{oOo}

Terra dug her hands down, fingers anchoring into the exposed stone of the Himalayas.

The red gore around her changed to green and gray, hardy lichen clinging in as her fingers did.

Delicate silver blue web stretched over them, a living thing, an almost animal. It breathed the scant oxygen in the air and that her lichen gave off.

In tiny crevices she put mono-cellular creatures, strange fungus, and the start of grass.

She spider walked lower, changing only what her shadow fell upon.

Gore seemed to slough off her, but it never reached the mountain base, never went far. She absorbed it into her, stone and soil and flesh.

She didn't need to be there for that to happen, she was already there, the action her power, the same way she would have bled, cracked erupted, had her lord not asked her to.

Flesh into flesh would be...almost easy. But she needed to build herself first, make the cycles that were her generator, the turning of generations. It was going quickly, she did not have to rely on non-thought and experimentation, she had blueprints. She had over stretched herself making the fungus, but it paid off, devouring the carcasses below. Here she needed to go slow and careful.

It was good that she had a Good Daughter, otherwise she would not be able to make the psykers he wanted. She could not design such things anymore, not yet. She was shaking. She was tired. She walked down the mountain, sure footed but weak. Under her feet lichen and moss grew.

She almost ran into them, because they were human but born of her soil long parted from her, an ice comet had parted the moon (beloved moon) from her.

But they were...in to him. "Sons." She blinked at their stomachs.

She would not step down step back step away, she looked up at them, hair ruffling to coil and hide her throat.

Magnus stared down at the logical impossibility standing before him. And staring at his stomach. For a moment his incredible brain stalled, threw off a few sparks. Then it restarted. "Sons?" His voice was a startled squawk. "Me? I ... WHAT?"

Roboute would have pushed her away and assumed she was just insane, except for the fact that the Emperor... was apparently coming down the path to meet them.

...What the Warp was going on?

Could it be that Leman was right and his father had finally...

...Roboute's mouth opened in a soundless scream of utter denial and he stood, frozen from the mental trauma as his sire put a supporting arm around the small woman's waist.

So his sons met her? He was glad; she needed to learn of them, for her to become a part of his plans. They needed to know her too. The decision was already made, their approval irrelevant, but he did want them to at least have an impression their opinions mattered.

Russ was.. surprised but pleased. Very pleased, after he saw the solicitous way his sire was supporting his new wife. Very new wife. He'd never met the woman before, but hey, it was the prerogative of the king to take as many brides as he wanted, right?

Guess them Sororitas are going to be might frustrated though.

"Lord's sons. Not mine." She blinked again and tilted her head back to look at them in his face. "Faulty. Viable." She reached out to him with a shaking hand then pulled it back, "Too tired." She shook more and turned her face aside in shame.

Russ moved forward first. "Greetings father. I see you have a new wife." He grinned, white teeth showing, broadcasting his approval to the four winds and anyone within range. "She is very beautiful! " he boomed, voice naturally loud. "Jaghatai should be very pleased, we were wondering why you never showed us a spouse. Perhaps you should have told us so we could bring our new little mother presents?" Furs, Russ decided. Poor little mother, she looked so very tired.

Behind him Roboute's mouth opened and closed over and over again, Soundless, and his eyes were wide with shock.

Magnus looked to be gathering the shreds of his composure. and dropping them every so often.

When she was pushed she barely swayed, her arm moved slightly, and when did she have what looked like a lighting claw on her right hand? When did lighting claws come so small and...odd looking, yellowish and textured so strangely? She bared her teeth at him, bending at the knees slightly, only to go limp against the Emperor when he was near.

The Emperor observed, noting their reactions. Russ was simple and predictable. He would approve, for his culture told him so. Magnus was intrigued—again predictable. It was his nature to ask questions and search for answers. Roboute seemed upset. This was unexpected and odd.

"Well, that was... interesting." Magnus said faintly. "I... don't suppose you could explain this to us, father?" This could not possibly be, his mind told itself, but his psyker powers told him that before them stood the heart of a planet. A living breathing humanoid planet. What in the name of the Warp had his sire done now?

"Too tired," she said to him, and blinked. She pointed at Roboute, with claws that shrivled back into a dainty hand, "If he attacks me again I will kill him. Or turn him into a fungus."
"...I think my poor brother Roboute needs to get a wife." Russ said mournfully. "We have told him this, Jaghatai and I."

"Or just gut him." And eat him, but it had been impressed on her that she shouldn't say such things. "When I am not tired I will not make him one."

"I'm tired," she said again, and curled her hand into a segment of their Father's golden armor and squeezed. The metal groaned.

She turned her face to him and inhaled deeply through her nose. Beneath her feet the lichen fell away to grass heavy with seeds and tiny flowers.

"He is very rude, little mother, but perhaps you should not try to maul him?" Russ asked. He had noticed the claws but, hey, raised by wolves. Interesting to watch though. "I see you are tired, maybe you should rest back in the Palace?"

Oh. Very powerful. Leman APPROVED. "You will bear my father strong sons, and daughters." He said, considering her, "but first, little mother, maybe you and father should go home."

Roboute looked as if he was about to get apoplexy or rush forward to attack. Leman thwapped him across the back of the head. Magnus looked at her as if he wanted to dissect her. Then seemed to think better of it and stared, fascinated at the grass beneath her feet.

"I think." Magnus said cautiously, wanting to reach down and poke the soft looking fronds. "That our... little mother... would like a garden. Perhaps you should clear one, Russ."

"How big?" asked Russ, thinking things over. "I think the palace is very big, we may have to tear down a few walls."

"I have one beneath. I have one above," her eyes moved to look at the mountain to their sides. She pushed off of The Emperor to stand up straight. "I have, Psykers because he wants them.. Not strong yet, still testing."

She turned her head smoothly to look up at the Emperor, "Social bonding and love evolved because they are more optimal problem solving and survival stragies. I will await you while you have your meeting with your sons. If you...Please do not take too long." There was a small rockslide.

"Or do you require me to stay?" She can't sleep yet, she might bleed, or she might never wake up.

"I have no requirements—do as you wish."

He would have things to discuss with his sons and her presence would not change them. Though… No. Roboute would have to get used to it. He was an adult and there was no point in coddling him.

{oOo}