Katalin's Point of View
"Ma'am, we've entered orbit," reported her helmsman.
"On screen," the princess commanded.
Blue, the world was blue and green and so like Earth, just with oddly-shaped continents.
Mom's home world...we've found it.
"Call my brother to the bridge," Kat said. The crewman on the console hastened to obey.
It'd taken them six months of searching, six months of warp jumps from star to star. Mom's memory of the way the constellations looked from her native planet was fuzzy. Narrowing down the location was as much luck as anything else.
While she was admiring the view Wenli carelessly floated next to her. Honestly, that boy could never stay on the ground.
"Wow, a real M-class planet," her brother remarked. "Plenty of water, breathable atmosphere, temperatures within appropriate tolerances...you think this world would be good for you and Istvan to rule?" he teased. There was a shit-eating grin on his face.
"Istvan is busy with his pro tennis career," she returned hotly. "And it's none of your business, anyway. You're dating Uncle Andy's daughter. We were raised together; that's practically incest."
"You know about that?" He sounded genuinely surprised.
This boy...
"I felt a power surge when you and Grace started dating, dummy. I was on the other side of the planet and I still felt it. Haven't you listened to a thing Mom says? It's how our magic works."
"Shush," Wenli stage whispered. "She's a kpop star now; they're not supposed to have boyfriends."
"And you're a prince. Even if you forget, the world doesn't. You're aren't slick, brother. Everybody knows about you and Grace. The gossip channels just don't post about it because they fear Mom's wrath."
He snorted. "As if Mom would care. Privacy is a completely foreign concept to her. I guarantee you she wouldn't understand me being upset about my relationship being exposed before we were ready to go public. According to Dad, Mom just snatched him in the library one day, right in front of everyone, and they were pretty much married from then on, just took a few years to make it official."
Kat smiled. She loved hearing stories about Mom and Dad, so much better than any web drama, including the ones that were actually about them.
"You're probably right," Kat admitted. "Mom wouldn't care. She's actually been really chill since she took over. You were just a baby, but I was there when Dad had to go to war against his homeland. Mom used to be ruthless. It's something to do with being the Demon Queen. She just has a drive to rule, to dominate."
"What about you, sis? Technically, this world rightfully belongs to mom, so it rightfully belongs to us. Do you want it?"
Katalin bit her lip. Did she want her own planet?
Dad made sure they got a curated "anime high school" experience at the Royal Academy. Every important teenager on planet Earth was there. Istvan was the dreamy captain of the tennis team. It was exactly like Mom said: she just knew. But did she really need a whole planet to herself? Seemed excessive. Their luxury apartment in Mombasa Spaceport and her old room in Buda Castle were more than enough for now.
"Eh, let's check it out first. I want to see the planet up close before I make a big decision like that."
Wenli nodded. "I get it. How about we send a message back home, tell them what's up?"
She almost forgot! "Galiban," she summoned their faithful butler.
"Yes, Princess?" The response was instant. The whole Enterprise had her very own Galiban. There was a speaker in every bulkhead.
"Prepare a quantum entanglement communication. We've found Mom's old world and are heading down to investigate. Oh, and tell Auntie Julie we said 'hi'."
There was a small delay. "Message sent, Princess."
Galiban and Auntie Julie were so adorable! "Let's go to the hanger, Wenli."
This being the Enterprise and all, Kat initially wanted a transporter, but the energy requirements were crazy high, and they needed all their magic to fuel the warp jumps. Taking a shuttle down would just have to do.
"Okay," Kat said, "I'll project a magic field around us, and you handle the cloaking."
Wenli hummed in agreement. They'd done this before, mostly going down to planets that would need serious terraforming before they could sustain most Earth species.
Thinking of her boyfriend Istvan, Kat gripped the throttle and let her heart sing a bubble around the shuttle. The crew in the hanger evacuated and opened the airlock for them.
"Going down!" she said merrily. This was the first time they wouldn't need breathing gear when visiting a new planet. So exciting!
Passing through the atmosphere and the clouds, Kat noticed something strange.
Wenli looked at her. "You feel it too?" he asked.
"Yeah. The planet feels like Mom."
Their mother's magic, so different from their own, a touch they knew intimately all their lives, was thick upon the planet. For a brief, terrifying moment, she feared their magic would stop working in this new environment, but it seemed there was enough of their mother in them.
Kat put them down in a small clearing in a forest. The nearest settlement was five kilometers away.
"This is creepy as fuck," Wenli said as he exited the shuttle. "The air feels like a hug from Mom."
Kat shivered. This would take some getting used to. "There's a group of humans ahead. Do they count as humans?"
Wenli shrugged. "Convergent evolution? Weird magic nonsense? Your guess is as good as mine, sis."
The "humans" were immediately hostile, drawing weapons as soon as they saw them. One of them, who Kat assumed as a mage, started gathering arcane energy.
She held up her hand. "Greetings!"
The words that came back were not in any language she was familiar with, including the magic language that Mom used.
Reaching out, she touched their minds and absorbed their words.
"Why do you have black hair like a demon? Answer me!" yelled a man in armor.
Only demons have black hair here?
"We have no quarrel with you," Wenli said diplomatically.
The woman in the big hat, presumably the mage, said, "they have incredibly powerful magic, not like anything human. They're demons in disguise!"
"Sleep! Forget!" Kat commanded. The humans collapsed to the ground.
"Well, that went well," Wenli said lightly. "Look at them: blue hair, pink hair, all kinds of hair. No black, though."
"We need to conceal our power and change our appearance," Kat said seriously.
Examining the sleeping people, Kat used their clothing as a template to alter their Starfleet uniforms into something more locally appropriate. She also changed her midnight black hair to red. Wenli went with blue.
"Yoink," Wenli stole the warrior's sword and fastened it to his belt.
"What are you doing?" Kat asked incredulously.
"Blending in. You should too."
"Oh, fine." Kat gave herself a big witch hat. It felt like a Halloween costume.
"Did you feel those medallions they had?" Wenli asked as they walked to the city.
"Some kind of identification," she said. "Guild membership? City citizenship?"
"Adventurer's guild!" Wenli said excitedly. "We should join!"
"Not until we know more," Kat vetoed his idea. She was the oldest. She was in charge. "And stop floating!"
"Walking is so lame," her brother complained.
Hearing his footsteps next to her was surprisingly unsettling. Wenli never walked anywhere. The next couple kilometers passed in insolent silence.
When the city was in the sight Wenli spoke up. "We should think up fake names to give them."
"Fine. I'm Regula the witch and you'll be..." she eyed the sword at his side, "Farnek the swordsman."
"'Farnek' is a cringe name."
"Nothing could be more cringe than 'Wenli'."
Her brother gasped. "How dare?"
"Dad named you after an anime character!"
"The best anime character," Wenli corrected her.
"Just remember, you're 'Farnek', keep it straight," Kat told him sternly.
"Fine, fine," her brother agreed, but there was mutiny in his tone.
She thought she might have to use magic on the gate guards but they let her and her brother in without much trouble.
"Security doesn't seem very tight," Wenli remarked. Then they saw it.
What the fuck...
It was a giant statue of Auntie Alice, just with bigger boobs and silver hair. She and Wenli stared for a while.
"New in town?" asked a heavyset woman at a stall selling fruit. "That's the Hero. She defeated the Demon Queen a generation ago."
"A generation, huh?" Wenli asked dangerously. "My sister and I are about a generation old. Guess we just missed it."
His hand was on his sword. These people were Mom's old enemies and her brother obviously wanted to punish them.
"It was a different time, Farnek," she said meaningfully. "If it happened any other way Mom wouldn't have met Dad and had us, so cool it!"
Wenli looked at her like he was angry at his sister for making too much sense. His hand still left the pommel of his sword, though.
"You two look strong," the heavyset woman said, oblivious to her brother's anger. "The Adventurer's Guild is hiring, you know. There's a big goblin infestation down south and they're shorthanded. Money is good from what I hear."
Wenli looked at her pleadingly.
"Oh, fine," Kat agreed.
***
"Wow," said the guild receptionist. "It's not every day we get talent like you two. If you were older I'd assume you were veterans of the Demon Wars."
"Really?" Wenli asked tightly.
"Oh, yes. It's not our policy to inquire too closely into the backgrounds of new hires so I won't press. Normally, you start at D-Rank, but I can let you and your sister enter as provisional C-Rankers, with a quick promotion to B possible, depending on your performance in goblin subjugation."
"Sounds good," Kat, er, Regula said, pocketing her guild medallion as "Farnek" did the same.
The next day they were on the road to the Southern Swamp.
"So," Kat made conversation, "you know how to use that thing?" She looked at the sword at his side.
"Auntie Alice taught me," Wenli said confidently. "While you were mooning over Istvan the tennis captain, I studied the blade."
"And while you were mooning over Grace the dancer I made the subtle emanations of the arcane my ally!" She gathered power in her hand in a threat display.
They postured and tried to look intimidating for a long moment before bursting into laughter.
Once they reached the Swamp the goblins proved to be a complete joke. Their party of two could sense goblin ambushes well in advance and could fearlessly pursue the little devils into their tunnels without a care. Wenli carved through hundreds, maybe thousands, and Katalin was right there with him, burning their green hides to cinders with her magic.
After clearing out another cave, Wenli looked at her meaningfully. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Their minds touched. "Vacation planet!" they said together.
Conquering this fantasy world would be a waste, better to preserve it so they could come back and play adventurer whenever they wanted. Istvan and Grace, Mom and Dad, Auntie Alice, Auntie Julie, even Galiban could enjoy it. The whole planet was practically a theme park.
They had to hire several carts to carry all the goblin ears. On the way back to the city a party of elves approached them.
"Pardon me," a male elf in robes greeted them. Something about him made Kat pay closer attention than usual.
"Yeah?" Wenli asked.
"You two look like you value directness, so I'll get to the point," the elf said. "I'm the second son of an Elven noble family, recently promoted to heir. Frankly, warriors such as you are wasted in the Adventurer's Guild. My house has need of retainers, and you would be well compensated."
"The house of what?" Kat questioned him.
"Alfenweal," he said. "I am Darthaniel of House Alfenweal, formerly a priest of the Virgin Goddess Elbereth Evervirgin, but soon to be wed."
Wenli smiled. Kat knew that smile. "No kidding? The one who traveled with the Hero?"
Darthaniel inclined his head slightly. "You recognize the name, then. I had the honor to travel with her to the Demon Queen's very doorstep!" he bragged.
Wenli's smile grew sharper. "What I heard, was that you were supposed to marry her. Whatever happened to that?"
The elf's nose twisted in disgust. "You heard wrong. I could never marry a human. No offense."
Her brother got very quiet and for a second Kat thought he would attack. "But you're not married yet? Still a virgin?" Wenli sounded very interested in that.
"Of course," Darthaniel said primly. "I will retain my purity until my wedding night."
"I'm afraid you're gonna die a virgin, my friend," Wenli said sadly.
"What-"
His head left his shoulders before he could finish that sentence. Kat leapt into action and fried his companions before they could help.
"Burn them all, Kat, no evidence," her brother said.
She gave him a look. "What the hell, brother? Just like that?"
"I had a private discussion with Auntie Alice about what I should do if I ran into Darthaniel. She said, and I quote, 'do what you feel is right.' I felt like killing the prick. He led on Auntie Alice, falsely promising marriage. Can you honestly think of a worse crime?"
Maybe it was her magic talking, but Kat really couldn't. If Istvan betrayed her she didn't know what she would do.
Back at the Adventurer's Guild, they easily secured their promotion to B-Rank when they turned in all the goblin ears.
"Not a lot of B-Rank and up work out here," the receptionist told them after handing them each a big bag of gold. "You'll have to go to the Capitol, probably."
"I guess it's time to move on," Wenli said.
Kat nodded. "Let's go home."
***
Dad designed the warp core himself. For now, it took both her and Wenli to charge. Mom said she would probably be able to do it solo once she got married and had kids of her own. Katalin didn't want to rush things, though. That could wait for another day.
"Okay, little bro, just think about Grace, about Mom and Dad, Auntie Alice and everyone you love, let's go!"
The warp core was an Alcubierre Drive that transformed their magic into a field of dark energy around the ship. The dark energy contracted the space in front and expanded it behind, creating a bubble of "warped" spacetime that could travel faster than light. Working together, the siblings could manage perhaps one jump a week.
Her heart sang, vibrating Katalin's web of connections, every bond, every relationship: romantic with Istvan, family, friends, even her billions of followers on social media played a part. She reached out across this web with her feelings, drawing the energy inwards. Once her heart was full she pushed it all into the core, feeding a reaction so strong it inverted reality itself.
The Enterprise was there, and yet not there, folded into a plane beyond physics.
Faster. Faster! FASTER!
The bubble skimmed the sea of stars propelling them back towards Earth.
"Ugh," she pulled back, feeling a little woozy. "I'm going to sleep in my quarters. Warp speed is so tiring!"
It would be a few days before they actually got home. Kat had time for a nap.
***
"The orbital ring is coming along nicely," Wenli said as they approached the planet. Almost all of Earth's industry was in space now.
Some of Kat's fondest memories were of watching Star Trek with her father. Around her tenth birthday, she and Dad had a long talk with Mom explaining what "post-scarcity" meant. From then on, Mom made it her goal as Queen. Money would probably be abolished in a decade or two. They didn't need it.
Almost all necessary labor was automated. The people spent their days on self-improvement: producing great works of art, culture, and entertainment, or they just enjoyed life. Those with high motivation joined Starfleet to push the bounds of the possible, but that was very competitive. Only the best were admitted.
It was her brother's turn to fly the shuttle back down to Earth. Kat was looking forward to seeing everyone again. They'd been gone for over six months.
"Mom! Dad!" Their parents were waiting to greet them at the Spaceport. They hadn't aged a day; they wouldn't have, being immortal. She and Wenli flew right into a family group hug.
"How was your first extended voyage, Kat?" Dad asked.
"Amazing!" she said happily. "We've done short jumps before but we always came right back as soon as we could charge the warp drive. I have so much to tell you!"
"We have something to tell you, too," Mom said brightly.
"We're pregnant!" their parents said together.
"Twins, this time," Dad said.
"A boy and girl," Mom added. "The palace was passing lonely with you two off on your adventure."
That was the most Mom thing ever. "I missed my kids so I made more kids!" Kat loved it though.
There was a whole universe out there to explore, but the universe could wait. She was going to be a big sister again!