"Okay, any idea where we are?" Beth asked Pike sotto voce, "It's pretty, but a bit…rural…" They, like the others, alighted from their vehicles, Xander taking an extra moment to acclimate himself back to Sliding. He was glad to be back where he belonged, though he wondered how all the other Xanders were doing. A small track wove its way through high grass, large trees stretching their branches luxuriously skyward. In the distance they could make out what appeared to be stone towers of some type.
"We should probably head over there and see if anyone's around that can help us," Pike suggested to Xander. He turned toward the others when—
Xander had heard Pike and had moved up to look at the structures in the near distance when he noticed those of his companions who were moving, suddenly weren't, a bird in the sky also freezing in place.
"It's alright, Belxander," Aldur told him, corporealizing in front of him with a smile, "I just wanted to meet with you before you and your group decide to launch an assault on the Vale."
"Well, uh, um, Aldur, I wasn't actually going to attack…" the younger man replied, not sure of how to address the kindly god.
"Ah, my boy, you are allowed to call me Master Aldur, or Aldur, though Lord Aldur to your family here," the Elder Being smiled, a gleam in his eyes, "The Heavens and Pantheons throughout Creation have been in Great Disturbance, and many gods are reassured by at least the 'Lord' form of address, so just to not hear them go on about it…"
"I'll pass the word…Master," Belxander smiled back, "Though I'm not sure of anything beyond what Janus and little a scaly demon told us."
"Ah, that would be Skip," the god said, rolling his eyes somewhat, as they began slowly walking toward the towers, "A demon, but of no allegiance or alignment whatsoever, though if you get him to agree to something, it is his bond. Your foster-family are waiting to meet you and yours, it's good to have the four of you back again."
"Four? But Jonathan isn't here, is he?"
"No," the god chuckled as they seemed to make progress without many steps or effort, and held out his hand, "But this is the fourth Eriond mentioned," the orblet showed in one hand, the heavy sword seemingly weightless in the other. "Hello, there, Time for Adjustment to Unite Destiny in the realm, and begin reweaving the skeins between the Greater Purposes and Realities." The orblet winked out of existence as Time restarted.
"What about the sword?" Xander asked as he received it back.
"Oh, I didn't want the sudden removal of Adjustment to land you on your backside when you weren't expecting the sword to regain its full mass," the god responded, both chuckling at the thought.
"I appreciate the lack of surprise," Xander smiled, very much at ease in the presence of Aldur. Looking around more closely, he realized they were now only a hundred yards or so away from the best-tended tower, garden and fencing out front, and even a smithy. Looking back, he noted that his friends and the vehicles were just resuming movement, but were in relatively the same position to him as before.
"How?" he asked the god, truly fascinated.
"Hmm, oh, since Time had paused, I simply moved the ground beneath us as we walked. You'll learn it in time, I'm sure."
"I don't know, how long a lifespan do I have Master?"
"As long as you want BelXander, it is a Matter of Will, after all," the god told him seriously, "And because of your Assistance, many lives are saved and because of who you costumed as, you have a head start in the Practice of the Word and the Will."
"And those of my family without that head start?"
"Hmm, the Mother of the Key is a Daughter of the Ageless Island, the Force and Quickening attributes dormant until your Return are intrinsic to your wives, and the Daughters of the Primal Warrior do not age past twenty-five of your years, should they make it that far along. As to the others, it would be difficult, but possible, to learn enough to control aging, or at least transform into younger versions of self. You could teach them."
"Me? Hmm, that'd be…great, actually. Thank you, Master, that means a lot to me to hear that. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Well, it's embarrassing, but yes, apparently Belgarion has nearly driven his family to distraction regarding a certain golden cake…" the Elder God chuckled again, "I'm hoping you could tap your supplies and give my other children some peace."
"Twinkies? So not a problem."
From the smithy three men approached, two looking like they'd worked and the other unrepentantly unsweaty.
"Xander?" the younger man called, his well-trimmed beard and overall friendliness meaning he could only be one person.
"Yes, it's me, Garion, how are you? I hope all is well, the Master has…disappeared…oh well, he said you were going into Twinkie Withdrawal and an Act of Mercy was required to save the day"
"More like the world again the way your god-brother is carrying on," the older unworking man responded, a mug of something in his hand.
"Grandfather," Garion chided with amusement, "As soon as I have one, I can Will more into existence, and you also will know why I 'carry on' as you say." He looked as Dawn and the others walked up.
"Is this young Dawn?" Garion smiled, greeting her with a small hug, "You've certainly matured into a beautiful young woman, and…are you…" she smiled and nodded, and gestured at her two sister-wives-to-be.
"We all are, long enough story, and does it show already?" Dawn smiled.
"Only to those in tune with what's important, though I'm surprised Garion noticed," a striking woman of middle years pointed out as Garion smiled, "I greet you Dawn, and you Willow. It is good to see you as you and not as a memory, the both of you. And your…sister?" she asked, gesturing to a shy but magically-powerful blonde.
"Oh!" Willow replied happily, beaming, "This is Tara, she's a natural witch, and like me and Dawn, she's forming a family with Xander."
"Three of you?" the woman asked curiously, and arched an eyebrow at Willow.
"Well, you know the costume thing, right? Well it happened a whole bunch of times, and a couple of them, like Xe'Nedra, left a little bun in the oven, if you understand me, and by the time we got out of the loopy thing, well, without even, you know, we were in a family way, and even though it wasn't him that did it, since some costumes were the guys in the lives of the girls, being Xander he took responsibility, a-and so they're his kids too, and if he's the dad, and we're the moms, and us girls decided we wanted to share him, a-and he agreed, a-and even Dawn's mom here talked to him and has given her approval."
"I'm very glad we're able to speak each other's languages, especially us understanding English, because that was an amazing sentence," Polgara replied, eyebrows raised in mirth, and looked to Joyce, who nodded in agreement at Willow's speech, "Any way, the Master said that all of you would be here, so lunch will be ready in an hour, if you ladies would like to help, the men can do whatever it is they're supposed to do."
And the females trekked away…
Aldur, Eriond, Belgarion, Belgarath, Xander and Doyle had spent the week together as the Universe resumed a steady pace…the girls learning Sorcery while they mastered chores in efficient pre-industrial manners, even Beth, Deidre, Maggie and Joyce. Pike, Ripper and Ash spent time in the smithy with Durnik, or fishing for the night's supper, the latter a task much to their collective preference.
The mini-drags had been a surprise, as had Xander's adventures in the fraction of a second to them, but were thankful he'd made it out alright. The drags seemed to enjoy the Vale, and many a mouse intrusion into Polgara's kitchen met with a swift end. This had led to minor foods being scooted to them regularly.
"But Pol," Belgarath nearly whined as he was shooed out of the kitchen yet again without filching a snack for himself, "You let the snakes eat almost anything they want!"
"They eat less, are much cleaner and quieter, very polite and in a few days have done more in this kitchen than you in all others combined, Old Wolf."
The snakes merely seemed to radiate gloating and returned to the support of the lead female in the group.
At the end of the week, as the time for Slide came due, Aldur called all his Disciples and Guests together, Blessed them, and gestured to Eriond.
"Well, friends, it was good to see you here in our world, and I'm happy to let you know that all is well, indeed better than it would have been had you not touched our existences with your own. Soon Aldur and I will spend less time in this world, as some of the events you've been told of, require our greater participation to ensure all goes well. We've noticed the Resetters in particular, with their experiences, have sometimes had a difficult time of sleep or concentration. Our Blessings to you have included Integration of your memories and changes, and they'll be better available to you because of your development of Empathy with the Will and the Word this week. This will mean better sleep, does not mean you'll always have the answer, but you'll be able to draw better on what's there."
"Thank you, Lord Eriond, and Lord Aldur," Joyce told the young god, "Anything that will help our family is welcome." She turned to Dawn as they all got into the vehicles, "Okay Dawn, more happy thoughts, and please think of another nice place."