SS - Chapter 19 - Long Distance Call

It seems the motivation of wanting to play my new game has focused my ADHD brain, and helped me complete writing early today! Huzzah! This is something I've been planning for awhile now, since stones bond to the bloodline. Now we've seen all the tabs, got the prep work out of the way, and can focus almost entirely on the kingdom building. I'm not sure how I'll make that interesting, but I'll try!

I used the long walk back to the village as a chance to clear my head. Ever since we discovered the stone I’d pretty much spent every waking moment trying to get a handle on its various abilities, and figuring out the most efficient way to harness its powers. I honestly hadn’t realized how exhausting it had all been until I finally got a few minutes to myself. 

A little break really did you good sometimes.

We were just a couple minutes outside the village when my system pinged, and a sub window popped up in front of me. 

Message received.

It caught me off guard because the only ones in the village with a system right now were me and Camille. With a little trepidation I opened my system and moved over to the Messages tab.

Since there was only a single active message in my queue it opened immediately. My eyes widened as I read it.

Medea,

We need to talk, immediately. Contact me using the mirror, within the next hour if you can.

Amelia Ashborne

I must have paused for a second, because Camille popped over my shoulder. 

“A message from momma huh? Strange, it’s not time for your regular call home,” she tilted her head to the side. “Come to think of it, how did she even know your system was reactivated? It only happened two days ago.”

“I don’t know, but she wouldn’t have contacted me unless it was important. We need to get back,” I exclaimed, breaking into a jog.

“What’s going on?” Selena asked as she rushed to catch up to my sudden change of pace.

“Family matters,” Camille replied with a smirk.

It only took us a couple minutes to make it to the village, weave between the various buildings and finally burst into the village hall. Seigward looked up, startled as I rushed past him and started rummaging around in one of the trunks at the back of the room.

“I haven’t lost track of time, have I? It’s not the first of the month,” he muttered.

“It’s not, Medea got a message from home, asking her to call,” Camille explained as she finally pushed her way through the door. 

I carefully pulled a small crystal mirror out of the chest and set it on the table before grabbing one of the few remaining magic stones out of the lockbox where we kept them, and the jug of water off the table. 

After scooping up all three items at once I pushed through the small door at the back of the hall which led to my personal area.

There wasn’t much here, just a small dining table sitting in front of a moderate fireplace, an alcove containing my bed and dresser, and a space for my private desk and documents. I had to actively force everyone to cut back on their grand plans for my residence when we first arrived. I didn’t need luxury when we were just struggling to survive, and this was enough for me.

I stepped over to the table and placed the mirror down flat in the middle. Once it was in place I slowly poured just enough water to cover the reflective surface, careful to not let it spill out over the side of the shallow frame, and finally placed the magical stone in the middle.

The water slowly floated off the mirror, a drop at a time, collecting into a single extremely thin sheet sitting about a foot off the table. Once the process was complete, color flooded across the surface. It rippled, shimmering for several seconds, before finally calming again. This time projecting the image of a room, and woman, several hundred kilometers away.

The woman had dark cherry hair, peppered with grey, pulled back into a loose braid. Her clothes, although obviously made of expensive materials, were sensible. 

As soon as she realized the connection her eyes scanned me over, like she was judging me, her face stern

“Medea Paisley Ashbourne, what have you gotten yourself into,” she boomed.

“Got into? What do you mean?,” I stammered. 

“So you have no idea why I received a system message saying I could relinquish my current titles and join the royal family of Hoarfrost?” my mother asked coldly.

“Oh, that,” I muttered. “I kind of found a Sovereign Stone out here… and bonded with it. I was going to inform you the next time we spoke, but I’ve been very busy trying to get a handle on everything. The system is quite complex. I didn’t know it would contact you, and ask if you wanted to switch allegiances.”

My mother sighed, her face relaxing, her eyes no longer judging. 

“I can understand how overwhelming that amount of power and responsibility can be,” she replied quietly. “I was going to berate you for not contacting me immediately, but I guess it slipped your mind that you could message me.”

I nodded. “Completely forgot. I spent the last few days just trying to get the Constructs and Citadel ready. I still haven’t even delved into the Domain functions.”

“Not surprising, that’s one of the most complicated parts,” she sighed. “Did you really just find a Stone out there? My scouts never found any signs of one.”

“Well… It felt less like I found it, and more like it found me,” I explained. “It invited Camille, Selena and I in, and tested us, before allowing me to bond with it. I’ve meant to look through the Reference section and find out why, but it’s been low on my priorities. Did you really get a message asking if you wanted to change allegiances?”

“I did, right in the middle of a noble conference meeting. Thankfully I had my system set to only display to me, so no one else noticed,” my mother said. “Your brother was also informed, but thankfully he was smart enough to put off making a decision until he talked to me.”

I stared at my mother, she looked as tired as I felt. This entire thing was probably weighing on her. “What are you going to do?” 

My mother smiled. It wasn’t the fake smile she put on when dealing with the king, or other nobles, but the most genuine smile I’d seen in quite awhile. “Honestly? I think this provides us with an amazing opportunity. I was so happy when that idiot prince exiled you so he could get around the noble contract and marry Count Alewan’s daughter. It allowed you to escape a system our family has been bound to for generations. Now, your brother and I have the same chance. I could only release a handful of volunteers from their vassalage when you left, any more and it might have attracted the attention of other nobles, but there were hundreds of others that were willing to follow.”

“I… didn’t realize,” I muttered.

“You might have been able to disappear without an issue, but the instant I swap alligances people are going to notice. I’m not going to abandon our people, I’d like to take as many of them with me as possible, but we need a plan for that,” she explained. “Are you able to create a gate?”

“I have no idea… I haven’t seen the option yet,” I said.

“It’s under the domain options. It takes a lot of magic to open, and maintain.”

“I can check, just a second.”

Flipping open my system I quickly navigated to the domain tab and scanned the options.

Magic Available (50/100) [See current drains] [Display on all panels]

Magical Constructions [See Options]

Magical Boons [See Options]

Resource Boosts [See Options]

Personal Boons [See Options]

Constructs [See Options]

I paused, enabling the magic display on all windows before touching Magical Constructs.

Magic Available (50/100) [See current drains]

Construct Gateway (Requires 60 magic - Enabling Requires 30 magic) [Construct]

Construct Fortress (Requires 30 magic - 5 Magic permanently) [Construct]

Construct Walls (Requires 20 magic) [Construct]

Construct Residential Buildings (Requires 20 magic) [Construct]

Construct Industrial Buildings (Requires 20 magic) [Construct]

“I can’t afford it,” I exclaimed, turning the window so my mother could see. “Most of my magic is tied up in creating the Citadel, and it won’t be done for two weeks.”

“That’s fine. It’ll take me time to organize things on my side. I know you’ve barely managed to scrape together food and housing for your people, so I need time to gather the resources to support the newcomers anyways.” 

“I actually picked up some refugees which were in the area, who were being hunted by the Skylians,” I said. “So I don’t even have housing for everyone now.”

My mother looked at me thoughtfully. “It’s not like you to bring in people you don’t know.”

“Well… they’re kind of the reason that I even stumbled upon the stone in the first place, so I feel like I owe them a little. Plus Camille and I worked with Selena, one of the refugees, to work through the trial. If they’re not trustworthy, then we have the constructs around to protect us, but so far they’ve been on the up and up, so I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.”

“You don’t have to convince me, it’s your kingdom,” my mother smiled. “I’ll make sure to arrange extra supplies, just in case. In the meantime I recommend you use that excess magic, enable construct generation and construct additional buildings. Leave a little bit of spare magic, so you can start the gate construction the instant your citadel is done. Oh, and make sure you set your system window to only display to you, unless you’re sharing something. You never know who might be around.”

“I’ll do that,” I promised. We fell into silence for a couple seconds, just looking at each other. Only being able to talk for a couple minutes every month hadn’t been nearly enough. “I miss you.”

“And I miss you,” my mother replied warmly. “If everything goes well, we’ll see each other again soon. Make sure you don’t forget your regular duties while you learn everything the Stone has to offer. It’s a tool, something you use to help make your people’s lives easier. It doesn’t replace existing systems.”

I nodded obediently.

“And you Camille, you make sure you look after my little girl until I get there, you hear?”

“Loud and clear!” a voice directly behind me declared. I spun around to find both Camille and Selena standing there, watching.

“We’ll talk soon, stay safe little one,” my mother said softly.

“Good-bye momma,” I replied quietly. A second later the image blurred, the colors dispersing, before the sheet of water just collapsed, spraying water everywhere. “I’ll see you soon.”