I stare in shock.

The morning had come quickly, no thanks to another… uh. Night visitation?

Dream invasion?

I don't even know what to call it, but…

"Mom?"

"What is it sweetie?" she asks, sitting at the dining room table sipping her hot caffeine, something she only seems to do if she slept badly the night before… On the bright side, at least she doesn't seem cranky. Not today.

I hesitate, but decide to continue anyway. "It, um. It happened again."

"What did?"

And I set my shield on the table… gently, it's pretty heavy and I don't want to destroy the old wood. We've had the same one since I was really little, the surface scarred from my many clumsy mistakes, and I don't particularly want to lose it, though some of the surfaces still sink into it a little bit as I wince.

"The thing. The shadowy thing? The one that gave me Covetous Wanderer."

Mom is immediately on her feet, looking me over and fussing. "Are you okay? Did it do anything to you? What did it take? Oh my baby girl-"

"I'm fine, mom, it didn't even touch me. Well, it did pat my head again I guess, but. It touched this thing a whole lot more," I say while I indicate the shield.

And the surface next to the small unrecognizable animal stamped into the inside of the protective plate, Larsa's mark, there's a second mark.

A crescent moon with two diagonal slashes through it as though cutting it into three pieces.

A mark that matches the one on that u-comm thing Larsa showed us yesterday, and the one on my pistol.

"Nyx," my mother says softly.

I nod. "I think my patron or whatever might, um. It might be Nyx themself. Herself, I mean. I think."

Which I guess would make sense, considering how she'd come into my room the same as before, lifted my shield gauntlet from where I'd leaned it against the wall and looked it over, frowning.

Without even touching it, not once. It just, floated up to her.

And then she waved a single hand, the rivets holding it together vanishing, the two pieces forming the surface smoothly and silently welding into a single piece. The thin rust around the edges of it – the rust I'd been intending to buff out at some point in the near future as cleaning practice – seemed to leap from it and disperse into the air as the surface smoothed itself down to an almost mirror sheen.

And then she frowned again as though in thought, then with another handwave the surface went from mirror smooth to a dull gray.

The rest she didn't actually seem to do much at all, but in the morning when I first tested it to see what horrible things had happened – a risk I know – it seemed like everything about it moved much more smoothly, and maybe a little faster.

Olive meanwhile seemed both concerned and somehow frustrated at the same time, though I'm not sure why. It probably doesn't matter but if she doesn't want to tell me then I won't pry. I don't want to be a bad… master? Partner? I don't know what the right term is.

(Whichever.)

Okay.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Anyway, the shield doesn't really seem to do anything special, although it definitely identifies differently now.

[Shield Gauntlet (Unique) – Level 0]

At least it doesn't have some weird name or whatever I guess.

***

"Cheat."

My fox wife levels a glare at me, though I can tell she's not actually that serious about it.

"Okay, sure. I cheated. Or, I'm still cheating. But I was going to do that in the first place and you know it! I was going to drop 'Ravona' into the game, and I still did, just. Differently, I guess?"

She furrows her brow harder.

"What? Why can't you just take it more like her?" I say, waving a hand in Izzy's direction.

"Hm? What's going on, dear?" my second first wife asks, not looking up from… whatever she's doing on her runeslate. She really took to the newer mortal technology, which I can't say I blame her.

I made some fantastic things over the past few hundred years, yes, but that's not to say other artificers were idle; massive strides have been made in technology, even though it hasn't filtered to all the other planes. Most of them haven't actually changed that much in all that time.

Including whatever the plane Sadie is on. What was it called again? Eh, doesn't matter. I can find her easily enough through the space between space so if I want to-

"Cheat more."

"Yes, yes, if I want to cheat more I can just go and cheat more. I get it, Livvie, I'm a horrible awful cheat, but I'm also the administrator of this whole mess! It's my privilege to give my own avatars a nudge if I want to! And besides, it's not like I remember everything when I'm integrated, right? Aren't the players supposed to retain that? You have to keep knocking me back out of her!"

The ancient goddess' brow actually softens a bit at that. "Yes… remember. Should?"

"Yeah, and I don't. Wouldn't you call that a fair trade? It's literally no different from me picking a random mortal and just giving them a bunch of boons, entirely because I feel like it. Right?" I say, leaning toward her coyly.

…Which isn't difficult, considering she's sitting across my lap. It's really not doing much for her credibility, at least not her irritation at my supposed cheating. I tighten my hold on her, pulling her closer and blowing a raspberry on her neck, making her squirm and squeak.

It's still annoying that I have to fake my emotions for her, but I'm getting better at it I guess.

Sadie is helping with that. I can feel her affection and trust for her mother, and while it's definitely not the same kind of thing, radiating that same trust for my wife seems to be making a difference.

And besides, Livvie knows I'm trying.

She knows I want her here, even if I can't genuinely feel much for her.

…Even as I continue to feel that pull for Izzy.

Goddess of death and devotion, and of course I'm the target of the latter, so I guess it's no surprise the compulsion is still tickling at the back of my mind. And I can feel it from her too, still a raging torrent even if she's slowly learning how to mitigate it little by little… at least enough that she doesn't viscerally ache when I'm not with her.

Or at least not as much I guess. I do what I can though… Other than my occasional night activities like bothering Sadie-

"CHEATING!" Livvie says more loudly, once again interrupting my thoughts.

"Yes, I know sweetie, we've been over this."

I pat her head apologetically. I know she's trying to play the game 'the right way' or whatever, but it hasn't escaped me that she didn't complain when I both dropped her in as an infant fox spirit, but also right by where I was going to drop 'Ravona'. And from her huff I can tell she knows.

Maybe it's just that I keep doing things, little things, to polish the gears.

"Yes," she says quietly as I keep patting her head.

…

What was I thinking about?

Ah, right. Nightly activities.

I still spend most nights with Izzy, pretending to sleep since I don't actually feel like resting, while she presses against me and snores softly.

It's endearing, really, and if I'm not careful I find myself daydreaming about her sleeping face.

Like right now.

And thanks to our link I know she can tell. Even if it weren't for our metaphysical mental bond I'd be able to tell from the small smile she directs my way from her own throne in the torn space, along with a nearly imperceptible blush.

But it's morning now. School is incredibly boring, so sometimes I just let Sadie deal with it alone. It's not like I'm going to benefit from learning what is effectively ancient mathematics anyway – I'm a master artificer! It's a waste of my time, I learned all that stuff hundreds of years ago. Well, and over a thousand years ago to some extent… although my oldest mortal self didn't have much of a formal education.

Working knowledge was plenty, and I had subordinates that knew how to handle the book work anyway. I do now too.

I sigh. It's not actually that much better here than school I guess, although I do enjoy the company of my wives.

Maybe I'll drop back in anyway, even if it'd be a drag.

…

I seem to be picking up some of the mortal girl's verbal ticks, even if it's just in my internal monologue.

But that's fine.

I wonder if I'm going to suddenly develop her motherly attachment to mom as well.

…

…

Uh. Carmina. I mean Carmina. She's not my mom. My mom is dead… or the Administrator… or…

…

Just how many moms do or did I have at this point!?

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