Chapter 148: Chapter 147: Lesson Time

As Carl, Gillian and Tiamutael were in the bath, Tiamutael was oddly quiet.

“You alright, Buddy?” Carl asked as he leant toward him in case he wanted to whisper.

“Yeah, I’m actually really happy, but I’m just thinking…”

“What about?”

“I spoke to Mum earlier when she went to Lunelia to stretch her legs, we spoke about marriage and I don’t get it still.”

Carl and Gillian laughed a little.

“Tiamutael, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Want to know a secret no one ever admits?” Gillian asked in a secretive tone, earning a nod from the young man. “No one gets it. One day you fall in love and want to do something to make it feel more solid, then you spend the rest of your life hoping it doesn’t disappear again.”

“More solid?”

“Yeah, when you love someone a lot in that way, it shows itself in subconscious ways like a racing heart, pupils dilating and a warmth inside. Your conscious brain gets jealous after a while and tells you to do something to show it to everyone and because some people decided to wear a ring a long time ago, now we all do it.”

“Yeah, that was Grandma Lillim, I’m wearing the ring.” Carl said, holding up a hand to show the ring.

“Wow, yeah I had forgotten… Because your great-grandma was forced to get married and left, we now do it willingly to show how much we love each other.” Gillian continued, correcting himself in the process.

“So it’s not about each other, but showing other people?”

“Bud, honestly, the truth is everyone has different reasons and Gil’s an idiot. I married your mum Klaire, because I wanted her to know I was committed to the relationship. I’m marrying your mum-Kyubi, because I want her to know she is as much apart of our family as anyone and I won’t have favourites.

I’m having a ceremony with both of them, because I want them both to know that no matter what happens, whatever stuff is going on, I will gladly push it all to spend a day with our family.”

“You know what, yeah, I’m an idiot and you should listen to your dad. That was poetry.”

“No offence Gillian, but I intended to, I’ll get in trouble if I follow your lead.”

Carl laughed as Gillian sunk into the water, releasing his breath to make the surface bubble, then slipping and genuinely losing all his breath until Carl pulled his head above water.

“Okay… I admit it… I’m an idiot…” He gasped as he caught his breath.

—The Ladies’ —

“I can’t believe my mums and dad are all getting married!” Kitsunoko shouted excitedly as she splashed around in the water, ignoring the increasingly annoyed requests to stop.

“It’s only right, people in love should show their commitment.”

“Sweetie, if you really think that, that’s okay. If you’re just trying to be mature, then stop, you don’t need to be a grown-up all the time.”

“Then I’m happy too!” Raziel shouted, the uncharacteristic display of excitement making them chuckle.

“So are we Sweetie. I can’t wait until we’re married, I love them a lot and never dreamed it would happen so soon.”

“Well you know Carl, when he makes up his mind he charges ahead, I’m a little jealous you didn’t have to deal with his emotional fumbling.” Klaire said with a chuckle.

“At least your man never forgot to talk to you…” Scylla said with an envious tone.

“No? He once ignored me for three days because he found a rock which “might not be the kind of rock we think it is”. Trust me, if I weren’t at SATS I’d have been in the same boat.”

As Klaire and Scylla began grumbling in good-spirit, Kyubi listened, thinking about everything they were speaking about.

“Sorry, but I don’t know much about how the human facilities operate. Why didn’t you go to SATS?” Kyubi finally asked as they reached a break in the conversation.

“Oh, well, it’s because my family were an aggressive part of the equality movement. We’re blacklisted from all committee controlled facilities. We don’t even get to go to the IDC when we turn ten, we have to do it the old fashioned way and Lycaon helps us with the installation and measures us.”

“Ah, so that’s how you got the blessing.”

“Yeah, he liked how I bit him for touching my head without asking. I just wish I understood half the stuff I can see.”

“Really? I can explain if you want me to, knowing and understanding are two different things, but it will give you a foundation to build upon.”

“Please do! I have been racking my brain over it since the menace gave it to me.”

Kyubi chuckled a bit more before continuing, explaining that her eyes actually saw scents, sounds and a very rudimentary emotional state. “…In short, it’s kind of like seeing multiple senses and what your own instincts are picking up on.”

Scylla splashed the water out of frustration. “Really!? Grr, I’m such an idiot, how did I not realise that. I even tested that exact line of thinking…”

“That was probably the issue then. How often do things feel the same when you’re focused as to when you’re relaxed?”

“Ugh, you’re right, Gil and I really are made for each other. Thank you for helping, is there anything else you want to know about human life?”

“I’m just interested in it in general, not just the committee facilities and life, but also the the pockets of humans that still live on earth.”

Klaire and Scylla looked at each other, then the children and told them it would be good for them to learn as well, but made it clear that Carl and Alisha were the best people to ask.

Klaire started, telling them about how things were back on the land where the misty village once resided, memories she only had thanks to Faylorna’s training…

—The Land Once Called Ireland—

The misty village resided on land that was once a country called Ireland and unlike many places, retained its natural beauty.

The humans largely avoided the misty village for a long time before the founding of the Bashe family and due to the settlement restrictions, survived by staying on the move.

It was pure happenstance when one of these groups wandered blindly into Faylorna’s territory and she sensed a far removed relative and extended hospitality.

After that, the misty village became a lifeline to all the humans living on the land, trading food and water for the things that they couldn’t easily gather themselves and take back; such as lumber, stone and fresh blood for the clan.

The century that followed incursion day, known as the culling century was a brutal time where human society had fallen, but the system had not been implemented and yet in the middle of that apocalypse a stranger from across the sea arrived.

He stood tall and arrogant, demanding that all humans fall in line, which they did without even knowing why they agreed.

They informed him of the village hidden in the mist, unaware of the village’s true nature, near the northwestern coast and the man led them there as an army. His intention of course was to bend the village to his will, but he thought a show of force would make that easier.

When he reached his destination however, he was faced with the undeniable truth that he had been a fool.

He barely made it to the edge of the mist before Faylorna appeared in all her horrific glory, accompanied by the distant relative who had first discovered the village a couple of decades prior.

The man stood in arrogant defiance, but Faylorna laughed, the sound wrenching the souls of many of his followers from their bodies.

“My ancestor, Faylorna of clan Bashe, wishes you to leave. You are not welcome here variant.”

The man’s mouth twitched with wounded pride and he assumed the man was another monster in disguise. “This world belongs to humans monsters, I’m here to wipe you inhuman filth from the land, why else would I be born with such power.”

Faylorna shifted into her human form, the orange hair of her people flowing down from beneath her black mourning-dress as she spoke in the old tongue.

“The ancestor says that you should leave while you can, she cares for no land the mist doesn’t touch and she is the only one with any right to this land. Go now and do as you please, but if you persist she’ll send you back to the eastern lands.”

The man grimaced then charged, passing through her as though she were merely an illusion, his pride damaged further and further still by her laughter.

For a while, she let the fool continue his pointless assault, as though watching a jester’s routine. The moment he changed targets to the man speaking for her however, he was snatched a giant hand of black bone.

The man barked at her to release him several times and she wrung further amusement out of his equally pointless flailing and finally threw him with all her might towards the land to the east.

After that, the people began to come back to their senses and Faylorna returned to Faylorn.

The people of the land, decided that the village was a place they did not belong, a land of inhumans and so they returned to only visiting when they need to trade for supplies.

From then on, the relationship between the people of the misty village and their neighbours became purely transactional until the system was initiated and the humans felt like they had bridged the gap.

At that point, they became a bit more comfortable dealing with “The Witch Of Faylorn” and her people and that was how the land once called Ireland became how it remained to the time until they joined Car’s faction.

Of course a couple of individuals, namely the same variant, insisted on challenging her until she punched a hole through his soul some forty years after the system was implemented and a couple of rival immortals.

After a few more attempts, the variant had been thoroughly disauded, not because of Faylorna, but the sudden appearance of Gaia and Lillim who he couldn’t have hoped to defeat on his own.

The result was that the people of the land grew to embrace the symbiotic relationship they had with the misty village and non-humans and both remained mostly unchanged for centuries

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep