“We need a powerful name! Something that makes our enemies tremble in fear!” Helena suggested.

“I don’t think what we call ourselves will matter to Ilestria.” I argued.

“It should be an epic name. Something worthy of a group with an archmage.” Cassie said.

“Yeah. It should be focused on Koyuki. She is going to be the most notable.” Skadi agreed.

“We are a group. It should be named after all of us.” I argued.

“Of course we are a group. We work well together. But you provide an army, it’s the most visible thing. And you are the most powerful. It is only natural that we lean into that.” Helena said.

“Koyuki’s Dread Archons!” Cassie suggested.

“What? What is a dread archon?” I asked.

“So in this book…” Cassie started. I groaned but she continued: “As I was saying, in this book there are powerful undead mages, called dread archons…”

“You are not undead!” I protested.

“That is because you have not turned us into the dread archons yet.” Skadi teased.

“Archons are not a real thing, right?” I said.

“I think it’s just an old name for a powerful mage. Or was it archmage in a different language?” Helena mused.

“How about we don’t choose a name that suggests I turned all of you into my minions?” I asked.

“Exactly. They should think we are your lovers instead. Koyuki’s battle harem.” Cassie said with a big grin.

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My eyes widened. “No.”

“And when the next man wants to marry me, I just tell them I can’t. My mistress would not allow it.” Cassie added.

“Your mistress is going to hit you, if you keep suggesting such names.” I responded.

“That is exactly how a mistress would react.” Skadi added.

Helena giggled.

I borrowed my head in my hands. “If there is a mistress it’s Nyx, clearly. Go serve her.”

“Meow.” Nyx’s head emerged from her box on the back of Chariot. She suddenly seemed very interested in this discussion.

“The eternal servants of Nyx, queen of the dead.” Helena suggested.

“You are not even trying to find a name. You just want to torture me with bad suggestions.” I accused them.

“You do have great reactions, because of your ears and tail. They can be very expressive at times.” Skadi said.

“What?” I looked at my tail. It was swishing around a bit, I suppose. I had been trained to keep it as still and pristine as possible, as a maid. And to always keep my ears stiff. Not showing any emotion with any part of your body, or face, was expected of a high class maid. But I did feel rather comfortable around my friends. So I had been more relaxed and behaved more naturally, I suppose. And all that teasing? That was what friends did, wasn’t it? Suddenly I felt rather happy and smiled.

“Ok, I am ready for more bad suggestions.” I announced.

“We should have done this at the beer garden. Why does it have to be winter?” Cassie complained.

“Beer could be part of the team name.” I suggested. They were not the only ones who could have bad ideas.

“Huh? Hm. Can you combine beer with something death related?” Helena wondered.

“Too much beer can kill you, I suppose.” Cassie mused.

“Not sure if beer is strong enough to kill a dwarf.” Skadi added.

“I feel like we are getting sidetracked again.” I said.

“True. Back to Nyx, our glorious leader. She could be in the name.” Helena said.

“She makes a good mascot.” Skadi agreed.

Nyx jumped on the desk. Then she stretched and sat down in the middle of it.

“Treat suppliers of Nyx.” Cassie suggested, while offering a bone to the feline.

“Why do you have a bone? That was not part of our lunch.” I wondered.

“I just have some from our Iron Beak supplies that were unusable. I wash them and carry them around.” She responded, while Nyx consumed her treat.

“We need a short name. Something actually usable to identify us and something where we don’t die of embarrassment.” I said.

“So, what is your suggestion?” Helena asked.

“Um… Claws of Death?” I mumbled.

“Hm. Not terrible, lacks Nyx though.” Cassie said. Nyx nodded.

“The claws are a Nyx reference.” Skadi pointed out. “She is the only one with claws.”

“Claws of Nyx?” I suggested. “Or Nyx’ Claws?”

“Hm. Could use more death, dread,... things like that.” Cassie mused.

“Dread Claws of Nyx? The name is getting a bit long, isn’t it?” I said.

“I like Dread Claws of Nyx.” Skadi said.

“We can always sleep on it. Or not pick a name…” I mumbled.

“No, a name is cool. We deserve a name. I think Dread Claws of Nyx is acceptable.” Helena said.

“Meow.”

“Our leader has spoken. Dread Claws of Nyx it is.” Cassie proclaimed.