The Adventures of Pupu The Bubble Witch

Chapter 18: Of Kind and Kin

Meeting back with everyone after tucking Punkin to bed in Eve's quarters,Cer is given a tour of the ship and greenhouse designed by Claira that was originally gifted to Eve, now bestowed upon Punkin.

Casting an enchantment over Cer after finishing the tour, Eve explains to Cer how her crew will guide Cer around the hundreds of vessels she commands.

Now able to hear the voices of Eve's crew and feel their mana threads, Cer feels more at ease for the guidance and thanks Eve for allowing access to all of the Valkyrie for Punkin's entertainment.

With growing amusement and a bit irritation by the seeming favoritism, Akiraion asks Cer, "Why do you get special guidance while we have to explore on our own and get lost?"

Chiming in before Cer can respond, Eve exhales, "Because Cer is already lost. This isn't for Cer. I'm doing this as a favor to Claira. I am not allowing full access just for fun. I owe Claira this much to make sure her spawn is trained and well-cared for, which also means I have to help Cer, the father of Claira's spawn."

Looking past Eve, Cer responds,

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Eve. I am not lost. I'm back with Pupu and we are safe here on the Valkyrie. I don't need to be anywhere else. Pupu doesn't need to live the lives we all lived. She doesn't need to become like us. We can live our purpose, but let's not put our burdens on the next generation.

From here, La Gateau and Kala can bring some bees and turn the greenhouse into an apiary. We can conduct all our business here and use it as our homebase as the rest of you go out, cleanse, shrive, and seal."

Shaking her head intensely against the idea, Eve interrupts Cer, "Nope. You all can't stay here. This is the Valkyrie and unless you want to be driven mad or die, you can't stay. It is no place for the living to stay. No living being aside from Belle and myself can make a round trip on the Valkyrie. It is always a one-way trip for the living and the ferried. It is the covenant to which I am bound. So nope, not a chance. We are headed to the Mystic Evermore where you all must depart with any ferried souls. The unferried stay with me on the Valkyrie. You can set a homebase or port to where you need to with La Gateau, Cherub, and Neko if she comes back. Demons won't go to the Mystic Evermore so you'll be safe for the time being. I don't know if you can rebuild an apiary there, you'd have to ask Miyas once you are there."

Recognizing the name Eve just mentioned, Cer changes the course of the conversation, "Fair enough. I know you all too well to know that you keep your covenant as you would your life. We will go and meet Miyas. What is Miyas doing in the Evermore?"

While not looking at Cer, Eve responds with her chin in the air in an expression of smugness. "Long story short, I stranded her there. You know, witches are secretive and though we are hags of the same coven, I know she is keeping information from me so I stranded her there. She doesn't like people anyways, so it's not like she is really being punished."

"YOU DID WHAT?!?!" responds everyone simultaneously.

With a tone of rhetorical shock, Kali questions the obvious, "I sure hope you did no harm to your own coven...you do remember the magic that binds us right..."

Interrupting Kali from proceeding with her witch canon, Eve responds with defensive annoyance. "I know, I know. You think I would still command the Valkyrie if I was forlorn and cast out the coven? I am headed intentionally to find Miyas to make this right. It has only been a couple of years of being stranded. Time is different for our coven. We don't experience it like the rest of you. We don't age like the rest of you. As long as nobody hunts us down, we are practically immortal."