Chapter 41:

Chapter 41: Tantrums are the only way for babies to tell you what they want.



To those aware of the nature of the Divine but not aware of our relationship with the Divine, an unborn god's tantrums make no sense, and it is true for they are nonsense, Divine Nonsense at that.

A tantrum from an unborn Eldar is a scream, an extremely powerful and obscenely natural scream and I had a similar one shortly after birth when I killed my own father. Eldar children are perfectly capable and willing to kill at birth if provoked and sometimes before it and this is why Eldar parents are extremely delicate with their children during pregnancy and shortly afterwards, for our gifts are with us since before birth and we can still act even if we do not know the result of our actions.

The Empire of Ten Million Stars is a nursery for the Princedoms and other lesser types of Empires as well as the Divine, and like always it is pregnant with the Divine not yet named Slaanesh and she very much wants me and my siblings dead, and she wants us dead because we've aborted her five times and on her sixth attempt at birth we've mutilated and maimed her, for Slaanesh was not meant to be born a Chaos God. Without our interference she would have been born as a normal Eldar Goddess and The Great Wheel would have lost its capacity to sustain life for it.

An Eldar Goddess eating our Pantheon and turning us into a Monotheistic species was not something anyone wanted, which is why she was first aborted and no Divine wanted to eat her, lest they risk getting a combination of Domains that would gain them complete Dominion over our species. If Slaanesh were to have been allowed to be born properly then the entire Eldar Species would have turned under her sway and we would have spread Boredom to the rest of the galaxy or killed everything in it trying to find any emotion that could banish it, then we would have died ourselves when we could not find any new means of keeping the disease at bay.

Her being infested by the Trash known as Chaos was far less destructive than allowing her to be born naturally or worse, spread the disease to the other eldar gods, for while Chaos is technically more powerful in a straight fight than a normal Eldar Goddess, when the Pantheon sets its mind properly to it the Warp and its denizens are not an issue. And besides, it was hoped that Chaos might neutralize Boredom in time which is why we first thought of it and only did it because we confirmed it would half-way work.

Boredom would be killed by Chaos if given enough time, but Slaanesh would still remain able to attack the vulnerabilities in our soul that made that Virus so dangerous, which was barely an improvement but barely any improvement was better than none.

Slaanesh knows this too, she knows what we did to it and she knows that we still deny her a chance at life and now she knows that I've managed to find a cure to the virus that maligns her and more importantly she knows that even if we cared to remove Chaos from her soul and distribute the cure in such a way that it would allow her birth to not infect us all, she would still need to be killed for she is an unwanted child and it is Hoeth's duty to look over the most Gifted and the Unwanted.

She knows nobody wants her, and she knows my Murderous Medicine is one of the few ways we can ensure her death does not fully doom us all, and she knows what I am and what my Siblings did to her and she wishes me dead personally for it, which is why she will shout in my general direction and kick me in anger.

A tantrum is better known by other species as a Warp Storm, for her cries break reality and the most common description of when Reality and the Warp become one is known as a Warp Storm. Thankfully, I won't be attacked by Daemons for she has none yet and the other Three Trash Heaps can't send any, for we keep our general area clean of trash, but there are other things that can fall from the Warp into Reality and the breaking of Reality is a dangerous things by itself as the worst thing that will come from it are Eldar because Reality is filled with them.

A kick on the other hand is pretty straightforward, no reality breaking, no nonsense, no creatures beyond the veil or any other type of shenanigans, for Slaanesh will try her best to beat the shit out of me in a single act of Divine Violence she will inflict on my soul.

A kick is simpler to survive than a tantrum, but a tantrum is easier to survive than a kick, both of them at the same time can kill worlds and I have to survive this nonsense. It's...doable, but only barely.

Speaking of tantrums how does one delay it? I do not know how other races would do it, but for an eldar that's done by abusing Divine Edicts related to child rearing, more specifically the ones related to reincarnation, for Slaanesh is back for the sixth time now, which means they definitely apply to her.

The Divine edicts I'm rightfully abusing are three in number.

The first edict speaks of how Eldar parents are to ignore the fact that an Eldar is an old soul, which I am doing religiously and so is Slaanesh, for it is not something any of us wishes to acknowledge.

The second edict speaks of how Eldar parents are to treat children as children, and to accept their status as parent and the exact minutia of it. What I need from it is how to deal with an unreasonable child, which explicitly states that I can ignore their nonsense for a limited amount of time to let them acclimatize to their new life.

The third is more complicated, for it relates to what I can best describe as a strike system. Children are allowed their peculiarities and some idiosyncrasies from their past lives can be forgiven, but they only get 10 strikes before parents can rightfully decide if they can kill the baby and the baby is not told of it naturally.

By combining them, it allows me to treat her desire to brutalize my soul into non-existence as something I need time to think about if this makes her an unfilial daughter or not and I can't do that if I'm dead, which gives me time to plot and prepare.

Slaanesh is not meant to be able to cause Warp Storms, remember what we did to her or beat the shit out of us until she is born and becomes an adult, but she does and is doing it. I can ignore her tantrum and attempt at kicking me for a bit to give myself time to decide if this is a breach of her Masquerade or if she's being an unfilial daughter, for what she is trying to do is not what an unborn daughter is meant to do.

When I was born she had six strikes left, she used one on me when a follower of Cegorach let slip the name Hoeth on the World of a Thousand Names and Slaanesh threw a Tantrum when she noticed I existed there, bringing her down to five. She's about to be down to three, because a kick and a tantrum are each a separate action and for some reason she really hates me.

I don't know why, for I haven't Done anything to cause her to hate me personally like this yet, as I am the youngest Older Brother and by far the least dangerous, and yet my existence insults her on such a fundamental level she is willing to lose her best weapon against the Followers of Hoeth to kill me, because once she loses the ability to openly contest our presence and plots in the Empire, so many delicious options become available to us.

As for my status as the failed abortion's parent or better said caretaker? The Followers of Hoeth have been trying to get this pregnancy going just right for close to a Million years, so Hoeth might as well be her father for how much he and us planned her existence and death. As he is dead now, it is up to the Older Brothers and Older Sisters to take up the mantle of handling one very precocious little bastard daughter that nobody wants, not even us.

The Gods are bastards and have us do all the work for them as always, but I'll forgive them, for I know they mean well and their hands are tied.

"Master, it is good to see you, are you still pranking your wives?" My second apprentice asked.

He wore his normal black robes with white flower patterns on them but I could see that something did not fit in them and it took me three heartbeats to spot it. The one on his heart is missing, my friend had Forsaken his clan and his children support his decision.

'Why did he do that? I went out of my way to give them a chance to escape and sent my own daughter to ensure my friend and his extended family get the chance to run, either here or off this world.' I thought in annoyance.

No matter, they are not my problem anymore.

I was sitting on a very comfortable white pillow and my comfortable white robes on orders of my wife to rest for a day before resuming my duties and now my apprentice joined me as he stood on a pillow in front of me. We use pillows for the under-scales of the sirens are sensitive despite looking the same as the others and they love something soft to coil around and I find them comfortable enough to use them or my bed to sit on.

The only thing separating us was a table with a tea set, and unfortunately it was not mint tea.

My second apprentice knows I won't sing for now and has been here for some time and has acclimated himself well, a bit too well in some respects but that is fine, better than fine truly.

"Yes lord Lanniar Narainn, I am still pranking my wives and preparing for some nonsense to hit me." I answered with a glimmer of amusement in my eyes.

My second apprentice managed to make himself a lord, for he has saved one hundred and four sirens in the five years before my daughter found him and he did so by guiding them to the safety of the sea where they could join the migratory waves.

The very grateful Sirens which were mainly exiles, the children of exiles or minor families which had found a very withdrawn place to settle in were all convinced by my apprentice to leave their homes and join the mighty realm of my Queen-Wife, and for that they decided to prank him by not revealing to any that they have decided to swear themselves to him until he came with my daughter in tow as they guarded the Orphans and their caretakers.

I may or may not have orchestrated the entire thing, but I do not think he knows that yet, for I am incredibly limited in my ability to communicate and act now and 80% of Eldar communication is done through soul speech or song, and as such a lot of the subtleties of Eldar speech is not something I can partake in.

A pity but I'll handle it.

"Am I lord if you arranged for it master?" He asked tiredly for the life a lord is not easy.

He now needs to look after those who call themselves his subjects and vassals, and this means he can no longer go swinging swords whenever, now he needs to plot and trick and make sure his people are happy. This is easily handled but now he has no time to do it.

"Lordship is earned through trickery, it doesn't say anywhere that the one that receives it has to be the one doing the tricking, and I checked extensively." I answered again.

The Eldar continue to make a mockery of rulership and I'd normally be annoyed by it, but I am too amused by the results of such to care. If he continues being tricked into leadership he might get the blessing of Asuryan too and that'll be a hilarious coincidence.

My apprentice sighed at that but nodded.

It has been a month since they've settled here on this island, for this Island was specially prepared to house Eldar and anti-gravity propulsion keeps it floating on the sea and it is for this reason that it exists for the area it's in was supposed to have been flooded.

"What now?" He asked again.

I had to think about it, for the situation was better in some cases and worse in others.

The gods do not want us to do certain strategies, for they have sent enough portents to make it clear that they want this world to continue having significant amounts of Eldar on it. There's more Siren here than I thought we would get and most of the cult's ability to plan has been destroyed for only one of their Princedoms remains standing as the rest have disintegrated, two by my hand and another by the Siren's wrath.

I would have preferred if there were no princedoms left, cultists or clan but I have three to be bothered by, as of the four clan princedoms only two remain standing. I can handle that part, the thing I truly need help with are the Orphanages.

"I need you to look after the Orphanages, not as a caretaker for that is too great a responsibility for now, but I need someone I trust to look over them and ensure the proper rituals are done and nobody is skimping on their duties and rituals, and I need this assurance for some Orphanages that have come here no longer follow them." I asked of him.

I was incredibly annoyed to find that out, for Orphanages are how my siblings and I coordinate across time and space and without them following proper ritual we can't use them to leave each other messages.

"Feels almost like busywork." He grumbled but did not deny me.

It was not, it was quite literally the most important work I could give someone that is not my family at this moment, because if the rituals are not completed and done properly I won't be able to coordinate properly with my siblings, and if that happens then I'm dead and I'll stay deader than dead, but I can't say that because the Divine do not know we're using Orphanages as our safe houses and if they find out then Slaanesh will find out and if she does then we lose any and all chances we have at winning. It took us too much time to make the Gods forget it and make sure they don't remember and if I sabotage Cegorach's work like that I doubt he'll forgive any of us.

I sighed back at him for this world makes one sigh too much.

"It is not, trust me that it is not, for it serves numerous roles and chief among them is that it gives those without a home some place to be, besides the rituals themselves are easy and 'First cut' will inform you of them and how to make sure the caretakers perform them properly." And it was true, for I and my siblings still had no home.

No follower of Hoeth had any, but if the Orphanage is dedicated properly we'll have one more house where our Older Brothers can come from.

He nodded at that and even I know he does not know the true importance of what his actions mean I am glad he is taking this seriously. His father was truly a lucky find, even if I don't know what those blasted words still mean. They are code for something, my siblings confirmed to me indirectly as such, but they won't tell me what they mean, only that if I hear them it means that something important is going on.

"It will also give you a chance to familiarize yourself with your new subjects as they'll certainly come to join their liege in helping the needy and make you and your family influential parts of the community that is forming on this island and it might even end up with some adoptions." I continued.

He knew he was being tricked somehow, even if he could not articulate how, and made sure I knew it from his facial expressions and yet he made no comment on it. I was still trying to make him a caretaker of the Orphanage dedicated to Hoeth and failing that a prince, so I needed to set the stage for either scenario, assuming he survived.

"I will do so master, but I have a favor to ask of you." My apprentice said.

"Ask it my apprentice, for you have earned plenty." I answered kindly.

Whatever favor he asked for would no doubt be easy to accomplish, as he has no way to ask of me something difficult and he's earned them even if he somehow manages to make me more work.

"Please stop trying to get me to marry your daughter, she is lovely but I'm not looking to get married." He asked of me.

I had to hide my amusement for my apprentice was still young and inexperienced and it's why he should be getting married, for that's what gives one the most experience in being an adult.

I smiled faintly at him as I spoke.

"Very well, but I am not stopping everyone else that's plotting it." I offered magnanimously.

He sighed again and knew he should have worded it better, but asking for another now in relation to the one he previously asked would be very rude and this time he has no reason for me not to get annoyed for such rudeness.

"Still an improvement master, for your plotting is the most dangerous." He said with a slight smile.

He was very wrong on that, for both he and my daughter had two other parents willing to plot and siblings and friends to help them with it while I was stuck unable to sing for the next 22 and a half months. If he truly wishes to remain unmarried I am the least of the threats he has to tackle at this moment for my plots are already in motion and now there's others to keep them running.

My daughters and wives may hate Eldar, but my family and adopted children know of my desires in regards to my apprentice and they'll continue this bit of trickery as a favor for me while I am unable to do so and they will do so for it will make their sister or daughter happy.

My apprentice wasted his favor, but that's fine for he has plenty still and soon they won't matter, for true family and friends do not care for favors as they aren't that important when compared to the love one has for the other. Favors are more just to keep the score anyway and the prize for this competition is love and trickery.

"You will regret those words my apprentice, and you'll realize how foolish they are after you will get married." I replied playfully.

"Hopefully it will be many decades if not centuries from now on." My apprentice hit back in the same tone.

He'll be having multiple children in 10 years and his family will ensure it, but I didn't have to worry about that nonsense from now, for I had something more important to bother with.

"Please contact my queen-wife, and tell her that once she finishes with talking with the Follower of Hoec bothering her that I need to talk with her and that I'll go play with my children after our conversation." I asked him.

I don't have enough time to play with them but considering this is my one free day I'll take before the tantrum hits I won't waste it. I'm sitting on this pillow in the open to receive any looking for an audience until noon, and afterwards I'll spend the rest of the day until Midnight with my lady-wife and giving my boys the full attention they need and they need plenty.

I'll have a lot to do until my siblings finish building my Tomb, such as building my alibi in front of the Divine Mandate as to how I'm not dead yet, for the only thing that can take the joy out of time nonsense is legal nonsense.

I saw someone I really did not wish to see today come greet me for an audience.

"Arrada Cossan, sister of my apprentice, I see they sent you this time." I said as I looked at the Follower of Cegorach on leave.

It was a joke as always, for Cegorach is a slave driver that never gives anyone leave from their duties. He merely assigns easier work and if that work is to repair their minds and bodies with rest then that's what they'll do. She was left here as a minder I can't just order to leave, for her being here are her orders and I can't complain about it.

It was a peace offering from me to Cegorach for not managing to get his own followers to stop bothering me and so I took a minder I have to look after and not merely suffer the presence of, and now the older nephews sent their youngest to talk.

"They ask me to ask you to reconsider Bessar Agail, their god's Mad plan and that of your siblings can't work and even if it does the consequences are too great." She said as she knelt on the pillow across me.

She did not bow, which meant she was very very confused as to what is happening.

"Have they told you my plans?" I asked after a short sip of tea from local leaves.

I didn't need to be calmed down from anger, I need strength to walk for I can feel the Divine Wrath coming for me without seeing it.

"No, but they told me to call you uncle." She answered blandly.

She was too young and untested to be told the full truth, which made sense, but it still didn't change much.

'This tea doesn't do the trick either.' I thought in annoyance.

I asked my Skin Walkers for the teas they know that calm the nerves and fear and they provided me with 7 blends. They tried their best as always but while they helped slightly it was not enough to get me more likely to put a foot in front of the other. This one was one of the few that did more than act as a placebo and it tasted as roses smell.

I would tell them it worked to keep them happy when I saw them next, for they're already feeling inadequate as a proper Eldar society is slowly forming and they find they are given more busywork than useful things to do.

"Tell your superiors that I am not doing as Cegorach and his siblings asked of me, I can't do it but I am laying the groundwork for someone to do it later." I answered, it was the truth and the only answer I could give.

"What is going on? In how much danger are we?" She asked with fire in her voice.

I am glad to see her so observant but she will not like the answer.

"My siblings are building my Tomb and they're doing good for I will need it, do with that information as you will." I answered emotionlessly.

She was suddenly very scared, which was the insufficient amount of fear she should be feeling.

I still can't muster the courage to lift myself up after all, as I've been trying for two hours but my legs won't budge. Seeing my children and queen-wife's orders will probably do the trick but they aren't in effect for now.

A hit that can extinguish stars is coming for my soul personally after all, so it would be very strange if I wasn't scared, which is good as it helps build my alibi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our charges continue to be frightened of something we cannot see, for their husband's antics are merely an excuse, we know this for it is obvious to any with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Leiam is currently overlooking one of our charges and her husband playing with their children and singing merry songs while Iameas is overseeing our other charge plotting with her ladies. We originally planned to both be looking over the safety of our charges' children but we decided their husband would do, especially as we were joined by his own guards.

"He is not merely pranking his wives is he?" The Skin Walker shaman asked in false-song.

He was the current head of Bessar Agail's bodyguards which was an hilarious thought to think of the man needing. If anything could threaten him on this world they wouldn't be of much help and if anything their presence would embolden others to attack him, but I suppose that was the reason he took them in, for our former Master's thirst for violence is hard to sate.

Bessar Agail gave us purpose and until we reached it he was to be our own Lord, but when we found our charges it is them that are now our Ladies and him their Husband and it is so by his final orders to us.

He did not introduce himself and we did not ask for his name but we liked him, for he spoke rarely and when he did his questions were not stupid and if only the other eleven guards would do the same things would be great.

"Unlikely, our former master plots and deceives as easy as he breathes and it is likely his wives are not the target of his machinations, merely targets of opportunity." I Iameas said.

I am not meant to be Iameas, Iameas is with our lady-queen, I am Leiam and I am glad that I can now notice it.

The people of our ladies are lovely and the love they shower us in helps, even if it is rare. Thankfully the kind women who first showered us with love try to earn our favor and help our fractured minds become whole again and chief among them is Saya-Abrisea. We don't know how this tricks us, as all Eldar develop a sense of when they're being tricked as they age and continue getting tricked, but we're grateful for it, for we've missed for someone to wish to trick us to our benefit.

"Do either of us stand a chance to make a difference when it comes for those we are to protect?" He asked again.

We thought of it, and no we did not. Anything that can scare Bessar Agail we have no chance against ,and we could see he was scared even if he was hiding it, for his movements were too sharp and words too clipped to not be scared.

The more focused on a task or singular action or fearful one becomes, the more clipped the movements and actions and thoughts of an Eldar become as our emotions went away and all that remained was the willingness to cut down whatever earned our attention. Our emotions are never truly gone, for that is we've been told one of our Master's Cures, but in those instances we merely do not acknowledge our emotions and act beyond them and we can see our former master acting like it.

"No, Bessar Agail kills princedoms with the same ease a Siren swims and Eldar cut, whatever can scare him is not something we can deal with." I answered.

He made a strange hiss which we found is their version of a snort. I found it cute, for it sounded like a whispered death rattle.

"Won't stop us from trying and shooting whatever wants to harm him." He answered and those were his final words for the day.

We liked him and it is a pity his people don't live much beyond 60 for they are smart and pleasant individuals for their age but they live too little.

"I would expect nothing else." I sang with a smile.

Another hiss met me.

None of us care much for our chances it seems, we either succeed or die trying and either way it's us that's dying before our charges.

Noon turned into afternoon and the afternoon turned into night and our lady-queen joined into the child rearing and Iameas joined us in our vigil.

At midnight Bessar Agail stiffly left after kissing his wives and youngest children and the Skin Walkers went with him to wherever he went.

We entered the room as he left, for he was enough defense for whatever could harm him or his family while inside, but when he left we now needed to be near our charges.

We said nothing as we entered and went to our posts on opposite sides of the room, one to the left of the bed and the other to the right and waited for something to happen or to be spoken to until morning.

Our charges awoke, their children yet slept.

'Iameas, Leiam I wish for you to stand with our children as we go about our duties. "Our lady-queen asked of us in song.

"We will, what is going on?" We asked.

They both looked startled by the question, we did not ask a question of them since we met for there was nothing we needed to know, and if there was they would tell us. We could see she was saddened by something, her and her sister-wife and we knew not what of, but whatever it was was probably what scared their husband and that meant trouble.

"Our husband's siblings are building our husband a tomb, we do not wish for him to die and yet it seems likely." She said in song.

Oh… So that's what they were doing, we were wondering about that and I guess that explains it.

"I pity whatever plans to enter it then." I said as one but left it that.

They looked confused at us as we spoke and we realized that they are not Eldar, so they do not know what Eldar Tombs are.

Tombs are meant for the dead to rest in, this is true for most of the galaxy after all, but Eldar Tombs are meant to also keep whatever tries to disturb the dead there to suffer, for the dead are lonely and they wish for company and what better company could the dead have than the screams of their killers? The screams of whoever dares save them is a close second but it does not match it.

As for Bessar Agail dying? As if that ever mattered to an Eldar, for we are above such.

The children woke up and started crying, and we decided to try to help calm them down, for that was more important than our former lord deciding to make his Tomb.