Dear Diary,

I hadn't really thought about the incidental weirdness of being a High Priestess before today.

So apparently my new brain is made of acetylcholine receptors. Dreamt all night again. Definitely not a nightmare, although the whole 'itchy North side of the hill' hit 'involuntary twitch' a couple times through the night. Realized that along with the lakeside with the psychedelic tadpoles doing the lambada with my bits, there's also a bit of water running underneath me. Not like, 'I'm soaked!', more like 'if I had pants on, that'd look really bad when I stood up'. The rocky outcrop I'd kind of leaned back against ran around to the North a little, so when the itchy bits hit annoying a second time I scratched myself across that a little. No more relief than you'd expect, because scratching doesn't remove itches most of the time, but it's just what you do when you itch. Eventually settled down and relaxed, enjoying the feel of the sandy soil near the shore, totally not focusing on the psychedelic tadpoles. Got just tired enough to fall asleep...

...and woke up to playful baby giggles and Isnomi's chubby little palms leaning on my eyes.

I mean, she wasn't trying to hurt me, but she hadn't really gotten the whole 'touch the floor without leaning on it' down yet.

So I rolled with her whole giggling thing, saying, "oh, no! Where's Isnomi?" in my best kid's show heroine voice.

She responded by whispering, "ah, na," then whipping her hands away from my eyes and shouting, "MA!" Somehow she'd managed to wriggle out of her diaper and get the damn thing on her head without unfolding it. Of course with her hands no longer bracing her, a second later she toppled forward, headbutting me right in the face. The bulky origami folding bore the brunt of the impact, but still a hell of a thing to wake up to.

Then realization hit me, and I scooped her up, grabbed a clean diaper, and whomped it on the desk with her atop it all in one sweeping maneuver. She looked a little put out by that, her lips puckering up and trembling like she'd start crying any second, so I sighed, sat down on the chair in front of her, one hand stroking the top of her diapered head while the other scooped the chamber pot out from under the desk. "It's okay, menace. Mommy's not mad at you. Not really. You just startled me a little. Mommy didn't hurt you, did she?" Her lip trembled a little more, she looked at her feet and her head shook the tiniest bit. "Did Mommy scare you?" That got her. The lip firmed up and she raised her head to look me in the eye, clearly pissed I'd even suggest she might be afraid. "There's my girl." I beamed at her, and she gave me a nod, nearly bobbling herself into a forward somersault when she did. "Did Mommy not watch your new trick?"

She waggled one hand at the bed. "Ma. Ma, ma. Mama!"

I rolled my eyes at her, shaking my head the slightest bit. "Just a minute, baby. Before anything else, babies wear diapers covering their crotch until they show us they're potty trained."

She pouted again, folding her little pudgy baby arms. When I reached for her improvised headgear, she slapped at my hands, so I backed away. "Okay then. You're still getting one on the messy end before you leave this desk though."

Itty bitty baby sigh, followed by her flopping backwards, giggling when her poofy helmet whumped onto the hard surface of the desk. Despite my worst fears, she showed no signs of having used her diaper before repositioning it. I lifted her back to a seated position, then looked her solemnly in the eye and said, "I promise, I'll put it back, I just need to check something." She gave me the stink eye the whole time, but sat there with her little chubby arms folded while I pulled her diaper-helmet off, let out a sigh when it showed no signs of use, then carefully put it back on her head, tightening up the folds a little as I did. That done, I scooped her up, walked back to the bed, set her beside me and whispered, "okay then menace, what did you want to show me?"

She giggled, then grapple-crawled her way around until she stood on my thighs, her back leaning against my tits. Wobbling like jello, she toddled forward, one foot on each of my thighs, her arms out to the sides waggling around for balance. I silently thanked duBois for weeks of 'hold still and be a good platform' training. She got almost to my knees, then threw her arms into the air and flopped backwards. The diaper really did help soak up the impact of her reverse-headbutt to my crotch, so I just smiled down at her as she giggled up at me. "What a clever little menace you are!"

She giggled again, squirming around until she knelt on my thighs facing me, her chubby little feet scrabbling for traction on my bare knees. Wobbling the whole time, she managed to push herself upright, standing there for a fraction of a second in with her arms in the air squeal-shouting, "da!" before toppling forward. Again, super glad of the extra padding at the front of the diaper-helmet as she once again headbutted me in the crotch.

Still, I didn't want to encourage that particular maneuver. She got just the tiniest bit bigger and more daring every day, and the last thing I needed was her figuring out how to get to the top of the armoire, loading herself into Vulcan, and launching herself headfirst at my lady-bits. I picked her up, my hands under her arms, made eye contact, and told her, "mommy's crotch is not open for baby business. Stop trying to headbutt your way in, you little scamp." As she started to pout, I crossed my eyes and wrinkled my nose, saying, "no. No matter how cute you are, the answer is still no."

At my acknowledgement of her cuteitude, she stopped pouting, but she flailed her chubby baby hands at my forearms, pushing them away. I looked at her and said, "no more crotch headbutts."

She just rolled her eyes at me. When I let her go, she giggled at me, started to tip forward, and before I could reach up to stop her, launched herself backward off my knees, her bat-slaying giggle-shriek filling the room. She went headfirst into the super fluffy floor, landing not so much in a 'somersault' as a 'tangled heap' with constant muffled maniacal baby-giggles emanating from it.

"Aw. So no little sister for our baby girl?" Saffron whispered into my ear as she draped herself over my back.

I leaned back into her just a little, enjoying the feel of her warm against my back. "Don't you remember Sister Siobhan's little health ed lesson?"

"Pfft. If Loki can mother a horse, I'm sure I can figure out a way to play the sire to your dam."

"GAH! No horse cock in my vagina! What is with you Aetos women trying to put things in there that don't belong?" I crossed my arms over my crotch, grabbing my opposite thighs to pull them shut. That got her. She tried to hold it in, but after a couple really interesting twitches, she toppled over sideways, absolutely laughing her ass off. Isnomi got back to the bed, crawling up the padded slope to slap her hands in front of her mom as she giggle-crowed, "ma! Ma! Bathppttt!"

I chuckled, then stood up and went to get dressed, watching as Saffron finally calmed down enough to get a good look at Isnomi's headgear. That set her off again, and Isnomi did another hands-in-the-air victory pose before tumbling backwards down the slope she'd climbed. By the time I finished getting dressed, the rugrat had clambered back up onto the bed and managed to finagle breakfast out of Saffron. I walked over and leaned in for a kiss. I intended a quick peck before I left, but she grabbed me by the collar and pulled me down for a nice, long, almost-sloppy kiss, which only ended when Isnomi came between us. Literally, as she pushed us away from each other and started 'fixing' my collar. Saffron reached around her, gently taking hold of her hands and wrists, guiding her to actually putting things Just So. Once they had everything back where and how it should be, they patted my jacket lapels and Saffron said, "have a nice day, love."

Before I could reply, Isnomi interrupted with a solemn, "ha ba da ma."

So cute, I couldn't even speak for a moment. I put my hands on Isnomi's shoulders and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, pushing the diaper helmet up out of the way for the moment, then did the same to Saffron. Except, y'know, without the pause to remove the diaper helmet, since I hadn't driven her quite that insane yet. "You two as well. Love you." With that I headed out for my day.

Nothing of note at meals today, although Raven actually bitched a bit about missing Isnomi. I replied with a cryptic, "wait until you meet Vulcan." She quietly stewed about that through the rest of breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Basic Mana Shaping continued to be mostly boring, although today we got to play with toys. Okay, 'Implements' created by 'Artifice'. We started with the nigh-ubiquitous pens, then some mirrors with built-in Status. One of the new Cadets asked about Inspect, but Doc told them in no uncertain terms, "we in Phileo do not create Implements with Inspect; if you have not learned Inspect at Phileo Heroic as a Hero, or in an advanced class on Mana Shaping at one of the Universities on the west bank of the Schuylkill, you have no business knowing Inspect, let alone Shaping it."

About an hour before lunch, a Senior Cadet came into the class and, after a brief quiet discussion with Doc Roberts, walked back to me. "You've got visitors."

I looked to Doc. "You okay with me dealing with this now?"

They shrugged, "you haven't had a problem activating Implements since our first day of class. I'm sure you'll be able to catch up quickly if they keep you through lunch."

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I smirked and replied, "hey, if they keep me through lunch, I might just wind up eating them instead."

As we left the classroom, the Senior Cadet, a young, vaguely soft looking woman whose nametag read 'Castro', glanced at me and said, "you might want to be a little less flippant with your visitors."

I may be stupid, but I'm not an idiot. Really. I can learn. "Who are they, anyway?"

"Some worshippers of Loki. They've brought an infant with them. They first asked for the High Priestess of Loki, but when I spoke with your wife about it, she sent me to you?"

I nodded. "If they're looking for healing, I guess?" When she nodded in turn, I said, "I'm better with Heal Injury than she is."

She escorted me the rest of the way to the Entrance in silence, turning into the Security / Guard office when we arrived. The Guards at the door waved me through. Outside, a small family had gathered at the top of the steps. Three kids in varying sizes between 'just past toddler' to 'might be ready for High School' stood around, while a middle aged guy knelt on the stone behind two women who sat on the top step. The older, graying one had her arms around the younger one, who held a bundle in her arms.

When the kids saw me come out of the Academy and start toward them, they poked at the guy, who turned his head, then shuffled around so that when I arrived in front of him, he knelt in front of me. I watched his face as he tried to remain stoic, but after a moment he crumpled to the ground, hiding his tears by groveling, begging, "please, High Priestess."

I looked down at the back of his head, deeply disturbed by his worshipful attitude as I watched a single runnel of tears leak toward the top step from beneath his face. I squatted down on my heels, laying a hand on his shoulder as I said, "I'm here. What do you need?"

At the touch of my hand, he jerked like he'd touched a live wire, trying to push himself further into the stone as he recoiled without moving away from me. At that point I realized the younger woman had done exactly as he had, crawling up to prostate herself with her head about level with his chest, maybe a foot further from me. The kids, looking nearly as uncomfortable as I felt, started to copy their parents, but I waved my other hand at them and said, "Go play, kids." Thinking about my own little menace, I nodded to the park at the bottom of the steps and amended, "go play in the park there, but don't go out of sight, and come back when your parents call for you." They didn't even glance at the pair face down on the stone; they bolted. When I looked back to the prostrate couple the older woman had shuffled forward on her knees, holding a tiny bundle out to me.

"We cannot return her to Diana. When Joseph took Loki as his Patron after you healed him, her Priestesses declared us anathema." She bowed her head as she stretched to hold the bundle in her hands close enough for me to reach easily. "Please. Take what sacrifice you must, but please..."

I reached out with both hands and took the bundle from her hands. So tiny. I folded the fabric back. So pale. The baby within couldn't be more than a week old, and probably premature at that. Not so much that she'd have been in danger at a decent hospital with competent doctors.

The older woman had hit the pavement after I took the little girl, and now the dad pushed himself up just far enough to see the toes of my boots. "Please. Don't let her wander?"

I finally realized what they wanted. They hadn't come expecting healing. Just a proper fuckin' burial. Some part of me wondered how many tiny bundles they'd brought to the Temple of the Moon in the past. Without my conscious volition, Assess Health burned out of my cheek. Shock and hope raced through me when I saw Pesce's General Health listed as 'Critical'. Then it flickered.

Something in me snapped. I didn't think. I just did.

"No."

I swear I didn't shout, but the word echoed through the suddenly silent, dark, utterly still space around the steps. I looked down on the tiny child frozen in front of me, her soul frozen in the act of fluttering free of her tiny, failing mortal form.

Maybe I couldn't fix the whole fuckin' world myself. I couldn't save every kid who should have grown up to have a life, but instead, because of some fucked up cosmological fuckery, was doomed to die before they even got a goddamned name.

But this? Here? In front of me?

This would not fucking stand.

I looked down at her, trying to think of something to do. There was no Injury to Heal. You don't get much more Stable than Dead, and I didn't think the little one's body would survive the shock in any case. Maybe she'd gotten sick. Maybe she'd starved; her mom looked way fuckin' thin under her shapeless clothes. Maybe she'd just fuckin' died because she had the bad luck to have poor fuckin' parents in the shithole of a world I'd wound up in.

The more my thoughts raced in an echoing death spiral, the angrier I got. Whatever had snapped earlier reared up, echoes of my fury painting the wireframe world with splashes of every color of the rainbow all at once, ripples of my rage making the wires of the world vibrate. Again, I stopped thinking and just did.

"Live."

Color, motion, and sound raced back into the world. The pink skin of a newborn. The curl of limbs into fetal position in the sudden cold wind. The scream of an infant.

I recognized that last one from my time with Isnomi. I shifted the little one to the crook of my right elbow, reached down with my left hand, and lifted Mama Pesce by her shoulder. She straightened, fear and wonder warring in her eyes, hope hiding lest it be squashed like it always was. Her eyes locked onto the squalling bundle in my hand, but she didn't so much as move other than how I'd moved her. "Hold my arm," I told her, and she obeyed without thinking, her thin hands gripping my forearm. "Hold on tight, this might sting." Her tendons stood out more, but if her grip got stronger, I couldn't feel it. I lifted my hand clear of her shoulder, whipped my fingers through the requisite cat's cradle, then poured Mana into the Shape until white filled the air as much as darkness had earlier. For a moment I saw the world in reverse wireframe, and then I brought my hand down.

The woman froze, spasming for an endless moment until she collapsed to the stone. Her hair, formerly lank and thinning, had already regained the luster you'd expect from the twenty something she looked like. As I watched her hands filled out from malnourished claws to actual fingers. I rolled her over, pulled her shirt down just enough to expose a breast expanding fast enough it surprised me the pain hadn't woken her already, and plonked baby Pesce down on a tit. I nudged grandma Pesce with my other hand and said, "Watch them." When she scrambled to a spot where she could keep mama and baby from an inadvertent tumble down the Academy steps, I grabbed Joseph by the shoulder and lifted him bodily to his feet as I stood.

"Why hasn't she been eating?"

The suddenness of the question goaded him into answering, "The river here, the fish, they aren't good for eating. We'd sail to the coast and return with a catch, but the boat needs repairs, and the money you gave us..."

"Just tell me. Now."

"My brother Marcus decided the luck of Loki would save us. He gambled it away. Besides..."

I shook his shoulder. "Besides what?"

"The High Priestesses of Diana, they hold sway with the fishmongers. They would not buy our last catch."

"Right." I growled, then grabbed his upper arm and towed him toward the doors, shooting a quick, "we'll be back in a moment," over my shoulder.

As we walked, I muttered, "Clever is good. Loki likes clever. Hard work is never bad, even if he might be a little allergic." I met Joseph's eyes and my voice came out flat when I said, "fuck luck."

His head nodded like a bobblehead as I pulled him through the doors, around the corner, and knocked on the Headmaster's door. At his muffled, "come in," I pushed the door open and stepped inside. He watched me walk in and, once I'd closed the door, asked, "did you need something, Cadet Diaz?"

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt your day, but how do I arrange for the Academy to buy Joseph's catch?"

Without a pause Headmaster Miles asked, "a few more details please, Cadet?"

At his 'please', tension I hadn't known I was carrying drained away, since he wouldn't bother with politeness if I'd asked something so outlandish it offended him. "Joseph here's a fisherman. He's having some problems with the local fishmongers, an economic continuation of the Holy War that was declared over a few weeks ago. What can I do to arrange it so the Academy buys his fish?"

"You can do nothing but ask those whose responsibility it is to see to the feeding of our Cadets to see if there is room in the Academy budget for," he paused and turned to Joseph, "how much fish, how often?"

Joseph might have been scared shitless as a poor as shit working dude talking to a goddamned Councilman, but like most folks who worked their ass off every day, he knew his job. "With good weather and good fishing, we can bring five tons three times a week. Once a week if the weather and fishing aren't good."

Headmaster Miles looked at the ceiling for a moment. "The Academy will pay half of what the fishmongers charge for fish. If the fish is spoilt or otherwise inedible, one tenth of half."

The moment the Headmaster stopped speaking, Joseph said, "done," spat on his left hand, and held it out to the Headmaster.

For his part, the Headmaster raised an eyebrow at me, but spat in his hand, reached out, and shook Joseph's hand. Before he released the fisherman, the Headmaster said, "I'll have an official contract drawn up for you to sign."

Joseph nodded, "I'll bring my brother Marcus." He looked to me, half apologetically, and said, "he's the one of us with the schooling."

I nodded, "just don't let his dumb ass near the money again."

He laughed. "I may not have gone to school, but I'm not dumb... enough to let him near money... again."

The Headmaster read the right things into Joseph's pauses and laughed as he released his hand. "See that you don't."

With that, he motioned us out, and we left. After I closed the office door, Joseph quietly said, "about our repairs?"

I turned to him, standing close enough to hide my hands. "Can you and yours do the work?" When he nodded, I reached into my pocket with my purse and pulled out a fistful of coins, pressing them into his hands. "Will this cover your supplies?"

He glanced down, then back up at me, nodding again. "We will pay you back when we bring in our first catch."

I shook my head. "No. You pay it forward, to others getting fucked over by the fuckers down at the temples."

A satisfied smile stretched lips unaccustomed to smiling as Joseph nodded again. "Yes. We can do that."

I escorted him out the door only to find his kids crowded around their mom and little sister, each trying to outdo the others in getting the baby's attention. When Mom saw me come out, she leapt to her feet and ran over to me, holding her out again. "Priestess. Please. What should we name her?"

I choked down my instinctive response of 'how the fuck should I know', not to mention 'don't fuckin' ask me', and 'fuck is wrong with you'. A moment's thought and my mom's face floated before me, and when I thought about her name another face, way more fanged and feral, but no less maternal, floated behind and beneath it. "Marie."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

Grandma tried to pull the family down to do the whole bow and scrape thing again, but I pulled her up and into a hug. I whispered to her, "watch over them. Come to me if they need us." She stumbled away, her eyes wide, her head nodding. I waved to the family, said, "it's been nice, but I've got to get back to class. Unless you needed something else?" With a lot of spluttered denials and repeated farewells, they turned and hustled each other down the steps. I turned and headed back to class, only to get caught halfway there by the flow of Cadets heading to lunch.

Weird day all around.

Didn't get any less weird at all when I got back to the room to find Saffron and Isnomi with diaper helmets on their heads, headbutting each other and then falling over laughing like maniacs.