Chapter 6.2 - Family Matters

Despite the concerns of representatives, it took very little to explain the process to the Constructs. They had no issues or concerns, and Serin informed them that during times of crisis they would reform under the 511th regiment for defense of the nation, which was echoed by each person who came to register with a construct.

Within no time the entire regiment had been more or less absorbed into the population. Heads of houses, adventurers, builders, crafters, and civil workers every able bodied person took in a Construct if possible.

Serin took in their family's new member, and in the home Serin had built for his parents he could see his father taking in one as well.

Serin and Olma stood, a Soldier in full battle rattle at their doorway. Olma smiled, "come in. We will put away your weapons in your new room."

The Construct looked at Serin, and Serin nodded.

Within a few minutes Olma returned with the Construct in tow. She was taller than Olma, but looked almost delicate. Her bright eyes showed intelligence, but in a way that expressed observing of the environment, but not fully grasping it. The Construct looked at Serin, "I am to register to you, correct Sir?"

Serin smiled, "That is correct. You can refer to me as Serin. You will be apart of the family."

The Construct nodded. "Affirmative Serin, then I will need your hand. Please remove all protective barrier magics for the registration process."

Serin nodded and stuck his hand out. The Construct took a knee and took Serin's hand. It looked like the construct was thinking. Then in a flash the construct bit down, its sharpened canine easily piercing through Serin's hand. He held still as the Construct tasted the blood that came out. A flash passed over the construct's eyes and before he knew it, The construct bandaged Serin's hand and stood.

"Registration is complete under Serin. Maximum Level currently available to me is 131; I can achieve 120 levels before I will match your level. At this time I am at your command. Is there a name you wish to name me?"

Serin looked at Olma, she shrugged, as if saying 'you brought it home, you name it.'

Serin looked, "You will be Avea."

The construct nodded. "Avea. understood. Is there a family name?" Serin didn't have a family name. There were a few that kept their family names when they came to his nation, but most just referred to themselves as 'of Haven'.

He knew that his parents didn't keep a last name as well. Serin looked at Olma, and she smiled and whispered something in his ear.

"Yes Avea there is a family name. We are of the House Aegis."

Avea nodded at this, and Olma looked proud. To her, a family name was important. It was something that would always tie their family together, which was something she found important. Serin smiled.

Serin then felt a message coming in. It was from Jericho, who was even laughing in his mental message, [Hey Serin, did you finish registration yet?]

Serin replied via mental message [yes, Just now.]

Jericho, now audibly laughing in his message said, [I think you missed a crucial detail about registration and reproduction, kiddo.]

Serin thought back on the text he quickly absorbed, then paled and pulled the Construct guide out to a specific chapter. After reading it fully, He looked at Avea.

"Avea, how does your race reproduce?"

"Sir, we reproduce in the same way as any human, except only a Construct can be born of a Construct."

Serin was starting to show less worry, "So you can reproduce with anyone. Why must you be Registered to do so?"

The next words Avea said shattered Serin's future plans in moments.

"Negative. The Donor must be a genetic match to the registered User, Sir. This is to ensure the Construct does not burden its registered User with additional childcare costs."

Serin was only able to mutter one word.

"Fuck."

***

Serin knew he was a leader. He knew, as the leader of his nation, he could not show favoritism to one race or another, whether it was through his personal choices or public decisions, Serin did his best to always make sure there were no issues. He also knew that this was a very thin line to walk because of the extremely varied cultural aspects of the diverse people of his nation

But now he had just royally messed up.

He had taken in another woman into his family. Not just under the guise of care, but with the direct expectation of creating offspring with.

Serin initially had thought to focus only on building his town. He knew that survival of his town was paramount to finding love and happiness. Then as he began to bring in refugees, he made sure a home was made for them as well. It was always of the upmost importance that the considerations of his people were placed above his own personal life. He had seen the subtle advances of some of the Demis, but had mostly ignored them. He did not have time to actively pursue partnership when his town was still so young.

Then came the changelings. Serin had blundered into a proposal from a girl who was on the cusp of adulthood. He also set a rule for ensuring housing for all Changelings with the assistance of the Demis. Between his own rulings and the machinations of the other representatives, these two separate issues would intertwine with Serin's life to cause him to lose his perpetual bachelor status, as although a temporary measure the rule stuck. Then Serin found out that he was now 'Beholden' to this Changeling, Olma. He hadn't planned on taking a partner, but had been sort of maneuvered into it. If he was to refuse it would be a slap in the face to both the changelings and Demis, as he would be culturally insulting both the Demis who were asked to give residence to the refugee changelings, and to the changelings, who had rediscovered a powerful racial trait.

Serin could tell that the girl was infatuated with him, and then Serin realized something. Only changelings believed in Polygamy, except with other Changelings.

Demis believed in their lifelong bonded pairs. Similarly the Planetouched bonded through a religious custom called 'Marriage'. Dhamphirs were assigned their partner at a very young age based on Master Cellic's Divinations, and only those who had lost their assigned partner were free to seek another. Although this hadn't happened, that was the guidance. The Gole seemed to keep to themselves and the oldest generation had paired up, as if they were drawn together. Most of which had already had a child and were working on a second. The Forest Elves were a bit different. When elves found a suitable partner, they determined which family was better suited to take in a new member, and that was the member that moved into a new family. Their families were all very close knit that way. Serin realized that by taking in only Olma as a partner, it would be respected as a partnership to the monogamous races, and signaled 'hands off' to the other changelings. It was the best solution for his current predicament and for quite a while worked in his favor. On a few occasions Serin had seen Olma mention she was not worried if Serin took another partner. Serin was adamant about not doing it. When asked, Olma explained.

"Like the races of our home, the races here have an unnaturally strong connection and kinship to blood relatives. And we know from our stories that changelings are often treated as brothers and sisters to their relatives. Therefore it is in the best interest of the Changeling's survival to accept if their partner has other relatives. It keeps our children protected through the bonds of kinship."

But the Constructs had entered, and through his own lack of foresight, Serin had upset the applecart. The evening after the Constructs had been taken to their new homes there was an immediate town hall meeting.

Most of the Registered Constructs were to people who already had a family. With the exception of an odd widower refugee or single person, Almost the entire population of Constructs had caused a sort of Polygamy.

Serin was listening to their complaints. Mostly from angry women and fearful husbands. Serin stood on a platform. Serin then asked, "Please raise your hands if you have not registered the Construct you took in."

Very few hands had raised. Serin continued, "I know it is not ideal, but please listen. I am not asking for you to forsake your current husband, wife, mate, or partner. I am asking that you feed, house, clothe, and teach a new member of the family."

There were outcries. Serin looked at them, "It is a hard position to be in, but in the future, they will need our help to increase their population." Serin looked at Avea and asked her a question. "Avea. What am I to you?"

With a deadpan expression, Avea responded, "Sir, you are my Registered User." Serin continued, "And What does that mean?" Avea responded, "I am to follow your orders, and I am not allowed to grow stronger than you. I am also not allowed to incubate Constructs that do not match your genetic code."

Serin then looked at the crowd, "They are not asking to be your mate, your partner, your husband, or your wife. They just need a home. And in time a bit of genetic code. I would be willing to bet my crown that some of the most conservative husbands here had at least one child outside of partnership during the first harvest festival."

The crowd quieted down as Serin continued. "Yes. There were slight mistakes made. I also was only planning on sharing a home with Olma." There were a few murmurs of discontent. Serin then grew impatient. He understood that people were fearful of causing issues in their relationships, and Serin had just caused the most serious of issues to occur among the majority of the populace.

"Alright. If you are so strongly against it, please make a line and I will unregister you. This will involve me executing you and resurrecting you. I will ensure the process is painless, and we have created a support group for post revival depression syndrome, and I will recommend you attend."

No one lined up. They knew or had heard stories of those that were revived. All of them had scars that could not be seen.

With that settled Serin continued, "Must not be such a bad fate then. And before you ask, being killed and revived doesn't change the registration of the Construct, only the User."

***

Not too long later, Serin was sitting down to dinner with his extended family. Seated around the table was Serin, Olma, Avea, Sara, Ben, and Ben's new Construct Adi.

Serin had a rather exhausted look on his face. Olma was just as cheerful as always, if not more. Olma saw Avea without a hint of jealousy and instead saw her like viewing a sister or a best friend. Sara on the other hand was staring daggers at Ben who was doing his best to not laugh at the resigned futility of the entire situation. Ben had always been one to laugh in the face of danger. It was his coping mechanism.

Although the tendencies of relationships varied, In the Burb that Serin came from Monogamy was near absolute. Relations outside of marriage were forbidden, with adultery causing the entire family to be seen as parias. Sara looked ready to murder her husband.

Serin did his best to break the tension, he looked at Avea. "Avea, it is important for you to ask a question when you do not understand something. This way we can explain the cultures and customs of this Nation."

Avea looked at Serin and nodded, "Understood, Sir."

Serin thought about it. "Avea, tomorrow you will need to go shopping with Olma. She will take you to the tailor and have a few outfits made. Ben, is it ok if they also take Adi? They came here mostly with military uniforms, and I think it would be best if they went."

Sara then looked at Adi, "And maybe you can cut your hair. It is very long." Sara was obviously being jealous as Adi's hair was longer and much more elegantly cared for then Sara's. Serin listening in felt a tinge of warning as he remembered something about Constructs and how they kept their hair. He then saw strands of red fate surround Sara, implying her imminent death. Serin grew pale and began to interject but he was too late.

At Sara's comment, Adi, who had remained silent, looked over at Ben, and said "Is tonight when you take me then?"

Sara's eyes went wide and Serin saw her grab for a knife. Serin, quick to defuse the situation screamed "Wait" emitting a blast of raw magical power from himself. His parents hadn't seen such a display ever from him.

Serin looked at Sara, "Mother. Please before you jump to conclusions or make any remarks, read the publicly available text about Constructs. I have made several copies in the library and I can make one for you right now. The reason for Adi's comment is that you mentioned her hair. Upon conception, a Construct cuts their hair. Since their children develop differently, it acts as a cue to their registered User when they are next available to care for a child. By telling a construct to cut their hair, you are informing them you wish for them to produce an offspring. Adi was only confirming your wishes with Ben."

Sara looked a little flustered. Serin continued, "I get it. It is different here than it was back home. I am asking you to be patient and kind. Adi does not plan to steal Dad's heart. She is closer to a homunculus than to a human. Any children they have will only temporarily be of our house, as when they leave they will join with another. They do not threaten your place in our family.."

Serin then looked at Adi who hadn't moved. "Also, Constructs are programmed to protect their registered user at all costs. I don't want to revive you mother, because you would be unable to defeat Adi even if you spent the next 20 years training."

Sara looked a bit despondent and nodded.

The table returned to relative normality. Everyone quietly ate their meals. The silence was broken by Olma, who casually asked Serin, "When are we planning on cutting Avea's hair."

Serin nearly choked on his dinner.

***

Far away in the northern Kingdom a goblet smashed into a wall, shattering into pieces. "What do you mean, 'she's gone'?!"

Marcus, Grand General of the Northern Kingdom, had just learned that one of his trusted advisors and oldest allies, as well as a primary instructor of his military academy was missing. Additionally, several large bombs were detonated within the castle, causing irreparable structural damage to the outer fortifications, the inner walls, and the ramparts. No one was harmed in the destruction, and it seemed that other than abducting Veronica, the royal armory was emptied of weapons and enchanted equipment. It was a heist and an abduction, with the cover of a terrorist attack.

"Find her. She was obviously abducted, so pull in our less reputable contacts. Torture them if necessary. I want them found."

***