Davina
[Sunday, Dreyrune 21, 4310]
3:20 am
We are ten hours into this Working and while the memory in-flow has slowed down, they are still being transmitted. Those two do know that they don't need to exchange everything, right?
When Ny and Aspen confirmed the memories exchange had begun, Aspen handled the stream of outgoing memories, and Ny handled the stream of incoming memories.
With my role as curator and organizer coming into play, I went to my position opposite Ny in the middle circle. I sat down, took a potion to expand my awareness, then activated the canal pillars. From the darkness of the ceiling, nine pillars descended. At the same time, the ceiling slid back, letting the light of the moon shine down upon our Work.
When the pillars floated into position, Mal anchored them over the aether mote vials, then came over to check on me. I was in the process of weaving a sorting halo so when the memories came, it would be easier for me to categorize them.
Mal dropped off some recovery potions next to me like I didn't already have a full crate of them in my pocket space. He is so sweet when he is worried. I felt him touch my head before I sensed him going over to check on Ny. It took me an hour to complete the halo. I manifested it with four glyphs: Crae'thar (shape), Na'loren (memory), Cyr'eth (circle), Li'thorin (reveal).
A translucent ring manifested with funnels connecting it to the floating pillars. The sorting halo completed its installation just as an astral portal opened in the open ceiling space. Looking up, I saw nothing but darkness at first, then memories of various shapes and sizes began to trickle down. They formed a pile in the center of the ring. I floated up to examine the memory fragments. As instructed, Nyx was starting off slow so we could get a feel for how we would sort the memories.
I sent out red essence tendrils to touch the various memories. It was only a light touch. Enough to get a feel for what type of memory they were but not enough to know what the memory contained. Once I was certain, I manually adjusted my essence construct to begin the sorting. Any new types that arrived, I would make further adjustments.
The ring began to send the memories through the funnels. I returned to my position, and Mal got to work. Two hours later, the incoming memories picked up speed. Any unstable or highly emotional memories, whether positive or negative, I directly pulled to be kept in vials that would go last.
At the ten-hour mark, Aspen asked Ny if Nyx was still good because of the memory inflow having slowed down. After a minute, Ny delivered the message that Nyx was talking with Grey to give us time for any adjustments we needed to make.
We collectively chuckled at the thoughtfulness of those two. Since we were given a sort of break, I sped up the sorting of the memories. With help from Hael and Zira, Mal caught up on inputting the filled vials into the assimilation channels. For ease of categorizing, when the memories entered the pillars, they were given a color. This was so they didn't have to ask me which memories went into which rows.
While they worked, Cor was giving Nyx's body a more thorough inspection. He didn't just check her physical body but also her essence system. He was in charge of making sure her body remained stable and primed for the memory integration.
I watched as Hael continued assisting Mal, but Zira went to check on Lux and Zen. They were both beginning to look exhausted, but from their soft voices when she asked them if they needed her to switch out with them, they were determined not to stop until they had to stop.
I felt an immense amount of pride and admiration for the two of them. Lux has always been strong, and I'm sure once this Working is completed, he will need to consolidate his cultivation gains from performing this ritual.
We all will need to do so. But it's Zen who I see truly shining. She is the lowest tier of us support participants at Ember 5, but she hasn't let that stop her from meeting this challenge head-on.
From giving us safer alternatives for the memory exchange to volunteering to guard the barrier, she has proven herself a worthy Velari for my son and a future daughter-in-law to our family. I'm honestly unsure if Lux truly believes we haven't noticed his interest in her, but I do look forward to when he informs us of his intent to court her.
What truly surprised me and Mal is the fact that Lux has become Circle Kaelin with Säntiägo Ivy and Raine Xi. That wasn't a combination I would have put together if I tried, but according to the reports, they truly are well matched as circle brothers.
I look forward to watching how Zen will handle those three Alphas. They each have dominant personalities, and while I've seen Zen lead project discussions, I haven't seen her show she is capable of managing the stupid shit Alphas will get up to if you don't enforce boundaries. Maybe Zira and I should have a tea party with all the young females to teach them how to manage their Alphas.
I quickly wrote in my notebook the reminder to set a date for the tea party, then put my notebook away when Zira and Hael set down a sandwich, a fruit cup, and a water in front of me. I gave them a nod of thanks, then consumed every bite and crumb of the meal like I was part locust. Everyone except Hael and Zira consumed their meals in a similar fashion.
When the memory exchange is completed, all active participants will most likely sleep for two days in shifts. Hael and Zira have already been taking turns napping since they will be assuming authority from Venus and Pavo while the rest of us handle the last phase of the Working and take turns sleeping.
The Working won't be considered complete until Nyx assimilates all the memories. The chance is high that she will still be in a coma so her body, soul, and mind can fully adjust, but the Working will be considered done at that point. This will also be when Nyx's body-to-soul sync ratio should reach 100%.
Soon, Ny informed us that Nyx had begun transmission again, so we left the clean-up to Zira and Hael as we got back to work. It was at 5:20 p.m., Dreyrune 22nd, 48 hours later that Ny announced the memory exchange was complete and Nyx was on her way back.
Now she just needs to make it back safely to her body. Cor and Aspen will make sure her complete conscious soul is intact and that her essence system can handle any changes. I bet part of her recovery will be spent consolidating her essence and ascending to the next level. She might just get close to the Veil 1 threshold.
Ny is monitoring her. Mal is managing the memories, and I'm about ten seconds away from passing out. I can feel Ny's glyph that unlocked my true power for this ritual is beginning to fade. Luckily, my part is over with the moment the last memory is sorted.
Looking at Cor, I could see he was waning as well, but he couldn't stop what he was doing until Nyx began assimilating the memories. Even then, he will only be able to nap until the rest of us get proper rest. I know Ny also placed a glyph on him to unlock his true powers.
I didn't even comment on how he just did it without me having to ask him. Of course, since this was all for his baby girl, even his hatred for my twin wouldn't get in the way of making sure everything and everyone was in perfect shape for this ritual.
One day, they will have to tell me how two best friends turned into this mess. One of them pretends not to be filled with guilt, and the other doesn't hide that he is filled with rage. One day, I will make them sit down and tell me what went wrong. I'm patient enough to wait them out.
~Artemise's Corner ~
So… after approximately forty-eight hours of soul retrieval, memory management, ritual maintenance, emotional support, cultivation strain, and enough Essencecraft infrastructure to make a government agency jealous…
Davina's biggest takeaway is:
"The girls need a tea party."
Specifically a tea party dedicated to:
+Boundary enforcement.
+Alpha management.
+Identifying nonsense before it becomes a problem.
+Teaching young women that "I can fix him" is not a cultivation technique.
Meanwhile:
Nyx is exchanging an entire lifetime of memories.
Lux is holding a barrier for two straight days.
Zen is quietly proving she belongs in rooms full of people twice her age and ten times her cultivation level.
Everyone is five minutes away from collapsing into a decorative pile of exhaustion.
And Davina is over there planning refreshments and relationship seminars.
Honestly?
That's probably why the family functions as well as it does.