Chrysalis

[We hate you!]

[Don’t come back!]

[You’re hurting my feelings! Why don’t you fly over here next to me and say that!]

[Get stuffed!]

[In your dreams, mate!]

[Turn off your lousy magic and THEN talk smack, ey? EYYYY?!]

[Why don’t you come over here and make me? Huh? Need me to go easy on you? Too weak for the real stuff?]

[Get off our island!]

[Yeah! You bleedin’ cheat!]

[Bah! All of you can bite my carapace! Your mums are all classy ladies, but you’re rubbish!]

To a chorus of mentally projected howls and insults, I float down and away from the Wandering Isle. Some of the Magpei follow, unwilling to let us go without getting the last word in. I take note of how they keep their distance from me, though, unwilling to be caught up in the gravity well.

Gweheheheh.

It’s taken a lot of mana to maintain it for this long, but it's been worth it. Looking at the suffering expressions of their faces every time they try to fly up and punch me has been a joy, bringing light to my dark, dark heart.

[Are you still going with them?] the mage, Olivis asks me.

[Of course! As long as they’re willing to serve it up, they’re going to get it back.]

[There will never come a time they are unwilling to serve it up. They’re the Magpei. They’ve been doing this for thousands and thousands of years.]

good at being annoying, I suppose. If there’s a Skill for irritating strangers, they must have it

matching their energy. They want to be discourteous, rude and confrontational? Fine! I will do the same to

find it…

[No?]

She looks at me.

look back at her. And

are you,

why

[No reason.]

would be… what? Sixteen-ish? Less? Honestly, it’s hard to remember how old I was when I died, and it’s difficult to keep track of time as an ant. It’s not like we hang calendars all over the place, or carry

you find this story

some ants have taken an interest in the clockmaking arts. So… it probably won’t be long until we

platform, me lowering myself gracefully with my gravity well, I get a good look at the Legion fleet. Interestingly, they didn’t seem to bother us

I wonder if they intend to take pot shots at us, like they did when I was falling, but no. The massed

they were admiring my glorious carapace, that would be one thing, but this is just them staring

my fun. With a flicker of concentration, I allow my focus to lapse and the well to dissipate, the mana spreading out and losing its properties as it blends with the

the forbidden one begin to recede, like oil on an ocean falling back from a pristine beach. Ah. I have returned to myself

moment that

to learn that there are other ants protecting me at

to the ground by three of my babysitters, Odin only groans, thrashing weakly with

didn’t sense their presence at all!] he

specifically evolved and mutated to make sure you

[Gah! Let me up!]

and think about how not to be weird. When we get back to see Sarah again, I want to see a marked

I turn to Eran Thouris. I suppose I should give a little thought to the actual purpose

[So, how was trade?]

contracts with several distributors. Tea was popular, as was the furniture, oddly enough. They don’t have ready access to wood, so they have to trade for it, and the prices of the Colony outcompete what they get from

good

put up with the Magpei’s pecking for

gives me an