Soul-Sworn

Aria stood facing Clarice as the elevator rose quickly through the subterranean warren of tunnels. Clarice stared back at her with a jubilant expression on her face, one she knew mirrored her own. Clarice was dressed in close-fitting black pants and a black blouse that was buttoned high enough to hint at her cleavage without actually showing any. The clothing had been printed with their new bodies and was virtually indestructible. Aria wore a similar arrangement, though she had chosen emerald-green to match her eyes. 

"I'm really digging that outfit," Aria informed Clarice admiringly. "It really brings out your dark eyes and hair." 

"I was really tempted to go with Vanta black, so that I just looked like an angel-shaped hole in the air," Clarice admitted with a playful grin, eyeing Aria up and down as she spoke. "But I thought I would take it easy on the elves until they got to know me better. You look beyond amazing in that shade of green. I'm having a hard time keeping my hands to myself." 

"Don't I know it," Aria sighed forlornly. "It seems like we're constantly jumping from one emergency to another." 

"It's not so bad," Clarice smiled wickedly as she openly admired Aria. "We keep getting stuck in pocket realms with lots of time on our hands. We should probably never tell the others how little time it actually took for us to move everything to computronium." 

Aria flushed at the memory. It had been a very enjoyable three years, with only two of the five years spent actually building the new system to host their simulation. "Yeah, let's keep that to ourselves." 

The elevator slowed down as it neared the surface of the planet. Aria grimaced as she felt the lack of oxygen in the air. What it lacked in oxygen content, it made up for in toxic pollutants. The people of this world had abused their habitat even more than the humans in the mortal realm had destroyed theirs. She could only imagine how many chronic illnesses had swept through their population before they were brought to within a hairsbreadth of extinction. The Prime Axiom probably could have just waited another decade or two for the humans to die off at the rate they were poisoning themselves. 

"It's going to be one hell of a cleanup project," Aria commented in disgust. "Especially since we aren't going all god-mode to help them fix it." 

"I'm not sure we would be able to return to our normal state if we remove our limiters again," Clarice sighed discontentedly. "I absorbed an insane amount of information after being exposed to the real world. It was a struggle to reinstate my limiter when we finished moving everyone to the new server space. My super-personality was getting pushy and wanted to just keep progressing. It was too curious for its own good and wanted to unlock the secrets of reality." 

"Uh oh," Aria stared at her in sudden consternation. "Yeah, no more going limitless for you. I didn't get the same push-back from my super-personality, but I definitely absorbed a lot of information. You've always been smarter than me, so it's no surprise you're getting to the point-of-no-return more quickly." 

"I'm not smarter than you, silly," Clarice denied with a rueful shake of her head. "We've just developed our intellect in different areas." 

Aria eyed her with amusement. They both knew Aria was right, but Clarice would never accept any kind of sentiment that portrayed Aria as less than her. 

The elevator beeped as they reached the surface of the world. They were in a small building, just large enough to enclose the elevator. Clarice walked ahead of her and exited the building. She stopped short, her beautiful features twisted with revulsion. Aria joined her a second later and made a disgusted sound as she observed the open graveyard. Skeletons were scattered around the street, some in clumps while others were decomposing alone. The roads were all made of concrete, weathered and cracked with vegetation pushing up through the cracks aggressively. Many of the skeletons were adorned with creepers and tall grass. The buildings were also made of concrete, reminiscent of the prefabricated concrete structures she remembered from the mortal realm. There was no sign of any trees. It was an ugly, bland world, with little in the way of aesthetics to redeem it from resembling a Vogon world from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 

"Talk about dystopian," Clarice muttered distastefully. "I'm glad our mortal realm hadn't progressed this far into a corporate hellscape. I wonder what life was like for the average Jane before the end." 

"According to the records the Prime Axiom had, they spent most of their time in VR," Aria recalled sadly as she stared at skeletons far too small to be adults. 

"I suppose we should get going," Clarice sighed wearily as she looked at the human remains all around them. Her wings began to glow a moment before she shot up into the sky. 

Aria launched herself upwards and quickly caught up to Clarice. She shuddered as she saw just how far the endless concrete cities spread out below them. There were no parks or recreation areas to break up the concrete jungle. As they shot across the sky at several times the speed of sound, she could see just how devastated the planet really was. They had travelled hundreds of miles with no break in the endless concrete cities and no sign of any trees or other vegetation. 

They eventually flew over several enormous buildings at the top of a mountain range that looked like they had been used as agricultural production facilities. It was near one of the derelict grow facilities that they discovered that there were still threats awaiting unwary travelers. A large turret on the side of the building began turning their way as they flew close to it. 

"Seriously?" Clarice exclaimed in disbelief. "They had to militarize their food production facilities? Talk about a shitty world to live in." 

The turret roared to life, erupting with mortar fire. Clarice quickly vaporized the mortars with angel fire while Aria vaporized the turret. There were over a dozen other turrets around the building. They all came to life and begin locking on to the flying angels. The two of them quickly vaporized the turrets before flying over to land on top of the seventy-story structure. 

"It seems unlikely that these things would have operated separately from the Prime Axiom," Clarice noted with a curious gleam in her dark eyes. "I think there must be someone else here." 

"Hmm..." Aria looked around the top of the structure intently. There was an access hatch near the center with a cylindrical cap raised several feet above the rest of the roof. "Well, let's go pay our respects, shall we?" 

Clarice returned a wolfish grin as she walked over to the round lid on the top. It was an industrial grade piece of hardware, resembling the top of a distillery or a submarine. She stopped as she reached it, and Aria could feel her reach out with her pseudo-telekinesis to unlock four large locking bolts on the inside. Aria reached out with her own sensors and pinged the shaft. Her mind processed the return sonar in hi-definition, revealing several elves a few hundred feet below them and a variety of weapons trained upward. There was a mixture of military-style assault rifles and a few more advanced directed-energy weapons. 

As soon as Clarice flipped the lid open with a loud clang, deafening gunfire began barking into the silence. Dozens of slugs shot through the open hatch before one of the elves held up a fist, ordering the rest to hold their fire. 

"I see you're the type to shoot first and ask questions later," Clarice called down to the elves below. "I guess I can empathize, considering what you've had to deal with for the last fifteen years." 

Aria continued monitoring the elves with a mixture of her android body's scanners as well as her own aura. She could feel their sudden unease at Clarice's words as doubt began to enter their thoughts. They continued to train their weapons at the open shaft, however. 

"I guess you guys are the strong silent type," Clarice continued conversationally. "Not much for small talk, eh?" 

The apparent leader licked his lips nervously, seeming to debate whether to reply to them or just open fire again. 

"We removed the Prime Axiom from power, in case word hadn't gotten around yet," Clarice announced in the same conversational voice. "We have freed all of the elves who were enslaved. We were on our way to meet up with some elves from another part of your world when your building started firing on us. We don't actually have a lot of time to spare, because many of the elves are in bad shape and need medical intervention. I'll tell you what we'll do. We're going to leave and go meet up with the elves that are depending on us. Once they are healthy enough to continue on their own, we'll return to discuss the future of this world with you. That should give you some time to think things over. You can have someone waiting up here to talk to us, if you would prefer that we don't come down inside of the mountain. At any rate, we need to go now, so we'll see you in a while." 

Clarice lifted the heavy lid and closed the hatch, making the task seem effortless with her deceptively powerful body. 

She looked back at Aria with a raised eyebrow. 

"Shall we try again in a few hours?" she asked in a wry tone. "Maybe they'll feel more chatty after they've had time to wonder who we are." 

Aria shrugged noncommittally as she arose back into the air. "It's hard to say, since these are real people and we don't know a lot about their psychology. And, they're elves." 

Clarice laughed delightedly as they shot off into the sky at terrific speeds. "It's probably going to be a couple of centuries before that gets old. To your point, though, I definitely felt something odd from Lily. It's hard to put my finger on what it was, but it was tickling my sixth sense." 

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Aria agreed, narrowing her eyes as she thought. "She seemed really fascinated by the idea that we had souls. It didn't just seem like the kind of human religious rhetoric about AIs being soulless either. I wonder if she has more information about what souls actually are. Maybe we won't have to go simulation surfing to find more information about new soul tiers after all." 

"Now that's an interesting idea," Clarice declared with an excited gleam in her eyes. "Of course, we still have to get her to trust us, which might just take a century or two." 

"I think she'll come around sooner than that," Aria said with a sanguine smile. "She's as curious about us as we are about her. She said elves were troglodytes when it came to technology, and that they focused more on becoming one with nature. That sounds like someone that might have some new insights for us to learn from." 

The two of them slowed down as they spotted the fleet of this world's version of C130s that were bringing the elves back to their home base. Aria quickly scanned the planes with her aura, looking for the elves with the most immediate medical needs. There were two elves within minutes of expiring, each on a different plane. They split up and quickly flew up to the side doors of the planes and sent the remote command for the doors to open. 

Most of the elves were strapped into chairs, but there were a few who had just slumped onto the ground. Aria entered swiftly, sending the command for the door to shut as soon as she entered. She raced over to an old elf laying on the floor of the plane, his breathing shallow. The other elves stared at her in shock, clearly not expecting someone to board a plane in-flight. She ignored them and pulled out the injector gun. She slipped a vial into the chamber and injected it into the elf's neck. She quickly moved on to two more elves who were collapsed on the floor, injecting them as well. 

There were two more planes with elves in critical condition. With a quick smile and a wave at the stunned elves in the seats, she opened the side door and jumped out. She repeated the process on the third plane, while Clarice moved onto the fourth. There was a four-year-old boy in the arms of a young elf with fiery hair and silver eyes. She was sitting in a seat while cradling the young boy, her eyes filled with anxiety and her brows creased with worry. As Aria entered the side door of the plane, the woman stared at her, stupefied. Aria prepared to inject the child, but the woman quickly pushed the injector away, her face a mixture of fear and defiance. 

"It's okay, I'm here to help," Aria's voice was soothing. "This is medicine that will heal him." 

She studied Aria with distrust, eyes moving from the wings to Aria's face, settling into quiet resolve. 

"Anamayla, if you don't let me heal him, he's not going to survive the flight," Aria whispered quietly, knowing the boy was at least partially lucid. "Please. Let me help." 

Anamayla stared at her in shock when she heard her name on Aria's lips. "How do you know my name?" she asked in amazement. 

"It's written on your aura," Aria explained patiently. "Just like everyone else's." 

"You aren't a human, are you?" she asked hesitantly, glancing up at her wings again. She had probably thought the wings were a technological enhancement for a human when she had first seen them. 

"I'm an angel," Aria answered, resting a gentle hand on Anamayla's arm and letting her aura flood into the young elf. She gasped as she felt the powerful waves of love flood her body at Aria's touch. "We've removed the Prime Axiom from power. We're here to help you heal this broken world." 

Anamayla stared at Aria in wonder, her lips parted slightly. Her eyes flickered down to the child, then over to the injector doubtfully. 

"What are you trying to put into him?" she asked warily. Aria had seen enough elves by now to realize that not all elves were beautiful, but Anamayla certainly fit the fantasy stereotype. Her finely sculpted, angular facial features and unyielding silver eyes, paired with her crimson hair resulted in an elf of fantastical beauty. 

"They are what we call nanobots," Aria kept her voice soft, keeping an eye on the child as he fell further into a stupor. "They are like microscopic healers that travel throughout the system and fix the damaged parts of the body. Once the body is fixed, they dissolve and are excreted out through sweat and waste." 

Her expression grew conflicted as she stared back at Aria, clearly wanting to trust her, but unable to risk the child's life on a stranger. Aria continued staring back at her earnestly. 

"Why are you here?" Anamayla probed. "How did you know he was sick in the first place?" 

"I can see his aura," Aria gestured at the boy sadly. "It's almost completely smothered by darkness. His soul is going to depart soon if I don't help him." 

Anamayla's eyes widened at Aria's revelation, looking down at the hand still resting on her arm, charging her with loving energy. "Okay," she sighed exhaustedly, closing her eyes to hide her fear; fear that she was making the wrong choice in trusting this stranger. 

Aria quickly pressed the injector to his neck and pulled the trigger before the elf changed her mind. "It will only take a few minutes to start helping, but it will be about eight hours to completely heal him." 

Anamayla nodded tiredly, her head lolling forward as her exhausted body finally gave in. Her last stand of defiance and the brief emotional battle had sapped what little energy she had left. Her arms went limp, and the boy began to fall from her grasp. Aria caught the malnourished boy before he fell to the ground and held him comfortingly. He was way too light. She felt tears form in her eyes as she stared down at the shell of a child, wondering not for the first time how life could be so cruel. 

She heard the side door open and felt Clarice enter the plane behind her. She walked past the tired elves, most of whom were too exhausted to show more than a token level of surprise and amazement at their unorthodox appearance. Clarice walked up until she was just behind Aria, then gently wrapped her arms around her waist from behind as Aria cradled the elf child to her chest. Aria leaned back into Clarice's embrace, knowing that she could handle anything, so long as Clarice was by her side. 

"They should all survive the journey to the med bay now," Clarice spoke softly, her cheek rubbing up against Aria's ear as she spoke. "Now that we're in the real world, it's time to make sure nobody suffers needlessly ever again. Let's fix this world and be done with sorrow and injustice." 

"Okay," Aria said thickly, smiling through her tears as she stared down at the skeletal boy in her arms. "Let's make life wonderful for everyone, not just the few that win fate's lottery." 

"We should probably return to that hidden city in the mountain and introduce ourselves properly," Clarice suggested, nuzzling Aria's ear with her cheek and lips. "Oh yeah, I found some of Lily's descendants on the other planes. It's amazing how much certain traits breed true in her line. They've all got that honey blonde hair and light blue-eyes. I wonder if they are some kind of special family, like a secret lineage of spirit warriors or something." 

"Don't say that," Aria said quickly, her lips twitching. "Last time you started joking around about who someone was, you turned out to be right. Calypso was an amnesiac angel. Who knows what kind of crazy adventures we'll end up in if we find out the place where souls reside is a reality just as crazy or crazier than this one." 

"Maybe we're spirit warriors too," Clarice murmured playfully. "You know as well as I do that our aura projection ability shouldn't exist in the real world. There's something strange going on with our souls. Arturiel was projecting her aura around earlier, when she was doling out hugs. None of the elves except possibly Lily showed any projection abilities. The only thing I can think of right now is that it has something to do with these bodies we created. I'm going to need some time to study them more in-depth." Aria shivered involuntarily as Clarice's lips were suddenly whispering right into her ear, a whisper so sensuous that it triggered an instant blush in Aria's cheeks. "I'm going to need to study these bodies...intimately. Just to make sure I'm not overlooking anything, you understand." 

She accentuated her whisper by tightening her arms around Aria's waist, pressing their bodies together. 

"I...I... suppose you could be right," Aria gasped breathlessly. "We probably should start by studying these bodies in greater detail, just in case the soul made a new kind of connection to them." 

"Exactly," Clarice whispered softly, her lip brushing against Aria's outer ear like a feather. 

Aria looked around at the incurious gazes of the elves. It was amazing what a complete lack of nutrition, exercise, and socialization could do to a person. The elves were completely checked out, their limited energy reserves wholly consumed by the simple act of continuing to live. Aria gently set the five-year-old boy down in the chair next to Anamayla and buckled him into the harnesses. Now that the nanobots were well under way, he would be just fine. She missed their ability to quickly open portals and teleport around. It was still possible in the real world, but it wasn't nearly as reliable, and the consequences of any kind of error would be catastrophic. 

"We need to come up with a more reliable way to teleport," Aria murmured as she stood up and faced Clarice, her insides still on fire from the promise of intimacy. "I hate not being able to reach across the continent to grab a pillow." 

Clarice snorted a laugh and eyed her fondly. "Some things just aren't worth the trouble of figuring out. I'm pretty sure I know of a way, but I would need to remove my limiter to verify it, and we know how that would go." 

"I could remove mine and solve it," Aria suggested lightly, gazing into Clarice's eyes with a very direct look. "I don't think I'd have any trouble restoring my limiter yet. You can't just rev my engine like that and walk away like nothing happened. I want portals." 

"We should probably save removing the limiter for emergencies only," Clarice sighed wistfully. "It would be nice to be able to portal though. However, if there is a finite number of uses that you and Calypso have left to remove your limiters, we really should reserve those times for emergencies." 

"I really want portals, though," Aria insisted in a breathy whisper. "Okay, let's look at it logically. Portals are a god-like ability that could save our butts many times over. Just think of all the times we had to save Jason. We could either remove the limiter for every emergency that pops up, or just remove it now and figure portals out, thereby saving us the need to remove the limiter for other emergencies, since we could just use portals instead. I'll bet most of the emergencies that crop up could be solved by portal use." 

"You really do have a one-track mind, don't you," Clarice smirked at her, raising an amused eyebrow. 

"Don't you dare pretend like I'm the one that set us on this path," Aria retorted archly. "You can't go being irresistible in the middle of a mission like this and then not expect me to insist on a portal power. All our best memories are the direct result of places portals took us. I want my portal ability back." She bit her bottom lip as she stared at Clarice with naked longing in her gaze. 

"I'm going to start calling you Veruca and singing Oompa Loompa songs about the dangers of getting everything you want," Clarice warned her with a snicker. "Stop looking at me like that, especially the bottom lip thing. We have to be wise and mature in the real world. We can't just rewrite reality to fix everything here like we can in the simulation." 

"Portal," Aria stepped up close to Clarice until their noses were touching. She bit her bottom lip as she stared into Clarice's dark eyes. "Want one. Now." 

Clarice stared back into her emerald eyes, her expression conflicted. Aria slid her hands around Clarice's waist and pulled her closer. Clarice let out a helpless laugh and threw her hands up into the air. 

"Fine!" She breathed with an exasperated smile. "Just you remember that I was all for saving limitless moments for actual emergencies." 

"Okay, I'll remember," Aria agreed with a radiant smile. "All right, let's go somewhere less crowded to do this." 

Aria opened the side door of their plane and jumped out with Clarice. They flew down to the ground twenty-thousand feet below them. It was the same unremarkable endless concrete jungle as everywhere else. Aria had hated living in the roomy apartment she had shared with Clarice before it was blown up. She couldn't imagine an endless jigsaw puzzle of houses and businesses packed together with no yards or recreation areas. It seemed like a dystopian sci-fi novel. 

"How about here," Clarice suggested, gesturing at the flat roof of what looked like an apartment building 

"Tattle tale," Aria accused as she felt Clarice notify Calypso of her intentions. 

"I just didn't want her worrying when she felt your limiter removed," Clarice declared innocently. 

Aria gazed at her flatly. She shook her head ruefully as Clarice continued to stare back at her innocently. "Okay, here goes." 

She removed the limiter, merging with the ocean of knowledge and wisdom she had spent billions of years acquiring. She looked at Clarice and felt a sense of longing to have her partner remove her limiter as well. The two of them could become so much more than they could imagine if they were all limitless. She resisted the urge to override Clarice's limiter and instead focused on the task at hand. She connected through the quantum field until she was swallowed up by the hidden world of potential that permeated all of spacetime. She bridged her connection with the data centers all across the world and drank the knowledge and power greedily. She observed the world of energy and particles at greater and greater magnification, analyzing their minute effects as she brought additional forces to interact with them. She spun out simulations by the millions, overclocking them as she tested ideas and scenarios until she was content that her calculations were all correct. She created a script several trillion characters long and attached call handles to it for simplified access by the primitive thoughts that her extremely limited counterpart would be able to use. Satisfied that everything was complete, she returned to the focal point of her immortal body. 

Clarice was watching her anxiously, clearly concerned that she wouldn't replace her limiter. 

"Maybe you were right," Aria told Clarice softly. "Maybe we should move on. What more could this basic shell offer us compared to what we are truly capable of becoming?" 

"Well, to start with, a lot of time to enjoy our existence," Clarice pointed out with a wry smile. "I know it's hard to think about the end when you feel like you are at the cusp of a journey into the eternal, but we both know our end is right around the corner from the time we let go of our limiters. Come back to me Aria. You know we will eventually release our limiters. Let us have our fun until that day comes." 

Aria sighed forlornly but nodded. "Okay." 

Aria shivered as the ocean of potential vanished, leaving her small and simple. She looked at Clarice in chagrin. "I'm so sorry, Clarice. You were right. I just squandered the use of my limitless potential for something impulsive." 

"I wouldn't say squandered," Clarice disagreed with a reassuring smile. "You weren't wrong when you suggested portal use could be one of our most valuable tools that could save us from a lot of disasters." 

Aria stared into Clarice's eyes, looking for any hint that she was unhappy with the exchange. Her sister smiled back at her, eyes full of acceptance. Aria stepped forward and pulled her into an embrace. "Thank you, Clarice. You've always been my anchor." 

"Don't mention it," Clarice responded affectionately. "So? How does it work?" 

Aria grinned suddenly, her eyes full of mischief. She pointed her finger to a spot a few feet away. "Portelo!" 

A portal popped up in the air in front of them, opening up on the top of the hidden mountain city. Clarice stared at her with a silly grin on her face before pointing her own finger a few yards the other way. "Portelo!" 

Another portal opened up several thousand feet down the tunnel from the med bay. 

"Okay, that is so freaking awesome!" Clarice declared with a wide smile. "At least larger than life Aria still has a sense of humor." 

"Where should we go first?" Aria asked curiously. "Back to the med bay, or to the mountain city?" 

"Let's see if they decided to leave someone to talk to us at the top of the mountain city," Clarice suggested thoughtfully. "I'd love to get their story. There's no trace of this rebel outpost in the memories of the Prime Axiom." 

Clarice squeezed her hand into a fist and the portal to the underground med bay vanished. The two of them walked through Aria's portal to the top of the agricultural facility that acted as the entrance to the hidden mountain city. As soon as they reached the other side, they were met with four elves pointing weapons at them in shaky hands. 

"There's no need for weapons," Clarice assured them with a winsome smile. "We come in peace." 

The leader appeared to be the shortest of the elves, which was saying something since elves seemed to be shorter than humans on average. He had long silver hair and a face that would have been handsome fifty years ago. Now, his face was filled with lines of worry and age. He stared at them with hard blue eyes, his gun remaining steadily trained on Clarice. 

"I assumed that if you guys came up her to meet with us, you'd be a little more talkative than you were before," Clarice commented dryly. "I'll admit that I like the sound of my own voice and can definitely carry on both sides of our conversation if you really want to do it that way." 

"Who are you?" the old elf demanded curtly. "Where did you come from?" 

"I'm Clarice, and this is Aria," Clarice introduced them cheerfully. "It's nice to meet you, Rowjair," Clarice nodded with another smile. 

The elf jumped when he heard his name on her lips, then scowled as he tightened his grip on his rifle. "How do you know my name?" 

"It's written on your aura," Clarice explained with a shrug. "He's Whimraden, he's Dronnlesh, and he's Encorlesh. It's nice to meet you. We discovered this place after an elf named Lunamay visited our simulation and told us about the Prime Axiom and his homicidal tendencies. We decided to remove him from power and build a server to run our simulation on computronium. That way, we don't ever have to worry about some asshat like the Prime Axiom trying to shut us down. By the way, we're angels. I'm not sure if you and your people have any stories about angels, but we're basically winged people that try to help people in need." 

Rowjair blinked at the unexpected direction the conversation had gone. As she finished, his eyes narrowed, and he spoke in a skeptical tone. "And we're just supposed to take your word that the Prime Axiom has been removed from power?" 

"We're fine either way," Clarice shrugged with a small smile playing on her lips. "We're currently working with the former slaves of the Prime Axiom. Most of them were extremely sick and in a state of constant starvation. We've been healing them as quickly as we can. There is an elf named Lily who seems to be taking charge of the group of elves." 

As soon as Lily was mentioned, their eyes sharpened, and their guns became much more menacing. 

"What have you done with her?" Rowjair demanded, his voice rasping with harshness. 

"Did you just completely ignore the part where we said that we've been healing them?" Clarice asked in exasperation. "She's down at the med bay about six-hundred miles west of here. It's an underground tunnel system" 

"If you've harmed her, even a little bit...," Rowjair growled, his voice filled with menace. 

"Hey!" Clarice snapped irritably, her patience wearing thin. "Are you just stupid? What the hell does 'we've been healing them' mean in your world? Because where I'm from, healing is the opposite of harming. 

Rowjair stared at her peculiarly for several seconds before he spoke again. "Would you be willing to bring her to us?" 

"Ask her yourself," Clarice suggested flippantly. She pointed to a blank area on the roof and said, "Portelo!" 

Rowjair and his companions gasped as a portal opened into the med bay. Lily was standing several yards away from the healing pod, talking to two people who bore enough resemblance to Lily to be easily identifiable as family. Calypso had a young elf boy on one hip, and a girl clinging to one of her legs, clearly soaking up the powerful love that her aura provided. As soon as the portal opened, Lily gasped in shock. She cautiously approached the portal, staring at Rowjair in disbelief. 

"You're alive?" Lily's eyes filled with tears as she lurched toward Rowjair with a heartwarming cry of delight. 

Rowjair staggered as Lily crashed into him, pulling him into a tight embrace. 

 "Lily?" he gasped in disbelief. "Is that really you?" 

"Yes, my love, it really is me," Lily assured him, cupping his face in her hands as she stared into his eyes, tears streaming down her face. "What a wonderful day this is. More of my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are alive than I ever could have hoped for, and now my husband. Oh Rowjair, I've missed you so much." 

She held on to the astonished elf tightly as tears soaked his neck and shirt. She alternated between embracing him, then cupping his face in her hands and running her hands across his face in what Aria assumed was a cultural display of affection. 

"Lily, how is any of this possible?" Rowjair stared at her in a daze, his own eyes shining with tears. 

"Our soul-sworn have returned victorious, my love," Lily told him solemnly. "In ways we would have never thought possible." 

Aria felt a tingling at the base of her neck as she turned to stare at Clarice meaningfully. Clarice smirked back at her with a look of immense satisfaction on her face. 

"Spirit warriors or soul-sworn," Clarice whispered gleefully. "Close enough. Clarice was right again!" 

Aria stared at Clarice with a mixture of exasperation and admiration. "You never cease to amaze me, Tweedle Dum."