Chapter 239 Godlings

"What am I supposed to do with them?" asked Aella, thinking over all of the things she needed to do still. "I have to go back to the halflings and grab the elves I left here a week ago now, apparently, and I need to finish getting tattoos on all of the leaders…"

Stella waved her hand. "I don't care about all of that. Keep them alive, it should be pretty hard to kill them, and I'll get them at the end of the week."

"Wait," gasped Alfred before she could leave.

"Yes?" asked Stella, raising an eyebrow.

"Be careful, Momma is all dressed up, meaning her temper is short if you keep her busy," warned the eldest girl, her pigtails bouncing as she swung her head around in alarm.

"You said time travels differently in the land of the dead, does that mean you know how to bring someone back from there?" Alfred said quickly, scrambling to his feet and stumbling towards her.

"If you touch me, I will kill you," Stella said with a frown.

Alfred stopped dead in his tracks, waving back and forth as if drunk.

"I know of the land of the dead, but bringing someone back is much more difficult than what you think. I'm assuming this is because of your sister?"

"She died too young!" he cried, stepping closer, than remembering himself and backing back up.

"Many die that age, or even younger, that doesn't convince me that your sister was special enough to save," said Stella, tilting her head in annoyance.

Alfred opened his mouth to argue then shut it back and hung his head.

"Your sister died how long ago? You've moved on. This sentimentality that you are feeling will pass. She is happy where she is, as most dead are, and bringing her here will only cause her unhappiness as she tries to figure out how to live again. Then all those who have lost loved ones will hound you, begging you to bring them back from the dead. There will soon be so many dead brought back, there won't be any room for the living."

Stella gazed at him for a moment, then turned to her kids. "Have fun. Don't get caught killing anyone. Don't do anything that I or your father will have to fix."

They all nodded very seriously, and Aella gulped. What kind of mother was this?!

"Tell her your names again, because she doesn't have our memory," said Stella, patting the youngest boy on the head.

He nodded dutifully and turned to Aella. "My name is Merle, I'm the oldest boy. Mom and Dad are going to have so many more kids, I can't count them all. That's not counting all of the others Dad helped with the world trees-"

"Merle," growled Stella.

He jumped and immediately said, "This is my brother Donovan and my sister Sarah. She's the oldest."

"Good, now I will be back in a week. You all have your clocks synched, right?"

All three nodded to her, and she was just gone.

"Aella, I need to purify us so we can go back around people," mumbled Alfred, still standing with his head down.

"That dark magic clinging to you looks really icky," agreed Sarah with a nod of her head.

"Where's your kitty?" asked Donovan, craning his neck to look all around. "Momma said you had a pretty one that her behemoth really liked. He was bold."

"He's in the halfling lands, where I need to get to," said Aella with a frown, wondering how everyone was doing down there.

"Oh, then he's probably getting fat," said Sarah with a nod of her head as if she knew.

"Unless the halflings are wild, remember that one world we went to where they lived in a jungle and wore leaves?" asked Merle with big eyes.

"That whole world was wild," said Donovan, rolling his eyes.

"All of the people living there wore only leaves," said Sarah.

"Aella?" asked Alfred, lifting his head to look at her with bloodshot eyes.

She stepped up close to him and he held out his hands, taking hers, and then they were enveloped in a soft white glow that made her skin tingle.

"Ooooh, that's a strong spell!" declared Sarah in awe.

"It's not a spell, it's an ability," sighed Merle, rolling his eyes. "He can't cast actual spells. His mind can't handle the math."

"He can read though," said Sarah, confused, squinting at them.

"He has the same problem you do, Sarah," said Merle with a definitive nod. "The only magic you can do is like Moms."

"Oh, okay." Sarah nodded in understanding, looking around bored after that.

"Snowball fight!" cried Donovan, throwing a huge snowball, as large as his head, at his two siblings.

Merle shrugged and an invisible shield popped up, stopping the snowball halfway, and causing it to spin towards Sarah, who was splattered in the face.

"Hey!" she cried in surprise, scooping up some snow herself.

"Time to go," sighed Aella, rubbing her forehead. She was getting a headache, even though she shouldn't be able to. "I'll take you home first, Alfred, before I grab the elves and Precious. I'll be back though, so you can get a tattoo that will let you contact me whenever there's a problem."

"Alright, that sounds like a good idea," he said, still sounding dejected. He wasn't holding his head down anymore, and didn't look like he was about to cry.

"Time to go!" called Merle, ducking effortlessly under a flying snowball and darting to Aella's side. "Safe!"

"Ah, cheater!" whined Donovan. "You always use magic to escape!"

"Of course," Merle sniffed, as if that were a stupid comment from his brother.

"Ready!" breathed Sarah, her cheeks pink from all the running. The cold didn't seem to be bothering any of them, and Aella just assumed that was because they were godlings.

Aella teleported all of them to the human city, just long enough to drop Alfred off by the library, then teleported all of the kids with her to the halfling lands. Surely, they wouldn't cause too much trouble?

"Aella!" cried Precious, launching himself towards her and gliding over the reaching hands of the Donovan.

Aella caught him and allowed him to rub his head against her chin, giving the boy a glare. He seemed to know what that look meant and quickly put his hands behind his back.

"That's her soul pet, stupid," chided Sarah. "You can't treat him like a common pet!"

"I'm sorry!" muttered Donovan, hanging his head. "I just thought he looked soft and pet-able!"

Merle shook his head as the halflings approached curiously.

"Great King of the Realm, we thank you for saving us from that horrible army of dead!" said one of the halflings, holding his hat in his hands and giving her short little bows. "We have seen to it that your pet and the elves you brought here before leaving were well taken care of. I hope you are pleased."

Aella raised an eyebrow at the elves as they made their way through the crowd of halflings that had gathered from all around.

"They fed us to within an inch of our lives," groaned one of the elves, rubbing his belly.

"I don't know that I can eat anything else for the rest of my life!" said another.

The third elf merely held his belly and not making eye contact with anyone.

"Well, if we are good here," said Aella, looking around and spying the little halfling girl she had given a tattoo to.

"I will let you know if we need you again!" boasted the little girl with a huge grin, showing off her tattoo proudly. It had a white hazy appearance where the skin was healing and trying to peel.

"Oops. Let me heal that," said Aella, making her way over to the child and quickly healing it.

"Oh, thank you!" grinned the girl, obvious relief on her face. The halflings around her were even more impressed, mumbling about it being a miracle and how Aella must be like a god.

With a sigh of frustration, Aella returned to the kids and the elves.

"Let's go," she said, gathering them closer and teleporting to the gnome council room.

"Dad gets annoyed with people calling him a god, too," said Merle, patting Aella's hand. "You'll get used to it."

"What?" she asked, getting interrupted as the gnomes heard them talking and called out.

"Whoever is there, please step into the light of the speaking podium so we can see you," said the gnome in the middle of the arch of counselors.

Aella stepped forward into the light, leaving the kids and elves behind her.

"Ah, Aella, it is good to see you. To what do we owe this visit?" asked the counselor nearest her.

"I have brought elven tattooist, in the hope that you will all allow them to place a tattoo on you. The tattoo would allow you to contact me if there is ever an important need, but will not allow me to read your minds or anything such as that," explained Aella.

"A tattoo?" asked another of the counselors with a frown. "I don't know that I like the idea of that."