus." Bytra cleared her throat. "How are you and these adorable little imps doing?"
"Auie Bida! Auie Bida!" Elysia stared at the Ruler of the Flames, wondering why only her little brother stirred such intense emotions in their aunties.
"Ely, Val!" The Raiju held both kids with ease, kissing their cheeks and foreheads. "Gods, you’ve gotten so big. Ely is already a beautiful lady and Val a handsome boy."
Without Dragon Scales, Bytra couldn’t understand the baby girl’s question, and even if she did, she would never have answered it because it would lead to more embarrassing questions and answers.
"De yu!" Elysia giggled, while Valeron blushed a bit.
"Sorry, Byt. Elysia replaced the second b with a d, but I got that too, plus the extra right letter of my name. I’m the winner this time." Zoreth said.
"That’s just because you have a longer name." The Fourth Ruler of the Flames snorted. "Isn’t that right, Val?"
"Yes, Auntie Bytra." The young boy nodded. "Auntie Zoreth has a longer name."
"See?" Bytra puffed her chest out with pride, making Elysia wonder for the umpteenth time what the point of sporting such a generous size just to be a dry well was.
"What do you mean, many reasons?" Lith asked.
"I came here to show you the progress I made in developing my life forces and ask you to check on them with the Infirmary, but we have a few things to discuss." Zoreth replied. "I’ve heard about your latest feat, Lil Bro."