Rain Harlow
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(Vol 6) Chapter 16: Aggressive Moves
🕑 Added 2024-08-09 15:17:34 +0000 UTCAs Sammy pondered her next move on the seat of her throne in Heaven, taking in the soothing yet stimulating harp notes of Calliope’s renditions of classical Earth music, Azure appeared.
She stopped short of the throne to take in Calliope and they exchanged a smile and a nod as Azure simply listened for a few moments. Her eyes slowly closed.
Sammy noticed something new on Azure’s belt that drew both the natural eye and the mystical — an ornate dagger in a sheath, in gold and black, with an oval ruby in the pommel, held by a black reptilian claw. “Ooh,” Sammy exclaimed, “a new shiny you have. Pretty, it is.”
Azure opened her eyes to squint and smirk in both humor and exasperation at her goddess. Her head shook slightly. “Not even ten seconds before you noticed the shiny thing.”
“It caught the light! Also, it’s magical. Powerful.”
“A gift from Redberry.”
Sammy leaned forward, feeling aglow with intrigue. “Soooo… What’s it do?!”
Azure smiled, once more in a combination of fondness and exasperation. “I don’t know, oh Heavenly Dessert of Mine. And before you try, I’ve already attempted identification. All the description says is ‘Wouldn’t you like to know?’ It seems that Redberry has given me something of a quest to unlock him.”
“Him?!”
“Yes, the dagger is sentient. Sapient. And very dormant. Redberry said he had been collecting dust for a century, but when she retrieved him and attempted communication, he ignored her. She believes he is offended and refuses to serve her any longer due to her failures and neglect. He is a wyvern by the name of Ka’tettin Havur, or Deathsting.”
“Amazing! Fascinating! So exciting! A wyvern! So, er, is he talking to you yet?”
“Unfortunately not. I feel that he is observing, though. Perhaps deducing my worthiness. Redberry says I could still use him as he is, to some effectiveness, but I am going to refrain at first out of respect. He can see how I handle other weapons.”
Sammy giggled at this. “Haha, you’re trying to woo your dagger! Perhaps get him some flowers? Chocolates? Poetry?” Calliope did a perfect ‘baddum tsh’ sound effect, to which Sammy thanked her briefly with her hands in a prayer sign.
Azure rolled her eyes. “Har har, funny girl. Keep it up. I bet that is part of the reason she said for you not to bother trying to rouse him.”
“Huh?”
“Redberry indicated you are not someone he’d like.”
Sammy frowned. “But you are under me. In large part. Won’t that be an issue?”
Azure raised an eyebrow. “Under you in some ways, but you’re under me in at least one way.”
Sammy tried not to react, but she was sure she blushed despite her best efforts. Calliope was no help, playing something ominous like she was experimenting with a theme for Azure’s ‘dark sorceress’ persona. Sammy tried to ignore that too. “I think my point still stands?!”
Grinning, Azure shrugged. “I mentioned this already and she said it was unlikely to matter. Deathsting doesn’t care about secondary relationships, just the one between him and a wielder. It has to do with essential nature, personality, and so on.”
“Hmmph. Well, whatever. You’re the dagger girl, after all.”
“I do like knives. Stabbing things. Darting in and out. Penetrating-”
“Alright! That’s enough, Hornberry! Ahem. Moving on. Lots of things are churning in process and progress right now. Including Itha Ranon. You caught the latest?”
“Yes. I appreciate your restraint in that regard, Chestnut. It seems it will require some measure of subtlety after all.”
“A shame. I hoped to charge in like a lion and such.”
“More like a rhino.”
“I’m not that big!”
“You’re just the right size: whatever your whim. Or mine.”
“Eh heh… well-”
“On that note, may we retire to private, Your Majesty?” She held out her hand and wriggled her fingers for Sammy to come and take it. “I’m feeling pent up and aggressive.”
“Oh. I-... yes.” Wondering exactly what that would mean but increasingly excited to find out, Sammy rose and descended the steps to take her lover’s hand and be led off. Sammy refused to look at Calliope, who nonetheless was playing something the harp equivalent of ‘bow bow… chicka chicka.’
Bards are so insufferable!
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Having The Lover as a lover sure is a handful. An amazing handful, but definitely a handful.
Sammy sipped tea from a balcony over her city, enjoying a nighttime breeze and the glow below. Everything she’d designed and cultivated. Sampling the experience of that ambiance proved it to be well up to the task of inspiring awe and coziness. Possession, in a way… Looking down to see a collective home of humanity. Which didn’t just mean humans, to her. ‘Sapienthood’ just didn’t really roll off the tongue.
Whatever I am, they all are the reflections therein. In that case, we’re all Earthlings, too! Basic bitches, as well? Hmm.
Azure slept off her ardor. Sammy felt rather satisfied that her own endless energy was up to the task of… endurance. There had been a strong psychological component that mentally exhausted her in the beginning, but she’d adapted. When her brain didn’t want to rest, her ‘body’ wouldn’t either.
It was just a lens of her light, essentially, beaming a certain way that equated to ‘quasi-physical.’ Welp, that was an odd thought. Probably bleed-through from the higher me.
Her realm had decided to do a lot of work for her through the night in general. Followers poured in like mad. Specifically, the Naugite camp on the second night of their flight saw accelerating gains for Puck, expanding from her original foothold and feedstock of Followers. As fit with the sorts she’d targeted, they were charismatic and talkative sorts.
The first requirement of her related quest, ‘acquiring 44 Followers’ was blown through with ease. The other requirements were a little more complicated. Heskar seemed ripe to be the first Devout, but it was a little too soon. The prayer requirement would be erratic. The first crop had for the most part only prayed for luck, so they needed to be coached and steered to pray toward [Illusion] equivalence, to satisfy the quest.
Encouragement from Zadkiel’s realm helped to make the gains explode even further. It seemed he was adding Followers himself, in the new Dreixia-less dynamic of that particular clan alliance, but doing the solid of making a ‘package deal’ that included Puck and a choice of who to be ‘mained’ to, in exchange for the same courtesy.
It was a no-brainer for Sammy to have this additional stamp of approval from a more well-known entity. By all appearances, there were tons of clansmen who were interested in all the buffs, blessings, and benefits they’d more or less been taboo-blocked on before. They were all people who risked their lives day-to-day, so it was no surprise.
It wasn’t all sunshine and roses — also no surprise in dealing with Naugites. Though they fell short of being aggressive about it exactly, there was still a large population that was dubious of — and a small core that was entirely against — following gods. This included those who’d been originally caught up in cheering Puck. It was one thing to support a hero in battle, and something else entirely to pray to them. For some, there was a cultural and semi-religious resistance.
She was very interested in who led the way there, suspecting it might be the Ogdellos faction, but she was disappointed to discover that this potential ‘bad leader’ Dreixia mentioned was all about Zadkiel, and even secondarily Puck. He was, in fact, the opposite and leading the way in embracing the ‘new way of things.’ Instead, his rival Nyomel, a cousin and former close aide of Dreixia, led the relative detractors.
Fuck my life! Now I’m left to wonder if she wasn’t lying as a last gasp to sabotage me. If I conspire to keep Ogdellos from the horn of leadership, I’m potentially shooting myself in the foot believer-wise and making way for someone who could well be a Dreixia sympathizer, setting up political struggles.
Sammy contacted Ba-Rasine to ask about what was going on with Dreixia’s former crew.
“I’m afraid spies in her inner circle have been religiously repulsed, often lethally,” Ba Ra sent back. “Honestly, that is Nyomel herself’s doing. To this day, we do not know what strange class she possesses, but it is unique and has magical capabilities. Perhaps an extremely well-disguised wizardly type, an enchantress, or a very unique shaman. She is from the distant and unknown south, specifically a land we’ve never heard of and is likely made up. She married into Dreixia’s clan though now a widow.”
“Huh. And how would she be as a leader? Would she oppose me and cause problems? Us, I mean. Oppose us.”
“Of course you do. Nyomel as a leader… this is unlikely, as she was more the brains and social manipulator of the operation. And she’s a foreigner. I am certain she disapproved of her chief’s actions by the end but remained loyal.
“You may have misunderstood the details of her position. Nyomel opposes god worship dogmatically so is loud in that regard. She opposes Ogdellos but supports retaining Dreixia’s collective aides as a council to govern for the duration of the campaign. Due to the overwhelming consensus to continue in the war, she doesn’t see any purpose in snap choosing a new war chief. She maintains that under the larger army, Dreixia’s system can simply go on as before, orders passing down the chain.”
“Mmn. Uh. So… Is it just me, or does that not sound pretty great?”
“Only in theory. In reality, it’s ignorant and impossible. There are five clans under Dreixia as an alliance, and they’ll want a leader. Right now, that’ll be Ogdellos. Without Nyomel and Dreixia’s other trustees positioning someone else to protest and compete, it’ll be the reality very soon. He’s already unofficially doing it. Nyomel is conveniently making herself irrelevant. For now. She’ll inevitably find a way to ingratiate herself with whoever leads, I’m sure.”
“Is there anyone who she could promote to oppose, feasibly?”
There was a puzzled pause from Ba Ra. “Could you explain why you’re against Ogdellos? He supports you, even if he’s ingratiated himself with Zadkiel more. They have one of those ‘brother in arms’ things going between them. Drinking contests, competing for a woman’s eye, so on.”
“If you know him, perhaps you could illuminate: is he an actual good leader other than swinging his sword around? Is he advised well?”
“An axe. He uses an axe. As for his capability, he is largely as to the Zadkiel persona, but less magnetically sexy and without the wizardry, genius, or godhood behind it all. And then much dumber, still. His uncle is a good advisor, but he was ill before the campaign. He isn’t present.”
“Okay, see, this is my problem. He’s an idiot. Do you see how that could be a problem?”
“I don’t see what it matters. He is an easily manipulated patsy that will run where pointed, and he’s charismatic enough. It’s all we need. So, are you going to tell me where this comes from, you being someone otherwise clueless to our culture?”
Sammy sighed. “Dreixia’s last words were that he could not lead. She could’ve simply done it to mislead and torture me a bit as a final revenge.”
“I see. Hmm. I must admit that, if spoken saliently and truly, she’d know more about her own inner culture than I would. I would not personally make this choice based on her, but I think this is yours to deduce and make, Goddess.”
Sammy sipped her tea as she stared out over a dark sky over Heaven. Dreixia, you’re doing a lot from the grave, aren’t you? Why was this hill so important to die on? Is it better for your people?
To Ba Ra, she sent, “These were her dying words, and I believe she meant them, one way or another. A dying wish. So be it. Blessing or curse, I accept it and will try to heed her. Ba Ra, help me to oppose Ogdellos and present a better leader for this alliance, in opposition.”
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