Taking over the Abyss

69- Drifting Soul

The next few weeks of your life were pretty dull. You split your time evenly between training, doing your duty as the new queen, ordering some of your more trustworthy units to search for the baptist you accidentally lost, and taking an inordinate amount of naps. Enkanomiya's crumbling architecture had been fully repaired thanks to the help of everyone, leaving the main bridge as the main project. Thankfully Enkanomiya's aqueducts had stood the test of the time, if they needed a thorough cleaning. Which left you struggling to think on what the next major project should be. The reverse-engineering Deshret-era invisibility plating was extremely slow moving due to it being lost technology.

Ultimately the reclamation of Khaenri'ah from the Abyss remained the goal both you and all of your subjects shared. Osial had briefly suggested that since you were already living in the Dark Sea, you should go and take over the rest of it anyway. According to him, it existed outside of the Seven's rule, existing as nothing but a wasteland for dead gods and remnants of other things that used to live there. For as much as you wanted to reclaim Khaenri'ah, there was one thing you were very firm in your belief of- all of your subjects deserved to live underneath the real sun.

If it really was just a wasteland, and it helped to unite and stabilize the world, then sure, you'd go tangle with the Dark Sea. Technically you already lived in a part of it! For now, you were busy trying to make sure nothing blew up in Enkanomiya. Setting down your empty tea cup, you gazed off at the assortment of fruit trees in the distance. Enkanomiya's native plant life all held some sort glow to it, alongside the fun coloring that stained the fingers of most hilichurls.

Speaking of, there was a hilichurl right in front of you, alongside one of the ones who had long turned back to human. You'd given some of them missions to find other hilichurls and bring the willing ones back with them for treatment. The human beside the one in front of you wore a curious smile on his face and a hand against his hips, his eyes the same lightless pattern as Kokomi's.

"Go on," he encouraged the hilichurl beside him, waving his free hand, "Todo, todo (Give, give)."

With all the encouragement needed, the hilichurl nodded bravely, and thrust a bouquet of half-crushed flowers towards you. You could recognize a few of them, save for a pretty gray-purple one. A genuine, sweet smile bloomed on your face as you took the flowers, "Thank you. I needed somebody to give me flowers today."

The hilichurl, pleased that its gift had been accepted, held its hands behind its back and swayed on its feet shyly. You reached out, giving the hilichurl a quick, gentle pat around the ears. With a triumphant cry, the hilichurl took off to rejoin some of its other friends. The humanoid one remained standing, looking down at the flowers, "I tried to return them with me quickly. But that one insisted on bringing back flowers after I told them about you. They lived around the old Natlan."

"They're very pretty," you commented, holding the bouquet with both hands, "I'm guessing there's a lot of hilichurls in Natlan?"

The man in front of you winced, then nodded, "... too many. I took some of the ones who were safe. Abyssal blight there is really bad."

You found yourself suddenly deep in thought. That was another one of the things your scouting divisions had informed you of- the Abyss' presence in Natlan was really, really bad. Since you'd vowed to settle matters relating to the Abyss, you'd have to introduce yourself soon. Hopefully taking in some of the hilichurls would provide at least a little help from behind the stage.

"Just make sure to stay safe," you emphasized, not wanting anybody to end up horribly injured. "and-"

"Don't touch anything dangerous?" He finished for you, a coy smile on his face, "You say that a lot to us, your Majesty."