[Nivalis Silverfrost]
A quiet humming echoed through the dimly lit cave as Nivalis slowly opened her heavy eyelids, revealing her blue gaze to the faint glow of the crystals on the ceiling. For a moment, all she saw was a blurry mess, but with every blink of her eyes, the world around her gradually came into focus. It felt like she had slept for weeks, yet somehow she was still completely drained of strength, each movement, even as slight as breathing, causing her to wince and groan in discomfort.
Her mind struggled to recall what had happened to her and why her chest burned like hell itself. All she wanted to do was close her eyes once more and sleep some more. Just as she was about to do precisely that, her elven ears twitched at the sudden commotion occurring nearby; whispers, shuffling, and strange gargling noises filled her senses, making her frown in confusion.
Nivalis's gaze wandered across the small space of their home until it landed on the source of all the noise: her children, Aster and Silvia. Their behavior was so bizarre that her instincts almost screamed that they were up to no good. The girl was lying on her stomach, naked as ever, finding something incredibly interesting in the bedsheet, legs kicking back and forth behind her.
Meanwhile, the boy sat next to her, his legs folded under him, posture straight as an arrow with hands resting on his lap. He gazed into the distance—even though there was no such thing as distance in their small cave—his golden eyes occasionally flickering toward her before returning to stare blankly ahead, clearly guilty about something. And it was hard not to notice how flushed they both looked. They had done something naughty; she felt it.
The sight made Nivalis's eyebrows knit together even tighter in confusion. "What did you two...?" she muttered quietly, wincing slightly at how dry her throat felt. Her only response was a nervous exhale from Aster, as if he was about to say something, but a glare from Silvia, the kind that promised eternal torture, made him swallow his words. The two were definitely up to something. However, before Nivalis could get to the bottom of this mystery, her eyes fell on her own body. Her chest...
At that very moment, she remembered what had happened the night before. Their morning walk in the tunnels, the two corpses, the bag, and the Blessing stone. All the talking about it. She recalled how she had used the stone, telling kids not to worry... and then, nothing.
'Did it work?' she wondered, glancing down at her chest where the stone should have been, finding not a single trace of it. Not even a scar, just smooth, pale skin, and breasts that felt as soft and heavy as she remembered. 'Well, I'm alive. That must mean it worked, right?' she thought to herself, gently touching her chest, feeling nothing under her fingers except her heartbeat. "How long was I out?" she asked after a brief silence, her voice still a bit weak.
"Half a day. Not long," Aster replied in an equally quiet voice, his golden orbs briefly meeting hers. 'Guilty' was written all over his face.
Rightfully expecting the worst, Nivalis glanced between the boy's pale thighs, seeing his little shaft resting there, all soft against his balls, just like it was before she went to bed. A quiet sigh of relief left her lips at that; if they were interrupted in the middle of something naughty, his tiny manhood wouldn't have looked so peaceful. Any other mischief they got up to, she could live with.
"Are you okay? We were worr—" he tried to say, his words interrupted by a gentle touch on his cheek as he scooted closer. A stern look from his mother made him swallow hard.
"I am fine. Just a bit tired," Nivalis replied calmly, sitting upright with a slight groan. Then, in one instant, her voice changed to that of a stern mother's. "Sweetie," she began, her blue eyes boring into the boy, "Be honest with me. Tell your mom what you were up to with your sister," she whispered, clearing her throat. "I promise I won't be mad."
Aster looked away from her piercing gaze, his cheeks turning even redder. "Nothing... Me?" he asked in a high-pitched voice, shrugging sheepishly before letting out a forced, nervous chuckle. "Nothing. Just hanging around."
The boy always was a terrible liar, but this one was a new height of terribleness. Even Silvia couldn't help but hit her forehead with her palm, groaning quietly at such an answer.
— "Uh-huh," Nivalis hummed in acknowledgment, giving him a doubtful look, then moving her gaze over to Silvia. The girl still had her eyes fixed on the bed, her face flushed red, and avoided eye contact altogether. "Darling," she just said, waiting for a reply. But all she got was a quiet, muffled hum and puffed cheeks. "Silvia, sweetheart," she repeated, only this time, her voice had a bit more authority behind it.
The girl looked up at her mother with wide, golden eyes, sparkling with innocence and honesty. But Nivalis knew how much of a liar her daughter could be, especially when the circumstances called for it, much like herself in her youth. It was frightening just how similar they were at times, like watching your childhood in a mirror. The silence lasted only a moment before Silvia cracked under the pressure of her stare.
Almost as if she were about to cry, the girl's throat visibly bobbed up and down, her golden eyes glistening with unshed tears. A wince of regret appeared on her face, quickly followed by a deep, defeated sigh. Aster's face, meanwhile, twisted slightly for some reason, but Nivalis barely noticed it as the girl pushed herself up off the bed and hugged her as tightly as she could, wrapping her skinny arms around her neck. "Mommy, I... we were so scared," she murmured against her mother's pale neck, her voice slightly trembling as she spoke.
Just as Nivalis was about to call it the most obvious attempt at changing the topic she had ever witnessed, Silvia's words continued to spill from her lips, and genuine concern and fear filled them. "Watching that stone sink into you was horrible... You have no idea how much. I even fainted when... when you... when your ribs…" The girl's words trailed off into a quiet whimper as she buried her face deeper into the crook of Nivalis's neck, squeezing her tighter and tighter. "Are you really okay?"
Letting out a long sigh, Nivalis wrapped her arms around her daughter's slim waist, gently stroking her naked back and nuzzling her small head, her nose buried in the girl's silver locks. Despite how obvious this tactic seemed at first, there were no doubts that her daughter was speaking from the heart; she had always been able to tell. "I am," she softly whispered, cupping Silvia's warm cheeks in her palms and lifting her slightly teary face to hers.
She planted a gentle kiss on the girl's lips, feeling their incredible softness against her own. "I am, my little snowflake. Forget I asked anything. It's not important right now..." she murmured between more pecks on her daughter's soft, wet lips. 'I guess I'll just ask Asty later tonight,' she thought, sighing inwardly.
Aster suddenly joined in on the hug, throwing his arms around both of them and squeezing as tightly as his skinny body would allow. "Yeah, she really did faint. I almost did, too. That stone just broke through your ribs the moment you fell asleep, like... snap!" he exclaimed, mimicking a snapping sound with his mouth. "And then everything bent and bubbled. And the skin, ugh... so gross." He winced, scrunching his nose at the memory. "But kinda cool, too," he added quickly, giving Nivalis a big smile.
With the kiss broken, Silvia rested her forehead against the woman's shoulder and let out an exasperated sigh. "Asty... sometimes you're such a doofus," she muttered quietly, rolling her eyes at him.
"But I'm your doofus brother," the boy retorted with a grin on his face, his body pressed against theirs even tighter, clearly enjoying his mother and sister's warm, soft embrace.
Nivalis couldn't help but chuckle softly, pressing a long, loving kiss on the boy's forehead and another on her daughter's lips. "Alright. Thank you for telling me," she said gently, stroking their backs. "I don't feel anything strange, just a bit tired. No pain, no aches. I can breathe just fine."
She pulled away from her children, showing them her chest once more, running her hands across it, and taking a few deep breaths. "See? Nothing seems to be broken. My ribs are just fine," she added, her breasts jiggling with each inhale she took. "Sometimes nature can be scary like that," she finished, placing her palms on their butts and giving them a reassuring squeeze.
A strange taste lingered on Nivalis's lips after the kisses, one she had trouble placing. She licked them, trying to figure out what it was, but before she could put two and two together, her attention was drawn back to her little ones, with Aster looking up at her with those curious, golden eyes of his. "Umm... so... what did you get?" he asked quietly, placing his small, scarred hand against her heart, gently tapping her naked, soft chest.
Nivalis's eyebrows rose at the question. "Oh. Right..." she trailed off, glancing down at his delicate hand, then back up to meet his gaze. "I... I don't know?" she muttered, frowning slightly. Taking a deep breath, Nivalis closed her eyes, focusing her mind inward and trying to feel any difference within herself. 'There has to be something,' she thought, breathing slowly.
A long silence filled the cave as her kids patiently waited for her to say something; she could feel their gazes. Yet the only thing Nivalis could do was frown harder and harder. It was where her knowledge about Blessing Stones ended, and she cursed herself for not asking more questions during her childhood. Her father, bless his soul, knew everything about them. They were supposed to give her some kind of new ability or power, but how was one supposed to activate it? She had no idea.
"Maybe... maybe nothing?" Aster asked quietly after minutes of deafening silence, sounding somewhat sad at the possibility. "Could it fail?"
Nivalis shook her head at his question. "No... no, I feel... something. Yeah," she finally replied after a moment, placing her palm on top of his hand, pressing it against her breast. "It's just... strange, that's all. It's hard to describe." Her heartbeat thumped strongly against her ribcage, and with each beat, she felt something deep within her heart, hidden behind layers of flesh and blood. It pulsed along with her heartbeat, almost unnoticeable at first. 'But how do I use it?' she wondered, concentrating on that sensation.
A faint feeling deep within her skull, a quiet hum almost like a fly buzzing next to her ear, but somehow coming from inside, suddenly appeared; the more she focused on whatever this thing was inside her heart, the stronger it became. It grew worse and worse with each heartbeat to the point that it almost became painful. Nivalis instinctively brought her hands to her head, trying to shield her elven ears from the awful noise, but it didn't help at all. The pain grew so intense that she began to groan in agony, her skull threatening to split in half.
She barely heard her children calling out her name through the deafening buzz in her mind. They shook her by the shoulders, trying to snap her out of whatever state she was in. Then, just as Nivalis was about to scream at the top of her lungs, a sharp crack rang out within her mind, and everything went silent. The buzzing, the voices of her children, everything. And then, she felt it. Her new Blessing. An explosion of sounds and shapes in her mind, filling her head with sensations that overwhelmed her like nothing ever before.
Nivalis saw, without having her eyes open, how a bubble popped in the hot spring nearby, how a droplet of water fell from it, and how it slid down the rocky wall afterward, leaving a damp trail. She could hear the way it moved and how Aster's and Silvia's heartbeats sped up, their voices muted and distorted, making it almost impossible to understand what they were saying, yet clear enough to be recognized as theirs.
Each sound bounced off the walls and surfaces of their little cave, giving Nivalis a strange sense of the world around her. She could see, yet it was not seeing... more like sensing. It was as if a thousand hands touched every surface in their cave, and she could feel it all at once. "Whoa... holy... crap," was her honest reaction, her own voice bouncing off everything around her, adding more details to her mind. She could feel her son's lips move, his words so muffled and twisted, and she could feel her daughter's hands moving to her face, touching her face with worry... it was insane.
— "I... yeah... I'm okay," she replied, reaching out blindly with her hands and easily finding their cheeks. She cupped them gently, repeating, "I'm okay," as a small smile formed on her pink lips. She enjoyed this strange view for a few more seconds, feeling things disappear from her "sight" now that her children had stopped talking. 'How in the name of gods do things like that even work?' she wondered, her smile growing wider.
Taking one last calming breath, Nivalis slowly opened her eyes, eager to tell her little ones all about what she had just experienced. But the moment she did, all those sensations in her mind disappeared in an instant, as if someone had just blown out a candle, leaving her with an overwhelming nausea instead. As if she had drunk too much wine, everything around her started to spin wildly. "Oh... oh gods..." she groaned, covering her mouth with her hand. It made her want to vomit right then and there.
Luckily, she managed to swallow it down and take a few shaky breaths, but it took some time before things started to settle again in her vision. "Mom, what happened?" Silvia's soft voice came, sounding normal once more, unlike how muted and distant it had been just moments ago.
— "I... It worked," Nivalis whispered back, blinking her eyes rapidly as her sight slowly came back into focus, revealing the worried expressions on her son's and daughter's faces. She let out a long exhale and then sat up straighter on the bed. "It was weird... but amazing! I saw... Well, no. I didn't see, but I knew. The walls, you, the water, and the sounds. It was all in my head, like a painting." She couldn't help smiling like crazy, even though she still felt like puking.
"Uh-uh," Silvia muttered, not understanding a word of what her mother was saying. She kept blinking at her in confusion, her golden eyes occasionally flickering to her little brother, who wore the same expression as she did.
Nivalis sighed at that. "How in the world can I explain something like that..." she mumbled, tapping her lower lip with a finger. "I knew where everything was without using my eyes," she finally said after a long moment of silence. "Like... by just the sound and the way it bounced off of things."
Aster nodded slowly, his frown slightly softening as if he began to understand what his mother was talking about. "Ohh... oh!" he exclaimed after a few seconds, looking at her wide-eyed. "This is so cool! How detailed was it? Can you see colors? Did you see the crystals on the ceiling?" he asked in rapid-fire fashion, leaning closer to her. "And did it hurt? It surely looked like it did."
"I don't get it," Silvia mumbled quietly, pouting just a bit.
Nodding at her son, Nivalis couldn't help but say, "Right?!" before continuing, "I saw your lips moving when you spoke, darling. Even how a bubble popped in a pool! That's how detailed it was." Her smile widened even more, happy that he understood what she was talking about so well. Then, she glanced up toward the ceiling, where the crystals were still faintly glowing with their bluish light. "Colors? Oh... no, nothing like that. It's hard to describe, but it was more like sensing than seeing. And yes, it hurt like hell," she replied honestly, chuckling and poking Aster on his cute little nose.
"Seeing colors with your ears? How is that even a question?" Silvia tried to chime in again, but their conversation swept her words away as they rambled about things she had little understanding of. She crossed her arms under her tiny breasts and gave the two a glare.
"This is probably how creatures down here see everything," Aster murmured thoughtfully, imitating his mother by tapping his lower lip with a finger. "I wonder how well it works above ground? Imagine how cool it would be if you could hear things from really far away!"
Nivalis hummed in agreement, her face lighting up with pride as she looked at her son. "That would definitely be amazing. Hunting would be a lot easier... and it would help us avoid all kinds of trouble wherever we go." She reached out to ruffle his messy hair, adding, "It will make our lives much safer. I couldn't even wish for anything like—" but her words were cut short by an annoyed huff from Silvia.
The girl suddenly dove between the two, knocking them both back onto their bed with a playful growl. "I'm going to tickle you two until you explain things properly!" she demanded before proceeding to do exactly that, digging her little fingers into their sides, underarms, and anywhere else she knew was ticklish. "Explain!" she yelled over their giggles and squeals. Their naked bodies squirmed against each other, their limbs tangled together as they tried to defend themselves.
— "S-sweetie... ahahaha..." Nivalis gasped out between laughter, trying to catch one of Silvia's arms to halt her merciless tickles. "Stop... haha..." But her plea fell on deaf ears as she found herself helpless against the girl's playful assault.
Aster didn't fare much better, either. "I'm... haha... going to pee myself!" the boy cried out, trying to catch his breath; his small body writhed like a worm on hot sand, unable to tickle his sister back properly due to his weak hands. He did, eventually, let out a little trickle of pee, much to his embarrassment. The amount of laughter that followed from the girls was simply indescribable.