Artemis cared for all of her Siren Sisters, she fussed over them. She sought to help them bloom and find their loves and bonds.

And so it was no different with young, befuddling slightly quirky Pylo.

She cared for every sister entrusted to her as they grew, and groomed them to best suit their own tastes and aptitudes. To help them bloom into a proper Courtesan Siren.

So it was that as one of her duties in helping with the maturation of her sisters that she was often involved in their first proper courting beyond the creche of the Estate.

Not that it was always strictly necessary of course.

For Sirens, Courtesan Scions especially more often than not would have plenty of visceral and objectively physical tastes that it was less of an issue of finding the optimal target of their affections and more making sure that they were trained enough to restrain their lusts so as to be suitable for a political marriage.

Those with the aptitude and corresponding fetish would be introduced or vaguely directed, shipped, bribed or in more cases than she could bother to remember outright exiled to a relevant neutral polity hoping for stronger bonds with the rule of Courtesan and nature took its proper course.

Those were the easiest Sisters to assist.

Next easiest were when the sires of a particular Scion suggested candidate objects of affection.

Most sires had contributions that could also quite clearly and easily define where their progeny would best fit and be suited. Often in some association or close proximity to the source of the sister’s lineage.

Pylo however had both hidden sires and was decidedly uncommon in her proclivities.

Yes she certainly had physical attraction when it came to size, raw mass and metabolic calorie throughput but that was so common it could barely be considered a fetish or preference among a Siren let alone a Courtesan Scion.

The more specific infatuations of her sister and various longings and experiences she sought out when exposed to the numerous playmates available in the menagerie had given some focus.

She really took a liking to Velavita, Chordata and the more extreme arthropodal gigafauna.

There was also a healthy dose of admiration and lechery when it came to micropolity, ganglionic intelligence and in one hilarious case a bit too much enthusiasm for a colonial population of Eumammalia ‘fluffers’ kept in one of the quarantine wings.

And there was also of course her pining from afar over dictatorial organizations in general that she seemed to be utterly incapable of actually committing to even submitting anything close to an actual intimate contact with.

In short the girl had a thing for power, and directness.

But more so then the visceral forms of attraction Pylo was enamored far more with memetica then most Sirens. While more common among the family of Mother Courtesan was not exactly a standard trait despite the stereotypes.

Yes there was that beautiful love song who was birthed and treasured that they still sang and danced with within the estate and a few neighboring star hollows about a Courtesan that fell in love with the very concept of abstracted love itself, but on the whole it was a bit of an acquired and rarefied taste relegated mostly to the older aunts.

So having a young memetophile was a bit of a rare challenge for Artemis in her role as matchmaker for young sirens.

In the few dozen times she had shepherded such relationships all the past ones had fit a bit of pattern.

The trick was to find the right living ideal to match the proclivities of the sister to for her potential consort.

In many cases Artemis only had to procure them a harem court council and the administrative functions that entailed among the local star hollow. If they had a preference of flesh type the council would be picked as suitable aesthetic treats but the individual member composition would be irrelevant against the organization itself.

Pylo was almost allergic to such patterns though.

Then there was the always adorable demure yet rebellious sisters who you would need to find rakish rogue elements, hegemonies and corporate despoilers and other such enticing and exciting (but not too exciting) adventurous warlords to whisk them away to far flung reaches in the periphery of Courtesan’s reach after a dashing and (seemingly) dangerous battle (mostly staged on the estate security’s part) into the estate grounds (always within a properly evacuated or slated to be renovated region).

That one was quite a common memetic infatuation.

For those Artemis would often find herself Instigating invasive ‘intrusions’ and ‘kidnappings’ to the Estate or its Local territories.

Picked of course by herself and Athena from the self proclaimed enemies of Courtesan’s many ‘rebel’ organizations and ‘rival’ neighbors.

It was a particularly popular form of arranged marriage for Mother’s direct children and scions.

Athena, her elder sister enjoyed it as a highly effective way to neutralize minor irritations to the Estate and passable tests and misdirection to the nature of Mother Courtesan’s real defenses.

Honestly Artemis found it was a bit of a chore to keep the results of such endeavors obfuscated and the legends and to make sure enough attempts properly failed and the repercussions of such sufficiently embellished in legend and myth.

And the scheduling of it could mean that the particularly feisty sisters would have to languish in minor discomfort while things were properly arranged.

But there just was no help for it. They had to manage the punctuations of such successful captures. Or the results would become a bit too obvious.

By the time any one of the rebellious yet pining sisters had settled into ‘captivity’ or ‘joined with their emancipators’ the aggressors were practically already one of the clan’s vassals and any friction in broders or ideologies was well and truly settled.

If the causality of that situation ever became a bit too obvious then Artemis would have to find some other way to arrange the marriages of that particular sort of sister.

It was tricky though because you had to weed those sisters that appreciated being ‘rescued’ or ‘captured’ out from the genuinely aggressive and rebellious ones. For those it was better to expose them to the existence of suitable actual enemies of the clan to go forth and conquer and subjugate for themselves and wish them luck (and perhaps some military might if they desired it).

Pylo however did not quite fit either of those, she was far too abrasive and independent for the first and too kind hearted for the second.

But Artemis had also experienced the rare case of sisters with more abstract tastes to seek out and entreat with the forms out in the greater reef or delve deep through the menagerie’s least physical population to find suitable mates.

But No, definitely not.

The thought of Pylo going that deep and disconnected from the physical and utilitarian despite her dallying with that quaint canner philosophy (and certainly because of it) was so absurd as to be laughable.

Which left the last known kind of memetophile. The very particular sister with a penchant for the truly feral (Such as Artemis herself in her youth). For those proper expeditions far from civilization were needed to track down something wild and fierce far and beyond the tamed and gentled population of the Menagerie’s potential mates and Courtesan ruled territories.

Artemis remembered where she had procured the first members of her treasured ones, that still to this day populated her court almost exclusively. Although she would not ever reveal to another the secret wilderness she had found them within.

But there was not the drive for that in Pylo, she was not a tamer, conqueror. She was no beaurucrophile or administrative soul, no damsel to be taken as a token which later secretly overruled others or a political piece to be bartered with.

It had given Artemis twinges of worry over this peculiar daughter of her mother.

How could the family find a suitable way for her to leave the creche and bloom fertile and full as the Scion she was?

The Mother Courtesan had daughters of all kinds of character and manner and beget and reared them with a deepest of wisdom that had earned her the rank of Matriarch. So it was not a question that it was possible.

Courtesan by her rank had the stockpiles of the entire clan and all its suitors, allies and consorts archived and living to draw on for siring her offspring.

But to her daughters and sisters there was the strain sometimes in finding what insight drove and would best enrich her spawn. And sometimes, it just took time and patience of everyone involved.

Mother was able to draw on oh so many deep lineages both famously regaled, publicly proclaimed and deeply forgotten and secret to all. The way of her children would be a mystery. Their paths hidden from even themselves. Such security ensured diversity and the eternal proliferation of the clan.

When Pylo had first emerged from her maturation and education directly with Mother Courtesan it had been the usual evaluation. And at first she had seemed a straight forward memetaphile.

Enough that various inquiries and preparations could be started.

In those early stages Artemis had mused on just what kind of court or suitors the youth would tend to.

It was not made known to her or her court what alliances and species had gone into the quickening of this particular sister.

Not strictly special but even in her first lessons and interactions with her Artemis had known that Pylo was a blunt and more violent creature. Perhaps Mother had drawn on something feral and non sentient for those traits?

No, that was a teasing joke for her younger sisters and nothing more. Plenty of fully self aware and intelligent creatures could be far more cruel and direct then any beasts.

Pylo was just a bit strange.

But even so it was her place to try and help her new sister.

So at first Artemis had considered that such proclivity would lend itself well to a more rebellious sister.

However Pylo failed to be sufficiently uncomfortable within the confines of the estate or desirous of violence. Perhaps a bit socially stunted for a Courtesan but not overly so.

So maybe a more beastly betrothal? Feral and alien creatures from the menagerie with unique and interesting cultures?

Something with distributed intelligence so she could scratch that particular itch of her lusts?

No, again there was not really the xenophilia or enrapture in Pylo for that either. Oh she would play with the various Menagerie both self aware cultures and tamed feral alike. But she was not particularly thirsty for any of it.

She was a bit frustratingly dull actually. But that was a conundrum too.

For while Pylo was a calm sort of sister she was also hardly domestic enough to fit into the administrative regalities or the arranged alliances with a courting neutral power to Courtesan.

Artemis was also almost certain that Pylo lacked the patience or interest to hone herself to the necessary degree to be the betrothed of an Empire. That was an undertaking full of trials.

Very few sisters could meet the requirements for being Imperial wives. It was a rarified position that Courtesan could simply not produce very many candidates for.

But given the number of prospective Empires with interest in stronger ties was so few. And the attrition in such consorts was so incredibly low this was not really a problem for the Courtesan family either.

Maybe if she could not be guided into a political advantage maybe she could fit for a more simple genetic and biological influence? It would be a bit of a disappointing waste of her potential as a direct Scion of Mother Courtesan herself.

But not all had a place in cultural centerpieces that echoed across the stars. And it did mean genetics she shared... Well, Artemis didn't know exactly the choices Mother made, but on average usually Scions had somewhere around half similarity with the Matriarch herself, and a fourth with most of her sisters including Artemis herself.

There was an undeniable warm glow thinking of potential niches there that she couldn't find in the less direct strategies the clan normally used for it.

Still that would have run contrarian to Pylo’s memetic fascinations. Not only would it have been a waste of her lineage and political brokerage to use her for simple ecological seeding but it would have frustrated her quickly and left the poor dear deeply unsatisfied.

No Mother would never be so cruel.

It had been a puzzle to tease over regarding just what particular specialty would best suit her sister. To discuss with the others and even the aunts wise and distant that they were.

It was while that topic was still up for discussion that young Pylo had slipped free into the still secure but softly discouraged open void of the Estate and made direct contact with the near mature Ship child.

And proceeded to bond in at least a childish infatuation stronger then anything they had ever seen the dear attach herself too before.

Morrigan had actually broken a silence that had lasted for seventeen broods of scions at that.

“Huh, Obvious in hindsight, she gets all eggripe around markets and adores the sweeter more juvenile romances.”

Which had been the settling of the whole quandary as far as Clan Courtesan’s elders was concerned. A position on the crew of the Seventh Ship Child of Courtesan’s Gown was an esteemed role for a scion of the Matriarch. Even if it was one of the tinier species.

The expenditure to buy out local shares for those crew roles was equally simple and was not even noticeable compared to the simple maintenance of even one of the least demanding and smallest of the biomes within the Menagerie.

The rest of course had fallen to Artemis to make sure that Pylo would be ready and properly groomed and festooned with the allies and temperament needed to thrive and grow in her place out beyond the estate.

To make the Courtesan name grow ever further into legend.

Which had been something fresh and new for Artemis and her court for sure, but it was far more mundane and relatively simple then the initial worrying over where to even begin.

Pylo would thrive and survive, she had been honed and groomed well enough for that. And while it was still an open bet among the Masque Sisters precisely which species or ideas the young scion would eventually quicken into her first brood no one expected anything but thriving.

Artemis was so proud as she always was when a sister set out from home.

But she would still tease her Canner Brute of a sister mercilessly.

“Also really Pylo? You're still doing that canner trick so terribly wrong. The poor thing. Now hurry along, you're going to be late for the meeting of your first court.”

The way that the youngster flustered and wailed over specifics and egalitarian ideology was so sweet. She hoped that Pylo never grew out of it.

“It’s not MY court, I’m JOINING a crew”