This was it.

  After having sat through Bayleaf’s stupid uniform and learning just a bit more about etiquette from the Imperial Harrier, Chimera felt confident that she could pass as a young bright eyed kid in front of the strongest most defended place in the Elfari Empire.

  “Alright, remember, act dumb, ask stupid questions, and no one will bat an eye at you.”

  “Got it.”

  After having spent most of yesterday talking to Bayleaf, Chimera was getting the notion that kids to her were idiots who wasted her time.

  Chimera couldn’t really trust her own memories, because most of those involved horrible mind experiments and manipulation by less than kind people.

  So she decided to wing it with Bayleaf’s theory of being cute and acting stupid but in a cute way.

  “Aww, didn’t know you had a niece Bay!”

  Chimera readied herself as the first of their trials arrived. Having just left the house located near the Imperial Palace, Chimera and Bayleaf would need to make their way to the Militarum Aboretum, the place where the star maps were located.

  Even Bayleaf wouldn’t have complete access to such an area, but another Imperial Harrier would, especially if they had a legitimate, if dumb, reason to do so.

  “Hello Yarrow, yeap just letting old Mera here see the star maps. She was interested in seeing all the different places our Empress has conquered.” Bayleaf said with a relaxed tinge to her voice.

  “I wanna shee them!” Chimera spoke in a cutesy voice.

  Yarrow knelt down and pinched ‘Mera’s’ cheek with an affectionate coo, “you are just the sweetest thing.”

  ‘Mera’ smiled widely, her giggle a bit on the nose but thankfully Yarrow didn’t seem to suspect anything.

  “Well, if it’s for your little cutie, I suppose I can take some time to show off our Empire’s great conquests.” Content with her pinching of the cheeks, Yarrow turned to walk alongside the two as they made their way to the Militarum Arboretum.

  Yarrow smiled at Bayleaf, “girl, which one of those stuck up snobs you call siblings birthed that wonder? She’s a damn peach compared to the cold calculators you got as relatives.”

  Bayleaf scratched the back of her head as they walked towards the entrance to the complex.

  “She’s… illegitimate.” Bayleaf said with a bit of a somber tone to her voice.

  “Oh… well, then no one has-”

  “Yes, she’s not been claimed by any, but she has our blood in her. Its why I wanted to get her out, to know what our family does. Maybe she could find a place in our Empire.”

  It was odd to Chimera as Bayleaf spoke, because according to her, she could not say anything that would be considered a breach of her code to the Empress as well as the Empire. She was meant to defend it, which was the mana oath she had taken when she joined the Harriers.

  That was why she made it clear she was here to show ‘Mera’ the star maps, because it wasn’t a breach of trust, she really did want to show those maps to Chimera.

  What she said though was unnecessary. It could also be considered a breach if any of it was a lie.

  Well, Chimera did share her blood, because she had taken some of her DNA when they merged the first time, and she was illegitimate, because no one was truly her mother. No one could claim her.

  Did that mean that Bayleaf really did want her to see what they did?

  But she would likely be disappointed, since Chimera was trying to find a way home. She wasn’t going to join the Elfari Imperium.

  The group arrived at the gate, just in time to see a congregation of what looked like robed Elfari walking through the entrance, each holding a branch that was twinned with vines and flowers. The robes were an earthy brown with their own leaves crawling up and down the entire ensemble. Their faces were covered, wooden masks shaped in various images that reminded Chimera of depictions of different trees.

  From where she was, she couldn’t make them out too well, but it was a strange reverence that seemed to capture her attention more than the clothes they wore.

  “State your business.”

  One of the guards spoke with resolve, like he was proud that he was guarding such a place.

  One of the robed men and women appeared before him, a flex of magic that Chimera couldn’t trace, even with her own magical gifts.

  He, she decided, must be a gifted magic user.

  “I am here to speak to the Empress regarding the recent breach of Holy Yggdrasil.”

  The guard looked up and down at the robed man, “from the Druidic Council are you?”

  An elaborate bow followed those words, where the man speaking placed his tree staff on the ground while the other druids followed.

  “Yes, the most esteemed guard of the palace. We are expected by Grand Druid Bephos, who is due to speak to her majesty soon.”

  The other druids confirmed with their own words, speaking like a group of priests on a holy quest.

  “Yes brave guard, allow us entry.”

  “Our Empress must heed our words.”

  The guard in question had enough of the brown noseing group, and opened the gates for the congregation, who ‘blessed’ him and thanked him for his deeds.

  Just as they had left, the guard spat on the ground in their direction.

  “Druids.”

  Turning back to their group, Chimera wonderd why the guard seemed to hate the strange Elfari they just saw.

  Must be politics.

  It had the stink of something like that, but Chimera couldnt be sure.

  Whatever, doesn’t concern me. I just need to find the map, speak to the Empress and get the hell out of here.

  Nevertheless, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her not to discount what she just witnessed.

  Might be useful later.

  “Alright Ms. Bristlebranch, Ms. Talon. Lovely to see you two once more in Cinderbough. Heading to a briefing?”

  The guard had a casual smile to his face, as if he respected the two of them more than the earlier group.

  The other Harrier, Yarrow nodded with a big smile, “yup, got to get our Bayleaf here up to code regarding the recent developments. Also need a guest pass for the little one here.”

  Chimera smiled goofily at the guard, “Hiya sir!” going for a salute as well, adopting the custom she saw the other guards use on the Meras.

  “Coming right up Ms. Talon, is she yours?”

  Yarrow shook her head, “if you can believe it, she's one of her brood.” with a thumb back to Bayleaf.

  “You don’t say? Honestly thought a lot of them ‘Bristles’ were born through osmosis with the way they all got that cold stare to their features. She looks downright decent this one.” With a point to Chimera.

  “Same tree, different branch if you get me.” Talon spoke with a solemn tone.

  “Oh Aye, poor thing. Good to know our Bayleaf’s got a heart in her.”

  “H-Hey! Knock it off you two!” Bayleaf spoke, incredulous but lighthearterdly.

  Chimera couldn’t help but smile genuinely at that, till a pang in her heart switched the faces around.

  Sarah being the one mocked, Meghan as Yarrow, and even the guard reminded her of Aden and his small jabs.

  Chimera felt her smile drop a bit.

  Not now…

  Shaking her thoughts away, she put a dopey grjn back on her face.

  Soon she would have all she needed to go home.

  …

  The interior of the Militarum Arboretum was a massive complex shaped in the style of a tree. It held one main chamber as the first floor, and a set of strange elevators that reached the upper levels, each situated within their own departments.

  Chimera quickly observed all of the different levels in case she wanted to visit, after all, any data could be useful to her later.

  Maybe I can finagle a working computer with the stuff I find here.

  She still didn’t have access to her technopathy or technomancy powers, as the DNA chain for those was still lost to her, but this ‘druid’ magic that she witnessed on the Meras could allow her to create something similar.

  She was already decoding a bit that she received from that captain Bark fellow, but the magic and the way it worked with her own organ was a bit tricky to figure out.

  Chimera kept experimenting with it by sending bits of energy into the nearby plants, who seemd to be fused to the tree building’s body. Even the elevators were made with some kind of vine-like plant that pulled up and down with a pulley system.

  Chimera couldn’t see anyone doing the pulling, but after they entered one of the elevators, she could hear Bayleaf and Yarrow mutter words beneath their breath.

  “Souls sent skyward, take us to the eye of the world.”

  Suddenly a burst of green magic flooded the floor, and after a few shaky moments the group of three ascended to the floors above.

  Chimera felt the pulse, and her new grasp on the druidic magic started to find itself making sense in her mind.

  Is it all based on incantations? Like a passcode?

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Curious, Chimera tried a code of her own, something unlike the two escorts she was with, but something familiar to her.

  “Chemical bubbles, bringer of change, give my thoughts and feelings more range!”

  Sinking her hands into the lift, Chimera felt a pulse of something reach out of her, and spread throughout not just the elevator, but the entire structure.

  It was slithering, riding on the chemical processes that give energy to the massive tree, and sending back data to her.

  Genetic Data.

  It was overwhelming for a brief moment, causing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

  “What was that?” Yarrow spoke over an intercom near the elevator door, while Bayleaf moved towards Chimera to pick her up.

  Losing the connection to the ground stopped the data from forcefully shoving itself into Chimera’s mind, but bits of it still trickled with the magic.

  She sighed as the tree’s structural data, biomass, energy draw and various other bits and bobs filed away into her mental database, the place she stored her powers before most of them went missing.

  Always good to have a few cards, maybe I can get my mind reading power back this way.

  Needless to say, the druidic power was a powerful card, but hard to control if her wording wasn’t careful.

  Bayleaf pulled her up to speak in her ear, “That was you, wasn’t it? It was strange, I could almost feel the intent behind it.”

  Chimera shrugged as she whispered back, “tested something, need more data to be sure. Likely our connection is what tipped you off. Do we need to worry about Yarrow?”

  They both turned to see the other Harrier still waiting on the Intercom, completely in her own world.

  Setting her back down, Bayleaf pretended to brush something off of her as she used a bit of magic.

  “Keep the magic to a minimum, most people here are trained to sense even the smallest amount. That pulse would be felt by the Magic Seekers for certain.”

  The magic faded after a bit, “there, no residuals left.”

  Yarrow turned to face them, “residual what?”

  Chimera made a motion like her head was hurting, “head hurts.”

  Bayleaf seemed to pick up on her angle, “Mera here is particularly sensitive to certain magic, and that druidic pulse we felt was something a bit much for her.”

  Yarrow nodded with an apologetic look, “oh, sorry there little Mera. No need to worry, I’m betting it was some Druid testing their magic, nothing to worry about.”

  Chimera shook her head, “tingles.”

  That gave Yarrow a bit of a smile, “well, you might have the making of a druid yourself little one, just trust that tingly feeling okay?”

  After a few minutes of looking cute for the Harrier, the elevator started back up and the group made it to their destination.

  The massive doors made of space oak opened to reveal a buzzing hive of activity. Elfari, male and female alike, roamed the massive map room driven with purpose.

  Some wrote maps on parchment while others were bringing large wooden drivers that reminded Chimera of hard drives back home. Inserting them into slots along the massive table in the center of the room added more lights to the ever expanding scope of the star map. It showed Chimera the length of the Elfari’s reach.

  Their world, Stereos, was surrounded by six smaller moons, each other seemingly important in some way that Chimera couldn’t understand.

  Yet.

  Still, the reach of the map extended outward, to several bases and tree vessels that hovered around their solar system.

  The massive sun that the cluster of planetary bodies only seemed to be these seven, there was no other out of this range.

  Determined to figure out the reason, Chimera started to move closer to the map desk.

  “Whatcha doing?”

  Chimera turned to the voice in question, as it was seemingly directed at her.

  Another Elfari child was there with her, sitting on a chair near the massive star chart with a drink in his hand.

  “Checking out the map, what else,” she replied back to the girl.

  “That thing is boring, all it does is float around and shine.” the girl slurped her drink loudly as she finished her words.

  Chimera shook her head, “that just shows you how dumb you are.”

  Taking a seat next to the girl, she sent a small amount of her body into the base of the table, trying to connect to the table.

  “W-What! I’m not dumb!”

  “Are so!”

  Chimera felt the part of herself reach the deposit of information that was being uploaded into the table as Yarrow and Bayleaf walked up next to her. She angled herself so that the part she sent wouldn’t be seen as easily. It just looked like part of the chair she was sitting on after all.

  However, the data would not come to her.

  Huh? What the hell?

  She tried over and over, but some kind of wall was protecting the information from reaching her. How that was even possible when she was actively coding the DNA from the table was something she never faced before.

  Then, something hit her. It was small like a rock, but fleshy like a fist.

  Chimera turned to see the little girl with tears in her eyes, her fist planted in Chimera’s shoulder.

  “You’re mean!”

  “Shut up!”

  She and the girl kept bickering, and it got to the point where people started to notice them both.

  “Mera, you should apologize,” Bayleaf stated as she placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it gently.

  You’re making a scene, apologize and end it.’

  Chimera nodded, turning back to the child, “sorry that you’re dumb.”

  Bayleaf face palmed herself as the little girl started to throw more fists, while Chimera started to dodge the blows from her chair.

  “Too slow!” Chimera taunted.

  “Why are you so mean?!” the girl shouted back.

  “Because you think this map is boring, when it’s the key to keeping everyone safe!”

  That shut up the little girl for a bit, causing her to stare at the star map.

  “This keeps everyone safe?”

  Chimera pointed to Steros on the map, “Because of information, it allows all the people here to move and defend everyone better. Without these maps, the whole world would be doomed.”

  She turned back to the girl, “do you get it now? It may look boring, but this keeps all of us alive, and protects the Empire.”

  The girl, solemn but sniffling, nodded back, “It's because of this that Big sister came home from space?”

  Chimera smiled, “Yup.”

  A wide grin showed up on the other girl’s face, “t-then thanks everyone!”

  The girl stood up and bowed to everyone who had been watching them, and a round of coos and cheers rose from the clearly worked cartographers.

  Bayleaf bowed her head at the little girl, “Princess Roanna, it is our pleasure.”

  Yarrow joined in as well, “always a pleasure to make sure the Commander makes it back.”

  Chimera was still focused on the star map to notice much of the cheering, but once she was just about to find a way in…

  The Princess Roanna grabbed her hands, pulling them to her own chest, “thank you for telling me this, i’m sorry.”

  Chimera felt a wealth of knowledge begin to flood inside her as the princess’ skin touched her own, and a sudden flux of energy followed along with it.

  “U-Umm, yeah! I’m sorry too!”

  This made the little girl giggle, “what’s your name?”

  The star map had finally allowed her entry after so many attempts, but her mind was filled with so much different information that she was finding it hard to focus on everything she was receiving.

  “Chimera!”

  That brought a puzzled look to the group, but the princess simply smiled at the mention of her true name.

  “Chimera, that’s so weird!”

  “Y-Yeah, isn’t it?”

  Chimera was starting to overload, the information from the maps and the information from the princesses’ very special DNA chain were fighting for her attention, but she couldn’t focus on either.

  It was her strange druidic spell all over again, but now she was in a room with a bunch of people whose job was to gather information.

  “Hey, didn’t you say her name was Mera?” Yarrow spoke with a bit of confusion.

  “Yeah, it’s her full name so I shortened it to Mera.” Bayleaf replied coolly.

  Another squeeze on Chimera’s shoulder.

  Hurry up whatever you're doing, we got to go!

  Bayleaf’s desperation was beginning to show as she tried to pull Chimera back, only for Chimera to not budge because of her being stuck to her chair.

  H-Hold on, t-too much d-data!

  Now!

  Chimera broke from the star chart, causing a cracking noise to sound throughout the room as her chair leg detached from its base, along with her wooden leg.

  It should have caused her to fall, but with the strange amorphous blobby leg that grew in its place, it became clear how she was not knocked over.

  Chimera turned towards the elevator, arriving just as people started to shout back at her.

  Bayleaf tried to reach her, but Chimera had already pulsed her limbs with druidic magic to take control of the elevator.

  “Down, Now!”

  The magic obeyed, and Chimera went into a free fall, the elevator not even bothering to slow the ascent as she reached the base of the tree in moments.

  An alarm sounded shortly after she landed, but Chimera was already on the run, shifting to match a guard’s uniform and look so that she could sneak back out of the Miltarum Arboretum.

  Screw meeting the Empress, I gotta get out of here!

  The Arboretum doors opened to reveal an entire contingent of troops awaiting outside, along with several druids and some mean looking soldiers with plasma based weapons.

  Chimera blended with the crowds trying to leave, doing her best to seem inconspicuous as the contingent entered the tree building.

  However, a few troops stayed behind, and began scanning each of the people trying to escape. It was only a matter of time until they reached her.

  Her cloned guard body was perfect though, it wouldn’t be likely that they could see through it, even with whatever magic they used to sense such things.

  Screw it!

  She couldn’t chance it, whatever the case. Those Magic Seekers that Bayleaf mentioned might be able to find her, and it was only a matter of time before they questioned Bayleaf herself.

  No more holding back.

  Chimera shifted into her child-like Elfari form, and shifted past all the panicking personnel, pushing and twisting just as she did aboard the Meras before. Data compiled and was catalogued, and even the unfinished star map data was set to the side to receive this new important DNA.

  Tendrils grew from her back as she launched tranquilizing spikes, now coded to work on Elfari DNA, and shot them all at the most dangerous looking soldiers and mages around her.

  Some were hit with little trouble, but Chimera could feel her heart in her ears as she witnessed some of the mages and even the soldiers pull off moves that would put superheroes to shame.

  Elites!

  She charged the nearest one, tackling the mage with her arms and driving her tendrils into its back.

  A cry of pain and a sigh followed as the Elfari mage fell to the grounds, but Chimera was already on the move to the next one.

  Activating her P.E.Gs she launched a salvo of space spells to lock down the others with a great deal of success.

  After that it only took a few more tranquilizer spikes to send them under.

  One still remained.

  Chimera braced herself to face off against the soldier who despite being in a miniature gravity well was still moving, albeit slowly.

  No use keeping him in there, and the energy draw is too much.

  Timing her attack with the release of the gravity well, Chimera launched a salvo of tranquilizer spikes at the soldier just as he was released.

  However, it would not be enough, as the soldier jumped, dodged and slide under everything she fired at him.

  How?!

  Chimera shook herself as she shifted her tactics. If she couldn’t put him to sleep that way, she would simply knock him out with her own abilities.

  She shifted her arms into Wujack sized arms of flesh, all while condensing them down to increase her range of movement. Then she covered them with space oak, using her space magic to allow her the ability to move her new massive tree limbs.

  “I’m warning you, just let me go or this might hurt.”

  She tried to sound threatening, but she was starting to get frustrated and it came out childish.

  This didn’t seem to bother the soldier at all, who answered back with an even tone.

  “I’m sorry, but that is the one thing I cannot allow. Your crimes must be answered for.”

  The soldier landed next to her, and Chimera finally got a good look at him.

  His hair was shoulder length with silver lining along black hair. The soldier’s face was angular and unblemished, as if he never had been cut or hurt despite his profession. His build was lithe, but the magic he held came off in waves, enough for Chimera to feel the pulse of his power.

  Silver eyes stared back at her solemnly, and Chimera felt a chill in her spine as she readied herself for battle.

  “My name’s Chimera.” she introduced herself, hoping to buy herself time to think up a strategy.

  The man flourished a sword staff, one with the pattern of a leaf on its blade that pointed out in five directions.

  “I am called the Silver Blade, but you may address me as Bargo of the Imperial Harriers."

  …