Thea

“How many glasses?” the overdressed human asked as he sat the bottle down in front of me. I was in a bar somewhere on Paradise. I think Ithnaa told me the name at some point, but I didn’t bother to remember it.

“A glass would only get in my way.” I grabbed the whiskey off the bar and replaced it with something that looked expensive from my ring. The bartender shouted something at me, but I ignored him as I walked away.

This place was pretty busy for the middle of the day, which meant I had to push past a crowd to get back to the corner booth where Ithnaa was sitting. I dropped into the seat beside her and pulled the cork so I could finally take a drink.

“Seriously? We’re in the middle of something here.” I held up a finger as I finished half the bottle, then I offered her the rest. She pushed it away and went back to staring at the curtained off booth surrounded by guards on the other side of the room. “This might end in a fight. We should keep our heads clear.”

“You don’t want my head clear right now. Trust me,” I muttered, and was thankful when Ithnaa pretended not to hear me. “Hey, uh, could you check the thing again?”

“It’s too risky while we’re away from the wards on the ship. I’ll do it when we get back.”

“Right. What was I thinking?” I sighed before taking another drink from my whiskey. “Do you think Aoyama was right? Can Mother really bring Bryce back?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted after way too long of a pause. “Tess is frighteningly powerful, but she has a strict set of rules that she follows, and Mother doesn’t. Even still, it doesn’t seem likely, but underestimating her right now feels like the absolute worst thing we could do.”

“Ithy, I don’t even know what I want to believe anymore.” I collapsed onto the table and looked up at the djinn with pleading eyes. “I want Bryce back, but I obviously don’t want Mother to have her. Plus, she made her choice, and she chose Tess’s afterlife. Mother doesn’t have the right to take that away from her.”

She stared back at me in confusion. “Ithy?”

“That was your takeaway?” I switched my pleading look to a glare. “Come on, I’m obviously hurting here.”

“Right, sorry.” She reached out to awkwardly rub my back. “You have to know Bryce only chose to go to Tess’s afterlife because she knew we’d come after her otherwise, and she wanted to keep you safe.”

“What? Of course I know that.” I turned my head to look away. “Hey, wasn’t there supposed to be guards over there?”

“Damnit,” Ithnaa cursed as she looked back towards the curtained off area. “Thea, are you good? I need you here right now.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I sat up in the booth and let out a heavy sigh. “Alright, let’s do this.”

She gave me a concerned look before nodding reluctantly. “Okay. Here we go.”

She placed a hand on my shoulder and the two of us appeared, sitting in a different booth across from a very surprised human woman. ‘Captain’ Nora was… smaller than I expected. Not that she was actually small, I just expected her to be bigger from everything we'd heard about her. The short-haired blonde was maybe a little taller than Softie, not particularly muscular, and once the surprise wore off, very angry.

“What is this? Who are you?”

“Hello, Nora. I’m surprised you don’t recognize us,” Ithnaa sneered at the woman. “You’d think after taking credit for our kill, you’d at least have the common courtesy of knowing our names.”

Recognition flashed in her eyes, and she leaned back into the booth with a smile. “Ah, you must be Sora.”

“No, that would be me.” Softie appeared beside her with a knife to her throat.

“Alright, now, you have my attention.”

“Good, I’ll make it simple so that even you can understand.” Ithnaa leaned forward with a predatory grin. “Captain Aoyama is going to call a council meeting tomorrow night, and when she does, you’re going to explain to them that you weren’t the one who killed Captain Leo. Then you’re going to give up your claim to his seat.”

“And why would I do that?” Nora smirked at her.

“Uh, maybe because I have a dagger to your throat?” Softie asked in disbelief.

“I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm sitting in the middle of a bar with only a pair of guards. Do you see any of the other captains doing that? Do you think maybe there's a reason that I can, and they can't?” She easily pushed Softie’s wrist away before continuing. “I have a thirty kiloton bomb attached to my heart. If you kill me, then it’ll take out half the sector. You included.”

Softie looked at me in shock and I just shrugged to let them know she wasn’t lying. “That would have been nice to know about before we planned this.”

“So, what’s your play now?” Nora ignored them as she reclined with her hands behind her head and grinned at us. “You better make your next move a good one, because I won't give you another.”

“Nothing has changed,” Ithnaa stated with all the confidence that I didn’t feel. “Either you tell them the truth or we kill you and I use the seat you stole to get the message out myself.”

“Alright, go ahead.” She lifted her chin, exposing her throat, before laughing. “Well, if none of you are going to kill me, then get the fuck out of–—”

She disappeared mid-sentence along with Ithnaa, and Softie looked over towards me. “Trust me, it’s better if you don’t ask.” They cringed as they realized something else. “Also, do us all a favor and don’t tell Sami. She got a bit worked up when Ithnaa did this to Anali.”

“I won’t bring it up, but I’m also not going to lie to her.” I reached forward to grab an expensive looking green bottle off the table and filled a couple of shots before pushing one across the table to Softie. They held it up before downing it and I did the same.

“Was that orcish tequila? It’s been awhile.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Don’t know. Didn’t read the bottle.” I poured myself another shot, emptied it, and reached over to pour one for them.

“Thea, that’s what I appreciate about you. Honesty and tequila.” They laughed as they drained their shot, and I smiled as I did the same.

I took a drink directly from the bottle this time. “That's me. A lie detector that runs on alcohol. That's all I'm good for these days.”

“Not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s still true. I’m useless without Bryce,” I pointed out the obvious then drank more of the tequila.

“Nuh-uh, none of that. You’re not allowed to call my friend useless.”

“That’s easy for you to say, Mx. Double Paladin. Whatever the fuck that means. Did you ever figure that out?”

They scoffed. “Hardly. As best I can tell, it’s just more mana and more righteous anger about whatever random shit Kai doesn’t like on a given day.”

“Ash handled all of dad’s paladins. Maybe she could help you figure it out.”

“Thanks, but I think I’m perfectly happy with my current tutor.” They winked at me and I sat up straighter.

“Wait, you never said that Zesh’s paladin was hot.”

“Well, he very much is, and Ithnaa has been plotting for a way to get him into her harem. Which means I’d get to play with him too.”

“Does that mean you two finally figured out the rules for your relationship?” I raised an eyebrow at them, and they shrugged.

“There have always been rules, just no labels.”

“But now it sounds like there might be a label?” I asked, maybe a little hopefully.

“No labels, but maybe different rules.” They gave me a coy smile, which definitely piqued my interest.

“Good rules or…?”

“Thea, why don’t you just ask what you want to know, and hand me that bottle while you’re at it.”

I passed over the tequila with a huge grin. “Are you two dating?”

“I already told you there are no labels.” They took a drink, and I rolled my eyes at them.

“You know what I mean. Are you two, like, long-term? Are we going to have a bunch of little fox babies running around?”

They nearly did a spit-take, and I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Absolutely not. No kids. Not ever.”

“Come on! You’re so good with Sami, and I bet Ithnaa would make a hilarious mother.”

“Sami isn’t my daughter, and as fun as it would be to watch Ithnaa struggle with motherhood, I don’t think she’s interested. I’m sure as the hells not.”

“I’m just saying, you two would make cute moms.”

They gave me an exasperated look, before their face seemed to soften and they handed me back the tequila. “You and Bryce weren’t planning on having kids, were you?”

I shrugged as I drank more of the tequila. “We talked about it. She said maybe in a thousand years, and I joked that it was a promise.”

“It wasn’t a joke, was it?” they asked, and I shook my head.

“Not to me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I'm the one who brought it up, anyway.” I waved them off with the bottle before taking another drink. “Besides, you never answered my question. Are you two committing to the whole long-term thing?”

“Committing is a strong word.”

“Buuuut…” I fluttered my eyelashes at them as I drew out the word.

“But, we're trying something a little more formal.” I was about to squeal when they held up a finger to me. “Still no labels, and absolutely no kids. So, don’t get your hopes too high.”

“Hey, I’m just happy you found someone who makes you happy.”

“Thanks, and yeah, even with everything else that’s going on right now, I’m happy.”

“Good. You deserve it.” I took another drink before offering them the bottle. They took it, but Ithnaa reappeared before they could bring it to their lips.

“Aren’t you, uh, missing somebody?” I asked.

She shook her head before taking the bottle from Softie. “I think our ‘captain’ friend needs some time alone to think. Sora, how long until the guards become a problem?”

“I’d guess ten, maybe fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll go get her in five then.” She finally took a drink and handed the bottle back to Softie. “You know she’s like eighty percent bio-modded? Easily weighs over half a ton.”

“Damn,” Softie cursed. “She hides it well.”

“Yeah, I didn’t even know until after she laid me out. I had to rip off one of her arms just to get her to stop and have a conversation with me.”

“I mean, her having a bomb in her chest was probably the first sign,” I pointed out, which made Ithnaa chuckle.

“Fair point.”

“If she doesn’t cooperate, then what do we do?”

“We kill her, and take her seat on the council,” Softie explained, and Ithnaa agreed.

“Captain Aoyama’s plan is cleaner, but only if Nora cooperates. Otherwise, we’ll have to join the council and ‘convince’ the other captains ourselves.”

“I mean, that sounds like more fun to me.”

“Maybe,” she chuckled. “But that would give Mother more time to figure out where we are. Honestly, it’s not much of a leap to track us back to Paradise, and once she does, it’s just a matter of her getting here. Which isn’t going to take her long.”

Softie gave me an apologetic frown. “As much as I hate to admit it, her being preoccupied with trying to resurrect Bryce might actually work in our favor. At least, time wise.”

“Uh, actually, Ithnaa. If we have a few minutes, would you mind jumping back to the ship and checking the thing real quick?”

“What thing?” Softie asked.

“I had Bryce swallow one of my tokens before I teleported you away. I’ve been periodically checking to see if Mother has made any progress in resurrecting Bryce ever since Aoyama brought up the idea.”

“Well, has she?”

“So far, no. But it’s at least a way to keep tabs on her, and yeah, Thea, I don’t mind doing it. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared, and Softie gave me a concerned look.

“I’m sorry, Thea. This must put you in an impossible position. I can’t even imagine what I’d do if it were Sami.”

“Probably the same thing we’re doing now. I mean, we don’t really have a choice here, do we? It’s just wait and see.”

Softie seemed like they were about to say something when Ithnaa reappeared, looking obviously concerned.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, maybe a little too loudly, considering where we were and what we were doing.

“Sora, wait here, please. I’m going to take Thea back to the ship.” She grabbed my hand and teleported us to the living area before anyone could even respond. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to risk you reacting in the middle of the bar.”

“Just tell me what happened.” I braced myself as I stared into her eyes.

“I can’t feel the token anymore,” she said, before quickly explaining before I could ask any questions. “Which could mean any number of things. Mother could have found a way to ward against it, or maybe she found the token and destroyed it. Hells, she could have even just moved Bryce to another plane. There’s no way for us to know right now.”

I tried to process what she was saying as a feeling of dread crept over me. “Mother didn’t find your token, did she?”

“Probably not. Bryce taught me a concealment spell that makes them pretty much undetectable.”

“So, if it’s destroyed, then that means…”

“If it’s destroyed, then it probably means Mother gave up on trying to resurrect Bryce and destroyed her body.”

“Then it’s over… she’s gone.”

“Thea, we don’t know that, not for sure. Not yet.”

“You should probably get back to Softie. They’re all by themself right now.”

“Thea…”

“I’m fine. I just want to be alone for a little while. I’ll have dinner ready by the time you get back, I promise.” I don’t know if she believed my lies, but she did eventually nod and teleport away. Once she did, I moved back to the couch that had become my bed and pulled the blanket over myself.