Sione, Sti'el, and Departure

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After delivering her greeting, Sione lowered her head again and leaned forward slightly, bowing from her knees. “How may I serve you, Creator?”

Ahsch had to swallow to wet his mouth - his newest angel was… spectacular. “Please, Sione, stand up and dress - you don’t need to prostrate yourself.”

The angel did as he commanded, a brief flash of light covering her form in the same outfit that all of Ahsch’s angels wore. Still smiling, she looked at her creator, waiting patiently.

“Can you tell me what you’ve inherited from me?” Ahsch asked.

Sione bowed her head in a brief nod. “Yes, Creator. Like Big Sister Aena, I have a Magnitude of 16, thanks to the extra Mana you provided me. Beyond that, I have gained Mystical Fluids and Sexual Learning from among your Boons. Finally, I have a primary domain of Bodies, which I expect will allow me to develop that type of magic quickly and easily, and as such, I should be capable of learning any related spells with great speed.”

Ahsch couldn’t help the grin that split his face. It had worked - all of it had worked! A personality, a domain, some degree of independence…

“You want to explain why you’re smiling like a madman?” Mahlith asked. “It’s kind of creepy.”

Laughing at himself - thankfully in a non-creepy way - Ahsch did just that, starting with the results of his first uses of Cleansing Light and culminating in his attempts just now. “Though I’m surprised that you have a proper domain,” he finished, addressing his angel.

Sione demurred. “It is not a domain such as that which you possess, Creator. There is nothing of me that can be greater than you - where my Big Sisters are without domains and can learn magic equally well, I am specialized towards bodies; a such, all other magic will prove difficult for me to learn without it being passed on through other means.”

Ahsch frowned as he considered that. It could end up being a major impediment, but since he didn’t need Sione to be good at everything, and actually _wanted _a specialist… “You can learn things beyond what I know though, right? Including magic?”

“Correct, Creator. Should you wish it, I can research magic relating to bodies and could learn spells to pass on to you, study new knowledge to add to your domain. And, conversely, I can also teach, instruct your worshipers or you yourself in the knowledge that I can.”

Satisfied, Ahsch nodded. “When we return to the Capital, I will have you begin your research then - I guess you already know what, precisely, I’m hoping to find.”

Sione smiled. “Yes, Creator, I do. I shall endeavor to provide that which you require.”

Nodding again, he glanced around at the gathered group. “Which, I suppose I should say - I believe tomorrow will be the day that we set out to return. There is too much that requires my attention, and as much as I wish I could stay…” his voice caught unexpectedly, and he swallowed heavily. “I wish I could stay, or have a quicker way to return… I hate having to say ‘goodbye’ again…”

Sti’el stepped forward. “In one case, you won’t have to, brother: I’m coming with you.”

The room immediately went into uproar, some of the sisters clamoring to join Ahsch as well while others exclaiming that Sti’el couldn’t just leave. The rabbit-girl diviner gave her brother a pleading look, and after a moment of shocked internal debate, he flared his aura of dominance for a brief moment, bringing quiet back to the room.

“I know that my divinations are not always clear, or useful, or precise, but I have an… an intuition. I belong by Ahsch’s side. His path is one of great importance, and my divinations could be the key to him taking the right way.”

Even as numerous mouths opened to support or gainsay her, Rwnil’s rough words cut through the air. “Divination is a rare gift, and the bond between the girl and Ahsh is flecked with Fate.”

Even with the ascendant’s input, argument still broke out among the family, and the debate lasted for more than an hour before it was finally conceded that Sti’el would go with her brother - there was no proper reason to stop her by ****, and with her intuition and Rwnil’s observation of the bond (an observation Ahsch wasn’t able to replicate, Fate being a power far beyond what he could perceive and comprehend) the risk of what might happen should she not accompany him seemed too great.

When they all eventually retired to bed, the sisters all agreed, unanimously and without a word spoken, to bring their bedding out into the main room and sleep together, with Sti’el in the center; a final night spent together before their sister left.

The following morning was somber, with even Luna and Sola remaining subdued through breakfast. Once all had eaten, the packing that had begun the night before was completed, and the entire family joined Ahsch’s party as they left the village, all the way to the outer limit of Sarvas’ aura of civilization. There, with the satyr herd watching from afar, tearful goodbyes were shared as three members of the family made ready to leave their place of birth, two for the second time, and one for the first.

When Noeh and Maviem came up together to Ahsch, a guilty weight to their eyes, the hrafthi just smiled reassuringly. “I will,” he promised before they could open their mouths. “I will keep my sister - your daughter - safe, even should it cost me this life, or the next, or any of the ones after. You have my word… the word of He Who Will Become Enochiel.”

All present shuddered as the binding oath locked into place, and Noeh, Maviem, and Dahil all fought back a greater surge of tears while the rest of the family looked on with wet eyes. “Thank you,” Maviem choked out. “I… we…”

“You… shouldn’t have to bear that burden,” Noeh said, voice cracked with emotion. “But after what’s happened… no, even then…”

Ahsch shook his head. “It’s a burden I’ve taken upon myself - not as the big brother, but as a sibling.”

“A burden we all share,” Ariin said, coming up to hug her twin’s arm. “All of us are bound to look after each other, aren’t we? It’s just that we’re down to three of us now.”

Ahsch chuckled softly. “No, we’re _up _to three now, where it was just the two of us before.”

His sister grinned. “I suppose you’re right, brother.”

Coming up on his other side, Sti’el grabbed Ahsch’s other arm. “I’ll see what I can do to keep these two troublemakers out of trouble,” she said.

With pained laughter, the final embraces were given and received, and then the three siblings shouldered their bags, stepped back into their group, and turned to leave.