The aftermath of the Misti Hawar attack was difficult to struggle through. They'd made their way through our defenses and killed so many. After all the effort I'd gone through to bolster our numbers, it was a heavy blow, to say nothing else. The only positives that I could get out of the situation were that there would be plenty of food for the survivors in the coming days, I'd announced my country's existence to a qualified individual, and that [Pack Tactics] had progressed to 8/10 battles won in a rout. Interestingly and frustratingly, [Conqueror's Rebuke] didn't count that fight as me having led my people to battle.
In all, I found myself stalking through the streets whenever I wasn't actively with my children from that day forward. Patrolling the walls, watching out for any sign of the Misti Hawar approaching. The damned wyrms started coming up the mountains again, and that was just another worry. Were the Misti Hawar somehow able to influence the wyrms? If they could, then we might be facing extinction. Those would serve as just too much, given how much effort needed to go into killing just a single wyrm. Fortunately, it seemed like that wasn't the case, that the wyrms just came up the mountains when the ants were back down below.
Ever since that day I'd spoken with the royal ant, there hadn't been any intelligent insects poking their heads up into my city, but there also hadn't been any large scale attacks, neither here in the city nor at the other entrance that my people had continued harvesting. It didn't make sense. Was there something that I'd missed? Or was it just too late in the year for the intelligent ants to make their appearance?
Instead of focusing solely on the ants, I asked Nievtala a question. "Why haven't any Khatif of Keel gotten access to pure light magic? That would be glorious to deal with the Misti Hawar and the wyrms. Just burn them away. Have we just not gotten anyone with that affinity? I know that it's different, but there were a couple techniques to Speak them into existence as a human."
There won't be any of my people with that magic, not without descending into heresy as those of the Veratocracy. Light is Huldtar's domain, and though he is not a friend, he is an ally. Narsha'at keeps him in line, and I enjoy the time I get with my friend because of it. As such, do not hope for dominion over the moon, darkness, or the sun either.
I hissed out a breath in frustration. If he was an ally, why didn't we have anyone who could help us with this pressing danger around? The only Sunkindred I'd had any real interaction with seemed to hate keelish, disbelieving any claims about saharliard and fahvalo. Maybe he'd heard stories about help that my people could give him and he'd become bitter after decades of those stories being unsuccessful, but I hoped that the Wilds were doing alright, especially Bloodpriestess Ana, as she was one of the few leaders that I had a truly, unequivocally positive relationship with. Sure, we were trusted foes, but that was as close to blood-brothers as I could tell that the Moonchildren had.
Well, considering their fixation with blood, blood-brothers were probably something of an entirely different echelon.
My mind wandered from one threat to the next, even though the Misti Hawar, wyrms, and ants were more than enough to keep my heart thumping and my worries continuously feeding off of each other. Days passed, and I lost myself in the work of attempting to ensure that we were more prepared for fighting the Misti Hawar when they inevitably appeared. Constant drilling with every magically inclined person around was my primary focus, hoping to ensure that our enemies weren't able to carry out any similarly effective ambushes.
Between all this, these hidden threats kept me from relaxing, but my children forced some measure of complacency and relaxation on me. The little male was surprisingly tenderhearted, and when he tried to snuggle close with his sisters, he was frequently rebuffed and just as frequently reduced to piteous whines. Sybil and I carried all three of them frequently, ensuring that they could feel our presence as well as each others'. The females hated to be separated, their white and black scales seeming to communicate that each had a part of her sister with her always.
After days of consideration, the names I'd thought of were discarded. Iituli, Ishtar, and Isnanna were good names. Fine names. And names from the Veratocracy. The Veushten were our foes, if not our outright enemies, and I wouldn't give them any sort of satisfaction by naming my children after their historical figures. Instead, we needed to think of good, proper Keel names. Nievtala started whispering to me about ideas, but I'd shut that down quickly.
"I respect you, even worship you. I will name my children, and if you wish to bless them afterwards for it, you can. But they are mine."
She'd merely laughed and ceased providing possibilities at that point, which I considered a victory. Shemira and Vefir enjoyed dropping by and wondering aloud if I'd manage to come up with something suitable for the first Keel born in countless generations, and I waved them off. Brutus stood nearby, though whenever Sybil and I weren't too overprotective, he enjoyed gently rubbing one of his knuckles on their heads. Foire and Trai were, suddenly, around the city much more frequently as they came to visit the little ones.
Shraal gave blessings that were unnecessary, but I welcomed them nonetheless.
Ytte prepared furs to lay them in to keep them warm through the worsening winter.
Every Keel, Khatif, and Kha paid their respects to the still nameless infants. After a week had passed, a week of frenzied preparations, fearful nights, and nervous days, Sybil approached me with an ultimatum.
"You will present me with the children's names by the end of the day, Ashlani. Or you will not see them again until you do."
A growl bubbled in my throat in response, but I stopped it as my daughters stirred in fear as I did so. Sybil maintained eye contact through it all, and I curled my lips back from my teeth as I agreed. The rest of the day was spent with each of my children, hoping to find some inspiration that didn't come from Nievtala to guide me to the perfect form address for each one. I'd asked Sybil her thoughts, and she'd more or less echoed what she'd said before, that she "couldn't put a name to perfection."
Attempts at twisting those words back on her left me frustrated and still with an ultimatum hanging over my head. Finally, I shrugged, collected my thoughts, and approached Sybil with the names.
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