A Sinner's Eden

***Tirnanog, Aerie Flagship***

***Astra***

“It feels so good to be back!” I joyfully pumped a fist. My arm was healed, though it still felt a little stiff. Nonetheless, Thalia had finally attested to my full recovery.

“I swear, one more day at home with that damned brood of mine and I would have gone nuts,” I continued. “Two weeks of watching them twenty-four-seven was exhausting. Please remind me to pay Kiera back for her efforts. I don’t know how she does it. She is an angel.”

Despite the woman's somewhat eccentric view of how human reproduction should be handled.

“I remember them looking at least as relieved as you are right now when you said you would return to work,” Thalia giggled. “And don’t worry about Kiera. Firstly, watching and studying the kids coincides with her chosen field of study. And secondly, while she might have some strange ideas, Kiera loves working with children. As far as I know, she had her current job for decades now and I have never heard her even mention changing occupations. Even though that is something most of the old folk do without a second thought when they get fed up.”

I sighed and nodded. In truth, I couldn’t be mad at Kiera for taking the opportunity to go on a vacation. She surely thought I should take care of the gang of little rascals when I was already on sick leave. If Kiera ever bailed out on me permanently, I would be in real trouble.

“Those brats, they are so smart and yet they can’t be bothered to consider the consequences of their actions!” I retorted, the molerat incident was still very vivid in my memories. “Either Kiera is not telling me about half the mischief they get up to under her supervision or they hold back when they are with her.”

I swear, I almost had a heart attack when I saw those damned puppet legs hanging out of the molerat’s maw and thought it to be one of the kids. I lost ten years of my life at that moment!

“Children tend to be a lot more restrained when someone other than their parents is looking after them,” Thalia pointed out. “When it is ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’, they have the confidence to test their boundaries. Just as much to see where their parents draw the line, as to get their attention.”

Oh, they got my 'full' attention. “Hopefully they learned where I draw the line!”

“So what about Magnus’s kidnap victims?” I changed the topic. Magnus hadn’t talked much about Evanne when he was at home. And when asked, he always said he would hold back and leave it to Ivonne. “Is there anything positive to report?”

Thalia let out a dejected sigh. “Hector and Ivona are trying their best to sway them the ‘traditional’ way, but Evanne bought into the Thich ideology when she thought she was on her own. Ivonne’s disappearance triggered an ‘I am on my own’ kind of mindset. Now she blames Iv and Magnus for taking so long. And Lukas, her partner, well, he is a socialite of Thich society through and through. If you had met him on the battlefield without any context, I doubt you would have wasted a second thought on sticking a dagger into his guts.”

‘More like death by high voltage or spear’, I thought to myself. Maybe I would have used my filaments to strangle him to death.

Thalia shook herself and let out a sound of disgust. “If they weren’t already partnered, I would just get rid of him and concentrate all my efforts on Evanne. Thankfully, Hector pulled some strings with his family so they get some time to figure out what to do about Lukas. Iv is certain that she can turn Evanne around by talking but judging by the few glimpses I had, I am not so sure.”

“Hmm…” I hummed. “So you are voting for psychic adjustment, but Iv still thinks she can get through to Evanne?”

“Essentially,” Thalia admitted and tapped an index finger against her temple. “Those two are messed up. Lukas more so than Evanne. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that one of the Thich psychics had their way with them. While the conditioning is not as obvious as with some of the other victims I looked at so far, I have a feeling they went the extra mile to influence Evanne in more subtle and permanent ways.”

“Why would they go so far if they haven’t bothered with the other victims?” I asked. “They can’t have enough psychics to do this on a whim judging by everything we have seen.”

“If you ask me, they had her on a fast track up the social ladder to encourage loyalty,” Thalia elaborated. “As for the reason, isn’t it obvious? They knew who she is related to. I have no doubt their spies had plenty of time to find out how much pull Magnus has in this coalition of ours. He walks in and out of the offices of Aerie’s and Hochberg’s leadership. And he joined your family, who are essentially Aerie's elite warriors. Once the Thich could be sure they had Evanne’s unquestioned loyalty, there would have been a myriad of ways to use her against him. At the top of my head, double agent or sleeper assassin immediately comes to mind.”

I nodded slowly, though I wasn’t entirely certain whether this kind of blackmail would work with Magnus. He invested a lot of blood and effort to see both his sisters safe, but even more of that effort went towards taking his revenge. Best case, anyone threatening him with his sibling’s life would land on the blacklist.

“That… unfortunately sounds like something the Thich would have no qualms about,” I admitted hesitantly. The general idea was sound – if someone didn’t know Magnus very well. “So you are sure Magnus got her out before the Thich psychic could do anything truly insidious?”

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“It looks like it, but you can never be a hundred per cent certain when it comes to psychic abilities,” Thalia replied and gestured helplessly. “I have done everything I could without messing with Eva’s head too much. Though, I have to point out that my abilities are more on the emotional side of things. If it was up to me, I would take a leap of faith and ask Vanya to straighten out their heads like she did with that bodyguard of hers. She is much better when it comes to mental manipulation.”

“Empath and Telepath, I understand you might not be perfectly suited for the job. But...”

She raised her hands to stop me. “And please don’t point out the amorality of my suggestion. It’s just that I believe it is either that, a few years of house arrest till Evanne gets over her trauma, or execution. Please don’t tell Ivonne I said that.”

“So you think I should talk Ivonne out of the idea of bringing her sister around by cajoling her?” I asked. “And what do Hector and Mark think? I heard they helped you with them.”

Thalia blew a raspberry. “The guys are not helpful when it comes to other things than restraining this Lukas fellow when he gets ideas. Other than that, both of them think Iv and Magnus should shoulder such a decision. But Magnus doesn't want anything to with the issue and Ivonne is her usual stubborn self.”

I hummed along. Magnus always desired to rescue his sisters, but he was someone who put logic before feelings. He already explained to me several times that rescuing the children he knew as his sisters and rescuing the young adults they were now were two different things. If his adult sisters turned out to be enemies, he wouldn’t hesitate to treat them as such.

Thalia gestured in a so-so motion and sighed as she continued, “It has already been a few days. Give it another week and Iv will give up on her own. Or she might even succeed. I cannot claim to be infallible. Maybe resorting to my psychic powers is just an unhealthy impulse of mine. I nonetheless think that if we go the psychic route, we should do it earlier rather than later. You know how it is with mental intrusion. Once Evanne builds up enough resistance, correcting her might no longer be possible. And from what I can tell, she already has enough resistance to withstand anyone weaker than Vanya or me. Which on its own is a concerning hint that she was messed with.”

I nodded slowly and thought for a moment. “So here is an idea. If their conditioning was purely aimed at making them perfect members of Thich society, can we use that somehow?”

“Use it?” Thalia wondered.

“You know, if they were taught to blindly follow strength and authority, then all we have to do is to demonstrate our power,” I pointed out. “Give them a new hierarchical order to follow.”

Maybe all Ivonne needed to do was give her sister a good beating. Or use that slime of hers to demonstrate the true terror of symbionts.

I shuddered, glad that Magnus and I hadn't taken that route. I also bet Magnus had still no clue what horrible monster Ivonne had managed to tame. The small slime looked sweet and cute as long as it was firmly under her control, but those things hadn’t a reputation for nought.

Thalia looked doubtful. “You are aware that a part of Thich ideology is to challenge those who are in power? Even if it works, those two would become an entirely different type of problem. Especially Lukas. That one is ambitious from what I can tell.”

I clicked my tongue. “Then I vote for locking them in a room with Magnus for a few days.”

The problem would solve itself quickly and we wouldn’t be to blame.

Thalia laughed. “We can’t do that after Magnus got so good at holding back his impulses. It would ruin all his efforts. His obsession with rescuing his siblings like some grand protector lessened a lot and his attitude towards Iv improved. And I think he still doesn’t know what to do about Gunnar and instead votes for wilful ignorance. If you lock those three in a room for any length of time, Magnus might opt for a permanent solution. And then Iv will be mad and… no… let’s not do that.”

I pursed my lips as if I hadn't already anticipated the potential outcome. “True enough.”

We stayed comfortably silent from then on until we reached the flagship's bridge, which was a lot livelier than I remembered it. Lots of people from Aerie, Hochberg, and Jeng were buzzing about, but most of the action seemed concentrated on the central table with the large strategic map.

Of course, I wasn't entirely out of the loop. Magnus had informed me that the fleet was in a stand-off with the remaining Thich forces who were using Thich City as a fortress.

So far, nobody had dared to suggest we should pay the blood price a direct attack on an entrenched enemy would surely require.

Either this turmoil meant the Thich were moving out, or someone had come up with a plan of assault.

Though, I wondered why we should risk an attack without our reinforcements. If my information was correct, then the second fleet should still be a week away.

I found my father standing at the planning table and gave him a wave. “Etan!”

He turned and smiled in greeting. “Oh, it looks like you have returned to the living.”

“Yes. Why is everyone in such a hubbub? Are you planning on attacking Thich City?” I asked.

He pursed his lips and gestured at the map. “Not directly. The cost would be far too high. But the strategists think we can use our time more productively till the reinforcements arrive. The scouts investigated this hilly region to the east and identified a lot of cave entrances with defensive structures around it. It’s a fortified position, but much less so than the city itself. The defences are aimed at the mindless local wildlife. The Thich didn't have people in mind when they built them, so overcoming them is nothing compared to attacking the city. If we attack there, we can draw their air fleet away where they can’t rely on ground support. That’s why our fleet is currently circling to the north.”

Thalia frowned, not understanding. “Why would they be forced to defend an area when they have the city? Don’t they just have to hover above the city to keep us in a stalemate?”

Etan raised a finger and grinned. “Ah, you see, our airships are in dire need of glowmoss to stay afloat. Glowmoss doesn’t grow in bright environments, so we are doing our best to keep it in suitable conditions, but no matter what you do there is always a loss when you don’t have a perfectly sealed space or a cave at hand. I doubt the Thich airships are any better than ours. And since they didn’t have them for as long as we have, Vanya thinks their loss rate might be even higher. There is an argument to be made that two decades of building up their fleet in a rush must have forced them to take some shortcuts. Meanwhile, we have been in the business for two centuries. I talked to the Rumens, and they share the opinion that the Thich airship designs are of lesser quality than ours. The only thing putting them on an equal footing are the old Earth weapon stocks they dug up and those must run out at some point. In fact, we believe they should have used up most of them during our recent large engagement. Holding back in such a situation wouldn't have made any sense.”

I nodded along. “You believe those caves are where the Thich grow the glowmoss for their fleet. And that many ships need at least some to stay afloat.”

He nodded, showing a wolfish expression. “And if we cut off their supply, they either have to send out their airships to fight us on our terms, or we can wait and watch them as one airship after the other gets grounded.”

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