Swarming Sovereignty

Chapter 71: Sisters?

The next few weeks went by smoothly. The celebration for Lia and Rose’s wedding was held, a small, subdued affair that was really just a few hours spent relaxing and enjoying everyone’s company.

The Glens finished sending the rest of the civilians, and unfortunately there was no blacksmith among them. That, unfortunately, meant that the swarm would have to make one of their own. To that end, Amelia had begun producing forge tools such as anvils, hammers, tongs, bellows, and basically anything else related to metalworking they could think of.

Lia had approached Connie about buying the soul of a great blacksmith, but Connie had once again asked for one hundred thousand Blood Money in exchange. Lia’s stocks had begun to replenish over time, but she still only had three thousand Blood Money to her name, so the idea was tabled with the intention to look into it again once they were more financially stable.

Their scouting and mapping of the area had been going well. They had located several potential mineral deposits, interesting new types of trees, and numerous other resources that could be exploited, but they still needed to send experts out to appraise those resources and figure out what they all .

Unfortunately, they didn’t have most of those experts. The only expert they did have was the botanist, and they were still hammering out the exact details of what a re

“Lia. Lia. Lia. Big sis. Sister.” Chrys paused for a long moment. “Dad. Wait, ? Why does one work?! Does…Mom. Yes, that works too, but…”

That last term made Lia feel strange, but…in a good way. Still, she had to get through to Chrys. “!” She yelled, causing the other girl to stop, blinking slightly as she focused back in on Lia.

Lia grabbed Chrys’s arm, and towed the unresisting girl towards the bathroom. As they reached the door, Lia took a deep breath. “Don’t freak out.” She said. “I’m…sorry, it was an accident. I really didn’t mean this.”

She opened the door and gently pushed Chrys inside, motioning at the mirror. “Take a look.”

Chrys stared in disbelief at her reflection, then tentatively reached a hand up towards her ears, and another to her tail. “What?” She whispered. “This…this isn’t me, but it feels so…normal. And it’s…” she frowned, studying herself closely, “kind of familiar, in a weird way? Not only the “this is my face” familiar, but the “that looks like someone I know” familiar.”

Lia took a deep breath. “I…I think I made you the biological daughter of me and Rose.” She said. “I…I was just thinking about how much I wanted you to feel like you belonged, like you were every bit as much our daughter as any we would have together, and I didn’t want you to feel like you were just the product of some failed marriage or…” She trailed off, shaking her head. “We have to get your mom. And we’ll find a way to get this undone, I promise.”

“I…no.” Chrys said. “No, you don’t need to put me back.”

“But you’re –”

“Fundamentally unchanged. My feelings towards you haven’t changed a bit, I still don’t see you as anything more than a big sister. I’m a little younger, but that’s fine; my age has sort of been…in flux this past bit anyway, so I’m sure it’ll change again. I…I may be biologically your child now, but that’s…fine. It’s not like blood determines who your family is, not .

“You know I had a rocky relationship with my old mom, that I’m trying to leave the past behind, and this is just one more way to do that. I have no doubts that you could turn me back, but I also know it wouldn’t be cheap or easy. So…I’m fine with this, for . As long as you don’t try and change our relationship because of this, I won’t complain. But, if you do, then I’m going to start pestering you to undo it.

“And, to tell you the truth, I have no desire to be crown princess. So…I’m abdicating. To who? I don’t know, but I just don’t want that weight on my shoulders.” Chrys sighed, then gave Lia a smile. “Olivia would be pretty pumped about it, so maybe try her?”

“No.” Lia said. “Chrys, I know you have some hang-ups because of what happened in your last life, but I think you’ll make a fine crown princess. You’ve learned from your mistakes, and you aren’t going to be swayed by those sorts of people again. You were taken advantage of during a particularly difficult part of your life, and I can’t see how we’d ever end up in that situation again.”

“But I –”

“Will be great.” Lia said firmly. “Look, let’s give it a try, just for a year. If I feel like things are getting out of hand, I’ll put a stop to it. I know I worded the bestowal such that I can’t arbitrarily say you’re not crown princess anymore, but I think, if you give me permission now, valid for one year only, it’ll work. If it doesn’t, then I’ll figure something out. And I won’t hear any further argument on the subject.”

Chrys bit her lip. “Why?” She said. “Why would you word it like that? It’s just making trouble for you.”

“Because I wanted you to know that I wasn’t going to renege on this if I had a child with Rose. Such a position is a shallow comfort if I can immediately give the position to anyone else at any time. But…look, let’s go call Rose, she’ll know what to do.”

Chrys nodded. “Yeah. Um…she should be pretty close, will you call for her instead of me? I…need to prepare myself.”

“Of course I will.” Lia said. “This is my fault, so I’ll do anything you want, aside from making someone else crown princess.”

After a short wait to make sure Chrys had nothing else to say, Lia mentally called out for Rose.

Rose replied immediately.

is

Rose said.

“She’ll be here in two minutes.” Lia relayed. “Do you want to go sit somewhere comfortable, or…”

“The couch would be good.” Chrys said distantly. “Um, sorry, it’s…it’s really hitting me now, I think.”

Lia gave her a worried smile and led her over to the couch. “I’m going to go meet up with Rose, I’ll be right back. Call out telepathically if you need anything and I’ll come right back, okay?”

“Um, yeah.” Chrys said. “Thanks.”

“It’s the least I could do.” Lia said, giving Chrys one more worried smile before heading out of the dorm. She used the vision of the unenlightened members of the swarm to locate Rose, and met up with her about a minute away from the room.

“Lia?” Rose huffed, slowing down from her sprint. “What’s going on?”

“I…made a mistake.” Lia admitted, beginning to run back towards the dorm. “I named her crown princess and when I was doing that I felt that power Amelia gave me start boiling up and I let it happen thinking it couldn’t cause problems and –”

“Slow down a little.” Rose requested. “You ?”

“She...she was feeling worried about being an “illegitimate” child, and I just wanted to be extra clear that I felt she wasn’t, so I named her crown princess and it sort of got...more than I intended. You, um, should probably see it for yourself.”

They reached the dorm, and Lia opened the door. “Chrys, we’re back.” She called out.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Rose asked worriedly. “I’m not totally sure on the details but...” Rose’s eyes widened as they came into view of Chrys, and she trailed off mid-sentence. “Chrys?” She whispered.

“It’s...it’s me, Mom.” Chrys said anxiously. “Lia...I’m not really sure, but she...” Chrys trailed off, giving Lia a pleading look.

“I...I think I made her the biological daughter of the both of us.” Lia said. “I’m sorry. It really wasn’t intentional, I just was thinking about how I didn’t want her to think she was lesser and that we would love her just the same and it sort of mixed in with appointing her crown princess and she evolved and –”

“Lia, calm down.” Rose said soothingly. “I know you didn’t mean it. Do we have a way to get her back to normal?”

“Probably? But it’s untested and –”

“And I said no.” Chrys said. “It’s...it’s just one more step in distancing myself from who I used to be. My mind is unchanging, so it’s fine for now, so long as Lia doesn’t try and change our relationship because of it. I...I know that the old me was the last real reminder of my old mom left but –”

“But nothing.” Rose said, walking over and bringing Chrys into a hug. “Chrys, I love you unconditionally, and that means I don’t care one bit about what you look like. You are my precious daughter, and nothing will ever change that, even if you somehow get changed and we’re not “biologically related” anymore.”

“I don’t think my old mom would agree.” Chrys said quietly. “You know how important it was to her that the heir was ‘her blood’ and not someone else’s.”

“Then she didn’t deserve you.” Rose said, rubbing Chrys’s head affectionately. “You are my world, and my most important person.”

“Even more than –”

“Even more than Lia.” Rose said. “I will have time for you, and though I might not be able to drop everything any time you need to talk or play, I make sure you get that time, no matter what it takes.”

You mean it?” Chrys asked.

“I mean it.” Rose confirmed, holding Chrys tighter.

“Do you, um...like me more like this, or like how I used to be?”

“That’s a silly question.” Rose said. “I like you most in whatever form you feel more comfortable in.”

Lia told Rose.

Rose said.

course