“And what of this one, her majesty? Does this one bring pleasure?”
Olive’s been showing me all sorts of overly fancy robes all morning. Not that anyone can tell it’s actually morning, considering the constant darkness.
I sigh a cloud of ash, which she frantically tries to whisk from the air with her tails before it can mar the ridiculously long clothing rack’s contents.
“No. These all belonged to Astraea?”
The fox spirit tuts. “All of this plane belongs to her majesty. Such a simple trifle as clothing is of no importance.”
“Then why are you trying so hard to get me to wear something from here? Just give me back my robes.”
Yeah, she confiscated them at some point during the night. How did she get them from my dimensional storage? No really, I want to know, but when I asked her she just talked in circles about how she can do a great many things because of being close with ‘her majesty’.
It raises a great deal of other questions though, like whether I was supposed to notice her approach for her ‘night service’ visit, and how many other times she was in the room without me noticing.
Whatever I guess. I’m sure I’ll figure it out at some point, with or without her cryptic help.
She finally offers something that’s at least close to my old robes, but it still has an air of over importance.
But it’s not the same. And I’m losing my patience.
“You will return what you have taken,” I say as I squeeze our bond, wrapping my will around it like a thousand feelers.
And she moans in a way that makes my nearby consort blush.
Wonderful.
If nothing else though, pressuring my bond with the irritating fox spirit makes it clear that I’ve got the same level of control with her as I do with the other three.
So I pull up her Status.
[Status]
[Name: Olive]
[Race: Lunar Daemon – High Priestess of Night – System Assistant Emeritus]
[Mantle of (Domain: The Moon)]
[Domain: Night]
[SYSTEM: None]
[Inherent Skills:]
[Evoke Illusion]
[Manifest Self]
[Mist Form]
[Class: None]
[General Skills:]
[Dimensional Storage MAX]
[Identify MAX]
[Misdirect MAX]
[Stealth MAX]
[Language]
[Divine Universal]
[Spirit Tongue]
[Traits:]
[Blessed of Night]
[Blessed of The Moon]
[Fickle Tongue]
[Soul Link (Nemesis, Permanent)]
[The Moon Sees All]
[Titles:]
[Goddess Emeritus (The Moon)]
[Handmaiden to the Queen]
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
[Queen’s Consort]
[Queen’s Spymaster]
[System Assistant Emeritus]
…
“Wait, you have a Mantle!?” I exclaim. “What the hells even is your status?”
Ha ha ha. I think this weirdo might actually be a threat to me.
“This one is not a threat! This one serves!” she trills while continuing to squirm and make uncomfortable sounds.
…
Hey Nyx, I think you have company now.
(You mean in reading your thoughts? Well duh. She’s been listening in since you established that bond. Or, well, re-established it I guess.)
Great.
I release the pressure suddenly and the fox spirit collapses panting to the ground.
“Return my robes,” I say again, low and dangerous.
Olive rolls her eyes up to meet mine, but otherwise doesn’t move. “Her majesty need only take them herself.”
…
Manifesting dozens of non-metaphorical feelers, I snatch her from the ground and wrap them around her limbs, stretching them outwards before probing her clothing for where she could be hiding my robes.
(Uhhh...)
What!?
(That’s definitely not what she meant. But hey, I guess at least she’s enjoying it.)
And the feeling simmering through our bond seems to confirm it. I recognize it too – the same thing I’ve felt from Izahne periodically over the past few months.
Lust.
I rub the bridge of my nose.
Then what the hell did she mean, and could you please be less cryptic than her?
What the hells? Nyx, that made no sense!
(That... wasn’t me.)
I look up to meet Olive’s eyes as she remains suspended in the air.
And then I feel a tug at the hem of my pajamas.
“...Nemesis?” my consort asks quietly.
I glance toward her before answering, “What is it?”
She takes a step forward and gives the fox spirit a dubious look. “I think she was trying to tell you to do something else...”
I sigh. “Yes, Nyx already said that. I haven’t figured out what she’s getting at though, and then Olive decided it would be helpful to talk in my head the way Nyx always does, and she made no sense! Like, even less sense than she usually does!’
“She can talk in your head?”
“Yes, yes. They can both talk in my head. It probably has something to do with the ‘System Assistant Emeritus’ title, Nyx could before but she still can now,” I say impatiently.
“You can see their titles too?” she asks a little bit quieter as she turns back toward me.
I nod. “Their entire Statuses, just like yours and Omorth’s.”
Her eyes widen a bit and I feel unexpected hurt flicker through our bond.
“Wait, did you think you were the only one I had that kind of link with? When I changed Omorth, we just had one already, and I just had to poke Nyx with my will and so did we. When I gave Olive a name, I apparently reclaimed her or something? So yes, I have four weird spirit link bond things in my head now, plus the one linked to master.”
Olive was grinning more and more gleefully observing our exchange until the last comment. “Master? Her majesty needs no master. Her majesty is the master of all she sees!” she snaps in a low voice, baring her teeth.
“Yeah, so about that,” I begin, “a lot of things happened when I was weaker. I’m still under that king rabbit’s thumb.”
…
“Although... Why am I not being punished for calling him king rabbit or whatever? Hmmmm he’s a white fluffy bun bun, small and furry and pushy and self-important and – yeah, nothing’s happening. He wouldn’t even let me say that stuff before!”
This makes no sense!
The fox spirit looks kind of dumbfounded now though. Eh, whatever.
“What were you saying before?” I ask my now-distracted consort.
Or, from Olive’s Status, uhhhh my first consort? New consort? New old consort?
I have no idea.
“W-well,” she says shakily, “I think she was suggesting you could just, take it from her dimensional storage, I think?”
…
There’s no way it’s that easy.
There’s no way I can just do that.
…
…
I press my will through Olive’s bond and sure enough, I can pull my robes from her dimensional storage as easily as if it was in my own.
Now I need to find a way to do that without her moaning in the process.
***
Despite my apparent handmaiden’s protests, I’m sitting in the house with my party. She’d really wanted me to call them into the temple for an audience instead but that sounded like a waste of time since they were already here.
How did I know they were already here? I’d had Omorth stationed in the house as a guard, and when I mentally asked him if the others were awake, he radiated a feeling of confirmation through our bond.
So, I’ve taken my usual place and so have my two death knights. Omorth stood when I entered the building and didn’t retake his seat until I’d sat first, and while it was definitely annoying, it somehow felt satisfying as well.
Probably Astraea’s soul again. Whatever. This is just a thing I have to live with I guess.
Olive looks to be satisfied simply standing by the wall near the door with her eyes closed and a small smile on her face.
“So,” I say, breaking the silence, “what’s the plan now? Find more landmarks? Maybe find some other random ancient that Astraea orphaned?”
Pearl grimaces, but at least Abaris answers. “We should reassess our potential. It is safe to say that our capabilities are different now, yes?” he says and gestures toward my handmaiden.
Aha! I’ve got it! I’ll call Izahne ‘my wife!’
I feel the fox spirit flinch through our bond. Which is fine; she isn’t my wife.
…
…
Abaris is just staring at me.
“What?” I ask.
He sighs, causing all four of my bonds to bristle. “What are Olive’s capabilities? Can she get us inside that city?”
“Oh calm down,” I say to no one in particular. “Probably. Olive?”
In a flicker of blue light, the fox spirit appears in front of me, already kneeling. “This one serves.”
…
Wasn’t there a low table there? Where did it go?
(Probably into her dimensional storage,) Nyx offers.
“We want to enter the large city a couple hours from here. Can you get us inside without having to fight all the big stone things in it?”
She bows even lower. “Her majesty’s will is trivial for this one... or so this one would say.”
“...Would say?” I ask. “Elaborate.”
“Her mistress did bid this one stay and maintain the manor. Her mistress’ seat of power is maintained by another,” she answers, beginning to quiver and radiating fear.
I sigh. “Stop. I’m not going to kill you because you said you’re not supposed to. It’s simple. Your new orders are to accompany me. Understood?”
The fox spirit immediately calms. “This one serves.”
“So, capabilities. How would you get us inside? Can you just turn off the big stone things?”
“This one cannot. The stone guardians are under the command of the one who maintains her mistress’ seat of power.”
Great.
“Then how would you get us inside?” I probe flatly.
Olive just smiles.
And then the walls around us are replaced by a large stone hallway, every inch of which is covered in carved patterns. The ground is covered by a dark blue carpet, leading toward a closed door at the end.