“Dreamboat. Skybrothel? Oh! The Thundercock!”

  I turned to gre at Weren, the grin on her face simply too much for me to deal with first thing in the morning. “You are barred from helping pick a name for the ship.” I watched her grin turn into a pout as I finished my breakfast.

  The party the night before had wound down about an hour after Olivia and Sellian arrived, but the two ended up staying the night. So had Gina and Tulip and all of my inscribers. The yurt was honestly kind of packed at this point and I felt some relief that we wouldn’t all be in it much longer. Though how much of that was a need for more space and how much was my growing desire to start traveling again, I couldn’t say.

  Azuriel had stayed away for the night, opting to sleep with Mahrk and Divh’s tribe. She had let us know of course, and with the fact that her feelings had still been a tangled mess at that point I and Carmil figured she could use the time away from us to process what was happening to her.

  One interesting occurrence was Tulip and Ollie’s awkward meeting. Oleander was happy to have someone to speak her people’s native tongue with. Someone like herself to speak to at all was good but that added benefit of someone physically capable of speaking Breetabra? That was making the young inscriber absolutely light up. Though, not having spoken the nguage except in rare moments alone with her mother as a child, her grasp of it was not great. Tulip herself was willing and in fact happy to help her struggle through pronunciations and grammar, but I could see a knot of difficult emotions around it. I tapped into my skills and let them pour over the professor, that somewhat worrying ability to read details on a person’s life through gesture and tone, drawing moments of Tulip’s past into my mind.

  A child, words spoken poorly in the way of the very young as they learn and grow. Tulip, happily correcting and helping the little one. Praising accomplishments and gently guiding errors. Then a child, gone. A jagged, painful hole in the heart where love should be.

  She was teaching her little sister when she… oh.

  But the half-faun drew smiles from Tulip. It had been so very long ago and I think she was able to focus on the happiness more than the grief now. These two would be good for each other, connections to parts of who they were that had id untouched for far too long.

  Wen and Sellian got along exceptionally well, both of them amplifying the other’s cheerful hedonism to the point that I felt relieved that we would be splitting up. But also, happy that the two of them had someone to talk with about their love of the culinary arts. Wen was thrilled with the idea of an international cooking school and promised to visit it as much as she could when it opened and Sellian had tips on unusual uses of spices or uncommon ways food was prepared that she had learned in her so far limited research.

  It was a very busy night, socially speaking, and when we all finally nodded off, I for one was absolutely exhausted. Unfortunately for me, my sleep was not restful. Within moments of entering the Dream I was pulled into Vei’Ryn’s bubble and found myself with the entire pantheon and both of my fellow Saints. The two had apparently not met the Sojourn yet and as such I got to watch them both fall to their knees and weep in awe for several moments as their minds pulled her into the form they could comprehend. It was… less embarrassing than I had feared. I was worried that I might have looked stupid when that happened, but no, just a bit silly it seemed.

  We spent hours going over details about how and what and where and with whom we would begin our duties once we reached the city of Delonandra, capital of Uvtrayl. This was not a comprehensive discussion, there was far, far too much to go over. But we had some days before we left and likely a few days before we arrived to cover as much as possible. Mostly we talked about how to tell the people about their gods, and how to help them through the aftermath of learning the truth. That would be a major hurdle for us immediately after all. But we also talked about how to guide people to praying to one or more of our goddesses. There was also the discussion of a name for the pantheon, but that was considered less important than covering our duties and no real ideas came up.

  When I woke up I felt less than well rested. The groaning from Sellian said she felt the same. We both gred at Olivia as she seemed completely fine. She ginned. “What? I’ve been pulling all-nighters as an officer and before that an intelligence agent for decades. That was nothing, at least this time I got to y down through it all.”

  As soon as breakfast was finished, Sellian had Olivia and Redagga take her for a walk around the district to get a bit of exercise in, knowing that she would likely need help getting back to her chair after only a few minutes. The annoyance in her tone over the need for help was easily overwhelmed by the joy she had over the idea of actually being able to walk at all, and I felt a sympathetic burst of optimism for her. She was an incredible person who would do incredible things now that she had the power to do so. Of course I felt a simir way about Olivia by now, which honestly still felt odd considering our brief but intense history, and I knew that others felt that way about me too even if I didn’t feel it myself.

  Of course, sitting at a table with Weren rattling off terrible names for my new airship made me think one way I could help the world was with a gag. But then I was very, VERY distracted by Azuriel walking over to us.

  Completely nude.

  I blinked and looked her over, watching violet lights shimmering under her skin. “Oh wow.” I felt stupid as the words left my mouth. “Uh, good morning Azuriel, did you sleep well?”

  She awkwardly sat next to Carmil, clearly trying hard to stay calm in what was a big step for her. “I… I think I would have slept better with you all, but it was acceptable. I, um, I felt better when I woke up though. I realized that you are right, Esme. I do not know what I am now, or what this means going forward for the world, for demons, angles, the Pure Lands, any of that. But I do know what it means for me. I have control over myself, I can make my own choices. So I want to, um, to try this, the Green Mother’s Path, um… life.”

  Camil kissed the nephilim’s cheek. “If you find it doesn’t suit you, you are also allowed to stop. Without penalty or judgment.”

  Dekarru sipped her tea in silence as she looked at Azuriel. “Mary is going to be thrilled,” she eventually muttered with a smirk.

  There was a brief silence where Azuriel simply blushed and tried to focus on eating, but the feelings she had bubbling under the surface broke free and she looked my way. “E-Esme, how, um, do I look… acceptable? I, I mean do I fit in, I don’t want to be… unusual.”

  I had a brief urge to tease her, Weren clearly rubbing off on me, but I knew she was trying to find herself, trying to feel comfortable. Honestly I wasn’t even sure she’d stay a follower of the Path, she just wanted to try it because she could be more than what others decided for her, for the first time in her life. Combined with the attraction she had admitted towards be, this was a poorly veiled desire for validation and I wanted to encourage her to explore life without worry.

  I turned to her and gave as warm a smile as I could. “You are beautiful, Azuriel. You may not look like the others here, but you are not unusual, or strange, or unacceptable in any way. I am happy to see you exploring yourself.” Wen opened her mouth but Dekarru’s hand covered it before words could form. Thank the gods.

  The nephilim blushed, smiling and turning her eyes back to her pte. I could see the crush there, and honestly I was very tempted to encourage it. But I wanted her to find herself before she tried to form anything romantic. So I avoided staring at her B-cups with literal golden nipples and the bright blue fuzz just about her crotch. Which I admit, was difficult. She was quite a sight.

  Carmil saved us all by just being a friendly distraction, asking Azuriel if she was comfortable, cold, if her feet hurt walking barefoot, and so on. Basically getting the nephilim to focus on the logistics of the Path and successfully draining a lot of her anxiety over it.

  Of course, anxiety spiked when a messenger arrived and politely requested that Dekarru, Gina, Azuriel, and I all come to the Elder’s Council Chambers as soon as we were able. I sent back a message that we would arrive in an hour, knowing that this would have been an order had I not been a Saint. I had a feeling this was coming so I wasn’t too shocked. But Azuriel panicked that she was in trouble for removing her colr. After I promised to protect her as a part of my official Saintly duties, she calmed down enough to get dressed with us.

  Just over an hour ter we all walked into the chambers to find every Elder in the city present, along with Captain Eldingson. Well, I didn’t walk. My leg was absolutely mangled and Briggavel wasn’t even sure she could save it, so I found myself being pushed in a wheelchair by Azuriel. She needed something to do to feel useful so I’d asked her to do so. It was, as I suspected, an official inquiry into the events the day prior.

  I politely bowed my head to everyone as Azuriel locked the wheels into pce and seated herself next to me. “Elders of Willow Creek, thank you for the invitation. It saved me from potentially overstepping my authority by calling this meeting myself.”

  Yin snorted. “You do not have power over this council.”

  “Exactly my point, Elder Softbark. I do not, but this issue is of great importance and if I called you would have come. This is not a matter of who has power over who but the fact that we all know what needs to be done. You calling the meeting keeps it from appearing that I have more power than I do, which I think we all appreciate.”

  The grumpy elder of the Ash Lands paused then nodded appreciatively. “You are… easier to work with than I would have assume, Saint Dreamsinger.”

  “Being combative simply makes things more difficult for us all. Now, I suspect you have some very odd testimony from Captain Eldingson.”

  War Chief Avarin grunted. “First and foremost, we are concerned that the angel is without the mana draining device. While I can understand your need to remove it in an emergency-”

  “I didn’t remove it. She did. Azuriel had the capacity to remove it all along but kept it on by choice. She CHOSE to cooperate.” I kept out the detail that I was pretty sure it was only a sudden boost in power her corruption was causing that made her so strong. I was plenty capable of altruistic deception.

  “Ah. That is as troubling as it is comforting.”

  Layanta cleared her throat. “If the Saint believes that Azuriel is not a threat, I am willing to trust her.”

  A small round of agreements passed over the table. The only people looking uncomfortable being the Gryphon Rider and Banda, the Elder of Mother’s Teeth. Said Elder spoke up. “I do not mean to disparage the Saint, but what I have heard from the Captain and his squadron is unusual. Potentially very troubling. He believes that one or more of the Demons that attacked managed to somehow control Azuriel. Combined with the reports from some of Captain Riverwalker’s unit them mentioning the angel seeming to be afraid she was going to hurt someone, there does seem to be some valid concerns.”

  I paused and blinked in surprise, it took me several moments to slot that idea together in my mind. “OH. Oh! Oh I suppose that could easily be what that looked like from the outside. We didn’t exactly expin what had happened.” I took a breath and leaned on the table. “I am afraid it’s worse than that unfortunately. We found out where demons come from.”

  I spent the next two hours expining what had happened and fielding questions. I was able to help Azuriel stay calm enough that she was able to answer some questions herself, but as part of an oppressed group in her home she had few answers. Especially considering that much of what she knew was likely only partially true at best. A propaganda story spread as doctrine and truth to justify their society’s behavior. But there had to be enough truth to it, we had seen Azuriel start to change after all.

  The only detail we kept quiet on was the matter of the seeming change in race to Azuriel. I had asked her about it before and she wanted to have time to process it more herself before it became a major detail. So we implied that she was still a Seraph without saying it outright. I hated lying to the council, if only by omission, but this not my secret to tell.

  Even with that detail hidden the council was overwhelmed. Hells, Mary was overwhelmed, she had been so struck that none of us noticed she was there at first. It was odd that she simply sat quietly and listened, not inserting herself into proceedings or dragging things off the rails, so she went unnoticed for gods only know how long.

  Even once discovered she was mostly quiet, though not completely. “That would be why, wouldn’t it? If corruption is a mental effect, stability must be of extreme importance to them. Things changing, society, the world, it would cause changes that would disrupt their stability and potentially cause spikes in the number of those who fall. But why such worries when they live in their own pne, separate from ours?”

  “Damned good question.” Targan the Gray grunted out, leaning back in his chair. “The answer is pretty obvious though. Because these Pure Lands of theirs aren’t entirely separate. If they were none of this would matter. They could just stay away and be as perfect as they wanted.”

  Yin drummed her fingers on the table. “Either their realm is somehow physically linked in a way that can’t be severed, or they require travel to this realm frequently for some reason, trade perhaps? Maybe they don’t have farms. Personally, I’d be willing to bet it is a metaphysical matter. They seem very upset at new gods arriving, meaning the changes to the higher pnes that new gods would cause could affect their realm. I mean, I am making a lot of assumptions, but we need more information before we can stop doing that anyway.”

  Durran tapped his chin. “Actually, if divine stability is good for them, that could expin their increased sightings in Imperial territories. The Golden Temple has been an extremely stable religion for more than a millennium. Far more than the Thundering Pantheon. Gods, those nutjobs have internal conflicts every couple of decades. The Golden Temple has been consistent and peaceful since before the Empire was founded.”

  Azuriel slowly raised her hand, when the Elders turned to her she cleared her throat nervously before speaking. “I don’t know how important it is, but I do know during my training that many angels seemed upset with the Empire. I don’t know details, I wasn’t part of the conversations, I simply overheard them. But I think that a lot of the Choir, the Hierophant’ s army, thought the Empire had been failing the Pure Lands somehow.”

  Avarin lifted her brows “Failing them? That implies there is, or was some deal between the Empire and the Pure Lands. That is frankly a horrifying thought.”

  “I don’t know if there is any kind of alliance or truce or anything of the sort. But I was hard to notice when I wanted to be and angels talk.” She shrugged softly and looked down at her p.

  Avarin took a breath. “Is there anything more, any details at all, no matter how meaningless they might seem?”

  Azuriel pondered this for a time. “I don’t know what it means, but there was talk of a schism. I don’t know of whom or what, but there was the occasional talk of ‘hoping the schism concludes soon’, or ‘that schism is interfering in our pns’, but I don’t know more than that.” She sighed and shook her head. “Though I think maybe there might have been factions in the Choir. While I heard plenty speaking ill of the Empire, my own trainers seemed to think the Empress is a worthy ruler that would ‘bring back the glory of the Empire soon’.”

  Yin huffed and shook her head. “Factions in the Pure Lands sounds like a recipe for disaster, if stability is important than-”

  “Wait.” I cut the Elder off and turned to Azuriel. “When did you first hear about the Empress, how long ago? Please be as exact as you can.”

  I could feel all the eyes on me, Azuriel looking more nervous by the second. She thought back. “Um, it was not long after I started my training. I am not certain how long but the first I heard was I believe two weeks before Iritanis was sent after you. I heard he was sin by you a week ter. Does that help?”

  I sat back in the wheelchair, my mind spinning. “Assuming Iritanis was the Purifier that attacked the rain, that would put it about a month and a half ago.” I looked up and spoke to Durran, worry in my tone. “Elder Owleye, when did-”

  “Just over three weeks. The Emperor died just over three weeks ago.” He answered before I could finish asking, his face as tense as his voice. Murmurs filled the room as we all got hit with the implication.

  Mary spoke up, her tone cking its usual energy. “They knew. They knew the Emperor would die and be repced by his daughter before it happened.”

  “Which they would only know if they were somehow involved.” I spoke the words allowed, leaning forward and taking my head into my hands. “The Pure Lands have some sort of alliance with this new warmongering Empress.”

  The general atmosphere of a mortuary fell over the room, silence digging itself into my ears as the weight off the revetion threatened to suffocate us. I had to break it with some sliver of hope. “No, they might just be spying on them. Azuriel, are you the only Shadow Seraph that was taken for training?”

  She jumped in surprise at my words, apparently having gotten lost in her own head in the quiet. “Huh? Oh, um… they told me I was, but I have begun to doubt everything they told me. But, I think they would not take one of my kind except out of desperation. So it is likely I am the only one, yes.”

  “But it is possible that another had been taken and trained to spy?” I know, I was desperate, but I did not want to fight the Empire if they had angels as backup so I reached for an alternate expnation.

  “Maybe, but you saw how easily I started to fall. I do not know that one of my people would st long in an assignment like that.”

  Mary grunted. “Well shit. I have to do something I really don’t want to now.”

  Dekarru turned her head towards the Fae-Lord. “You already have been, you’ve been behaving.”

  “Yeah, this is worse. I have to talk to my cousins. If the angels are fucking with this pne they will want to know so they can do something about it.”

  Avarin regarded the fae with a raised brow. “I thought you lot didn’t like interacting with each other.”

  “Simple familial rivalry, I swear. Yes, even the assassination attempts, they are not done seriously anyway. But that’s not the point. The point is that we may scrap and fight and sling insults but we recognize that outside threats are serious.”

  I sat up straight. “Are you saying we could have more Fae-Lords as reinforcements?”

  “If, I repeat IF, if angels are actively siding with a major nation that will get more than a few of my kin’s hackles up. But most will want more than this tidbit to convince them, they won’t trust the word of an angel. Even if it is an angel I find myself personally believing.”

  “Wh-what if I’m not one?” Azuriel spoke up. I put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a look that I hoped said that she didn’t have to do this. She smiled back at me softly.

  “Not one… what, do you mean lie and tell them I got the information from something other than a Seraph?” Mary snorted in annoyance.

  “No. I mean tell them the truth, that I’m not one anymore. Or, at least I don’t think I am?”

  Mary’s form rippled as she shifted position from her seat to behind Azuriel. “Oh my gods, you have been keeping a secret~ I’d be upset but I am far too excited to hear this.” She purred out as she leaned forward into the space between the former angel and I.

  Azuriel hesitated before admitting that her status cimed her to be something she had never heard of before, that no one in the room had heard of either. I wasn’t going to broach the topic of Earth with anyone but my tribe and lovers in private, so I didn’t mention that I had. Especially as it would likely be effectively meaningless information either. Nothing I knew would actually expin what she was in any sense other than ‘Dani’s world’s nerd culture liked to use the term to refer to half-celestials, but the meaning behind that was so all over the pce it could me damned near anything’, and considering circumstances, I thought it better to discover things on our own without the very likely misleading viewpoint from TTRPG lore.

  I got stared at after the expnation. “It wasn’t my secret to tell.” I said with a shrug.

  Mary pulled a chair next to Azuriel and stared into the nephilim’s eyes. “You really are different, aren’t you? Do you feel different, want to maybe shake things up, try something new?”

  The teasing in Mary’s tone was obvious, Azuriel blushed and looked away. But before I new round of prodding from the Fae-Lord could begin, the blush faded and she turned back to Mary. “I am seeing how I feel about the Green Mother’s Path, and exploring my desires. I have enjoyed Weren’s cooking a great deal more, I wish to learn to dance, and I…” Her voice caught in her throat as she gnced at me, blushing furiously and casting a soft orange glow to the room.

  Mary cackled and leans against the table. “This will certainly help, yes. If nothing else I know that many of the other Fae-Lords will want to come see the new ‘nephilim’ themselves. I will of course inform them that she is off limits and under the protection of a Dream Saint as well as myself. But I imagine Beaver Valley is going to be quite… chaotic soon.”

  Pellu broke the moment, something we were quite thankful for. “As fascinating as this all is and as much as I would love to speak on it ter, we do have a very important task now that might be problematic for our pns. Especially the parts of those pns regarding our guests?”

  Layanta sighed, standing and heading for the exit. “I’ll call them and see if they can come in on short notice. Gods this is bullshit.”

  Ah, I had somehow forgotten about that. But half an hour ter Henna, Olivia, Sellian, and Miratan were all in the chambers with us being briefed on our realization that the Empire likely had an alliance of unknown details with the Pure Lands. There were some very pointed questions and aimed at me and Azuriel, but I felt no anger or accusations.

  Henna and Olivia muttered quietly to one another briefly before the General stood. “Our pns and dedication to this alliance are unchanged. If anything, this reinforces the idea that we will need to stand together against outside threats. Though, I will suggest to our diplomatic corps that we step up attempts to gain additional allies of the minor nations. At the very least, more resources to tap into is going to be important.”

  Miratan sighed and stood slowly. This was the hard one. They were here to break away from the Empire, not resist invasion. The safe move would be to pull away from these talks and beg forgiveness from their parent nation. They would be too busy conquering other nds to punish Pitrak in all likelihood. But the truth was we really needed them.

  He took a breath and nodded. “We refuse to be cowards again. Pitrak is committed to this course and we will not turn away from it. We are with you, I swear it on my life.”

  “Will your people agree?” Henna’s question was soft, not meant as an attack.

  “When they see the benefits of independence, an end to the war with Uvtrayl, and the support of THREE new Saints?” The Prime Minister smirked. “We’re a nation of schors, we can do the math.”

  Sellian chuckled. “Especially since if Pitrak doesn’t stay in this alliance, I’m moving to Uvtrayl.”

  “Sell?”

  “I mean it. I have duties now that we both know the Empire will from on at best. If Pitrak is still under their thumb I’ll have to move to continue serving my Goddess.” She reached out and squeezed her brother’s hand. The strength of her grip bringing a smile to his face.

  “I understand, if that happens I’ll make sure to have all of your things shipped to you before anyone figures out what’s happening.”

  Olivia smiled. “We’ll lets do what we can to make sure it never comes to that. I’ve been looking forward to a peaceful visit to Pitrak and I’d hate politics to ruin that chance.”

  “You have?” Miratan raised a brow.

  “There is someone there I need to apologize to.” Henna reached over and patted the steel Saint’s shoulder and smiled silently.

  Layanta sat back in her chair with a mountain of worry draining from her features. “Oh thank the gods. I was going to have a breakdown if we lost the alliance.”

  “Well I am having one.” Eyes turned to Pagar Stonehide, the grumpy old coot in charge of the territory of Red Hand. “The hells with it, you fuckers win. I’m retiring. Let my granddaughter deal with this insanity while I get back to painting.”

  “You paint?” I found myself asking.

  “My primary css is painting! Got sucked into this political nonsense because no-one else could do that damn job right!” The anger in his voice sounded harsh, but felt more like resignation and acceptance.

  Avarin barked out, “Aeliu can. She’s damned smart and you know it. You wanting to protect her from this isn’t helping her, its just preventing her from getting any experience!”

  “Well experience is what she’ll be getting now because I am too tired to keep up. Throw me a damned party and let me make a call because I am ready to rest.”

  Dekarru chuckled. “I’ll get Weren to cook that stew you like, there should be some cactus pears at market.”

  The retiring elder grinned. “Better not skimp on the wine, this is my big send off and you lot better be cheering good and loud about never having to see me again.”

  Durran ughed. “I’ll be walking with a spring in my step for months you miserable bastard.”

  As tense as things had started out, the meeting ending with warmth and a slight touch of sorrow was uplifting. We had realized something troubling, but it caused us to strengthen our dedication to our course rather than steer us away from it. There were still unanswered questions and additional worries, but we had true allies and forewarning about a potential threat. One that might actually bring us much more strength in the war that looked more and more likely by the day.

  Looking closer at Pagar, I think that he was doing this less because he wanted to retire, and more because he new that an injection of hope and an excuse to celebrate was worth more than his position as an Elder provided. I could also see a hint of pride, directed somewhere far away. He knew that his granddaughter would be a worthy repcement.

  I took a breath and leaned back in my wheelchair. “Gods, what a week.” it was at that moment I realized, I had not ever leveled up. “Balls.”

  AnnouncementHey folks, Faulty here! I wanted to pick your brains about some things. You may have noticed that both Esme's ship and Vei'Ryn's pantheon are both without names thus far. What names can you bunch of nerds come up with? Gimme your best/worst ideas in the comments and upvote any you like!