No Need for a Core?

Mordecai took advantage of the time it took to get everyone through the shortcut to do two things. The first was to double-check his understanding of the information Traxalim had given him. It took only a moment to cast the spell, which let him verify that Matriarch Aia resonated strongly with his bloodline, and her grandchildren a little less so. The princess was the weakest, but strong enough that it added an element to a question he needed to ask.

While his avatar was preoccupied with that, his core was processing something else. Laganthros were quickly rearranging the feast hall while he designed a new table for this group. He started with a circular table, then expanded it with three even lobes, making it suitable to sit three groups of four. They didn’t have that many people, but it kept everything evenly distributed and avoided slighting any group.

He had enough time to enhance the design in his head before creating it, so he quickly specified the wood to be of the hybrid cherry-maple tree he’d managed to grow, specifying the wood to perfect smoothness but still fresh enough to give off a pleasant if unique scent. Wood this ‘green’ would normally be horrible for furniture, but he didn’t have to worry about it lasting more than a couple of days.

An inlay of silver in a simple loop design followed the border on top of the table, while the edge was inlaid with a band of gold. Inside of each silver loop, he placed a different gem or attractive crystal with its largest facet flush to the table’s surface, then lined the socket with a mirror coating of silvered glass and added a tiny, faint light source. Since he was creating this as a whole piece, he didn’t even have any tool marks around the cavity that enclosed each gem. In reality, he’d rather have used mithral, but right now that was difficult enough to work with that he didn’t have the time

By the time everyone was through he had verified with Kazue and Moriko the seating arrangements and took the lead by walking toward the head of the kitsune clan. “Matriarch Aia, please, allow me to escort you to your seat.” Mordecai said while Moriko stepped up beside Princess Orchid.

“Your highness, please allow me to do the same.” Moriko said in kind, making it clear that there was a seating plan. Kazue had the easiest job as she just had to snag her mother’s arm and guide her along.

As each woman was escorted to her seat, their respective retinues followed. The matriarch was seated at the tip of one lobe, with Takehiko and Shizoku flanking her, and likewise, the princess was seated at the tip of a second lobe with Paltira and Xarlug flanking her.

Their own seating had taken a moment more thought, but it wasn’t complex either. Kazue and Mordecai were going to sit equally off-center of their lobe, with Akahana at her daughter’s other side and Moriko at his other side. It was technically a bit presumptuous to pull Akahana more into his circle than the clan’s circle, but the arrangement was mostly to make sure each leader was acknowledged as such and no one seemed inclined to deny a mother sitting next to the daughter she’d recently reunited with after a grief-filled loss, so he was confident the faux pas would be ignored.

Once everyone had their seats, and while Mordecai and Moriko were heading to their own, Kazue spoke up. “Our staff will be bringing out tea and some snacks in a moment, when they do, please feel free to let them know of any requests or requirements. Please keep requests general, our variety is still a bit limited, but we do have some very special treats in store for you.” The first of those treats was the honey that came with the tea, a small glass for each person to dole out as they liked. On its own, the honey was only mildly medicinal, but it still had a unique liveliness from the liquid-crystal nectar it had been made from.

Mordecai waited until everyone had a chance to taste their tea before he began. “I believe there are several questions people would like to ask, so let's take turns. I would like to start with one to clarify a situation that I suspect I am the only one not fully informed on.” Well, technically he could have just mentally queried either of his wives, but it made a good warm-up for the table. “Princess Orchid, as I understand it your lineage is mostly human, but you clearly have kitsune features and are acting on behalf of Clan Azeria. I am a little bit lost as to the details here.”

“Oh,” Orchid replied with a bit of surprise, then took on a thoughtful look. “Well, first I’d like to make things a bit easier by dispensing with the need to call me princess. It’s not incorrect and I am not insisting, but while I am a daughter of the current king, I am indeed acting as a member of Clan Azeria. As to how that came to be, that’s a story with its roots in the founding of our kingdom. The Azeria Clan and its forest were recognized by our second king as a sovereign territory within the kingdom, and the royal family has always maintained close ties with the clan. One of the effects of these ties is that every two or three generations a princess, or more rarely a prince, is Marked to be trained by the clan.” She paused here and sighed. “This brings up a tangent that needs to be clarified before we continue. I assume you are not familiar with the kingdom’s Marks either?”

“No, I can’t say that I am, Orchid.” Mordecai replied, and saw a brief smile of approval on her face even as he caught a flash of guilt from both Moriko and Kazue as they realized they’d forgotten something potentially important. He indulged in a brief bit of smugness over their link, it was hard to keep up with telling everything that may need to be known and accepted the apologetic feeling they replied with as Kazue laid her tail across his lap and Moriko slid her foot over to press it against his. He didn’t hold their earlier frustrations with knowledge exchange against them, there were several times when it would have been good to give them information sooner, and he was making an effort to be better about it, but this wasn’t something anyone was going to be perfect about and they certainly were not faultless. Their acknowledgment was more than enough to satisfy him on the topic.

“Well,” Orchid continued, oblivious to the byplay, “There is a magic woven into our kingdom that permeates every bit of our territory, and it is as ancient as the kingdom itself. It even grows with the kingdom, though it has been hundreds of years since there has been any expansion. I don’t know how it works, and I am not sure if there is anyone living outside of the gods themselves who does, but this enchantment has the ability to judge the loyalty of kingdom citizens as well as their ability and potential. According to rules that no one seems certain of it selects people to give special Marks that name them guardian, and resonates with a group that it wants them to train with. The marks give them an increased ability to respond to an immediate threat to a citizen in their vicinity, plus further abilities based on who they train with.”

She gestured to her consort Paltira. “As an example, at the same time I was training with the kitsune, Paltira was training under a nearby dragon. Which has some details I’ll get back to in a moment.” She grinned wryly. “It’s a bit to take in all at once, most people grow up knowing bits. Anyway, in some ways the most important thing is that the Marks can’t be faked, at least not in the presence of anyone with a real one. We can always tell if a Mark is real. But there are two other types of Marks as well. The first is my own, which is what determined that I was to become a kitsune, though those particular details of the ‘training’ are not commonly known.

Orchid gave a soft laugh. “And believe me, I was unhappy about it at first, I didn’t particularly like the idea of being shipped off to live in the woods without anyone I knew around, but it turns out my ‘aunt’ was training me better than I knew. This brings us back to Paltira. The second is a subset of the guardian marks and only occurs when there is someone destined to join the Azeria clan. It denotes them as being particularly compatible for high personal loyalty to that princess or prince. This didn’t exactly make me happier, being saddled with some wet-behind-the-ears temple priest that I had never met before, but, well, there’s a reason there are very few incidents of such Guardians being selected incorrectly. And I am happy to say that we are indeed ‘compatible’, and then some.” Mordecai was pretty certain that the brush of her tails against the man’s arm was not an accident, and the monk seemed rather pleased himself.

“So at the designated time, we were brought together near the forest, then sent on by ourselves to travel the rest of the way to the clan. There I was trained in particular arts and skills to ensure I was ready to be a diplomat, spy, or whatever else might be needed for the kingdom or clan, and a dragon settled nearby for the duration to train Paltira, so that we wouldn’t be separated for long periods while we were still learning to work together. My training also included being initiated in a rite that only works upon the marked, granting me all the abilities of a kitsune and making me part of the clan.” And now she turned a very serious look upon Mordecai, Kazue, and Moriko. “Everyone else here is aware of most, if not all the details I have told you. However, most people do not know about the transformation or the depths of my training. Here I am Orchid the kitsune, elsewhere,” She abruptly took on her human form, a petite woman apparently in her early 20s. “I can be Princess Orchid Apifera, as needed. I have chosen to entrust you with this knowledge in part to help build trust, and in part because I believe you have good reason to consider yourself to already have ties to the kingdom and clan.” Then she smirked briefly at Kazue. “Also, my cover of not being a ‘princess’ was already blown. Thank you, Kazue.”

“Oops.” said Kazue, who cringed briefly but shook it off quicker than she would have previously. “I am sorry about that Orchid. I was just very excited to see you, and I forgot myself. I’ve been getting better about a lot of things, but I am still me.” And she gave Orchid her best sweet smile.

Orchid shook her head with amusement. “If anything, you are becoming more charming and hard to be mad at. Though I am sad about the circumstance, I am very happy to see that this new life has given you the chance to grow into yourself more. Now, Mordecai, does that answer your question?”

“Oh, very much so, and much more besides. The world has certainly changed a lot since my time before. And I assume you all have at least a basic understanding of that issue, but if not, I will take my turn to explain.” He waited a moment, but the only person who had been about to speak up was Akahana, who was intercepted by her daughter.

“Mom, I’ll go over it in detail for you later. Besides, I suspect you have some side questions that not everyone needs to hear.” Kazue frowned briefly. “Also, relax. I know that form isn’t as convenient for drinking. You’re about as safe here as you would be at home, you don’t need to worry about having foxfire.” Akahana looked a touch embarrassed at being called out but quickly shifted into a human form, who looked more like she should be the older sister of Kazue’s tailless form. Mordecai took from this that Kazue’s mother had not mastered hybridizing her forms as needed.

After a moment more of people checking to see if anyone had a question, Matriarch Aia spoke up. “I do have a minor question to satiate a bit of curiosity, before we delve into anything more serious.”