After Vedna had embraced his granddaughter, he asked for the full story from me and I told him.
"Ah, so you're Askel then, I met you when my daughter healed you, I would have been terrified if it were..." He stopped and his face dropped. "She bloody knew... I used to be terrified of snakes, then one day, she suddenly said I had to get over my fear for the sake of family. I didn't know what she meant, but I worked hard at conquering that fear. Now I know what she meant." His face became gloomier with the thought of his wife.
"Father, she accepted Adam to, call herself Mum-In-Law. She wasn't here in person, but she knew everything and she was holding us all together before we were even in the same place." Eve's eyes turned glassy and I held her, whilst Quatal did the same for Vedna who was weeping.
The guards were dismissed and Vedna retired with us to his office. He called his attendants to fetch the finest treats they could for the girls, then a short while later Halseth entered and I rose to greet him.
He was panting, clearly coming as soon as he had caught wind of our arrival which was confusing. We were friendly sure, but I didn't think we were close enough to warrant such urgent attention from the cardinal who was surely busy, I wasn't even sure why he was in Abelegia since he had been put in charge of keeping an eye on the Kanelsian situation.
"I guess this brings us to the reason for your visit." Vedna sighed, clearly disappointed his time with us was going to be cut short. "Hasleth here, is the cousin of the one I want you to examine. Though he has duties in Kanelsia, he arrived yesterday to request additional support. So I will leave you all in his care I guess."
"No. Eve and Quatal can stay here with you for now, Fala and I will go and complete our examination... Quatal... Be a good girl and save some sweets for Fala. Why don't you tell Grandpa about your Auntie when this sand time runs out." I said before kissing Eve and her on the forehead and bidding goodbye to our host.
Hasleth was meandering through the halls with so much haste I had to carry Fala so she didn't get lost. "So I don't know how much you know, but my cousin's ailment seems immune to magical interference."
"I heard, but that isn't exactly strange, cast heal on a wound and it won't cure infection."
"You aren't wrong, but the fact we noticed it nullifies magic in the are-"
"You fools should have started with that!" I roared before telling him to run with urgency.
When we arrived at his cousins the guards tried to stop us from disturbing the doctors. "Doctors? Get out of my way before I give you something those fools can actually help with." My aggression caught Halseth completely by surprise, but Fala knew this was just how I was in medical emergencies.
When they refused I made good on my word and threw them through the closed door. Storming up the steps stepping over them and the debris. "Was that nescecarry? I appreciate you prioritising the situation but they were just doing their jobs."
"If I know the healers in this world, they're killing your cousin." I said, stomping through as I followed the directions the mana was giving me.
We came to a heavy wooden door which led to his cousin's bedroom, when I opened it I saw I was correct and used an overwhelming amount of magic to pull the "doctors" back.
"Cousin?" A man called from corner of the room. "Have you gone mad, who is this bandit!?"
"Shut up! He is the man that ended the war, mind your manners with him! He says your damn impatience nearly killed her and I am inclined to agree, even I can feel how unstable the magic here has gotten." Hasleth yelled at the young man, apparently the younger brother of the patient.
"Fala, administer the anaesthesia to the doctors, then meditate and slowly expel mana from your body." She done as instructed, whilst I began analysing the situation at hand. "Interesting, this isn't an ailment... Your cousin had a contract with a beast, yes?"
"Yes, but how did you know?"
"Her heart is broken, the kind of thing that happens when a contracted beast dies and they bonded pair have an incredible bond... She's evolving."
"Like a monster?" The younger brother exclaimed, disgusted.
The word struck a chord and the tone and expression accompanying it more so, after all she was becoming something not too different from my own daughter. I approached the man as unbridled wrath flowed off of me. "Do I have to kill you to silence you, or will you accept you need to shut up you foolish whelp?"
Luckily, the fool had something in the way of self-preservation and sat down. "Was that not a little much?" Hasleth asked, genuinely curious as to the sudden ferocity I displayed and I was happy to answer the question. "I guess congratulations then. Now what can we do to get you back to them quickly?"
"Nothing until Fala finishes filling the area with mana to stabilise the area. Your cousin and the doctors nearly wiped Abelegia of the map, mana isn't fond of being pulled in multiple directions that's why-"
"The multiple spiral effect, I know..." He paused to eye his cousin with frightening disappointment. "...What about after?" He finally asked.
"After I take her home and my nanny and daughter can make her feel more welcome than the bigot in the corner."
"Nanny? I suppose only a divine summon could hope to teach a feathered serpent, but aren't the in a league much higher than other divine beasts, what could do it?"
"A deva. Quatal's "Auntie Astra" and the soon to be royal nursery director if she gets her wishes." I laughed, knowing that Astrael had definitely told Quatal to let Eve and I have alone time.
"I should be surprised, but I'm really not, on the bright side I can visit her easier from Kanelsia. Getting permission from the interim senate to come here was far from easy.
"I see... How are things, I was thinking of asking them to allow me to offer work to some of the local villages."
"Honestly, not good. The country is a mess, civil war is likely and you making any moves might trigger it. The common folk know you stopped the war that Kanelsia's government fed into, you saved the lives they were throwing away which made you both popular and envied."
"I will stay put then. Now! Air feels much clearer, very good Fala. Hasleth, I will put paralysis glyphs on these two and ask why they were using this fool to kill you all. Do not remove these gags, they may have suicide pills hidden and this will stop them breaking them."
"Where should I take them?" Hasleth asked like it was his first time taking prisoners.
"The dungeon, obviously, but if you let anyone touch them I will save you the trouble of dealing with Kanelsia. Take them there, put them in a cell and you stand guard personally until I get back. I'm moving the patient to the clinic." Fala climbed on my back as I picked up the comatose woman.
She looked a lot like her cousin, more so than her brother. The same dirty blonde hair, green eyes and chin dimple, which made me have to stifle a very inappropriate laugh as I realised some things are probably best kept secret.
"Oh and take that fool cousin to the cell two cells over, I will interrogate him as well to make sure he's just a dangerous idiot and not an idiot saboteur." I then moved as quickly as I could to the teleportation platform I had seen on my owns array display.
Naturally I had to break a lot of "standard procedure" on the way, but I was in a rush and could apologise later. Though whether or not it would work remained to be scene, I had constructed a kind of multi layer cocoon around her, visually imperceptible, but the mana that was in play had been gathered to a density that made Fala sweat.
As the jarring sensation of teleportation kicked in, we were relieved my impromptu technique payed off, then Fala jumped down and opened the lab, preparing a bed in the isolation unit.
"Now Fala, I need to do for her, what I did for you and Quatal."
"Got it!"
"However, it is going to be a lot worse for her..." The words made Fala pale, she still remembered the pain she felt, and still twitched at the mention. "It will be a mix between what you felt and what Quatal experienced, her body is weakened from the coma, what will she need?"
"Err, she will need an IV and nutrient bags, a full check for bed sores, sanitising and afterward, adjustment for dramatic increase in ability so take her to the other side as soon as possible." I knelt down and hugged her, sincerely proud and amazed at how fast she was learning.
"Correct, now, let's begin."