Amber was taking a stroll in the garden when she spotted Luna. Her Kitsune sister was lying on a thick blanket on a patch of fresh grass and enjoying the warm sun. It was early May, and the spring had brought with it the blooming of flowers, which had attracted bees who bustled with activity all around. Small birds were singing their merry twirls nearby, giving respite to anyone looking for a moment to relax. Amber fixed her straw hat and smiled, joining Luna.

"So you hid here." Amber smiled as she leaned in, casting her shadow over Luna's face.

"Mhm..." Luna confirmed without opening her eyes. "It's one of the indisputable benefits of being a queen. Sometimes we can simply ignore everything."

"I think I know what you are talking about," Amber admitted with a sigh as she sat on Luna's blanket.

Luna stretched lazily and sat up, fixing her light dress. In the meantime, Irene teleported near them and looked at them with surprise. "Oh... I didn't know you were here. Have I interrupted something?"

"Not at all. It looks like we all tried to take a secret day off," Amber giggled and covered her mouth as she pointed at Hestia and Aoi, who were walking towards the lake. They both changed their course as soon as they spotted them.

"Hummm... If we are all here, we can have some girl talk," Luna suggested.

"Why not?" Irene agreed with a shrug.

After a short debate about which specific place they should pick for their unplanned meeting, they rather swiftly chose the flower garden. What Theon, in his ignorance, called the Palace Garden, was in reality the entire complex of various gardens which each had different compositions. The Queens spent a lot of time deciding and planning the gardens to their preferences before forwarding their plans to the professional gardeners. Surprisingly, a few people who originated from Gorn were, in fact, passionate gardeners that Amber had employed back then to take care of the Castle Gardens and parks in the lower parts of Avalon. The Palace Gardens were a vast and intricate piece of art, available only for a chosen few. King Theon had decreed that the Upper Castle was an exclusion zone, which at first was weird, but now the Queens were happy about it. After all, this was their home, and it was alleviating to think they had a place of their own. The gardens were fragrant with the fresh and sweet scents of spring flowers and the pine-like aroma of a garden forest. They sat in the gazebo of a flower garden, where freshly brewed tea and pastries were already waiting for them.

"The spring is lovely this year." Irene took a deep breath and gathered her long black hair in a ponytail.

"I never expected to simply enjoy the weather," Amber admitted, taking her teacup. "So what exactly do you want to discuss, Luna?"

"Oh, a few things," the Kitsune smiled. "Let's call it a contingency plan. But before that... As you know, the days of Josla as the Queen of Cridia and the Kingdom of Cridia itself are numbered. The only thing right now that could possibly save her is the combined intervention of the Empire of Metaka and the Holy Kingdom of Berna. But even in that case, it wouldn't mean any loss for us. Theon is simply too powerful right now. It's also frightening to think that every single dungeon has similar potential. Anyway, once Theon proclaims himself as the King of the new kingdom, we are going to wake up in a new political reality. This is one of the things that we have to prepare for."

"That's reasonable," Irene admitted. Hestia and Aoi were sitting in silence, but they nodded in agreement with Irene's statement.

"Our short-term problem would be the stability of internal politics and the absolute destruction of any parties opposing Theon's rules." Luna sighed and took a sip of her tea. "So I want to be sure that you are aware of the extent of our power and influence. How powerful do you think we are, Aoi?"

"Why me?" The Dragonkin looked at Luna in surprise.

"Because you are the youngest." Hestia chuckled.

"Fine..." Aoi pouted and put her pastry plate back on the fairly big table around which they were sitting. "Given how powerful Theon is, we, as his queens, represent his authority and power. This alone makes us one of the most powerful people on the continent."

"Mhm... Close." Luna nodded with an approving smile. "Irene?"

"I am the most powerful Saintess in recorded history." Irene closed her eyes as she inhaled the aroma of her orange tea.

"What do you mean?" Hestia tilted her head, intrigued.

"Well... The source of my power is HIM." Irene explained, looking deep into Hestia's eyes, who paled instantly. "But don't worry. HE is not interested in this world like HE promised." Hestia slowly nodded her head and regained her colours, while Irene continued her explanation. "Girls, don't ask me about HIM, since I am forbidden to elaborate. For anyone interested, I am Eriar's Saintess. You probably know how Saintess powers work, right?"

"You mean the previous ones’ powers? More or less..." Amber nodded. "There were certain rules and rituals required, often ridiculous for a Saint or Saintess..."

"That's right. I just have to follow two rules. The first one is fairly simple: I can bestow a Miracle once a day. The second rule is far, far more complicated, and it involves rules about the revival of the dead. It's so complicated that I am afraid to even try tackling it. As far as I understand, this power is reserved for only really special cases, and the backlash for the resurrected person is hard to predict." Irene smiled in apology. "But besides that, I am unrestricted. I can ask for anything and it will be granted. However, I don't want to overuse my powers. I don't think it's right..."

"Wait... You are unrestricted?!" All of them looked at Irene in shock.

"Mhm. That alone makes me one of the most powerful women in the world. I am fully aware that my power is connected to Theon and Eriar. However, I am sure you had not asked for that because, in our own rights, we are unmatched by anyone. I believe that we hold unprecedented power in the history of Aderon and possibly even across Nilmerthis." Irene exhaled slowly and shook her head weakly. "But I am not ready to even guess what influence we have."

Aoi opened her eyes in shock as she looked at Irene. "Sister, I don't think we are that powerful..."

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"Do you think so?" Hestia patted Aoi and smiled. "What if I told you that your current power rivals those I have now? What if I told you that our harmony and agreement created power that rivals even those held by Zeus during his peak?"

"Hestia is right." Amber slowly put down her teacup and a Slime Maid refilled it discreetly before disappearing again. "We hold absolute power over the lives of thousands of people. I don't think even Hestia had such power before."

"No..." Hestia stopped patting Aoi, who pouted disappointedly, and looked at her hands. "It was one thing to hear and fulfill someone's prayers and vastly different to be able to do... Well, anything else."

"Yes. This is the thing we must be aware of. We are capable of destroying entire kingdoms. We can build or destroy on a whim." Luna shuddered and pressed her hands to her chest. "We can do almost anything just because we can. This is the power that we, the Queens of Avalon, hold."

They sat in silence for a moment, thinking about the sheer gravity of the responsibility they had. Amber chuckled as she saw the worried faces of her sisters. "As long as we work in harmony, I think we can stop any major disaster from happening."

"This is the next point I want to make." Luna nervously twitched with her ears. "The five of us are more than friends. We are truly like sisters and we do not compete with each other. We must have plans for how to deal with some... Hmmm... Undesired elements..."

"Theon is aware of his responsibilities as the King and he entrusted such things to me..." Amber simply smiled, but behind that was hiding something terrifying. "I will not tolerate anyone who would try something..."

"This might be... Hard." Hestia tilted her head.

"Oh, I don't have to kill anyone, Hestia. But mind you it's still an option. Without our agreement, Theon can't take another wife." Amber shrugged and took a piece of chocolate cake.

"But... When I became his wife, you were unconscious..." Irene pointed out as she helped herself with a light cream cake.

"Well... If you have to know, I accepted you long before that. Even if I was conscious back then, I wouldn't have opposed that. You were my only friend, other than Theon, back then, Irene." Amber smiled and she blushed a bit. "I kind of hoped that maybe Theon would take you... Anyway, I made preparations for you to become the second Queen."

"Oh, Amber..." Irene smiled warmly at her.

"But what if we make a mistake? What if we accept someone we shouldn't?" Luna sighed, the tips of her ears swiveling in opposite directions.

"I think it's a vain concern..." Amber shrugged. "The gaesa and wedding vows are fairly specific. Theon loves us and gives us as much freedom as possible, but he wouldn't allow any of us to interfere with the mission he received. But in case of minor interferences, such as someone who thinks they can disturb our order, well... In the worst-case scenario, I will kill such a person."

"Why are you afraid of this, Luna?" Irene raised her brow questioningly.

"Since discord between us can greatly affect Theon. I have studied history and Hestia has witnessed it. As much as I do not like the word, the Harems of great Kings and Emperors were places full of dangers."

"Indeed." Hestia sighed and took a sip of tea. "Thank you for saying this so diplomatically, Luna. But yes, I have seen the drama, backstabbing, and so many other dark aspects of Harems that it sickens and disgusts me to this very day. Women who pretend to love, while creating a hotbed of intrigue and plotting dark schemes to obtain power and influence, or carrying out assassinations of the children of other queens and concubines while making sure their child would assume the throne once their father died..."

"The rivalry between the children..." Irene sighed and blushed a bit.

"Will never happen." Luna shrugged and took a sip of tea.

"How can you be so sure?" Amber looked a bit troubled. "It's in a child's nature to compete with their peers."

"That's true. But..." Luna took a deep breath. "Theon is not a Human... At least his body is not. Simply put, he can't have children..."

Hestia wasn't surprised, but Amber, Irene and Aoi were suddenly shocked by her declaration. Luna gave them some more time to cope with the idea, sipping her tea in silence.

"Well... We should have suspected it after all this time..." Amber tried to keep her smile, but she was truly devastated.

"Amber, Irene, Aoi... Hear me out." Hestia took over the explanation from Luna. "This is a blessing in disguise. Please trust me. I have seen similar situations before... Many of the Gods and Goddesses I knew had children with Mortals. These children were called Demigods. Oh, how powerful they were... But ultimately they were destined to die. I am afraid that your... our children with Theon would have died one day, leaving bitterness and sadness that would leave a bigger scar upon our souls than the inability to bear a child at all."

"In case they would be forever young as we are, this would also create problems. They would grow up knowing the children of our friendly neighbouring countries and they would see how their friends get older, to one day take the mantle from the hands of their parents, who would be too old to rule anymore or already dead. With time, they could even plot against us or Theon, craving for power they couldn't inherit since Theon is an Immortal King," Luna added quietly.

"So... You think that we would watch our children grow old and die while we stay forever young..." Irene gazed in sad calmness at Hestia. "Or even become our enemies? That's... *sigh* that has happened in history so many times, hasn't it?"

Luna and Hestia sadly nodded to that, and they all spent a moment in heavy silence. However, with each passing moment, the grief of women lessened and finally, it vanished when reason overtook their feelings.

"I am afraid that is the reason why he can't have children." Hestia put her hands together and clenched them so hard her knuckles whitened. "Imagine Theon grieving over his child that he outlived. Imagine him and us, repeating that so many times throughout the ages we would live on... I don't believe that he would be capable of doing it. I can't also say for sure if any of you... Us, would not commit suicide to escape the torment of such a life. In the end, he would never allow himself to be close to any of us who would stay with him. It would be a fate worse than death..."

"Bound to this world, surrounded by the graves of those he loved. For all eternity... Yes, sister. It is a fate worse than death." Aoi buried her face in her hands.

"You are right, Hestia... This is a blessing in disguise..." Amber took a deep breath after the shocking vision was painted by the Goddess of Avalon. "He knows?"

"No... At least, I don't think so. I haven't had the courage to tell him about it." Luna bowed her head and lowered her ears.

"It's all right, Luna. At least we know what to tell him if or when the time comes..." Amber exhaled slowly. "Thank you for telling us about that."

They sat in depressive silence for a long while. They barely touched the snacks and their tea got cold, but they needed that time for themselves. Finally, Amber looked at Luna. "All right, Luna... So now we know something about Theon which he is unaware of. We also have an agreement on how to deal with some unwanted brides that might come by."

"We do?" Aoi looked at them in shock, making them all laugh.

"Yes, sister. We can agree or disagree about who could be the next Queen, but if things go south, well, the five of us will have to clean the mess..." Irene nodded with fire in her eyes. "This is not only our perfect life, but for the future of our subjects. No matter who we were, we are now the Queens of Avalon."

"I understand." Aoi nodded slowly but without reservation. "I won't forgive anyone trying to destroy our happiness."

"So… can we try to guess who is a no?" Hestia chuckled as the heavy atmosphere of the previous discussion dissipated.

"That would be too boring. Let's make a list of those who we can agree upon to join us." Luna cracked a big smile, making them all laugh.