The sun was shining down over the plains and all that filled the air of the city of Bryndon was the giggling and laughing of Children, as well as the playful noises of animals, filled the air.

She let her eyes close behind her helmet, resting if only briefly as she soaked in that atmosphere like a warm sudsy bath for the soul.

The Prophetess was not a normal person.

She was not sure when she had stopped being a normal person, sometime between when she had got her mission from God, but before she had won the war and broke the back of the necromantic cabals at the battle of Hertan.

She ought to take her new brats to see the battlefield, it wasn't that far from here, and they'd probably enjoy the history, or Abbott would, at least. He seemed to have an innate curiosity for that sort of thing.

She smiled as she watched him pet a Rock-Hippopotamus, the enormous creature pressing itself against the bars of its cage to give him better access to pet its nose.

He was a real Cherub… by the time he had finished his training he'd be at the level of most of the lesser saints, probably. Maybe she should send him on a tour to Alcarona, have him charm the locals and expand their missionary presence on the new continent.

Then again, he might be too attached to the holy mountain for that… it'd be annoying if he became a homebody like his father. You couldn't just keep the light locked up in a tower all day. Though in regards to his parentage…

She watched how all the animals in the menagerie, magical or otherwise seemed to focus on the boy, indeed ever since they'd left Mirno he'd been crawling with insects, rats, birds… He had told her he had an affinity for nature magic as well, but this was beyond even most elves. His tree conjuration in the Old Capital as well had been much the same. The raw power this boy could put out when he wanted to was… notable, and it indicated that she had been right in her initial assumptions about his parentage. If Eugene had still been having that kind of relationship with her…

The Ancient woman tapped her forearm and frowned. She might have to take some extra measures training Abbott, beyond what she would already do for her adopted brats. If the boy ended up falling into his mother's clutches it would be terrible for him, and a blow to the church and the continent. The court of the Red forest was a place few escaped from, and that woman was beyond depravity. Eugene's love for her not-withstanding.

It was no wonder he had never married.

Still, his son was very cute. With a youthfulness that had never been present in Eugene, and a penchant for getting along with just about everyone they'd met. He was even getting along with the Fire-Vipers in the sealed pen, creatures which by all accounts were some of the most murderous and dangerous that had ever been captured and put on display. Certainly some of the most deadly and aggressive creatures in this menagerie.

She was fairly sure Abbott would teach them to play fetch if their cage wasn't a heavily warded enclosure.

She started walking over to tease him about it when she took a step and found herself standing in a plain white space. An endless void of white stretching out to a golden horizon. Not a whisper of wind in the air or a shadow to be seen.

'oh my…' she thought, blinking. 'this hasn't happened in… months at least." She turned on her heel as she felt a shape take form behind her.

"Gallantry." She smiled as the Virtue took shape behind her, an azure eye flamed by golden fire standing stop a man's body where the head should be. His frame was solid white and seemed carved of marble, save for a silk Robe in the Mirnese style, and the silvery sword in his hands that stood at rest with its tip to the ground. "It's been a while."

"Too Long, Chosen" the eye spoke, "but it is a joyous day, I bring a message from the most high."

"It's always a joyous day." She smiled. "what instructions does he have for his servant."

"The Most High is pleased that you have found children to raise in his light." The eye glowed brighter for a moment, its voice rolling like peals of thunder across the shapeless space which surrounded them. "The Most High instructs that they will be leaders of his disciples in their time. The Most High believes that the future rides upon their shoulders."

Livia felt her spine stiffen slightly at that. The cute little kids out there were going to be that important huh? She supposed that made sense, given their heritage.

The God of Light and Mercy was not Omniscient in truth, or if he was he was limited, she could never be sure. But there was a reason the angels took the shape of eyes, and when one was a god there were surely fewer boundaries between the past, present, and future.

"I will do God's will of course." Livia nodded her head, before smiling. "And how have you been, Gallantry?"

"Very well." The eye and statue gave her a quick bow. "The agents of darkness quake

in terror when I approach, I have saved no less than four Unicorns over the course of the past month." The angel proclaimed proudly, his voice reverberating in her ears. "I only wish the Unicorns would not be so scared afterward."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Yes well, we all have our own battles to fight." Lydia smiled. "I've been told that wearing my armor constantly is unhygienic."

"Truly the world cannot understand our pain." Gallantry nodded, entirely serious, or at least he looked it. It was hard to tell with eyeballs. "Well then, I shall return to the eternal plane for now. I shall see you again soon enough, Prophetess."

As he, and the void he had appeared with, faded from her sight, she saw that Abbott had somehow managed to help the Fire Vipers out of their pen, and was currently in the middle of a pile of four of them, seemingly being used as some sort of affectionate cooling device.

It was adorable. Livia walked over to pat his head.

"Having fun I see?" She mentioned as the boy winced, oh right, the gauntlet… ugh, she'd have to be more affectionate once she got this damn armor off. Was it really that unhygienic if you used enchantments to stop filth from building up? Urg, why had nobody told her that before? It totally made sense too.

"Yep, they're really friendly, see?" Abbott said, lifting one of the hideously venomous, and currently slightly-on-fire vipers up to her as if it was a pet mouse… speaking of that there was that mouse on his shoulder too, looking exceptionally terrified.

The viper being lifted didn't seem to mind, not hissing or anything, just shifting around slightly to get more comfortable as the young priest held it up for her to see.

"She's very pretty…" Livia said, nodding. It wasn't a lie either. They really were quite pretty snakes with the jewel-like patterns on their back and the soft glow of the fires burning beneath some parts of their scales. She kind of wanted to try touching it… carefully, she reached out with an armored hand to stroke its hand.

"WHAT IN ALL THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?" a shrill woman's voice shrieked from nearby, at once Livia found herself turning to find… It was the Queen, given the crown, Anne was her name, Augusta, and what appeared to be the animal handler.

Livia felt a small blush run across her cheeks, mercifully hidden by her helmet. She had just wanted to pet the cute snake, was that so wrong? I mean sure it was venomous and on-fire, but she could cure both of those faster than she could brew a cup of tea. So could Abbott, probably.

"Ah, sorry." Abbott apologized, setting the snake down, though it quickly crawled up his thigh and started affectionately curling around him once he did. "Um… I know they're probably not supposed to leave the enclosure, but they really wanted to, and I'll just put them back in when we're done, is that ok?"

"Ok? Boy those things can kill with a single drop from their fangs!" The animal handler almost shouted. "We have to wear enchanted leather just to handle them, are you insane? You're lucky Mrs. Augusta came and got me!" The man seemed absolutely petrified. "You stay right there and whatever you do, don't make them angry!"

"Albert… that's the Prophetess." Queen Anne said, giggling slightly into her hand. The woman was tall with a small crown set on ginger hair. Livia hadn't met her before of course, but she looked queenly enough and seemed cheerful at least.

"That's the…" the Anima Handler, Albert looked flustered for a moment, caught between bowing and apologizing. She'd seen that look many times in her millennia of dropping in on people uninvited.

The man gulped visibly. "Best pardons on me your holiness, but er… those snakes are a mite dangerous if you could just get the boy away from them."

"Abbott will be fine." She assured him, before turning her eyes back to the boy… and the snakes it seemed like she wasn't going to get to pet, darn. Abbott got all the luck. "Put them back in their enclosure please."

"Fiiiine" the boy grumbled, putting the tip of his staff into the ground. A series of wooden growths stretched out, picking the snakes up like large hands and dropping them back into their pen. Livia was sure she could hear a giggle… ah, it must be a fairy staff then. Why didn't he mention it before? Maybe he just didn't think of it as an item per-se. "There, but make sure you take good care of them, they seem really affection starved."

The animal handler looked like he was going to cry.

"We must say, we didn't expect you to tour the menagerie first when Sir Archibald told us you were going to be visiting." Queen Anne said, approaching now that the snakes were dealt with, though Augusta was faster, breaking out into a run to tackle Abbott to the ground.

"You dummy! Those snakes kill people!" The girl screamed at him. "Why would you do that?"

"They looked lonely..." Abbott protested meekly.

"That's a terrible excuse!"

Livia smiled, it seemed like a good enough excuse to her, but it reminded her of her old party… it had been a shame to separate Abbott from his mercenaries, but she'd be sure to assign some of them to him once he finished his proper education.

Turning back to Queen Anne, she smiled within her helmet, seeing that the royal had also been watching the adorable children.

"Yes, well, Abbott has a great affection for animals, one that they seem to share towards him." She said by way of explanation. "You're Queen Anne I presume."

"The same, it is an honor to meet you, Your Holiness, we'd heard stories about you from our grandmother."

"Oh?" Livia asked, curious.

"She was Duchess of Flekshire. Laura Engle."

"Oh!" Livia nodded, she had met the woman about eighty years ago. "I remember her, yes. Had a minor demon cult infesting the region that I cleaned up when I stopped by."

"Ah, we're glad that you remember, you must have met so many duchesses." Queen Anne giggled, before glancing at the children again. "Are they… yours?"

"Adopted, technically wards of the church." Livia shrugged. "No, I don't have secret bastards. God never blessed me with fertility." She sighed, wistfully. It wasn't the first time she's been asked questions like that. "Though I expect they'll be quite prominent in time." She said assuredly. "Abbott there may as well be my nephew, he's the son of Eu- well you would know him as Saint Eugene, of the Holy Mountain."

"Oh! The Archbishop had said the Saint's son passed through some months ago, we had been sad to miss him."

"Yes, and Augusta is heir to the Silver Prince."

"Oh? My. That is a pair…" Anne seemed to look on the two with fresh eyes, before turning back to her. "Do you think they'd enjoy meeting our little princes and princesses?"

"Well, I was planning to give some blessings anyway, while I was here." The Prophetess nodded. "So I don't see why not."

"Wonderful… only… they should probably take a bath first."

Livia glanced back to where the two children were now giggling on the muddy pavement of the menagerie.

"Yes, I think a bath would be good." Livia agreed.

__________________________________________________________