The undersecretary reached up to her head to tug out several pointed sticks from her hair, freeing a cascade of dark locks that rushed over her shoulders. Bel hadn’t noticed it during the fighting, but the undersecretary was wrapped in colorful red and gold silks that complemented her black and yellow legs. Some powders and ash had been applied to her face to highlight her lips, cheek bones, and eyes.
Bel turned to the reflective surface of a large metal seat and self-consciously examined her reflection. Her snakes were in a lazy tangle spilling over her head and her skin was covered in grime and blood. Bel glanced at Cress, with her well-behaved snakes and gleaming wings, and sighed. Then she leaned closer to the reflection and examined her neck. That’s another scar; I thought I was done with those, she thought regretfully.
Bel shook off her own worries. She needed a way to restore contact with her brother, and she was pretty sure that the people here could help. She considered the shifting demeanor of her host and said, “I guess things would be different if you had to worry about Hot Mike.”
The undersecretary tilted her head with confusion as a translation flowed through a small metal ball perched on her shoulder. “Hot Mike?” she repeated.
Bel nodded. “He’s someone in the Old World who watches over what you do. If you’re bad, he’ll send a recording of it to everyone who hates you.”
The undersecretary strummed her threads, creating a discordant tone. “I’m not interested in Old World fairy tails. This is the real world.”
“Oh, but my Old World stories are true,” Bel said coyly. “My brother is from there.”
“I doubt it,” came the undersecretary’s terse reply.
“But it’s true,” Bel grinned, “and I can talk to him through this earring.” She frowned sadly, trying her best to remember how Lempo convinced people to do things. “Unfortunately, it hasn’t been working since I’ve gotten to the underworld. But, hey, I think that your little translation balls must use similar technology – maybe you could help?”
The undersecretary’s eight eyes narrowed as she looked at Bel. “You’re too young to try to pull one over on me, little gorgon.”
Bel grit her teeth. “Fine, but he really does come from the Old World. A bad guy named Technis has been kidnapping people from there.”
The spider woman shook her head. “That’s not–”
She paused, laying her fingers on the small translator sphere on her shoulder. “Well,” she finally continued, “I suppose that we could humor the thought. Whether this brother of yours speaks the truth should become clear quickly enough.”
Bel nodded with satisfaction. Orseis had resurfaced, but was too busy enjoying her first soak in a pool in forever, so Bel turned to Cress hoping for someone to acknowledge her victory.
Cress had a look of consternation on her face though. “Brother?” she asked. “I thought I misunderstood when we didn’t have a translator. Is Lempo making–”
Bel waved her hands to interrupt the other gorgon. “No, no, he’s adopted. Like I said, Technis kidnapped him from the Old World.”
Cress breathed an audible sigh of relief. “I like change,” she explained, “but some change is too much.”
The undersecretary snorted. “We’ve had reports of you riling gorgons up wherever you go, Crecerelle. You even made it into some of our watch lists.”
“Me?” Cress exclaimed, full of innocence. “I’m only trying to find a better life for my sisters.”
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The undersecretary waved her hand. “Yes, yes, and anyone who wants to go with you is free to do so. They’re watch lists, not arrest warrants.” She turned to Bel and explained. “It’s like a release valve, letting the most energetic and problematic members of our society vent their issues somewhere else. We see it from time to time, but it never amounts to anything.”
Cress waved her hands in Bel’s direction. “Never amounts to anything?”
The undersecretary smiled. “Well, it looks like you got lucky! Let’s hope that luck doesn’t end up wiping all of you out, okay? The goddess of change and upheaval isn’t everyone’s favorite deity, you know?”
A spindly black and yellow leg pointed at the small pond where Orseis was bobbing up and down. “So what’s the deal with her? Is she something some sea god put together? Or another one of Lempo’s creations?”
Bel glanced at the bubbling water. “No, she’s part human and part cuttlefish. Probably some other parts as well.”
The undersecretary frowned at the mention of humans, and she glanced at the pool distrustfully. “Human? You aren’t bringing a bunch of humans down here, are you?”
“No,” Bel denied, “just her. And we’re not planning on staying.”
“Thank the Heart. Humans have barely been around for few millennia, but they’re in my top eight worst disasters to deal with. One of them actually propositioned me once.” She shook her head and shuddered. “Unbelievable.”
Cress leaned over a chair with interest, her snakes flicking their tongues eagerly. “Who’s the worst then? Gorgons aren’t on your list, are they?”
The undersecretary laughed. “Of course not! They’re one of my most reliable voting blocks. Dragons on the other hand…”
Cress and the undersecretary chuckled together, obviously sharing some joke. Then Cress leaned closer to Bel, speaking fluently in her own language. The translator rushed to capture all of her words.
“Hey, now that we have access to some translators, can you give me all the details of Lempo’s quest? She wants us to gather gorgons together, but I’ve never really understood what kind of place we’re going to on the outerworld.”
She mimed punching someone. “Like, are we taking it from that Technis guy, or are we joining another group as mercenaries and getting land as a reward?”
“Uh,” Bel hesitated, but the undersecretary interrupted quickly.
“Let’s hold off on your divine quest for a moment, okay? Stion is going to want to ask a ton of questions. No offense to your gorgon friend, but he has far more experience deducing the motivations of the gods.”
She turned towards Cress. “Like I said, if you can convince some citizen to join you we won’t interfere, but if you’re leading them all to their deaths then I’m going to have to object.” She proudly tapped herself on the chest. “The gorgons are one of my favorite voting blocks. I don’t want them disappearing for nothing.”
“So let’s talk about something else,” she said abruptly. “Do you ladies have any questions? About the city? I apologize for the rush, but Stion made it clear that he didn’t want to risk–” Her voice changed to something deep and husky, and Bel realized that she was impersonating her boss. “–any annoying delays, wars, or god-created cataclysms.”
She winked with half of her eyes. “Looks like I stopped a small war, so now we just have to avoid any cataclysms and we should be fine. Your mom isn’t planning on coming down here, right?”
“Nope,” Bel quickly denied. “She would destroy things from a distance, I think. Kjar is the one who would get personal with a problem.”
The woman’s face creased as she frowned. “The goddess of corporal punishment? What do you have to do with her?”
“She’s my aunt,” Bel answered happily. She tugged on her armor. “She gave me this after she, uh, finished some business on Olympos.”
The undersecretary’s face twitched like she was attempting to smile but had forgotten the mechanics. “Does that happen often?”
“Oh, no,” Bel rushed to reply, “just the once.” She channeled extra energy through Kjar’s sight and examined the undersecretary.
“You aren’t glowing evil when I look at you with her ability, so I can’t imagine her wanting to come down here.”
The undersecretary slowly relaxed back into her seat. She gestured to Cress. “You think you’re going to convince other gorgons to travel with this walking volcano? Good luck.”
Bel’s hand went subconsciously to Sparky, but the little snake wasn’t doing anything bad.
Cress nodded quickly, clearly determined to overpower the undersecretary’s pessimism with pure positivity. “Yes! Lempo has already agreed to be a patron to the gorgons, and Kjar said she would consider it in the future. These are wonderful changes for our people.” She pumped her fists energetically. “I’m sure the other gorgons will see this as a great opportunity.”
The undersecretary shrugged. “Well, those are changes, that’s for certain. We had a caretaker the other day who thought that a trickster spirit had gotten into a young gorgon’s soul.” She shook her head. “Next time, you could think about giving everyone a warning first. I’ve been fielding complaints nearly non-stop.”
She clapped her hands. “But now that you’re here, I can just blame you! That’s politics at its finest!”