CH 150: Unanswered Questions
Neither of them had an answer for Claire’s question. Not because they were hiding something, but because they didn’t know either. That only frustrated her more. She no longer felt the divine presence of her Goddess either. She let out her frustrations with a slow exhale.
“Another question we won’t get the answer to yet,” Claire muttered.
“My money is on your Goddess’s birth,” Jasmine whispered to her. She squeezed Claire’s hip, grabbing her attention. “Samira could have just been an anomaly, but two more just like her? Too many coincidences.”
Claire acted like Jasmine wasn’t speaking to her, the assassin’s voice was barely audible to her. It was clear she wanted secrecy. Her words made sense, but all three anomalies were far older than a few months.
“Can you tell us how old you are?” Claire asked.
Firewater pursed his lips, taking a moment to think. He glanced at his wife, who nodded, “6 years. Before our duel, you asked what was my oldest memory. It was 6 years ago when I met Silkie.”
Claire glanced at the goblin woman. “It’s the same for me.”
“6 years ago?” Jasmine muttered. “I don’t know… maybe your Goddess was born because of them then.”
Claire continued the charade, not letting them know Jasmine was whispering to her. “Interesting. I wonder if Samira awakened around that time, too.”
“Fuck!” Lily cried out. Her face strained as her head throbbed. “We didn’t even ask!”
Claire glanced at Jasmine, the assassin deep in thought. “Something to discuss later. We’ll have to drop it for now, don’t think either one will give us any more information.”
“You said she's part snake, right?” Silkie asked Lily before her hands began to glow. The alchemist was enveloped in faint green light.
“Yes!” Lily said enthusiastically. Her pain was disappearing thanks to the goblin woman. “Her scales were mostly red with black stripes running up. Her hair was the same.”
Silkie nodded. “Very rare breed of Lamia then.”
“No doubt,” Lily said, nearly bouncing. She approached the goblin woman and continued speaking. “But her upper half was human! Never seen a lamia like that. Most had scales covering their entire body.”
“That is… strange,” Silkie replied. Lily’s smile widened as her curiosity took over. Claire glanced at the goblin man, who looked deep in thought.
“I wish she stuck around!” Lily exclaimed. “Would have loved to learn more about her. She seemed so kind and the people of Amora loved her.”
Silkie’s eyes widened. “Wait, where is she now?”
“None of us know.” Elsie chimed in. She grabbed Lily’s hand and pulled her back, the alchemist was too close to the goblin. “She disappeared after the battle. Controlled Lily to distract us, then left.”
“Controlled?” Firewater finally spoke. His brow was furrowed.
“Sh-she had mind control magic.” Ana stammered, joining Elsie in pulling Lily back. “Um, she was captured and controlled the entire village.”
Silkie furrowed her brow. “Mind Control? Not an illusion or suggestion?”
“Mind control.” Elsie said firmly. “The entire village was under her control for nearly 9 months. It wasn’t illusions or hypnotism.”
“I’ve never heard of full-blown mind control…” The goblin woman muttered.
“Neither had we,” Elsie replied. “The closest I had read about was mass hysteria, but not complete control.”
Firewater set his hand on Silkie’s shoulder. The goblin woman turned to him, and they exchanged a look.
“I would love to sit here and speculate, but we have to get moving,” Firewater said. “My wife and I wasted too much time this morning, and we risk another caravan of traffickers arriving.”
It was a lame excuse, and every member of the Scarlet Seraphs knew it. But both of the goblins turned away and joined the rest of the goblins. Claire looked to her lovers, Ursa being the only one missing.
“We need to find Samira.” She declared.
“She’ll likely stonewall us, too.” Elsie shot back.
“But if she woke up 6 years ago, too, then it’d be far more than a coincidence.” Claire continued. “We have to try. And… we need to make sure she’s safe.”
Elsie bit her thumb. “Let’s worry about getting these boys to Restol first.”
“I like that idea.” Jasmine chimed in. “Worry about them first, discuss everything else on the way back.”
“How would she know about rare breeds of Lamia?” Lily asked aloud. She was watching the goblin woman from afar. “It gets way too cold for most Lamia this far north…”
“A-and her comment about mind-control magic…” Ana added.
Claire rubbed her forehead. The talks with the goblins gave her too much to think about.
“Right?” Lily added.
Claire sighed. “I like Jasmine’s idea. Let’s discuss this later. It’s starting to give me a headache.”
“Yeah, not much we can do besides speculate,” Elsie admitted. “But when we get back, I want to dig into Tyrant-era records. Maybe I’ll find something.”
“Good idea,” Ana said. “We’ll h-have to return to Fyre then.”
“Their library is the largest in the area…” Elsie muttered.
“We’ll pass through there,” Jasmine said. “Could leave you two there and continue back to Restol.” Elsie frowned. “I miss mom.”
“Same,” Ana murmured.
“I can do it,” Lily spoke up. “It’ll bug me to the point of insanity.”
Claire felt a pang in her chest. She didn’t want to be away from any of them, even for a week. She forced herself to stay quiet about her frustrations.
“Feels wrong to separate,” Claire muttered. She couldn’t hold her frustration in.
“Yeah, it does,” Jasmine admitted. “But we need answers…”
“I’ll buy as many books as I can, then bring them back with me,” Lily said. She moved to Claire’s side. “Just thinking about it made me sad, too.”
Claire hugged Lily tightly. She had an overwhelming urge to keep her near and not let her go. And she wasn’t even gone yet.
Claire felt the pain slowly dissipate. She’ll have to endure the distance. She needed to focus on the boys and get them to safety first.
“You come right back.” She whispered in Lily’s ear. “No distractions, no exploring. Buy the books you need and get on the first carriage you can.”
“Damn, I didn’t know Claire would be this… shaken up,” Elsie gently teased. She stood beside Jasmine. “Though I feel similar.”
“It feels wrong to be apart…” Ana added.
“Like a part of you will be missing,” Jasmine added.
Claire pulled away from Lily after realizing she was beginning to tear up. She wiped away her tears and composed herself. “Sorry… I don’t like being separated from my loved ones.”
“That… makes sense.” Lily whispered back to her. The alchemist pushed her glasses up and looked into Claire’s eyes. “I promise not to delay.”
“Imagine if she hadn’t joined us,” Jasmine cooed softly in Claire’s ear. “Thank the Goddess for my impulsive decision…”
“If only we had more privacy on our return trip…” Elsie smirked. “Could give her a proper send off.”
The two women squirmed. Claire could feel the lust begin to take hold of her. She needed to love Lily before she left.
“We’ll find time,” Jasmine added. “Else you all would go crazy…”