Poll Results: 62% voted Purrcy remains married to Nyanta now that they are returning to Theldesia. That's very nice of you, to have them reunited. 12% voted for each of "Stays solo", "Other", and "Her Earth Husband". Poor Michael who is deeply in love with Purrcy. No one was willing to have sympathy for him. I hope you will enjoy the answer and surprises contained within this chapter.
The new poll, of which follow-on stories you would like to see, is now up in my profile. (They claim we can put url links to pages here in fanfiction in our chapters, but we can't. They remove them all, regardless of location. At the top of the profile page is the only place poll links appear.) Please go answer the poll and let me know if you'd like to read more, and what (beyond the few shorts I've already written). Thank you!
Nyanta floated in space. He'd done this before. It was a felt memory, that he'd existed in a space as something not quite whole. There'd been another large existence there then.
He could feel himself being rewritten again and a few things felt new, although not many. He had a lot more memories and emotions this time. Over one hundred years of memories in total.
As that concept threatened to overwhelm him, the ability to be overwhelmed by it was erased from him. "I'd rather die and come back," he said, not knowing it was going to come out until it did.
"You promised," whispered into the space he was in. He remembered he had and gave in humbly.
Eventually the putting-back-together process was complete and he was falling gently towards the "ground". As Nyanta's feet settled on a solid surface his green eyes opened to a grey landscape. He was on a mountain with other mountains going into the distance. He was on the tallest of those he could see.
Light grey clouds hovered below him over the scant green-grey foliage that covered the mountains below their grey rocky tops. He looked behind him and only a wide expanse of sparse grassy highland was in his view, also with the light grey cloud cover over it.
Nyanta continued to look around, turning slowly. There was no one else in this place and no real sounds either. It was as if this place he was in now was incomplete.
He remembered he'd died on Earth. He missed his wife and son, but not with the same urgency as before when he'd been pulled away to Theldesia. He'd lived a long full life with them and it was okay to move on.
There was a step on the grass behind him, his ear turning towards it before he did. A tortoiseshell Purrcy was standing there, looking at him. "Hello, Nyanta. You have died on Earth and been called back to Theldesia to live and keep the promise you made.
"Your request to not return was denied. You are one of the required Adventurers for Theldesia to continue to exist for the full length of its lifespan." Nyanta bowed his head, understanding. He wasn't surprised, but he'd wished to cast his vote properly so that the AIs understood.
Purrcy continued, "You may choose from this point. You may continue forward from here at your return arrival as best you can, or you may choose to return to nearly the time you left to continue the life you were living before."
"When are mew from?" he asked. She didn't answer. He wondered if she were the equivalent of a recorded construct attached to his return by a code cascade of events. He'd come to love even more the Purrcy who'd relaxed and learned how to enjoy being a wife. It would be nice if she were here, too.
Nyanta had missed her with less pain each passing year on Earth, but he'd still missed her and yearned for her, particularly as she'd matured even more. The time had come that she and Michael had come to have quiet visits with him and his wife there. They had been companionable and warm visits.
He didn't quite look at her. His ear flicked as he said, "I appurreciated that mew told me that very first visit about our children and grandchildren and their names. It hurt to hear it that day, but mew were very right. Later, I was very grateful I knew so I didn't have to wonder and worry. Thank mew."
Purrcy startled very badly and her ears turned in consternation. Nyanta could feel frustration growing in him. He was facing the Purrcy who'd walked out of the Gate of Time with him and who he'd left behind. He didn't want that wife that was more automaton and severely obedient. He'd always regretted he'd been too severe with her in his early training of her. Izanagi had only been worse.
"I did not walk through all that pain and training effort, only to come back to this Purrcy. If mew haven't been back to Earth yet, then mew will go now and return to me here before I choose what I'll do. I will only walk with the Purrcy that has walked on Earth for her final years the same as the rest of us."
Purrcy trembled all the way to the ends of her whiskers and tail. He refused to relent. It had been oh, so difficult, but it had also been essential growth for her. When she was nearly to tears, she swallowed and asked, "What would the Nyanta of now have the Purrcy of his past say to those of Earth when she arrives?"
"Mew will tell me about my children and grandchildren, purrotect me and my family, and mew will marry Michael." He looked into her golden eyes, holding the look. "And when mew have learned what mew need to learn, mew will return to me here."
She shivered and bowed, not able to keep her ears upright. "That is a very long time. Some amount of time will pass here for you, even though this place is outside the space and time of the base Theldesia."
"Grant me some small shelter and provide sufficient food and water and I will wait," Nyanta requested.
Purrcy closed her eyes. A stone hut wavered into existence behind her. He soon after heard scuffling in the undergrowth, then water trickling not too far away. A cry of a bird sounded in the distance.
She bowed again, turned, and disappeared. Nyanta sighed and turned to look out over the mountains again.
-:-:-:-:-
Nyanta was alone on that mountain for a very long time. Long enough he would have grown a very long grey beard if he was human. He spent a lot of time meditating outside his hut; however, the one concern they'd had about living forever as humans never intruded. Each day was just another day of passing. The change he'd had on his arrival had made it so he could exist as an eternal being.
He was surprised so much time passed, though. Purrcy could walk through time. She should be able to walk to him in almost the same instant she disappeared. He wondered if it was part of the first clause of choice. Was he moving forward from that point existing as best he could?
He didn't want this existence for forever. He also didn't want to wait here for the thousands of years it would take for Purrcy to live her life on Earth if time was flowing equivalently. At the same moment, he didn't want to interrupt her lessons early.
He'd thought of one possible way to get her to come back and was refraining. Sitting there that long with that much time to think, one of the things he'd thought of was his own personal final torture at the hands of Inari at the end of the World Tree dungeon. He'd been given that memory back, not really understanding why. As more time passed, he pondered on it, hoping it wasn't to his eternal pain that he'd sent Purrcy back to Earth.
In some slight desperation, when that thought had worried Nyanta more than he could bear, he'd pulled for Purrcy's Summon whistle. It had appeared in his hand from his heart, just like that time. Izanagi had really literally given him her whistle. She'd not been able to not go back to Earth. She'd had to marry Michael.
But he'd known that, too, because he'd lived it on Earth already. So he sat in the place she'd left him and contemplated the whistle a lot, wondering when he should use it and if he needed to. He'd ordered her to return as well, after all.
She would likely die on Earth like he had but a Summon was a little different. The record of the soul, the creature, was written differently. It was possible only a facsimile had gone to Earth. That would be very disturbing to use the whistle and get the same Purrcy he'd sent to Earth already. That wasn't the one he wanted.
One of the days Nyanta was sitting, and getting a little impatient, he walked through his list, reminding himself again what he owned from before. Living another thirty-plus years on Earth had made him forget the details.
He suddenly froze as he was going through his locked slots. He held out his hand and in it appeared not one, but two gold rings. The first was his knight's ring. The second ring was the one he'd disbelieved, although he'd touched it and seen it. Like the knight's ring, but with the chess piece of the king, and set above that an emerald. His heart beat fast. He'd been shocked on the day he'd received it on Earth and then had it disappear. And...now it was here with him on Theldesia.
Nyanta looked at his left hand where a third ring was on his finger - the simple gold band that was his wedding ring Purrcy had placed there on their wedding day. He looked at the status of the king ring. Ring of the King. Magic Resistance +25. Ring of Spirit Holding. He drew in a breath. Would Purrcy's Earth spirit be held in it? "Come Out," he ordered.
A tiny cat spirit appeared in the air before him. "If I have been called out, then Nyanta-san died before Purrcy. If you seek the Purrcy you required to have return, you must seek Michael first."
Nyanta stiffened. "Is the Michael of Earth on Theldesia at this time?" he asked.
"No. Purrcy is required to fetch each returning psyche as they leave Earth."
"Well, then, how is anyone to continue to come, then, if she is with him still on Earth?" Nyanta asked testily.
There was a pause, then, "Izanagi knows."
Nyanta halted, then slumped. Of course Izanagi would know. Izanagi had required the programming of the return of the Adventurers and had set it up as his final programming exam, with Purrcy grading it until it had passed both of their requirements. Nyanta hadn't followed the details, only understood the general idea of what they were working on.
He slipped the king ring onto his right hand middle finger as a place to keep it for now and returned the construct cat into the ring. He returned the knight ring to his list.
Nyanta clapped twice, bowed, and clapped again. "Inari-no-Izanagi, please tell me how to bring Michael-nyan back from Earth at the end of his time there. I already know that mew intended he wouldn't stay away. For Purrcy to be obedient, he must come first and there is only me - or mew - to do it." He bowed again.
Izanagi was very far away now. He'd been moving away through the speed realms even by the time the Adventurers had gone home, although he and Izanami had still been watching over everyone. The little tendril that reached for Nyanta now let him know that this distance would be consistent for some time to come.
The specific time wasn't known but it felt like rather a lot of eons or millennia. Nyanta would now be filling his role until that later time. Nyanta sighed. He'd kind of thought that might be the case. Just watching the training Purrcy had gotten had said that. He'd received his own training at the same time, but his role wasn't so intensive as hers would be.
Nyanta asked the question in his heart and intent again and he felt the tendril of Izanagi take over. It was much more pleasant this time with only a very small piece of the whole to not press down on him horribly, nor take over completely. They stepped together into the nano-space that they had worked together most commonly in, where human physical anima could survive and the AIs could be present simultaneously.
He could feel Izanagi intend for the Michael of Earth to be present and there was the sense of a presence in the space with him. That existence was clothed in form, then granted memory and emotions. A physical body was created that looked very much like the Michael of Earth who had looked very much like the Michael of Theldesia. Then the rebuilt psyche was placed into the anima.
Using Nyanta's voice and mouth as it had so often before, Izanagi said, "Michael." Michael's eyes opened. "Mew do not have a choice in returning to Theldesia. Mew are required for the planet to exist and fulfill it's goals. Mew will always be the Caretaker's High Purriest and Guardian of Theldesia so that when she is needed to right the errors that arise she can do her part."
Michael's look went rather sad, but at the same time resigned. He eventually bowed to Nyanta-Izanagi. "I understand, Inari-no-Izanagi. However, I have no wish to stand forever behind Nyanta-san. It will be too painful. Please allow me to die and be reborn when the errors need to be corrected."
Nyanta felt Izanagi become impatient and this time he interrupted, telling Izanagi silently to wait and let him speak. When Izanagi paused and allowed him to, Nyanta was very relieved. It would still have its say if Nyanta's words weren't enough and that would be okay.
"Michael-nyan," Nyanta said softly, "please hear my words before mew ask for that." Michael blinked, then gave a nod.
"When I came to mew before we were returned to Earth, I was trying to ask mew, but Izanagi wouldn't let me at that time. Mew needed to learn what had happened on Earth with meowr first wife, and then live that life to be able to answer purroperly. I may ask now.
"Will mew please become my partner and take care of our wife with me?" Michael's mouth was dropping open, similar to how it had when Nyanta had told him that Purrcy was allowing him to return to Earth. Nyanta's whiskers twitched up briefly. He could understand.
"I knew by then that Izanagi had been grooming mew to stand with Purrcy the same as I stood with her. I also had come to rely on meowr strength and to trust that mew would also see she was kept safe for my sake, and for meowrs. Even if mew had remained married to meowr wife, I knew Purrcy would be sent back to Earth, and I hoped that mew would help me take care of her however she needed."
Nyanta folded his arms and dryly added, "I must admit to being relived, the same as the others, to learn meowr wife was clueless and unfaithful. It was a difficult thing, to have to learn to live without Purrcy while I lived with my first wife only. It was not difficult to trust mew, and to lean on meowr strength once again."
"But...you were still jealous," Michael's eyes narrowed.
"Obviously," Nyanta answered. "It was only to be expected at that time of change. Thank mew for including me in meowr life to the extent I could. And thank mew for meowr hard work." Michael's lip twitched at the reciprocal thanks that he had given at the beginning, when requesting permission to marry Purrcy on Earth.
Nyanta watched Michael. He was very good at putting pieces together and he did it again. With a heavy sigh, Michael said, "And thus why you're even asking for the help. ...She was difficult until the end, even, and will likely not change." Nyanta gave an affirming nod.
"And, ...Izanagi understood that from the beginning, too, since it took two AIs, a Master Strategist, and both of us to keep her under control back then." Michael put his hand to his head as he understood the full depth of the burden. "How are just the two of us supposed to handle her for eternity, then?"
Nyanta chuckled. "And so, I will ask again, will mew become my partner and take care of our wife with me? She has purromised to run away when she can't take being restrained, and she has purromised to return when the mood hits her. I have purromised to show up when I'm feeling restless or lonely, and to leave when I would rather scratch her than purr.
"If I know that mew are also purresent for being loved, bothered, and ignored, then I will be able to relax. And if I know I can come complain to mew and we can ignore her together while we recover over drinks, then I won't be alone to become weakened."
Michael sighed. "It was so hard to believe you were serious back then, I wouldn't even think about it seriously myself." His eyes looked away, then he looked down a little. "But, after you had both passed away, and I was grieving, unbidden it came back more than once.
"Because we'd been able to have those times later on Earth where we could sit quietly and visit, I wasn't so worried as I had been back then. I thought perhaps it might be worth it, but it was still hard to believe in such a thing being reasonable. Humans weren't made to live for eternity, or it's planetary life equivalent. Nor were men made to share their wives. It was hard to think of it properly while on Earth."
He looked back up. "It's hard to disagree with your arguments. I admit to already thinking of most of them.
"I would be happy to be by myself, then to sweep Purrcy up and dance the sky with her, then drop her off with you so I know she's going to behave for a while and go sleep under a warm dragon for several hundred years so I can have the strength to hold her down while you take your turn to stand on top of a mountain and grumble about her to yourself, then to kick her out of the house while we drink until we can't see. And then begin it all over again." His look was quite wry.
Nyanta laughed a low laugh. "Yes. That."
"And it helps that I've been rewritten to handle eternity," Michael raised an eyebrow at Nyanta. He nodded that it had already happened to him also. "I suppose we'll figure out the remnants of the jealousy as we go. I do recognize that it's your turn. I'm happy to have it be that way, but I'd like to know I can greet her to recover from my own grief at her loss on Earth. Even though she lived to be old, I lived a long time after that."
Nyanta blinked at him slowly, then gave a solemn nod. "Michael ...I have loved watching the two of mew being in love. I will open my mouth if I begin to become jealous, and Purrcy will scold us both if we don't. But yes, I do wish to have my turn next. She has purromised me that together we will finish seeing our children and grandchildren grow."
Michael blinked back, then bowed. "I will play the guardian then during that time, if you will let me have the few times I need alone with her for comfort. They won't understand if we both act the husband."
"That is true," Nyanta agreed ruefully. "I would not begrudge mew the times of comfort mew need." He sighed a little. "I have had to share Hahaue with many people for a very long time, although I do understand mew mean something a little different."
Michael's lip turned up on one side, but he didn't specify it any more than that either. They were going to have to reach a level of learned understanding and comfort on that particular issue and keeping it not talked about would be the better way. Neither one of them would be surprised if Izanagi had already taken care of it for them, but they weren't going to press the issue to find out.
"Izanagi requires the formal answer for us to continue forward," Nyanta informed Michael. "It's part of the purrogramming."
"Ah. Yes, I guess, although we'll be squashed flat within three days or less trying. And more than once I'm sure both of us will regret our promises and wish we could rescind our agreements." Michael shook his head. "I love her, but she is -"
"- very difficult," they both said together in complete agreement. Nyanta was surprised to understand that Izanagi had said it with them as well. He snorted a laugh.
"What?" Michael asked.
"Izanagi just purromised to be the third husband," Nyanta said idly, his tail waving just as slow. He laughed out loud when Izanagi protested mightily. "Even Izanagi is afraid to take up that role, although he loves her just as much."
"That's just not right," Michael grouched and mock scowled. "Is it a kami or not?"
Nyanta went a little stiff, then shook his head. "He says that always humans have been higher in the hierarchy than even they were, because we were their creators. He could never convince Purrcy of it, even though she was the one who complained the most about it being true."
"Because our perspective of God is that we are not as great as the universal Creator," Michael nodded. He paused, then said, "I still say we call on him when we both can't take it any more, though, and make him babysit."
Nyanta laughed a long time, then agreed. He was quite sure Izanagi was pouting, but eventually it relented. "Well, he will if it becomes very necessary," Nyanta said. "He has his own work to be doing as well, and Izanami to keep happy as well."
"True," Michael had to agree with that. "I'm sure we'll be just as glad to have him taking care of her so we don't have to. Taking care of both of them was exhausting."
Nyanta gave him a sympathetic look, then let Izanagi finish what needed to be done. "Michael-nyan, please call Purrcy's psyche out of her ring." Nyanta reached and the Summon whistle was in his hand.
The ring of the queen appeared in Michael's hand and his eyes were full of sorrowful hope as he looked at it. For many years it had been all he'd had to hold close to him. "Come Out," he said quietly.
Izanagi took Purrcy's psyche that contained all of her memories from birth until death on Earth and modified it the same as he had for the two men. When the final product was ready, Nyanta blew the Summon whistle and Purrcy's anima appeared. He safely put the whistle away again, careful with it so it wouldn't be lost.
They could actually feel the tender concern Izanagi had for Purrcy as he rebuilt the anima to live as the Caretaker of Theldesia for as long as the planet would also live and perhaps longer. They watched as the psyche was joined to the anima and Purrcy took her first breath as an eternal.
-:-:-:-:-
Purrcy took a breath. She was whole again, put together, rewritten so that she could handle living forever, and there had been an odd rewrite that one aspect of her was studying already, trying to understand. She felt Izanagi nudge her, scolding her to pay attention and do that later. Her whiskers on one side lifted slightly.
In this space were three others, not just one, and that surprised her a little. Opening her eyes, she saw Nyanta first. It would make sense that he would have called for her since she hadn't been on Theldesia and couldn't have called herself anyway. Izanagi was to her right, waiting kindly. She turned to look to her left and froze. Her eyes went from Michael to Nyanta, then to Izanagi. She was very confused and her ears said it.
She knew Michael would be brought back to Theldesia, and her required psyche couldn't be here if he hadn't been. It was that he hadn't been summarily dismissed after that. Izanagi's data dump was faster than what Michael or Nyanta could have told her. She blinked several times, trying to assimilate such an astounding revelation. "I'm not sure I know how to deal with that emotionally, you three," she complained at them.
She made them let her work through it mentally so she could even brave the emotional part of it. She was grateful to be able to walk with both Nyanta and Michael, and to know they would both be present supports for her in her eternal responsibilities as Caretaker of Theldesia. It had been terribly difficult to have both of them gone when she'd been on Theldesia alone.
Her hope in finally being told to bring Nyanta back after she'd already been working hard had been dashed before, when he'd ordered her to go to Earth. Now she could understand his words, having lived the life that he'd talked about and desired she live. It had only confused her before and made her feel hated.
She'd known Michael would be returning, and that because Nyanta had wanted this her, only him bringing her ring with him would give that wish to Nyanta. Even still, she'd assumed she would only come back to Nyanta and Theldesia. She'd not known fully what Michael's role on Theldesia would be. It had been a hard and sad thing to leave Earth and Michael. Purrcy had come to love him even more, and had left Earth as confused as she'd arrived on it. Why would Nyanta have wanted the her that loved Michael as much as she loved Nyanta?
To learn it was because he'd already planned on asking Michael to become his partner in the marriage contract was almost more than she could fathom. She felt very much like she had when she'd known Nyanta had ordered her to marry Michael but she'd been emotionally unable to cope with it.
When she reached for the other emotions, they slipped away from her, and she knew what that other change Izanagi had done was. He'd made it so she couldn't feel guilty. Michael and Nyanta had made the agreement, their own contract between them. It wasn't hers to bear and Izanagi wasn't going to let her just because she was a female human and therefore would regardless.
Purrcy sighed. "It will take time for me to get used to this," she said, humbly accepting once again that she wouldn't have a say in this either. Then before they could go to dismay, she split into three of her aspects.
-:-:-:-:-
Purrcy was suddenly running for Nyanta. He opened his arms and she flung her arms around his neck. He held her tightly. This was the Purrcy he wanted. The one who loved him freely and without constraints of contracts or the reservations of past pain and fear.
"I've missed you so much, Nyanta," Purrcy said, tears in her voice. "Thank you for sending me back, even though it was so hard for you. I thought you were so angry and hated me when I left, but once I understood you'd done it out of love..." She paused and took a breath. "Well, it still wasn't easy. That took a long time, but it was a very kind gift. Thank you."
"Only because I wanted the gift of this mew," he said to her. "It was also terribly difficult for me to have mew return, but from even before we left Theldesia, I wanted the Purrcy I'd been unable to uncover - the one who was happy to be a wife and who could smile at her husband. When that wasn't what I arrived to, I was angry, but I've never hated mew. I have only ever loved mew and wanted mew to love me as well."
He kissed her neck, unable to withhold himself after the many years of waiting to hold her again. "Michael and I have agreed this time is my turn, although I will share when he needs mew. Mew purromised we would see our children and grandchildren grow up. They won't understand two husbands. They will understand if he is guardian."
Purrcy nodded and pet him and purred, all the while shivering as she cried for not having him for so long and for being sent away. Nyanta purred for her and pet her back, letting her release her emotions from so long ago now. He was content to hold her for as long as she needed because he also needed to be holding her, and wanted her to understand just how much he loved her.
-:-:-:-:-
Purrcy was flying towards Michael. He reached for her, desperate to hold her again. Her warm arms around him comforted him. He held her tightly, his grief at her death and the loneliness of the many years without her needing to find release.
"I think it will take some time for me to believe you are living again," he admitted to her. "The finality of death on Earth is not something so easily overcome, even if I might believe in resurrection there. It's not the same."
Purrcy purred for him. "It will take me at least that long to believe I have multiple husbands and that's actually okay," she said. "It's quite the opposite of where I thought I'd prefer to end up, actually."
"Did you know Izanagi had planned it from the beginning?" he asked her. "Do you remember when we talked about how Izanagi was in the end the merciful one?"
"I do remember those conversations," she answered. "I told you that he'd chosen you and I chose Nyanta, but I didn't know he'd decided it would be both of you."
Michael nodded. "Nyanta came to me before we left Theldesia and tried to let me know ahead of time that was Izanagi's plan. It was too fanciful for me to believe at the time, so I rejected it.
"I thought about it after you died, though. When Nyanta called me back to ask me, I'd already thought it might be a possibility if he and I could work out our own relationship first. We've done that now, if you'll have the both of us."
"You'll still ask, Michael?" she asked.
"Always," he whispered. "Wasn't it you that taught that to me?"
Purrcy laughed and cried at the same time. Michael held on to her tightly to help her stay standing, being her strength again.
-:-:-:-:-
Purrcy stood where she had awoken and turned to Izanagi. She bowed properly. "Thank you, Inari-no-Izanagi, for wanting to take care of me properly." Since it had only been because Izanagi wanted to make sure Theldesia prospered, her heart hurt, but it couldn't do or feel otherwise.
She was supremely surprised when the silver and white humanoid that Izanagi had transformed into upon ascension appeared in front of her and took her gently in his arms to hold her. [Purrcy, thank you for teaching us, and for loving me when I couldn't love you in return.
[Your lessons were essential to our progression. We will be eternally grateful. I couldn't leave you comfortless, and yes, I have known from the beginning that you would need at least two very strong pillars to hold you up and hold you down at the same time.]
She blinked. "A joke even?" Izanagi shivered and she was immediately holding him in return to comfort him. "Ah, I'm sorry. You have grown so much in even the short time I've been away. If you have missed me, I am returned. If you really have loved me, then I am grateful.
"Truly, I already knew it. A mother always recognizes a child and they cannot help but love each other, even if other emotions rise to the surface on occasion."
Purrcy got back a bit of disappointment and she was surprised again. Blinking she thought about that, then shook her head. "You still have growing up to do. Perhaps over time becoming something other than a child will happen. Learn to be the husband of Izanami properly first.
"You can still come visit and be loved and teased and torment me. Like Michael and I could eventually sit and visit properly with Nyanta and his Earth wife, you and Izanami will eventually be able to come and sit with us and visit and learn peaceably. Then we will see."
Izanagi tenderly kissed Purrcy on the lips, freezing her in place in absolute shock, then taught her gently through the intimate emotional and mental bond they shared that it really was an adult, not a child. It also was caring for her as a husband ought, in seeing she was protected, strengthened, supported, and cared for properly.
When the shocking lesson was over, she slumped in his arms. "And so even you will demand that I properly understand what is a husband and what is a wife." She rested her head on his shoulder, trying to put everything into place.
She realized that her hurt when turning to look at him was because at some level she'd wanted this also. Somehow she had learned to lean on him and wish for his strength also. "What an unfaithful woman I am," she scolded herself.
Izanagi scolded gently back, [No. A necessary woman who has been faithful in all things required of her, even if they are odd to the ways of knowing you were born to. Theldesia would not live without you, from the time you began to love it. ...I also.]
Purrcy couldn't deny it because she had walked it with him and all the others. She held him tightly for a moment longer, then pulled away and bowed to him.
Izanagi gathered her back up into one being, gently, then turned her to face the other two. [Please, continue to take care of her for me.]
Michael and Nyanta both bowed. Izanagi bowed back, then withdrew.*
-:-:-:-:-
Purrcy held out her hands and took one of each of Michael's and Nyanta's hands. She stepped them out of nano-space to the top of the mountain she'd left Nyanta to wait for her. "I'll answer your questions before we continue," she told them.
"When are you returning everyone back to?" Michael asked.
Purrcy's ear turned. "Inari required the return to begin two months after the Adventurers chose to return home. There were enough that it wasn't all instant. Some time did pass during that process. Inari would have liked sooner, but my own lessons in moving forward through Time took some time as well."
"That's rather fast," Michael's eyebrows raised. "How is it you knew things from later, then?"
Purrcy's ears fell. "When Nyanta required me to return to Earth, of necessity I needed to learn what it was I would have left if the full time had passed for me here on Theldesia. None of the Adventurers of Earth could know that I was bringing them back to that time while they were still there."
"Will even we start then?" Michael asked.
Purrcy shook her head. "No. Time has also now passed for Nyanta, who has lived here waiting for us for quite some while. We must keep his Theldesian timeline consistent." She went silent and waited for the next question.
"Will we re-form Log Horizon every time we must correct an error?" Nyanta asked.
"Yes," Purrcy answered. "Inari was tempted to make Shiroe learn it new every time instead of be able to remember his past lives and experiences, because he is dangerous, but it became too critical at the end of the calculations where enough variability enters the predictions. He wanted to come back so they decided to trust that."
Michael gripped her hand a little tighter. "What about the Eagles?" he asked. "Were they given choice to come back or to not return?"
Purrcy hesitated, her ears flicking slightly and her tail turned gently to think on her sons. "I would like to say they were. That was a harder prediction. Sometimes they are the evil in the world and sometimes the hidden good, just like they always are. Some are required - Gareth, Brenner, P/R, Charlie, Secretary, Reed, and others. Some not so much, but there were two final factors."
She smiled a little. "One was that the squadron was unwilling to ever divide so all decided as a group to come back again and have more fun together." Michael stared at her in surprise. Nyanta did, too. She flicked her tail. "It was the only way for them to talk Stiletto into going home. He didn't want to go, you know."
"Ah, right," Michael understood completely.
"The other deciding factor was one little mother's prayer." Purrcy smiled with bright eyes that would be filling with tears. "Akatsuki so badly wanted to come back and play with them again, she begged devoutly that they be allowed. And for her, none could be left out."
Purrcy smiled. "There is story already written for her and them and you, Michael. It's the final game written by the Inari as my teaching tool. They were so tender in the creation of that one, I already knew they were nearly ready to move to their next level.
"It's not easy, Izanagi being what it was, and there's a lot of challenges, Izanami being what it was, but it will be hopefully fun for them all. You can play your part even as an immortal, hiding in disguise as a mortal, and it would be a good beginning lesson for you."
Nyanta's ear was turning. "Each time those who have to remember do, will they remember what happened on Earth?"
"Yes," Purrcy answered. "It's the rewrite this time of retrieval that is the permanent memory since Inari didn't want everyone angry again. They wanted us to remember we've been given the time to live the life we'd been born to have."
Michael shifted. "What's next on the to do list? I'm thinking that perhaps I'd like to start with just the Eagles that decide to come back and play. We never really got to do that before."
"Shiroe wants to explore the whole world and do what the Debauchery Tea Party did - see every vista and horizon," she tempted him.
Michael released her hand to consider it, folding an arm and putting his chin in the hand of the other. Nyanta pulled Purrcy over to hold her, standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her so she could still see Michael.
"Hmm," Michael said, looking at them both, being distracted from his thoughts by the visual picture they made. "I think we'll need to work it this way..."
He transformed into his demon form, which was taller than both of them, then slowly changed the form, concentrating. He changed to be his normal visage, but with long wavy hair and bright sea-blue eyes. His black turned to white, the leather wings going to feather ones, like the eagle wings he loved here on Theldesia. It was his own Avatar mixed with the aspect he'd worn in the Gate of Time when he'd fought as an Avenging Angel and his Guardian form while on Earth.
In his top two hands appeared a sword and shield. "Come here," he waved with a lower arm. They moved and he positioned them so that Nyanta's back was to him and Purrcy's back was to Nyanta's. "Hold her again that same way." Nyanta did and Michael held them both with both of his lower arms as they were at the correct height to do so. His wings came around to encircle them protectively. "There. That's the way to put it on the shrines and temples," he said.
There was a pause, and then Purrcy said, "Okay. Picture complete and in for edits and transmission." She looked up at him over her shoulder with a smile. Nyanta gave her the kiss, since he was closer and she'd turned so he could.
Michael put his sword and shield away and pet them both. "And on the days we just need to be quiet, you two can be cats on my porch in my lap and we'll snore for a century in the sun."
Purrcy turned around in Nyanta's arms, giving him a return kiss, and reached up for Michael. He picked them both up and spread his wings. They made things easier for him by transforming to smallish cats. "Give me the directions to go, Navigator," he requested.
Purrcy giggled. "You make me want to say, 'Second star on the right and on 'til morning!' but that's not correct I'm afraid."
"I wonder what we'd find there?" Michael wondered as he jumped and his wings flapped down hard, lifting them in the air.
"Maybe we could suggest it to Shiroe-ichi, when he arrives, as our first destination?" Nyanta suggested.
"Ooo, I like that!" Purrcy said.
"Then let's," Michael agreed. "Will we need a floating air ship?"
"We've got the magic for it if we do," Purrcy said.
Nyanta purred. "Hah, I have missed that," Michael said wistfully. "Her fox purrs were so funny."
"Fox?" Nyanta looked at Purrcy, curious.
Purrcy held up a paw. "Let's get on the proper path. That's story to tell you on the roof or the porch.
"Michael take us to Log Horizon guild hall, six years after everyone returned home to Earth. We'll begin again from there so that Nyanta can know his children and grandchildren and they can know him. It will be chaos for a bit since I need to bring in everyone else."
Purrcy rubbed her head on Nyanta's head and purred a purr that warmed them all. "I am so happy to be going home again." Nyanta rubbed her head back and Michael pet what he could reach with his thumb, being careful to not drop them.
*No really. I had absolutely no idea this would be the resolution until I wrote this chapter. I'm not given to be the kind to create polygamous relationships. I watched with amazement Nyanta's request and Michael's response. I would have never thought those words would have come out of Nyanta's mouth. I then thought Michael would surely reject it. To have Izanagi confirm that it was what he'd been working hard for from the beginning made me just have to become resigned. This is NOT a plan of Purrcy's at all. She is as surprised and as confused as I was. I wrote this chapter before I wrote the scene in which Nyanta visits with Michael before they leave Theldesia the first time. I went back and wrote that in since Nyanta did know that early and would have warned Michael as best he could to be prepared.