Chapter 9
Tao had relaxed when she saw the shining bond developing between her greatest student and her father. She cared for both of them and knew they would protect each other fiercely. Sighing she turned her attention back to the current two most troublesome Masters of the Order. They both stood before her defiant and upset in different ways but not yet lost. She had a chance here to forge them into loyal protectors for her family even if she would never personally have their loyalty again.
"Master Mordo, your argument against meddling has its place. What you fail to realize is that to tend to a broken bone one must manipulate the bone and all connected to it so that it returns to its natural position with a chance to heal. Your argument is that we leave the bone to heal crooked or not heal at all for fear of causing more harm than is already done. There is a time and place for such especially when the risk of causing more harm than good is readily apparent and the one causing the corrective changes is unlearned in the needed area. This is why we are so strict about initiates and apprentices learning certain things before being allowed to move on in their studies. To know, once one has reached Mastery, when and where it is appropriate to act," Tao told him bluntly. "Master Strange has the necessary experience and expertise in regards to Time Magic and Time Manipulation. Unless you are willing to die thousands upon thousands of times in a time loop to learn the same as he did while entrapping a threat he was ill equiped to face you have no room to speak on the matter. In this you are still barely a first year apprentice challenging the ruling of a Master in his speciality. Know your place! You are no longer one of his Teaching Masters. He has long since graduated to a colleague."
"I was one of his teachers?" Mordo asked in dumbfounded disbelief.
"You were, as was I," Tao said with a small smile. "When I viewed that particular future timeline where he did arrive as a standard initiate I found it quite ironic that I would become the Master to my own Master before my time mishap. Stephen Strange is both my original Teacher and my greatest student. I am quite aware of his faults and went out of my way to question him frequently as I learned. He is not as careless or as selfish as he appears to be. When he acts outside the bounds of common rules it is not to flaunt them but as a calculated risk just as one takes in a battle for one's own life and mission. Our job as his friends and family now that he has become Sorcerer Supreme is to keep his sanity intact and aid him in his duties. Where necessary I can step in for a time as Sorcerer Supreme but the magic of the planet and the human race has shifted to acknowledge him as Sorcerer Supreme and to deny that is folly."
"And use of the Dark Dimension?" Master Kaecilius asked, still openly angry.
"Unlike others my case wasn't anywhere near as clear as is normal," Tao sighed. "I was looking for something to give me a very temporary power boost for a fight that only I, at the time, qualified for due in part to my then status as a virgin. Unfortunately, the specific ritual that connected me to the Dark Dimension was mislabeled which led me to perform the primer portion unaware of the risk. I personally disengaged from it as best as I could once I realized something was wrong. A traitor to the Order snuck up behind me a short time later and bound me in place to cast a bastardization of the ritual currently recorded in our library. I was unwilling and the intention was to use me as a live sacrifice. The magics checked both of us and deemed me more worthy to receive the benefits the traitor sought. As a result it killed him as the sacrifice and empowered me with a permanent connection and draw from the Dark Dimension. It also took my ability to have children."
The way both of the contentious Masters paled told Tao that she had gotten her point across. It was with sour satisfaction that she accepted their quiet apologies.
"No matter how many times or ways you ask me about these two issues my answer will be the same, Masters," Tao told them carefully. "I discourage the use of the Dark Dimension ritual and completely destroyed the records of the bastardized one because I know the cost of them. As for preserving the natural order, by the strict definition you were using, Master Mordo, we would be required to kill everyone on the planet and then ourselves. You may not have followed the thought to its natural conclusion but I have and I have fought those who thought as you. The natural order as you have defined it or at least appear to have defined it requires no use of magic, no use of food production, no use of building materials, no use of tools beyond what our own bodies provide. It is my hope that you recognize not if your devotion to the natural order is correct or incorrect but to realize that alterations to the natural order must be done gently. If they serve no purpose than destruction or pain then it is good to stop it's use. If they provide overall benefits without causing undue harm then there is little reason to ban them."
Mordo looked poleaxed at this explanation and Kaecilius was clearly shaken. Neither said anything as they bowed in respect and took their leave.
"Was it wise to do that? To encourage them to get close to them? If only to act as council?" Wong asked as he came out from behind a freestanding wardrobe he had been standing behind.
"I don't know but that was partly why I wanted you here," Tao admitted. "You have been my confidant for some time and in the no-longer-future you kept Stephen sane and steady. He may be avoiding his Sorcerer Supreme duties due to being under the mistaken impression that he is not yet allowed to perform them but his current task is no less important. I have hope that you can accept reforging that future friendship. Master Kaecilius and Master Mordo became threats at a future point and Stephen was forced to deal with them. My further hope is that these frank discussions will at least avoid them becoming a threat to Daddy and Stephen."
Wong said nothing but bowed respectfully and took his leave. He had a lot to think about.