Making A Splash

  Chapter 17

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  Fortunately, Mandy did not need sleep anymore, because she was certain she would not have been able to get any. As the hours ticked away and the sun set over the far horizon, night fell over the ship. Chase, diligent assistant that he was, had remained in her cabin well into the evening, keeping her company and watching her pace and listening to her assure herself, out loud, that she was going to be fine and that tomorrow was going to go perfectly, until he fell asleep on the couch. Mandy spent a few more hours stalking the halls of the ship like the ghost she was, before finally deciding to dismiss her projection entirely and retreating into her body, to lose herself in the sensation of sailing.

  Morning came far too soon and far too quickly, and with it an almost electric hum that filled the air as the daytime crew arose and began chattering endlessly, all eyes fixed on the coastline as they swept closer and closer to their destination.

  Mandy manifested in her now empty cabin; Chase, having woken up in the middle of the night, let loose a string of profuse apologies to the empty air before hustling back to the crew quarters. She wore her best recreation of her favorite pair of pajamas from back home: a cozy pair of sweatpants in cherry pink, her favorite color, and a loose white tank top. She had a mug in one hand, from which very realistic steam rose, and a plate in the other bearing two slices of toast with a bit of butter on top.

  With a mental flick, the chair at the writing desk slid out for her, and she dropped into it with a sigh, setting her plate on the desk and taking a sip from the mug. The “coffee” inside the mug didn't move with the motion, and the slurping noise was a little off, but it was still a pretty solid illusion.

  “Still can't figure out liquids,” Mandy said with a sigh. That blood she spat up had proved to be a fluke, a spur of the moment feat that she hadn't been able to recreate yet.

  Reaching for the plate, she bit into the toast, producing a much less convincing crunching noise while just cutting away the portion that had been in her mouth. It sounded more like boots on snow than the crackle of toasted bread, which might have been sufficient for someone who wasn't her.

  “I should have talked to the foley guys more,” Mandy decided while “chewing” her mouthful. At the very least, she did manage to make a very realistic shower of crumbs fall from the area she’d bitten away, but curiously they seemed to vanish once they hit the floor if she didn’t hold her focus on them. Something to keep in mind, for later.

  “Well, that was fun,” Mandy said, clapping her hands, banishing her illusory breakfast.

  “You really should be taking this upcoming meeting more seriously,” Lady Scarlett said from the couch, a cup of tea in one hand and a saucer in the other.

  “I'm taking it as seriously as I can without going insane,” Mandy replied, preemptively holding her hand up. “And no, this doesn't count. There's nothing wrong with thinking out loud.”

  “No, but there is something a bit odd about using spectral clones of yourself adopting different personas to do so, you must admit,” Lady Scarlett said, sticking a pinky out and taking a tiny, polite sip from her teacup.

  “Do I really have to be here for this?” Lady Azure asked, looking up from the floor. Her blue color-shifted copy of Lady Scarlett’s outfit had been replaced by a stereotypical French maid's dress with a blue ribbon around the waist, and she leaned boredly on the broom in her hands. “I don't even know why I'm sweeping, it's not like I can actually move the dirt around.”

  “Don't look at me,” Mandy said, motioning to Lady Scarlett. “You're her captive, not mine.”

  The “three” of them shared a laugh at that, and Mandy was proud of the fact that she could get all three of her bodies to laugh at different tones, with a different tempo to each. It was a bit like managing to pat her head and rub her stomach, cranked up to eleven… thousand. And, like the mug and the plate, the teacup and the broom, it was all practice for her arrival at the capital. She didn't know how many people could be crammed into this Grand Royal Aquadrome, but she intended to blow the pants off every single one.

  “Alright, that's enough for now,” Mandy said, running her hands through her hair and clapping her hands once, emptying the room of all projections except for her. She slipped into her casual dress, summoned a mirror to inspect herself in, then blinked up into the helm.

  “Not much longer now, Captain?” Mandy asked.

  “D-ah!” Captain Vittorio let out a small noise of alarm, jumping at the wheel and turning to regard her with a frown.

  “Lady Scarlett, please—” he began, then cut himself off and squeezed his eyes shut, opening them again, giving her a congenial smile. “Quite, my lady. I'd say we have about two hours left, maybe less. The capital itself should become visible soon, once we round this cape.”

  The captain nodded forward, at a crescent shape outcropping of land dominated by a steep overhanging cliff, which they were roughly following the curve of. Mandy felt her excitement redouble, this time letting it actually show on her face, turning to the horizon with a broad, confident grin on her face. As promised, once the ship was clear of the cape, the view of the coast sprawled out before them. More dense forests blanketed the hills, and Mandy could just barely make out the point where they began to thin out, the capital city still too distant even for her to see clearly.

  More and more sailors emerged onto the main decks, those that were sleeping off their late night shifts being woken up by their comrades as their hour of arrival grew closer. Eventually Mandy began to be able to see the city itself, and the sight of it was enough to make her jaw drop. The mountain range that seemed to run from one end of the island to the other came to a dramatic peak, disappearing into the clouds. Built out of the base of that mountain was a castle that loomed over the city below, which was built like a series of increasingly wider wedges that spilled down the countryside, continuing all the way until it reached the ocean, where what looked like miles of docks overtook the natural shoreline. There were dozens upon dozens of ships to be seen dotting the harbor, and two landmarks that immediately caught Mandy’s attention; a towering lighthouse perched on a hill a fair distance north of the city, and a huge, circular construct that resembled a stadium which matched the descriptions she’d been given of the Grand Royal Aquadrome.

  “Wooooow…” Mandy said as she took in the views, while the sailors passed the same few spare spyglasses between themselves, since they were actually still a fair ways away from the city.

  It really was like something out of a movie, the way the rising sun crested the mountains and shot rays of sunlight across the rooftops of the different city districts, glinting off various bits of architecture and making the bay seem to glow. As the sky brightened, though, a literal dark spot appeared on the horizon, in the form of a column of black smoke that was drifting into the air from some point high up in the slope of the city, near the castle.

  “Huh,” Mandy said, furrowing her brow and pointing towards the city. “Can any of you see that? Is that smoke?”

  “Aye, I see it, m’lady,” one sailor replied, leaning halfway over the railing. “Must’ve been a fire in the night.”

  “Looks like it’s coming from somewhere in the upper districts,” another called out.

  That sent murmurs racing through the crowd.

  “Oh,” Lieutenant Cooper said, raising a hand to her mouth. “I hope no one was hurt.”

  Yeah, seriously. That’d put a real damper on my arrival, geez.

  Thankfully, whatever the situation was, it seemed to be in the past. As they continued to drift closer several sailors noted the lack of alarm bells echoing from the city, signalling that the fire indeed wasn’t ongoing. At some point, Captain Vittorio broke the spell of fascination that the sight of the capital city had cast on the crew by beginning to bark out orders, sending them scurrying back to their posts, attending to Mandy’s sails. Over the course of the last hour, they’d been adjusting, and steadily raising, her sails, so that for the first time in days Mandy had felt herself actually losing speed, and now she was all but gliding along on leftover momentum.

  She was left in the helm with not much to do but watch and wait, and as she watched she noticed another ship that had separated from the pack roaming the harbor and was approaching them. It was much smaller than she was, shorter and narrower as well, with only one mast, the sails of which were currently furled. Mandy looked on in fascination as the ship was propelled towards her with the aid of two rows of tremendously long oars that protruded from its side and moved in eerie unison like the legs of a millipede.

  “Captain!” the lookout called down from the crow’s nest. “Ship approaching. She’s asking us to come to a stop and wait for them.”

  Confused, Mandy tried to follow the lookout’s line of sight, noticing that there was one sailor standing against the railing of the approaching ship with their arms raised, a pair of red and black flags in their hands. The longer Mandy watched, the more she became aware of a… well, not a voice in the back of her head, because it wasn’t actually audible, but just a sort of intuitive understanding of the meaning each movement of the flags was meant to convey, condensed into simple words.

  “…lt and hold. Halt and hold. Halt and…”

  Mandy blinked her eyes several times and looked away from the flags, furrowing her brow slightly. That was… strange. Was that another boat power? She couldn’t imagine what else it was.

  “Ah, tell them we understand,” Captain Vittorio called back to the lookout, then said to Lieutenant Cooper, “Furl the sails, have the mages guide us to a stop,” which Lieutenant Cooper immediately echoed to the rest of the crew.

  One of the sailors on her ship produced a similar pair of flags, and despite herself Mandy watched as they raised their arms and began signalling back.

  “Message received.”

  Okay, that's… really weird…

  Deciding to make an executive decision, Mandy chose to just shove that oddity aside for the time being. She had enough on her plate, thank you very much.

  The four sailors with blue-trimmed uniforms, the tidal mages, had long since gotten to their positions at the four corners of Mandy’s main deck, and when the word went up, they all once again called out in unison and began to manipulate the water under Mandy, using it to push back against her until she, finally, came to a full and complete stop.

  In a move so effortless Mandy would have thought it was rehearsed ahead of time, the smaller ship glided up alongside her, coming to rest just as the same time as she did, leaving both ships bobbing almost perfectly parallel to each other with about thirty feet between them. Mandy could make out the other sailors lined up against the railing of the opposite ship, looking curiously in her direction, pointing and whispering to their neighbors. One person stood out to her, the one that Mandy assumed to be the ship's captain from the gold trimming on her uniform matching that of Captain Vittorio’s. She was broad-shouldered and burly, with pitch-black hair and a severe expression on her face, not helped in the least by the scar running from her left temple down to the corner of her mouth.

  As Mandy watched, another sailor handed her an object that looked an awful lot like just a metal funnel with a handle, which she raised to her lips.

  “Ahoy! Good tides and fair weather!” The woman's voice boomed across the narrow gap, and several of the sailors on both ships winced and brought their hands to their ears. “This is Captain Margarete Calabrese of the HRMS Sea Fox! Are you one ‘Captain Vittorio?’ Your ship’s designation does not match our records!”

  Mandy chuckled under her breath at that. Apparently, the ship she now occupied used to have its old name painted on both sides of the bow as well as the stern, but the paint seemed to have vanished at some point after her awakening. Once this was discovered, the sailor who acted as the ship’s carpenter and his assistant were dispatched, to hang over the sides of the ship and paint the words “Lady Scarlett” onto the wood.

  Captain Vittorio stepped up to the railing beside Mandy, having been handed a similar speaking device by Lieutenant Cooper.

  “Good morning, and well-met to you, Captain!” Captain Vittorio replied, his voice not nearly as deafening as the other woman's. “Yes, I am Captain Vittorio Battaglia, of the”—he glanced sidelong at Mandy for a single second, continuing without missing a beat—“recently renamed HRMS Lady Scarlett! I believe you've been expecting us!”

  “That we have, Captain! I shall have to have word sent to correct the error!” Captain Calabrese shouted back. “I've been sent to guide you to the aquadrome, and give you a lift if necessary! We weren't sure if you'd be bringing your own tide mages!”

  “Well, as you can see we’ll be capable of making it ourselves, thank you, but we'd appreciate the escort!” Captain Vittorio said with a laugh.

  “Surprised they managed to scrounge up four whole mages from way out in the backwoods,” Mandy heard one sailor whisper snidely to another. It took her a second to realize it was a pair of soldiers on the other ship, and that she'd unconsciously extended her sphere of awareness to cover the entire distance between them and the ship itself. She couldn't feel the other ship like she could herself, and she couldn’t instantly inventory every person, item, and piece of equipment they had on board, but she could still manually sweep her vision through the ship section by section, and wow there were a lot of rats running around their holds. Just the sight of it made Mandy shiver.

  “Acknowledged! Give us just a moment to come about!” Captain Calabrese shouted back, then seemed to hesitate for a moment, and Mandy could see her eyes flick momentarily from the captain to her, before she raised the speaking cone again. “And if I may be so bold, allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Royal City of Lichtford, Your Highness!”

  Oh? It’s “Your Highness” now is it? Oh yeah, Mandy could definitely get used to that.

  Captain Vittorio turned, a curious look on his face, and offered her the metal funnel, but Mandy just smiled and waved it away. She had a better idea.

  She dismissed her projection, and resummoned it in the helm of the Sea Fox, behind the Captain and gathered sailors.

  “Thank you very much, Captain Calabrese,” Mandy said, delighting in the confused and startled outburst she got, from everyone except Captain Calabrese herself, who simply whirled around to boggle at her in wide eyed silence. She smiled, brought her hands to her lips, and blew a kiss before vanishing again, reappearing back on her own ship. The crew who had been paying enough attention to witness that all got a laugh out of it, and she turned to give Captain Vittorio a prim and pleasant smile, which he returned by just chuckling and shaking his head.

  After that, Mandy let herself get distracted peeking through every nook and cranny of the other ship while the two captains hashed out the details of their approach to the aquadrome. Mandy was most interested in the feature that took up the most space in the smaller ship: the large hall that was dominated by a row of twenty benches, ten to each side, which was crammed full with people. The massive oars that had been propelling the ship had been partially retracted, and like most of the other sailors, the rowers were chatting excitedly amongst themselves. Those who were positioned on the right side of the ship were even clamoring to get a peek at her through the holes the oars came through.

  Captain Calabrese gave an order, and Mandy watched as it was relayed along a chain of sailors until it reached the rowers, at which point they sprung into action, falling back into line and gripping their oars. One sailor, a tall man with a shaved head and some of the most massive arms Mandy had ever seen, called out “About face! Port side, heave!” and at once the sailors on the left side of the ship began working their oars forward, then backwards, while those on the right side did the same but in reverse, until the ship was spun around to face towards the coastline again. Captain Calabrese shouted that they were all set, and Captain Vittorio turned, addressing the mages again. In a repeat of the process that had been used to guide her out of the bay at the start of their journey, the mages began casting, and Mandy could feel the water roiling against her underside once again, propelling her along at an even, controlled pace.

  Together, the two ships made their way towards the squat, colosseum-like structure that dominated the north banks of the coastline. A grand archway connected the two ends of the ring, hanging over the wide-open inlet that led from the bay into a perfectly circular body of water. Through the archway, Mandy could see the upward curving walls of the aquadrome, and they were absolutely packed.

  Mandy’s heart began to race as she beheld the sheer size of the crowd that awaited her. She'd been expecting thousands of people, but this was easily more in the realm of tens of thousands. As they neared the mouth of the inlet, the dull hum that had been on the very edge of Mandy’s awareness became a roar, more and more of the crowd starting to catch on to the fact that she was arriving.

  “I, ah…” Mandy began, lifting her chin up and turning to Captain Vittorio. “I must go and make final preparations for my appearance.”

  Before he could respond, she disappeared, reappearing in her cabin.

  “Oh my god,” Mandy said, alternating between holding the sides of her head and shaking her hands out in front of her. “Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmy—”

  “Get ahold of yourself, woman,” Lady Scarlett said, clapping her hands onto Mandy’s shoulders and forcing her to meet her eyes.

  “...wait a minute,” Mandy said, furrowing her brow. “No, this is backwards. You’re the one that’s going out there.”

  “Oh, yes, my mistake,” Lady Scarlett said with a titter, and Mandy placed her hands onto her shoulders.

  “Okay, focus!” Mandy said, deadly serious. “I know we haven’t had a lot of time to rehearse this, but that’s fine. We’ll just need to increase the scale a bit, make sure everyone can see, right? And then, it’s just a matter of meeting with the nobles and showing them that you’re one of them!”

  Lady Scarlett let out a haughty laugh and placed one of her hands on top of Mandy’s “Worry not, dear. Everything is going to go perfectly.”

  “Everything is going to go perfectly,” Mandy repeated, bowing her head, before dismissing both projections so she could actually concentrate and focus on her last minute preparations, instead of just giving herself a pep talk.

  Outside, the smaller ship’s oars reversed direction again, allowing the larger ship to pass them up. As she passed under the archway, the already excited crowd’s cheers ratcheted up another notch. Inside, the aquadrome resembled the gigantic stadium that it was, with rows upon rows of tiered benches, divided into segments by walkways and stairs. Directly across from the entrance, in the direction the mages were still guiding her, a large partially enclosed viewing box was perched over the stands, which Mandy imagined would give whoever was inside the best view of whatever normally went on in the aquadrome. Mandy could already see several figures milling around inside the box, some seated, some standing, all of them staring intently out at her, but they were still too distant to make out any finer details.

  Extending from the rim of the structure, directly in front of and below the viewing box, was a long dock constructed out of stone, one of three that were placed at equal distances around the outermost edges of the stadium. There was a crowd there as well, consisting of two rows of soldiers standing in formation with spears at their sides, as well as an older man wearing long red robes similar to those that Brother Eugene wore, only a lot showier. Behind the robed man was a procession of people in white robes with pink trim, all carrying large woven baskets and standing with their heads bowed. Lastly, there were a pair of figures standing behind the crowd on the docks, obscured by the shadows cast from the overhanging observer’s box; one huge and looming, with a silhouette that implied the presence of heavy armor, and a tall, thin figure standing with their arms crossed.

  Following the directions that they’d been given by Captain Calabrese, Captain Vittorio instructed the mages to bring them to the edge of the docks, and Mandy felt the waters shift underneath her again, turning her to one side. She swung out wide, following the outer curve of the stadium, until she was dead on to approach the docks. If Mandy had lungs, she’d be holding her breath, as the mages gradually slowed them down, until, at long last, she listed to a stop, at which point several soldiers rushed to the front, shouting out orders for them to throw down their mooring lines. Her crew, well trained and well ahead of them, began tossing several thick, heavy ropes to the waiting sailors, who looped the ropes through the loops of several intermittently placed rings, cinching them tight with dizzying speed.

  With Mandy secured, the sailors fell back into formation, and three of them raised a trio of glistening metal trumpets to their lips and began to play, blaring a jaunty, celebratory tune, which acted as the cue for the old priest and the row of robed people to start moving forward, the former clasping his hands in front of him and the latter reaching into the baskets and beginning to sprinkle rose petals onto the dock.

  Oh, I knew it! I knew rose petals were the right move!

  The priest reached the edge of the dock and turned to the left, and the robed procession went to the right, leaving a wide-open, petal-lined corridor behind them, at which point the tall figure in the shadows began to step forward, finally emerging into the light, where—

  What the fuck?!

  Where Mandy was finally able to see the figure clear enough, at which point all thoughts of her upcoming debut flew from her mind, because what the fuck?!

  The tall, elegant, blond-haired older woman striding towards her looked uncannily like a member of Mandy’s own family. Not identical to any one person specifically, no, but a dead ringer for, like, a long-lost aunt or something. She was wearing an outfit that was some combination of formal wear and a military uniform; tight, narrow-legged red pants with creases so sharp you could cut yourself on them, and a broad-shouldered, double-breasted coat with a tails so long they nearly swept the floor. Like the soldiers, she carried a spear in one hand, though hers was much longer and more ornate than the others, standing easily ten feet tall, with a huge leaf-shaped head that shone gold in the sun. As she walked, she slammed the butt of her spear onto the ground, which caused sparks to fly up from the stone, creating a rhythm that was picked up by the other soldiers as she passed and, eventually, the observing crowd as well, stamping their feet and creating a ruckus so loud that Mandy could feel it rattling the wood that made up her hull.

  Heh… heh heh… Shiver me timbers, right? Mandy thought, struggling to regain her mental balance. Seriously, she would not have been surprised to bump into this woman at a family reunion or something.

  She finally came to a stop a few feet away from the edge of the dock, and fixed her fierce, hawklike expression onto the ship. Behind her, having followed her from the shadows, stood the hulking figure of a knight in gleaming red armor, embedded with what looked like large chunks of onyx.

  All at once, all the stamping and trumpeting and cheering came to an end, and the silence that followed fell like a fifty-ton anvil. Mandy felt so tense, it was a wonder she didn’t spontaneously explode. On some unseen, unheard cue, the knight stepped forward, and when he spoke, his voice was projected to the very edges of the stadium.

  “Hear ye, honorable spirit!” the deep, gruff, bear-like roar of the knight proclaimed. “Imperial Highness, The First Blossom, Preeminent Spear of the Fulminous Empire, Duchess of Lichtford, Princess Aurelia Ippolita Rosenfeld, on behalf of Her Radiant Majesty, The Everblooming, The Heavenly Ascendant, The Empress of the Fulminous Empire, welcomes you to the Empire!”

  As the knight wrapped up, the stern-faced woman raised her spear into the air, and then shot an actual bolt of lightning into the sky, filling the stadium with blinding white light and a deafening CRACK! which left a gaping hole in the clouds overhead and most of the audience blinking stars from their eyes.

  Well… there’s probably no topping that… Mandy thought, cracking her metaphorical knuckles.

  Waiting just long enough that the audience would be able to actually see again, and obviously to build dramatic tension, Mandy finally set her plan in motion.

  With a motion like breathing in and breathing out, her hull flexed ever so slightly, and then a voice, disembodied but emanating from the tip of her tallest mast, boomed across the stadium, easily a match for the armored knight’s proclamation.

  “Princess Aurelia Ippolita Rosenfeld!” she roared, taking delight in being able to see the princess’s eyes actually open several inches wider. “I thank you for that magnificent display, and this spectacular welcome you’ve put together for me!”

  The crowd, obligingly, began to hum with the sound of over ten thousand people’s worth of excited chatter.

  “If you’ll allow me, I’d like to return the favor, and introduce myself properly!”

  With Step One: Pique Their Interest, completed, Mandy initiated Step Two: Shock and Awe.

  A series of explosions went off across her main deck, sending clouds of red, pink and white smoke billowing up into the air, startling everyone, her own crew most of all. A gust of wind swept in, capturing the smoke and swirling it into a huge, multicolored column that swept across the deck, rattling every rope and pulley and causing the ship to rock slightly against its moorings. The clouds were pushed to the stern, up into the helm where a very started, very confused Captain Vittorio scrambled to one side, giving Mandy room to collect the (obviously) illusory clouds, condensing them into a smaller and smaller column that eventually resembled a tornado made of cotton candy. With a sudden snap, the clouds sucked inward, then burst outward, having been turned into thousands of red, white, and pink rose petals, which Mandy dearly hoped no one would take that close a look at, since they were all actually flat and two-dimensional, lacking proper thickness or any real details.

  Standing where the storm had condensed was Mandy, dressed in her absolute finest, wearing her most elegant dress with the rose petal skirt. With her skin having been made to appear as though it were giving off a soft, golden light, Mandy turned, walking slowly and deliberately down from the helm. The sailors on deck all threw themselves out of her way as she approached, until she was standing at roughly the middle of the railing, directly across from Princess Aurelia and the now openly gawking welcoming party.

  Step Three: Seal the Deal.

  Mandy stepped up onto the railing, then went right over it, at which point the old priest on the dock and several of the soldiers let out shouts of alarm, which only pleased her more when their alarm turned to awe as she descended towards the water as lightly as a feather.

  Really glad I did all that wire work now, Mandy thought, as she arrested her momentum well before she hit the water, standing there on empty air as though there were an invisible platform supporting her. To add to the illusion, rose petals continued to fall from the hem of her skirt, collecting on the “ground” around her feet as she began to pace towards the dock. Stepping up onto actual solid ground, Mandy turned her face up towards Princess Aurelia, and gave her her best literally-award-winning smile.

  “I am Lady Scarlett, and on behalf of the goddess, I thank you,” Mandy said, at the same time projecting her words from the top of her mast again, so that the entire aquadrome could hear them. Then, using only her own voice, she said to Princess Aurelia, “But I would be most delighted if you would welcome me as Scarlett Rosenfeld.”

  Mandy had, of course, learned by now that “Rosenfeld” was the last name shared by the entire royal family, and figured attaching that to the end of her made up pseudonym would put the perfect final touches on her forged identity.

  Around them, the stands had fallen silent again. Princess Aurelia was staring down at Mandy, her expression unreadable. With all the speed and urgency of a glacier, Princess Aurelia leaned down, her voice cool and quiet.

  “Scarlett Rosenfeld?” Princess Aurelia said, as though tasting the name and not quite finding it to her liking. “It is tradition, upon the birth of a new member of the royal household, to bestow upon them not just one name, to address them by, but a second name as well, to mark them as unique and above the common chaff. These names either honor esteemed figures of the past, or carry some intrinsic meaning, in an attempt to impart a boon upon the one who bears them, promising such things as strength, long life, or good fortune. You will need a proper name, befitting a proper Rosenfeld, before you can be declared as one.”

  Oh, shit. Well, that was an unexpected speed bump, but if Mandy knew anything about speed bumps, it was that they were mostly a suggestion.

  “Amanda,” Mandy declared without a second thought, her smile widening. “It means ‘loveable.’”

  It did, in fact. In Latin. Mandy’s parents had told her so, many times, after she’d started going by “Mandy.” It hadn’t made much of a difference to her one way or the other then, but now she was glad she was able to whip that little factoid out.

  Princess Aurelia’s eyes narrowed, and for a split second Mandy thought she was well and truly done for, destined to be reduced to sawdust and splinters, until she saw one corner of the princess’s mouth curl upward.

  “It will do,” Princess Aurelia said. Snapping her head to the right, where the old priest had been hovering just far enough away to be polite, but still close enough that he was clearly expected to be beckoned over any second, she said, “We will not be requiring your services, Bishop; I can see the truth before my own eyes.” Turning her head to the left, she ordered the knight, “Make the announcement,” and then finally to Mandy she said, “Turn and face the crowd. I want to wrap this up.”

  Mandy did as she was told, and suppressed a shudder as Princess Aurelia’s free hand fell onto her shoulder. The knight once again raised his helmeted head, bringing his fist to his breastplate. Just before he began to speak, Princess Aurelia shot under her breath, “And use the short version this time, for my mother’s sake.”

  “Her Imperial Highness, Princess Aurelia Ippolita Rosenfeld, bids you all pay welcome, and respects, and to the aspect of the Goddess of Love and War, Princess Scarlett Amanda Rosenfeld!”

  The crowd went absolutely ballistic at that, several of them leaving their seats entirely to stand and cheer. The soldiers behind them began playing their trumpets again, and around the outer edges of the aquadrome’s open roof, several detonations went off in sequence, sending small rockets screaming into the sky, where they burst into clouds of actual smoke and sparks.

  They were fireworks, of a sort. She was getting fireworks!

  Holy shit, Mandy thought, the realization finally settling in. Holy shit holy shit holyshitholyshitholyshit—

  She couldn’t contain herself, and she couldn’t start jumping around on the docks, and so, down in the hull of the ship, inside her cabin, Mandy summoned not one, not two, but four copies of herself, all of whom began cheering and high-fiving each other.

  “Thank the goddess,” Princess Aurelia said, taking her hand from Mandy’s shoulder. “I’m glad this wasn’t for nothing.” Turning around, Mandy found Princess Aurelia undoing the top two buttons on her coat with one hand while passing off the enormous golden spear to the knight. Catching her eye, Princess Aurelia jerked her head up towards the observer’s box. “The rest of my younger siblings, our siblings, will entertain you for now. I have work I must attend to. I look forward to learning of your purpose and speaking with you more, if I have time.”

  The whole time she was talking, she continued to undo her jacket while walking backwards, and once she hit the shade under the overhang, she whipped it off entirely, slinging it over her shoulder and starting to march off down the corridor that led into the interior of the stadium. Mandy stood and watched, stunned, for several seconds until it clicked that the woman was just… leaving.

  Beside her, the giant knight cleared his throat with a sound like gravel tumbling inside a metal barrel, and Mandy jumped.

  “The others are waiting for you in the viewing platform,” he said, already starting to walk after Princess Aurelia. When he stopped and looked back at her, Mandy realized he wanted her to follow him, and she picked up the front of her dress and hurried to catch up with him. He led her down the same corridor Princess Aurelia had taken, which was lit by many rows of glass bulbs that had bright, glowing orbs of light bouncing around inside them. He continued until they reached a split in the side of the corridor, where two doorways opened into a pair of stairwells on either side, and he pointed to one with his free hand.

  “That will take you to them,” he said, and then he was marching away again. Mandy, at a loss for what else to do, stepped into the stairwell and began climbing the stairs.

  “Wait, why am I actually climbing these?” Mandy asked herself. She’d been a bit frazzled, using all her available mental energy to pull off her whole display, so she’d retracted her ship-vision and pushed all of her awareness into her projection to give her mind a moment to rest and recover. Now, she pushed it back out, peering up through the layers of stone until she found the point where these stairs actually ended. With a flicker, she vanished, reappearing at the top of the stairwell, inside a shallow corridor. Across from her was another stairwell, presumably leading back down, and in the center of the hallway was a door. Mandy knew the people waiting for her were on the other side of it, and she knew she could have swept her vision into the box and gotten a look at them ahead of time, but like with Lieutenant Cooper’s bonding exercise, she kind of didn’t want to spoil the surprise for herself.

  Doing a quick check to make sure everything about her appearance was still in order, she stepped up to the door and rapped her knuckles against it twice.

  From within, a voice called out, clear as day.

  “What the… who’s fucking knocking? Did one of you send for something?”

  Mandy stepped back as the door was thrown open from inside, and another girl glared out at her. She was young, looking only a few years older than Mandy, and just like Princess Aurelia, she shared such an uncanny resemblance to Mandy’s own family that it made her head spin.

  “I swear to the goddess, I’ll have your he—oh!” the girl said, startling and jumping backwards slightly. “Oh, it’s you!” she said, before shaking her head, a strained smile appearing on her face. “I mean, uh, welcome! You didn’t really need to knock, you know, but… anyway, come in! The others and I are all… very excited to meet you!”

  “O-oh,” Mandy said, startled, as the girl reached out and snatched one of her wrists, pulling her into the observation box and slamming the door behind them.

  Inside, the room was absolutely gaudy, the floor covered in a plush red carpet, the walls made of a dark, sleekly polished red wood, and four floor-to-ceiling pillars of black marble, carved to resemble a climbing spiral of roses and thorny vines. In addition to the short-tempered girl with red highlights, were six other people; two more members of the royal family, if Mandy had to guess, and three other figures. The three royals were a woman with an insanely complicated-looking braid who was sitting with her head bowed and a pair of metal knitting needles in her hands, an older man who looked to be in his late twenties with his blond hair pulled back into a short ponytail, a wine glass in one hand and a sword hanging off his hip, and a younger girl who Mandy would be surprised if she were a day older than thirteen, sitting with her eyes closed and wearing a dress so fancy and precious that she looked more like a life-sized doll than an actual person.

  The three other figures were scattered around the room; a young boy with black hair seated next to the youngest girl, who glanced nervously her way when she entered, but immediately turned away and went back to staring down at his hands, a girl about the same age as the one who’d invited Mandy in, standing in a suit of armor with her back against the wall and her arms crossed, a deep scowl on her face, and lastly a—

  “A-ah, oh, geez!” Mandy exclaimed as she actually got a look at the third figure. She was… Mandy had no clue what she was, other than spooky looking. She had skin the color of wet bricks, and short, choppy green hair, out of which two long, pointed ears poked, twitching slightly as she emerged from one corner of the room and stared Mandy down. Most unsettling of all was the mask she wore covering her face, which was featureless and black, except for the two wide, round glass lenses, behind which green flames flickered, like she was looking through the windows of a house on fire.

  “Oh, sorry about her, she’s a little on edge,” the girl with highlights said with a smirk, before turning to the red-skinned girl and letting out a sharp whistle. “Alex, go stand outside, make sure nobody else comes knocking.”

  The masked girl moved without so much as a sound, drifting past Mandy like an actual ghost, glass lenses fixed on her the whole time, until she reached the door, when she finally broke contact and slipped out into the hall.

  “I will never understand why you choose to employ that girl,” the man with the ponytail said, stepping away from the window of the observation box. He approached Mandy and the other woman with a charming smile on his face, pressing his free hand to his chest and giving her a little half bow. “Greetings, noble spirit. Or, perhaps, I should simply call you ‘sister,’ eh?” He laughed, raising his glass and taking a quick sip before continuing, “Now, I suppose proper introductions are in order, eh? I am Corin; delighted to welcome you to the family.”

  “Naomi,” the girl who’d invited her in said, stepping past her to cross the room and tap the woman with the braid on the shoulder, causing her to look up in wide eyed surprise.

  “This is Octavia,” Naomi said. “She doesn’t talk much.”

  Octavia smiled at Mandy, giving her a quick wave, then reached up and motioned for Naomi’s attention. When the other girl looked down, she began to excitedly perform a series of gestures with her hands. As Mandy watched, the same mental not-voice that had informed her of the meaning behind the flag signals came to her again.

  “Tell her I liked her presentation!”

  “Ah, alright,” Naomi said, turning to Mandy. “She says—”

  “I heard,” Mandy said without thinking, then blinked and shook her head. “I mean… I… I know what she said, and, uh, thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

  Naomi and Corin both looked surprised at that, and the youngest girl, who up until now had remained motionless in her seat, turned her head to “look” at Mandy, without actually opening her eyes. Octavia, meanwhile, sat up straighter in her seat, her sleepy, half-lidded eyes opening wider, and she brought her hands up again.

  “You’re welcome!” she signed. “The colors were very pretty! Corin nearly fell over the balcony when you jumped off the ship and stood on the air!” As she did so, Octavia’s face scrunched up, her mouth opened, and her shoulders began to shake with what Mandy realized was laughter.

  “O-oh,” Mandy said, chuckling, then starting to laugh as well. She… still didn’t really know what was going on. She knew enough to recognize sign language when she saw it, but she also knew she didn’t know sign language, just like she didn’t know weird flag waving signals.

  Well, apparently she did, now.

  “Huh, well, there you go, that’s Octavia,” Naomi said, dropping into one of the seats that lined the observation box. “Come on Marcella, your turn.”

  The youngest girl frowned at that, saying, “Why? You’re not taking this seriously, and you just told her my name.”

  “Come on, do it proper,” Naomi urged her, reaching down to her belt where a little leather sack dangled, pulling a metal ball from it. “You should be glad. Scarlett here is only a week old, so technically you’re not the youngest anymore.”

  “What?” Mandy said, furrowing her brow. There was no way that counted, right?!

  “Fine,” the still-very-much-youngest girl said with a sigh, rising from her seat and turning to face Mandy, folding her hands in front of her and bowing her head. “I am Marcella Lunette Rosenfeld, and I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Scarlett Amanda Rosenfeld. I beg your forgiveness, on behalf of myself and my siblings, for their lack of decorum.”

  “Aw, come off it,” Naomi said, beginning to roll the metal ball back and forth across her knuckles. “I’ve got plenty of decorum, but you heard sister, she’s already basically family. I doubt the goddess sent her all the way down here just to have us shower her in platitudes; she’s got plenty of that to look forward to in the future.” Craning her neck, Naomi looked to Mandy, asking, “You don’t mind, yeah? Back me up here.”

  Mandy had to actually stop and consider the question. She had to admit, this was very much not the reception she’d been expecting from the royal family. At the same time, it lined up with what Chase had said: behind closed doors, the royals did seem to let their hair down a bit. Even Princess Aurelia, who seemed like the biggest possible deal aside from the Empress, had seemed more like a harried business woman than a character out of a political drama. Mandy got the distinct impression that if she slapped on the “Lady Scarlett” voice and demanded they stick to the proper protocols that the others would do it, but they wouldn’t like it. If she wanted to be one of them, if she wanted to fit in as fast as possible, then it really seemed like the choice was obvious.

  “I won’t stand on ceremony,” Mandy said, smiling. “It never stood on me.”

  Several seconds of silence passed where none of them reacted, long enough for Mandy to contemplate just dismissing her projection entirely, before Naomi snorted, rocking her head back.

  “That was terrible,” she said, shaking her head.

  “I don’t know,” Corin said, bringing a hand to his chin and grinning. “I thought it was quite droll.”

  Octavia simply raised her hands, clapping them together politely.

  The only one who seemed flat-out disappointed was Marcella, who frowned deeply.

  “I thought you were an aspect of the Goddess of Love and War,” Marcella said, crossing her arms. “Not an aspect of Colin.”

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  What… who the fuck is Colin?

  “Wooow,” Naomi droned sarcastically. “That was almost a joke, Mar. Are you sure she’s not grown on you already?”

  “H-hold your tongue, Naomi!” Marcella protested, momentarily sounding like the young girl she was.

  They all shared another laugh at that, except for Marcella, and Mandy found herself joining in, finally stepping out of the threshold and finding a seat beside Naomi. Honestly, if she squinted a little, the older girl’s vibe wasn’t too dissimilar to some of Mandy’s old gal pals from back home.

  Turning her head, Mandy noticed that the dark-haired girl who was leaning up against the wall had fixed her eyes onto her.

  “Ah, hello there,” Mandy said. “I don’t believe I caught your name during the introductions?”

  The armored girl’s eyebrows furrowed at that, and beside her Naomi looked up, confused, following Mandy’s gaze. “Huh? Oh, that’s Francesca. She’s just my bodyguard.”

  At that, Francesca stood up from the wall, snapping to attention. “I am Princess Naomi’s sworn spear. Her sword, her shield, her bulwark. Her will is my own, and I shall guard her from all harm,” she said, mechanical and rote. When she was finished, she lowered her head and went right back to leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

  Cupping a hand around her mouth, Naomi stage whispered, “She’s having a hard day. She’s not usually like this.”

  “I see,” Mandy said, glancing nervously over Naomi’s shoulder at the other girl. Turning her head, she found the young boy, who she could now see shared a family resemblance to Francesca. Before she could even ask, Naomi spoke up.

  “That’s Emil. He’s Marcella’s bodyguard, and he is usually like that,” Naomi said.

  The boy, Emil, looked up at the sound of his name, offering Mandy a shy wave before sinking down into his seat, looking like he wished the ground would swallow him up.

  Just as the introductions were finished, the sound of trumpets intruded into the observation box through the open window, and the room collectively returned their attention to the aquadrome outside. At some point during their earlier conversation, a massive stone platform had been raised in the exact center of the flooded stadium. There were now two bridges connecting the two docks at the furthest left and right sides of the structure connecting them to the platform, and Mandy could see two small crowds of about twenty people each amassed on either dock, one wearing uniforms and armor with red embellishments, the other blue.

  “Ah, they’re starting the melee,” Corin said, stepping forward to half sit on the edge of the balcony.

  “Oh, please don’t tell me they’re all going to stand around trying to slowly and carefully poke each other,” Mandy said, shaking her head. “I don’t think I can handle another one of those.”

  “Hmm? You mean an exhibition?” Naomi asked, laughing. “We wouldn’t insult an aspect of the goddess like that!” Leaning forward, Naomi pointed to the two crowds, which were now beginning to cross the bridges towards the central platform. “That’s live steel they’ve got there. Only the best in the aquadrome!”

  “Oh!” Mandy said, her eyes widening. “Is that… safe?”

  Naomi arched an eyebrow at that. “Mmh, it’s safe enough. They’ll have potions, and there are healers standing by, but hey, accidents do happen.” That last part she said with something approaching glee, but Mandy let out a laugh, choosing to assume it was just a joke.

  Eventually, the two teams were all gathered on the platform, and Mandy watched, fascinated, as two pairs of figures standing back on the docks threw their arms out, causing the stone bridges to collapse. After that, the central platform began to shake, and rise, until it was a good ten feet above the surface of the water.

  Huh… so that’s where the platform came from.

  With the preparations complete, there was one last burst of fanfare from the trumpets, and then a singular burst from some kind deep, bassy horn. The crowd began to cheer, and the two teams let out cries that carried all the way back to the observation box, and charged one another.

  Mandy watched, transfixed, as the distant figures met in the middle of the platform and began a skirmish the likes of which she’d never seen before outside of the movies. Shields were bashed against shields, and swords, axes, and hammers were swung with brutal efficiency and deadly intent. It didn’t take long for the first solid hit to find its mark, sending one combatant in blue reeling back holding their side, spilling blood onto the stone ground and opening a weak point in the defensive line.

  Holy shit… Mandy’s mind seemed to have emptied out as she beheld the spectacle. It wasn’t long before more hits were scored, and more and more blood was sent flying. At some point there were too many injured to continue the ordered, line to line struggle, and so smaller, tighter groups began to break off, fracturing into a half dozen ongoing fights. At some point, one of the fighters who’d been cut off from the rest of their team like a wounded gazelle, was hounded to the edge of the platform, at which point they took one look at the three warriors in blue bearing down on them, and leapt into the water. They resurfaced, and began paddling towards one of the two docks, and Mandy let out the breath she’d been holding.

  “This is… way more intense than that boring exhibition my crew held for me,” Mandy said. Sure, Lieutenant Cooper had gone to a lot of trouble to set it up, but she wasn’t here right now, and Mandy got the feeling the royals would understand her sentiment.

  “I told you,” Naomi said, leaning so far ahead in her seat she was almost falling off the edge. The hand that was balancing the metal ball was moving much faster, and one of Naomi’s legs was bouncing in place. Suddenly, she stopped weaving her hand back and forth, catching the ball between her thumb and finger and turning to grin at Mandy.

  “Looks like the red team is losing,” Naomi said, and indeed, in terms of pure numbers, the blue team had gained a small lead over the red. “How about a little ‘divine intervention’ to balance things out?”

  Mandy had absolutely no idea what that meant, but Naomi seemed extremely excited to show her.

  Mandy shrugged, saying “Sure?” and Naomi laughed, standing up from her seat.

  “Oh, goddess, don’t encourage her,” Marcella said distastefully.

  “Shh!” Naomi hissed, moving to the edge of the balcony and holding her arm out. She had tucked the metal ball into the crook of her hand where her thumb met her forefinger, which was extended outward, pointing directly towards the central platform and the ongoing battle.

  Huh… is she doing a fingergun? What is—

  With a BZRRT! a ring of lightning traveled down the length of Naomi’s outstretched arm at high speed. When it hit her hand and kept going, the metal ball was carried with it, and sent flying through the air so fast it made a shrill whistling noise. Mandy couldn’t track the projectile, even with her ship-vision, but she saw the moment it connected with one of the blue fighters down in the ring, striking their shield and causing it to explode into splinters, sending the fighter lurching to the side and over the edge of the arena.

  “Yes!” Naomi cheered, pumping her fist. “Direct hit!”

  Mandy stared, frozen, while the melee down on the platform continued unhindered. That… looked like it could have seriously hurt somebody. Maybe even killed them. For a single second, she entertained the naive thought that Naomi hadn’t considered that, but the truth was evident; she knew, and did not care. Freezing her projection in place, Mandy swept her gaze around the room. None of the others seemed particularly bothered by what had just occurred; Corin was still watching the fighting and sipping from his glass, Marcella’s face looked slightly annoyed, but nothing more, and Octavia… Well, Octavia wasn’t even watching the fight. All her attention seemed to be focused on her knitting.

  Oh… Oh boy…

  Thankfully, Naomi didn’t seem invested enough to try again, flopping back into her seat. “So,” she said, turning to Mandy, who quickly snapped back into place inside her projection and turned to meet her eye. “I’ve been curious since I heard about your appearance, so I’ve got to know: what is your purpose here in the mortal world?”

  At once, every head (except Octavia’s) swiveled in Mandy’s direction, and she was certain that if she actually could sweat, she would be drenched in no time. Thankfully, this was a question that Mandy had been preparing to answer for most of the trip, and it seemed more important than ever to give the correct answer.

  “I cannot fully disclose the details of my mission,” Mandy said, slipping into her Lady Scarlett voice, using a tone that indicated she would brook no disagreement. Raising one arm, she pointed towards the archway over the entrance to the aquadrome. “Save that it lies out there, on the open ocean.”

  A tense silence passed, but before it could build to a head, Corin let out a chuckle, nodding out the window.

  “I suppose that makes perfect sense. You being a boat, and all.” Lifting his glass to his lips, Corin drained the last of its contents and let out a sigh, before asking, “Must this mission be undertaken immediately? Could you not be persuaded to stay in port a while?”

  Oh, hell no, Mandy thought. I am not sticking around here any longer than I have to after this!

  “I am afraid not,” Mandy said with a sad smile. “This has been fun, and I would love to get to know all of you more, but I have to insist that me and my crew be ready to depart again but no later than… tomorrow night.”

  That seemed like it would give everyone enough time to take care of whatever business they’d need to here in the capital and get ready to leave. Mandy knew they’d need to stock her up with even more supplies, the thought of which reminded her of another detail she wanted to bring up here and now.

  “There are a couple other things you could help me with, though,” Mandy said, resting her elbows on the arms of her chair and steepling her fingers.

  “Oh, ask away, dear sister!” Corin said, making a flourishing motion with his arm. “We’re all more than happy to accommodate whatever you may need to further your divine assignment.”

  “If it’s about the books, we’ve got that taken care of,” Naomi said, already rolling another of those metal balls across the back of her hand.

  “No, although I do appreciate that,” Mandy said, feeling a little thrill at the idea of not spending weeks, or possibly even months, at sea without some kind of entertainment that didn’t involve cards or dice. “No, this is about one of the members of my crew, although he isn’t actually even a part of my crew. A man called ‘Brother Eugene.’”

  “Ah, yes, the priest from Strom’s Landing,” Naomi said, nodding. “He sent that letter.”

  “That’s right,” Mandy said, closing her eyes and sighing. “He’s made no indication that he plans to return to Strom’s Landing when we depart again. I actually believe he intends to stay aboard and continue traveling with me, as though he thinks it’s his ‘calling’ to do so, since he was there at my arrival.” Mandy actually knew, for a fact, that the old priest felt that way, as he had said so himself on more than one occasion while praying inside his personal cabin.

  “To put it bluntly: I want him gone,” Mandy said, opening her eyes again. “If I’d known ahead of time, I would have kicked him off before we even left, but things were moving too fast and I’d only just woken up, and he just clung to me like a… like a barnacle.” Ooh, that was good. She’d have to write that one down. “When we’re done here, I’d like him removed from my ship.”

  “Ah, certainly,” Corin said, having wandered back to the other side of the observation booth and retrieved a bottle from under his chair, refilling his wine glass from it. “That can easily be arranged. I haven’t met the man, but he writes like an outright bore.”

  “You have no idea,” Mandy said, chuckling.

  Corin shared a laugh with her, swirling the liquid inside his glass several times before raising it to his lips and taking a sip.

  “I’ll see to it that he’s executed first thing tomorrow,” Corin said, giving Mandy a pleased smile.

  What?!

  The only thing that kept Mandy from blurting it out loud was a second projection popping into existence inside her cabin, who slapped her hands to the side of her head and shouted “What?! What is wrong with these people?!”

  “Oh, no, no,” the original Mandy said, back in the booth, waving her hand dismissively. “Nothing as drastic as that, please. I just want him sent back to Strom’s Landing where he belongs.”

  “Really?” Corin asked, skeptically, before shrugging. “Ah, very well then, that’s less of a hassle for me anyway.”

  Oh, it just keeps getting better and better…

  Mandy forced out another chuckle, before clearing her throat, her face and tone becoming serious again. “However, I wouldn’t want to deprive my crew, or set off on my mission, without another source of… spiritual wisdom, if you catch my meaning. I understand you have a grand temple here in the city?”

  For some reason, the mention of the temple seemed to cause a jolt to run through all of the room’s occupants, something Mandy only caught because she had eyes in the back of her head. For the first time, Naomi looked like she’d been thrown off her game, almost uncomfortable even, as she opened her mouth to answer.

  “Eh… yeah, we have… many grand temples here in the capital,” Naomi said haltingly. Her wording was suspiciously specific, but Mandy couldn’t imagine what she was trying to hide or why.

  “Well, good,” she said, smiling. “Then my request should be no trouble at all. I just want someone to replace Brother Eugene; someone from the temple, who can lend an ear to the crew, and who I can discuss the finer details of the goddess’s will with.” Mandy was actually hoping it’d be someone who could actually fill in the last of the gaps in her understanding of the goddess and the Empire, but she figured between whoever they got for her and the books, she had her bases covered.

  “Oh,” Mandy said, remembering one last small but crucial detail. “And someone more my own age, if that’s possible.”

  After going through all this trouble to replace him, Mandy did not want to end up with just another Brother Eugene.

  “Not that many week-old priests,” Naomi said sardonically, her and Corin both sharing a chuckle at that. Mandy, for her part, remembered to laugh along as well, even though her mood had soured considerably.

  Geez, forcing myself to laugh at jokes that aren’t actually that funny… it really is like a family reunion in here…

  “Anyway, that’s temple stuff,” Naomi said, jerking her head to the side. “That’s Marcella’s thing. Mar, you can help with this, right?”

  Marcella, who had remained mostly silent for the past several minutes, turned her head to regard Mandy through closed eyes again.

  “I will see what I can do,” Marcella said simply, and went right back to facing the viewing window.

  “Great,” Mandy said, her enthusiasm damped slightly by just how… off Marcella seemed. All of the royals, actually, seemed a bit uncanny to her, and not just because of the bizarre family resemblance. It made her feel like she was swimming with sharks, and she had to be careful not to slip up, not to spill one drop of blood, lest they turn on her and devour her.

  Oh, speaking of blood!

  With a start, Mandy held up her hand.

  “Ah, there is one last thing!” she said, drawing Marcella’s attention back. “I would like them to be someone who can heal as well, if that’s possible?”

  Despite having her eyes closed, Marcella managed to look thoughtful at Mandy’s question, rocking her head to one side. “Mmh… it will narrow the search down significantly. Most mages who display an aptitude for restorative magics are reserved for the ships and companies on the front line, but some do end up working in service to the temples.” The young girl took a deep breath, and nodded her head once. “It will be done. I will have a selection of candidates present themselves at the docks before noon tomorrow.”

  “Wonderful,” Mandy said, genuinely. While she had no real use for someone who could use “healing magic” or whatever, she had been thinking about what Lieutenant Cooper said the day of the exhibition, about their ship having to make do with a finite supply of healing potions for use in case of serious injuries. She didn’t know what was going to happen to her, or the crew, after they left—she was still kind of working that part out—but she’d gotten to know most of them at least in passing, and if there was a chance they were going to end up in some kind of danger, she’d like to have someone on hand who could help. Bundling that together with asking for someone from the temple just seemed efficient.

  Down on the platform, the fight was mostly wrapping up. Mandy and the others sat and watched as, after the melee, a duel between two teams of two much more heavily armored knights was put on, followed by an actual joust, with the mages on the sidelines reshaping the platform into a narrow strip, covered in sand. After that, accompanied by some playful joking by the royals directed at her, several small-scale ships were sailed into the aquadrome, where they proceeded to carry out an actual mock naval battle, just like she’d heard about.

  The conversation was sparse but casual after that, with Mandy sticking to nice, safe questions about the city, about the recent goings on, and at one point the actual weather. Eventually, with the sun well on its way towards the western horizon, the festivities began to wind down, and the royals all proclaimed themselves ready to leave. Although she was relieved to be returning to the ship, she also felt a pang of… something else she couldn’t quite identify at not being able to accompany them all back to the castle, which by Corin’s descriptions sounded amazing. Her crew had disembarked at some point, and been given seats in the stands to watch the entertainment from, but they were in the process of reboarding just as Mandy arrived at the stone dock. They all greeted her warmly and excitedly, and, strange as it was, she actually felt glad to see all of them again as well, minus a conspicuously absent Brother Eugene.

  Once everyone was back on board, the four mages guided them out into the bay, and towards the docks that lined the northwestern edge of the capital city, which were apparently kept private from the public. After going through the process of docking, and mooring, the sun was just beginning to set, and on Captain Vittorio’s orders, the crew were told to go out and enjoy a night of shore leave. Most of them took him up on the offer, though some stayed, Chase included, and Mandy was also glad for that. She invited him back to her cabin, and spent the evening recounting the more pleasant parts of her experience with the royals, while he gushed about her entrance performance and all the feats of battle that had gone on. Eventually, he had to sleep, and Mandy sent him off, staying awake and roaming the deck, staring up at the pink moon overhead until, eventually, she sunk back into the ship, settling down to wait until sunrise.

  The next morning, her crew returned, some swaggering, some staggering, all of them looking well rested and refreshed. They gathered aboard the ship for a hearty breakfast from the cooks, and Mandy opted to join them, sitting in and listening as they recounted the tales of their nightly exploits. And, it turned out, a lot of them had just gone ashore to get laid, which was no real surprise to Mandy; they were sailors, after all. The part that did surprise her was the reaction when the details of any of the sailors' stories revealed that their partner from the night before was of the same sex.

  Or, rather, the lack of reaction. It seemed like quite literally no one batted an eye, and every bawdy tale was met with the same raucous laughter and congratulations. Mandy… did not know how to feel about that, honestly. It was weird; not bad weird, just weird weird, because of how alien an attitude it was compared to what she was used to back on Earth, to what she had… to how she…

  Whatever, it was just weird!

  After breakfast, the crew dispersed again, and several of them were sent out—led by Lieutenant Cooper—to requisition the necessary supplies to stock Mandy up for an extended voyage. For the rest of the morning, crates and barrels were delivered at regular intervals by teams of massive bull-horned beastkin, and loaded into Mandy’s hull one by one.

  At some point before noon, three figures approached her end of the docks; a young noble looking woman with a stark white overcoat and a short walking stick, a bespectacled man carrying a clipboard, and a middle-aged soldier in the Empire’s red and gold uniform.

  “Are you sure this is it?” the woman in white asked.

  “She matches the description,” the man with the clipboard said, adjusting his glasses and squinting up at her.

  “Are we really meant to trust such an important piece of equipment to such a rudimentary ship with such an undistinguished captain?” the woman in white asked again, pulling a face.

  “Those are the orders,” the soldier said, gruffly, turning to watch as another pair of workers made their way up Mandy’s gangplank with a box supported between them. “You two! Is this ship's captain about?”

  “Captain Vittorio had to step away for the time being,” Mandy said, appearing behind the trio. The man with the glasses let out a startled yelp, but both the woman and the soldier simply whirled to face her, the woman with her walking stick outstretched. Up close, Mandy could see that the head of the stick was made of a greenish metal and shaped like the head of some kind of snake-fish thing, with two rubies for eyes.

  “Salutations,” Mandy said, smiling pleasantly. That would, truly, never get old. “I am La…Princess Scarlett. You might have heard of me?”

  “Your Highness,” the soldier said, snapping to attention, clasping his hand over his chest and bowing deeply.

  The man with glasses looked nervously from the woman, who was slowly lowering her stick, to the uniformed man, and hastily bowed at the waist, clutching his clipboard to his chest.”Y-Your Highness!” he repeated.

  “My apologies, Your Highness,” the woman in white said, tapping her stick against the docks and bowing forward, but not quite as low as the other two. “I did not sense your approach.”

  “Of course you didn't,” Mandy said, her smile widening. “I didn't want you to.”

  That seemed to confuse the woman more than anything, and she furrowed her brow. The soldier righted himself, taking a step forward.

  “Forgive my rudeness, I am Commander Arlo Benedetti,” he said, motioning to the woman in white. “This is Lady Celestine Leroux, of the Illuminators, and her assistant, Liam.”

  “A pleasure to make your acquaintance up close, Your Highness,” Lady Leroux said, flipping her hair over one shoulder. “I watched your demonstration from the stands. It was most captivating.”

  “Why, thank you,” Mandy said, smiling wider. “It was just something I threw together.” Now that she was looking, she noticed that in addition to the gems in her staff, Lady Leroux wore a ring and two earrings also studded with the red gemstones, and her lips were painted in a similar shade of red.

  Someone has to tell this country that there are other colors, Mandy thought. Hmm… Though, come to think of it, I should add some more jewelry to Lady Scarlett's costume.

  Motioning toward Lady Leroux, Mandy said, “I can’t help but admire your accessories. Quite fetching, if I do say so myself.”

  Lady Leroux looked down at the ring around her finger, rubbing the side of it with her thumb. “Thank you, Your Highness,” she said, tucking that arm away behind her back. “My family owns the largest ruby mine in the Empire, so it is only natural that I should adorn myself accordingly.”

  Oouh, a rich girl, huh? I hope she's not as much trouble as she looks.

  “And you're from the Illuminators as well?” Mandy asked, nodding her head slowly. “Yes, I've heard of them recently. An impressive accomplishment.”

  “You… flatter me too much, Your Highness,” Lady Leroux said, her face scrunching in discomfort.

  Ah, time to ease off then. Turning back to Benedetti, Mandy asked, “So, was there something I can help you with?”

  “Ah, yes,” Benedetti said, relaxing his posture slightly and motioning towards the ship behind him. “We've been ordered to see to having you outfitted with a chronometer. Your vessel was not originally built with one, but considering your station, and your unique position, it was determined you should be granted one.”

  “A… chronometer?” Mandy asked carefully. She was pretty sure she'd heard that word somewhere before, but only as another name for…

  “You mean a clock?” Mandy asked, and both Lady Leroux and Liam's eyes grew slightly wider.

  “It is more than that,” Lady Leroux said, lowering her voice to add, “and it is also not a matter to be discussed so openly. Is there someplace more private we can converse?”

  As she said this, her eyes flicked over to the dockworkers who were still diligently loading cargo. Mandy resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the idea that the workers had time to spare to spy on them, and nodded at Lady Leroux instead.

  “Certainly, I'll show you to my cabin,” Mandy said, turning and walking towards the gangplank, calling out to the pair of oxkin carrying a large crate between them. “Pardon us a moment, if you please,” Mandy said. “I need to escort these three aboard.”

  “Certainly, m'lady,” one of the workers replied, halting where he was, keeping the crate suspended between him and his partner.

  Mandy nodded and turned to ascend the gangplank, but paused and turned back. “As a matter of fact,” she said, holding up a hand. “Why don't you and your team take a quick break. Ten minutes or so.”

  “Are ye sure, m'lady?” the second oxkin asked, peering over the top of the crate. “We was told we had a deadline.”

  “Well I'm the one who set the deadline, and I say it can spare ten minutes,” Mandy said, making a shooing motion with one hand. “Now go on then.”

  “Mighty kind, m'lady,” the first oxkin said, and together they eased the crate down onto the deck, then stood up, sighing in unison before turning to call out to the next approaching pair.

  Satisfied, Mandy turned back to the trio.

  “Right this way,” she said, stepping lightly up onto the gangplank.

  “Are you always so… cordial with the beastkin?” Lady Leroux asked, being the first one to follow after her.

  “If they are diligent and hard-working, I see no reason not to be,” Mandy said, shrugging dismissively. “A happier worker is a more productive worker, after all.”

  At least, that was what her dad always said.

  “I… see,” Lady Leroux said, falling silent and following Mandy into the main deck, towards the stairs that led down into the interior of the ship, Liam and Rear Admiral Benedetti in tow. In no time at all, Mandy was letting them into her cabin.

  “Make yourselves comfortable,” she said as the three of them looked around with varying expressions of curiosity. “I'd offer you some refreshments, but I don't actually have any in here. As a spirit, I lack the need for sustenance.”

  “That's quite alright, Your Highness,” Benedetti said, reaching up and removing his large tricorn hat before sitting in one of the armchairs.

  “So, this ‘chronometer?’” Mandy asked, turning to Lady Leroux, who was still leaning on her cane and inspecting the room around her.

  “Can you be certain this room is secure from magical intrusions?” she asked, squinting her eyes slightly. “Has this ship even been warded against scrying?”

  Ah, geez. Wizard talk.

  “I'm afraid I do not know,” Mandy said, folding her arms behind her back. “I can tell you the only other people aboard this ship besides us are too far to possibly hear anything, and there is no one suspicious within sixty yards, but beyond that I cannot say. I'm afraid matters of magic were not amongst the knowledge the goddess saw fit to gift me.”

  “I see,” Lady Leroux said, shaking her head. “We will have to see to that. Liam, make a note of it.”

  “Yes, ma'am,” Liam said, already scribbling away at his clipboard.

  “I don't suppose I need to tell you, Your Highness, that what we are about to discuss is a matter of utmost secrecy, and can never leave this cabin,” Lady Leroux began, fixing Mandy with a firm stare.

  Ooohohoh, juicy!

  “I understand,” Mandy said, keeping her face and voice neutral, while inside her mind was whirling over what could possibly make a clock so important and secret.

  “A chronometer is, yes, a type of clock,” Lady Leroux continued. “A very special type of clock, designed to remain one hundred percent accurate, even when subjected to the rigors of sea travel. In this way, it has become the Empire’s secret weapon, the thing that has enabled us to maintain ultimate naval supremacy over our enemies.”

  “And… How exactly does it do that?” Mandy asked, tilting her head to one side.

  Lady Leroux smiled, holding up a finger. “By enabling our ships to navigate the seas more accurately than any other seafaring nation in the world. Using a technique created by the man who invented the chronometer, any properly instructed navigator can determine a ship's position with far greater accuracy than our predecessors ever thought possible.”

  What? How the hell do you use a clock to navigate?

  Well, Mandy supposed it didn't matter; navigation was handled by her crew. Still, she put on a thoughtful expression and cupped her chin.

  “I see. I can understand the importance of keeping such a device a secret. You have my word, as an aspect of the Goddess of Love and War, that I will protect it with my life,” Mandy said solemnly.

  “I have no doubt that you would, Your Highness,” Lady Leroux said, placing her cane in front of her and resting both hands on top of it. “However, due to the extreme importance of keeping this technology out of the hands of the Empire’s enemies, it is standard procedure that all chronometers intended to be deployed aboard ships be fitted with a self-destruction enchantment, to be used in the event of a ship’s capture to completely destroy the device.”

  “‘Self-destruct’ as in… explode?” Mandy asked, remaining perfectly still while her hull gave a sudden creak.

  “A small explosion,” Lady Leroux clarified with a smile. “Contained within the housing of the chronometer, and focused inward, but I thought it prudent to inform you regardless, as ensuring the enchantment is activated in the event you are, goddess forbid, captured, would be your top priority.”

  “I see,” Mandy said, allowing herself to relax again. She honestly didn’t give half a crap about this special clock they wanted to put onboard; they wanted her to blow it up? Sure. She was pretty sure she’d have bigger things to worry about if she ended up overtaken.

  “Well, then you have my word on that as well,” Mandy said, returning Lady Leroux’s smile. “Was there anything else you needed?”

  Instead of answering her, Lady Leroux turned to Liam, who had been leaning over the edge of the long table in the center of the room, inspecting its surface. Realizing he'd become the center of attention, he shot upright, clearing his throat and holding up his clipboard.

  “Ah, uh, yes,” Liam said, taking a few steps towards Mandy. “Well, the main concerns we had were whether the amount of ambient mana found in your interior spaces would be enough to set off the enchantment prematurely, but my readings indicate that will not be an issue. The other question was whether you would actually be capable of setting off the enchantment yourself.”

  Looking down at his clipboard, Liam rifled through the attached pages before extracting a particular sheet of paper, holding it up towards Mandy.

  “This is a simple spell that we use to test novice mages on their ability to direct their mana into a scroll or enchantment,” Liam explained while Mandy squinted at the sheet of paper. Looking at it directly, it was a sheet of paper with some strange, unrecognizable symbols on it, arranged in the form of a smaller circle and a line leading into a larger circle. But, looking at it with her ship vision, the symbols became actual words.

  (Begin,ManaInUntlEnd)—(ElemLight,SphereDiaOne,DurTckThree,End)

  What the heck is all this gibberish? Is that magic?

  “All you need to do is place your thumb here”—Liam held the slip of paper out towards Mandy, pointing at the smaller circle—“and then try to direct some of your mana into it.”

  Skeptical, Mandy accepted the sheet of paper. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but when she moved her thumb to hover over the smaller circle, she felt a strange magnetic attraction, as though her thumb were being pulled down towards the paper. When she finally placed her thumb flat inside the circle, she felt a connection form, and something began to move inside her. The pulling sensation traveled up her arm, drawing… something out of her, and at the same time the smaller circle began to fill with red light, which immediately shot up the line to the larger circle, splitting and traveling in both directions until meeting again at the furthest edge of the ring. The instant the larger circle was completely lit, the piece of paper went up in a literal flash, dissolving out of her hands and leaving a ball of pale white light the size of a baseball floating in the air in front of her.

  “Woah!” Mandy gasped, jumping back from the glowing orb. She continued to stare at it for about three seconds, at which point it winked out of existence. She blinked, looking around, then turned to find Liam looking at her curiously. “I did that?”

  “Indeed,” Liam said, giving her a small smile. “Quite easily, by the looks of it. I am confident that you should have no trouble deploying the self-destruction enchantments, should the worst happen. It’s optimized to require a low initial mana offering, and feed off components built into the chronometer’s housing for the additional mana required, so even a complete non-mage like you can activate it.”

  Suddenly, all the times that Mandy had ignored the mages in her crew talking about “magic stuff” came back to her. She had never once considered the idea that she might be able to actually learn magic herself, but if it was as simple as writing some words down on a piece of paper and pressing her thumb to it, then maybe she should try talking to them more.

  “I believe that’s all. We'll also need to supply you with our most up-to-date charts. Is this the room where you do your navigating?” Lady Leroux asked, casting her eyes around the cabin again.

  “Ah, no, that would be Captain Vittorio’s cabin beneath the helm,” Mandy said, pointing up at the ceiling. “That’s where all the maps and charts are too.”

  “I see, very good. We shall be back before the day is out to install the device, and to speak to your Captain as well, to ensure he understands the gravity of what’s being entrusted to him,” Lady Leroux said, tapping her cane against the ground once before turning towards Rear Admiral Benedetti. “Though I believe that’s where you step in.”

  “Right, yes, allow me,” he said as he rose from his chair, replacing his overly large hat on his head and stepping towards Mandy, while Liam and Lady Leroux headed towards the door. “I just had one other item of business to discuss with you, Your Highness, concerning your crew.”

  “Oh?” Mandy said, already bracing herself.

  “Yes, well, the talk from on high is that you initially refused to have any of your crew replaced, save for taking on a new chaplain,” Benedetti continued, reaching up to stroke his chin. “I wondered if I could possibly convince you to reconsider that prospect?”

  Ah, great, this again.

  The topic had come up the day before, inside the observation box. Prince Corin had asked her if, while getting rid of Brother Eugene, she wouldn’t rather just have an entirely new crew, though he made much less of an effort to disguise what he thought about her current crew. The offer was, admittedly, tempting. Thinking about it logically, her crew was like an extension of her body, since they were the ones who made everything aboard function properly, so having a crew that was just objectively more skilled and more experienced than her current one should have been an easy choice, but she had still hesitated.

  For one thing, she did kind of promise Captain Vittorio she wouldn’t do that exact thing, but that wasn’t really the biggest issue. She was sure that, if she desired, she could break her promise and likely never have to see Captain Vittorio again, or any of the other crew, so consequences weren’t really a factor. No, the main thing preventing her from considering Corin’s suggestion was, well… she’d gone to a lot of effort to get to know her current crew! It would be so annoying to go all the way back to square one with a new crew! Plus, they liked plays!

  And so, for purely pragmatic reasons, Mandy did as she had then, and shook her head.

  “I’m afraid not,” she said, smiling up at the man. “I am quite pleased with my current crew, thank you.”

  “Well, if you will not take on any more experienced crew members, then might you at least bring on a more… seasoned captain to lead them?” Benedetti asked.

  “You mean like you, Rear Admiral?” Mandy asked, suppressing a laugh as the man tried to look surprised, as though that was the first time he’d ever considered the notion.

  “Well, I would not presume to make such a decision for you, Your Highness,” Benedetti said, standing up straighter and placing a hand on his chest. “I would petition for the position, and you would have your pick of the lot, from captains who have spent more years than they care to remember at sea, leading countless men and women into battle.”

  “I’m afraid my answer stands, Rear Admiral Benedetti,” Mandy said, wiping the polite smile from her face. “I will have Captain Vittorio as my captain, or I will have no captain at all.”

  There. She said she’d tell them that, and now, nobody could say she hadn’t meant it.

  Benedetti kept his face impassive, but behind his back one of his hands clenched into a fist.

  “I understand. In that case, may I have your leave?” he asked, and Mandy couldn’t nod her head fast enough.

  “You may,” she replied.

  “Thank you, Your Highness.” Bowing his head, Benedetti backed towards the door where Lady Leroux and Liam had been waiting, only turning when he had fully crossed the room. Upon his approach, Liam opened the door, and Lady Leroux stepped out into the hall.

  “Of course,” Mandy said, smiling and waving after him. “Do enjoy the rest of your day.”

  “I shall endeavor to do exactly that,” Benedetti said, tipping his hat towards her. Joining the other two in the hall, he closed the door behind himself, and let out a grumbled, “Waste of my bloody time.”

  “I would hold my tongue were I you, Rear Admiral,” Lady Leroux said, idly tapping her way down the hall towards the stairs that led back to the deck. “Lest you forget, Princess Scarlett is the very ship we stand aboard. What we spoke to in there was simply a solidified mass of mana. It is how all arsenal spirits communicate to those they haven’t bonded with.”

  Rear Admiral Benedetti’s face fell suddenly at that, and he looked nervously to either side of the hall, as though he expected the walls to start closing in on him. Mandy chuckled, leaning back in her chair and putting her hands behind her head. It would be so easy to jump out and give him likely the biggest scare of his life, but that would just be petty.

  Just as the trio were reaching the gangplank, and just before Rear Admiral Benedetti could step up onto the side of the ship, he tripped and stumbled slightly, as though his foot had been snagged by a loose coil of rope. But when he caught himself and turned to look, there was nothing of the sort to be found.

  A few hours later, and just a few minutes before what Mandy guessed was noon, another procession of people appeared at the end of the docks, led from the front by Princess Marcella, who was herself flanked by four armored guards and the young boy Mandy had seen the day before, Emil. Mandy watched from a distance as the figures in white and red were arranged into a line, standing shoulder to shoulder. There were just over a dozen of them, mostly men who looked to be in their mid to late twenties, all wearing robes that were mainly white with varying amounts of red trimming.

  Alright, Mandy thought, summoning her projection up onto the deck. Time to go pick a priest.

  Mandy started down the gangplank, and was noticed by one of the guards, who alerted Princess Marcella. The princess turned from inspecting the line-up of robed figures to peer up the docks at her. Curiously, Mandy could see she still had her eyes closed, and she was really starting to wonder what was up with that.

  “Good morning, Marcella,” Mandy called once she was within a few feet of the younger girl.

  “Good afternoon,” Marcella replied, beckoning Mandy closer. “I have the candidates you requested, ready for you to select from.” Mandy arrived at Marcella’s side and the princess turned, beginning to pace down the line, and all of the assembled figures straightened their backs and raised their heads.

  “Each of these candidates has attained the rank of priest or higher, and have all served the temple for anywhere from three to five years, in some cases more.” Marcella nodded her head towards the oldest looking figure there, a man who appeared to be at least thirty. “As requested, all of them are proficient in medicine and the treatment of wounds, and know at least one restorative spell, in some cases more.”

  Mandy scanned the row as they walked, half listening, half just looking at the possible candidates. Her main concern was choosing someone who she thought she could stand to be around for possibly weeks, which ruled out most of the older priests. She just did not want to feel like she was talking to someone’s dad. If no one else caught her eye, she would probably wind up going with one of the only two women in the line-up, so that she could at least have one more girl on the ship. Reaching the end of the line, Mandy was about to turn around, but noticed that the last figure in line was standing with her head bowed and the hood of her robes pulled down low. That was enough to make her stand out, but she was also one of the tallest in the row, and her robes were the only ones that were more red than white. Obviously, she was trying to avoid notice, but she might as well have had a huge neon sign over her head.

  Coming to a stop in front of the hooded figure, Mandy dramatically cleared her throat. “You,” she said, folding her arms behind her back. “Let me get a look at you.”

  The figure visibly winced at the sound of her voice, and slowly raised her head, until Mandy could peek under her hood, and—

  Woah!

  The young woman who looked nervously back at Mandy was… she was…

  She’s hot! Mandy thought, quickly reining in her stunned expression. She’s like, a nine or ten in this line-up of fours and fives! Why the hell was she trying to hide?

  “Y-yes, Your Highness?” the woman asked, shuffling uncomfortably under what Mandy realized was several seconds of unbroken eye contact. Remembering to blink, she looked her up and down, noting again how tall she was. Her hood was similar to that of a nun’s, cinched tightly around her head, but Mandy could still see a few locks of stay hair that was so pale it looked white, and she also realized the eyes she’d been staring into were a dazzling ruby-red color.

  Huh, is she an albino or something? Is that why she’s got her hood up like that?

  “Uh…” Mandy said, needing an extra moment to recollect herself and remember where she was and what she’d been doing. Motioning to the red-eyed woman, she said, “Tell me… tell me about yourself, if you please.”

  “Ah, as you wish…” the woman said, quickly dipping her head again. “I am Sister Alice Coniglio. I am a devoted and faithful servant of the Goddess of Love and War. I have worked within the temple as an acolyte since I was very young, and have spent the last three years training to become a battlefield canoness.”

  “What does that training entail, exactly?” Mandy cut in to ask, since she had no idea what a ‘canoness’ was supposed to be, other than assuming it had something to do with cannons.

  “Martial and physical training, including the full suite of weaponry most commonly carried by Empire soldiers,” Sister Alice said, raising her head up a little higher. “I am proficient with both short and long spear, and I can hold my own with a sword, axe, or mace. I also have at my disposal a small selection of simple combat-ready offensive and defensive spells, and as Your Highness requested, I can clean and dress wounds and cast a small range of restorative spells.”

  Mandy almost couldn’t believe everything she was hearing. Like, she was saying it all in the most understated, matter-of-fact way, but with every word this girl sounded more and more like the perfect candidate, to the point that Mandy held up a hand and turned back to Marcella.

  “She’s the one,” Mandy said. Behind her, Sister Alice’s red eyes went wide, and her mouth opened, but she slammed it shut again before anyone could notice, and Mandy only caught it because she was still watching the woman with her ship vision.

  “Are you certain?” Marcella asked dubiously, looking from Mandy to Sister Alice. “A battlefield canoness is much less suited to the role of ship’s chaplain than an ordinary priest. Wouldn’t you like to at least hear from some of the others?”

  “No,” Mandy said, shaking her head resolutely and turning back to Sister Alice, who was still looking at her in wide eyed surprise. “I am certain. She is the one I want.”

  Sister Alice seemed to finally find her tongue at that. Clutching at the sleeves of her robe, she said, “P-pardon me for speaking out of turn, Your Highness, but surely there is someone more… worthy than me among my fellow brothers and sisters?”

  Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I didn’t want to have to pull this card out so soon, but…

  “It matters not whether you believe you are worthy,” Mandy said, closing her eyes and smiling serenely while raising one of her hands into the air, placing the other on her chest, striking a dramatic pose as she turned her face towards the sky. “I carry the will of the goddess within me, and I am telling you that you are not only worthy of being the one to accompany me on my journey, but that you are meant to as well.”

  Sister Alice’s jaw dropped open at that, and all of the other candidates in line began to chatter excitedly, pointing at the stunned woman. Turning to the side, Mandy waved her arm at them, silencing the commotion immediately.

  “The rest of you are free to go.” Turning back to Sister Alice, she smiled even wider, pressing her hands together in front of her. “You, as well. We won’t be leaving until the evening, so take as much time as you need to pack up whatever you might require.” Realizing that even with that much time to spare, she might still need some help, Mandy turned towards the guards who were still fanned out behind Princess Marcella. “I don’t suppose I could enlist one of you to assist Sister Alice with her preparations?”

  “T-T-That will not be necessary, er, Your Highness!” Sister Alice blurted out, actually throwing her hands up and waving them in front of her. “M-my worldly possessions are few, and I am quite capable myself! You have my word; I shall return promptly, upon pain of death, ready to serve in any capacity the goddess desires of me!”

  Saying this, Sister Alice spun on her heels and took off running, quickly overtaking the other priests who had been walking away from the docks, almost literally leaving them in the dust.

  “Wow,” Mandy said, continuing to watch her as she disappeared into the distance. “She’s… enthusiastic.”

  And fast. Damn, she is booking it! How does she move so fast in those robes?

  Turning back to Princess Marcella, Mandy smiled again. “Ah, and, thank you again for doing this for me. I’m sorry that we did not get to talk more yesterday, but there was… a lot going on.”

  Marcella tilted her head up, remaining silent for a moment, before saying, “You are welcome. Allow me to apologize again for the behavior of my… of our siblings, myself included. I am sure on any other day you would have received a much warmer greeting, but yesterday was a… difficult day for us as well.”

  “Oh? Really? What happened?” Mandy asked, tilting her head to the side. Was that why so many of them were missing, and why those that were there seemed to be acting so weirdly?

  Princess Marcella seemed to mull Mandy’s question over for several more moments, before turning to the small company of guards. “Leave us,” she said, flicking her hand, and the quartet of armored figures stamped their feet together once before wordlessly marching back up the pier as well. Mandy wondered, briefly, if that was okay, but she figured it was fine since Emil, the princess’s bodyguard, was still here.

  “The night before you arrived,” Princess Marcella said, turning and starting to walk slowly along the length of the dock. “There was an incident. The grand temple, the one you asked about, was set ablaze and destroyed by demons.”

  D… demons?! Wait, hold on, there are demons in this world?!

  Allowing only a fraction of the surprise she felt to show on her face, Mandy raised her eyebrows and brought a hand to her mouth. “Oh, my… by the goddess, that’s terrible!” she said, sympathetically. “Was anyone hurt?”

  “There are many injured, but we are still… unsure of the exact number of casualties. So far, the only three people known to have been in the temple at the time who remain unaccounted for are the Archbishop, and…” Princess Marcella trailed off, glancing behind her, and Mandy noticed for the first time the stricken look on Emil’s face. Taking a deep breath, the princess faced forward again, and continued, “and my… our brother, Prince Mylo, as well as his bodyguard, Emil and Francesca’s older brother, Alfonso.”

  “O-oh…” Mandy blurted out, stopping in her tracks. She had only asked the question to be courteous, because it was the kind of question you asked when someone told you something like that, but she never imagined…

  “That’s… I am so sorry,” Mandy said, genuinely. Thinking about the previous day with that new context threw everything into a different light. The royals had seemed detached, callous, and in Naomi’s case, occasionally cruel, but knowing that they were worried about their missing, potentially dead brother made her want to rethink that judgement.

  “I appreciate that,” Princess Marcella said, also coming to a stop and bowing her head. “I will endeavor not to give up hope until the ruins can be more thoroughly examined, or until Hector or Lorenzo return with news. Ah, they are the other two who were absent yesterday. Hector is a very skilled huntsman and tracker, and Lorenzo is an alchemical genius, and both of them believe there is evidence to suggest one or more of the demons responsible for the attack managed to flee, and have left the city to pursue them.”

  “Oh, well… then I… I shall pray to the goddess that Prince Mylo is found and returned, safe and sound,” Mandy said, clasping her hands in front of her. That alone seemed to alleviate some of the worry she saw on both Emil and Princess Marcella’s face, though the latter had been doing a better job trying to hide it.

  “I… thank you, sincerely, Scarlett,” Princess Marcella said. She hesitated a moment, then reached up, placing her own hands on either side of Mandy’s own. “I shall do the same. And I… I do hope your mission, whatever it is, is successful and that you are able to return after not too long. I… would like to get to know you better, as well.”

  Aww… Y’know, once you get past the kind of creepy haunted doll look she has, she actually seems like a sweet girl… Really do hope her brother turns out alright.

  “I would like that as well,” Mandy said, smiling warmly. Honestly, she was still on the fence about most of the other royal siblings, but Marcella she could at least imagine herself stepping into the role of “big sister” with. She couldn’t foresee what possible twist of fate could ever lead to her coming back to this place once she set out, but it was kind of nice to imagine.

  Finally, Princess Marcella released her hands and cleared her throat. “I must be going now. I will see if I can convince some of the others to come see you off as well, but do not hold it against them if they do not.” Bowing forward, she said, “Farewell, for now, sister. I wish you all the luck on your voyage.”

  Mandy bowed as well, unable to fully suppress the sudden bout of warm fuzzies she felt flare up inside her chest. She was quite sure she might have actually started tearing up, but thankfully she was a professional, and she could offload that onto another projection.

  Lady Scarlett and Lady Azure, both having been summoned at some point around the first time she heard about the temple burning down, were seated or sprawled out on the couch inside her cabin, respectively. The former dabbed demurely at her eyes with a handkerchief while the latter, sprawled out with her head in Lady Scarlett’s lap, had her palms pressed to her eyes and was groaning at the ceiling.

  Mandy returned to the ship, watching Princess Marcella and Emil trek back up the docks alone, and she even caught the moment when the princess reached over and grabbed the young boy’s hand. The very sight caused her, Lady Scarlett, and Lady Azure to squeal collectively, and rather than walk the rest of the way, Mandy blinked into her cabin, falling into a chair, already launching into a “conversation” about the events of the last few minutes with the other two.

  The hours ticked away quickly after that, and over time more and more of the crew returned, including Captain Vittorio, who stopped by her cabin to inform her that all preparations for their departure were taken care of, and catch her up on their official responsibilities. Rather than being given orders on where to go and what to do, it was decided that due to her station, and the (intentionally) vague nature of Mandy’s mission, she would be given special authority to act autonomously. She would be considered basically a one-ship-fleet, free to go wherever her divine purpose led her, and should she happen to be in the area of any other Empire Captains carrying out their own duties, they could request her assistance, but she would not be obligated to give it, if doing so would interfere with her mission.

  It was, in Mandy’s opinion, the perfect setup, and one that would give her plenty of time to actually figure out what her plan was, and how to implement it. With no other better ideas at the moment, and the entire ocean in front of her, she wasn't even sure where she wanted to direct her crew to go first, so she asked Captain Vittorio where he would have ended up, if she hadn’t appeared. He was, apparently, supposed to head southwest to rendezvous with a small fleet charged with occupying the waters around a cluster of Empire colonies, patrolling for pirates and escorting cargo ships. That sounded interesting enough, so Mandy gave Captain Vittorio the go-ahead to take them there, figuring she could spend a week or two sailing back and forth looking out for pirates or whatever while she put together a proper gameplan.

  At some point, amidst the hustle and bustle of the crew returning and going about their final checks to ensure Mandy was shipshape—literally—Sister Alice reappeared on the docks, drawing the attention of her crew, and for good reason. She was marching along with a very large, heavy-looking backpack slung over her shoulders, and two hefty luggage cases held in either hands, which she was not struggling in the slightest to carry, despite all of it looking like it weighed more than she did.

  Damn… she’s not just fast, she’s strong as hell, too!

  Mandy popped up onto the deck, starling a few of her crew in the process, and called out, “Sister Alice! There you are! I was getting worried; it’s almost sundown, you know.”

  “A-Apologies, Your Highness!” Sister Alice shouted back, placing one foot into the gangplank. “I wanted to ensure I was as well equipped for the journey ahead as I could be, and, well, I had a hard time narrowing it down to just what I could comfortably carry.” Saying this, she raised one of the luggage cases higher, and Mandy heard a few of the watching crewmen whistle behind her. “B-But I gave my word I would return, and so I have. M-may I have permission to come aboard?”

  “Absolutely!” Mandy said, feeling a bit giddy. She was definitely sure she’d made the right choice, insisting on choosing Sister Alice. Sure, she seemed a bit shy and timid, but Mandy was sure she’d be able to draw her out of her shell with enough time.

  Captain Vittorio, drawn by the commotion, emerged from one of the lower decks just as Sister Alice stepped down from the gangplank, an act which caused the deck to dip slightly to one side before righting itself.

  “Your Highness?” Captain Vittorio said as he approached, looking at Sister Alice appraisingly. “Who is this?”

  “This is Sister Alice,” Mandy said proudly, placing her hands on her hips. “I brought her on to replace Brother Eugene. Sister Alice, this is my captain, Captain Vittorio.”

  “A pleasure to meet you, sir!” Sister Alice said, bowing so far forward Mandy was worried the contents of her backpack might spill out over her head.

  Mandy’s announcement sent a susurration through the gathered crew, many of whom hadn’t known or realized that the old priest had been missing since the day before. Captain Vittorio’s eyebrows crept up slightly, and he looked from Sister Alice back to Mandy.

  “I… was not aware Brother Eugene required replacing…” Captain Vittorio said, and Mandy had to suppress a grin.

  “Ah, well, we had a talk yesterday, you see,” Mandy said, holding up a hand and motioning towards the horizon. “As… enthusiastic as he was to travel with us all this way from Strom’s Landing, he came to realize that a long voyage on the open ocean is no place for a man of his advanced age, much less whatever perils await us out there. He requested my leave to return home, which I graciously granted him, and he departed at once.” Turning, she placed her outstretched arm on Sister Alice’s shoulder, causing the woman to jump slightly. “And I, in turn, saw fit to personally seek out his replacement. Sister Alice here should not only be able to fulfill his duties as a priest, but as a battlefield canoness, she is also a skilled warrior, and capable of healing wounds.”

  That really got the crowd buzzing, and sent Captain Vittorio’s eyebrows skyrocketing. Apparently, they all knew what a canoness was, which was a relief, because Mandy still didn’t.

  “I… I see,” Captain Vittorio said, turning back to Sister Alice, whose pale cheeks had grown progressively redder the longer her introduction went on. The captain crossed one arm across his chest and bowed his head. “In that case, Sister Alice, I would be more than glad to welcome you to the crew of the Lady Scarlett.”

  “Y-y-you are too kind, sir!” Sister Alice, again bowing so far forward that Mandy was certain she would tip over, until she popped back upright without an ounce of strain. Mandy was beaming, and opened her mouth to invite Sister Alice to follow her to her cabin so she could finally set down her luggage, but something else caught her metaphorical eye first.

  “Oh, Chase!” Mandy called over the edge of the railing, the dog boy having been out for most of the day, only just now reappearing at the edge of the docks. “You’re just in time to meet our newest crew member.”

  Chase’s ears had perked up at her call, and he was already halfway up the ramp before Sister Alice turned, at which point her eyes went as wide as saucers and she jumped backwards several feet, almost bowling a few of the crew over with her backpack.

  “A-Ah!” she stammered, dropping her suitcases with a pair of heavy thumps and reaching up, grabbing both sides of her hood tightly before seeming to catch herself, forcing her arms back to her side and turning to Mandy. “You have a… a beastkin on your crew?”

  Mandy exchanged a quick glance with Chase, who had stopped at the highest point of the gangplank, then nodded her head. “This is Private Chase,” she said, motioning towards the dog boy. “He is a member of the crew, yes, and my personal assistant.”

  “O-oh!” Sister Alice jumped, turning towards Chase and bowing deeply. “My… m-my apologies, Private Chase, I was… I was merely startled by your… appearance! I d-do not have a problem with your kind, w-with beastkin!”

  That was, in Mandy’s professional opinion, the most blatantly obvious falsehood she had ever heard, and she sighed inwardly. She supposed it was too good to be true that Sister Alice would turn out to be the ideal replacement for Brother Eugene without also sharing his weird beastkin hangups. Apparently that was just going to be A Thing with anyone from the Empire.

  Chase, for his part, didn’t seem that put out, merely confused. He waved his hands at Sister Alice’s bowing and shook his head. “Ah, that’s fine, I don’t… I don’t mind!”

  Like a rubber band snapping, Sister Alice sprung upright again, reaching down and scooping up her luggage before turning to Mandy.

  “May I be shown to m-my quarters, Your Highness? I would like to… meditate and pray,” she asked, and Mandy forced a smile onto her face.

  “Of course,” she said, turning and beckoning. “Right this way.”

  She led Sister Alice down the steps into the corridor that led towards her own cabin, and the other four smaller private cabins that shared space at the rear of the ship. Picking one at random, she opened the door and stepped aside, allowing Sister Alice to rush past her in a blur, shouting a very profuse “T-T-Thank you!” before slamming the door shut. Mandy, unable to help her curiosity, peered into the room and found the canoness with her back pressed to the door, panting, with both hands once again clutching the sides of her hood.

  Should probably give her some space for a while, Mandy concluded, shrugging and strolling back to rejoin the crew. And to check in with Chase, of course.

  With the last of the daylight finally fading, and the very last checks of the ship complete, Captain Vittorio declared them ready to set sail at any moment. Mandy held off for just a short while longer, keeping an invisible eye on the docks on the off chance that anyone else did, in fact, come to see her off, but there seemed to be no other takers. Satisfied, she gave the go-ahead, and just like that they were sailing out of the bay, the lights of the capital city fading into the distance behind them.

  Mandy watched from the helm, leaning slightly on the railing, feeling a complicated slurry of emotions. She was excited to be heading back out to sea, and to be sailing again. She was glad to be leaving the capital and the royals behind, but at the same time somewhat disappointed that she hadn’t clicked with them like she’d been hoping she would, and sad that she hadn’t been able to stay longer to get to know the few that seemed nice. She still thought she was making the right decision though because, just like with the crew, she knew that the second her ruse was discovered, she was toast.

  But, mostly, she found herself ruminating on how ultimately… anticlimactic the events of the last two days felt. After how much she had fussed and worried—and yes, she could finally admit, she had been worried—over her arrival, things had progressed almost impossibly smoothly once Princess Aurelia had passed her judgement on her. She’d gotten along reasonably well with the royal family, impressed a stadium full of people, got rid of Brother Eugene, kept the rest of her crew intact, and now she even had free rein to go pretty much wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, as long as she sold it right.

  I guess I can’t really complain, Mandy thought, sighing and blinking away from the helm, reappearing in the hallway outside of her cabin. The crew had started to gather for dinner, and Chase had suggested that Mandy try inviting Sister Alice to sit and eat with them, provided she was feeling up to it.

  Now, up until that point, Mandy had never once had to think about any part of the ship, of her body, as “private” or belonging to someone other than her. She’d never visited Brother Eugene in his cabin after the first day, nor Captain Vittorio, so it kind of just… didn’t occur to her to do something as simple as knocking before opening the door to Sister Alice’s cabin and stepping in.

  “Sister Alice, I wondered if you might like to… come…” Mandy trailed off as her brain caught up with her projection, and she realized what she’d done, and what she was now looking at.

  Standing opposite her, in the middle of her cabin, was Sister Alice, sans her normal figure-obscuring red robes. She still had other clothes on, thankfully, but they were only a simple black sleeveless top and loose fitting shorts. Without the robes, Mandy could actually see exactly how muscular the canoness’s arms and stomach were, and also how much of her impressive height was due to her incredibly long, powerful looking legs.

  But, more importantly, Mandy could also see the large, oblong, rabbit-like ears that sat atop her head, and the upturned puffball of a tail that perched at the base of her spine, both covered in fur that was the same snowy-white color as her hair.

  “Uh—” Mandy started to speak, started to try and say something, anything, but Sister Alice pounced on her before she could form a single word. In one impossibly smooth motion, the canoness shot forward, reaching her before she could even think to backpedal, her foot shooting out and kicking the door shut. The next thing Mandy knew, she was slammed up against said door, one of Sister Alice’s hands clamped around her throat, the other holding a dagger inches away from her neck.

  (End of Part 1)