Chương 57: Chapter 56: Family Talks, Baby Plans

Telling his family about the loops again was… weird. Ren had already done this once. He had sat in front of the same people, forced impossible truths through a mouth still learning how to speak properly, and watched fear spread across their faces as they slowly understood what he was telling them. Now he had to do it again. His memories insisted that he knew what happened next, but his body refused to treat that as reassurance.

He had already told Tessa about being able to talk, and she was beyond happy that her suspicions of her little baby brother being weird were correct. It was amusing how that was the thing she cared about the most. But the closer the conversation came, the tighter his stomach became. His hands kept moving against his clothes, and twice he caught himself looking toward the door as if delaying matters for another few minutes might somehow make the whole thing easier. It would not.

Ren got Tessa to arrange the talk again. And now that they were all sitting together, he looked at his family and realized he had to tell them everything again. He looked between Bren, Elna, and Tessa and found himself hesitating. Ren had already done this once, which should have helped. Instead, it only made the moment worse. Ren remembered what it felt like to force the truth out, to watch his family react to it, and to keep going until there was finally nothing important left unsaid.

For them, none of that had happened. They were simply waiting for baby Ren to show them something 'secret' Tessa told them he would, while Ren sat there knowing he had to put all of them through the same thing again. His fingers began rubbing together before he noticed. Traitors. Ren leaned against Tessa slightly and looked toward Bren and Elna again. There was no avoiding the strange cruelty of it. His family had already shared this moment with him once, but only Ren had been allowed to keep that part of them.

Now he had to say the words again while they listened without any memory of having heard them before. He swallowed and began. … At least the first part went faster than before. Ren could explain himself much more clearly now. His Language and Expression had improved far enough that the familiar part of the conversation went considerably faster than before. By the time he reached the goblins, Ren finally had something new to tell them.

Ren watched the changes pass through his parents as he explained how it went down. Fear remained, especially whenever he described the numbers involved or how close the defenses had come to breaking, but now there was something else beneath it.

"But the village survived?" Bren asked. Ren nodded.

"Yes. Most people." Elna was still pale. Bren still leaned forward with his hands clasped tightly enough for his knuckles to show, while Tessa had gone quiet beside Ren. Ren had spent so many loops fighting uncertainty that he had almost forgotten how much of the fear came from simply not knowing whether anything would work. Now all four of them knew the village had survived once. The preparations had worked, the defenders had held long enough, and the knights had arrived in time, if barely.

The attack was still terrifying, and people had still died, but his family was no longer facing the end of the month without knowing whether survival was even possible. They had an outcome Ren had already seen and a path they could try to reproduce. That alone made his parents less worried and jittery than he remembered from last time. Uncertainty truly was the mind killer. The rest of the conversation went mostly as expected.

The hugs followed, then worries, clarifying things, emotional assurance, and the tension slowly leaving his body as they progressed. They had enough information to act on now, and eventually Bren stood.

"I should speak to Hadrik." Ren caught his trouser leg before he could take more than a step. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Wait." Bren looked down.

"We have days."

"That is exactly why I should tell him now." Ren shook his head.

"Too early bad too." Bren stopped, and Elna frowned.

"Why?" Ren hesitated. He had known this part would have to come up once they started deciding when to move.

"The knights." Bren returned to his seat. Ren explained what had happened after the battle. Sister Calia had noticed something strange about him, and the knights shared her faith. They had questioned his family, decided Ren might be possessed or something similar, and taken him away. Elna's hand tightened around him before he finished.

"Taken you?" Ren nodded.

"From me?" He nodded again, and her expression tightened. Bren stared at the floor for several seconds before asking, "You're certain they killed you?"

"Almost." Ren disliked the answer as soon as he gave it, but it was the most accurate one he had. He remembered the charm taking his senses, then being carried for long enough that they had almost certainly left the church and perhaps the village. Everything after that had faded until there was only the void. Whatever happened during that missing stretch, Ren had not survived it. Bren slowly rubbed one hand across his beard.

"And you still want us to call them."

"Yes." His father looked at him sharply.

"Need them." Ren shifted forward. The knights had been dangerous to him, but he had also watched what happened when they reached the village. They had torn through the goblins and ended a battle the defenders were barely surviving.

"Call them. Just… not too early." He wanted the messenger leaving early enough for the knights to reach the village before the defenders were overwhelmed, but sending for them immediately would leave Sister Calia and an entire holy order nearby for longer than necessary. There were still several days they could use before involving Hadrik.

The previous loop had given them plenty to prepare in advance, and once those days were used properly, they could move the rest of the plan forward without bringing the knights too close too soon. Bren considered it for a moment before nodding.

"In a few days then." Ren nodded, then looked toward Elna. There was still the other problem.

"Divine light?" She blinked.

"What about it?"

"Sister said everyone has. Connection." Bren and Elna exchanged a look, and Ren's stomach sank slightly. He explained what Sister Calia had told him as clearly as his speech allowed. The Divines touched everyone somehow. Sister Calia had sensed nothing from Ren at all, and apparently his complete absence of whatever she expected to find had helped convince her that something was deeply wrong with him. Bren scratched his beard once Ren finished.

"I have never heard it described that way." Elna thought for a moment longer.

"Neither have I." Great. Ren frowned. Apparently this was another subject nobody bothered to talk about until they were one of the faithful of some deity or another. Bren noticed his expression.

"We know the faith, Ren. That does not mean we know what the clergy are taught." Annoying, but fair.

"What know?" The answer revealed considerably more than Ren had expected. The Goddess of Guiding Light and Benevolence was the most widely honored deity in the region, soothing the needy and showing the way to any who asked. Still, she was far from the only god people worshipped. Different places favored different gods, though his parents' explanation ended at that. Ren listened closely. His old world had managed an impressive number of arguments about religion without any measurable magic involved.

Apparently this one had decided that was too simple. Tessa suddenly bounced where she sat.

"Oh! I know, I know!" Everyone looked at her, and she straightened proudly.

"There is the God of Hearth and Labor too. And the Goddess of Rivers and Safe Passage. Mara says travelers pray to the God of Roads and Journeys when they go far away, but Mama says you still have to pack food because praying is not packing." Elna's mouth twitched.

"I did say that." Tessa continued immediately.

"And Old Mavren says the Twins of Growth and Harvest are lazy unless you sing badly enough to annoy them." Bren covered his face with one hand. Ren stared at his sister. That was considerably more religious information than either parent had volunteered in the previous minute.

"Tessa clever." Her entire posture changed. She lifted her chin with such immediate satisfaction that Ren almost regretted providing that ammunition.

"I know!" Of course she did. Ren narrowed his eyes. Tessa became even smugger. Some things survived every loop perfectly. Bren and Elna still had no idea why Sister Calia could sense a divine connection in everyone except Ren, but by then the unanswered question had lost some of its urgency. The conversation had gone well. Far better than Ren had feared when he gathered them together. Bren was already thinking about what they could do differently.

Elna knew the village had survived and that their preparations had worked, so hopefully she would worry less this time. And Tessa already forgot about the danger and was still beside him being insufferably pleased with herself. Ren finally let some of the tension leave his shoulders. He had told them again, and this time his family knew there was a way through what was coming. The strange absence Sister Calia had found in him remained, and he doubted he would learn more from his parents.

But Little Yara might know something. And Ren had already planned to tell his Master about the loops this time. Now he had another reason to get there quickly.