"That is very strong," she managed after a moment to think, "Well then how strong am I compared to him? He didn't seem as affected when I thought his name to him."
"Exactly, you never spoke it. Had you have he might have vowed to be your servant and pledged his life to you immediately. Right at this moment you have already surpassed his level of power by almost twice, and as you are roughly two thirds of my power, you will surpass me very quickly. With just your strength that seal on the cave you were shoved into must have felt like a sharp tickle, right?"
She nodded.
"That seal would normally scorch any being weaker than that troll who touched it, and it he was unaffected simply because he chose to stay in there himself. It should have burned you badly, and yet here you are, unscathed. Now do you see?" She didn't respond, only stared at him, so he sighed and pointed a tallon at a tree and, with a soft glow, shot light into the trunk.
A breath passed before it lit on fire from the inside and burned inti the sky, but the flames were not lighting the other trees somehow. Upon closer inspection there looked like a wall of air stopping the fire from reaching the neighboring leaves.
"Compared to how long it took me to gain this much strength, you are a prodigy of the highest regard and you have never trained a day in your short life. If you do not unlock your memories your own strength will be your downfall, and soon."
She couldn't breathe, finally accepting his words for truth, and laid spread out to her full length of what was now seven feet and four inches long. She was growing. She was potentially the strongest Kinsoul for her age in several decades. Yet sometimes, even the strong need help.
Dumbfounded and exhausted she laid there unresponsive for several minutes, even after he had started to call out her name. Finally he decided to leak his power into his words and tried again. It still didn't work. Bit by bit he added more power until he was practically using half of his will before she slowly raised her head to look at him. She had only mostly heard the last two times he had said it out of fifteen attempts and he was astounded yet again, especially since she still didn't seem bothered by it, merely curious.
"Sorry, did you say something?"
"We need to get moving," was all he managed. He hoped that on the day when she was at her most powerful she would remember who was there for her at the beginning of her journey.
_
Three days of flight, sleeping, and stopping to hunt later, the pair could see the Saltree mountain on the horizon. On the Southeast side was a thatch roof house made from logs, straw and clay bricks, and weaved bark. It was quaint but it looked sturdy and well kept.
As they landed, Nova saw a woman digging up root vegetables out in the left edge. She was ripped, looking like she could wrestled a moose and then afterwards cook up the steak she'd win from the successful battle. When she looked up and saw Beil she practically threw her hoe and ran to him with a gummy smile. What few teeth she had were in random places in her mouth, and she looked small other than her strong arms, but she moved like a mother greeting her son who had come back from war, meaning quickly and with great purpose.
"My ZiZi, oh come here." Beil looked visibly both thrilled and uncomfortable when she practically squeezed the life out of him, and he wheezed out a laugh.
"It is nice to see you too, Wai Po."
"Ah," she said an released his torso, noticing Nova sitting up higher on his neck than she usually did to avoid getting locked into the hug. "I see you have finally brought a girl with you on your visit. Are you trying to tell your Nana something she should know?"
Nova looked between them both and blinked deliberately quickly with wide eyes and Beil took a step back. "What, no, no, this is Nova, she needs your aid, she isn't mine, Nana, no.."
This was the first time she had ever seen him so visibly flustered. It was kinda cute to be honest. She jumped off of him and looked back at him as if she were betrayed and he even stepped after her until he felt her energy and became grumpy as both she and his Nana started laughing.
"With how long I have been waiting, my boy, I have hoped you would honor me with a grandchild by now. Are you not interested in women? I know of several Yokai men in PotaRaul who are looking for a match and you are a very fetching man, I am sure one of them will--"
"NANA," he blared and though she didn't even blink, Nova flinched at his volume and the strangly prickly energy she felt emanating off of him. It was a little worse than the first time she had eaten a rat, and it felt like the embers of a very hot fire had been blown up by the wind and landed on her.
He recoiled violently, realizing what he had done. Only his Wai Po could get under his skin, but Nova didn't deserve to feel that.
"Screaming at me will solve very little, boy, but I will relent from the teasing for now. Other than seeing me what have you brought yourself and this young lady here for?"
Nova "stepped" up this time and bowed her head, her neck going up behind her to compensate. "Greatings, Madam. I have come to ask for your help," she said formally and waited for a moment before she lifted her eyes. She was being stared at by both of them and was starting to feel self conscious until the woman clapped once loudly and stood straight.
"We have much to do, bring her inside."
Nova whipped her head from the woman to Beil and back until he nudged her with his beak and followed her diligently. Nova just wormed after them slowly until she was sitting in the doorway.
"Come in, I need you to lay on the table for me, on your back."
Hesitating, she gingerly climbed the bed post and rolled over on the blanket, which as a snake felt very uncomfortable, and with Beil next to her the old woman started to glow.
For a brief moment Nova thought she was going to light her on fire like the tree until she felt the cooling sensation that was her power. It was both overwhelming and very relaxing, urging her to sleep, and as she looked around with half lidded eyes she saw Beil wave with his Tallon and she tried to move her tail to wave back when the sleep took her.
When she woke up sat up slowly and looked around. She was in a bed up against a wide window frame with deep purple curtains drawn shut. As of if was moving on its own, she reached up with a human hand and pulled it open to look outside. Bright sunlight filled the room and blinded her for a moment before her eyes adjusted and all she could see was another red brick building through the tree leaves and a grassy lot below. She removed the green sheets and a blanket stitched with dragons off of her legs and swung her feet to the wood floor. The room was familiar and she took a deep breath and felt safe, warm. Then, as if she had simply woken from a good night's sleep, she stood up and crossed the room to get a fresh pair of clothes from the dresser.
Meanwhile, in her mind, as she watched her body move with an ease she no longer felt, she still knew that all of this was familiar, shockingly so. Every detail resonated with her. Every object, every smell. She wanted to linger when she heard a voice.
"Emilia, are you up?" It was a deep voice, a bit broken, but she felt herself smile when she heard it.
"Yes dad, I'll be down in a moment," she called back. Wait that was her talking? That was her voice? It was deeper than how it was now. Crackly. It was nice. She pulled on the clothes and opened the closet to look into a full length mirror hanging on the door.
There she was. Tall, mid length curly light brown hair, freckles scattered all over her face and collar bone, downward-turned smooth lips, and grey blue eyes, and a strong square jaw that somehow still looked feminine when accompanied by smooth skin and soft cheeks.
This was Emilia, this was who she used to be. Suddenly wave after wave of information struck her. Memories, emotions, mistakes and success, family, friends, school, everything at once. It was painful. It was exhilarating. She needed more.
She longed to stay here, to keep watching herself go about this day as she walked down the stairs and saw the man she knew was her father cooking breakfast. He was on the edge of his later years, greying hair and crows feet, stubble on his face, workers hands, his white shirt tucked into his khakis and guarded by a blue apron she'd gotten him for Christmas a few years back. He turned around and she saw her eyes looking back at her with a smile as the world around her faided back into white nothing.
She awoke, head resting on someone's lap with a ragged blanket covering her. She sat up and felt her body. She was still human. She studied her slim soft fingers, her thin arm, and her naked body that she quickly covered with the blanket to cover for modesty once she noticed Beil watching her. His beak was open as he stared at her in amazement before looking away quickly in embarrassment.
She blushed furiously and turned to see that the lap she had borrowed was the older lady's who smiled proudly down at her.
"I see you have come back to yourself. I apologize for the scare a moment ago, I needed you to be unaware of the spell for it to work properly."
She shifted and Nova sat up off of her.
"Well then, my work here is done. I'll lend you a tunic until you've found yourself something else to wear but I expect it to be returned to me."
She had gotten up as she spoke and was busy gathering up the bowls and spoons that had been knocked off the table at some point while she was unconscious. Emilia, no, Nova stood holding the blanket over herself and reached out to tap her shoulder to get her attention.
"You can still use your voice," she said before Nova had even touched her.
"What just happened?" She gasped and covered her mouth. Her voice was back to what it had been before the memories, lighter and smoother, and for some reason she hadn't expected it to be. She examined herself with her fingers she realized her jaw was rounder, her skin lighter, and the hair that flowed around her head was a much darker shade and wavy instead of bouncy curls. She must look completely different.
"I released the seal on your mind that you had aquired upon soul extraction. Normally it's impossible to regain all of your memories in a new life if anyone seals them, but in your case the one who gathered up your soul practiced exceptional efforts to keep them intact and with your strength, the one who attempted to seal them just wasn't strong enough. It snapped like cold taffy.
"Why your soul was placed into a snake I don't believe I'll understand unless you offer more than what I was able to find out through Beil's descriptions. You are incredibly lucky the host was compatible."
Nova nodded. "So I've been told."
After a moment of rummaging through a barrel filled with straw and bottles, the woman yanked out one of them half full of a dark liquor and took a deep drink. Nova noticed she still had her hightened sense of smell from before the spell as she recognized the drink was honeyed fermented grapes. From seven feet away. Wine?
After she had enough she stored it back and picked up an old but functional looking brown tunic. She tossed it at Nova who managed to catch it mid-air even with her new hands.
"Now if you will both exit the premises I would like to sleep the weary hangover that spell cost me. Oh, and speaking if costs, my compensation is repairs. After you are dressed I need both of you to cover my hut roof with a fresh layer of mud and straw and fix up anything else wrong with the place. And Nova?" She said as she stretched herself out on the bed. The sound of her name from this woman of such great power made her sternum tingle and her new teeth ache.
"Please do not wake me, I am drained and it may seem like I have left this world but I assure you I will be okay after a few days," she said swiftly and turned over with her back to them. She fell asleep right then and there.