Chapter 480 – Meeting a Mother

"Fuck, why am I coming along to deal with a bunch of fucking true beings?!" Victoria asks. "Aren't Geta and Eterna enough to handle those shits?"

"My Mother is not a shit," Eterna says. "And I'm pregnant. We just want to be careful."

"That makes no fucking sense," Victoria says. "Do I fucking need to come or not?"

"Yes," I say. Why are we having this fight at the temple door? Didn't she know where we were going when she joined us? "I'll give you some time off when we come back."

"Fucking fine," Victoria says. "I'll fucking go. You shits better not get me fucking fried to death."

"My Mother won't burn you," Eterna says.

"Isn't there another one?" I ask.

"Yes, but she doesn't care about anything," Eterna says. "I doubt she'll even come around unless I call out to her and tell her I'm pregnant. My Mother has complained to her so much about the Queens throughout the years that she hides away unless something big comes up."

"Then we'll keep your pregnancy a secret," I say. "Wait, they showed up after I mated you. They have to already know you're pregnant."

"Oh, they showed up after everything, did they?" Eterna says. "How great of them. Maybe we don't have to visit them after all. Just skip everything. I'll make a new nest here."

"Sorry," I say. That day was terrible for everyone. Yzzorres really did deserve getting fucked for putting us all through that. All she had to do was show up to my meeting with Eterna that Shimmer promised, and it would've been fine. Instead, she had to kill a bunch of people. "I'm happy you're my mate. I wish it had happened differently, but I think it's working out. We should go see your nest. You've been building that nest for a long time. Don't just throw it away so quickly. Besides, I want to see it."

"Fine, we can go see those traitors," Eterna says. "They knew what was going to happen, but they probably don't know I'm pregnant. Though I'm sure Mother is guessing I'm pregnant. Assholes."

"Fucking hell," Victoria says. "Just walk through the fucking door. Space can fucking decide if our asses are going to your fucking nest or not. I want to either fucking sleep or do a damn job."

"Ok," I say. "We have stopped rather close to our destination." Space may not be bringing Victoria with us. Or maybe Space will join Victoria and yell at me for pausing at her doorstep for so long. I take a step forward and show up on a mountain.

'Sorry, you did mess around for a while. You have places to be. Here comes the rest of them.'

'So it's me you're mad about, and not Victoria.'

'Both, she'll be coming through now. Don't just be cursing and stalling at my doorstep.'

'Sorry.' The rest of the group shows up on the mountain. I don't see anything that looks like a nest, but I'm not a bird, so I could be missing something, or we're not quite there yet.

"Home," Eterna says. "Or close to home. It's a short walk this way."

"The view is beautiful," I say. I think I can see the dot of a city at the base of the mountain. I wonder if that's the capital. How many cities do the extra realms have? I never saw how many people they all brought to the war, so I can't even try to guess how many women they have. Kiyomi could've been tricking me with her empty city if she wanted to. She wouldn't even need to get Yuki to lie for her; Yuki does that naturally. "It's strange that it's so warm up here."

"Do you think we'd settle somewhere cold?" Eterna chuckles. "I have no idea why it's like this, but I'm going to say a Goddess has been messing with things."

"That would make sense," I say.

"This way, dear!" Eterna says, heading away from the edge. "It's not really a nest, but it feels better to call it a nest. Things will be a little big because I'm rarely ever in this form. I do have to agree with Yzzorres about getting the people below to do things for you. They don't understand what a true phoenix needs. But I did get some massive blankets from them, and cushions. Phoenixes don't like sleeping on a pile of rocks and sticks; they just burn. We need something enchanted to sleep on."

"The rocks were comfortable," I say.

"Don't tell my Mother," Eterna says. "She has a rant about that. She has a rant about a lot of things."

"I'll do my best," I say. We start to crest the peak of the mountain, and I spot a cave entrance that burrows into it, and then a large circular spot that has been melted over and over again into some strange flow-shaped stone.

"Here we are," Eterna says. "That's my resting spot when I want to be outside, and the hole is a cave with the rest of my space. My Mother is a few mountains over, and my cousin likes to move to try to hide. At this point, she probably has a nest on every mountain."

"Fuck, this is Goddess-damn high," Victoria says. "I can fucking see for miles."

"Yes, it's a pretty sight," Eterna says.

"Well, I can't wait to spend some nights up here," I say. "I'm sure the sky is filled with stars up here, away from the city."

"Yes, we have many more stars," Eterna says. "There isn't much more outside, so if you want to take a peek inside?"

"I'm excited to see it," I say. A massive bed that's actually soft? Maybe I should've made the phoenix's realm my home. But perhaps I should see how Eterna's Mother is before I get sad about not moving here.

Eterna claps her hands, and fire appears as we walk into the cave.

"Won't that fucking suffocate us all?" Victoria asks.

"No, I'm not stupid," Eterna says. "You must've been with someone who can do this."

"I just know dumb shits who killed themselves trying this shit," Victoria says.

"The people who understood how to do it safely must have been with people who don't have such a foul mouth, Lady Victoria," Kou says. "Your kids are going to be teaching the others all sorts of terrible language."

"I'm not fucking pregnant," Victoria says.

"Of course, Lady Victoria," Kou says. "I have more work to do."

Victoria has lasted this long; maybe she'll make it a few more years before she gets her belly. But we're starting to get to the actual house portion of the cave. It's a lot smoother than Yzzorres' place. No jutting rocks. "This is a lot more welcoming than how I thought it would be," I say.

"Yes, I have much better taste than the lizard," Eterna says. "Oh, don't mention her. Mother will be here immediately if you do."

"Someone's finally come home," someone says from deeper in the cave.

"Mother! Why are you in my home?!" Eterna shouts.

"Because you've been gone for a long time," Eterna's Mother says. "I heard you were coming by eventually, so I waited for my daughter to come home."

"What if I wanted to spend time with my mate? And I heard you were around to know when I lost, but didn't care to help your DAUGHTER fight the dragon," Eterna says. One of the phoenixes I saw before comes walking out from deeper inside the cave. She helps explain its massive size. She isn't as big as Yzzorres, not even close, but she's four or five times my height. Inanos would be like a baby next to her.

"I told you not to go," Eterna's Mother says. "So don't blame me for anything. Do you think that pathetic lizard would care to listen to those idiots? You just wanted to look good for the little lizard here."

"We could've made sure that nothing happened, saved lives, and proved our support to Alzi and done the right thing!" Eterna says.

"The right thing? The right thing? That's what you want to do? That's what matters to you? What has Alzi done for our realm? Fucked the Princess? I don't care about some silly Princess in the realm who couldn't do a basic job. I don't care about her getting some extra kids. Why would I care about any of that?"

"Because she's nice. Do you not care that I'm pregnant?! Or that I have a mate now? You just care about Yzzorres!"

"THAT'S NOT ALL I CARE ABOUT!" Eterna's Mother yells. "I have the right to be mad about that stupid, selfish fucking lizard. I would be right at her fucking level of power if I had slithered away like she did. The stupid snake, hiding in her hole. I fought to protect our kind when the realms cracked. I fought for our strength, and she ran! I died for our people, and she just laughed as I slaughtered her dragons in the fight. Do you want to see the hole I burned into this realm while being reborn? I fought to grow from a little chick to become the second strongest mortal being ever for a second damn time! This was our time to just sit by. Nobody important was going to die. I told you to stay put, and you went anyway. I watched to make sure that damn little slithering snake wouldn't do anything stupid, and she didn't."

Died? Can phoenixes come back to life? That's cheating. No wonder Eterna's Mother was fine with fighting. She had a backup plan to make it out alive. It sounds like Yzzorres would be dead right now if she fought in whatever she was talking about.

"Then why didn't we go talk to her?" Eterna says. "We still could've worked something out and saved lives."

"Talk to that idiot?" Eterna's Mother scoffs. "It would be easier to get the ancient Dryad to leave the forest."

"She did leave the forest," I say.

"I'm not talking to you."

"Don't talk to my mate like that!"

"She raped..."

"I don't care! I'm pregnant, and I'm happy, and this isn't how this was supposed to go!" Eterna says. "You complain too much, and it gets annoying. I have a right to be mad at you for not helping me and then showing up anyway. You have no right to be angry with me."

"Ryze, give her a break," another phoenix says, this one in their flaming humanoid form. "I'm sorry for not helping. I was confused about what was going on, and then I saw Yzzorres just playing around, so I lost interest. I should've helped. Congratulations, Eterna and Alzi. It's good to hear that we're getting more of us. Someone's just grumpy that she isn't the one who's pregnant right now. She knows Yzzorres is pregnant and that you have the teleporting tails with you. She's been yelling about it nonstop."

"Thank you, Eos!" Eterna says, running into the newcomer's arms. "Someone cares."

"She cares, and she is happy that you're happy. She's just too annoyed at the world to let anyone else see that," Eos says. "Come here, Alzi. I can play Mother for a bit."

"Fine," Ryze says. "It was a stupid play, and I still think things would've been better if you had listened to me, but fine. If you're happy, then that's fine. Oh, ok. It's been a while since someone other than us three has been in the mountains, so I'm a little frazzled, I suppose. Thank you for being kind to my daughter, Alzi. I should've helped my daughter when she didn't listen. We can do a family hug."

Ok, the Kitsune realm is seeming a bit better. Ryze isn't the worst, but I don't blame Eos for running around, trying to avoid her. Maybe I can make a room for her in the manor for her to escape to.