Mordecai smiled down at Fuyuko as he lightly scritched behind the wolf girl's ear. She looked like she wao be annoyed even as she leaned into his hand. "Well," he said, "maybe we should begin with talking about the afterlife. Now, whatever anyone ever tells you about the afterlife, you should know that it is he plete truth. It 't be. It is a realm bound by slightly different rules and souls there are not bound by the limits of mortal bodies. In those realms, spirit is as 'physical' as flesh is, and it is in fact much easier to travel to such pces in spirit rather than bringing one's body along, and should you ever visit one of these pces everything you see will be an interpretation of what is truly happening."

  He waited for Fuyuko's nod before he tinued, "Souls are not stati the afterlife. While it is a very differeeime still moves forward and people still i. Events happen. People ge. It is possible that in a hundred years, if you were to die you would find your parents' souls and personalities much as you remember them. The lohe mortal life the more likely this is to be true, but frankly your parents died retively young. While they should be reizable as havihe same people and they should still be loving and happy about beied, they will also be some amount of different."

  Fuyuko squirmed a moment before asking, "How different?"

  "There are several different ways. The most minor type of difference would simply be in the way their awareness has grown. They will no lohink the same way about space, time, and other aspects of reality. But there are other ges that happen. Most celestial beings were once mortal souls, and this ge is one of the things that happen as their perspective shifts. But much like with hoeople are not well suited for eternal life, some ot cope with a new perspective oy. Of those, some may be chosen to be fully reinated while others will ge in a way that allows their minds to sleep. When one enters what mortal minds see as a well-tended mystical tree, a statue that radiates a sensation of peace or love, or any other such thing in a heavenly realm, it is most likely one of these souls."

  This earned him surprised looks from everyone and he shrugged. "There's a reason you won't find a priest talking about this during a sermon. It's not fortable for many people to aowledge that after finding a p the afterlife of the deity they follow, they might eventually just o truly sleep forever. The soul is still there, it is merely dormant, and should the need arise they be awakened. In a simir manner, a tired soul may give themselves over to another. Like with the other resting souls, the core remains intact but much of their power and mind is subsumed, allowing that celestial or other divine agent to beore powerful."

  That could be a nasty surprise for anyone ignorant of this truth who mao inflict a true death upon a powerful celestial. This would wake up all the subsumed souls who would be aware of what happened and very angry that someohey cared for and trusted enough to give themselves over to had been killed, their soul gone forever.

  Bridgette bit her lip in thought before saying, "That doesn't seem very, I don't know, eternally blissful or anything."

  Mordeodded and replied, "True, but that's not what is promised. Each god's realm is in part a refle of themselves, and they offer a p that realm. It is a pce without most of the woes that beset the mortal world, but it is still not perfect. Most should simply be able to find happiness and satisfa in the realm of their chosen divinity."

  He paused and sidered Fuyuko for a moment before adding, "Well, with one exception, sort of. I assume that there is some sort of divine realm that resonates with Li's followers, but I have never heard anything about it. Li himself ot provide any guidan the subject, though at the least I imagihat ods have ehat there is a suitable pce. I could try to find out, but I suspect that this matter is deliberately left as a secret."

  "Mm," Fuyuko said, "no, I think I get it. That's fine."

  "I don't get it," Carmil said as she turhe page of her book, "you all talk about rejoining loved ones and stuff, but if you worship different gods, you go different pces. So how you be together?"

  "Oh!" Moriko said, "I think I've got this one. Um, Kazue love, could you get me the book that I was reading during our trip? Thank you!" She slipped through the passages of the book that had materialized in her p. "Ah, there it is. 'The Divine Realms are uhe mortal world, and many es be made between otherwise distant pces. I would never let such matters staween passionate hearts, you will be able to rejoin your loves and lovers, whether in my realm or another.' " Moriko tapped her lips a moment in thought. "Though e to think if it, 'be able to' is not the same as 'will'."

  Mordecai smiled slightly and said, "That one is easy, Love. Imagine if things had gone differently at some point and the three of us were now ierlife together. Our being together is well and good, but I don't think there would be a long of my former lovers waiting for me, nor would either of you be particurly pleased if there was. And over time, depending on how others felt about Moriko, in such a sario others might appear wanting to be reunited with her. No, it is best to leave it at 'be able to'."

  Kazue switched her gaze thoughtfully betweewo of them for a moment. "I mean, as long as they all became part of my harem too- eep!" Her teasing was cut off by her giggling as Mordecai and Moriko started tig her.

  When she was at the point of needing to catch her breath, Kazue's spouses relented and Mordecai turned back to the main point of the versation, though he was amused to notice that despite their differences, Fuyuko and Carmil had near identical eye rolls for the three of them.

  "As I said before, the divine realms do not work on the same rules as the mortal world. Even faerie realms are more limited in how they manipute spad time, though within those limitations they often be far more chaotic. So if Fuyuko's parents followed different gods then they probably have a shared space or home that exists in an overp between the divine realms iion, even if those realms normally do not touch."

  Fuyuko scratched her neck before asking, "Probably?"

  "They are still people, so there is always a ce that something has ged between them, or they may have bee occupied with something that made it poio have a home, or any number of unknowns. I 't make guarantees about things I do not know for sure. Hmm," Mordecai said as an idea came to him.

  The question was, was it a good idea? He mentally sulted with Moriko and Kazue to get their opinions, and they agreed that while there was a small ce of Fuyuko reag poorly, it would probably be worth it. "There is something I could try that might put some portion of your s to rest, though even if it works the amount of information we get will be limited."

  Carmil frow him over her book, he retty certain she was getting a sense of what he had in mind.

  Fuyuko turned her head to get a more direct look at him. "Um, that seems like it should be good, but the way you said it..."

  "Well, I don't know if you will be fortable with it. I am a high priest, I attempt to tact them. I must emphasize 'attempt'. I do not know what the results will be."

  "Oh," she said and took a moment to let that sink in. After a little bit of thinking, she said softly, "Yes, please. Even if it's just a scrap, I would like to know more, ahe ce to tell them I love them."

  Fortunately, tag the souls of the dead did not require the sort of price that trag with extrapies did. "Alright, I am going to try the basitact ritual, and depending on the results I may o do the rger ritual." Mordecai rubbed the top of Fuyuko's head with a smile and added, "I don't feel like getting up at the moment, and this one I could do with a little assistance from my core. If I o do the big o will be a bit more involved."

  "Wait, right now? Just like that?" She asked.

  "For the basitact, yes," he replied, "a more involved unication will require a longer ritual, but you always work your if there isn't a time limit. All I need from you is this hair," he held up the strand he'd picked up when he rubbed her head, "and for you to focus on your parent's faces, names, and identities. What they mean to you. Whispering their names may help you focus, and adding an ear prayer will not hurt."

  She that and bowed her head as she began to murmur to herself.

  A low table and a couple of empty seats had to be shifted into the dungeon's ste for the moment, but that gave his core enough space to etch the appropriate circle and symbols into the living crystal floor for the attempt to tact souls. That was faster and easier than his avatar could ever have do.

  But the part required his avatar to perform the magic. Physically dug the ritual would have made it easier but only a little faster, and Mordecai had the trol necessary to weave mana into the proper spell forms without having to move around the circle.

  He did still o use one hand to help focus his mana manipution along with an intation. If he had been moving around the circle, he would have been able to elimihe intation instead. Hypothetically, at a great enough mastery one could do the eual mentally, but Mordecai had never maintained an avatar long enough to develop such a teique. He had always retired them when he was satisfied with their mastery and aplishments and was ready to take on a new challenge.

  The slower process also gave Kazue and Camil a ce to observe the f mana shapes without the distra of people moving about.

  As the ritual neared pletion, the air in and around the circle took on a faint glow from the shape ay of the f magic. Just as it reached pletion, Mordecai felt the spell get intercepted nearby, rather than making the distant e. He frow the three-dimensional humanoid shadow that formed in the circle uedly but ined his head iing. "I take it you are the umabel that Lord Ozuran has watg over me?" At the same time, he sent out a mental unication to the others in the room, "Let me hahis, please."

  "Indeed," the shadow replied, "I am. I also have the answer you would have otherwise received, and the opportunity to deliver it personally, rather thae response you would normally have gotten." The figure faced Fuyuko and said, "I must inform you that for the moment, your parents' souls are not avaible for tact. They are safe, and there is nor foreseeable reason that this would ge in the several years at least."

  "What? I," Fuyuko began, but she stilled when Mordecai put a hand on her shoulder.

  Mordecai asked, " a message be sent to them?"

  The umabel sidered a moment before replying, "Yes, but delivery may not happen immediately. I make sure they will receive it the moment that they are avaible."

  Fuyuko g Mordecai, who nodded, and theuro the shadowy divine servant. "Tell them that I love them and that I am doing well and I am happy. They don't have to worry about me."

  "I will do so. I am certain they will be happy to receive your words." The umabel turned baordecai. "I believe that is all our business?"

  Probably not, but that was all the busihere was for this iion. "For now, yes, and thank you."

  The shadow faded out of view in response, and Mordecai sighed. "Well, that's not what I expected."

  While she started undoing Mordecai's work, Kazue grumbled her annoya having such a being inside her territory that she couldn't sense unless it showed itself. He sympathized, but right now he o focus on a worried-looking Fuyuko, who asked, "What does that mean about my parents?"

  He chose his words very carefully as he answered, "I do not know for sure, in part because there are many possibilities. What it does mean is that they are not choosing to not respond, they simply ot be directly tacted at all right now. I would guess that they are doing something that has them more active than many souls, so they may not currently be in their respective deity's realms. If there had not already been a divine agent nearby, the spell would have failed into a null state that would have meant essentially the same thing, but even less informative."

  She frowned up at him and said, "But you have a guess, don't you?"

  "I have a few, and I think it is best if I do not tell you. It's too likely that you will bee emotionally attached to one idea or another, and that could lead you astray or cause other problems whey probably presents something else. I don't give any individual possibility a high probability, and at best all of my ideas bined have no more than a fifty pert ce of being correct."

  Fuyukled with that for a few minutes as she tried to find an argument around his statement, but came up with nothing. She couldn't say anything she knew wasn't true, and she wasn't able to deceive herself deeply enough to deny what he'd said. "Fine," she said grumpily before turning away and leaning back against the couch again.

  Mordecai could have perhaps tinued with the initial versation, but it robably best to let Fuyuko process the knowledge that she didn't know what her parents were up to ierlife. At the very least, they were not simply waiting for her and that undoubtedly shook her mental image of them.

  Instead, the versation turo less serious topics, though Fuyuko maintained a thoughtful sile first. She became much more animated once a round of dessert was brought out, and as part of the holiday, Mordecai, Kazue, and Moriko took turns preparing snacks and treats for everyone, even if that presentation was sometimes just taking food purchased earlier from vendors and putting it a serving pte or in a bowl.

  They didn't even send Fuyuko to bed at a normal time, which turned into a minor problem for Mordecai when the girl eventually slumped over enough to lie her head on his knee. She was adorable and he didn't want to wake her up, even whearted to drool on his pants a little. Instead, he gently petted her while the rest of them tio chat and only when it became te enough for others to start heading off to bed did they gently move her. Moriko was the one who scooped the girl up, as Mordecai inned. He and Kazue each pced a good night kiss oop of Fuyuko's head before Moriko carried her away to tuck her into bed.

  Carmil did not stay ht, though she did have a room of her own avaible. She had aire home waiting for her in her s, and ohat she rather liked.

  Kazue and Moriko's familiars had made their way to the master bedroom already, so they and Mordecai gave up on their normal pytime aled in to snuggle with the twons instead. It was not a bad end to a long day.

  Zagaroth