That same day, a few hours later, a group of sisters gathered. They had originally been sitting in a lounge where they usually discussed meetings. However after a few glasses of wine, they were now up and waltzing around the Palace they grew up in.
"Oh my gods," Moonveil abruptly stopped the entire group. "Howl, Howl, do you remember this corner? This is where you ran right into Dire Fang when you were a kid. Of course, you were at a rather unfortunate height at the time. You weren't able to meet his eyes for a YEAR! I swear!"
The beautiful and fairy-like Moonveil was quite soft spoken usually. Only revealing a deadly edge and competitive nature in battle or among her sisters. Now that she had some of the wine Gehrman sent over, the more brass side of her took center stage.
Silent Stalker snickered at the old tale, and Lonesome Howl turned on the sisters with a downright viscous scowl.
"So help me, I will fight you all right now! We made a vow! A solemn vow under the moon, to never speak of that again!"
"True," Beastmaster, or rather Eunbin, smiled kindly. "However, our big sister is getting maaaaried, and that means no previous vows shall be honored because that is the only one that matters."
"That makes no damn sense," Howl shot back.
"No, no, she's got a point," Hel was suddenly standing between them, moving silently and impossibly quick. It appeared as if she used her enhanced physique as a Saint to move extremely fast, just so she could be closer to her conversation partners.
"It's like, cause this is the big thing. The big deal…you know. So, yeah, it makes sense."
Revel put her hands on Hel's shoulders as they walked.
"Hel, you're drunk."
"Wha-You're more drunk than any of us! You don't get to talk!" Hel tried to turn to face her sister, but Revel's strength was already unnatural, and with her being slightly augmented in the dim hallway, she was able to keep her little sister in check easily.
Revel, meanwhile, just leaned close to Hel's ear and whispered in a long and low voice.
"Nnnnnnooooooo I'm not."
"Rev, respectfully. You just spent the past 30 minutes bitching and moaning about not having any eligible bachelors fighting to come 'claim' you. Which, by the way, is really concerning," Seishan chastised her sister. However, she was also smiling ear to ear. It had been a long time since she had last smiled like this.
The drink that Gehrman had sent them worked a treat.
She had real wine before, of course, and was decently fond of the flavor. However the variety he sent naturally had a bit more added to it, and carried hints of extra fruit or had stronger bitter or sour aftertastes.
Seishan, and all of her sisters except for Hel, inexplicably, preferred the fruity wine and not the obscenely strong tasting ones.
Of course, he also sent some other stuff.
In his words:
"I don't want to be misogynistic and send only wine. Women can like other drinks, and I would be a most horrendous fool to suggest otherwise."
That being said, Lonesome Howl and Silent Stalker started the night drinking ale and beer, they seemed to make a competition of who could drink more of the stuff. However, it was clear neither of them liked it.
In the end, they agreed to a truce. Yet Revel, surprisingly, picked up the beer and had grown fond of it rather quickly.
This was concerning.
Seishan did not want her shut-in sister to also become an alcoholic, and by the way she was acting, that felt like a very real concern.
Fortunately, she just so happened to be marrying the only man who knew how to make the brew that could affect Saints.
A blush that already existed on her cheeks from the alcohol, grew sharper from a feeling that welled in her heart.
That has been happening a lot more lately.
It turned out that putting romantic intentions into words really made their potency increase by magnitudes.
She thought about him sometimes. Not for any logistical reason, just in the sense that 'Gehrman would enjoy this' or 'Gehrman would make a joke about that'. It made her feel silly.
It also made her sisters utterly reproachable.
As she was lost in these thoughts, the bickering between the others persisted, only to get interrupted by a sound of surprise from Beastmaster.
"Hey, Shan, what's that smile for? You just started smiling big out of nowhere, thinking about someone perhaps?"
Eunbin had reverted to something of a childish state. Acting like a teenager instead of the dominant, competent seductress the world knew her as.
That very fact made Seishan smile even wider.
"Maybe I'm just enjoying seeing the terrifying Sisters of Song return once more to a bunch of rabbling loud mouths."
A chorus of gasps erupted, all full of mock offense.
"Such harsh words!"
"Our big sister is so cruel!"
"Loud mouths! I'm not being loud!"
Revel screamed that last bit, and it was at that point she was officially cut off for the night. People should enjoy themselves, but they should also know their limits.
The sisters joked around some more, eventually making it down into an old playroom. There were a few of these in the Jade Palace, one such playroom was listed off limits, as it had ancient relics of such dire power that not even Ki Song herself entered there.
This, however, was a modified room made specifically for the sisters. It was where they came to play, gossip, or just relax.
Their base of operations so to speak.
There was now a thin layer of dust covering everything.
"It's a lot smaller than I remember," Silent Stalker walked amongst the old toys still littered on the ground, a testament to a most joyous past.
The other sisters also felt the somber mood overtake them, and they were soon all milling about letting the memories return to them, warming their hearts that were slowly growing colder and colder from the constant bloodshed.
"Can I speak honestly for a moment?" Seishan asked her sisters. Her tone was melodic and confident, much like her sober self. Despite everyone being under the influence, they also felt their senses sharpen as they paid rapt attention.
After receiving the confirmation, the oldest sister continued.
"When I was at that place, not a day went by when I didn't think of you all. I think the reason I created the Hand Maidens, the true reason, was not to cultivate warriors but to instead get back some semblance of that feeling."
Thin arms suddenly wrapped around her own, Hel's small head bumped into Seishan's as she held her sister close.
The seer's voice was barely a whisper. "I'm sorry we didn't reach you. I'm sorry we didn't try harder."
Seishan smiled and patted her on the head.
"I didn't say that to make you feel guilty, and I think you all know that I could never, and will never hold a grudge against anyone for that situation."
Moonveil, Revel, and Beastmaster averted their gazes then, some tears starting to form in their eyes.
Silent Stalker and Lonesome Howl, on the other hand, remained facing her with stalwart remorse, despite Seishan's words.
"I say this because I want to apologize. In my head, all those years, you remained stagnant, the same little sisters I had to keep in check. Logically I knew you would be Awakened, most likely beyond that even, but I never considered what that meant. When I finally returned, when I saw the woman you had all become without me, it made me feel…like I hadn't really mattered-"
"Shan, don't you dare say that!" Eunbin interrupted, joining Hel in giving her a crushing embrace. "Don't you ever say that about yourself."
Seishan allowed herself to be tackled by this sister as well.
"I know. If you let me finish, I was getting around to the part where I realized that wasn't the case."
Eunbin sniffled. "You better be."
"Anyway, I was in this rather listless state for a short while, but I was able to work it out due to one simple fact: I can be responsible for the strength of those around me and help them carry the burden, but I can't forget that they can do so much by themselves as well. If I had stayed the way I was, I fear I wouldn't have reached the level I have now, and wouldn't be well on my way to reaching Sainthood like all of you."
"Sooo," Howl drawled. "You learned that you don't gotta babysit us."
"I learned that my perspective was limiting me and those around me," Seishan responded. "This protection, it is an instinct born out of good nature, but it is also one that is flawed…and I think it is one that is afflicting our mother more and more these days."
The sisters were startled at that. They had thought this was a conversation about Seishan's own growth before her big day, but in truth, it was much more.
"I've asked each of you about it, and each of you have said not to worry about her. Maybe this is the lingering instinct of mine, to protect and care for my family even when they don't need it, but I'm worried about Mom."
The room fell totally silent. It was so quiet that even a person's breath would seem deafening. Eventually, it was Revel, freed by the alcohol, who was finally able to say what the rest of them had been thinking.
"Shan, there is nothing to do. Nothing more than what we are doing anyway. Once this Domain War is done and Valor is put in the ground, we can start taking actual actions if necessary but…if Mom keeps expanding as she is, and she will keep expanding, then it might just be…"
Revel trailed off, and then she sunk down into a bean bag chair, folding in on herself and hugging her legs.
"What, a lost cause? Her humanity is gone, is that what you mean to say?" Seishan said this in a voice that was not accusatory, but instead desperate. This was because this scenario was exactly what she feared.
Lonesome Howl pushed off the wall she was leaning on and walked over to Seishan.
"It's not. What Rev means to say is, that it's inevitable. From the first time we watched her use a full detachment of the corpse army, it was evident that there is only one way her story ends. The problem is Shan, she knows that too. She's accepted it."
Then, the huntress pulled Seishan into a hug as well.
As the third sister hugged her, and the other three came to join them, Seishan realized why they had all been so dismissive.
She had thought they did not care or notice her mothers true condition, but that wasn't true at all. They knew it all too well.
And they were mourning her. Every day they loved her, carried out missions, fought off beasts, expanded her Domain, all with the quiet acceptance that their mother was an unstoppable force whose love could not be halted.
In fact it should not, because her desire to protect all would encompass all of humanity, it was a virtuous mission then, a virtuous sacrifice.
However, as they pressed close, Seishan alone had the single thought that was distinct from her sisters.
When she has won, when all Humanity is her Domain, will all humanity really feel the loving protection of our mother? Or, like in Clan Song, would only the beloved few be exalted, and the disregarded be left to rot?
It was a seed of doubt.
However, it would not be able to grow. For things would be moving much more quickly than she, or anyone, could have possibly imagined.