Chương 494: Day Four Hundred And Ninety-Two

Dear Diary,"When only Vengeance Remains, And that Vengeance is Righteous, Call on me, I will be there." Doctrine of Tabitha, Book of Vengeance Yeah. I can't exactly be a Goddess of Vengeance and then say 'never do a Vengeance, ever'. If I've set out the rules for Vengeance, and somebody follows all of them, it'd be a total dick move to leave them hanging. So I gotta be ready, if they call on me, to show up and back them up. Maybe just riding along like I've been doing with Karen.

Maybe showing up in person and making sure the douchecanoe bites it. Maybe just showing up after the fact to give them a ride to the afterlife, complete with a pat on the back and a 'you did good'. Maybe, fuck, I dunno, just being there in spirit, enough to give them the courage and confidence to do what needs to be done. As for, y'know, 'not being a Goddess of Vengeance', that one's kinda sticky. I mean, on the one hand I've got a strong impulse to just say, 'yeah, I do not vibe with this' and just not be one.

But then I think about the fact that Future Me did shit to earn that title, and some part of me is pretty sure that shit means something. Also, she rocked that Vengeance thing before I arrived, and she didn't drop it like last year's TikTok trends, so I'm gonna assume she wanted that shit to be there. Yeah, I could try to get rid of it, but if she worked hard to get it, on purpose, for reasons I don't remember, and then I come along and screw things up, she's not gonna be happy with me.

As I've noted, I'm really trying hard to avoid a, 'Past Tabitha? I hate that bitch!' situation. Then again... Justified Homicide. Vengeance. Bloodlust. Maybe Future Me really does need to be told to take several seats. It's not like I'm perfect, so she sure as shit could have made all kinds of mistakes. At the end of the day, though, I think I have to trust that part of me that says if Future Me and I have one thing in common, it's trying to do better every day than the day before.

Yeah, I don't talk about that much, because it sounds so fuckin' pretentious and woo, but here's the thing; if she's been trying that? Just tryna do better than the day before? Then she's had a lot more days than me. She knows better than me, and she didn't ditch that shit. Which means that either there's something about it that I don't see, or there's a need for that shit in this world. I really hope I'm wrong about that, while remaining right about Future Me.

So yesterday at sunset Tallulah Crow, Overlord of Rich Man's Port, invited High Priestess Karen Smith, who also happened to be Senior Cadet Karen Smith, Ambassador from the Alliance to Rich Man's Port, to dinner. Y'know, if I had a nickel for every woman with a masculine rulership title I know personally now, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's still weird that it's happened twice. Then again, maybe 'Overlord' isn't set in stone as masculine.

From what I can tell, 'Imperator' isn't even a word here, just a title I dropped on my Kitten because I didn't want the job. Karen replied, "I accept your invitation, and would be honored to dine with you this evening." So fuckin' formal. Karen waited while the Overlord rose, then strode through the hall toward the stairways at the opposite end from the dais with the throne. As she passed the chest, she waved one hand at it kinda dismissively, then with the same hand beckoned Karen to follow her.

The two big bastards in black armor peeled off from shadowing Tallulah to each grab a handle of the chest, and as Karen walked after Lady Crow, she heard them moving away toward the throne itself. A few of the hangers on in the crowd made quiet cranky noises as Karen came between them and their Lady, but then, they hadn't been invited to dinner, so they could fuck all the way off. Saffron murmured so softly I almost didn't hear it, even inside my own head.

We are with you, Ambassador, but just as she has seen us, I suspect she can hear us. I'm pretty sure that was for my benefit, so I didn't start nattering in Karen's ear about everything, but she still replied, I understand, Imperator. As Karen followed up the steps, I took the opportunity to get a little better look at Tallulah. She was taller than Karen and I, although nowhere near as tall as Marie, or even Lachlan. Her outfit really looked like some kind of formal costume, not casual wear or even functional.

A black tricorne hat rode high and back on her coiffed, curly, strawberry blonde hair. It had to be pinned there, or maybe glued, because otherwise it would have tumbled straight down her back. A back which showed a surprising amount of skin compared to her front. At first I thought maybe she had a tan, which wouldn't make a lot of sense for a noblewoman, but would for a ship captain. Something about it didn't look right, though, a kind of weird glowing tracery.

It wasn't until I caught a glimpse of one of her palms, which glowed with the same kind of pale off white as the walls, that I realized what I was looking at. The exposed portion of her back was literally covered in freckles. Not, like, 'a lot of freckles', but 'freckles covered everything but that pale faintly glowing lace tracery'.

She had a fluffy shoulder poof at the top of a sort of capelet, the kind of thing that I'd normally think 'royal ermine cape', but it hung from her left shoulder, barely covering that arm, and the poof didn't quite hide the ivory spike at the top, nor the gleam of metal from under the poof.

Under all the accoutrements she wore a black full length gown with what I'd normally think of as 'witchy' decorations like little ruffles and symbols, but instead of being lace or tulle or anything like that, they were mother of pearl, and hovered like half an inch off the surface of the dress itself. Individually each piece was kinda cool, or badass, or pretty. All together they were kind of a hot mess. But I wasn't gonna say nothin', even in the privacy of Karen's head.

Another long room, this one obviously a dining hall, took up the floor at the top of the steps. Two sets of steps led up at the far end, behind the head of the table. Karen followed Lady Crow down the left side of the table, I guessed waiting to see where the Lady wanted her to sit. Which the Overlord pointedly did not do, just letting Karen follow her all the way to the head of the table, where she turned and faced the room from beside a chair with the same kinds of decorations as the throne below.

Then she just stood there as the courtiers trickled in from below. Karen turned a tiny amount, clearly still facing the Overlord, but moving to take in some of the courtiers at the front of the crowd as well.

My Highest Priestess tensed a little as two black armored guards indistinguishable from the pair at the gate and the pair downstairs stepped out from doors that straight up hadn't been there before and took their places at the foots of the twin staircases upward, each one only a few steps from Tallulah, and thus only maybe one more from Karen. Not really something to make you sanguine when they each carried a spear that nearly touched the high ceiling. Then the Overlord spoke, her voice whispering through the room.

"I will dine in my private quarters this evening. You are all welcome to dine at my table in my absence." As she turned and walked for the closer staircase, those hidden doors opened again, and a half dozen serving dishes, mixed trays and tureens and covered plates, floated out into the room. Okay, they didn't float, but it was hard to look at the people... things? carrying them.

Humanoid, at least to the extent of having limbs to carry shit and limbs to carry them, as well as maybe a head, but beyond that Karen's eyes just would not focus. Then again, she wasn't trying to focus on them. Instead, she watched the Overlord, and was rewarded when her left hand, momentarily freed from the confines of its cape, made the same beckoning motion to Karen as she had downstairs. The moment she saw that, Karen glided into motion, smoothly maintaining her separation from Lady Crow.

I winced as, out of the corner of her eye, I saw the spear in the hand of the guard on this set of steps angling down to bar her way, but she didn't slow, didn't flinch, and I swear I felt the breeze of its passage ruffle her hair. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. But the dude said nothing, didn't follow, and then Karen was upstairs, apparently in the Overlord's 'Private Quarters'. At least, in her private dining room.

Much smaller; instead of a room and table obviously big enough to seat the majority of her court, the table in this room stretched maybe ten feet long, and maybe four feet wide. Wide enough you could stretch your legs out underneath comfortably, although the chairs really didn't seem to support that. The table had four chairs and place settings on each side, although two chairs on each side were pushed in, almost like they weren't intended for use.

When she passed the near end of the table, Tallulah waved to the simple wooden chair.

"Be seated, Ambassador." The Overlord's voice didn't fill the room the way it did downstairs, but it still had that whispery quality to it.

"Of course." Karen sat. The chair wasn't uncomfortable, wasn't crude or anything. Really, it looked just marginally fancier than the ones along the side. Of course, the moment her ass hit the seat, the Overlord flowed back into motion, headed for the head of the table, where a much comfier version of the throne we'd seen on the two prior floors awaited her. At that point I leaned over to where Saffron had perched atop the tower wall beside me and whispered, "shouldn't she wait until after the hostess sits?"

Saffron shrugged.

"It's a bit of a test. If she waits, she's followed typical protocol, but disobeyed the Lady. If she sits, she's breached typical protocol, but acted according to the stated wishes of her hostess."

"So which one's right?"

"From my understanding? Consistency. From here on out she needs to pay attention to what Lady Crow says, not 'social norms'. Probably for the best, as the latter are in a constant state of flux in both pirate towns and Fae courts."

"Which is this?"

"Yes. Plus her private table, which means shortly we'll see..." At that point, as Tallulah flowed into her seat, four doors opened out of the side walls. Over the next few moments three people entered the room. First, from Karen's left, a stately woman who looked like a slightly less freckled version of Lady Crow, wearing a dress similar to hers, but without the pirate hat or the spiked cape. The decorations weren't in floating mother of pearl, either, but looked like some kind of silver thread.

Her hair, several shades darker than Tallulah's, but still following the red-gold theme, wasn't done up nearly as fancy as Lady Crow's. Her eyes had the same ivory wall glow as her mothers, albeit not quite as glowy. She nodded to Karen.

"Ambassador." Karen returned her smile.

"Cailyn Crow, I presume?" The woman, presumably Cailyn, nodded as she sat. Next a dude lounged in, and for no apparent reason my teeth ground. Darker skinned than the two women, but without any of the freckling, his hair was a pure dark golden blond without a hint of red in it, his eyes the color of creamy jade. He wore a doublet and hose, with the hilt of a rapier dangling at his hip. No sheath.

No idea whether it was some kind of magical Mana Blade situation, or a bit of jewelry, or the fuckin' shards of Narsil or some shit like that. But the way the long, lithe dude moved just set me off. Kind of like somebody else I'd seen, somebody I'd known. Maybe Lachlan? Maybe Larry? But whoever it was, the dude just pissed me off by existing. He did the whole fancy 'make a leg' bow toward Karen.

"Cadet Smith. Enchanted." Karen nodded at him, carefully hiding a smile, because it totally would have been followed by a laugh, because this dude was like the antithesis of what she looked for in dudes.

"Lindsey Crow. Well met." After he sat, which was a whole production of flourishes and shit, there was a slight pause, then the third door settled closed. Distracted by the entrance of the elder two Crow children, I hadn't noticed the first two closing. The moment the third door snicked shut, feet scrambled behind the fourth. A moment later a stick swayed into the room. Karen blinked then followed the stick down to a shock of red hair and eyes of bright emerald green.

Her dress had clearly been patterned after the one worn by her mother and sister, but where her mother's was clearly made to impress the court, and her sister's was a nice 'dress for dinner' dress, this kid, and she couldn't be much bigger than Maze, had clearly worn hers to gym class.

Half of the fancy decorations were missing, and where the hem on the other two was deliberately asymmetric and uneven, hers had been half hiked up and tied out of the way above the knee, and the other half had definitely seen better days. When she got to her chair, which had a thick cushion perched atop it, she looked over the table at Karen, her eyes got a little wide, and she said, "G... High Priestess!" Karen showed me she had some knack for dealing with kids when she nodded and said, "Ria Crow.

Training with the spear?" The kid's eyes lit up as she clambered onto her cushion, but somehow it wasn't entirely happiness behind them.

"Yeah, I..." Something moved under the table, and she went silent, nodding. A few moments later, the Overlord nodded, and Ria raised her hands and clapped, twice. The quiet snick of doors opening came from behind Karen, and after few moments a bowl of salad lowered to the table in front of her. By the time Karen looked up, each of the Crows had a plate in front of them, and Karen waited until Lady Crow started eating to take her first bite.

The moment her mouth was full, Lady Crow, her mouth empty, said, "so, the Alliance does not desire war?" Cailyn watched, impassive. Lindsey smiled, smug like he knew something. Ria stiffened, trying to keep eating and pretending like she hadn't heard shit. Karen swallowed leaves whole and replied, "we do not."

"And yet you arrive in a warship?" Karen smiled, carefully not shaking her head.

"A misconception. The Questing Tentacle is an armed merchantman." As the others ate, Cailyn tilted her head." Questing Tentacle. An odd name." Karen shrugged, taking another bite. I realized just then that the bowl had started with, like, maybe four bites of salad in it. Cailyn prodded again.

"How does it come by such a name?" Karen smiled.

"The Imperator's Patron Goddess. The Matriarch of my own Goddess' Pantheon, in fact."

"And which Goddess would that be, oh fiery maiden?" I really wanted to punch this guy. Like, just once. Really hard.

"My Goddess is the Champion of the Alliance, Tabitha Diaz." Karen took the last bite of her salad, and the bowl was whisked away. A moment later a fuckin' charcuterie board replaced it. I mean, that's what it looked like. Couple small pieces of hard flatbread, couple crackers, some sliced cheese, and some... something. Pink, looked faintly familiar, like maybe sushi filling, or something similar. Again, like four bites. The Overlord put half of her pink stuff onto a cracker, then closed her eyes and took a bite.

She savored it for a moment, and Karen duplicated her choice. The stuff tasted... gamey? Definitely savory, but also sweet, a little smoky, and just a little salty. As Karen chewed, Lady Crow let out a kind of considering hum.

"A predator of predators. Not the most delicate flavor, but it has a certain refinement. Ria? Eat. It." Without looking, Karen watched out of the corner of her eye as Ria got a little pout, then used the edge of her cracker to scrape the pink stuff back into a single mound from where she'd spread it in a thin, almost translucent layer across her plate.

Still pouting, she scooped it all onto one slice of cheese, put the other slice on top of it, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, then gulped down the whole little breadless mini-sandwich, grimacing as she swallowed. Karen tried a slice of the cheese next. It turned out to be a smoky aged cheddar, with far more bite than the pink stuff. Then she put the rest of her pink stuff on the second slice of cheese and ate it that way, although she actually chewed it before swallowing.

A moment later, her own plate clear, Lady Crow placed a cloth napkin next to her plate and stood.

"I am weary, and will retire for the evening. Ambassador Smith, make use of Adrienne's rooms for the duration of your visit here." The door that nobody'd come out of clicked open.

"You honor me," said Karen as she stood. Lady Crow, who'd turned and strode toward a door directly behind her chair the moment after she made her announcement, paused, half turned, and said, "yes. War is always inconvenient." Then she stepped through the door and was gone. Lindsey was at Karen's side before she'd taken half a step toward Adrienne's rooms, offering an elbow which Karen didn't deign to acknowledge.

"May I call you Karen?"

"You may." She nodded to him as she stepped into the doorway of a suite that really reminded me of our Academy suite, only reversed, with the office on the outside. The dude, who I really had to control myself not to punch, leaned in the doorway so it wouldn't quite close without catching him in it.

"Tentacles seem quite in vogue of late. Who is your Imperator's Patron, then, a Deity of Questing, or a Deity of Tentacles?" Karen turned, smiled serenely, and switched into her stripperific wedding dress.

"My Imperator's Patron, the Patron Matriarch of the Alliance?" He leaned forward a little, drawn in just as surely as any Human Adjacent girl kisser would be.

"Is Mimic." I swear, I did not laugh. Must have been some other Deity type person. But holy shit was it satisfying, as Karen shut the door, to see Lindsey fuckin' Crow sitting on his ass on the floor where he'd tripped and fallen in his scramble to get the fuck away from her. Well, from her Imperator's Deity. From me.