Chương 1120: Day One Thousand One Hundred And Eighteen

Dear Diary, Y'know, there are definitely some disadvantages to the calendar in use here and now. Okay, there's definitely one huge disadvantage, which is that nobody sat down and taught me what the months are, what order they come in, any of that. It's one of those 'everybody knows', 'common sense' things. Which I guess isn't the core of the disadvantage.

That would be that while I can kinda keep track of what day of the week it is most of the time, and apparently I'm not half bad at figuring out when the Equinoxes and Solstices are, what with my connection to the sun, I don't fuckin' know when anything else is. Seriously, I kinda remember Conrad's High Holy Day, but I think that's because there's a Mana shift big enough that even I can feel it if I pay attention.

I know Saffron's birthday because I can multiply by three hundred and sixty-five; never thought I'd be able to do that math in my head, but here we are. I can remember Siobhan's birthday because it's literally New Year's Day, which is like, the Spring Equinox by another name. I guess Tallulah and Marie aren't really big on birthdays, what with any given one not meaning all that much after the first thousand. Not to mention them predating the modern concept of calendars.

I get that people have always had a basic idea of the passing of seasons, but if you go far enough back, I don't think they really assigned a particular number of days to each season; Summer lasted from when the Spring rains stopped until the leaves began to Fall. So yeah, my point here is that I might have actually been too hard on myself when it came to missing birthdays.

Not that I shouldn't try or any shit like that, and I'm still gonna feel some kinda way if II miss one entirely, but I need to acknowledge that I'm doing that shit on Hard Mode, because not only am I tryna keep track of a calendar without a phone or computer or any of the shit I used to use to keep track of that shit back in the day, there aren't really printed calendars here and now, not that I've seen.

Might have something to do with their printing presses being shit I'd expect to see in a museum about the Renaissance, and prior to the next generation of kids, most of the people couldn't read them anyhow. At any rate, after Saffron and I did some practice diplomacy on the conference room table, we spent the rest of the day talking with Swanson and Marie.

Okay, Saffron chatted with Swanson about the state of supplies aboard the Black Dragon, because her Cold Iron plating made it pretty damn inefficient to resupply her via Scrying Portal. Thing is, the Tentacles had no such issues, and with the number holding station nearby, if things got tight all they needed to do was bring a couple of them over and route supplies through them.

What with his focus on logistics as most of strategy, the Marshall must have creamed his shorts when he found out about Scrying Portals and how they could keep our ships supplied. Not to mention how an army in the field could do the same. Not that we really needed an army in the field at this point, what with everyone in Atlantis being part of the Alliance, a close friend, or smart enough to pretend to be friendly. Marie was using the deep fat fryers to tinker with her fried stuff recipes.

I'm not sure exactly how she did it without panko bread crumbs, but when the Captains returned for dinner I realized she'd managed some really good tempura. Weirdest thing had to be realizing as I ate the tempura shrimp, scallops, and veggies that tempura didn't use panko or any other kind of bread crumbs. Weirdest thing, having Skills that let me figure out how something was made just by eating it.

I mean, I'm pretty sure there's some fancy technique or some shit like that, but the crunch profile fit basic light batter dipping rather than bread crumbs or flour dredge. The Captains did return for dinner, and if they found it weird that Marie served all six of us, at least until I pulled her into my lap and fed her tempura, they didn't say anything. They did compliment her cooking, which was both polite and just facts, and I appreciated both.

When we finished eating, Saffron pulled Marie and I to our feet, then nodded to the Captains.

"You're welcome to join Admiral Swanson for dessert, but Tabitha has somewhere to be this evening." At their questioning looks, she smiled and said, "a religious ceremony. We'll see you in the morning." They all nodded, and before I could ask where or who, the three of us stood in front of my Altar in Newark. I dropped my Blend and glanced at both of them, only to realize they'd both replaced their normal outfits with Yandere Shobitch Wedding Gowns.

While Marie gently sat me on the Altar, Saffron turned to Fred, who'd been standing there a little surprised by there being three of us rather than one. After taking one quick glance around the room, Saffron nodded, then pulled Fred in to plant a kiss on each of his cheeks.

"You've done well, Priest. Are you certain we of the High Clergy can't convince you to join our number?" He laughed, shaking his head.

"Wouldn't..." I'm not sure what he was going to say, but Saffron cut him off.

"Of course Tabitha accepts men as High Clergy. Just because none have passed the Trials yet doesn't mean they aren't allowed, or that she frowns on that." She switched to boy mode, and holy shit but he was hot as fuck in that dress.

"Also, lest you worry, our Holy Garb is tailored to each of us." I noticed right then that she was absolutely right. The differences were subtle, mostly having to do with the kind of thing that bespoke tailoring would cover, but some things like the shiny glass bits were slightly different. Marie's looked vaguely reminiscent of claws, while Saffron's looked more like sharpened stars. Not even anything I'd pick out at a distance, but clearly unique. Custom crafted, even.

Then again, as I recalled just then, that was one of the Trials. Tonight was a night where I was never on the Altar alone. While Marie and Saffron stepped to the nearest row of seats, Andre and Andrea joined me when Fred called them up.

"Hey, you two. Moved to Newark?"

"No," said Andre.

"We've always been from here, but the Temple here just opened." I smiled to let them know I appreciated it.

"So I'm guessing you two helped out with the construction?" They nodded, and when I looked into that dark, secret place, they showed me they'd missed getting that perfect simultaneous finish since the last time the joined me on the Altar. I didn't say anything after that, just held out my arms and enjoyed the smiling Worship as they came to me. As Marie helped Saffron carry their sleeping forms off, Fred called Vickerson, Hildegarde, and Citron up.

I chuckled when Vickerson's desires practically shouted themselves into my brain, although out loud she just pursed her lips and said, "these two won't stop talking about it. Thinking about it. Whatever." This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I laughed, pulled them all into a hug, which pulled my favorite pair of Soul Hates together so I could whisper to them, "you want me to facilitate that again?"

"Well..." Hildegarde hemmed and hawed. Citron took a deep breath, then said, "we would be honored if you could, Goddess." So Vickerson and I wound up yet again engineering a 'competition' between her partners. They're so adorable when they're pretending to not be totally into treating one another gently. When she followed the other two into blissful dreams, I laid Vickerson on the Altar next to them, then looked up to the biggest surprise of the night.

"Good Evening... Mama." I kinda froze at Cailyn's smirking comment. When I thawed enough to turn, I realized George was standing next to her. Holding her hand.

"Hey, guys." I held out my hands, and they stepped in for a quick hug. Unlike most of my previous partners on my Altar, they didn't settle into my lap. Instead, they pulled back, at which point I noticed they'd never let go of each other's hands.

"Ah... Goddess..." I smiled at George's stuttering and looked into that secret dark place. Then kinda blinked at what I found there. I turned to Cailyn.

"Really?" She smiled.

"Please don't tell my mother." I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Little hard to do, daughter." When she chuckled nervously, I asked, "tell me why." Her smile slipped.

"I'm sure she wouldn't approve." I thought for a second, then reached out and took each of their hands. After meeting each of their gazes, I said, "well, I do.. Or..." I turned to George.

"Does she make you happy?" His smile told me everything I needed to know, but he still sighed dreamily and said, "yes." So I turned to Cailyn.

"Does he make you happy?" She smiled at me, dimpling a little.

"Yes, Mama. He does."

"Well then. I approve." I turned to Kitten and Mittens.

"What do you guys think?" Saffron stood, nodded, and said, "so long as they both have one another's best interest in mind, and they are Passionate in their Ecstatic love for one another, I approve." Marie kept it even simpler.

"Yes."

"There you go, guys. Even if Siobhan doesn't approve, the Mom Collective is three to two in favor." When Cailyn's jaw dropped, I said, "but I think your mom really would like to be here for this." She froze, but George said, "do you truly think she would be upset if she wasn't here?" I nodded, and he turned to Cailyn.

"I don't want to cause trouble with your mother, sweet heart." Cailyn closed her eyes and nodded. Tallulah?

"Yes, Tabitha?" A moment later, I felt her stiffen behind me, then relax.

"Daughter."

"I'm marrying him, Mother."

"I approve." That caught Cailyn off guard.

"I... I'm confused?" Tallulah just shrugged.

"While you might eventually inherit the Keep, at the moment you are peers. I am not so foolish as to denigrate someone based on where their path started from. If anything, his rapid rise speaks well to his fortune and character." I turned to the couple.

"So... You want this fancy?" Both of them blushed.

"Or quick." They blushed harder. I raised my voice just enough to say, "Cailyn, do you take George to be your wedded husband?" She stuttered out, "I do."

"George? Do you take Cailyn to be your wedded wife?"

"I do!" I smiled at his eagerness, looked around the Temple, and looking at Tallulah, asked, "does anyone object?" Yeah, with Tallulah glaring around at everyone like she'd take violently brief personal offense at any objections, I didn't expect that anybody would.

"Welp, with no objections, I now pronounce you married!" That got a little cheer from the audience, at which point I hopped off the Altar to sweep Tallulah into my arms, then announced, "let's celebrate!" Yeah, that cheer got a lot louder, and the folks of Newark joyously dumped their Grand Councilor and his new wife on the Altar.

With both of them blushing, I pushed my Blend up around the Altar and whispered, "I think they'd like to know you two consummated things, but if you're not into that, some polite necking might go a long way." Yeah, I'm not sure if they really got it on or not, but they definitely spent some time necking horizontally. By morning, the two of them were asleep on the Altar, the congregation sacked out around it.

Saffron stepped the pair of us back to the officers mess on the Black Dragon, where the Captains were eating breakfast.

"A metal ship the size of an island might be insane on the surface of it, but I can't complain about having a kitchen like this aboard." I thought about the plans I'd seen.

"Two of them, I think. A smaller one for the officers, a bigger one for the enlisted." Then I shrugged.

"Other than bigger ovens, though, I think it's pretty much the same." Saffron nodded.

"We generally stock the same foods in each. The only real difference being more time spent on each individual plate for the officers. Oh, and stewards delivering our meals rather than being served cafeteria style." Anne and John looked impressed at that, but Red looked a little put out. Guess I knew which of them put more effort into treating their crew as equals. After breakfast we returned to the conference room with the Captains and Swanson.

Once we were all settled with cups of hot chocolate, Saffron asked, "did you have any questions for us?" They looked at one another, then Anne turned to me.

"A question regarding representation?"

"Go on."

"Each City in your Alliance has one vote on the Grand Council, yes?" Saffron nodded.

"That is correct."

"Yet some of your Cities are far larger than others. The people of New Amsterdam get far less representation per person than those in Rich Man's Port, for instance." Saffron nodded, then took a sip of her chocolate. After a bit, she nodded and replied, "it's true, but when the Alliance was founded, our three smaller Cities were represented by those who kept the welfare of their people in mind, whereas New Amsterdam was, and frankly still is, ruled by the House of Orange."

All three Captains got a booger look at that.

"As you can imagine, giving her votes based on the population of that City would have left her with de facto control of the Council's decisions. Instead, we make sure that each culturally distinct group has their own representation." Red frowned.

"How is a Sidhe noble representation for the Humans of Rich Man's Port?" I sighed, and when they turned to me, I said, "yeah, I've talked with her about that. Talked with her about it a lot. She's tryin'. She knows she's not great at understanding Mortals, but..." I shrugged.

"She wants to do the right thing. I think that's all I can ask of anybody." I watched as John and Anne both gave Red a quelling look. He frowned, but just grunted at my reply. At that point Saffron answered some questions about what each of our 'culturally distinct groups' was. Basically, each City with its own Laws and Customs counted. Big surprise there. By the time they finished asking her about the different groups making up the Alliance, the stewards brought lunch.

Grilled fish, and unless I missed my guess, Marie had a hand in the recipe, if not the actual preparation. I wound up sort of surprised that the Captains liked the fish. After a long, lazy lunch, which I didn't mind at all. Okay, I shouldn't have minded, but somehow through the day I just wound up feeling kinda upset for no good fuckin' reason. That might have put a booger look on my face when Anne said, "we noticed you don't have any laws in place regarding lack of Consent?" I might have snarled out, "yeah, well.

We deal with that like it deserves." Saffron laid a hand on my thigh, then said, "not all of our Laws are part of that Treaty. We have passed laws regarding violation of Consent, and the Laws of the Alliance take precedence over those of any member City, should the two disagree. Not that they generally do, excepting in details such as how guilt is determined."

Yeah, that set off another discussion, and I kept my mouth shut, because I really didn't want to spoil the negotiations just because my brain wasn't behaving. Eventually, as the sun neared the horizon, Saffron stood and said, "Captains, I hope today has answered many of your questions. Shall we reconvene Moonday morning? We ought have the additional copies of the Treaty done by then."

I didn't exactly pick up on the details of their farewell; I slipped my fingers through Saffron's and tried to pretend like I wasn't getting crankier by the minute. Then she stepped us away, into a darkened Bedroom where someone knelt on the end of the bed, dressed in the lacy concoction of my High Clergy's glass enhanced Holy Garb. That's when Siobhan started singing.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dearest Tabitha, happy birthday to you."