Page 182 of To Free a Soul
She has done enough for me,Weldir thought, as he watched her grab the offspring at her side, rotate and bring them up, and then cuddle them properly.She is discontent. I would like to provide her with a different option.
Even if that meant... losing her.
With a sadness shimmering through him, he sighed and crossed his legs to ponder with his chin on his fist.So, Mother, I’ll give you a little more time, and then I want my reward for all I have done.
A single tear shouldn’t be much to ask for.
Weldir was deeply concerned, and perhaps a touch mortified, when he discovered his winged offspring in the connective tunnel between his statues of all the Mavka in Austrális and his cave of intimacy revolving around his mate. Even more so when he saw Aleron’s purple tongue down the brown-haired male’s throat.
“I considered not interrupting,” Weldir stated behind them, “but I’d rather you didn’t do this here.”
Aleron’s wings shot up as he pulled his tongue from Gideon and darted his skull in Weldir’s direction with a rumble.
Vexation collected his mist tighter against him, and he folded his arms to show his displeasure. “Little one, did you justsnarlat me?”
“Leave us,” Aleron barked at him.
He considered teleporting him into the sky to punish him for his insolence. Or maybe he’d do it to the human, just to give him a fright.
“No, I don’t think I will.” He gestured towards the exit. “You both will quit trying to hump each other and leave this special place.”
At least the human saw sense and obeyed.
Thankful he’d interrupted them, and hoping they had gone no further or seen his memories of Lindiwe, he led them outside his cave.I would have hidden the entrance had I known Aleron would find it and grow curious.He had all of Tenebris to discover, so why be here in the one place Weldir didn’t want him?
Much time had passed – a month or so, Lindiwe had informed him. The twenty-ninth of May, in the year two thousand twenty-four. She always told him the date, as if he would have any idea how long it’d been when he asked so infrequently.
But this should be enough time for Almethrandra to have gained a little more strength.Enough that he didn’t feel so bad about sending this Mavka on a quest for him.
He, too, had slept during this time to give himself that little bit more mana. Especially as he’d destroyed three souls to make portals recently: one to take Lindiwe to Jabez’s castle, and the others to transport Ingram to and from his realm.
His mana had been low, and near the point of deep sleep. Luckily, he’d had just enough to do it all.
Now, he had to waste more, but at least it would solve this issue in the future. It’d be arduous, but so long as nothing happened in the interim, he should be able to handle it.
“What I need is for you to ask the Gilded Maiden for a single tear,” Weldir stated. “I have not been back to Nyl’theria since the Demons were brought to Earth, but I will try my best to transport you to Lezekos, the Elven city.”
He’d seen Nyl’theria once with the help Leyfr. It had also been the last time he’d spoken to the Evergreen Servant after he’d crossed through Jabez’s portal and laid his mist there. What the male deity didn’t know was that Weldir had left behind just a tiny cloud of mist in Nyl’theria in case he ever wanted access to it – he’d just never nurtured it.
Wisely so, as it was a sneaky forethought that was useful for this.
Aleron agreed – after some annoying questioning. However, apparently Gideon, his new companion, had to accompany him, since Aleron wouldn’t leave without him.
Seeing it was best just to give in, Weldir agreed.
What does it matter, so long as they achieve the goal?
A time unknown, but of golden opportunities
When Aleron and Gideon had left his realm, Weldir had been unsure about his decision. He hadn’t been able to monitor them, as the viewing disc of Aleron brought up nothing.
He’d wanted to know what would transpire, as he wasn’t fond of surprises.
I never thought it would be this, though,he mused, as he stared down at a fragment of the Gilded Maiden’s halo crown.
It glowed bright gold in his darkness, even if it didn’t illuminate far. Sitting cross-legged, with no viewing discs around him to disrupt his musings, he let himself dwell on it.
This is far more than I asked for, and more than I ever expected.
