***Tirnanog, Mount Aerie***

***Magnus***

“Aw! You two are the cutest things in existence!” Astra mollycoddled the two newest additions to the family in their little beds while Isaac tugged at two of his mother's filaments from below, but he was completely forgotten. If not to say ignored.

When he failed to get his mother’s attention, Isaac looked at me with begging eyes.

I sighed absent-mindedly, unable to summon the same emotional investment in the babes as Astra. “That's how it is, little man. The youngest always gets the most attention from their mother. Trust me. Your father has been through all of this himself with two little sisters.”

Yes, the children were cute, but I couldn't help but worry about all the drama involved in having three of them. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to play the devil's advocate with the sisters like I was forced to with Isaac just to reign in his unruliness. Belatedly, I wondered whether the tendency to have twins ran within my family, but fortunately, I had a mysterious entity named Gaia to blame for this one.

Now that I thought about it, strictly spoken, Isaac and the girls were triplets.

On the other hand, since Isaac hatched so much earlier and developed so quickly, he had a large headstart on them. Wasn't he more like an older brother now?

My idle lamentations were forgotten when I noticed the horror Isaac showed at recognizing the truth of my words. His expression was epic and I could no longer bring myself to tease him any further, so I spread my arms and offered him a hug. “Come here. If the women abandon us, we men have to hold together.”

Isaac threw himself into my arms and I lifted him so he could take a closer look at his freshly hatched sisters in their cribs. They were sleeping like two little rocks.

It looked like whatever had allowed Isaac's rapid mental development had not been passed down to the girls. At least they hadn’t shown to possess the same abnormal level of intelligence as Isaac. Not yet at least.

If Mary and Kiera were to be believed, Isaac began talking in almost full sentences within no time at all. He had also been a lot more active after hatching than these two.

Nonetheless, my daughters came out of their eggs much more developed than with the normal birthing process, and they had access to a limited vocabulary from the start. A condition Kiera thought to be connected to a genetic memory of some sort.

I harboured the suspicion Gaia's meddling was to blame. When Isaac slept, he also gained access to the entity's dream space and Gaia was very engaged when it came to 'teaching' Isaac everything he ought to know in her opinion.

The doctor attributed Isaac's rapid mental growth to him inheriting the split personality trait Astra and I had gotten from the mindflayer mutation. It allowed him to learn at an unprecedented rate, but I was a little worried about what the ability would do to a child’s development.

Kiera believed the girls would also develop far faster than normal, but they would be relatively slow compared to Isaac if they could not compartmentalize their minds. The appearance of the genetic memory trait was still a mystery since it hadn't been documented previously, so it was reasonable to assume I was the one responsible – or at least my zipper mutation.

When my attention finally returned to the girls, I had to admit that Constella and Aurora were cute. Hopefully, they would get their female beauty from their mother’s side.

“Very sweet,” Isaac commented and quickly turned his attention from his boring sisters to his pet. He pointed at a cage with a miniature zipper inside it. “But Klein hatched too and we have to feed him.”

“Right!” I said while sighing inwardly. Why did Isaac need to have one of those nasty things as a pet? I wasn't against pets per se, but couldn’t he have gotten something sweet and cuddly? Something with fur? Preferably something non-poisonous which wouldn't bite or have any other potentially lethal abilities.

I squinted at the idea, realizing belatedly that such a thing was probably hard to find on Tirnanog. A single zipper was probably the safest 'pet' a kid could have. Always assuming it was kept in a cage.

Carrying Isaac, I gave in to fate and turned to take some oversized wooden tweezers. Then I used them to feed Isaac’s pet with some pre-cut pieces of meat. “Please explain to me why I am the one who has to feed it when it is your pet? Common sense in parenting tells me I should make you take care of the thing instead of allowing you to abandon the responsibility you wanted.”

“Because my hands are still too small and chubby to use the tweezers and Klein bites,” Isaac explained, sounding very patient and reasonable. “I will feed him as soon as I can or it's safe to do so without getting bitten.”

Right, he had also named the damned thing ‘Klein’, which was German for ‘small’.

“If something tries to bite you, you should eat it,” I suggested, trying to impart some common wisdom to my son. “Or at the very least kill it. It's the way of nature.”

Isaac gasped. “We can’t do that! I am sure it is just a phase Klein will grow out of.”

We were interrupted when Kiera entered the room. The doctor looked first at Astra and the kids and then at me.

“Ah, it's good that you are still here,” she began, “I was afraid you were already on your next errand for the elders. Lately, you have spent very little time with your children.”

Was that an accusation? It wasn't like we had much choice. Furthermore, we used most of our dream time for Isaac when Gaia wasn't teaching us, but it wasn't like we could share this information without sounding like lunatics.

“Talk about the obvious,” I answered bluntly, causing the doctor to blink in surprise. It looked like she had expected me to be at the very least a little repentant, but why should I have a bad conscience when I had next to no choice in the matter?

“Anyway,” Kiera continued once she recollected her thoughts. “Under normal circumstances, it would be much too early for me to suggest this, but Isaac's rapid development warrants a change of plans. I would like to put him in the crib and for that, I need his parents' approval.”

“The crib?” I asked, unfamiliar with the term.

“Something like a kindergarten and school mixed together,” Kiera explained. “The clan doesn't have enough children to warrant splitting them up into different institutions. I believe the opportunity to socialize with other youngsters would be good for Isaac.”

“But I have to take care of Klein!” Isaac objected.

“Of course, he will visit the crib!” I replied, elated at the opportunity to delegate educational responsibility to other people. Admittedly, Astra and I hadn't been around a lot in person, but back on Earth, there were enough parents who had full-time jobs. Therefore it was all the more important to see to Isaac's social education when the two of us weren't around.

However, there was his physical speed. “Always assuming there are people who can keep him under control.”

“Dad!” the boy in my arms complained and I used a few filaments to wrap him up, tugging him beneath one arm while I kept feeding the pest in its cage. The little monster was already capable of munching down more than its body weight in meat. Just like the adults.

“Isaac has grown a lot since his birth,” Kiera pointed out. “I am sure he can be reasoned with if everything is explained properly.”

“Sure, sure...” I nodded to myself and put the tweezers away once Klein had taken on a worryingly round shape. It seemed like zipper hatchlings didn't know how to stop eating when food was offered in abundance.

I glanced worriedly back and forth between it and Kiera, wondering whether I had overdone it and the hatchling would pop. Maybe killing the thing by overfeeding was a possibility? Either way, I didn't exactly have to test this theory in front of Isaac. One traumatizing life lesson per year was enough as long as he behaved.

“Speaking of kids, we have to pay Loopsfast a visit and get the drakes!” I exclaimed as the thought hit me. “Can't believe I forgot about it.”

Astra looked up from our daughters, managing to divert her attention for the first time since they hatched. “Loops will be fine. The eggs have been laid not too long ago and I have sent word to get the female drakes.”

She tilted her head. “Oh, and before I forget, Thalia, Mark, and the others will return with Balthasar and his people once our airships give them a lift. Juliana said it would take between one and two weeks to gather the spore-resistant crews for the ships. It wouldn't make sense for us to accompany them on a dangerous journey when they can get picked up by airship within a few days.”

“I see,” I answered, having already known about the plan, but not the exact timetable.

Kiera brought out a piece of paper from a folder in her hand. “If both of you agree, then please sign this document.”

We were just done signing when the next issue arose in the form of an urgent message via the UI, informing us we should present ourselves at the headquarters as soon as possible.

An hour later, after personally dropping Isaac off at the crib with a few stern words to listen to the caretakers, we met with Teresa and Eaton on Aerie's flagship.

The two were currently in charge of overseeing the war efforts, taking shifts with the other elders and representatives from Hochberg and Jeng.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

For some reason Gunnar was also there, fumbling his way through a pile of reports, quite obviously frustrated at not having all the information easily accessible and searchable in electronic form.

“We admittedly kept you two away from the fighting for as much as possible,” Eaton began the conversation after we greeted each other. “After the first confrontation at Jeng's mother tree, both sides have been trying to figure out the other's strength and commitment to the war. Using you two as messengers was the best choice, but it looks like we have a real job now. Two, in fact, meaning you will have to pick your poison.”

True to her character, Astra immediately brightened up at the possibility of proving her worth to the clan. “What can we do to help?”

Teresa shook her head. “Dear, you shouldn't be too enthusiastic about being given a dangerous task. If I could, I would keep using you to run errands and make contact with more ancients and smaller clans to figure out who is on our side and who might work against us.”

I coughed. “If it means we keep running into people like Nisha Dawson or Balthasar Pinault, then no thanks. I am quite certain Nisha could have done us in if things went just a little differently. And what if the next ancient we visit isn't a neutral party and decides to shoot the messenger?”

Teresa winced. “You are right. I just wanted to keep Astra safe and Mary’s suggestion sounded like it was as safe as it gets. Mary promised me she was certain Balthasar would be neutral at the very least. Nobody could have anticipated Vier's ancient would be paying him a personal visit right when you arrived.”

There was an awkward moment of silence before Eaton decided to simply keep going. “About the two jobs you might be suited for. One is a deployment at the front. A straightforward counter mission to a Thich scouting party. They are giving our people headaches.”

He brought out a few reports and handed them to us. “They have two speedsters who so far managed to dodge pretty much everything we put up against them. Their hit-and-run tactics are impossible to deal with for the average soldier. We already lost two scouting units of our own. Good people to boot, unfortunately. So we need a way to pin the Thich down.”

Eaton gestured at the map displaying our current troop positions. “It's not at the point where I would think these Thich warrant sending an elder after them, so we need someone who can keep up with their speed. Your job would be to delay them till our people can take care of the rest of their scouting party. Even if you don't manage to kill them, I doubt they would continue operations on their own. Killing their comrades would force them to retreat till they can gather another team with sufficient teamwork. What they did so far wasn't the work of just any people being thrown together, so I believe messing up their team would seriously impact their performance.”

I nodded in understanding.

During the winter I had been taught quite a lot about battle tactics with superhumans involved. What had gone down at Jeng was a large-scale escalation which had very few precedents in the history of interclan-warfare.

Two forces clashing with thousands of combatants involved had only happened because the Thich had been confident in their chances of victory, causing them to overextend to a certain degree. Additionally, the appearance of Aerie’s and Hochberg’s combined forces to repel them had been totally unexpected.

Once they realized there was no quick victory to be had, the Thich quickly reverted to traditional tactics.

Which meant guerilla warfare with groups of a hundred combatants at most. Most of the fighting was done by small scouting units whose main goal was to gather information on the enemy’s juggernauts and other heavy hitters and abilities on the other side.

Preferably, the abilities of each scouting team were carefully selected to support each other, filling out different roles like straightforward warriors, scouts, and support.

Once the opponent’s skills and abilities were known, your forces would be selected so they could optimally counter the enemy before the commanders committed to a battle. Ideally, leaving the enemy no chance to fight back.

For example, if the enemy group was relying on a juggernaut who had incredible defensive abilities, but wasn’t very mobile, someone with ranged abilities or poison would be deployed against them. The wide range of mutations rarely allowed for a true game of rock-paper-scissors, but such outcomes were the desired intent behind the strategy. And from what I had been told, it was not like there were no prime examples of such things happening.

Eaton once showed me a battle report about one of Aerie's elders, one of their best warriors at the time, being brought low after his combat unit lost all their scouts. The enemy had played tag with them till they managed to steer the entire unit into a field of poisonous plants. Weakened from the poison and bereft of his allies, the elder had been easily killed by warriors far beneath him in the end.

If the Thich had speedsters who could rival Astra and me, it would be a huge problem.

Given our particular skill set, Eaton had done some theory crafting with me. A speedster didn’t necessarily need the ability to fight an enemy juggernaut head-on. Being able to distract and then escape would be a huge boon if it allowed your allies to use their abilities with impunity.

That the choice fell on us to counter opponents of this type didn’t surprise me. To counter speed with speed was a brute force method, but like Eaton said: It may be enough to cause a delay.

Eaton interrupted my ruminations when he continued, “The other job is a little more difficult. We believe we have a mole within our ranks and we need someone who can investigate. So far, a few of our people have been found dead. Nobody in a major military role, but the trail of bodies points at someone trying to investigate secrets relevant to the war.”

The elder looked towards Gunnar who was fighting with stacks of paper just a few metres away from us. “Your people offered their expertise with espionage warfare, but it looks like they will first have to adapt to certain… limitations.”

“I heard that!” Gunnar proclaimed, not looking up from his notes. “Just wait till I catch the guy. Mary promised me a date if I manage the feat.”

He waved at us and returned his attention to his research.

Astra raised her hand to get our attention. “I get why you would want us to take care of the first case, but what exactly could we do to help with this spy? It isn’t like we are skilled investigators. I am not at least. Wouldn’t it be better to set some psychics loose?”

I glanced at Astra, slightly surprised at how easily she had suggested to have mindreaders root randomly through people's minds. Worse, nobody had shown any qualms at the suggestion.

Was I the only one who thought messing with another person's mind was abhorrent?

I mean, I wasn't squeamish about a lot of things. I had done stuff for which other people would likely want me taken to the backyard and shot, no questions asked.

But allowing psychics to use their powers with impunity was a line I was wary of.

Teresa nodded. “It's the very first thing we tried. Unfortunately, it looks like the person in question has a way to hide themselves from psychic influences. They either received extensive training or they are a powerful psychic. If Thalia had been available, we would have given the job to her. But alas, she isn't here at the moment.”

Eaton hummed and smacked his lips. “Since we've already sent three psychics to deal with the matter and gotten no results, I doubt Thalia would miraculously find the person in question. She is good, but even she would have trouble outperforming three of her best pupils.”

“Still finding it hard to believe that there are psychics,” Gunnar said, waving a set of papers while he came over. “Never heard a mention of them on Earth and I am as augmented as it gets.”

“So either Earth is keeping a tight lip on a power which holds the potential to topple their government, or they are so afraid of someone being able to take a peek into their heads that they forewent the mutation entirely,” Teresa pointed out snarkily. “Doesn't help that there seems to be no easy way for the nanites to reproduce the mutation reliably.”

Gunnar scratched his three-day beard with the documents in his hand while he thought. “Good argument.”

“So if Thalia is unavailable, why not ask Vanya?” I asked. “Thalia spoke very highly of the matriarch's psychic abilities when they met.”

Eaton and Teresa gave each other a look before Teresa answered, “The matriarch is currently very busy with interrogations. We don't have many prisoners, but the few we have paint a concerning picture of Thich's society. Vanya said it's necessary to profile them and see what makes them tick.”

I tilted my head, interested in everything relevant to my sister's fate. “Please explain.”

She sighed. “You are aware of how isolated the clans are. Cultural exchange happens through the Caravaners, but it's a slow and tedious process. Among the clans, Aerie and Hochberg are very similar in their ideology. The various stratas favour education and logic as a way to determine how the clan's policies are decided and the selection process for the matriarch ensures only the smartest get to rule. But our similarities are mostly only because the trading route connecting us is comparatively easy to traverse. The Northroute family makes several trips per year with their saherna herd.”

Remembering our trip via saherna, I wanted to protest, but I refrained from arguing to keep the conversation going.

She gestured at the map. “On the same account, getting to Jeng and the Old Camp is not just a matter of distance, but easy enough. Traversing the forest to visit Jeng greatly increases the dangers. Nonetheless, a risk the Caravaner undertake to trade for iobeetle shells. There is some exchange between Jeng and Vier and very little between Hochberg and Vier. And pretty much none between Hochberg and Thich. Not to mention Aerie. As for the few Caravaners who trade with Thich, the only viable route is to travel through a desert from Vier past the Raiders to Thich's fortress city. The Raiders are a nasty group of thieves who barely deserve to be called a clan. Pray you never have to deal with them.” Teresa's eyes grew distant as she delved into a memory from long ago.

“So you are saying the Thich and Aerie are recluses since they are located on the two ends of a pretty much linear trade network,” I summarized. “But the Thich are even more isolated because of geographic and social obstacles between them and the Vier.”

“Sorry, I may have digressed a little with that explanation,” Teresa apologized. “What I wanted to get across was that we had little to no contact with Thich's leadership since the war. From what I remember they have always been assholes, sorry for the diplomatic slip. So far, our view of them was affirmed through the relations our recruiters had with them through the Old Camp. But if Vanya is right, then that's only what they wanted us to see. Because of the recent large-scale battle, we got our hands on a few of their warriors. People who are a little deeper ingrained into their society than the average recruiters who would visit the Old Camp. The impression we got is that their society took on outright cultic traits. Vanya is very worried about it.”

I nodded. “Once she is ready I would like to have a report of her findings. Anyway, I still don't get why you would consider us for this manhunt?”

“Well, it's a bit of a gamble, to be honest,” Eaton admitted. “We sent psychics to investigate and they aren't bringing back results. The next best idea I have is to have a non-psychic start asking questions and hope the target slips up, thinking you easy pickings.”

“Because we have shown great resistance to psychic influence,” Astra concluded.

I looked questioningly at Astra.

When she didn't respond immediately, I suggested, “I would take the counter mission. It's something we know we are suited for. Hunting a ghost feels like a long shot.”

“No worries!” Gunnar said with a smirk. “I prefer taking all the fame for myself.”

Something gurgled in protest from beneath the table where Gunnar had fought with his reports. A creepy and gaunt goblinoid face peeked out from beneath the tablecloth. The far too-large eyes squinted at us before the creature retreated.

“You get just as much recognition as you deserve,” Gunnar shot back. “So far, you haven't been very useful.”

I involuntarily reached for the knife at my belt and activated Second Sight to find the outlines of a child-like figure hiding beneath the cloth. “What the fuck is that?”

Teresa glanced at the table and back at me. “Oh, sorry. I guess you haven't met him yet. That's Chitters. He is a bit shy. We convinced him to help Gunnar with his investigations. When it comes to tracking, Chitters is better than any of the sensors we have. Though, he isn't a fighter, so be nice and don't hurt him.”

“It reminded me of those rat things,” I admitted and took the hand away from my blade.

Teresa pulled down the corners of her mouth. “Sadly, they share a similar origin. Chitters is the result of a partnering gone horribly wrong.”

Was she telling me that thing had human parents!?

Teresa nodded, guessing at my thoughts. I didn't want to know the expression which had involuntarily slipped onto my face.

“Chitters is smart, sociable, and can follow simple orders, so we didn't kill him. Just think of him as a person with a disability if it makes you feel better. Just don't hurt him or Mary might get angry. He is under her protection since she liked his parents.”

“It does not!” I shot back, still a bit disturbed. “Wasn't there a rule about... killing any mutations which are... intelligent? What about the other clans?”

“Chitters does not have the kind of intelligence which we are concerned about and we informed the other clans about the circumstances behind his presence,” Teresa replied. “He will be met with distrust wherever he goes, but he should be safe enough as long as he stays with the investigation team.”