Freyjin looked over the four girls in her large expansive room. ‘Being a Steward to a veritable goddess has its advantages.’ She thought with a whimsical smile, around the room were comforts she’d never dreamt of. Chairs with real goose down cushions, pillows… not just straw stuffed sacks… blankets that were thick enough that they wouldn’t need to fear being cold ever again. ‘It’s like heaven…’ She thought with bliss, and cast her eye out the door beside her, where her mistress slept in comfort. ‘Praise to the god who sent her to us… the God of Will.’

Freyjin closed her eyes. The hour was very late, and through the window the winking stars looked on. Once a source of comfort, she turned and looked up at them again, and cursed them. ‘Damn you.’ She said in contempt, and went to where Straen and Lenah lay sleeping in little twin beds with barely more than space to walk between them. Both of the little girls were smiling. A rare thing, a radiant look, really.

“You two have beautiful smiles, you know that? I guess your little trip with Lady Solution went well.” Freyjin said and went over to draw the thick blue blanket over Lenah.

“Uh huh, Teacher made it so we’re not afraid of Bracer anymore.” Lenah said, and Freyjin kissed her forehead.

“Good.” Freyjin answered, then turned around in the small space and drew the thick blue blanket over Straen, and repeated the gesture of affection. “You never have to fear him, our mistress defeated him, and the Prince killed him, he will never hurt you again. Lady Aiwenor won’t let it happen, your teacher won’t let it happen… and I won’t let it happen, not to any of you, I promise. I wouldn’t let even my owner take you… I will fight death itself to keep you safe. Understand?”

“Yes, we do… mom.” They said in the unity only twins could muster, and snuggled down into their cozy little beds, and closed their eyes.

Freyjin stared down, stunned, her left hand coming to her breast, her heart pounded with excitement, their little murmurs and muttering drifting off into nothingness as they rolled onto their sides facing one another.

Freyjin did her best to control her rampaging emotions and rapid breathing as she went to tuck her birth daughter in. “You must have had quite a field trip with your teacher.” She smiled while covering up Veema.

“Yes… we did. We learned a lot.” Veema reached out and grasped her mother’s hand, “She didn’t say it, Teacher, I mean. She didn’t say it, but I think…” Veema pursed her lips and twitched them about as she tried to find words for her thoughts. “I think we protected your mistress tonight. It was easier than I thought it would be, and Teacher says it will get easier and easier. That it will please the Lady Aiwenor, and help her to protect you.”

Freyjin reached out and stroked her daughter’s golden hair, kissing her forehead, she said, “You’re a child, Veema, it’s our job to protect you, not the other way around.”

Veema thought that over, “Maybe… but if I get stronger… better at everything? Then…” She touched the eye where she was struck before her rescue, “then nobody can do that to me, or to you…”

Freyjin shook her head, “Don’t think about that for now, just rest. You have plenty of time to enjoy your childhood again, let us take care of you for now.”

She then kissed her daughter’s forehead again, and left Veema to her own quiet denials before drifting off, and went to Number Four.

The blue haired girl wore a blank expression on her face and stared quietly up at the ceiling. “You had a good evening, didn’t you?”

Number Four nodded, “Yes, we killed an animal, I hit it first, it hit back, but that didn’t hurt anything like what Crawlmaker could do, so I was fine. It had a funny squeal when Teacher took its jaw. I can’t wait to practice more tomorrow.”

“I see, well did you bring back the meat? You know we can always use more.” Freyjin asked pragmatically, ever mindful of the food budget for the estate.

“No, she said this one wasn’t for eating.” She looked with idle confusion up at Freyjin, “Teacher is tougher than Crawlmaker, so she must be right. But I don’t understand.”

“Well, worry about it tomorrow, you must be tired.” Freyjin bent down and kissed Number Four’s forehead.

“Yes… wanted another but… sleep.” Number Four yawned and curled up, and was asleep moments later.

Freyjin yawned herself only a breath or two later, and made her way to her own bed, flopping down beyond exhausted by everything she’d had to do in the day. She sank into the mattress, offering up prayers of gratitude, ‘A little revenge on the Lur’gin company’s executives was well worth even the thrashing I got on the way back here. His face twisted in horror, will comfort me for years.’

Freyjin then drifted off into happy dreams of her own. Only the faintest tickling of concern, as if she’d missed something important, drifted by within her mind and faded as dreams took its place.

Sado was alone in the temple of his mistress, kneeling before the empty alcove, he then prostrated himself and intoned a prayer he’d uttered many times. “Give me the strength to succeed, not for my sake, but for the sake of my people, whom I failed.” Night after night, he was alone there, the quiet of the place was welcome. The way his words echoed off the walls were like answers that soothed his soul, and he badly needed soothing. Whether training the children with Solution, or working with the hired adventurers to turn Komestran slave warriors into an unbeatable force, reminders were everywhere.

But here, in the quietness of the temple to the god of the death worshipper, he felt at peace. He took out his own copy of the Black Book and read it aloud. The account of the virtuous general who spared the lives of refugees and even helped them across the river was his favorite. Throughout the text though, he felt the spirit of the author, the hint of desperation and longing ran throughout the text, and it touched him enough that as he read it aloud, he felt his own heart quicken. “A book for a god… but unless I am mistaken, this was written by a mortal.” He whispered with a little hint of ironic amusement.

“Is that so?” He heard the ringing voice behind him and looked over his shoulder, already knowing whom he would find.

“So this is where you keep going to.” Diana said as she entered the open door of the temple.

She looked around, “I’ve never seen the door closed but… I’ve also never seen anyone come in to clean out debris, why is it so clean?”

Sado looked away from her and back to the alcove that sat empty, perhaps waiting for some flawless statue of the god he prayed to, to fill it. “When you know the answer to that, Diana, you will understand a part of why I am as I am now.”

“Sado…” Diana reached out to touch his back, “Have you really abandoned the Starwatchers?”

“I have. The Starwatchers serve only the hopeless… the hopeless and the people who profit from the hopelessness. But they don’t serve by offering hope… they help people just live with despair.” Sado stood and walked to a stone bench and gestured for Diana to sit with him.

She came and did as he asked, sitting where he placed his hand, “You’ve been to the kitchens, and over most of the estate by now, the Starwatchers would have forced those unfortunate women to live with the decrees of fate. Do you want that for them?”

Diana’s face was troubled deeply and she looked away from him and toward the alcove, “No… but understand, I was never a deep believer. I enticed far too many solely in order to destroy them, to believe that the stars gave a damn about what happened down here. But still.” She bit her lower lip and looked to him again, “Do you really think this will set our people free? That if you serve her well the other cities will just ‘let’ her revitalize Komestra?”

“No… no, I don’t. I think she will make sure that they simply can’t stop it. Our people will rise again, far sooner than you believe.” Prince Sado said passionately, his hands darted out and clung to hers, “I’m telling you I’m not simply dreaming, you heard her speech, our people are going home, slowly, and maybe nobody is worried about it yet. But by the time the great cities recognize the rise for what it is, it will be far too late.”

Sado’s eyes shone like the stars he’d abandoned, the faint glow of the lights within the temple reflected against his eyes. For a moment Diana was lost in them, the shining green had made many hearts swoon in the past, but now they shone not for her, but for something more… and Diana found no words to deny his dreams again.

She changed the subject, “Still, I never expected to see you as a death worshipper.”

“I’m not. As you will learn, the Lady Aiwenor worships him in two aspects, but as he is a god, he represents all things, so you must choose what aspect in which you want to imitate the divine.” Sado explained, recalling the sacred text.

“...And what aspect is yours?” Diana inquired.

“War. War and loyalty.” Sado said quietly, “I thought I knew what both of those meant, but I was wrong.”

Diana put her hand on his back, he turned to look at her and met her sympathetic face with its drawn, weary expression. “Sado, you can be foolish, but nobody has ever called you disloyal.”

“No, but they should have. I was loyal to my dreams, desires, ambitions… more than I was to my office and my city. If I had not chosen to put my dreams before my people, none of this would have happened. Everything I’ve seen has told me where my two great failures were. I thought I was a master of war, only to find myself overthrown. I thought I was loyal to my subjects, instead I saw them cast down because I put my ideals before my duties. Prince Rasgen was right, and I was wrong. But here… I am given a second chance by a god that defies fates, through a mistress who fights like a demon. I will not let it slip past. Now please… Diana. I want some time to reflect. Stay or go, whatever you want. But if you stay, please be silent.” Sado turned away from her, facing the empty alcove, and quietly began to meditate.

Diana looked over her shoulder at the door, and then at the gold collared Sado, and then at the alcove, she shifted a bit on the stone bench, and settled in to make herself comfortable. ‘I’m going to be here for a while yet.’ She thought, and closed her eyes beside her former Prince.

Malefacorum sat around the table within the temple, the other Questioners were there, the moon shaped table held forty-one seats, all were filled. “Simply put, she lived. The stars decreed her survival, they have yet more tests for us.”

“As well they should.” A white cloaked and hooded Questioner said, folding his wrinkled hands together as if in prayer. “We were not meant to make progress through General Leaman. We must therefore resort to the simplest of methods.”

“A chosen.” Questioner Malefacorum concluded immediately.

A rumbling around the table showed the general agreement.

The stars of the sky pulsed down at them with light sent through the clear glass dome as if they were winking in approval.

“Yes, we must make sure she and those closest to her will be selected for the next levy to the Tlalmok.” Questioner Malefacorum’s creaky voice quieted his peers.

“But the purple, and the nobility… they’re never selected for it.” One of the older Questioners said in a voice that was as aged as any of them.

“Clearly the stars wish the rules changed. Why else would they have let the last attempt fail when it so clearly should have succeeded?” Malefacorum answered his colleague in a serene voice and smiled behind the white veil that hid his face.

“But if we do this now, with so long before the next levy we can expect the nobles to resist. Not only the nobles either, even the slaves. Right now they all bear the rare hope of a purple status. As long as they think the wealth of safety is attainable, that helps keep them peaceful. If we remove all hope, we may face another rebellion.” One of the many Questioners suggested thoughtfully.

“So we do not announce it until the levy season begins, just after the fighting season. We also do it publicly, so that everyone will see and have no doubt about the outcome.” Malefacorum suggested, and a rumbling of agreement swept the table again.

“We may be stuck with the foreigner for a while longer, but really… what can she do in a handful of months?” Malefacorum asked, and after the council came to a general agreement that there was not much… they moved on to other matters of theological administration.

“Will you need help tomorrow?” Kaiji asked, whispering the words into the ear of a heavily breathing Priceless. They were both breathing hard, their lovemaking had consumed them both for quite some time, but now that had passed, and Kaiji was again focused on their common duties.

Priceless was faced away from her lover, who spooned her tightly, arms wrapped close and firm around her body. “No, I can do this. I know how inspections are conducted. Because I was able to read and write a little, I’ve sometimes accompanied inspectors on their tours to take notes for them when stock was checked. I will need advice on the business side of things but I will be fine otherwise.” She shifted a little, taking Kaiji’s slender arm and bringing it up so that her head rested on the back of her lover’s hand.

Priceless raised her head briefly and tried to look behind her, with her body tensing as she answered confidently, and a little defensively, “You don’t always have to help me, you know. I can do this. You’ve taught me well, I’m more literate than most now, I can do the basic math I need, I’ve lived my whole life going through places like that… trust me.” ‘I can do this.’

“I know you can… I know you can. That is why I suggested you for it. Because I believe in you, and that is why our mistress accepted, because she knows you can do this.” Kaiji whispered to her, a faint hint of hurt in her voice.

Priceless relaxed, “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to snap. I know this was your idea, I just… I want to do something myself, to prove I’m not just good for accompanying you and taking notes. I want to live up to my name, on my own merits. I was just ‘Zero’ when she got me, remember? Now here it is, it feels like a lifetime has passed since I got this name.”

“It does feel that way, now you’re going to go on your own assignment, and it is a big one. But I know you can do this, I never doubted it.” Kaiji stroked the growing brown hair of her companion, the candle finally winked out, leaving them as only flesh and voices in the darkness.

“I wasn’t kidding about the business side of things… that will be mostly new to me. I will need good advice.” Priceless said thoughtfully.

“Well, I am an advisor.” The demon-elf replied and a bit of a frisky and wanton impulse overcame her. “And my advice to you right now… is to worry about tomorrow, tomorrow, and let me help you relax tonight.” She let out a dusky laugh and, placing her hand on her lover’s shoulder, she repositioned herself and pressed the brown haired woman onto her back.

“Very good advice…” Priceless whispered, before the kiss she received deprived her of any other words for another hour ahead.