PRL Serials

“That calabash isn’t what you think it is,” a young Pultine said to a young Tracia. “Someone is using it to spy on you.”

“That’s nonsense,” Tracia said. They were in the hollow of a large tree where Tracia slept after leaving the northern jungle. The home she’d made in the hollow was impressive and large enough to accommodate many guests. The two mmoatia rested on what appeared to be a bed of moss in a room of the hollow that Tracia used for entertaining visitors. It was dark outside and the sounds of the jungle has hushed a bit in the cool night 

“Fine,” Pultine said dismissively, “keep carrying it around if you insist, but don’t you think it’s weird that Golden Trumpet’s guards are always able to find you, even when you haven’t told her where you are?”

“Of course my mother is connected to the calabash, it grew very near to her location in the jungle and it was inundated by her pheromones that she used to make connections with the other foliage around her. I understand what the calabash is, it is an extension of my mother, a repository of her magic that called to me and showed me the future. I used it to successfully navigate the Partition and I’m glad to have it as a tool, even if my mother can use it to keep an eye on me.”

“You should get rid of it,” Pultine said bluntly. “It is becoming associated with you in the stories that float around the trees and I have heard near-do-well Fonalnders whispering about using your mother’s connection to the calabash to trap you. And don’t worry, those Fonlanders will never utter your name again on pain of death by fireworks, but you should be aware that your prized possession is also problematic. We can’t afford problems if we are to become these Supremes that you and Ahdis go on about.”

“That is not the reason I called you here,” Tracia said with a sigh. “I haven’t seen your face in so long, we haven’t relaxed together in forever. Let’s just enjoy this time.”

“How can I when your toy puts us at risk of attack…” Pultine started, but then Ahdis arrived to the hollow with Lorv. 

“Since we are all here,” Lorv said as they got comfortable on the moss together, “I have news from the Rocky Forests. The Canis Pack intends to oppose the authority of the Supremes in the overlap. They are of the lupaster kin, but the Canis don’t represent the kin as a whole.”

“Are they formidable?” Pultine asked. 

“They are vicious,” Ahdis said.

“They terrorized the homun whose nomadic marches are confined to the Rocky Forests, until Nova put a stop to that. And while the homun of the Rocky Forests enjoy his protection, Nova isn’t in the forests often enough to rule the overlap. Since we’ve been working with Lêgba in the other realm, I’m not either. The Canis claim anything of value in the overlap. When anything tries to access or utilize their claim without permission, they don’t ask questions, they just attack, viciously. I encountered a young member of the pack and I was wounded enough that I couldn’t fly for a while, and this was a fairly young member of the pack.”

“All your time on Endla made you slow, Eminence,” Pultine said jokingly, though she maintained a hard look of judgement. “Would Ahdis struggle against them?”

“We don’t all get to spend our days in the wilds of the Earther realm and cutting down sinners of Lêgba’s empire,” Lorv said angrily but she maintained her composure. “I am an explorer, you’re right that I have lost a step or two in battle. And yes, Ahdis, Tracia, even you would have been surprised by the strength of the Canis. You can talk to any dweller of the Rocky Forests and they will tell you the same.”

“How will we make them accept us as their Supremes?” Ahdis asked Tracia and the three mmoatia waited for her response. 

“I have tamed wild dogs before,” Tracia said, trying to joke, hoping to be the leader that the three of them needed because she needed them if they had any chance of being the leaders of the Disc that Agê required. Tracia tried to joke, but it was clear that it was inappropriate. None of them wanted to be leaders of the Disc, all of them were happy enough in the lives they had found over the many years of their existence to that point, but they were reluctantly filling a void that they were sure their Vodun would appreciate. And it was Tracia who had roped them all into it, called Pultine back from the Earther realm, brought Ahdis up from the Deep, and navigated the Rocky Forests to find Lorv, asking them to bring an order that would allow the Disc to function as naturally as it does without unnecessary casualties. 

“It’s good practice,” Tracia said with more confidence. “We must channel the Azizas of the Disc of Jo, the embodiments of Force, Light, and Spirit. The calabash says that we must become embodiments of our powers and the fate of the Fonlands will depend on it. Pultine is the embodiment of light, I embody fractured light with sharp edges, Ahdis hardens light, she embodies the force to compress it, and Lorv, you embody the connection between life and death, the death flame. We will live long lives before we reach recession, and we will have many experiences to hone our abilities. This is one of those opportunities. Lorv, use the full force of your abilities to tame the Canis in the overlap. It is important that you do it alone. There are stories of my feats in the jungle, Pultine’s in the forests, Ahdis’s in the Deep. Your strong reputation bolsters us all. If you cannot do it alone, Pultine will help you stealthily. This is the work of the Supremes and we will do it thoroughly and efficiently.”

“That’s not why we’re here, is it?” Ahdis asked with obvious disappointment. “Is that the only reason we meet now? To plot on doing the dirty work Agê doesn’t want to do herself so she can maintain the perception that she doesn’t meddle in the lives of the dwellers of her Disc?”

All of the mmoatia are silent for a moment before Tracia laughs and looks to Pultine.

“Hearing yourself from another stunned you to silence?”

They all laughed at this. 

“There are some things that should not be said aloud,” Pultine said to Ahdis when they had recovered from their laughter. “We love our mother and we serve at her pleasure because she is the land that made us, but our Vodun worries more than the other Vodun and she has to be sure that everything is thriving. And we do not complain, sisters. We serve at the pleasure of our maker.”

They all giggled as they nodded solemnly. 

“Planning intervention against the Canis is not the reason we are here,” Tracia said. “I didn’t even know about that until you all arrived. No, we’re here to enjoy the company of one another. I made this space as a refuge from all of this stuff that we seemingly can’t avoid discussing. I want to know about you, not the work you are doing. Ahdis, how is Gabriel?”

Ahdis’s brow shifted up and she smiled. “He is as strong as ever. The empire is steady growing. Have any of you heard of Purple Mysticisms? It is some flower that Gabriel presented to me and I swear that it produces Divine Essence, but it is from some planet in that realm.”

“The Mysticisms are aptly named,” Lorv said. “Wielar swears that they are from the Fonlands as well, and the mystics of Fytor are so skilled in arcana that it is possible they have some way of tapping into the power of the Fonlands.”

“The Mystics source their power from Outer Spacetime…” Tracia was saying casually until Lorv laughed to interrupt her. 

“Sure, Outer Spacetime.” Lorv shook her head and the conversation continued among her sisters, but she thought about the promise she’d made to the disembodied leader of the mystics deep in their temple when she was last on the planet Rycoia. She had been on a ship that was catching up to the deep space exploration of the planet-sized ship, Top. In her time as the Supreme Explorer of Endla, Lorv had become a sort of political figure who facilitated trade between the planets she discovered, and she was on a planet in the same solar system as Rycoia but still very far away from it, helping to coordinate trade routes and to create artificial warp ways to reduce transport times. She often left Top in the command of Wielar while she took a small ship to these meetings, and as she was passing Rycoia on her way to rejoin her mothership, there was a malfunction in her engine and she crash landed on Rycoia completely unharmed. She knew after her encounter with them that the malfunction of her ship was the meddling of the mystics who had shown a religious interest in her, and she soon heard the voice of the disembodied leader of the mystics. The mystic told Lorv secrets that she swore never to divulge and she will not even reveal the reason that she decided to keep these secrets, though that is significant and gnaws at her as she enjoys the company of her sister. But Lorv knows that the Purple Mysticism of Rycoia are the first Fonlanders to ever exist in Universe Prime 5 and they have the potential to give the mystics considerable arcane power.

“Lorv,” Pultine said aggressively when Lorv shook away her distant recollection. “What are you lost in your mind about?”

Lorv sharpened her eyes at Pultine. “It’s not polite to invade another’s mind, big sister.”

“I was doing no such thing,” Pultine protested. “But what have we to hide from one another?”

“We all carry our secrets,” Ahdis said, sneering at Pultine. “Why are you probing her?”

“I said that I wasn’t, I only saw her distracted while we were laughing and talking and I asked her why she was distracted. I didn’t have to read her mind to notice it. But we can let it go. I’m sorry, Lorv, I didn’t mean to be rude. But you did just miss Tracia’s embarrassing sex story about Metatron.”

“That was a very tender moment that we shared,” Tracia said with a look of confusion and protest on her face. “It was not embarrassing. You are so prudish, Pultine, you can only talk about love making when you’re intoxicated at the Neon.”

They all laugh and their time together is restorative for them all. But Pultine wonders about Lorv’s secret.