Chapter 18

Proof of Life

Harry,

If everything went well, my proof of life should have arrived early this year, since Holly has assured me that she could reach Shamballah in about four hours if she flies at top speed. (Yes, your eldest daughter.) You don't know how difficult it is to interact with her while knowing her fate. Still, I imagine she must have gone through the same thing for me in her future. I'm not planning on erasing her memory, (not that I could do that anyway, without a working wand) so it can be assumed that she kept the secret from us in our past. Which leads me to my next point.

I plan on telling her where and when to find you. You never knew how exactly she found you, right? Well, if it is up to me, it'll be because I'm the one who told her. I'm the only one she knows who can give her an accurate window as to your whereabouts in time and space, and I decided to exercise that knowledge when she comes back. I promised her I'd tell her, since it was the only way to prevent her from going through the Umbral Gate and finding you herself. And while you might have wanted to see her again, I felt that allowing her to do that would raise the odds of her finding out about her death to an unacceptable level. If you disagree, please accept my sincerest apology. Having played your own part in time when saving your godfather, I'm sure you can appreciate the irony of my decision not to tell her. And, of course, we can't forget the mess with the Cauldron Clone. But Holly's situation is different, and I didn't want her to go back in time knowing that she'd have to give up her life, even if it meant your happiness.

On another note, I want you to watch out for my son. Westley nearly wet himself the first time I hugged him, because Yamato did his best to brainwash him into thinking that I'm an evil man who would eat him alive. Apparently he also tried corrupt my son by encouraging violent behaviour, but fortunately Westley seems to have too much of Galatea's gentleness inside him for that conditioning to have taken root. However, even though Holly convinced him of my good intentions and got him to listen to his real name, he is still a very confused little boy. It's a good thing that Heidi speaks Japanese. It'll ease the transition for Westley, because aside from a few words from local languages, he only speaks Japanese.

Now you're wondering why I haven't returned. In a nutshell, I tracked Yamato to a place called Astirian, where I encountered an appalling situation. My initial plan was to keep to myself and focus on finding Yamato but a very disturbing event made me lose my cool and lash out at the slavers and soldiers defending the established authority. I killed a few hundred of them, but by the time I was running out of juice there were still reinforcements pouring in, which is where Holly comes in. She whisked me off to safety and took me to the largest resistance encampment, where I found Westley.

I believe the Higher Powers were trying to tell me something. I don't think it was a coincidence that I was rewarded with Westley the moment I set my desire for revenge aside. That's what sealed my decision to fight with the resistance. I was fairly certain that I would have done so even before I found Westley in their camp, since my rampage in Astirian has become the stuff of legends, and the resistance needs a legend to unite them against the Duchess of Astirian's regime.

I'm fairly certain that I'll find Yamato sooner or later, though I'm banking on later. He and the duchess seem like kindred spirits to me, and he's probably offered her his services. A small part of me hopes that she did my job for me and had him executed, but I know him well enough to realise that he's probably convinced her of his value. He knows who I am and what my capabilities are better than anyone in the Mirror Realm, and the duchess is too intelligent to disregard that.

Anyway, I know my decision isn't fair to Heidi. In my letter to her I told her that she needn't go out of her way to remain available to me. Though I doubt that she'll give up on me, in case she does, please probe the man's thoughts to make sure that he doesn't have any skeletons in the closet. You can't be too careful. Heidi's diplomatic training taught her enough about human behaviour to recognise the bad ones, but there are some things that can only be spotted by looking into the mind.

I'll keep sending letters once a year. Perhaps more, if I have something really exciting to share.

Max

Harry peeked over the edge of his letter and looked at Westley, who was allowing himself to be dragged over to the toy chest by Buttercup Kelly and Holly…his second daughter by that name. While he would indeed have liked to see his eldest daughter again, Wolfe had been right to dissuade her from trying to come to the Earth Realm. It would have led to too much confusion.

He'd been very surprised when Ironheart personally showed up with Westley and the letters, and wondering how Heidi had taken the news that Wolfe wouldn't be returning soon, Harry looked through the closed kitchen door. She was crying into Jasmine's shoulder, and Harry felt a flash of pity traverse his thoughts. He had a feeling, though, that Heidi would never give up on Wolfe, even if it meant celibacy for the rest of her life.

"Word from Max?" Nicolai's voice asked.

Harry turned around to face Nicolai, who had grown into a muscular six-foot-four house of a man, the bear-wrestler in his ancestry obvious. He was also very hairy, causing his fiancée to affectionately call him 'my caveman' from time to time. Indeed, many people had dismissed him as a hairy but handsome brute with brawn but no brains … until he started talking. He carried his seventeen-month-old daughter effortlessly on his thick forearm, and allowed her to playfully scratch at the day's worth of stubble on his face and throat with her tiny fingers.

"Yeah. He found his son, but not Yamato."

"I know. Grandfather sent word as soon after Holly spoke to him in Shamballah. He didn't say anything about letters, though. It must have slipped his mind in face of the more worrisome tidings Holly brought."

"Wolfe said something about an appalling situation in Astirian."

"That's what I meant. It's a good thing that Max is dealing with the situation, because even Holly's brief description of the situation leads me to believe that the current Astirian leadership had plans to invade Shamballah itself within a few years. With the necessity for expansion, it would have been inevitable. It would have been a piece of cake too, since Shamballah had no standing army. The bulk of them are pacifists." Nicolai shook his head.

Harry frowned at Nicolai's disapproval. "Isn't that a commendable goal?"

"In theory, yes. However, for pacifism to work, everyone would need to be a pacifist. Certainly, it has worked to achieve some political goals in the Muggle world, but even the peaceful resistance in India and South Africa only worked because of the presence of mass media that could feed world-wide public outrage, inviting external pressure for change. If mass media hadn't existed yet, Gandhi and Mandela would probably have quietly disappeared before their movements could gain momentum, after which the peaceful resistance would likely have become violent … but I digress. If not everyone is a pacifist, in times when resources are limited and conflict becomes inevitable, those who are pacifists are merely easy pickings for their neighbours who aren't."

"So pacifism is unnatural?"

"Well, it could work. It works most effectively for the bonobo apes. They avoid or settle conflicts with pleasurable sexual acts. Like I said, it could work within a community of like-minded individuals. Unfortunately, threats mostly come from an outside force. And that's what Astirian has become."

"Any ideas on how to tackle this problem?"

Nicolai nodded. "At first I was a bit uneasy about this aspect of my authority, but my word is effectively law. Now I find that it does have some benefits. If I tell them that violence is all right for defence, they'd be willing to form an army." He paused as he noticed his daughter squirming in his arms. She was staring at the large playpen shared by Danny, Sissi and Irene Montoya, so Nicolai crossed the room in a few giant strides and placed his daughter in the playpen. Though only Danny and Sissi played with each other, something unusual for children their age, the one-year-olds seemed perfectly content to play in the company of each other.

"So why are you uneasy about creating an army?" Harry asked, when Nicolai had returned.

"I don't want a general to get hooked on the power and start wielding it irresponsibly. Granted, it isn't very probable in Shamballah, but it's still a factor that ought to be considered. Anyway…" Nicolai paused again, evidently having heard the sobs that penetrated the kitchen door.

"Poor Heidi. She doesn't deserve to live like this. Wolfe told her it was all right to find another man, but there aren't many men like him out there. I reckon I'm the closest thing to it, but I'm already married."

Nicolai smirked. "That shouldn't be a problem in Concordia. In order to accommodate cultures where polygamy is allowed, it's legal in Concordia as well. As is marriage between cross-cousins, and—"

"That's enough," Harry interrupted. "Ginny and Heidi may be best friends, but this is something Ginny wouldn't tolerate. And even if she would, I'm a one-woman man. For all its blessings, life with one woman is hard enough. I have no idea how Rolf manages to keep his sanity with two of them."

"Actually, I believe he's got an easy time with regards to that. The women lean on each other for emotional input. They don't need Rolf for that."

"Bloody hell. He really did find paradise, then." Harry muttered, though not quietly enough for Nicolai not to hear him.

"Not necessarily. Last week Mary and I took Oopsie to the ice cream parlour in Blue Five. Rolf and his ladies were also there, and I had the chance to observe their interaction. I've seen many signs that, deep down, the females each want to have the male for themselves. It's simply Mother Nature's effect on humans. Even though civilisation and the females' broader than normal sexuality is making them behave in an uncharacteristic way, each of the ladies wants some acknowledgement that she's the first one, reflecting the female's concern to be the male's priority over the other female. So far, Rolf wisely refuses to … go there, as it were … but in the long run this will only create more tension. If he picks one over the other in the end, one of the women will be devastated. Padma's self confidence is still fragile, and in light of her past I doubt she'll emerge mentally unscathed if she's the one who is dismissed. Wendy would get over it more easily, but she'll still see it as a betrayal by Padma, who has become her best friend over the course of these last few years. Even if Rolf chooses neither and withdraws himself from the triangle, if he doesn't do it soon, the relationship between the women will be permanently damaged anyway."

Harry pursed his lips. He wasn't the type who liked to interfere, but Padma was a friend, and if Nicolai was right, he had to interfere somehow. Perhaps if he explained the depth of the problematic consequences to Rolf, the Swede would realise that the relationship could only end in disaster. He used to be arrogant and a bit full of himself—which he still was, though not nearly as much as he'd been in his twenties—but he had a good heart, and Harry was sure that he didn't want to see Padma hurt. "I'll talk to Rolf after unarmed combat training tomorrow. If I put things like you have, I'm sure he'll listen."

"He might have doubts, since up until this point the women's behaviour has been very subtle. However, I could compile a list of things for him to ask them, as well as their possible answers with explanations as to the meaning of those answers. He'll have his proof when they answer the way I expect them to answer."

"You're awfully sure of yourself."

"I've seen lots of signs at the ice cream parlour." Nicolai flashed Harry a rueful grin. "As you know, I have plenty of opportunity to observe jealousy in varying degrees of subtlety, when Mary and I go out. Speaking of which, I need to get back to her right now. I set this afternoon aside for quality time. I haven't spent time with her since our trip to the ice cream parlour with Oopsie."

"She complained about not spending enough time together?" Harry asked.

"Actually, she told me I had such a busy schedule that when I finally had some time to spend with her, her boobs would be sagging and Oopsie would be all grown up."

Harry laughed. "That quote could have been Gudrun's."

"She was right, though. I've become a bit obsessed with my projects lately. Fortunately the kinks have been worked out of the new Cruiser prototype, and I think I've documented the procedures simply enough for others to build the remaining ships without my supervision. It'll allow me to spend the next few weeks with Mary and Oopsie."

"More projects on the horizon, then?"

Nicolai nodded. "I want to make magic available to everyone in the Mirror Realm. I've devised a way to saturate a gemstone with magic and remove all imperfections that way, without the process ruining the gemstone for magic channelling purposes."

"Right, I heard about that." Harry nodded. "For my wand to work in the Mirror Realm, it needs to be tipped with a gemstone, right?"

"A flawless gemstone, yes, and it needs to be four carats, shaped ideally for maximum brilliance in the Asscher cut. As you know, flawless four-carat gemstones aren't easy to come by, right?" Nicolai gave him a questioning look, which turned into a smile as he recognised Harry's blank expression. "You don't have a clue what I'm talking about."

Harry shrugged. "Sorry, gemstones aren't my field of expertise. Maybe if you give me something to compare it to."

"Not that simple, I'm afraid. Rough gemstones can be cut into different shapes. The weight is constant, though. A four-carat diamond is nought-point-eight grams."

"And how are those gems mounted on the wands?"

"With the table nearly touching the tip of the wand, and the bottom pointing outwards, effectively becoming the new tip of the wand. Oh, and the gems must not have a culet at the bottom of the stone's pavilion. It needs to be pointy."

"Hold on! One thing I do know about gemstones is that they're supposed to reflect the light back out their tops."

Nicolai nodded. "In jewellery, brilliance is desirable. Why?"

"Won't the gems reflect the spells?"

"I've wondered that myself when I was told about their function, and I found that it does indeed happen. But it doesn't make the wand backfire, like you'd expect. It merely serves as an additional focus which allows the interference of the Mirror Realm's heavy magical currents to be overcome. The spell reflects onto the gem's table before being propelled out of the pavilion."

"Right. So, what kind of gems can be mounted on the wands?"

"Anything higher than one hundred and fifty on the Brinell scale will do."

"Brinell?"

Nicolai nodded. "I like it much better than the Moh scale, which isn't really a scale, but more of a comparative table. You see, Friedrich Moh took ten well-known, easily available minerals, and arranged them in order of their 'scratch hardness'. If a specimen to be tested can be scratched by a known mineral from the list, it is softer than that mineral. If it in turn will scratch another known mineral, it is harder. This gives a very quick and easy field test for hardness. It isn't very accurate though, and the Brinell method is much better in that regard. Too bad diamond's hardness can't be measured on the Brinell scale, since a diamond indenter is used for the test itself, but it's many times harder than corundum."

Harry blinked.

"Examples of corundum are sapphire and ruby," Nicolai added helpfully.

"That I understand," Harry said with a chuckle. "Oh, and one more thing," he continued, remembering something he'd been told in the past. "I thought wands worked just fine outside the Immortals' Circle. So why the gems?"

"The reason wands don't work in the Immortals' Circle is because it's packed with powerful magical currents. The rest of the Mirror Realm is mostly like ours, except that there are a few dozen currents like the one in the ones in the Immortals' Circle sweeping over the rest of the realm. When you find yourself inside one, your wand doesn't work. And these so-called storms have been known to remain in one place for weeks, halting all magic use during that time. It's actually the opposite in the Immortals' Circle. There it's all storm, with a few occasional gaps in it."

Harry remembered being able to feel his wand from time to time, and nodded. "So the gems are to guarantee the wands' functioning."

"Not just that, and your question allows me to correct what you said earlier. If you've been told that wands work just fine in most of the Mirror Realm, most of the time, you either heard wrong or have been given faulty information. While our wands do work, the spells are weaker than normal. You see, even when there is no current directly blocking the magic, there are always traces of those currents everywhere."

"Ah!" Harry scratched the back of his head. "Well, thanks for the lesson on magical mechanics and mineralogy. So, when will I get a gem for my wand?"

"I'll get back to you on that after my vacation."

x

Wolfe had had a very busy week, aside from trying to get his youngest son to trust him again. Upon meeting the other resistance leaders, Wolfe had discovered that not all of them were idealists. Some of them were truly unsavoury characters who had been criminals, and were planning to become warlords and carve out their own little kingdoms the moment the duchess was defeated. He'd even discovered that the death of the Floriath camp's former leader hadn't been merely an ill twist of fate. It had been a conspiracy masterminded by Aluro, an Etti, and the worst of the less-than-kosher leaders. The moment Wolfe had picked up on these thoughts, he had begun asking questions about the former leader's death, and Aluro co-operated nicely by unknowingly feeding Wolfe some necessary information by thinking about the incident.

Realising that the charismatic and idealistic former leader Marvos—also an Etti—would probably assume provisional leadership if the duchess were overthrown and steer a course that went very much against Aluro's plans, he conspired with a few native resistance fighters to lead Marvos into an ambush, while on a journey to another resistance camp. He'd convinced the other conspirators that his own men would attack them and kill Marvos, but wound them just enough to make it seem like they fought. Instead, he had tipped off the ducal forces, telling them about a messenger taking an assault plan from one resistance encampment to another. His co-conspirators were killed, leaving no traces that could lead back to him, for the handful of resistance spies within the ducal forces were too few to have much of a chance of uncovering evidence of the treachery. And even if they did, it would be impossible to prove that he had been the leak.

Wolfe had contemplated collecting his head on the spot, since convincing the other leaders that he was a Mind Reader wouldn't have been too difficult. However he didn't want Boron—the corrupt Doalun leader who was secretly making a fortune from selling out his own people—to know that he knew about his exploits. Nor did he want the other bad ones to know, since he wasn't in a position to deal with them if they turned against him, at least, not without harming the resistance as a whole. They were crafty enough to start covering their tracks and making their immediate subordinates sceptical about his gift. He realised that he'd have to pick them off one by one without them finding out what hit them, before he could even think about any martial operations against the ducal forces. And it vexed him endlessly, since every moment Yamato spent inventing weapons for the duchess meant more deaths among resistance fighters when the time came.

His discoveries had prompted Wolfe to duplicate himself forty-nine times and comb through the Floriath camp in search of undesirables, to insure that his own base was free of taint as soon as possible. At first he'd hesitated about revealing that ability, but decided that the duchess probably already knew about it. It immediately became apparent that Marvos must have been a great judge of character, because Wolfe had found very few bad apples. Those he did find were mostly guilty of conning people out of their meagre resources and bartering them for their own profit, and he had quickly exposed them by playing them out against each other. It was also how he planned to deal with Aluro and Boron. Aluro's tip-off and ambush scheme had its merits.

"I'm back!" Wolfe heard Holly's voice call from outside his new tent, which used to belong to Marvos. It was actually a bit smaller than Patrinia's, underlining the man's humble nature.

"Did you speak to my grandfather personally?"

She nodded. "He said he'd try to step up Shamballah's reconstruction, and train and commission an army to help us. But he also said that he was sure you'd have things taken care of by the time help could arrive."

In light of his recent discoveries, Wolfe doubted that very much. Had the resistance been a cohesive force full of dedicated beings and without scum with their own agendas, his grandfather would have been right. But now Wolfe had to make sure that a victory wouldn't be followed by warlords jockeying for position in the resulting power vacuum. It would take months of weeding out rotten apples, and covertly getting the brainwashed communities of various races reacquainted enough to prevent them from attacking each other out of ignorance. He could only attempt to unseat the duchess after all that had been accomplished.

Wolfe produced a crude leather envelope from his pocket. "This letter contains all you need to know about where and when to find your father, what you need to be ready for upon finding him, and lots of really important things you need to keep in mind afterwards. You already know very well what consequences time travel has. Thanks to you being in the past, lots of people now have refuge in Floriath. The last time we saw each other was less than two years in the past for me, but nearly eleven years from your perspective. Need I go on?"

Holly blushed and shook her head. Then she took the envelope, briefly stared at it as if it contained the meaning of life, then carefully tucked it away in a pouch that was slung across her shoulder.

"So … will you be leaving immediately?"

"Do you want me to?" she asked, looking slightly disappointed as her blush dissipated. Wolfe didn't have to use his mind reading gift to see that this wasn't going the way she had imagined it in her naïve fantasies.

"I could really use your speed around here, but I think it would be best if you leave as soon as you read the letter."

"But what does it matter? I have to travel back in time, right? I have all the time in the world."

Wolfe heaved a sigh. Holly was nearly the age when she and Pecos Bill had rescued Harry. That meant that she couldn't stick around for too long. But how could he convince her to go, when conventional logic said not to let a powerful and handy ally like her leave the war effort? Now his duplicates would have to fly over to the other resistance camps under their own power, and none of his Animagus forms could fly faster than the speed of sound.

"You'll have to trust me on this. I can't tell you why. I know it seems unfair for me to withhold information, since you saved my life and all, but I'm sure you'll understand someday."

She nodded solemnly. "I trust you."

Max stepped towards her, bent down slightly and kissed her on the forehead. "For luck."

Her blush returned full force, and she beamed up at him. Before he could step back, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Thank you," she said merrily, and with a bounce in her step she strode out of his life as suddenly as she had appeared, and from her perspective, had yet to appear.

x

Author's Note: Okay, this chapter was a short one by my standards, and a bit on the boring side as well eh? The next one is a 9703-word super chapter, which will be set roughly ten months after this one. (In case it wasn't clear enough from Wolfe's perspective, there was no significant passage of time between Chapters 15, 16,17, and this one. About one week has gone by.) Hopefully Chapter 19 will keep you entertained. Two original characters who you have known as children will be 18 and ready to tie the knot, and there will be some surprising twists and revelations.

And now for the reviews.

NCDSbookworm: I thought Wolfe could finally use a break.

Foxfur: Wolfe wasn't borrowing Harry's strength The link can't be used for that. Normally they'd be able to feel each other's emotions, (much like Harry can feel Voldemort's in the books, and vice versa) but not now. The Mirror Realm is just too distant for that to work, though when either one is channelling tremendous, superhuman amounts of magic (more than they would have been able to channel before absorbing one half of Novoridu's Talisman), the other one can feel it. To put in everyday terms, only very large blips register on their radar at this range.

Numba1: To answer you question for Chapter 16, the evil duchess isn't the target of the assassination I was talking about. As for your comments after Chapter 17, I think Wolfe's take on things were clear in his letter, right?

hootild: The catch is that even though he found his son, he can't go back home.

lluvatar: Tadaa!

blah29: Not quite yet. Wolfe needs to cut out the cancers among his 'allies' first, right?

Gogirl: I'm sure Westley road to recovery will be a bit easier when he notices the lack of family resemblance between him and Yamato.

Kristus Vesanus and Lipton: LOL, yeah. What gave it away? The reception crowd or the blessing? Disclaimer: Parts of Chapter 17 were inspired by Christopher Paolini's Eragon and incorporated with far too little adjustments, I'm ashamed to admit. If any of you guys and gals haven't read Eragon, you are hereby encouraged to do so. It's a great book.

Lady of Masbolle: I thought the broomstick analogy was pretty good. As for Wolfe, he is only ⅛ incubus, but there is something in the Mirror Realm air that makes his magical-creature slice harder to resist. If you think Wolfe is in trouble, wait until you see Mirror Realm influence bring on Ironheart's second youth.

Justn: Wolfe's letter should have answered your question.

bane: There are more in store.

Nycgal: A book? I wish! No, I said something along the lines of: 'In the event that I ever write a book…'

Athena McGonagall: Well, Wolfe will definitely stick around. But whether he will go back to Heidi or his nobility will become his bane, remains to be seen.

Fragarach: Yes, aren't I?

Elric Magus: Poor sod, eh?

jibro13: I hope you get over your review-apathy and drop in from time to time.

Jake: Chapter 16 was definitely a review famine. Fortunately it turned out to be a one chapter thing, but it still took every ounce of my willpower not to let my ego get the better of me.