The Outlands

Chapter 130: Ambassadors' Children



Ellie shifted nervously as the last of the ambassadors' children entered the room. With her grandfather's help, she, Tess, and Maven had gotten in touch with all of them and set this meeting up as a way to get everyone on the same page and answer questions all at once, instead of bit by bit as each of the kids turned eighteen.

She hadn't seen most of these people in at least five years, and she had chosen to be the one "in charge" of everything. She'd be running the meeting, answering any questions, making sure nobody got too overwhelmed, that sort of a thing, and that wasn't something she was super used to yet.

Fortunately, she had her two gorgeous wives at her side to support her if she floundered, and everyone here had been given the talk about the other planes, so it could have been a lot worse, but it was still something of a daunting proposition. Nevertheless, worrying about it wasn't going to do her any good, so once everyone was seated, she took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Hey everyone, thanks for coming." She said. "I know that the past couple of days have probably been rough for a lot of you, but that's why we've called this meeting; we want to get everyone on the same page and assuage any fears that people might have. To begin with, I was hoping that everyone who isn't human would undo whatever magic is in place to keep up your human appearance. You are by no means required, but I think it would be nice as a visual reminder that you're not the only ones in this situation, and that you're not alone."

On cue, Maven took off her ring, and Alexander, the elf they had helped out during the expedition, slid on a ring that returned him to his elven form. Apparently, most of the ambassadors' children were in something of a reverse of the normal situation; Ellie's grandfather had put an incredibly powerful enchantment on them that would keep them in human form unless it was temporarily suppressed or lifted altogether.

For the most part, that meant a set of rings Ellie's grandfather had made or special cameras that could "see through" the enchantment for pictures, but theoretically it could also be done by a sufficiently powerful magic user, not that any of those were on Mael. It'd have to be someone powerful enough to leverage their magic either without the aid of the system, or who were strong enough that the echoes of the system's power that existed on Mael would allow them to lift an enchantment that Ellie's grandfather meant to last. So, in reality, no one except the gods, Alberich, and Ellie's grandfather would be able to do anything about those enchantments while the kids remained on Mael.

There was a brief moment of hesitance, then one of the kids stood up, sliding on a ring. As fox ears and a tail sprouted from her, she gave Ellie a disdainful look. "And why should we care what you say?" She said testily.

"Aris, sit down!" Her brother, Amos, hissed, putting on a ring of his own. "They're just trying to help!"

Ellie had, unfortunately, been warned about this; Aris's parents had approached Ellie and her wives before the meeting, taking them aside for a hushed talk. Aris was, apparently, in the hotheaded, rebellious stage of youth that was so common in beastkin, and she had been acting erratically ever since finding out about everything.

They had said that, if Aris made a scene, Ellie and her wives were free to deal with it in whatever way they saw fit, even force, if the situation called for it. So, Ellie remained calm, giving Aris a level look. "My wives and I have been aware of everything for months now, and have even moved into the City. And, Maven here has the unique perspective of not even being from Mael, so we hope we can answer questions you have and provide at least some level of comfort."

Aris snorted derisively. "And what would you know about facing changes? You're still human, you don't have any idea the changes we're going through." She paused for a moment, giving Ellie a look. "Come to think of it, wasn't there some creepy boy that used to follow you around all the time? What was his name…Terrence? Where's he? Did he run away crying when you rejected him?"

Ellie felt herself flush in anger. What was the deal with beastkin and disrespecting Tess?! First it was Ilmir, and now Aris, and Ellie was sick of it. She didn't even notice that she was standing until Tess laid a hand on Ellie's arm and gently pushed her back down.

Tess stood herself, activating her fox traits and giving Aris a stern look. "That would be me." She said. "I'm no longer male, and I'm not quite a human anymore, either. I understand what you're going through, and I get that your emotions are all over the place, but I'd ask that you keep things civil, for the sake of everyone here, including your family. I'll ignore the insults, so please sit back down, and we can keep talking things through civilly."

Aris remained standing. "If you're not human, why didn't you put on your ring when the rest of us did? Are you scared, or ashamed?" She jeered. "You're a disgrace to foxkin."

Tess sighed. "Because I'm not exactly not human, either." She replied. "I'm something of an anomaly, and there isn't a word for what I am. I thought it would muddy the waters, since those of you who know me better know that all of my family is from Mael, and none of them knew about any of this. I would have explained it in time, but you didn't give us a chance to. I'll ask you once more; sit down, and let us have a civil discussion instead of making a scene."

"Or what?" Aris asked defiantly.

Tess teleported next to Aris, looking up at her calmly. "Or I make you sit down and silence you for the rest of the meeting. I'm more than capable of using magic on Mael, and we don't want someone's hissy-fit ruining this meeting."

Aris backed up, tripping over her chair as she did. "I – I…fine."

Amos gave Tess a relieved look. "Sorry about her." He said. "She's been having a rough time lately and isn't sure how to express herself."

"Hey!" Aris protested. "You don't get to act like you know everything just because you're older!"

"I went through the same phase, Aris." Amos said. "I know it doesn't feel like it, but it's just hormones, and that's not an excuse to ruin everyone else's meeting. You're embarrassing us, so please, stop making a scene."

"Um…" One of the other kids, a boy named Limet, spoke up. "I'm…not even humanoid." He admitted. "Is it fine if I just stay in my chair? I feel awkward standing when everyone else is sitting."

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Tess turned to him. "Whatever you're comfortable with." She said soothingly. "If you want to change form but just don't like the standing thing, I also have some padding so you can kneel or squat or whatever makes you comfortable in that form. No pressure, of course, just putting that out there as an option."

Limet shifted awkwardly in his chair. "I think I just want to sit." He said. "Being like that still doesn't feel like…me. It's hard to explain, sorry."

"Totally fine." Tess replied, deactivating her fox features and walking back over to her seat. "Again, whatever makes you the most comfortable is best. Oh, and since I didn't mention it, I'm going by Tess now, and I've fully accepted womanhood, so don't worry about any of that sort of stuff."

Ellie took a moment to survey the rest of the group. From what she had been told, roughly three-quarters of them weren't human, but not everyone had put on their rings, so the overall human to non-human ratio had become about half and half. "So, uh, as I was saying, things are changing. From what I've been given to understand, Mael is going to be introduced to the wider world in the next five to ten years, and our parents or guardians are going to be at the forefront of the diplomatic effort. For those of us here today, our job is just to get used to everything.

"We're among the first people from Mael to know about everything else, and our experience in adjusting is going to be used to help shape how the rest of Mael is introduced to the wider world. Obviously, some people here have it a lot harder than others, what with not being human, but much of our experiences will translate anyway. Um…I'm not exactly sure where to go next, so…I guess we're opening the floor up for questions now, then?"

There was a brief moment of silence, Aris gave Ellie a sullen glare, and then someone else spoke up, a girl by the name of Leia. "How can you be so sure?"

"Through my grandfather, we've met with the Appointed of Life and Death, and we have it on her authority that this is how things will be."

"I've been doing some work for her on the side." Tess added. "Since my unique constitution means that I can do more magic stuff on Mael than most people, I've been running errands for her, so we have a bit more contact with her than most normal people have with Appointed. If you have any questions for her specifically, we can pass them along to her the next time we see her."

This song and dance always amused Ellie; the few times they had pretended they didn't know who the Appointed of Life and Death was, she had watched the reactions of the people they were talking to when they revealed that they had talked to her. And, every time, Ellie couldn't help but chuckle internally, wondering what they would think if they knew they were actually talking to the person herself.

"Um, she's…kinda like the Archpriest, right?" Leia asked. "I wasn't totally clear on what an Appointed is."

"Yes, kind of." Tess confirmed. "Think of an Appointed as like…as like the avatar of a god; they speak for their god, and go and do things for their god that normal people can't. When a god needs to communicate something with the people, they go through the head of their religion. When they need something done discreetly, or something that requires someone incredibly skilled, they go through their Appointed, sometimes even Descending into the bodies of their Appointed if the situation calls for it."

"You said you've talked with the Appointed of Life and Death, right?" Limet asked. "Did you ask her what Descent feels like?"

"I did." Tess chuckled. "She said it feels like suddenly gaining omnipotence, that she was filled with the kind of power that no mortal could ever hope to obtain. And, with the stories I've heard of Appointed, I don't doubt it."

"Will we be able to meet her?" Aris asked.

"I can't say." Tess said, shrugging. "Maybe, maybe not; she just sort of shows up when she needs something, then leaves when her business is done. We can't actually set up meetings with her or anything."

"Correct." Death said, stepping into the room from a door on the far end. She was using a recognition filter to pose as the Appointed of Life and Death in much the same way Life had when Tess, Ellie, and Maven were bringing Tess and Ellie's friend group into the know, and her arrival was met with audible gasps as the mechanism which forced people to know that a god was speaking worked its magic. "I would advise you think of my Appointed and I more as a force of nature than a person; we appear when we deem it necessary, and only when we deem it necessary.

"Now that you know my Appointed is the real deal, I myself will be taking my leave; I am a busy woman, and I have other matters to attend to." Death turned off the god-speak mechanism, then continued. "Okay. It's just me now, and let me say a few things; yes, what Tess said about what I told her about Descent is accurate, and she is working for me. My girlfriend, the Appointed of Fortune, and I are hard at work preparing this plane for integration with the others in the new future, and she's an invaluable tool for that.

"You'll find that the paranormal will increasingly become a topic of conversation in the future, and I would encourage you to tell your friends that you believe in it if you're asked; our hope is that getting more people to accept the paranormal will be a small step in smoothing the transition when the 'big reveal' comes."

She walked over to Aris, giving her a disapproving look. "And you; I'd advise getting your attitude under control. If you keep on like this, you're going to get burned in the future. If you need to work off aggression, I would suggest looking into running dungeons in your spare time; the beginner ones in the City are pretty safe, and you'll be leveling up and earning some money, to boot. Just don't take it out on people who are just trying to help."

Death answered a few more questions before leaving, and then the conversation began in earnest. Much like with Alexander, many of the non-humans were having trouble; they had never had a reason to think they weren't human, and now that they were learning they weren't, it was a real struggle for them to reconcile that. It was, in Ellie's opinion, the worst part about this whole ambassador business; it was the product of a difference in culture that Ellie wasn't sure had been properly taken into account before starting this whole venture.

Yes, she understood the value of having other species be ambassadors, but she didn't think they had realized how big of a deal species would be to people on Mael; where in most other parts of the world, outside of very isolated places, it was generally pretty unimportant what species you were, in a plane where humans had been the only sapient race since the dawn of time, suddenly finding out that you were something most people thought didn't exist would be wildly disconcerting, and she saw the results of failing to consider that here with the children of the ambassadors.

From the way they talked, a few had clearly been prepped for the reveal to some extent by their families and were taking it much better than others, but it was still a source of distress that Ellie felt could have been handled better by the majority of people. Still, from what Ellie had heard, there had been no outright mental breakdowns or panic attacks, so she supposed it could have been worse.

Outside of that, the questions were mostly the same as Ellie had grown to expect; questions on magic and the system, questions on culture, and a few questions on how certain things worked, such as how gravity was the same between planes if the main planets were different sizes.

There were no further incidents like there had been with Aris, so after an hour or so, the meeting ended, and Ellie soon found herself back in her house with her wives, discussing how things went, what lessons they could learn from it, and what their next steps would be. The consensus was that the meeting went well, but that they'd need to check in with everyone every once in a while, just to make sure things were still manageable and no one was on a downward spiral.

And, between preparing for the meeting, actually having it, and then discussing afterward, most of their day had been taken up, so once Ellie and her wives finished discussing, they got some dinner, then sat back to enjoy each other's company.


Tip: You can use left, right, A and D keyboard keys to browse between chapters.