With that long overdue introduction completed, which was ultimately more like a naming and a rather ironic one given what I am and what his namesake did, I was feeling much better and we all went to enjoy the rest of the barbecue that went into the fifth hour of the evening.
When we returned we all convened in the house, then asked everyone to vote on whether or not they were amenable to my plan.
"First, it needs to be asked, just so there is no confusion. what will happen if the non-humans see this as their chance for revenge?" Halsan asked diplomatically.
"I thought it was clear, all races will be equal, if the non-humans decide to inflict the same injustices upon the humans, then they will quickly find themselves in the same position. This isn't a reckoning or a revolution, this is a clean slate and a final chance at unification, no grudges or acts of vengeance."
"Well then I vote yes." He replied confidently.
The others quickly agreed as well and me and Eve held each other with one arm before she continued. "Thank you for supporting us in this, we know it is a big ask and we knew that if we couldn't get our friends and family to agree, then we were setting ourselves on a fruitless endeavour."
"Why you though Eve? Adam we understand, but is it simply being a god changed you to think this way? Or is there something else that made you agree to it?"
"All my life I wondered why people couldn't just get along, I endured didn't speak up or try to change things because I didn't think people could change. Then Adam showed me that they can. He showed me that not with the changes he has brought to land, but with the changes in himself since awakening in this era."
"Well he certainly changed you a lot and quickly, you used to go to functions and throw cold glares at everyone from the corner."
"I think he honestly just made me angry at first. He said what he wanted, did what he wanted, even had the gall to pick a fight with me the first time we met."
"When did I do that?"
"At the summit. I called you out on talking to a diplomat, even an annoying one, with such harshness and you simply gave that smug grin of yours and got me dragged into it. Then when I went to your home to speak about what happened, you called me a "harlot high-priestess" then you had the audacity to talk to me like a child."
"Well honestly, I thought you were trying to help me out in the most political way, then I didn't call you a harlot I merely stated they make for poor high-priestess', then I didn't talk to you like a child but as a human and I wasn't too fond of them at the time and you were rude enough to let your retainer lip-read a private conversation and after I gave you a protection seal to keep you safe."
"A seal that I had no idea where it came from or what it did and began freaking out thinking you cursed me or something."
"Well that's not my fa-"
"Hey, I think it's best you two take the kiddos home and sort this out in your own time."
"Also Parcella and I need to return to the demo-"
"Use the damn teleporter, we aren't a taxi service and we're talking!" Eve shouted to Parcella's delight as she led him away.
"Okay kids, Mama is made so let's go home, she wont be happy til she has all five of her babies." I said to Quatal and Bell, who chuckled as I opened a portal, bid everyone good night and pushed Eve through before giving the girls ten seconds to get her settled.
When we were all back I laid beside Eve. "Thank you for that, I need to get back here." She said with a measure of guilt.
"You know as of tomorrow we're going to be busy. We can't keep slacking off, we need to travel and get things ready. Visit the outlying villages and get more manpower here to help upgrade the town, let them meet their future royal family."
"I know, but we have to go and visit my father first. I feel bad he didn't get to see Cosmael one more time. We need to introduce Bell to her grandfather and let him know our plans. First though, babies are asking..."
We told the kids to pick a movie while we went to the bath for a moment to complete the infusion, then we watched the movie and all passed out in each other's arms.
When morning came, we completed morning training, then I took Quatal for her more intense training. She was adapting faster than expected and grew to find a certain calm in the act, no longer charging wildly and I wondered if Caliburn was teaching her with me.
My answer was given clearly though when she pulled out a sequence of attacks that were my own style, using kinetic energy stored in the body to create an impulse that assaulted my internals.
"I see you picked up a new trick." I wheezed as my body healed.
"Cali told me you made that trick, I asked him to help me fight like you, but it's tricky though and it hurt me as well."
"Honestly, the first time I used it, I broke my own hand. You're even more talented than I am, but please don't use that unless someone is really bad, or they have armour you can't get through."
"Okay Papa."
We called it a day after that, then returned so we could take a bath before heading to Abelegia.
When we got there, Vedna was both saddened by Cosmael's departure and happy to have Bell, not to mention the news that he had three grandchildren on the way.
Eve and I decided to let Vedna take the girls solo to bond, we had another matter we wished to investigate whilst in the area. The fact that Sil had followers was not forgotten, we wanted to investigate the matter and see if we could root them out, which led us to an old friend we had yet to forgive.
"Hasleth. I trust you aren't well." I spoke coldly
"No, I'm not, my penance is rooting out the woman those "healers" follow. My investigation was going smoothly with their help, but it seems like she isn't giving anyone messages anymore."
"Probably because Adam made her realise she can't interfere at the moment. Anyway, still a bigoted fool?" Eve said with unusual mockery.
"I was wrong. I can't apol-"
"Yes, you can. You just chose not to. You know where she is, what she's doing, you have just been too cowardly to go there or even write a letter." I spoke with a cold anger.
"I... I can't... Words aren't enough. I'll ap-"
"Just get back to work, it was a waste of everyone's time. Where can we find their hideout, we'll go investigate it ourselves."
"That's just it, they don't have one. They arrived separately, they didn't interact until they were hired. The only thing they have in common is they used to frequent a medicinal supplies shop, which would be the sta-"
"Did you check that shop?"
"Yes, nothin-"
"Do you think people so well coordinated would look suspicious? Why wasn't Vedna told that detail?"
"Wh-" He was about to argue his defence until he realised he had none. He wasn't a free man by any stretch of the word, his work was supposed to be meticulous and borderline pathological. "I'm a fool, I will report my fail-"
"I have had enough of you." With those final words I broke him, implementing the same impulse technique Quatal had used on me. Several nearby missionaries, as the support mercenaries were known, wretched as he folded and the sound of bones crushing echoed through the otherwise silent halls.
I then healed him. "Have you sufffered enough to cease the self-pity?"
"What do you mean?" He gasped, coughing up the remaining blood clogging his airway. "If you want me dead, just do it." I repeated the process.
"IF I WANTED YOU DEAD, YOU WOULD BE!" My voice and aura rang out, shaking dust from cracks in the marble structure, as it was followed by a pulse of divinity. "You can neither make amends or use of yourself if I do, so now I am stuck knocking sense through the thick skull of the fool before me."
"Love, if he needs sense beating into him..."
"Yes, perfect idea, let's make a useful fool of him. This seems like a family matter." Without delay I kicked him through to The Garden, bang in front of where the women were training. "Apologies Layaera, I brought a fool in need of education. I need you to make this waste of flesh something useful, be a dear, will you?"
"Where are the girls?"
"With grandpa, no need to worry about nightmares."
"Give me an hour, then I'll need a day."
"As much time as you need for both, but we need him tracking down these followers and he is making stupid mistakes."