The morning came, and with it the awareness of Tendri squeezing me tight. I turned to look at her, her eyes meeting my own. “Wonderful thing to wake up to.”
She smirked and rubbed her face against my neck. “Your eyes are fucking intense. But…” she took a breath. “But it means its kind of impossible to forget you’re you. Those eyes remind me every time I look into them. It will take some getting used to. Gods, all of this will take some getting used to.”
“Does that mean you will, in fact, be around to get used to it’?” I heard Carmil’s voice nearby.
Tendri and I both turned to look and see her sitting next to us, some folded fabric in her p. Tendri hesitated, but nodded. “Yes. I’m staying. But I don’t think I’m really up to the whole, nudity thing.”
Carmil smiled and lifted the objects in her p, which proved to be a clean change of clothing. “I imagined that would be the case. I can show you where you can clean up in private. Though, you will have to release the Saint first.” Her voice carried a slight teasing tone, and her eyes were filled with expectation, she saw this coming I think.
With a nervous ugh of embarrassment, Tendi’s arms pulled away. “Gods, that was so childish. I can’t believe I did that.” She quickly sat up and hissed in pain. “Gah, and now my arms hurt.”
Jaina chuckled as she crawled over, her hair a mess as she had just rolled out of Dekarru’s grasp, awakened by our voices most likely. She id a hand on Tendri’s arm and a soft glow announced the use of magic. “There you go, the tender care of one magic nurse at your disposal. And don’t you dare call what happened st night childish. You are going through some serious emotional whipsh, you are allowed to feel how you feel and if anyone gives you shit for having a breakdown over all of…” she motioned towards me “…this? I’ll tell Red to punch them for you.”
“Who am I punching now?” Redagga asked as she sat up, a heavy yawn following the question.
“Any fekwit that gives Tendri grief over her grief.” Brigga answered as she pulled herself to her feet and stretched.
Tendri was pressing her lips together and staring pointedly at the clothes she had taken from Carmil. I ughed softly and sat up, leaning over to kiss her cheek. “You’re allowed to look, even lustfully. Hells, when I first met them they made a damned game out of seeing how fast they could get me ‘up’.”
If Tendri’s skin were not such a lovely dark brown, I am certain she’d have been turning red. As it was, her fingers tightened on the cloth in her hands. “I need to freshen up.” she said with a voice that was held tightly in control.
Carmil led her out of the yurt, a smile on my lips as I watched two of my loves. I knew Carmil pnned this to try and bond with Tendri, my elemental love was almost too damned good for me. But no, I was allowed to be selfish and just be happy I had her.
As I stood Dekarru swatted my rear. “I take it you two had some time together in the Dream?”
“I took her on a tour of my life and begged her to stay. Vei'Ryn told me I was being a bit dumb, reminded me that I’m allowed to want things, allowed to actually go after my desires.”
She chuckled. “Gd you have a literal goddess to drill that into your head.”
“Yeah, despite everything that happened, I really am gd to be her Saint.” Then I remembered what else my Goddess talked about. “Oh fuckbeans, Dekarru we gotta go now, I need to talk to the envoys and it’s an emergency.”
The oracle sent a message ahead to both parties that I would be visiting them shortly, giving us enough time to clean up, eat a quick breakfast, get dressed in more casual clothing, and gather the tribe. They were confused why I wanted everyone to join me, but I had a surprise prepared.
We split up briefly as Dekarru and I rushed to the government district and the others went to grab some things I had asked them for, including the other two inscribers that Vei’Ryn had sent.
When I arrived at the Pitrak envoy’s diplomatic residence, tensions were high. It didn’t take me long to get in and see the Prime Minister however, yay for the authority of a Saint. The man was a mess, crying for the past hour because his sister wouldn’t wake up. When I told him I knew what was happening and she would be fine he was ecstatic, though that was somewhat tempered by my refusal to expin. I did promise him that she would wake up by evening, at which point she could expin things herself. That pcated him enough that he stopped begging me and offering to tear down the old temples in Pitrak to build ones to my pantheon.
With that fire out, Dekarru and I met up with Henna at the Uvtrayl residence. Things were simirly intense there, and I had simirly little trouble getting in.
Henna met me in the building’s dining room. “Esme, I’m sorry something has come up and-”
“She’s fine Henna.” I interrupted with a smile.
She stared at me, shock on her face. “What’s going on, is this about the Vision Quest?”
“Only indirectly. She’s fine, she’ll wake up in a few hours and be able to expin things herself. I promise.” I walked over and kissed her cheek. “For now, are things ready?”
She ughed and rubbed her face. “Let me make a call and they will be by the time we arrive. You know, Saint of the Dreamer or not, maybe just call next time instead of hopping into my mind while I’m asleep?”
I grinned. “Awww, but where’s the fun in that?”
Half an hour ter, we’d gathered the rest of my tribe, Azuriel, Tendri, Ollie and Liru, and enough food for a picnic for all of us. They had to rent a small cart to move it all. We made our way to a business district in the far north west of the city, almost the entirety of the buildings there being floating ones accessible via a complex system of bridges, or a boat if you had one.
As much as I really wanted to spend some time there, our destination was something other than one of the stores. A ship sat floating in the far corner of the ke, nearer the wall than the buildings. It looked not horribly unlike an early 1900’s warship from Earth, about 300 feet long and maybe 60 feet wide if I had to guess, though with far less visible superstructure than I expected. Additionally it seemed underarmed for a warship, I could see a few small gun empcements along the edges but no big turrets. Metal and wood, sails and propellers, traditional naval ship lines and arcanicraft runes, all with the emblem of the Uvtrayl Military and the name ‘Thunderbane’ proudly painted on the sides.
“Bit of a provocation, don’t you think?” I asked Henna as the boat we were on took us to the marvel of modern magical engineering.
She sighed. “I hate the name, it says less about us than our names should. But people like telling the Hegemony to fuck off.”
Ollie (an absolutely adorable young woman that I’m pretty sure was half-elf and half-faun) was trembling as she looked at the ship, her gaze flicking to Henna every minute or so. I sighed and patted her head, fingers lightly grazing the tiny nubs that might one day grow to full horns. “Oleander. Calm yourself. You ARE allowed to be here.”
“Not that I doubt you, Mighty Saint, but-”
“Stop. None of that. In formal situations I am Saint Dreamsinger, in others I am Esme. If you spend all your time bowing and scraping you won’t be able to do your job. My Goddess herself sent you to me, so you are not some lowly nobody. You have EARNED your pce. A literal divine being said so.”
She nodded and chewed on her lip. “Okay but uh, this is an Uvtrayl warship, right?”
Henna ughed. “The newest model in our fleet in fact. But don’t worry, we stuffed all the state secrets under the mattress so you won’t see them.”
Liru, a human woman with skin almost as pale as my own and jet bck hair, sighed. “And here I was hoping to stumble on your people’s greatest weakness.” Sarcasm dripped from her voice like a bee hive but filled with oil instead of honey. “I suppose I’ll make due with scribbling genitals on a wall somewhere instead.” I got the feeling I was going to really like Liru.
Ollie prodded Liru’s side “Don’t joke like that, they might take you seriously. This is all too crazy for your weird humor.”
“But I like crazy, certainly better than boring.” I watched as the woman who on Earth would almost certainly shop at Hot Topic, gave a curious gnce at Azuriel. “And this is most certainly not boring.”
The angel gave a glowing blue blush and looked away, shrinking back a bit more behind Carmil at the attention she was getting. Honestly, I was somewhat surprised by how little the celestial phased Liru and Tendri, though Ollie had enough of a reaction for them both. The poor girl fainted and Jaina had to tend to her and expin she was our tribe’s guest. She still gave Azuriel a wide berth. Apparently, angelic appearances were more common in the Empire, at least historically. Within the past several decades though, the numbers of sightings have dropped notably. Something to ponder ter, I had a day with my loved ones to enjoy.
As we boarded, I looked around and let out a small “Huh.”
Henna smiled. “Not what you expected?”
“Its smaller than I thought it would be, but also has much more open space. I figured we’d have lunch in the mess but we can fit everyone on deck twenty times over. That’s far nicer.” Then with a smirk I leaned closer to whisper. “Also, the airships from Earth were all lighter-than-air craft, giant balloons filled with helium or something like that with a comparatively tiny compartment hanging on the underside.”
She smirked, taking a moment to consider the response. “Modern Uvtrayl airships use cloudstone, a mana infused rock that lets it float in the air. There are a few dozen small carved boulders of the stuff at key locations throughout a ship’s structure, each one supplemented by arcanicraft devices that allow the buoyancy of the stone to be increased or decreased. Thrust is generated through a series of arcanicraft powered and controlled propellers, though all ships also have retractable sails for wind powered travel.”
Liru perked up at this. “Why would you need those?”
The answer came almost immediately from an increasingly excited Ollie. “Emergency power! The engines are on a separate mana circuit from the system that controls the cloudstone arrays and because of the more exposed positions they are more likely to be damaged and fail. So some brilliant engineer just spped on a sail to a Hegemony clipper seventy years ago, it looked dumb and got him mocked but that ship was the only one that made it home from a major defeat, allowing the captain of it to warn command of an incoming attack from Iazana!” She rambled on with a grin, the passion in her voice making it clear that her apprehension for this was not entirely apprehension after all.
“Also, the propellers are often quite loud and using the sails can help a ship remain undetected if subtlety is called for.” I turned to the new voice and saw a dwarven man wearing a uniform with lots of embellishments walking towards us. He was a bit shorter than Brigga and notably more lean. Long brown hair with hints of auburn was loosely braided, as was his beard which came halfway down his chest. A kindly, round face with a slightly bulbous nose and bright amber eyes made him look a good bit like the fantasy dwarves from Earth literature, the bright smile he wore made him seem like the hero’s cheerful mentor from half of the old movies and books Dani loved. As he stepped close he stopped and bowed deeply to me. “Saint Dreamsinger, it is an honor to have you aboard my ship.” Standing straight he gave Henna a crisp salute.
Henna returned the gesture with appropriate decorum before giving me a smile. “May I introduce Captain Jorganvan Yntradam, the commanding officer of the Thunderbane.”
“Yntradam? Fek, how the hells are ya still breathing ya right bastard?” Briggavel elbowed her way through the group to walk up to the captain and look him up and down. “Signed on with Uvtrayl to save your worthless arse?”
Jorganvan raised a brow and looked the other dwarf over the same way she’d done to him. “Who brought some boot licking Agranbek on my ship? Gah, the girl’s blighted now! Gonna have to burn her and build a new one.”
I could feel the tension rising in the rest of the group, but the dwarves were… cheerful?
“Boot licking? Ha! Better loyal than some cowardly, underhanded, self-serving rats that would sell their own mother for a tea biscuit!” Briggavel’s voice raised as she stepped closer to the man.
“And some backwards idiots too stuck to the old ways to survive so much as a bandit raid are better, are they?!” He bellowed back, honestly his voice was impressive, I briefly imagined him performing opera, I bet he’d be incredible.
Henna started to say something but I put a hand on her shoulder and shook my head.
“Cn Yntradam is a bunch of opportunistic, faithless cowards who’ll stab ya in the back the second they can’t fleece ya anymore!”
“And Cn Agranbek is a bunch of stuffy half-wits so obsessed with the past that the world left them behind generations ago and took their decency with it!”
Then Briggavel suddenly thrust out her hand. “Agreed.”
At which point Jorganvan took it and gave it a firm shake. “Agreed.”
The ughter of the two dwarves broke the tension that had been building in our group, though a great deal of confusion repced it. Brigga turned back to the others. “Bah, I’ll tall ya once we all sit down for lunch.”
Red smirked, stepping forward to give her wife a small kiss. “Warn me next time? I was worried I was going to have to cause an international incident by killing an Uvtrayl officer.”
“No need for that ma’am, just a bit of traditional inter-cn dwarven diplomacy in action.” The captain chuckled. “And with that over, I believe the general is going to show you the best pce to enjoy the view while I get the girl in the air.” He spoke the words as fact, but still turned to Henna with a questioning look. When she gave him a nod, her returned it. “General Devatius is well aware of the rules to follow onboard and I advise you to listen carefully to them all. Those regutions are written in blood. For every rule we follow, some poor bastard was injured or died to teach us the need for it. I’d rather the first guests of my ship not become harmed if it can be avoided, particurly such honored guests as I have received today.” He bowed to us, saluted Henna again, and then bid us enjoy the trip before leaving to return to the bridge.
“That was… intense?” Ollie managed to squeak out.
I stifled a ugh, covering the slight slip of it’s near escape by clearing my throat. “Henna, if you would?”
We were taken to the front, or bow as I was corrected by Ollie. She was easily the most excited to be here, her nervousness shattering once she was actually onboard and getting a good look around. We were lead to the foredeck where a rge empty area had been readied with a few rge, metal picnic benches. Or rather, mess tables, again, corrected by Ollie. They were strapped down to keep them from sliding across the deck, which I appreciated once we started to take off.
A warning horn sounded, the captain came over the speakers to order a brace for ascension, and Henna guided everyone into the superstructure to grab onto the railing within. Lifting off was smoother than I imagined, but not without bumps. I suppose when all you have to do is increase the power of floating rocks, it makes for somewhat less turbulence than jet or propeller based lift. But we all still wobbled on our feet a bit.
As we took to the skies, the world below growing more distant, I felt a tremble in my chest. I realized that Dani and Lietri both had at least one thing in common. They loved heights. As soon as we leveled off and got the okay to return to the deck, I couldn’t help myself. I rushed out, grinning like a child as I took in the incredible view over the railing.
Luvetra and Ollie were of the same mind, the three of us gasping and cheering at the sight of the nd a few hundred feet below. Most of my tribe was just as impressed with the view, though not quite so excited as we three were. Weren ughed nervously and refused to get close enough to the sides to grab the railing, but said she was very happy we were enjoying ourselves.
Azuriel however, slowly moved to the edge and peered over with a haunted look in her eyes. I stepped over to her and leaned in close enough to talk quietly. “Is something wrong?”
She hesitated, then shrugged, the whole time still just looking down. “It’s lovely.”
“But…?”
“But… I never expected to see anything like this. It is rare that celestials like me grow strong enough to gain wings. We simply accept our fate as the flightless as it has always been so. But then, I was chosen to leave the Pure Lands on a grand mission, given a chance to join the Choir. I would succeed, I would grow, I would fly.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll get out there soon enough to get you that level you need. I promise. Then, you get to practice flying and you can see things like this whenever you want.”
She sighed and hung her head. “It’s not just that, its…” I took her hand as she struggled to express herself.
“Fear. You’re both frustrated by not achieving that goal, and afraid of the vulnerability it gives you.” She nodded without looking at me, her shoulders drooping. “Fear is not weakness, it is an ally. The key is to listen to it without giving it control.” I reached over and gently turned her face towards my own. “Okay. Tomorrow. I’ll make sure that we head out tomorrow even if I have to pull Saint authority and give orders to some poor terrified guards.
She blushed softly, those blue lights shimmering through her skin as she gave me a small and thankful smile. “Thank you, Saint Dreamsinger.”
“My name is Esme, don’t you start bowing and scraping either.” I squeezed her shoulder as I sent her a smile in return.
“Lunch is on!” Wen called out cheerfully, I turned to see the tables had been readied for our flying picnic rather quickly.
We all took our seats and dug in, chatter springing up almost immediately. Ollie rambled on about airship designs and history, her mood only dipping momentarily when Henna informed her she wasn’t allowed in the engine room. Liru and Jaina started talking about Uvtrayl’s medical practices and how they compare to her healing magic and training for its use under Dekarru. Azuriel and Carmil’s conversation was about fishing, Azuriel having been teaching Carmil, who seemed to very much enjoy the passtime. I felt a spike of guilt that I hadn’t noticed this, the fact that I had been extremely busy recently was only a slight balm to that ache. But the way the two became more animated and cheerful as they talked certainly filled my chest with a welcome warmth.
After several minutes Tendri leaned against me, drawing my attention entirely to her. “How did you get us a picnic on an Uvtrayl military airship?”
Henna snorted from across the table. “By interrupting a very nice dream I was having, that’s how.”
I grinned. “You don’t seem so upset about it now.”
Her own grin met mine as she looked into my eyes. “Its an excuse to spend more time with you, I’m not going to compin about that.”
Tendri started to lean away, but I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “You are not unwelcome with me, with the others I love, with moments of affection to or from them. If you’re uncomfortable I understand, but know that you have just as much right to be with me as they do and I will not ignore you or see your affections or need for them yourself as anything but valid.”
She took a slow breath before nodding as her arms wrapped around my waist, her forehead resting against my shoulder. “This is just… new, nothing I ever thought I’d need to face.”
I kissed the top off her head softly. “I understand, and I am sorry if I kind of just… stampede over things. I know I tend to be extremely proactive and that can be rather overwhelming for some. I try and adjust for different people’s comfort zones, but frankly I think I’m scared of letting you go.”
She rested her head on my shoulder and tilted it to look up at me. “I guess we have that in common. I’m not saying I’m not okay with this whole, multiple partners thing. But I’m not saying I am okay with it either.”
Henna gave a small empathetic smile. “I understand that. I understand things from your perspective a lot in fact. I thought I saw her die more than a month ago and only found out she was alive just before we sent the envoy. Then I arrive and meet her tribe and find out about this life, this culture she’s a part of now and just…” She sighed and shook her head. “I decided that I’m happy that she’s happy. I’m happy to get some of that bottomless well of love she has and being jealous or upset that others get some of it too is just not worth it. Along with a healthy dose of the idea that my people’s culture and ways are not the only valid ones. Yes, monogamy is common and widely accepted as ‘normal’ in most cultures. But so is being straight. That doesn’t make not being straight wrong, thank the gods.”
“Agreed.” Dekarru raised her mug of tea towards the general and the picnic as a whole chuckled.
Tendri squeezed me tighter, then turned her face towards Henna. “So your lover just asked to borrow one of your nation’s warships and you said yes?”
“My lover, a Saint, who is bringing an end to a war, bringing needed gods to my people, helping us gain major allies, and who helped my best friend through shit she’s been fighting in her head for decades. She asked to have a picnic in the sky with her loved ones, how could I possibly say no? I do have pretty major authority over things here as a diplomat so it’s not like it was hard to approve. Also, the captain was eager to meet the new Saint so he agreed quickly.”
Brigga smirked “A Yntradam eager for new gods and happy ta serve, what the fek?” She shook her head and ughed.
“Okay,” I spoke up. “Expin, you said you would.”
The dwarven woman nodded and downed her drink. “Alright. So as most of you know, my cn, Agranbek, was extremely fekkin traditional. To the point that when the civil war broke out and they picked a side, they got sughtered by the other side using guns while we had gods damned spears and shields. Not even getting into their ideas about gender roles and shite. My point is, you all know I’m different, yeah? I’m all progressive and technologically competent.” She took a moment to down more tea once it was offered by Red. “Right well, we were on decent to good terms with all but one cn. Yntradam. Long story short they were merchants, but underhanded, sneaky, dishonest, and utterly fekkin ethically bankrupt. Like, rival business is doing really well then the owner dies from a mysterious sudden illness or accident, that kinda garbage. They have no concept of loyalty, duty, honor, just profit. When the civil war started, they were the first cn to die, even before us. They decided the stupidest and easiest to manipute prince should be on the throne and went to go kiss his ass, joined his side, and sent assassins after the four other heirs that bordered his territory. All four failed, and worse, were captured alive to talk. The other heirs all descended on their one brother and cn Yntradam at once and crushed them all in less than a month.
“So, I see a survivor of that cn who not only signed on with the military of their host nation, but is serving during an active war, and managed to do so well enough to make captain and get his own fekkin ship? He’s definitely like me, in that he’s not like his cn.” She raised her mug with a wide grin. “To those who grow beyond the paths others have made for them!”
We all raised out mugs to join the toast, Azuriel in particur looking appreciative of the sentiment. Her eyes shimmering with a soft blue glow and a smile pulling at her lips. I could still see hints of the fear and worry in her expression, but every day I saw more and more of something else.
Hope.
If there is one thing in the waking world that a goddess of dreams should stand for, it’s hope. I couldn’t help but feel a welling of satisfaction and pride, seeing the hope not just in the celestial’s face, but in everyone’s. There were threats on the horizon, yes. But we were going to face them, and we were going to not simply survive, but thrive. Because we all had hope.
