Rebirth and Second Chances

Chapter 256: Cuan Sabhailte

"What am I going to do?" I lamented, worried because King Teigh had decided to stay for only a day to help me get the Sithern working correctly. We had moved beyond the System menu I could use to set permissions t dealing with the bond between Cuan Sabhailte and me.

"Cuan Sabhailte is already responding to your needs and personalities," Teigh answered. We were currently overlooking an expansive meadow and lake the Sithern had created. One that we had arrived at because of the Sithern responding to my desire.

I had wanted to retreat for a moment, to gather my thoughts and just reflect. The Sithern had responded, I'm not sure if it warped the space it controlled or moved us using some kind of teleport, but one second we were still discussing settings in the conference room, and the next we had arrived next to the lake.

"You will be fine," Teigh promised. "Forget about the larger issues for a moment and just enjoy this place. Try to focus on the bond between you and the Sithern."

"It will be strange, running and swimming under skies with no sun," I said as I allowed my worries and fears to bleed away.

"It won't be as hard as you think," Teigh replied. "But a day without night might take some time to get used to. The Sithern can create places of deep twilight, but no real night. It can affect a person's circadian system. For those it does, it might take a while to adjust.

"Will Cuan Sabhailte create pockets of land suited for the different races of Sidhe?" I wondered. I knew theoretically the Sithern would expand, and the requirements needed for expansion were based on some esoteric criteria no one really understood. Whatever metric was used before deciding to grow and conform, it was based on the information it gathered. Information I was supplying through the Host bond.

It had already proven it was able to anticipate and facilitate my desires. When I had rushed to the meeting, each step forward had seen a shifting of the Sithern. A moving of floors and halls, a type of teleportation that had me arriving within seconds.

Cuan Sabhailte would continue to provide that boon, it would grow to anticipate other people's needs and supply the same service to others it grew fond of. When I had one of the fey lead my parents to the creche where my daughter was sleeping. When I had another escort, Herd Patriarch Garr back to the Sithern Portal so that he could return to Talahm and begin recruiting volunteers.

Each journey had occurred between one step and the next. All except when I had innocently wondered if the Sithern had a place where I could run and swim. When I wanted a moment of peace it had delivered me to this place, the lake and field reminders of home. The translocations had occurred without any effort on my part.

"Are you ready?" Teigh asked.

Teigh had spent the past few hours guiding me, helping me to remain calm after configuring Sithern's permissions. He had explained how I should be using my Host bond to explain and guide Cuan Sabhailte's growth. I was attempting to create infrastructure, housing, and businesses the Sidhe could use. It was a tedious process, but Teigh had helped to make it more game-like.

The gift of Fairy and Wild Magic were still responding to the changes that I was making. This lake was teaming with life, stocked with schools of fish of all sizes and ages now as the Sithern added species of fish based on my memories. The fields had insects that would make pollination easy, as well as animals that would make for a complete ecosystem.

We had spotted a Cu Sithe pack hunting, their presence driving home exactly how large this Sithern was. Saor o Shlabhraidhean had conformed to King Teigh's needs when he had planted the Sithern Kernel on Talahm. He had needed a Capital city, and the Sithern had grown to meet those needs. Cuan Sabhailte was demonstrating that same adaptability.

I needed a city too, a place to support and house the embassy, but those needs were based on my position as Plenipotentiary, the land and lake had been added as a response to the need of my soul. Kelpie were happiest when we had fields to run in and maintain, and lakes to swim in and fish.

There was one last step required to finish stabilizing the bonding process, a sacrifice required by Fairy and Sithern to lock the parameters I had spent hours setting, to stabilize land, buildings, and permissions. King Teigh had battled Lord Hugo and Princess Liotonis almost the moment Saor o Shlabhraidhean had been created. That battle had satisfied the need for sacrifice, as the blood spilled was accepted as tribute.

I couldn't use the blood from a battle as a sacrifice, so I had to rely on ritual and my own blood.

"I'm ready," I said, consenting and giving Teigh permission to begin.

He moved faster than I could track, and with his movements, I began to bleed. My wrists and throat slashed, my blood gushing in great fountains as he suppressed my body's healing ability and refused to allow the wounds to close.

It took a certain amount of trust to allow another Sidhe to perform this ritual. I was placing my life in his hands. King Teigh had to monitor my vitality closely, as I walked a line between life and death. The blood needed to remain flowing until System and Sithern were satisfied, so my natural regenerative abilities had to be altered.

King Teigh would observe my blood flow, and when it slowed to a trickle, and I was close to exsanguination, restore my ability to heal long enough to replace the blood I had lost.

We stood on the shore of the lake. One foot planted on land, the other in the water. A spot that symbolized who and what Kelpie were. The blood that I offered as tribute continued flowing, staining an ever-widening area red as the Sithern accepted the blood.

I fell to my knees as my offering continued, even my magic and ability to restore blood loss becoming tested. My limits finally reached when I collapsed even further, laying supine before King Teigh as he continued to monitor my condition.

Waiting.

The both of us waiting and continuing the bloodletting until finally the Sithern's needs had been met and sacrifice was given.

[System Notification: Cuan Sabhailte has accepted your sacrifice. Permissions, settings, and parameters have been accepted and locked in.]

And it was done.

Cuan Sabhailte was rooted in reality. It had been anchored to Derva by blood and magic, a foundation of need and desire actualized into a world where the Sidhe could expand. A fallback location, if life on Talahm ever became untenable. Hidden in plain sight of the Hindu Pantheon.

Here on Derva, one of the primary planets controlled by that Pantheon of Gods, the Sidhe could continue to grow and prosper. The Sithern having expanded and created enough land, lake, and city space to house millions. Billions if the Volar-fey and Aziza migrated in any number.

Teigh restored my ability to heal, boosting my body's ability to repair itself by casting a healing spell, closing the gaping wounds from his attack.

Once certain that I was safe, he turned to the Sithern itself. A flick of his hand and a Pagoda was created, formed from glamour and Silinium, a permanent structure that would stand as a testament to the spot where I had offered tribute, and paid, in blood, the cost Fairy and Sithern demanded to build this pocket dimension.

The Wild Magic and Fairy danced within the Pagoda, joyful at the gift Teigh had made, and began to shape trellis with vines heavy with flower, as well as a bubbling fountain that was brimming with water blessed by the Tuatha de Danann.

The Gods may be in Sleep, but they were aware, caught in Dream. And they extended their Divine nature to bless the Pagoda that Teigh had crafted. I wasn't surprised that they had reacted, Teigh was well regarded among the Gods. His work and actions doing more for the Sidhe, more to gaining their release than any other Sidhe in history.

He was the beloved son of the Tuatha de Danann, and they could, at times, make Their fondness for him obvious. The Pagoda had become a Shrine, one that radiated with the peace and calm I had gained as a measure of control.

It would become a place where any Sidhe could come to reflect and bask in this, a gift of the Gods.

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