He looked around the shop and sighed in satisfaction, today had been a good day, they had sold fifteen items, which didn't sound like a lot but when you consider the price of the items and the rarity of them and also the customers, and well 15 was a rather busy day…

He looked at the items that lined the shop’s shelving and wondered if his dad would have been proud of all the fine things they had in the shop now.  Each one of them holding a multitude of stories they had collected throughout the years.  It was decidedly different from how his father had run the shop that much there was no denying, but given the circumstances he still thought his father would have been at home here, very at home, even if there customers included Centaurs and the likes.

Oh well there was no way to know so there was no point in dwelling on it.  The clock had about 20 minutes left in the work day, and he really was looking forward to shutting the store down, what they had planned for the rest of the day was anyone’s guess but it would be something they could talk about and consider once that door was shut and locked.  Leaning on the counter he looked over at Nix, who was at this moment helping Amani dust off busts and other statutory down one isle.  He almost laughed when he saw her grumpy face, it had to be hard for her, being demoted from goddess to duster so quickly.

Hopefully she made the transition quickly, that way she could get her powers and divinity back sooner.

He heard the telltale sound of the door’s bell chime as a person walked in and the opening door brushed past the low tech intruder alert.  Looking over he was surprised to see not one but two people walking through the door, and one of them was recognizable right away.

It was Abyzou’s mother, Aryo.

As she walked through the door the human legs she had been standing on shimmered and seemed to melt away, revealing her long golden snake tail that stretched out behind her. When she walked with her human legs she bounced, slightly too high for the walk to look natural, perhaps that was because she was used to the smoothness of gliding on the floor.  

Behind her was another Lamia, this one was a weathered and older woman, who’s now dull scales might have shined a bright ruby red at some point in time, but now had lost their luster.  This older woman followed directly behind Aryo and carried with her a stack of papers and the like, and what looked to be a few dusty old tomes.

“Go get my daughter.”  Aryo said, causing everyone to freeze in the store, Nix still had her arm up, duster at the ready just about to tickle the face of a particularly stern looking statue. Amani who had been carrying a box set it down, and even Sara who was using her laptop to write something for her classes or what not looked up.

Both Abyzou and Bastet walked around the corner of a bookshelf containing many tomes bound in leather and other materials.

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“No need mother I am right here.”  she said as she came out towards the counter where her mother had positioned herself. “What is it that you want?”  she asked, there was a decidedly cold look on her face, it would seen that while he and Amani had let off some steam her talk with her mother had not gone well.

Her mother reached around behind her and removed a stack of paper from the pile the elderly Lamia carried and placed it on the desk. “I assume you know what these are?” Aby picked up a paper and her face twisted in disgust.

“Why would you bring these here mother?”  she asked, her voice colored with rage.

“These are the documentation of your marriage to Maahes.”  her mother said. “A marriage that has not been broken, yet you now claim to be this,”  she looked over at Dan with angry eyes “Thing’s wife. You have no right to claim this, it dishonors our code and I am here to take you back to the village to be disciplined.”  

Dan’s eyes narrowed dangerously he was about to speak when Bastet spoke up. “How can you expect her to be married to a dead man?”  she hissed, her calico ears laying down on top of her head.

“Dead?”  Aryo looked at her with wide eyes. “You must be mistaken we have no record of him dying, and as a fairly prominent lesser god...”

“He is dead mother.” Abyzou said, looking her mother in the eyes. “I know, because I killed him.”  No one besides Nix, the elderly lamia and Aryo showed any surprise to this, they all already knew this.

“You-”  her mother was flabbergasted, before turning in a rage at Dan “What kind of monster have you turned my daughter into?!?”

“Dan had nothing to do with it, ” Abyzou said softly. “He hadn't even been born when this was done, in fact it was several thousands of years before he was alive, how then can you blame him?”  she spoke softly, but each word felt like a knife to the heart of Aryo. “he cheated on me mother.”  she looked up at her mother.”Lamia mate for life,”  she said simply. “We choose one mate until we die, but it is not unheard of for a widowed lamia to choose another husband is it?”

“Madam Aryo,”  the elderly woman handed the shocked mother a piece of paper. “My instructions were clear, and I will go about them, this changes nothing, the vote was cast.”  Aryp however said nothing, she was too far gone with all the shock… “Lady Abyzou, you are hereby removed from Lamian history and tradition, any offspring you have or shall have will be rejected, as will you from all of our holdings and resources.  You are banished.”   she took a sheet of paper, depicting what looked like a genealogy and ripped it in half.

Abyzou smiled sadly. “I figured this would happen.”  she nodded, “I guess it is a good thing then that I was cursed to never have children right?”  she smiled as bravely as she could, but Dan knew it was hollow, something in her had just died, just been cut away.

It was her last little bit of hope she had for ever getting the family she really wanted.

“Anyone who challenges this must speak up now.”  the elder Lamia said.

“I challenge.”  Dan growled.  He would be damned if he was going to let them tear Aby’s hope away from her like that.

“Dan it's fine,”  she said softly, “I can't have children anyway, and everyone here is my family now.”  he could hear the defeat in her voice, and it made a fire burn in his eyes. “Besides, this is likely a trap, they couldn't get you through Nix, so they are attempting to goad you into the trial of the serpent through me...”

“It doesn't matter.”  he growled, “if they think they can hurt those I love they will come to regret it.  I challenge.”  he repeated.

“Are you sure?”  the elderly lamia asked.  “Only one challenger can go with Abyzou down this path...”

“Do I need to repeat myself for a third time?”  he growled, there were streaks of gold in those blue eyes of his.

“So be it.”  she smiled slyly...