A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

Villacqui awakened in a gleaming blue armchair, in a gleaming blue room, covered in a gleaming blue blanket. She might have been anxious, awakening in an unfamiliar place, but there was a cascade of golden hair above the blanket, so--

Ah. Within a few moments of waking, it came back to her. The sky-home, and the children. She must have drifted off between stories. It had been a long day, after all, and not everyone had a white vessel large enough to reduce her need for sleep. Speaking of which...

Carefully, Villacqui checked Nyrkatess' status.

She was squeezed into the left side of the chair, curled up with her head on Villacqui's shoulder, breathing softly. A sleeping beauty, with no sign of waking.

Decisions, decisions...

It would make sense if being filled with the Red Goddess' power for many hours had caused vessel strain, and Nyrkatess may not have fallen asleep all that long ago. Given that no one else seemed to be up and about, it must be nighttime.

So, despite Nyrkatess' request, Villacqui decided to let her sleep, this time.

For now, at least.

It wasn't like she minded the current situation.

At all.

Beds should be as large as necessary, and no larger. They'd only ever used about this much, anyway.

While Villacqui sat admiring, it hit her.

She was married to Nyrkatess, with the True Goddess' personal blessing.

...This was her wife.

Villacqui worked to calm her thundering heart, so it wouldn't wake her chair-mate.

Life-mate.

...

Not. Helping.

...Soulmate.

Somehow, the adrenaline rush eventually waned, and Villacqui took a look around. Books, stuffed animals, dolls, blocks, writing supplies and more were still scattered about.

Telf's prediction had been accurate. One look at Villacqui, and the children had asked whether the Goddesses had sent her. One droplet of soup cleaned off a spoon, and they had concluded that she must know how to read and write, and must have fantastic stories to tell. Thus had her fate been written.

Villacqui smiled. What a pleasant fate it had been! Such earnest pupils! Everyone had hung on every word of every story she could think of, about a Temple surrounded by countless stars, and a palace made of ivory, and parties full of false gods. And those easterner accents--gahhh!

Belatedly, Villacqui remembered Suri's wedding gift. A glance at the table to her right confirmed that the dangly crescent earrings, two identical pairs, were still where she had left them.

"I'm sorry I can't make gold or black," Suri had teased.

Sure, but Villacqui had worn a lot of solid gold jewelry in her life, and not so much made of the divine power of the Sky Goddess. She would like to put them on, but reaching for them might wake Nyrkatess, so she settled in to watch her wife sleep.

...How was it possible for breathing to be so breathtaking?!

----

There was stirring from another room--Telf's bedroom?--which meant the time had come for Villacqui to keep her promise.

"Good morning," she murmured, once her task was thoroughly completed. "What did I miss?"

Nyrkatess stared at her, as dazed as she had been before going through the portal.

Giggling with satisfaction, like the moonstruck newlywed she was, Villacqui leaned over to grab a pair of the earrings.

"Suri left these for us, as a wedding gift," she explained, and hung one next to each of her own ears. "Shall I put them in myself, or would my wife like to pamper me?"

Without saying a word, Nyrkatess took the left earring, carefully affixed it to Villacqui's ear, then did the same for the right.

Villacqui swiveled her head back and forth. "Do they suit me?"

Her wife was still speechless. The weirdness of it had a stronger effect than any gushing praise would have.

Arms a little weak, Villacqui reached for the other pair of earrings, and slipped them into Nyrkatess' ears.

"We match," she murmured.

Nyrkatess nodded, causing her dangling crescents to sway to-and-fro in the same way Suri and Telf's little instruments often did. Villacqui nodded back.

"I was with the Goddesses until dusk--Their dusk," Nyrkatess said. Finally! "Telf brought me back to the yacht, so I could grab a few things. Since I assume we're headed somewhere in the jungle, I brought our parasols, our lightest sundresses, and the most practical boots we have. It's all here."

Reaching to the floor on her side of the chair, she lifted a blue bag that Villacqui hadn't been able to see.

"Brushes, too?"

"Mmhmm! I'll get started."

That was good. With their hair being as long as it was, skipping two consecutive brushings--in the Keyic jungle's humidity, no less--would not end well.

Nyrkatess retrieved a familiar ivory-and-gold brush from the bag, and Villacqui moved to a nearby stool.

"Did you meet any of the children?"

"No," Nyrkatess replied. While she brushed, she was also applying the usual cleaning blessings. "By the time I got back from the ship, and finished discussing everything with Suri and Zyriko, they were all in bed. Telf brought me to you, and that's the last thing I remember."

Villacqui smiled to herself. She had a hunch.

"You did a mana cycle while squeezing in, didn't you? So you wouldn't wake me up?"

The brushing stopped. Waves of golden hair fell over Villacqui's shoulder, into her lap, just before she felt a kiss of confirmation on her cheek.

'We're married,' she marveled, from orbit.

The golden tide retreated, back over Villacqui's shoulder, and the brushing resumed.

"One of the subjects we discussed was what will happen this morning."

As Nyrkatess spoke, there was a muted call of "Breakfast!" from the hallway beyond the door. This being the kitchen and play area, they would have company, soon.

"We're scheduled to introduce ourselves, publicly, in a few minutes," Nyrkatess continued, hurriedly. "We need to be careful about what we say and how we act, since rumors may reach my father. Some things could be explained away, as us deceiving the rabble, or as misunderstandings, but some couldn't, and if I am disinherited, it could be centuries instead of decades until we can answer the prayers of people living in the Tvokess domain."

Villacqui's eyes widened. She spun off the stool, and pulled her wife into a hug.

"That sounds like something the Moon Goddess would say," she breathed.

"A Moon Goddess," Nyrkatess corrected, leaning back and tapping Villacqui's ears, to remind her that she, too, had crescents dangling from them.

Yesterday, it would have felt absurd--had felt absurd, and conceited, and delusional--for Villacqui to imagine herself answering prayers as a True Goddess. Today? It still felt absurd, and yet, there was an image stuck in Villacqui's mind, of a wavy-haired girl wearing a red tunic.

'Ensure that orphans know a family's love.'

It would be a long, long, long time before Villacqui would have the power to repel a threat that could obliterate entire villages, but she could clean a spoon, teach lessons, read stories, braid hair, and play hide-and-seek. Telf could use the help.

And there was no way Telf would ever be willing to watch Arelvi age past her, but Villacqui would never need to face that problem, at least not so brutally.

It's not that she had no family. She did. The difference was that her family was about to stop aging.

----

"Hello everyone," Telf welcomed her audience. Villacqui was impressed with her dignified bearing: back straight, chin high, and voice clear. She had full command of the room. "If you can see the front step, you're probably wondering who has joined me today. Let's listen while they introduce themselves."

The priestess detached the voice amplifier from her own throat, and attached it to Nyrkatess'. When she did not withdraw her hand, but kept a finger pressed to the item to operate it, some of those watching did not miss the implication: It was well-known that the Sky Goddess could not use items.

There was a stirring in the audience.

For this critical first impression, Nyrkatess was in her maximally regal, model Heiress mode, as if they were still at her investiture. Like Villacqui, she was dressed in the outfit brought from the ship: an airy black sundress, above black boots nearly to her knees. Since they'd been in a hurry this morning, her hair was loose, making golden waves down her back. From the front, the crescent earrings could be seen gleaming underneath.

Naturally, Villacqui was the same, but with colors reversed.

"Hello," Nyrkatess called, and waved to those who could see her. "I am Nyrkatess, and this is Villacqui."

Villacqui waved.

They had agreed that 'Nyrkatess called Villacqui her wife' was one rumor that absolutely could never be allowed to reach the Tvokess Patriarch. It stung, but more than anything, Villacqui was proud of Nyrkatess' willingness to make that personal sacrifice.

"We are friends of Suri, and I have the honor of being the Sun Goddess' student. In the Sacred Language, I am called a 'mage prodigy.' My Teacher believes that I will begin transforming into the Goddess of the Full Moon within a few years."

The crowd had been holding its collective breath, but now Nyrkatess needed to wait for the commotion to die down.

"As I am, I still have much to learn, but I can heal, clean, and repair, and help all living things to grow and thrive. Villacqui can clean things, too, but she is much weaker. Having just arrived, we intend to speak with as many people as we can, and learn about your lives, and your hopes for the future, and how we can help."

Villacqui had spent a lifetime maintaining a facade. In this moment, she needed all of that experience to prevent herself from revealing how very, very far gone she was.

No swooning.

No dopey, admiring smiles.

No tackling her wife right off the front step.

Villacqui knew that her Nyrkatess was doing all of this mostly because she had been told that it was what she should do. She was behaving like the Goddesses, because she wanted to be One herself. All of that was true, and it didn't change the fact that she was giving it her earnest best.

----

Oof. The Tvokess domain was hardly cool, but teleporting into the mugginess of the Keyic jungle, at midday, felt like hitting a solid wall. Villacqui was psychologically grateful to her parasol, despite being aware that it was probably useless under such a dense canopy.

"Anyone here will be able to bring you back when you're done," Telf said. "Well, except Kovi, I guess."

Releasing her hand, Villacqui stepped away to give a small, practiced bow.

"Thank you. Just down that path?"

This little clearing seemed like a hub, with many paths leading away into the jungle, but the noise of a village could be heard from only one direction.

"Must be," Telf agreed. "Don't leave the paths, and don't touch anything. And whatever you do, don't stay out after dark."

Villacqui glanced at Nyrkatess. She was scanning the forest, apprehensive but trying not to look it. The Keyics' warnings, when they had visited a year ago, had been memorable.

Turning her eyes to the ground in front of her, Nyrkatess took a deep breath, and gingerly placed an immaculate black boot onto the damp muck that surrounded the portals.

Indeed, this was no walled flower garden. Villacqui herself had stepped off without thinking about it, but the truth was that this place was just as far outside her own lived experience. The life she could remember had mostly been spent walking on ivory in golden slippers and sandals--even the garden paths were paved with ivory, in the Tvokess palace.

After a second breath, the other foot followed, and Nyrkatess turned to Telf.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, and good luck!"

The sky priestess returned to her home, and the pair left behind turned toward the path that presumably led to the village. It was around four paces wide, and looked almost like a hallway, since the foliage was so thick that it gave the impression of a wall, wherever it wasn't cleared out.

"Creepy-crawlies," Nyrkatess muttered. Nothing else needed to be said.

"Creepy-crawlies," Villacqui agreed. No attendants would come to save them, here.

Nyrkatess heaved a sigh, clenched her hands into fists, and took the first step forward. Villacqui waited, preparing by habit to follow exactly two steps behind, but Nyrkatess paused, looked back over her shoulder, and pointed to the ground next to her.

"We don't need to walk like that, anymore," she stated firmly. "Not here."

Heart fluttering away, Villacqui moved to her spot, and they headed into the forest, side-by-side, already as filthy as they'd ever been in their lives.

"You lived somewhere like this?" Nyrkatess asked.

"Sort of. It was a very different climate--the Red Goddess told me that I was born on the Great Peninsula. And, the Keyic domain must have far better--Eehehehe!"

Villacqui shrieked, and dashed away from the main character of her next month of nightmares.

"Where?! Wh--" Nyrkatess’ jaw clenched as she spotted the abomination, lurking on the trunk of a tree at eye-level. "Oh."

She spun away, and walked with purpose.

"We never saw it," she wheezed.

"Were th-those...all...st-stingers?" Villacqui stammered.

"We. Never. Saw. It."

Mercifully, at their increased pace, it was not long before they rounded a bend in the path, and spotted the exit ahead. They emerged into a clearing, much larger than the one containing the portals, which was occupied by a long brick building. Judging by its rows of windows, it had four floors. The jungle truly was incredibly dense, to be able to conceal such a structure until it was in plain sight.

It was no palace, but neither was it a collection of mud-and-thatch huts. Frankly, this might give Nyrkatess the wrong idea about typical conditions.

A large group of people was gathered underneath a canopy, attached to the building on one side, and trees on the other.

Nyrkatess' face was tense.

"You'll do fine," Villacqui reassured her. 

"That's not it." She sighed. "Not only it. I--If this is what the Keyic domain is like, then..."

They had been noticed, and an excited throng of children was rushing across the clearing.

"Villacqui," Nyrkatess muttered. "I want to be a True Goddess so badly that it physically aches."

"We match," Villacqui admitted.

That won a giggle and smile. A brilliant crescent of pure enthusiasm swiveled straight toward Villacqui, and an exquisitely manicured ivory finger tapped first her ear, then Nyrkatess' own.

"Esto started as ruins," Nyrkatess said, and squelched toward the children.

While she waited for strength to return to her knees, Villacqui looked down at herself, and wondered if she would look as good in pearl as she did in gold.