Chapter 66

"What do I have to do?" Hayden finally asked. "I've made my choice. How do I make it happen?"

"To unravel their ancient magic? Survive. With every day, the damage grows. Every other soul to make it through spreads that damage further. The celebi you saved, he is one. When there are enough, the torrent will flow without ceasing, and all will be accomplished." Mesprit floated slowly past her, bobbing up and down. Was she already bored?

"You might decide to do more," Azelf added. "You know better than the great families what it might be like to be born without guidance. If you could prevent the many deaths that will follow the chaos of a hundred undiscovered legendaries all coming into their power at once, you might save many lives. If you cared to try."

Because not all legendaries do. It will be mostly ordinary people who suffer, not mythicals. The families and friends and enemies of the ones who settle like I did.

Hayden floated off the ground again, growing bolder as the seconds passed. The Lake Guardians were not any less dangerous, but being around them showed her they weren't monsters. Much like wild pokémon—so many creatures were less murderous than people thought.

The legendaries coming aren't monsters either. They're just like me—confused, scared, with families they don't want to lose. We need to train them without making them hate us.

"Could we train everyone together?" she asked. "Somewhere—somewhere far away from regular people who could get hurt. Somewhere that wasn't in the domain of any Great Family, neutral territory. With teachers in Unity from all over the world, like what Mew House has. They'd all live there, until they got old and mature enough to be allowed into the world."

"Perhaps," said another voice. They spoke so quietly, so gently, that Hayden thought it must be one of the Lake Guardians at first. Until a pokémon floated out of the ferns and swaying wildflowers, hovering at her head level.

A mew—male, with a long tail and fur ragged and scarred from a hard life. A pokémon she already knew, because he gave her Ambrosia and invited her to join the house.

No human stood beside him here, or flew. It was just the Eldest's daemon, alone.

"But only the Great Families could build this. Only they could find the talent to keep it maintained. Or they could govern it, to keep the children within from becoming murderous little tyrants. So why should we? We yield the great souls into the multitude, knowing many will be born to others. Why do we then expend such resources to train them?"

Where were the Lake Guardians? Hayden glanced nervously to either side, searching for their strange forms. They would protect her, right? This was their home! She couldn't see any of them now, or even sense their presence with Liz's telepathy. It was as though she'd been alone the entire time.

"I… There is one good reason," she said. She dropped to her knees before the mew, though they didn't actually touch the ground. Her daemon floated out in front of her, protective. Liz couldn't fight such a powerful daemon—but presenting herself for his judgment was probably the safest choice either way.

"I hope so," said the Eldest, circling once around her. He floated so close she felt his warmth, and might brush against him if she moved. To avoid him, she had to hold perfectly still, frozen in terror.

Worse, the mew seemed to recognize her. He didn't see a stranger, which meant he wasn't the Eldest of this earlier age. This was her Eldest, the one she fled from when she left the party. "You offer new blood to the house. You would give Julian strong kittens. But if the cost is a world of chaos and death, it might be better to let you die."

Let her die, not murder her. As though she'd just got strangely sick and fell over!

"You… recognize my value," she said. "Don't you see—the ones who come after me will have value too. Other mythicals, born like I was. They could help rebuild the Great Families—give them new blood. If you're the ones who run the school, who build it—you get to decide what it teaches. You can make sure the students all understand why you run the world this way. They learn the rules from you, and when you decide it's okay for them to leave, they know it's because they're part of your world now."

She faced the mew, though her body trembled with every word she spoke. She could never lie to this creature. If she tried to hide even a small part, the Eldest would see.

"You get your next generation," she finished. "If you set the customs up right, you could make it so we don't even see ourselves as different from your natural kids. Everyone goes to the same place—everyone follows the same rules. So when we graduate, we're all loyal to the same families."

"Or you could fight it," Liz whispered, defiant. "Kill us, kill the next ones, and the ones after that. Generation after generation, until they start slipping through. Until they grow up terrified of you, hating the Great Families. So when one finally does show up, they'll be a monster. Instead of caring for Father's garden, they'll burn it down."

Something lifted her up into the air, violently enough that her head jerked sharply to one side. She fought, tried to keep herself upright—but she might as well be spitting into a hurricane.

"Who told you to speak those words, Hayden? You think because you look like us that you share our history? That you and others like you should be welcomed into our families?"

Pressure constricted on her body from every side, squeezing the air from her lungs. Little Liz was no better off—they might both be crushed, and could do nothing to stop it.

She couldn't even speak out loud anymore. But she still had her telepathy, for a little while longer anyway. “Not saying I deserve… anything. But I'm alive. Am I not allowed to… love it too?”

The pressure on her body finally eased. Hayden looked up, face wet with tears. Liz zipped over to her chest, then pressed to her heart. If they were going to die here, at least they would die together.

"None of us can stop the sunrise," the Eldest said. "The ancients tried. They failed. Now we inherit their failure. If we act, if we stretch the hour a little longer, it would only leave us less prepared when the moment finally came. Even Celebi returned."

She finally dared to sit up in the air. Her ears unfolded, hair hanging wild beneath her. Any moment the Eldest might change his mind. "I don't think anyone has to fight. Just make a place for the new legendaries to go—so their parents won't try to hide them. People will be falling over each other to help identify new legendaries."

The Eldest floated away from her, though still at head level. "You'll have to go too. This future you suggest, where great souls are born across the world—you're the first. So you will be among the inaugurating class—joined by many others."

She nodded. It didn't matter if Hayden was not a threat anymore, didn't matter what powers she had learned. If the Eldest spared her, and the others like her—it was an acceptable price. "I understand."

"Don't think this absolves you of any other responsibilities, either. Your contract with my son remains. You will give him an heir before any other. If that means as a professor of this school, or his wife in Mew House, it is the same. Don't go flying back after Celebi and think that changes. You're a member of Mew House. You will act like one, no matter the time you find yourself."

She nodded weakly. Not that encounters like this made her excited about spending more time with the family—but Julian didn't deserve her anger for it. The kid wasn't threatening her life. He probably didn't even understand the dangers to the Great Families. "I didn't forget. And you don't need to worry. That celebi is a girl most of the time. She won't be stealing your heir."

The mew didn't laugh. The Eldest hovered there for another few seconds, expression unreadable. Whether that was annoyance, or some first shred of sympathy for her, Hayden couldn't tell.

"I will see you in this spot, thirty years from now. Your… school… will be finished by then. Don't keep me waiting." He vanished with a bright flash of teleport, leaving Hayden and Liz suspended in the air.

They dropped to the ground a few seconds later, breathing heavily. Neither spoke, still frozen in tension. The Eldest might still be there, waiting to come down with the full force of his terrible anger.

Or maybe not. A few more seconds, and no mew reappeared. Liz floated off her shoulder, circling the air beside her. "Where did you go?" she asked, not suppressing her anger. "It felt like he would kill us!"

"We could not have stopped him," Azelf said. They reappeared beside Hayden, or maybe they'd been floating there the whole time. "The families have authority over their own justice. He is the arbiter of that justice—not us."

"And if we tried to persuade him," Uxie continued. They too were suddenly a few inches away, bobbing gently up and down in the air. "He might have killed you just to prove he wasn't subject to our will. The Great Families must make their own judgments."

"For wisdom or foolishness," added Mesprit. "But your kind are often wiser than most. The cat who takes that position ascends because he is disciplined, intelligent, and wise. It is good he made the correct choice."

"Good that you don't have to die," Azelf finished. "That would be a waste. But since you will live, you may visit again. Bring your first kitten to us when they are strong enough. Bring your mate. Bring your sister when she is old."

The three lake guardians floated together in front of her, hovering low over the water. She wasn't even sure which was speaking anymore. Maybe they all were.

"You risk much. You sacrifice much. You anger many. You compel the Great Families to act when they would not choose wisdom on their own."

"We will give you what we can. Aid you when we can. We will grant wisdom when it is needed. We will provide mercy when others do not."

"Could you…" She landed on the grass, spreading her toes in the soft, cool surface. "Could you maybe show me how to jump forward thirty years?"

"So the Eldest doesn't change his mind and kill us," Liz added. She floated in the air just in front of Hayden, tail stretched back far enough to rest on her shoulder. After getting attacked only moments before, the little pokémon remained close enough to touch every moment. They weren't going to get ripped apart now.

"No." That was Uxie, floating a little further from the other two. "Have some free wisdom before we go, kitten. You don't have to go right away. Just make sure you travel to the right destination, the Eldest will not know or care."

"Catch your breath," Azelf said. "Stay far from humans. We do not know how to travel through time. But your celebi does. Just go far enough away for them to feel safe visiting you. Then find a beach, or a guru, and take whatever time you need."

Hayden nodded her appreciation. They were right, of course—she didn't have to go straight forward to the exact moment the Eldest said. If he had wanted to ensure she did nothing else, he could've sat there and waited for her to travel. Instead, he had left her to her own devices.

I don't have to take a straight line. I just need to end up in the right place. Cody saw time that way—maybe she could too. "Thank you. Thanks for the help, and—for not killing us. Maybe we can be friends one day."

They laughed. Granted, that humor didn't seem to be at her expense. If anything, there was pity in it.

"May your future include fewer thanks for not murdering you, kitten," Mesprit said. "The Great Families could use a lesson in kindness. Perhaps you will teach them."