Stronger Together chapter 73 (Patreon)

The condition of the bodies affected us all differently. Barb was  stoic, Cinder mainly unphased, Listens-to-Wind was sickened and sad,  River and Harry were angry, and Ebenezar and Liberty just  looked...tired. Like they had seen too much and come too far to feel the  shock anymore and that was the saddest thing of all. Kara was the one I  expected the biggest reaction from, but she just let silent tears trail  down her face as she took in the scene, it made me wonder about her  time on Apokalips, and how aware she was in her brainwashed state.

We  decided to bury the Canotila, though Listens-to-Wind warned us not to  speak their names. Certain tribes believed that speaking the names of  the dead could trap their spirits in the world of the living, and here  in the nevernever even conjuring the name of their species might bind  them to this place. The old man worked sadly beside us as we buried them  in fertile Summer soil. He stared down at the dirt as he smoothed over  the grave with his weathered hands. "The forest dwarves are not gone,  not as my people are, but they are few. To lose so many here, after all  we have already lost. This creature has committed a grave sin. We should  leave them to their rest, it would not have stayed in this place."

Ebenezar  came up and put a hand on his shoulder. "It'll pay in blood, and that's  a fact. This thing is a sick son of a bitch, and clearly enjoys playing  games. This is one game it's not going to win. We couldn't save them,  but we can damn sure make that thing a liar. These weren't only the  first. They were it's last." Listens-to-Wind's weathered face seemed  even older than before, and those smile lines I'd seen had settled into  deep lines of sorrow. He muttered a low series of words i couldn't make  out. Maybe a eulogy, or a prayer, or just a goodbye.

Joe  stood up without another word and gently brushed the grave dirt from  his hands and picked up his staff, and with another word the world  swirled again and we were standing in yet another forest clearing. This  one was...muted in places. Some of the plants were dull colors that  looked sad and empty compared to the brightness of Summer.But of more  interest were the ones that weren't. I could see crystalline flowers and  brightly colored plants speckled through the clearing that seemed wrong  somehow. Not bad but like they didn't belong.

Kara  gasped, staring wide eyed at a very large plant that looked like a huge  flower. She had her hands over her mouth "Th-thats an Oregus plant.  They're native to Krypton. My mother kept one in her garden, she used  it's juices for cooking." She turned to the crystalline flowers "And  those are singing flowers, they chime the most beautiful sounds under  the moonlight. I had my first kiss beside a field of singing flowers.  Hantha trees, a wedding bell bush, Cameron these plants are all from  home!" She turned on me with a desperate hope in her eyes "I never  thought I would see these again, how is this possible?"

River  cleared his throat "I believe I may be able to answer that. Genius loci  are creatures of thought as much as magic. This one absorbed your blood  and clearly some of your ideas of what plants should be at home in  nature. I must admit knowing that otherworldly flora grows here is  fascinating. I would love to study them and talk over their particulars  with you sometime." He seemed genuinely enthusiastic as he stared around  in wonder and I had to smile at the big Sasquatch for his obvious love  of all things natural.

I  was not in the majority though. Ebenezar had finally had enough  "Alright, I respect secrets as much as the next wizard, but you're  talking about Krypton like from Superman, and don't think I missed your  names. I'm old but this one used to read plenty of comics and he left  them at my place when he moved. I figured you were fans and using fake  names and that's fine, but clearly something else is going on here and  knight's daughter or not it affects the job." I narrowed my eyes at the  old man, about to jump in and tell him to mind his own business but Kara  held up a hand.

"No.  He's right Cam, this could be important." She focused her eyes on  Ebenezar "Can you make sure we aren't overheard? Talking in Summer would  have been crazy, but even here we don't know who might be  listening."The old wizard looked pensive but nodded slowly and closed  his eyes, muttering a series of phrases too low for me to catch. He  opened his eyes and nodded to her again. Kara let out an explosive  breath "My name is Kara Zor-El, and I'm from the planet Krypton. My  friends and I aren't from this world, we would up here on accident and  no we don't know how and we can't get home."

Barb  nodded "Harry told us that there are places in the depths of the  nevernever that match up to fiction as you know it but based on the  physical rules of our differing worlds as well as what we've been told  about the nevernever and its nature I suspect we aren't from this  universe at all. Maybe not even this multiverse, if that means anything  to you. The point is, when we got here Kara flew down here while  searching for a gold vein to tap so we could get some startup money and  got attacked. Whatever did it, probably the Skinwalker, caught her  unaware and hurt her, which means it used magic, at least to do the  damage and probably to do the sneaking."

Ebenezar  looked mostly annoyed but let out an explosive breath. "Aye. I could  see how you wouldn't want to talk about that. But if you're an alien and  magic is such a weak spot for you why would your blood cause all this  nonsense. Waking up and changing the Genius Loci and making the  Skinwalker stronger and all. Skinwalkers don't become more powerful  through consumption far as I know, else the ancient bastards like the  one we're huntin' would be basically gods." His demeanor had softened a  bit after he got some answers, and that was more a genuine question than  an interrogation.

I  fielded that one. "Because Kara is descended from a god. The sun god  Rao was an ancestor of the House of El, and even diluted by generations  of mortals it's still there. River says divine blood would have unusual  reactions to the Skinwalkers semi-divine nature. But Kara feels  responsible even though she was the one that got attacked so we're here  to help. Cinder, Barb and I have our own unique skill sets I won't go  into but we should be helpful, and Barb and I really are Harry's  apprentices, he's teaching us magic and has helped us out a ton so we  owe him anyway."

Harry  looked about ready to argue with that but Ebenezar gave a satisfied nod  before turning to Listens-to-Wind. "Well old friend this is still your  show, we still have our rooms down in Aspen, and there's enough of them  available I'm sure we could get the kids set up easy enough, but it  might be better to look around here before we head out. I know you said  it wouldn't stick around but it might have left something behind."  Ebenezar seemed to be trying to keep Joe's spirits up, but his question  went unanswered for a bit too long, causing us all to look over at Joe,  who was staring into a copse of yellow Hantha trees a bit back into the  forest I hadn't even noticed.

It  took us a moment to notice the small form of a woman in the trees, and  as she tensed Joe stepped forward slowly, hands up. "Please, little  spirit, no need to flee. We aren't with the creature, we want to help.  You seem a bit unusual for a Genius Loci, can you speak? It's a rare  gift in one so young, but then, so is taking such a form." He kept his  voice even and low, obviously trying to soothe the spirit as he stepped  forward, one deliberate footfall at a time so as not to startle her. Her  eyes, the bright orange of a glowing ember, were locked on Kara, who  she seemed to recognize as being somehow like her. She opened her mouth  to speak, but cocked her head as if she wasn't sure how, and then spoke a  word in a musical tongue I didn't know.

We  all looked at each other, confused, to see if anyone had understood  that, but Kara's eyes were wide and her face was pale. We all gave her  questioning looks and she responded shakily "It's Kryptonese. I grew up  speaking it. She used my native language, it threw me for a bit, sorry. I  can translate if you need me to. But what she just said isn't anything  complicated. She called me mother." Listens-to-Wind and River Shoulders  both turned to regard her curiously, both clearly surprised by the term  of affection but unwilling to interrupt.

The  spirit spoke again, in the same musical language and Kara responded,  their conversation flowing haltingly at first but gaining strength as  the Genius Loci seemed to learn. Kara gave a running commentary between  snippets of alien conversation. "She doesn't have a name, and doesn't  really know anything except the language. She knows about the  Skinwalker, says it's tried to hurt her a few times but it can't seem to  pin her down. She says when it gets close it burns up where it tries to  touch her, but it's getting stronger and the burns are getting less  severe."

She  squinted at the frantic spirit. "Actually, the eye color and the way  she's describing the flames almost make me think of...no that would be  crazy, she's just a story." We all glared at her demandingly and I  raised an eyebrow gesturing for her to continue, she hesitated a bit but  finally spoke. "Well, it's just, she described a bird of flames that  let out a piercing cry and drove the monster back. Also I feel connected  to her, not like as a mother or something but by blood, the part of me I  tap into for my faith powers resonates with her. Like she's a relative.  But not exactly the same kind of power. More like an offshoot. Like  she's..."

My  eyes widened. "Flamebird. You're talking about Kryptonian Goddess  Flamebird. You think your blood carried some of that power too and  somehow imbued it on the Genius Loci? Is that even possible?" I looked  at River and Joe, and Ebenezar "No I'm seriously asking is that even  possible? Did Kara somehow create some kind of Kryptonian proto Goddess  in the back woods of Colorado?" I turned back to address the spirit  through Kara, but found myself staring at nothing. She was gone. Kara  had looked over to listen to my question but made an unhappy sound of  surprise when she noticed the spirit vanishing.

River  looked around for her and then made a deep frustrated noise. "Gone.  Would have been easier to protect her if she'd stayed with us, but  spirits never do the easy thing." He turned to address me "As to your  question I don't know, maybe, maybe not. You all are odd ducks and  there's no telling how those strange powers of yours will interact with  our world. Maybe she's a new god rising, she wouldn't be the first I've  seen, though it takes a long time for them to ascend. At this point I  don't reckon it matters much. Because whatever she is there's one thing  we know for sure. The Skinwalker wants her, and if he gets his hands on  her I think we can all agree very bad things will probably follow."