Beyond?

Holidays!

There'll be no updates next week, since I received a quest to fly to an uninhabited island... well, not completely uninhabited. There are some natives there.

I am expecting a lot of status updates and a big quest reward in the end... the only thing that troubles me is that the natives are driving on the wrong side of the road... well. We simply have to rent a vehicle that's sturdy enough to withstand a few collisions.

Did you ever run over a wild animal? Those give a lot of experience points, much more than flies and mosquitoes. You just have to inform the local hunter of the accident and pay him a small fee.

Don't run over domesticated animals! They give experience too, but the farmer and Greenpeace will hunt you down. It isn't worth the effort.

“Shamanistic rituals aren't a precise science. Guiding a spell through objects, runes, sound and gestures at the same time takes a lot of experience. The wise magician Shandeley spent a lot of time while researching this method. She came to following conclusion.

<del>-Learning by having a good theory and proofing it.

-Learning by trying and understanding.

-Learning by trying and surviving!

-Learning by trying, surviving and understanding.</del>

-Learning by trying, surviving and memorizing.”

-Papyri magicae.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Azir***

“How boring. They got suspicious and left my presents behind.” I grumble and start the recording once more to listen to it, but I already know that I'll learn nothing new.

“I still think that spying on them isn't the right thing to do. What if they can prove that your presents are spying tools? It could result in war! Next time inform me of such a dangerous plan!” Stella bickers at my side.

“Yes, Brother! That was very childish of you! We have a bad relationship with the Dwemer since generations. Don't do anything which could offend them! Our country has enough trouble with the regular attacks by the southern nations. It's only thanks to Lucas Gejene's efforts and negotiations that we currently experience a long period of peace.” Valeria pulls at my ear, while looking over my shoulder.

We are inside my laboratory and I intended to get some praise for gathering information, but all I get are stiff rebukes. “Well, at least we learned that they aren't just average students and servants, but people who wish to achieve something by coming here.” I turn around to face Valeria. “And please don't speak of Lucas like he is some kind of great hero. He is actually just a worrying father with parental issues.”

Stella shrugs her shoulders. “It isn't like we didn't know that there is more to them than they want to tell us. You don't just send exchange students to a country which is on bad terms with your own.” She walks off to take a look at the schematics on my chalkboards.

I snap my fingers and grab a small bag filled with miniature microphones. They are made without the use of any magic, let's see if the Dwemer are able find those. Snapping my finger once again, my little assistant finally arrives. The miniature spider robot looks up at me with a questioning gaze. I gave it the ability to learn and change its own programming when I created it. After I put some serious effort into training it, Spidey became a reliable helper.

“Deploy those stealthily in the mansion across from ours, don't get caught.” I drop the bag beside the little robot and it scrabbles off with the bag.

Valeria huffs. “Seriously! You'll get us into trouble if it is caught!”

I raise my hands. “I don't know of any animated artefacts in my possession. Who on this world could build something like Spidey? We just have to deny his existence.”

Valeria furrows her eyebrows. “I don't like your little pet, but that's too cruel. Even I realize that Spidey isn't just a mindless machine!”

A crunching sound pulls my attention and I look at Stella, who is standing in front of my chalkboards. She has a piece of chalk in front of her mouth, while looking absent-mindedly at the schematics.

“Stella? Why are you eating chalk?” What's wrong with her? “Calcium deficiency?”

Stella looks at us and then at the chalk in her hand. “Hahaha. So stupid, I wasn't eating it. Just took a closer look and then I zoned out. Must have broken it.” She points at the chalk-pieces on the ground and puts the chalk back into its place.

I see, her swallowing must've been my imagination then. Seriously, who in his right mind would eat chalk...

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Stella***

Chalk tastes good... why does chalk taste good? Am I sick? He said something about calcium. There is calcium in chalk. What's calcium needed for? My body yearns for calcium? I widen my eyes and walk towards the exit. “I have something important to do, don't play for too long.”

I rub my temples in order to get my mind working again. Just now I went into complete autopilot mode, not even realizing what I was doing. That happened never before.

Storming out of Azir's laboratory, I head to the second floor and enter my own personal area. I ignore my experiments and walk directly towards the biggest room with my heavy equipment. I organized a scrying glass for my own personal use. It's the most important device for healers in this day and age, because it enables you to look inside a patient.

Arriving at my destination, I grab the round glass which is encased in a golden ring. A few fast changes to the scaling activate the glass. I step in front of the mirror next to the entrance and hold the glass over my belly.

There is the piece of chalk I ate and everything else I munched down over the day. Uwah, disgusting. Luckily I turned off the colours and the image is just black and white.

Holding the mirror a little lower on my abdomen I find what I was searching for... a small undeveloped embryo. There is even the eggshell starting to form. “Hiii!” I drop the scrying glass, not caring if it gets damaged. Suddenly the world starts spinning and I have to get down to my knees.

This is bad. Why? I cover my face with both hands and a storm of unwanted feelings rushes over me. I always took the contraceptives and according to the doctor they should be almost a hundred per cent safe. Did I get fucked by the word 'almost'? I crawl over to the chest where I store the pills and count them, just to be sure. When I am done, I munch them together and growl. No mistake. They simply failed to serve their purpose.

What now? Abortion? I don't want to kill it, magicians are rare enough. “Awawawa... Can't this happen a little later?” I didn't even talk with Azir about our future and children! The issue didn't come up and we deliberately avoided talking about it.

After several minutes I find the strength to stand up again. I simply have to talk to him about it. It isn't like our relationship could get damaged by something like that. We simply have to talk about it like adult p- p- parents.

I walk slowly out of my lab and head for the bedroom in the third floor. There I find Azir already in his pyjamas on our big bed, reading a book. Seems like Valeria already went home. I change into my own nightgown and lie down beside him, playing with my fingers. “Azir? I want to talk about something.”

“Hm.” He just nods, but his attention stays on the book.

“Why do you love me?” I'll try start this discussion at its core point. He raises his eyebrows and his forehead turns into a mass of wrinkles. I can tell that he is asking himself why I suddenly brought this up.

He starts talking like trying to walk through a minefield. “Because we've been together since childhood and dating since we were fifteen? Because you are independent, smart and sexy? …because you can change your three sizes?”

I am a little startled, because he simply threw a series of questions at me. “Those features apply to almost all women at this university.” If you don't count the point with the three sizes.

He drops the book onto the ground beside the bed. “Is there any point to this discussion? Sure, all the features I attach to you can be found in tons of other women too! If the chain of events was a little different I might have fallen in love with someone else.”

There goes his unromantic side again! I hate that!

Suddenly he rolls on top of me and kisses my neck. “The answer is simply because it's you. I love you and nobody else.” His hands wander down my spine and to my legs, forcing them apart.

I sigh and hug him. “I love you because you are giving me the feeling that I am the only one for you. From our time in school till now you were always at my side and never looked at someone else, despite having plenty of options to choose from.”

He pulls me into his embrace while he continues to caress my neck. “The others weren't as reliable as you. You gave up the goal you worked for, for years, only to be together with me. What else could I want?”

I stiffen up a little. Yeah... I am reliable... reliable enough to get myself pregnant without having talked about the obvious consequences of sex. “Azir, what do you think of children.”

Now he is the one who freezes up. “Eeeh... seriously?” He sits up between my legs and pulls me with him into an upright position. “It... It's not... like I... hate children!” He stutters. “It's just that they are noisy and scream. And you have to take care of them for the better part of a decade until you can leave them alone without having to worry.”

He forces a smile onto his face and I can sense that he is uncomfortable with the issue. “Can't we wait at least until we are done with university and married? This university life is really enjoyable you know? Free of responsibility, while simply being with each other. And it's not like we are in a rush. We are both strong magicians and the country is at peace... if you don't count certain problems. There's plenty of time.”

From one moment to the next I am afraid of telling him that his reliable fiancée messed up and that his happy go lucky life is coming to an end! There are still a few months before it can be seen. I can work up my courage some other time.

“Sure. I think so too. There is no need to rush.” What should I do?

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